Davalynn Spencer's Blog, page 56
September 5, 2014
Why You Read Fiction – part 2
Last week’s comments about why you read fiction were enlightening, encouraging, and as varied as the titles on my office book shelves. But it was the results that really touched my heart. Here’s a breakdown:
Reasons for reading fiction:
Refueling
Entertainment
Emotional and mental relaxation
Stimulation
Mental get-away
Results of reading fiction:
Hearing God’s voice
New hope
A changed life or marriage
Spiritual growth
Information and example
Experiencing unknown worlds
Meeting new people
As a novelist, I read a lot of books. It’s my favorite pastime. In the last few months I’ve read several novels that offered one or more of all the things mentioned above. I‘d like to share a few of the newer titles and recent award-winners with you this week, and next week, I’ll list older releases.
In exchange, I’d like to hear what book or books have blessed you this year—that way we can all benefit from new-to-us stories. An old classic or a recent release, it doesn’t matter.
Resources:
Five Days in Skye by Carla Laureano
2014 RITA Award winner for Inspirational Romance
All in Good Time by Maureen Lang
2014 Selah Award Winner, Romance
Once Upon a Prince by Rachel Hauck
2014 Selah Award Finalist, Romance
For Such a Time by Kate Breslin
It Had to Be You by Susan May Warren
Four Weddings and a Kiss a Western Bride Collection by Margaret Brownley, Robin lee Hatcher, Mary Connealy, and Debra Clopton
So tell me, what great book has touched you in a unique way this year? Any genre (other than those obviously inappropriate). Let me hear from you!
August 29, 2014
Why do you read fiction?
Last weekend I met a scientist who shared with me her recent bout of burnout. Blackout, checkout, whatever term fit, she needed out.
The only books she had in her home were nonfiction, science, history, how-to. They weren’t what she needed during those weary days. Too much effort, no comfort.
She called a friend for suggested reading material, and the friend brought her a few Janette Oke novels.
Those simple stories spoke to this highly educated and scientifically minded woman’s heart unlike her library that spoke to her brain. They touched something deep inside and brought tears and healing, she said.
Then she looked me in the eye with a smile and added, “Jesus told stories.”
There’s something about the power of story.
Why do YOU read fiction? I’d love to hear from you.
August 19, 2014
All the world’s a page
Our daughter Amanda came out from California to spend a few days here last week, and one of the first things she noticed was the blue sky—a crystal clear, sapphire canopy right overhead. Where she lives, the sky is typically white.
While she was here, we went on a half-day Jeep tour through Red Canyon and the mountains beyond. Thank the Lord for seat belts!
And of course Amanda had to stand on the EDGE of the ledge to take a picture while Mom took a picture and prayed for stability.
During our trip that day, I thought about what was right in my backyard: grandeur, beauty, history. If I hadn’t taken a tour off the normal everyday path, I would not have seen these wonders. A similar thing happened to Moses when he turned aside to see the burning bush. If he hadn’t stepped off the normal everyday path, he might have missed hearing from God.
All the world’s a page, and the stories written there are worth the discovery.
Take a moment, an hour, a day. Step aside and listen, observe. See what amazing things the Lord has written.
August 4, 2014
Give-away
What will you pick?
Contrast is everywhere, especially where I live in Fremont County, Colorado. On one side of the Arkansas River Valley, paleontologists have spent nearly two centuries uncovering dinosaur fossils including encrusted footprints, fossilized eggs, and the complete skeletal remains of a stegosaurus.
A few miles to the south and east lies some of the most fertile land in the state, where early 19th century settlers planted row crops, hay fields, and apple orchards—some of which still produce today.
The land here is a life metaphor: arid and verdant.
We have all trudged through dry, dessert-like periods, wondering where the water of our faith was. And we’ve relished the cool and restful periods, rich in productivity where the fruit of our labor abounds.
The key is remembering the faithfulness of our Lord: He is with us in both settings. But the miracle comes when He brings life from the wasteland.
This theme plays out in my new release, Romancing the Widow. Martha Hutton believes she will never leave the dry, arid place in which she has found her heart. But God has more for her – just like He does for you and me. That more is life.
I have come that they might have life, and have it more abundantly. –Jesus
See that little word “might”? It implies we have a choice.
What do you choose? Dry fossils of a dead past or the promise of fruitful life in Jesus?
(Colon Orchards – a fourth-generation orchard near Canon City with still-bearing heirloom trees.)
July 21, 2014
On my own?
I watch my 1-year-old granddaughter one day a week. She slows me down, thank God. She draws my focus to tiny hands, the floor I thought was clean, the lower shelves of my book case. She forces me to look at things from a different perspective. And she demonstrates an unparalleled determination.
As a new walker, she falls on her padded bottom countless times. Toddling around the house much faster than she should, she is tripped up by a loose throw rug, or a toy she doesn’t see, or the corner of the blanket she insists on dragging like Linus. But she never gives up. She just keeps getting up.
How many times have I tripped and fallen spiritually, emotionally, literally? I don’t get up quite as quickly as my granddaughter. Sometimes I just lie there for a minute and moan. After all, the ground is a little farther away for me. But just like her, I have someone watching over me, checking things out from my perspective, understanding exactly what it’s like to be in my shoes—or chubby toes. And He loves me even more than I love my granddaughter. Hard to imagine, isn’t it?
When I pick up that little bundle of wiggles to comfort her or listen to her frustrated, evolving language, I am reminded that the Lord does the same for me.
Run to Him when you fall. He will pick you up and comfort you.
***
As a mother comforts her child, so will I comfort you;
(Isaiah 66:13 NIV)
July 7, 2014
Independence – in everything?
It rained at our house on the Fourth of July. But not as much as it did at this mud-eo a few years back in Drummond, Montana. Only once have I seen a rodeo canceled due to weather, but I guess standing water in the arena would do it.
Regardless of the time of year, there is always a lot of red, white and blue at a rodeo. Patriotic people, those cowboys and cowgirls. But sometimes independence isn’t what they’re looking for.
Independence is great when it comes to governments, kings and countries. But you won’t find an independent-minded bull rider at a rodeo. Each cowboy depends on the bullfighter to get him out of a jackpot, or to be close by in case of a hang-up.
Aren’t we the same? Not quite as self-sufficient as we’d like to think?
I’m grateful for my independence—for liberty, for freedom. But I’m also grateful that I can depend upon my husband, family and friends. I’m thankful I can depend on law enforcement and first responders if I get in a storm.
But above all, I’m dependent upon God for His faithfulness, mercy and blessings.
Jesus said there would be a few hang-ups in life. But He encouraged us to not lose heart because He has overcome everything there is to overcome. I’m dependent upon Him for that.
We have much to be thankful for in this nation, and it’s not just independence. Let’s be sure to thank our God and the men and women around us upon whom we depend to keep our country, our homes and ourselves safe and free.
Keep me safe, O God, for in you I take refuge.
Psalm 16:1 NIV
June 23, 2014
Welcome to Cowboy Country
Our dear friends, Mark and Lynne Schricker, took my husband and me on a picnic-lunch tour of true Cowboy Country last week – the country of my heart and the country that serves as the setting for my recent book, Branding the Wrangler’s Heart.
Hop in the back of the pickup for a fresh-air ride and pretend you’re a kid again. Or take a deep, clear breath, let go of life’s clamor and clutter, and imagine you’re trailing cows to the home ranch, enjoying the scenery and just “airing out” as Lynne puts it.
Welcome to the ranch and the winter feeding grounds… 
Not far from here stands an old cabin built by an early rancher.
And Mama, look! There’s water right at the house, out in the front yard, closer than the privy. 
No walking to the creek.
A modern cabin stands nearby 
with a solid foundation that keeps everything upright.
If only these old cedar-pole corrals could talk . 
I’d love to hear their stories about the way it used to be. 
The hazy Sangre de Cristos raise their snowy peaks in farewell as we say good-bye to the high parks.
Indian paintbrush and mountain lupine
help soften the sadness of leaving.
But in my dreams … and in my books … I’ll be living here. 
June 9, 2014
Read some winners this summer
I was so thrilled to learn that one of my books was named a finalist for two awards this year, that I kept opening the email notices over and over again just to read the good news! Silly, I know, but it’s not every day one receives such encouraging messages.
My first Heartsong Presents book from 2013, The Rancher’s Second Chance, was the novel nominated.
The Selah Award – Fiction: Romance
The three finalists listed alphabetically were:
Rachel Hauck—Once Upon a Prince (Zondervan)
Maureen Lang—All in Good Time (Tyndale Publishers)
Davalynn Spencer—The Rancher’s Second Chance (Love Inspired / Heartsong Presents)
The Selah Award was presented May 21 during the Blue Ridge Mountains Christian Writers Conference in North Carolina. Lang won the award with her historical romance, All in Good Time (Tyndale). Hauck’s contemporary novel and mine both finaled.
Just as I became accustomed to seeing my title on the Selah list, another email arrived announcing the second nomination. I must admit, it never gets old.
Inspirational Reader’s Choice Award - Short Contemporary
The three finalists listed alphabetically are:
Yuletide Twins by Renee Andrews (Love Inspired)
For Love of Eli by Loree Lough (Abingdon Press)
The Rancher’s Second Chance by Davalynn Spencer (Heartsong Presents)
Results of the IRCA will be announced in San Antonio, Texas, July 27 during the general meeting for FHL (Faith, Hope & Love), a division of Romance Writers of America.
What an honor to be included with such fine authors. I hope you’ll check out all these titles this summer and enjoy encouraging Christian fiction.
Thank you for reading the stories of our hearts.
Davalynn
May 31, 2014
Don’t forget to remember
I found my epitaph—at least it’s what I hope my family will choose:
“Though she never performed a miraculous sign, all that she said about Jesus was true.”
That’s an almost direct quote from John 10:41 in the NIV Bible, and refers to John the Baptist: “Though John never performed a miraculous sign, all that John said about this man was true.”
“This man” is Jesus and the statement follows an explanation of why He spent a few days hanging out with his cousin on the east side of the Jordan River. I imagine a quiet setting with grazing flocks in grassy meadows. Simple people. No city noise or clamoring crowds.
Everyone who lived in the area knew ol’ John. A bit weird, perhaps; a baptizer, yes. Miracle-worker, no. But what he said about Jesus was spot on. What a reputation.
I am definitely one of the many who never performed a miraculous sign. Sometimes I feel that I’m not even making a dent, much less a difference. But as a writer, I’ve said a few things about Jesus, and those are the words that I pray will live on.
With Memorial Day recently passed, remembrance is on the hearts of many. What do you want to be remembered for?
