Category: Diversity

Where the Heart Leads – music video

Joe2 Comments

I’m excited to announce that I just published a music video for the second book in my “Journey of a Spirit Healer” spiritual fantasy series. The video’s title is the same as the that of the second book.

Watch Where the Heart Leads.

Once again, I had a blast creating the video. I worked with ChatGPT to create the lyrics and had great fun using Music AI Generator to create a song that felt more cinematic and adventure-driven than the first one.

The song follows Thom as his world continues to expand while he attends the Acadium, a school for children with a passion for learning. Life continues to lead him toward experiences he could never have anticipated. One is encountering a dragon, and the other is finding himself drawn to a boy his age,who is also studying to be a healer.

One of the themes running through Where the Heart Leads is something I’m quite familiar with: having experiences and learnings that point to different directions we might take, ones that we hadn’t imagined before. In those situations, sometimes all you can see is the next step. Yet, when you listen to your intuition, guided by your angels, you find the courage to take that step, trusting that the path will reveal itself.

Creating the video also gave me an opportunity to bring Thom’s world to life visually: Jonathan, Tovah, Mekial, Kami, the Acadium, and some of the experiences that shape Thom’s journey.

I hope you’ll take a few minutes to watch it. And if you know someone who enjoys young-adult fantasy, stories about spiritual gifts and discovering one’s purpose, or LGBTQ+ characters finding their way, I’d be grateful if you shared it with them.

Where the Heart Leads, Book Two of Journeys of a Spirit Healer, is available on Amazon.

p.s. I’m hard at work on book 3 in the series, which make become a 6 book series rather than 5. The current plan is to release it early in 2027.

If you liked this blog post and are interested in receiving an email for future blog posts, enter your email in the field below and click Subscribe.

Celebrate Diversity

JoeLeave a comment

June is known as Pride Month—a time to honor and celebrate LGBTQ+ lives. In the years I’ve written this blog, I haven’t directly addressed my community, since my messages have been for everyone. But this month, I want to speak more personally.

LGBTQ+ people have faced discrimination, judgment, and rejection, especially from many religions. It made life difficult. The hardest part isn’t only enduring that, but the process of coming out to yourself and others. Through this, we develop powerful gifts, and that’s this blog’s focus. I also hope this speaks to anyone who’s felt different from the so-called norm.

Feeling different can be gutting, especially when confronted with images that remind us we don’t belong. We’re not enough and not good enough. Some try to fit in by hiding, adopting behaviors and interests far from our true selves. It’s a sad way to live. And even sadder when they convince themselves it’s their true self.

But this journey isn’t only about struggle. In the process, we discover gifts at a depth uncommon to those who haven’t walked our path. Here are a few:

Self-reflection: Our journey requires that we look within, exploring who we are at the core. We search books, attend workshops, and explore spiritualities to help us figure out who we are. We repeatedly ask, Does this resonate? Does it reflect who I am? We yearn to feel seen. Even after we’ve come out, this self-reflection continues, shaping how we live, love, and choose.

Courage: We may not always feel brave, but it’s present in every step. It rings out when we choose to stand tall, even on days we want to hide. No one else has had our individual experience, though we share commonalities with others like us. It takes courage to celebrate what we bring into the world just for being the person we are, our truest and holiest self.

Compassion: Our experiences of anger, fear, and loneliness enable us to recognize the same struggles in others. Because of it, we can offer love and understanding to those beginning the journey, caught in the thick of it, or simply living their truth now.

Self-reflection, courage, and compassion are only three gifts. Others include creativity, flexibility, sensitivity… I’m sure you can name your own.

This month, I encourage you to celebrate your uniqueness. You are a blessed and holy gift this world desperately needs. Amen. And so it is.

If you liked this blog and are interested in receiving an email for future blog posts, enter your email in the field below and click Subscribe.