Living in the Pink-A Book Review

What Do You Think? Wednesday

  • She’s pretty, single and perhaps saved with a perhaps saved boyfriend but they aren’t saving the sex for marriage. She’s conflicted and he’s confused; he thought their arrangement was working out swell until…
  • This is the last time she would bail him out or at least that’s what she wanted. But what’s a strong black mama to do when her baby’s in trouble?
  • She went to college, owns a business and runs with the movers and shakers. Though she grew up in the church she was now far from God. How does she maintain this lifestyle without giving praise to God?

You probably know one of these women. Maybe you are one of these women. These are three of the main characters in Living in the Pink, a new novel by Sharon Tubbs. And though Living in the Pink is a novel, as you can see from the character sketches, you experience real life when reading this collection of short stories. These women with strong black women characteristics are all “living in the pink,” but Laura Pinkston, aka Sister Pinky, challenges them to abandon their self-willed lives and embrace “the glory of living white as snow.”

People living in the pink have had their red like scarlet sins washed as white as snow but dabble with some of their sins, thus tinting their lives. Sister Pinky explains: In-the-pink people “say they believe in God, but only enough to call themselves ‘spiritual’ without having to make significant changes in their lives. Don’t be fooled…they might go to church and say eloquent prayers or sport a Jesus bumper sticker—all the while nursing sins that they’re unwilling or afraid to let go. They want to believe in God, just not too much.”

Author Tubbs says Sister Pinky, the all-seeing church mother, is based on a mixture of women she knows, including her mother, and the Titus 2 woman. She crafted this novel, complete with discussion questions at the end of each story, so women will examine themselves, whether based on responses to the questions or from the correction of a Sister Pinky that they know.

“Everybody is living in the pink in some aspect of their lives,” Tubbs says. “The question is, ‘Are we happy there or do we want to improve?’ Everyone needs to be striving to get more out of life.” To help with this process, in addition to the questions in the book, Stubbs has created the “Pinky Meter,” a non-scientific, yet fun, quiz to help you determine just how in the pink you’re living. Take the quiz here.

Tubbs says, “The intent with the questions is for women to be more introspective. So often what we tend to do is blame our circumstances on our jobs, on other people…on men. I’m not saying these things don’t have weight, but we have the Holy Spirit inside and that’s power.”

You know from the beginning of this blog I have challenged African American Christian women to forsake their strong black women ways and walk in the strength of God. I believe Living in the Pink is another tool to challenge you to do that. As you read the book, you can’t help but think about another sister you know or even wonder how you should handle your own strong black women issues. Pick up Living in the Pink at Tubbs’ website or on Amazon and enjoy a fast-moving, funny and spiritually-fulfilling book that will help you cherish your salvation and summer days. And make sure to tell me what you think.

Copyright 2011 by Rhonda J. Smith

About the Author

Sharon Tubbs, author of Living in the Pink


Sharon Tubbs is a Christian who loves to write and has done so for more than 15 years as a newspaper journalist. The Living in the Pink project originated when Sharon wrote a version of the first story, Revelation, for a writing contest. She didn’t plan to create a series at the time. In fact, that story stayed tucked away in her computer for years before she looked at it again. The second go-round, she saw potential for something more and began to develop the central character “Sister Pinky,” using humor and real-life situations to touch others in a down-to-earth way. A condensed version of the series was launched online in April 2009 to a select number of women around the country. The positive feedback inspired Sharon to seek print publication with Lift Every Voice Books (Moody Publishers) for broader distribution of an expanded and improved version of Living in the Pink.

Originally from Indiana, Sharon now lives in Florida where she has encouraged other women spiritually through leadership activities. She has also inspired others to write poetry, devotionals, and books with Christian themes. In her spare time, Sharon enjoys hanging out with friends, live theater, a relaxing bubble bath, and Rocky Road ice cream.

Don’t Believe the Lies

Sometimes we, who too often believe we are self-empowered strong black women, lose belief when OUR powers wane. We may begin to think we can’t do anything spectacular, impact a soul with the power of the Holy Ghost or change our mind even though we’ve tried dozens of times. We may not have peace in the midst of a storm. Perhaps we get here because we haven’t understood or really yet believed the pure Gospel of Jesus Christ. We can change that.

    1. Pick preachers who follow this example: 1 Corinthians 2:1-5
    2. Select scriptures that point you toward belief beyond salvation: Psalm 112:6-7, Matthew 5:16, Luke 10:19, Romans 10:17, 2 Corinthians 3:18; Philippians 2:13, 4:13, Hebrews 11:6.
    3. Find friends who will stand with you like Jonathan’s armor bearer: 1 Samuel 14:1-15
    4. Meditate more on these scriptures and other things like them: Philippians 4:4-9

You can do whatever God commands and be whoever He declares you are. Yes. Now please believe that.

Copyright 2011 by Rhonda J. Smith

All We Need-The 31st Day of Christmas

On the 31st day of Christmas my true love gave to me, a prophet, priest and a king (1 Samuel 7).

Some of us have good girlfriends that are spiritual warriors who we count on to get a prayer through, the fun ones to shop and go to the spa with, and the heady ones, who initiate some deep, stimulating conversations. Then there is the rare friend who is all three and more. Before I became a Christian I used the many friendships model to build my faith system. I took the truth I learned from my Muslim boyfriend, the humanistic views of my revered intellects, the common sense my mama taught me and mixed it with my lifelong Christian lessons. I thought I had the perfect faith until I met the Perfect One.

When I met Jesus, I was uncertain about how He was who He said He was, but I couldn’t ignore His call to me and believed that He is God. My God is prophet, priest and king, and the biblical Samuel—prophet, priest and judge, was a type of Christ, foreshadowing the three-fold ministry of Jesus Christ.

And Samuel spake unto all the house of Israel, saying, If ye do return unto the LORD with all your hearts, [then] put away the strange gods and Ashtaroth from among you, and prepare your hearts unto the LORD, and serve him only: and he will deliver you out of the hand of the Philistines. Then the children of Israel did put away Baalim and Ashtaroth, and served the LORD only.—1 Samuel 7:3-4

And Samuel took a sucking lamb, and offered [it for] a burnt offering wholly unto the LORD: and Samuel cried unto the LORD for Israel; and the LORD heard him. And as Samuel was offering up the burnt offering, the Philistines drew near to battle against Israel: but the LORD thundered with a great thunder on that day upon the Philistines, and discomfited them; and they were smitten before Israel.—1 Samuel 7:9-10

And Samuel judged Israel all the days of his life.—1 Samuel 7:15

As prophet, Samuel spoke to the Israelites for God, as priest, he spoke to God for the Israelites, and as judge, he settled matters between Israelites, pronouncing consequences for their actions. When Jesus walked the earth, He was a prophet, who spoke the words of God the Father; a priest, who made an offering—himself—as a sacrifice to God the Father for the sins of humankind and still intercedes for His disciples as He sits on the right hand of the Father in heaven; and a king, who will judge all after His second coming to earth. Jesus is the God of more than enough, the One who speaks to us and for us and makes everything with us right as it should be. With Jesus, there is no need for (nor can there legitimately be) additional gods. He is all we need.

Copyright 2010 by Rhonda J. Smith

Your Lead-The 35th Day of Christmas

On the 35th day of Christmas my true love gave to me a prophet sent to guide me (Deuteronomy 18:15).

“If it was a snake it would have bitten you,” the saying goes for people who overlook something that is right in their midst. I’m sure most of us who have children have said this or something like it when a child can’t find his shoes in the middle of a clean room or homework left on the table without any other papers. This is the great refrain of my Joshua’s life. After I find the elusive item I say, with my fingers spread on outstretched arms shaking in syllabic rhythm, “It’s right here!” These phrases aren’t just child refrains but a part of the adult song of life that could be titled “Seeking But You Already Have.”

The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your own brothers. You must listen to him (Deuteronomy 18:15).

This is what Moses told the children of Israel regarding their coming Messiah. And God the Father did just that. He sent Jesus, who, like Moses, was 1) in peril as a baby; 2) whose life was preserved among Egyptians; 3) was an Israelite (Jew); 4) a leader of his people; and 5) a prophet among other similarities, but these are the ones that the Israelites in Jesus’ day witnessed. Also, like Moses, his own people rejected him.

We know that God spake unto Moses: [as for] this [fellow], we know not from whence he is.—John 9:29

At this the Jews began to grumble about him because he said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.” They said, “Is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How can he now say, ‘I came down from heaven’?”—John 6:41-42

The Jews saw Jesus speak like no other prophet and they witnessed him healing, but when he told them that he was the one Moses spoke of, that he was that bread of life that would give them eternal life if they believed in him, they didn’t believe. We, Christians, do believe that God the Father sent Jesus as the bread of life, but when we don’t believe that our leader, our lord, is right in our midst, when we overlook him surrounding us, we are like disbelieving Jews. We are told that greater is God in us than the devil in the world, but we (strong black women) try to use our own strength. We are told that Jesus will never leave us or forget about us, but we leave and forget about him and seek to do things our own way. Like the Jews looked to Moses, we look to old methods that once helped and overlook our present help, our Jesus.

I don’t know about you, but I don’t want God shouting “I’m right here!” when he sees me looking for a self-conceived fail-proof way. I’m aiming to quickly remember my leader, my lord, in my midst and follow him. Won’t you join me? And send me a comment about how if Jesus was a snake, he would have bitten you.

Copyright 2010 by Rhonda J. Smith

Let’s Do This!

Sometimes we don’t do what we know to do because we just don’t know how. Last year I presented a framework to help Christian women to go from calling ourselves strong black women (SBW) to some other name that reflected God. I didn’t have the name at the time, but I have since recognized that the acronym is still SBW, which stands for strong biblical women. I want to revisit that framework in this post because I recognize its structure is universal. You can use it to stop doing whatever wrong you’re doing and replace that with something righteous. Continue reading