M.B. Aznoe's Blog, page 4

A Novel Delayed

This year has been fraught with changes and difficulties for everyone. As you may recall, M. left his job to become a pastor in a small church in eastern MT. In addition, he is pursuing a master’s degree in pastoral studies (one class a semester) and working as the IT technician in our local school district. While we are greatly enjoying our new life here, we’ve found that our time to write is seriously decreased. So we are sadly going to have to delay the release of our next novel, Jyrya, until sometime in late January/ early February. We are currently in the revision stages but could not bring ourselves to release a half-completed work.

We do, however, have the new character sheet for Jyrya up on our website. Find it here. We hope to get the sound clips up around the Christmas holiday, and then the beginning of January, do a cover reveal. We will keep you posted both here and on our social media accounts. For now, have a blessed Thanksgiving weekend.

Updates on our life and novel

We have finally moved into our new abode, and M. has been installed as the leader of the church here. Due to COVID, we were forced to delay our move for a couple of months, but we were able to start church by the end of June. We’ve been here for a month now with only a few boxes left to unpack. Or they may just become part of the decor. We’ll see.

Anyway, we are still working on book 4 and have one complete draft. We are nearly a third of the way through the first revision, but progress has been slow with our move and the new ministry. The book has also presented its own challenges. For one, we will be adding a new point of view in Jyrya. I know up until this point, it’s only been Khomar and Aya, but as we wrote, we felt the story needed a new perspective. Don’t worry, though. It’s a character that you already know and love. The story also introduces a whole new race of people. We’ll be looking to get our new list of characters onto the site in the next month, so keep an eye out for the update!

PS: Here’s a picture of our newest writing buddy. Her name is Pepper. She doesn’t get up in front of the monitor to help us edit, but she does believe she’s a ninety pound lap-dog. Our kitty may someday forgive us for getting her.

To Plot a Novel

This past week was supposed to be our moving week. We had been waiting with excitement to begin our new phase of life pastoring a small church, but COVID-19 came and with it all of the lock-downs, causing our move to be delayed. Disappointing? Very much so, but thank God, He knows what we need and does not just give us what we want. God has taught us much in the past few weeks as we’ve clung to Him throughout this storm.

So after we dealt with our disappointment, M. decided to use the week we had intended to use for moving to instead focus on writing our next book. We had a bunch of pieces for the plot of Jyrya, but they scattered all over the place without any real cohesion. It was kind of like having a puzzle dumped out on the table with no picture to show you what you are making. It was going to take some dedicated time to figure it out.

So we decided to focus on the book for the entire week and see where God would take it. Every day we wrote for at least 4 hours and then plotted and planned for another 2 or more. It was exciting to watch the concepts of the story truly start to take shape. As the picture for the puzzle came into view, we sat back and marveled at the amazing God we serve.

This whole experience brings a verse to mind that many will be familiar with: Isaiah 40:31. An interesting word in this passage is the word “wait”. There are actually nine different Hebrew words that are translated “wait” in our English Bibles. In this particular passage, the specific word used means “to bind oneself to something”. I think it wraps up what we’ve been experiencing these past few weeks.

New Adventures, Big Changes

A couple of years ago, M. and I both felt God beginning to lead us in a new direction in our life. M. has been a programmer for years, but was feeling called to move into something else. As we started praying over this prompting, God led us to start writing the series of books that we had always talked of writing but had never actually started. Thus, the Swordflower Saga was born.

However, soon after the release of Elvensty in 2018, God made it clear that while authoring books was only a part of His plan to fulfill our hearts’ desire to change direction. We continued to write while M. pressed on in his current job. The desire for change remained, but the solution remained elusive. Finally, I asked M. straight out: if money was no object, what do you think God would have you be? His answer was almost instantaneous: a pastor. So from then on, I began to pray for leading in that direction.

Fast forward to January 2020. Our district superintendent was leading our church’s board meeting (of which M. is a part). During the course of the meeting, he mentioned a church that had been without a pastor for over a decade, and yet they had remained faithful, even saving aside money for a pastor they prayed would someday come. It was very small and located on a remote Native American reservation in Montana, but M.’s heart was stirred. When M. got home that night, he asked what I thought of the idea of pastoring this small church. We prayed over it that night and the next day sent an email off to our district superintendent asking if this would even be possible for someone like M. whose degree was in another field.

So to make a long story short, it was, and M. is on track to become the pastor of this church at the end of April. God has worked in amazing ways throughout the entire process to make this happen, and we are excited to see how He will continue to work in the future. While we still plan to continue writing according to our current schedule (to finish Jyrya by the end of the year, book #5 next year, and continue writing into the future as God leads), we will also be busy pastoring and building up a small church. I hope to blog about this other work for the kingdom of God on our other website: morethani.org.

Our new church and one of our sons.

Son of God, Holy Child

We finally got a little time and made a quick video of the song “Son of God, Holy Child” that is part of the Aventye of Love in Elvensty. In this video, B. plays the Turkish Oud which is our concept of what Aya’s lute might look like. The other instrument she plays is an acoustic bass. We hope to make more of these in the coming months as most of our songs in the book have music as well.

Watch the video on youtube here.

Dalmain Available Now!

Dalmain, Book 3 of the Swordflower Saga is now available on Amazon. Get your copy today!

The Saga Continues:

Dalmain, Book 3 of the Swordflower Saga e-book edition is now available for pre-order on Amazon. It will be coming out on November 15th in both paperback and e-book.

16 Thoughts on 16 Years

Wow! It’s been a long time since we’ve written a blog post. Summer got busy with children going here and there between camps, church activities, and our family vacation.  Somewhere in the midst of all of that chaos, we celebrated our 16th wedding anniversary. It’s been an amazing journey, but God’s faithfulness has overshadowed our own human weaknesses and sustained us through many trials and hardships. So in light of all of that, we thought we’d share 16 things we’ve learned over the course of those years. This isn’t exhaustive by any means, but these are things we’ve practiced in our own life that have helped keep us together and eager to face another 16 years. Many of these are great principles for any relationship, not just marriage.

1) Draw close to God. Inevitably, when our relationship is struggling, one or both of us are drifting spiritually. When we are both drawing close to God, He unites us with Him which also brings us closer to each other.

2) Pray together. This is a great way to draw closer to each other and to God. It helps with unity as well because in the process, you learn about the heart of the other person.

3) Pursue God together. Talk about the sermon on Sunday. Talk about a cool thing you read in the Bible or a new (sometimes even weird!) concept of faith you’ve just discovered. Listen to their insights into the Scripture as well.

4) Look for ways to do ministry together. You learn a lot about someone when you work alongside them, and what better way to do that than in serving others?

5) A little humility goes a long way. Being willing to admit you’re not perfect and laughing at your mistakes goes a long way in helping smooth over disagreements and misunderstandings.

6) Leave changing the other person in God’s hands. It is not your job nor your responsibility to change your spouse (not to mention, it is virtually impossible).  God alone is in the business of changing hearts.

7) Pray for your spouse. Prayer changes things (and people) as well as brings God’s perspective into your relationship.

8) Allow hardships to push you together, not pull you apart. Don’t look at your spouse as an enemy but a fellow soldier in the fight. Some of the greatest growth in our marriage was in some of the deepest struggles in our life because we realized we were both on the same side.

9) Leave behind your time as a single person. If you constantly look back with longing at all you had before marriage (old friends, family relationships, etc.), you will find a way to get back there. Instead, embrace the blessings of your life together and enjoy it to the full.

10) Find contentment where you are at. This is similar to the previous one, but it encompasses more than just the former life. Don’t grumble about what you think you lack. Grumbling about what you don’t have only leads to growling at each other. Instead always be on the lookout for what is good.  Count your blessings.

11) Practice the art of patience. None of us are perfect so don’t expect perfection in a spouse. Patience covers over the little irritations and loves the person in spite of them. The golden rule is a great guideline: treat your spouse as you wish to be treated.

12) Avoid the concept of “me” time.  You’re not entitled to it, so if you don’t get it, don’t grumble. Learn to find the value of “us” time instead. We find talking to each other about anything and everything to be one of our favorite pastimes.

13) Communicate with words. Unlike our book, there’s no real-life link that gives our spouse insight into our minds, and we’re not as good at reading people as we think.  So talk it out, and make sure to listen when the other is talking.  Create an environment where each person’s feelings and ideas are valued.

14) Don’t assume you know what your spouse wants. Even if you know they really enjoyed something once doesn’t mean it’s what they always want.  Your spouse is also not a stereotype.  When we assume what someone else is going to say or want, we have undermined the environment where they are valued.

15) Don’t keep secrets.  This doesn’t mean surprise parties cannot be planned, but even there, be careful. Secrets can lead to suspicions. We have a rule that whenever the other asks what we are thinking, we tell them. But beware: sometimes this sparks some interesting topics of conversation (see #12).

16) Don’t compare your spouse to others. Each person is unique and has their own gifts. Learn to love your own spouse in how God made them and who He is transforming them into, not in who you might wish them to be.

This certainly isn’t an exhaustive list, and I think we could do a full blog post on each point. These are just some of the things that we’ve found have drawn us closer together and closer to God, enabling us to weather all of the storms that life has thrown at us. We hope they encourage and bless you as well.

~ M. B. Aznoe

The Undervalued Encourager

The other day, I (B.) was in Walmart, and the elderly gentleman who was ringing up my groceries asked if he could make a personal observation. Confused, I nodded, and he proceeded to tell me that I had a lovely smile. He thanked me for sharing it with him. Now I always feel as though I am socially awkward and not outgoing enough, so that comment made my day. It got me thinking about how undervalued such small acts of kindness are. Not just the act of smiling at those who serve us, but also commenting on something that makes us happy.

Palo in our story is our most encouraging character. We often said throughout the writing of Auxland that without Palo, Khomar would have given up. It’s a bit like the Sam and Frodo relationship of Lord of the Rings. While Palo’s role may have been small, it was vital. Just think about the people in your own life who encourage you to keep going in the face of opposition. Where would you be without them?

These encouragers are often the most overlooked and undervalued in their roles. At least until they aren’t there. Then their absence is like a hole in our lives, and we wonder why we are so discouraged all the time. However, Hebrew 3:13 says: “But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called ‘Today,’ so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness.” We are all called to encourage those God has placed in our lives. So don’t be afraid to tell someone what you appreciate about them or their work.

And don’t forget that encouragers need encouragement too.

Divine Coincidences

God brings people across our path every day for His purposes and never by accident.  I (B.) was reminded of this fact again when I “just happened” to sit by a lady from Libby, MT at the NCW renewal conference in Seattle, WA.  There were at least 30 other people in the room, but she was the one who happened to be by me.  Now I’m from Kalispell which is really close to Libby, at least by Montana standards.  I had come over to Seattle with a friend from my own town, but I had no idea that there was any one else from my area attending.  It was a pleasant surprise to find someone else from Northwest Montana.  Then at lunchtime, she happened to choose the restaurant my friend and I chose which reaffirmed in my mind that this was no accident but a divine appointment.

Now, I’m not perfect at recognizing or obeying the divine appointments that God brings into my life, but I am getting better.  Probably the biggest one I missed out on was at the college and career group bonfire at the beginning of my first year of college.  I heard a man behind me talking about Rich Mullins, a favorite musician of mine.  I felt a nudge that I should turn around a speak with him, but I didn’t.  God graciously gave me another chance at a Lord of the Rings movie night, but it was not until years later when my now husband and I were comparing notes that we realized it had been him sitting behind me at the bonfire.  We still laugh about that missed opportunity to this day.

This concept is something we love to weave into our stories as well, like Khomar just happening to be there the night Aya was attacked in the chapel or Palo just happening to come to Dhrudmon’s house during the Crossing.  We serve a God who is working out His plan in the world around us, and He is able to weave our stories, missed opportunities included, in a way that brings Him glory.

So next time a person is brought across our path and we feel the gentle nudge of God to speak with them, let’s resolve to follow that leading and leave the results in God’s capable hands.