Fiction – historical, supernatural, inspirational

Lamb Duty

God’s word to mankind is a love letter, it’s a warning, a covenant document signed in the blood of His only Son. It is great literature, because what God does He always does with excellence. God’s love for His creation and His many messages for us earthlings shine forth in almost every page, as does His artistry. I think of the amazingly beautiful contrast between the grungy shepherds outside of Bethlehem where Jesus was born, and their visitation by a “vast host” of singing angels (NLT).

Now I’ve seen angels. Have you? I have seen them in my spirit, and lucid visions (the kind that appears before you like a movie, only it’s a living image). This is part of the wisdom gifts, some saints just “know,” some see, some both know and see, some hear, the method of perception varies but the result is the same – a transfer of information from God about your destiny and work on the earth, AND an encounter – the experience of God’s eternal heavenly kingdom in the now. This is explained further in I Cor 12 and 13, and revealed by example in the book of Acts as well as the gospels.

If you are one who sees, you know that it comes when you are seeking Jesus. When I’ve seen angels, my focus isn’t on having a vision or dream, it’s on learning new truth from Him, communing in His presence, and worshipping Him. I can honestly say with all the dreams and visions I’ve had, I have never sought a single one. Many were highly unexpected.

The visitation of the angels to the shepherds is a form of lucid vision. The Bethlehem sheepfolds, where the angels showed up on the night of Jesus’ birth, were the source of the perfect lambs presented for sacrifice at the Temple a few miles away in Jerusalem. The keeping of such sheep was not just a part of the food chain or Jewish garment industry, it was a sacred office held by Jewish ministers, probably Levites. To them was entrusted the protection of these sheep and perfection of their lambs. According to the law, one tiny blemish on their lamb meant a person’s sins were not completely covered, leaving an opening for wrath to enter their life during the ensuing year. The perfect lamb’s blood was required in place of theirs. It was a prototype of Jesus, though His blood not only covers but takes away sin for all time. No need for yearly sacrifice.

Lambing duty for the Temple was esteemed, though it was lowly. Not as lowly as a private shepherd because it was still apart of the Levitical priesthood. But lowly, nevertheless. It was like doing toilet cleaning at your church. Or more appropriately, like watching the babies in the church nursery, for hours and hours. It was an honor, but it was low in the hierarchy of Jewish politics and power.

Yet it wasn’t to the Levitical priests in the Temple that the angels appeared. Look what happens when you do what God leads you to do, no matter how humble, especially in His house, the local church.

These humble, grungy shepherds were the first to see Jesus after His birth! You know they were special, their heart was for the house of the Lord in ways others weren’t. They had agreed to dedicate their lives to helping the faithful bring a worthy offering to God. They had been willing to submit to this call assigned to them. How appropriate and wonderful that they were blessed to be given a front-row seat on the advent of God’s next covenant offering, Jesus, the final Lamb of a far better covenant!

Would they have understood the significance of the newborn savior? They sure as heaven knew something big was happening in the Kingdom of God and on earth. Evidence suggests they were actually trained men who knew the ancient scriptures, the law and the prophets and the poetry books, they had read of the mystery of God’s plan to put a “new heart” into His people. They had lots of time under the sunny blue and starry night sky to meditate on the prophecies, and, being Jewish students of the law, had probably discussed it with each other.

One lone angel showed up first (Luke 2:8-20). This advance scout had a radiant glory that was probably like 10 nuclear bombs going off at the same time, in terms of its brightness. The shepherds were utterly terrified, even before the angel was joined by an army of angels. God’s heavenly host! They sang the transcendent song thanking God and celebrating His gift in Jesus, while the shepherds marveled and quaked.

There must have been a reassurance imparted to them. For clearly, the shepherds moved from fear to faith, hope, joy and eager anticipation. This is what happens any time we turn from the natural understanding of things to the spiritual one. They were refreshed by their experience, and when it was over, they said, ‘let’s go and see what’s just gone down in Bethlehem that they were singing about’. They had the energy and enthusiasm to travel what was probably about 6 miles to the city in the wee hours of the night, to search for and find the newborn Messiah.

Whether they knew what they were seeing or not, our Abba God certainly knew. Who better to rejoice with than those who tended the original sacrificial lambs?

If you are feeling a call to lamb duty or some other form of humble job at your church, don’t despise it. One eminent pastor started out cleaning toilets at his church, and did so for six years before he was promoted to greeter. His preaching was eventually known worldwide. Whatever you do, as you do what you are called to do, you will receive a crown of glory in heaven which eventually will be all of our home if we are in Christ. Start somewhere and stay connected with a church or body of believers where you can find good teaching and fellowship. God promises that you will flourish by committing your time and energy to your church. You may even get visited by angels (but don’t look for them, look for Jesus!).

Those who are planted in the house of the Lord will flourish in the courts of our God. Ps 92:13

On Writing a Sequel

The good news is the sequel to my novel Hope’s Motel is well underway. What’s interesting is how the process is different from writing the first one.

My how time flies! Hard to believe it’s been six years since the publication of my debut novel, but here we are. Graduation from nursing school and entering that new career surely contributed to the delay. These landmarks show the way along the path of trusting the Lord, listening in prayer and doing/obeying the instructions by His Holy Spirit.

All of this has brought growth. And another novel, not to mention. From this vantage point, I am receiving ideas for the sequel. As my readers should know by now, I write what I am led to write, not what my soul’s creativity shows me. In this way, God harnesses the creativity He has put in me for His purposes.

Confirmation has come forth. The astounding accuracy of the prophetic tone of my second novel is one example, which not only predicted much of what happened in 2020 but also was rushed (by the Holy Spirit) for publication in 2019.

So it is that I’m noticing how God is weaving my current WIP into the times. A new movie featuring the wonderful brother in the Lord, Jim Cazaviel, is telling the world about human trafficking, sending this issue into high relief on the world’s list of concerns (as it should be). My sequel is featuring this theme, as well, has been for months before we could know how important the theme would become this year.

But what I want to talk about is the process of writing this book. No longer plagued by doubts or anxiety about my ability to complete a novel, I find myself confident in the face of the many obstacles which are encountered in telling a full novel story. I’ve been here before, and God has always provided. I know I’ll have the answer to plot tangles and character glitches. It’ll be good once God and I co-write this thing. I say this after seeing it starting to take shape.

The sequel, I’ve come to realize after much prayer, will be different in one salient aspect: It will no longer be exclusively told from the first person.

First person writing was new for me when I wrote Hope’s Motel. The issue with it was how to tell a story involving lots of other characters without switching into their heads. This is what we know as point of view, by the way, affectionately called POV in writer’s jargon. With Hope’s, there was always a way to get the story across by putting Hope where she could tell it from her perspective. Dialogue filled in where her own understanding was not enough.

In the sequel, for which I still have no working title, I will delve into the point of view of the other characters. This is really different. There will be whole chapters dedicated to another character’s thoughts and actions. I’m not sure how much this will change the character of the book. I do believe it will give depth to it.

What I am sure of though is that the book’s tone will match the first one: The beautiful perspective of a life of faith, lived in full confidence of God’s love and His leading, without fear, and without compromise with the world’s confusion and drama. Because, after all, it’s Hope’s sequel.

One snippet which may or may not make the cut into the novel describes how Hope has been doing all this time. I don’t wish to give a spoiler but as you readers know, she is now a married lady, very happily, too. She has also grown.

God gives you a dream. Like a suit or a dress that’s been tailored just for you that hangs in your bedroom. You look it over, deciding whether you want to wear it, admiring it, thinking maybe it’s too much, or maybe it’s not enough. After awhile, though, you try it on and you love the fit. You love how it moves with you. Pretty soon you are calling it yours. But really, it was God’s dream to start. Now it’s both your dream, God’s and yours, because God has shared it with you. He knows you can fulfill it, in fact, He’s created you with all the potential for it from your inception. So when God gives a dream, and it becomes yours, He touches it with fire and your whole being lights up with it. It becomes yours just as if it always was. God is good like that. He shares. Soon the dream is carrying you as much as you carry it. It can carry you through all the world’s love and all the world’s sorrow, until you understand you are free. Yet, like the horse that needs no bit or bridle, your heart returns again and again to serve the will of the master, the dispenser of every good dream.

Hope is back.

The world is confusing. Hope has it sorted out.

The Author and Finisher

Years ago, when I was struggling against self-sabotaging fears about the worth of my writing and my ability to finish a novel, I labored in prayer. I wasn’t interested in marketing in the sense of gaining the most sales possible. If that were my sole aim, I’d have chosen different content. I wanted to be sure that God was really calling me to this endeavor. Writing is big in my family, my father was a writer and editor, then a publicist, who made his living with words. I wanted to be sure I wasn’t merely doing something that came naturally.

Sounds pretty pretentious to think one can hear from God on specific matters, I suppose, especially on the bland, secularized diet most religious institutions feed people. There may be homey stories that make us feel good about ourselves, perhaps teaching on morality and ethics, the ten commandments and maybe the two that Jesus gave on loving God and each other. But God’s will is better understood as a relationship demanding total surrender which transforms the heart, which in turn leads us to turn toward goodness, and delivers us from deeds of the dark. In His Presence we rejoice in His grace, we walk by faith, giving secondary consideration to what we see, feel, and hear. We develop our spiritual sixth sense.

Psalm 19 gives wonderful insight into hearing from God. “Day to day utters speech, and night to night reveals knowledge,” it states, further explaining that the voice of God which is always ready to reveal more to us is speaking in a universal language: “There is no speech or language where their voice is not heard.”

Further, God is capable of tailoring His utterance to each heart. God has a specific will for each of us, a plan which can be discerned, a path which has many turns and twists but in which we have His imminent guidance. Check out John 16:13, Jer 29:11, Jn 10:27; the many examples of Paul in the book of Acts including Acts 18:9-11. “Oh, that’s just for Paul, Peter and John, and Jeremiath was a prophet, they were all special.” Yes, they were, but the word of God is clear that we, too can have the same closeness with God, albeit unique missions.

“And let us run with endurance the race set before us, looking unto Jesus, the Author and Finisher of our faith.” (NKJV)

This is one of the verses which I have prayerfully adapted to my writing. Appropriating Jesus as the Author and the Finisher of my books, I write what He’s shown me to write. Every part of the process is subject to Him, to the best of my ability (it’s always going to be through me as the imperfect filter and the lens). It’s my job as an author to keep consulting with Him, and in this He is ever faithful. I know I will always have a ways to go in hearing accurately and fully, but at least I’ve left!

I wonder what scriptures Paul was leaning on as he ministered with Priscilla and Aquila in Ephesus? What did he mutter to himself as he was making a tent? Surely his letters are full of the utterances of God for the new covenant. We know what the verses were that were flowing through David, as they are documented in the Psalms, Chronicles, Kings, and by Solomon in Proverbs.

My verse is not a formula, some mantra I began to say before and after every writing session. It is a meditation of the heart. As I meditated on its truth while writing, God spoke to me through it. He showed me how to write, led me to resources I could learn from, gave counsel on how to budget my time, advised on character, plot and dialogue. God is an awesome writer. Just look at the bible!

This is not meant to imply that my books have the validity of scripture. No one may add or take away from the canon that makes up the law and the prophets, or the writings of the new testament which emerged from them after the life and finished work of Jesus the Christ.

Gathering it firmly in my mind the truth that Jesus is the author and finisher of my novels has helped me to rest in His guiding hand over my writing sessions. I want only to communicate how this has allowed me to co-create with joy, in a rich flow of His Spirit. As revisions mounted in number, I had to place my faith all the more on the great Finisher that the story would one day be done. And eventually, with each piece of fiction, there has come a time when I knew that it was ready.

Christmas Kittens and Writing Fiction

Like most believers who write, whether fiction, non-fiction, blogs, books, articles, I write because I have a spiritual mandate, an inner urge so forceful, I dare not deny it. I write because the Holy Spirit inspires me to think big. But thinking big is secondary to the mandate.

My books are developing a following today, in this world, even without much marketing on my part. However, I also enjoy my career, my “day job” in the medical field, and unless I am led to stop and write full time, I’ll do both.

It’s true that I am a creative and that writing gives me an outlet for that continually bubbling newness rising up from where soul and spirit entwines with God’s. It’s a magnificent challenge to write well, one I’ll spend a lifetime working toward and never achieving to my full satisfaction, I’m almost sure. But it’s a challenge worth the investment of joyous, painstaking hours adding up to a good chunk of my life.

Yet, there’s more! Writing is more than a way to express and develop creatively.

The truth is, that as much as I do believe my books are meant for today’s generation, my overwhelming sense with my first two novels is that they will serve future generations, as well. Spontaneously, it comes to me at times that my books will be read by people through the rise and fall of nations, by souls who are groping for a true understanding of the gospel in the end times. I see them stumbling upon my books, finding the living God and hope amidst a deep descending darkness, and then circulating them to their friends.

Already my books have sparked new faith in a number of people. And those are just the ones I know about. It’s hard to find the real gospel in these times, in any time, truly. I know that I have, but because I have, I know how difficult the challenge can be. I write in a way that will allow people to find it.

Another aspect of writing for me is to respond to the need for enjoyable, quality entertainment, especially among God-fearing people. How often have you come to the end of a long week, wanting only to sit and watch a good movie, listen to a podcast or read a good book, only to find the pickings are bare? All too often you’ve opened a book or a movie that promises action and/or romance of real intellectual and inspirational substance, only to find it leads your mind and heart into places you’d rather not go, places not even worth going. Suddenly you’re living in someone else’s anxious nightmare and all you wanted was a a little recreation! If you aren’t careful, many stories will take you from feeling fine to being depressed and hopeless. Quite the opposite of what quality entertainment should accomplish.

Good entertainment should inspire us to dream, not crush us. It might contain sad truths about this world, but in the end, quality entertainment enlightens and in so doing, it uplifts.

We need as many great movies and novels as we can get. Schindler’s List and The Passion, God’s Not Dead, Fireproof and The War Room, Gone With The Wind, To Kill a Mockingbird, The Killing Fields, Snow Falling on Cedars, all are blockbuster hits because they enlighten as well as uplift. Stephen Baldwin has been making some very interesting, offbeat films which carry extremely powerful messages for people of faith. There’s always room for a well-done, quality movie, book or podcast that lets us relax without turning away from God, but rather turns us toward Him. If not turning us directly to God, a good story might also turn us to a greater appreciation of our purpose and our worth. Stories like It’s A Wonderful Life show us the dark and light side of life but in the end help us realize that each of us has value when we light the place we live in. We could also argue that NCIS and Rocky do that for us, too.

My writing is for the hungry ones, the thirsty ones, to let them know that there is a banquet they can enjoy in real life, and where to find it.

A simpler way of putting is to compare writing with rescuing kittens. I have two tiny kittens in my home right now. I am fostering them for the humane society, getting them ready for their forever homes. They are coming along nicely and they are going to make great pets. (photo below) From me they have learned how to enjoy being in someone’s lap, how to be careful with their claws, how to use a litter box, how a human can play with them, how to come when called (to the degree that cats ever do that!). Both of them were quite wild when I got them and they have made phenomenal progress. They are being imprinted with my love and prayers, with the peace, joy and TLC I give them. All this they will take with them for the rest of their lives, as a gift I am giving to those who will own them, long after these little furballs have forgotten my scent or my voice.

In the same way, our spirits can be imprinted with the personality and character of Charles Dickens or an Agatha Christie by reading their books, though we will never know them this side of heaven, and even if they were alive today, we would probably not have the opportunity to become more than superficially acquainted with them. My books, and every book worth reading, really, are like rescued kittens, sharing what I hope is the better part of me in common with the Creator of us all, for the delight and well-being and solace of the family here on planet Earth.

Marriage (for singles)

by Danyelle Wolfe Read

There tends to be a romance in my stories. Sometimes it’s central, sometimes it’s part of other aspects which are driving the story. I portray love in such a way as to bring back the joy of it. As one who has practiced therapy for couples and families, I create realistic love relationships. The romances in my books are anything but fluffy. They are possible. The characters are not idealized, they are flawed. I emphasize their chemistry over their physicality (there is a difference).

To find the person who really cares for us is a blessing, going back to the first man and woman in Eden.