Growing up, some children invent an imaginary friend to accompany them through their days. They may imagine the friend as a playmate, or even someone in whom they confide their deepest fears and secrets.

Cullman County resident Fred Arceneaux never had such a friend growing up. Instead, he shared his joys and concerns with Jesus.

Arceneaux has authored a book, "Soul to Soul Conversations with Jesus," that recounts his life, from childhood to present. The book is available through his publisher, Publish

America, at www.pub

lishamerica.com.

"Everybody has had a very best friend sometime in childhood or adulthood. This is a best friend that you could tell anything to — your deepest, darkest secrets as well as your joys and your pains," Arceneaux said. "That friend never judges you, never gets mad at you, but listens patiently and then tries to guide you through what you just talked about. And this friend never spreads gossip about what you just said.

"That's Jesus to me."

Arceneaux made it clear that he has not audibly heard Jesus speak to him, nor has he seen anything that anyone else has not. But he said that Jesus has spoken to him after prayer, when he remains quiet.

He said the book tells of the joys and difficulties he's had throughout life. One of those challenges was the physical abuse he was subjected to by his mother when he was a child.

His mother, now deceased for 15 years, suffered from a form of epilepsy that would lead to periodic fainting spells. When she awoke from those, she could come out as a 10 year old or 30 year old. The episodes left her frustrated, and she took that out on her sons.

Arceneaux said his mother would wrap a clothesline around her hand, made of wire encased in plastic, and then strike him and his brother until her frustration was vented. Welts developed on the boys as a result of their mother's violence.

But Arceneaux took his feelings about the situation to Jesus in prayer.

"We realized that's not really who our mother really was. It's the sickness," he said.

"In praying about this, the Lord said, 'Your mother just has a sickness, and it has to be dealt with out of love. Do not hold any ill fault against her.' And we never did."

Arceneaux decided to document that and other experiences in book form after moving to Cullman County in 2002. He said the Holy Spirit prompted him to write the book as a source of emotional, spiritual and psychological healing.

"I didn't know how to go about it, but the Holy Spirit kept guiding me and saying, 'Remember how the Gospels are written? Well, you don't have to include a lot of descriptive language in this, but keep concise and tell the story itself. It's the story that counts, and how I got you through it,'" Arceneaux said.

Writing began in the fall of that year, and Arceneaux finished the book in February 2003. Then the search for a publisher began. He began by sending the book to a couple hundred publishers.

"Every one of them flatly denied me," Arceneaux said. "They were polite about it, mind you, but they flat out rejected me."

He then turned his attention to literary agents, who he found too expensive, and vanity presses and print-on-demand publishers. Those, too, wanted more money than Arceneaux could provide.

He submitted the book to PublishAmerica in August of last year, was contracted in September and received his copies of the book on Jan. 3.

Arceneaux has already begun work on his next book, a novel titled "Prosperous Thanksgiving." He said the book pokes a bit of fun at his hometown, St. Petersburg, Fla.

"I figured if Charles Dickens can pick on London, I can pick on St. Petersburg. But that's a wonderful city," Arceneaux said.

The novel is about a businessman in the city who finds himself suspended in a black void after a fatal car accident. He is given a chance to return to Earth and make a difference in the lives of his son and employees.

Arceneaux has completed the book's outline and is now writing the second chapter. He anticipates completing the book this spring and hopes for a fall release date.



THE DETAILS

• What: Soul to Soul Conversations with Jesus

• Author: Frederick J. Arceneaux

• Available: at www.PublishAmerica.com

• Cost: $9.95, plus shipping and handling

• Author's Web site: www.freewebs.com/fredbookone

• Author's e-mail: fred1951a@hotmail.com