“Forgive in order to live” is Lorner Jones’ motto. As a former victim of physical abuse, Jones not only repeats the mantra to help herself survive, but now with two books under her belt, she has the chance to help others do the same.

The Mossville resident (who has worked in Sulphur for decades) wrote Damaged Women and How to Rehabilitate and Is it Discipline or Child Abuse? as a testament to her healing from abuse at a young age.

“When it comes to Damaged Women, I found that my telling my story [of abuse], it compelled other people to tell of the things they’d been through. It happened that way most of the time. I would speak to a group through church and then other would come forward and tell of how they had been mistreated and how they had been suffering since then. By  talking, they released the pain and found healing and were able to  forgive those that hurt them and move on. I found my healing through God. God loosed me and I glorify Him.”

When it comes to her other book, Is it Discipline or Child Abuse? Jones says, “It’s all about a good foundation. Proverbs 22:6 says that if you train your child in the way they should go, they will not depart from those trainings when they are older.”

Unpleasant experiences during childhood inspired Jones’ second book.

“The biggest message I send out in this book is that there is a difference between child abuse and discipline. Discipline is training that molds or corrects behavior, while abuse is hurting the child and using improper treatment and usage and perversion.”

Jones even crafted her own definition of discipline, acrostic style: “Correct discipline should stand for Dedication In Self Control: Implanting Powerful Levels Into New Excellence,” she said.
“Forgiveness is the message Jesus sent and through Him I hope to share it as well. That’s the first step to healing and I wrote about my journeys in both books,” Jones explained.

Jones is in talks with local bookstores to host a book signing event this summer and has plans to pen more inspirational and self-help books in the future.