NO CROSS-NO CROWN PUBLISHING: Interesting publishing company name and logo. Right? Why would I choose this name and image? Well, let me explain. There is a deep-rooted meaning behind these words, and this image is very sentimental to me because this is a picture of my grandmother. Seriously, it is!
When I was growing up my grandmother was my best friend. She was an amazing God-fearing woman who loved the Lord, an ordained Bishop, Bishop Hettie Pugh-Ladson was her name, and I was named after her. She built "Stone Wall Holiness Church in Chapin, South Carolina, and pastored numerous churches during her lifetime. My mother and my grandmother molded my character, but I spent most of my time with my grandmother. She would often take me on a blast to her past, telling me numerous stories about her memories with each of her fifteen brothers and sisters and their trials and triumphs. There were only a few things that she loved: working in her garden, cooking, reading her bible, and praying. Of all the aforementioned, I saw her praying more than anything. I would always overhear her thanking and praising God, and praying for everyone in the world, even praying for future generations of strangers.
Grandma was the foundation of our home. She was responsible for uniting everyone in the home for morning and night-time prayer. No matter how deep of a sleep we may have been in, her voice was like a trumpet that sounded when she started singing old-time hymns aloud, making it known that it was time for family prayer. We would all convene in a common area in the home. Each of us had to pick a scripture from the Bible to read. Once everyone read, then we would sing another hymnal as we all routinely got on our knees and she led a long-winded prayer. It seemed like we were on our knees for hours, but it was more like twenty minutes. Her prayer was usually scripted from her memory with minimal changes, so everyone knew when it was near the end. My grandmother believed in God with all her heart. She would always tell us that God can do anything but fail, Without a doubt, she was the holiest person I have ever known.
One weekend a bunch of family members were visiting, and my mom started taking pictures with her polaroid camera. This was a camera made in the 1970s that printed pictures instantly and developed them right before our eyes. She took a picture of my grandmother and the image from my logo is what appeared. It was unbelievable! We had never seen anything like it. It looked like an angel in the shape of a cross. I always believed my grandmother was an angel who watched over us, and the cross to me represented her love for the Lord.
I was taught that in all that I do in life there should be a meaningful purpose attached, that is why I chose this image of my grandmother for my book logo. I want her legacy of strength, courage, and her love for the Lord to live on in every book that I write. Her personal connection with God is connected to me. In my eyes, anyone who has any book that I write will have generational blessings over their life, because many years ago my grandmother prayed for everyone in the world and all of their future generations to come.
I also give her credit for the title of my first book "No Cross-No Crown," which is also the name of my publishing company. She always told me, like Jesus, everyone has their own personal cross in life that they must bear alone to get the crown that God has for them, and my cross was autism, bullying, and spiritual warfare. My journey was a difficult struggle. but bearing a cross is not intended to be easy, As my grandma would often say to me, "No Cross-No Crown."
Notice the cross and the crown on her tomb. She lived and died by these words...