title: Abide: A Coloring Book with Verses of Comfort and Hope for Christian Women
author: Kimberly Rae
description: Kimberly Rae is an author, speaker, abolitionist, former missionary, and wife and mom. With six different health conditions, she battles discouragement and loves finding or creating things that lift up others. She started coloring mandalas in a book one day, but then decided to draw her own, and that's how this coloring book came to be! Rae typically writes about fighting human trafficking (check out her Amazon bestselling suspense/romance books set in India- Stolen Woman, Stolen Child, Stolen Future - or her new novel, Shredded, about trafficking in small town North Carolina) and living joyfully despite chronic illness (see her encouraging books titled Sick &amp; Tired, Laughter for the Sick &amp; Tired, Why Doesn't God Fix It? or You're Sick, They're Not). Rae has also written a series on human trafficking that is age-appropriate for pre-teens (Capturing Jasmina, Buying Samir, and Seeking Mother), as well as a coloring book for children, with an adult lesson-book companion, on how to recognize and prevent childhood sexual abuse (I Am Safe). Rae has been published over 200 times and has work in 5 languages. After living in Bangladesh, Kosovo, Uganda and Indonesia, Addison's disease brought her permanently back to the U.S. She now lives in North Carolina with her husband and two young children. Check out Kimberly's other books, order autographed copies, or contact Kimberly at www.kimberlyrae.com.
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  Without Benefit of Clergy
  
  
    
    
  [I  
    
  ](Without%20Benefit%20of%20Clergy_split_001.html#filepos1934)[II  
    
  ](Without%20Benefit%20of%20Clergy_split_001.html#filepos16718)[III
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  This page copyright © 2001 Blackmask Online.
  
  
  
  
  
  http://www.blackmask.com
  
  
  # Without Benefit of Clergy
  
  
  ### Rudyard Kipling
  
  
  
  
  
  This page copyright © 2001 Blackmask Online.
  
  
  
  
  
  http://www.blackmask.com  
    
  
  * I
  
  
  * II
  
  
  * III
  
  
  
  
  
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  Before my Spring I garnered Autumn's gain,
  
  
  Out of her time my field was white with grain,
  
  
  The year gave up her secrets to my woe.
  
  
  Forced and deflowered each sick season lay,
  
  
  In mystery of increase and decay;
  
  
  I saw the sunset ere men saw the day,
  
  
  Who am too wise in that I should not know.
  
  
  —Bitter Waters.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ### I
  
  
  'But if it be a girl?'
  
  
  
  
  
  'Lord of my life, it cannot be. I have prayed for so many nights,
  
  
  and sent gifts to Sheikh Badl's shrine so often, that I know God will
  
  
  give us a son—a 