Are You Listening?

Do you ever find that is you look directly at someone, you can hear them better? It's like your listening skills suddenly improve by just engaging another sense, sight. I thought about this early one morning recently. I had the song, "Listen" by Trin-i-tee 5:7 on my mind. I hadn't heard it recently or anything. But I was reflecting on how I was really hearing God recently. You know..the LOUD and CLEAR kind of hearing. That caused the song came to mind. And of course, because I am strange jumble, I started asking myself what listening meant to me. Why was my "listening" and  subsequently, "hearing" so much better?

It is because my other senses are fully engaged. I'm walking around with my eyes open, really looking for signs and hints. When you seek, you find.  I've been reading the word "looking" for what new thing God wants to show me about that book or verse I feel I know so well or not so well.

I'm also touching. This past year I haven't written much. Over the holidays I realized through a sort bout with a dark period that seemed like depression that I have to write. Writing is what God wired me to do. It's how I connect all the dots He's showing me. It's one way I connect to Him. I need it like air. So I'm touching pen or pencil to paper, fingers to keyboard and God's heart for others with my words.


And I'm speaking. I'm praying. I got away from that during the holidays. Rick's back went out so a lot more stuff fell on my plate to handle. I got so caught up in my own pity party of  "I'm so tired, no one appreciates me, life is so hard, " that I forgot to lean on the One who could sustain me, renew me and carry me through. I hate when I neglect our relationship. Trust me, God never neglects me, but I often Him. Now though, we're back to regular conversations. A girl couldn't be happier.  :)

Listening. Seems so one-dimensional when you say it. But when you do it, I mean really do it, it's very multi-dimensional. So much of you is involved. And it's a sweet experience, be it with God or another person. Being a motor mouth myself, I don't listen enough. But that's changing now. Being an extrovert, I crave interaction. Listening is interactive. Who knew? LOL

My final thought was this: You can't experience the beauty of the conversation or message if you don't hear it. Are you listening?

Be Blessed!


Mari

Light Under The House...and a Giveaway!!!

Today I'm featuring an interview with author Aaron L about his book Light Under The House. One of you lucky readers will win a copy of the book! Without further ado, meet Aaron!

What inspired you to write this story?
I feel very strongly about the breakdown of the family and fatherlessness and how there is much dysfunction and despair because of it. I wanted to tell a story to shed some light on the situations that many face and hopefully bring some type of reversal to the current dynamic in whatever small way I could. I wanted to challenge men, fathers especially, to be who they were created to be ... its certainly a challenge I face myself daily. A challenge that I often fail at but keeping picking myself up to start again.

Did you model any of the characters after people you know?
I used many things to model the characters ... people I know, other literary figures, actors, biblical characters, celebrities ... the characters are a combination of all of these. I wanted them to be new and familiar at the same time, universal.

Why did you choose the Dallas/Ft Worth area as your primary setting?
First of all, the south has a certain reputation for is deep spiritual roots (bible belt and all). I patterned the book in part after GONE WITH THE WIND (another book set in the south) ... not in the sense of a love story but in the sense of "here is civilization that is about to cease to exist, come see it before its gone". In the case of my novel it is a spiritual civilization on the brink. Dallas just seemed to have everything I needed to make the story work from both a symbolic and technical standpoint.

Do you have plans to write more books?
i have an idea or two floating around ... nothing concrete yet.

What sort of research did you do for the historical portions of your book? What did you like best about the research? The least?
My co-author and I researched deeply into ancient history for some aspects of the book ... I learned a lot of things ... some things I'd rather forget but most of it was enlightening. What I liked best was that it confirmed for me mostly what I already knew, there really is nothing new under the sun.

Where can we find out about more opportunities for a free copy of this book? 
Follow @ChristianSpkrs on Twitter. You can purchase the book through Amazon at http://www.amazon.com/Light-Under-the-House-ebook/dp/B0060C2O92.

 I was given a complimentary copy of this book from the author in exchange for posting the author’s interview on my blog. This blog tour is managed by Christian Speakers Services (http://ChristianSpeakersServices.com).

NOW FOR THE TREAT: One lucky reader will win a copy of Light Under The House. All you need to do to enter is leave a comment with your email address. Winner will be announced on Friday January 20, 2012. 

Whew I know I am late but  the winner of the book is Robin Porter! Congrats Robin!