The Seeking Soul – Trust and Acknowledge the Lord

Cute girl praying with her eyes closed (isolated on back)Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths. (Proverbs 3:5-6 KJV)

With the publication of Reapers, some have wondered why I have written a story that has no clear faith element. After writing more than twenty novels that contain faith principles, some more overt than others, have I turned away from shining the light of spiritual truth?

Not at all.

Although Reapers has no reference to God or faith, it is designed to help readers think about death, the existence of the soul, and an afterlife destination. The story is a seeking for spiritual significance in a form that many people experience–characters search for answers about the afterlife. They do so while wandering in darkness without any apparent guidance or light from above and while in the midst of surrounding corruption.

This kind of seeking is reality for many people in this world. My hope is that readers will relate to the Reapers tale and seek along with the characters as they hope to find light in their dark corners of the world.

One of the reasons I am including spiritual reflections in this blog is to make it clear that even as I write fiction that is more mainstream and less overt with regard to faith elements, I am in no way hiding my light. Every reader who is drawn to my blog will be able to see that I am a Christian who expresses principles of faith without apology. I acknowledge God and trust in Him.

At the same time, I hope that the blog will help all writers, regardless of religious affiliation or lack thereof. There will be no intentional pressure to convert to or embrace any faith. Yet, I hope that the blog entries will help everyone along their own spiritual journeys, and I will be glad to discuss faith issues with anyone who inquires.

In many ways, this year feels like a brand new start. By finishing Omega Dragon, I have brought a twelve-novel story world to an end. This is a bittersweet event in that I am leaving a good friend behind, but now I am free to explore new horizons without having this enormous story world tugging at me to create a new “best book in the series.”

I also realize that any new book series from this point forward won’t be an instant seller like those in the Dragons in our Midst story world, which, after the first book became popular, carried no risk of failure. Such lack of certainty is actually exciting. It’s fun to venture out without knowing that the figurative ground beneath my feet is solid. This is true adventure. This is faith. If the ground crumbles, I have a God who will give me wings to fly.

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Categories: Thoughts from the Heart

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12 replies

  1. Have you ever considered writing a sequel to Echoes from the Edge, or is that story done?

  2. Okay while I am sad that there won’t be any DioM books (Speaking of when does Omega Dragon come out?) I am excited to move on from the series as well and into some of your other work. I started reading the Dragons of Starlight series and it was hard to go from mostly all dragons are good to no the dragons aren’t good and are enslaving humans. But I’m excited to give the series a second try as well as some of your other books.

  3. waiting, somewhat impatiently, for the next book after Reapers! 🙂

    • Me, too! Writing Omega Dragon and going on tour took a great deal of time, so writing Reapers 2 has been set back, but it will be my next published book after Omega Dragon. I just don’t know the date yet.

  4. @Mr. Davis: Ooh, that’s neat. It’s always interesting to find out what sparks certain ideas.

  5. Thank you for your post about including a faith element in a story versus also writing stories that get readers thinking about their faith and the afterlife. This helped clarify a story focus in my own story. I had always thought a Christian author must keep returning to a religious message or their focus wasn’t on the proper subject.

    Thank you.

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