And yet he imagined leaping into the blue-green water, thousands of miles from here, in a land where no one followed the rules set forth, where a sin might float like a flower in a fountain and a man was free to do as he pleased.

She wore a wide-brimmed black hat and men's trousers, and she carried a satchel of books to ensure that if she should finish one volume she would be handily prepared with the next.

As the summer passed, I began to feel free. I had time to myself, and I enjoyed watching over the children. I felt a sort of joy I'd never felt before. I was so unaccustomed to such emotions it took some time before I realized I was happy.

God is different to us now, after all these years in Africa. More spirit than ever before, and more internal. Most people think he has to look like something or someone- a roofleaf or Christ- but we don't. And not being tied to what God looks like, frees us.

You know Shug will fight, he say. Just like Sofia. She bound to live her life and be herself no matter what.

Do not be like cows grazing watching the butcher.

She bound to live her life and be herself no matter what.

the book's intent: to explore the difficult path of someone who starts out in life already a spiritual captive, but who, through her own courage and the help of others, breaks free into the realization that she, like Nature itself, is a radiant expression of the heretofore perceived as quite distant Divine.

That summer marked the beginning of a realization that I could never live happily in Africa--or anywhere else--until I could live freely in Mississippi.

The brilliance of enslaving the spirit is that it is an invisible prison from which the inmate appears to derive some comfort.

If there is one thing I have learned in my lifetime of struggle, it is this: freedom isn't free.

You belong to God. You don't have to prove anything. You don't have to try to impress people. Just be who you are. Be amazing. If you do this, I believe and declare every chain that's held you back is being broken. You're going to live free, confidently, and securely, knowing you are valuable. You will become the masterpiece that God created you to be.