WOF: First of all, we just want to say how thrilled we are that you’re HERE!  It’s been such a difficult year for you health-wise…how are you doing now?

THELMA: Thank you so much for your concern and prayers. This past year has been the most difficult year of my life.  I am steadily improving.  There are still a few afflictions, but God’s grace has truly been sufficient for me and my family.

WOF: What inspired you to write Listen Up, Honey?

THELMA: I was inspired to write Listen Up, Honey by jotting down some of the sayings I remember from my great-grandmother.  She had a word for everything, and her words were wisdom-words.  I learned so much from her in and around the kitchen as she cooked and around the house as she went about her daily activities.  I wanted to extend some wisdom-words and a little more of my childhood to the audience.

WOF: You discussed the importance of listening to “the still small voice of God” – but a lot of people are afraid the voice they’re listening to is not necessarily God’s voice.  What advice would you give them?

THELMA: It is essential for God’s children to listen to His voice.  Some call it listening to God, hearing from God, intuition, a feeling or whatever.  In order to hear the voice of God, we must have a relationship with Him.  That relationship is developed and grows by spending time in His Word, the Bible, from which we learn more about His nature, personality, promises and love; by spending time praying to Him; by spending time praising Him and asking Him to speak to us.  Then, we need to listen.  God’s voice is seldom loud or interfering.  His voice is quiet, simple, to the point and few words.   What He says can always be confirmed by what He confirms in the Bible.  God never tells us to do wrong, harm ourselves or others, disregard His teachings or be vindictive and retaliate.

You’ll know it is His voice because you will have a sense of peace that comforts you, the power of confidence that builds you up and a depth of joy that seems unreal to the human spirit but so real to your inner-person.
              
Sometimes He speaks to your heart and mind when you are not praying.  He may speak through a song, poem, message, thought, billboard, person, movie, book, rainbow, the radio … He’s not limited in how He speaks.  But whatever He uses to speak to you, measure what He says against the enemy who speaks in half truths, negative urgings, hurtful ideas, mean-spirited suggestions, hateful mannerisms, guilt and shame, fear, dread and hopelessness. Trust God to be caring and consoling even when He may be chastising you.  God’s still, small voice is gentle and brings repentance and love to the hearer.

WOF: In Chapter 3 – and we should warn people right now that reading that chapter will make you HONGRY – you talk about leaving a legacy. Describe the kind of legacy you want to leave behind.

THELMA: It is for sure that each of us leaves a legacy for our family and friends when we die.  The legacy I want to leave is one that will encourage, inspire, inform, motivate and empower people to BEE their best.  I want people to know that Jesus loves them and prove that to them by the way I live, showing that whatever happens to you in life is not as important as how you deal with those things.  We have the choice to make life joy-filled or difficult.  I want to leave a legacy of faith in God, salvation in Jesus, and trust in the Holy Spirit to lead and guide me to a victorious life on this earth and a better life eternally in heaven.

WOF: You said “there’s no such thing as failure”.  Can you explain that?

THELMA: I’d love to explain that.  Success or failure happens in the mind.  There are some things that we don’t do as well as others.  For example, I can’t draw well, but when someone asks me to draw a bee in their book, I do the best I can.  Failure to me is not trying.   There are some relationships that don’t make it.  But when you examine what you’ve learned from that relationship, it’s not a failure ― it’s an opportunity for improvement.  In everything in life, whether it works the way you dreamed or not, look for the positives, embrace them, and think of them as a chapter in your book of life that has taught you how to live better in the next chapter.

WOF: Why is it important to praise God in the hard times? 

THELMA: It is vitally important to praise God at all times because we are commanded to praise Him in the good times and the bad.  Many victories were won in Bible times when the people rejoiced.  One great story in the Bible is found in 2 Chronicles 20.  Read it for yourself and see what happened when the people stopped praying and started praising God.  That same thing can happen to you today.  It happened to me this past year.

WOF: In the book you tell the story of receiving your master’s degree.  Any chance you’ll go for a doctorate next?

THELMA: Oh boy!  I was sixty-one years old when I received my Master’s of Divinity Degree in Pastoral Ministry from Master’s International School of Divinity and Graduate School in Evansville, Indiana.

This coming December I’m receiving an Honorary Doctorate of Divinity Degree and Ordination from Saint Thomas Christian College and Theological Seminary in Jacksonville, Florida at age sixty-five.  It’s never too late.  Always be a sponge and learn everything you can every day. 

WOF: What’s the best book you’ve read lately?

THELMA: A Stitch in Time by Allison Bottke.

WOF: What’s next in the life of Thelma Wells? As far as you know…

THELMA:  Great question that I wish I could fully answer for you.  I do know that my conference schedule with Women of Faith will include speaking fourteen times rather than thirty.  I will be featured on the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association’s international television special during the month of January 2007, along with other television appearances and radio talk shows.  I will host the Daughters of Zion Leadership Mentoring Program annual retreat February 8-10 in Dallas, Texas (it’s open to women everywhere).  In July I will be speaking in Auckland, New Zealand.  On September 1 we will enjoy the annual “Picnic At The Lake with Thelma”.  New books are being released in early 2007.  I’m expecting God to order my steps.