Wednesday, November 1, 2017

“True liberty is doing the right thing.”

— For Love of Liberty by Julie Lessman

You know, most of the spiritual lessons in my books are things I have learned the hard way … uh, kind of like my characters do because, well, I hate to go through things alone!

But I have NEVER written a book where I actually learned the spiritual lesson ON THE SPOT.

Until my latest novel — For Love of Liberty. And yes, it is a short novel rather than the novella I originally intended it to be because frankly I have trouble writing short stories.

Oh, what a surprise! 😉

So, what’s the lesson I learned? Well, it’s our header quote today, which is taken from the book — “True liberty is doing the right thing.”

And how did I learn it?

Not easily, I can tell you that! You see, last week my husband and I were vandalized. Now, mind you, we live in a gated community, so we always feel fairly safe. Safe, that is, until someone slashed our tires. Unfortunately, we heavily suspect who did it, but we do not have proof. So we bit the bullet, and paid the $600 to rectify the situation.

Only I didn’t count on the barrage of fear and bitterness that came along with it.

Do you have any idea HOW many prayers I have prayed for the person who did this? TONS AND TONS. Because as most of you know, I believe in praying for those who persecute you and praising and thanking God in the midst of trials. So I do it all. Over and over again.

But you know what? I have blood in my veins. Which means I am a human being who, YES, has an Irish temper, and is also a CDQ (caffeinated drama queen). So no matter how much success I had in trying to pray, forgive, and praise God in this situation, somehow the devil always managed to sneak in and trip me up here and there. Like late at night when my body and mind are tired. Or when I was on the treadmill in front of the window — a window that just happens to look straight at the culprit’s house. Or whenever I looked out our kitchen window to the car that was vandalized, wondering if and when the vandal would do it again. Trust me — the devil has been relentless!

Case in point. I prayed nonstop for this vandal when it happened, asking God to bless him and bring him to know Jesus. And I did beautifully all day long. But when my husband and I went to bed that night, we got into a fight because he did not want to tell the police his suspicions of who we thought the vandal might be, and I wanted him to. “We don’t have any proof, Julie,” he said, and I argued that we needed to tell the police every hunch we had — hunches that were not only confirmed by our gut, but by several other people who’d seen things as well.

Yes, Keith and I finally did make up and go to bed, but it was difficult sleeping that night. For Keith because we’d argued, which we seldom do. For me, because I have an imagination like a runaway train, so I envisioned the slasher coming back and hurting more than our tires. Both of us wrestled with fear and anger for a long while that night.

Keith finally fell asleep, and I was reading, although I will admit that it was difficult to concentrate. And then, all at once, in my mind’s ear, I heard the phrase from my book, “true liberty is doing the right thing,” a spiritual theme I had sown into For Love of Liberty. Suddenly in one wild thud of my heart, I realized that true liberty for me was following God’s will in this situation, and not allowing the devil to turn me into an angry, unforgiving person like the person who slashed our tires. Because that’s what satan wants, and I will not give it to him. Fear and bitterness — the devil’s tools — were trying to ruin my life and my husband’s, and we will not let it. Instead we will honor God and pray for a person who desperately needs Jesus.

So I learned in a most personal way that “true liberty IS doing the right thing,” and true liberty is honoring God. I don’t know about you, but this is the mantra of my soul because I want to be free. How ’bout you?

🇺🇸 New Novel — For Love of Liberty!

It’s coming, I promise! I finally finished my prequel novella to my Silver Lining Ranch series, For Love of Liberty, scheduled for release November 24th.

Only there’s one problem.

Uh, it’s no longer a novella, so I hope you guys don’t mind. Nope, it’s a short novel, which is why it took me a bit longer to get it out, but I hope you will think it’s worth it and consider pre-ordering. Here’s the jacket blurb:

A Match Made in Heaven?

Or Someplace a Whole Lot Warmer?

She’s stubborn, educated, and looking
to give women the vote.
He’s bullheaded, successful, and looking
to give her a piece of his mind.
But when things heat up, they just may give each other
a piece of their hearts.

PRE-ORDER FOR LOVE OF LIBERTY HERE

😳 Facebook LIVE — Q&A with a CDQ!

I invite you to join me for another fun Facebook Live THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 16, 2017 at 12:00 NOON CST, when I will be giving away THREE copies of For Love of Liberty.

How can you win? Just show up during the FB Live on my author page and leave a comment OR send me a question you want answered, and if I answer it during the FB Live, you automatically win your choice of any one of my e-books, including For Love of Liberty. So, be sure to put it on your calendar, and hope to see you there!

JULIE’S FACEBOOK LIVE

🎉 Giveaway!

Have you seen the video interview I did for Cara Grandle’s Periscope show? It’s geared to writers, but I think readers would find it interesting, too, so come on by.