Year of 5,000 Books

And Now Chaz...

As a scribe for God, I planned to write one book about three women, two who meet while walking the Appalachian Trail and a third who joins them. When I discovered that the third character was a Sephardic Jew, I was unable to move forward with the story since I had never known a Spanish Jew. A week later, I attended a Messianic conference. During lunch with seven of my friends, I admitted, “I need help.”

“What do you need help with? Corrine asked.

“I need information about a Sephardic woman I’m supposed to write about.”

“My husband, Hilario, is a Sephardic Jew. I lived in Spain for fifteen years. We have books about the Jews and the Inquisition. I will ask Hilario to select a few for you to read,” Trish offered.

“There’s a great book for sale here!” Corrine exclaimed. “It will give you information on the Inquisition, how the Jews fled as well as their presence in New Spain, which is now Mexico.”

“Then, of course, there are the little known towns in the Basque region of Spain like Ulibarri, where my family lived,” Janice added.

I thought I would write what I wanted to write. However, God equipped me to write what He wanted me to write. First, with the books my Sephardic friends gave me, later with the resources I needed for my extensive research, which breathed life into the six novels of the Casa Saga.

When asked about being an author, I like to say, “Many believe that God calls the equipped. In my case, God equipped me once I responded to His call and because of His calling, my heart which at first was filled with sorrow, rejoiced in Him.”

After writing for three years and completing five of the six novels, God had me put the work aside. If He had not called, directed, and taught me the blessing of being a scribe for Him, I might not have been able to stop. Yet, His words still ringing in my heart the Holy Spirit reminded me of all the times I had thought I misunderstood what I was given and wondered if I should change the text. However, God always insisted that I was not to edit Him so I learned to rest in the Lord. During this time, it was especially important that I had learned this skill because many trials befell Ron and me from my broken hip, to shattered relationships. Furthermore, every time I visited with a writer or author friend of mine they would ask, “How is the writing going?”

I found myself saying, “I am waiting upon the Lord.” I truly believed that there were things God needed to teach or show me. For the first time in my life, I was in no hurry to move forward for the journey thus far had been one of focused though joyful endurance. Yet at the very moment that I should have relaxed, I began to feel like an expectant mother, knowing that a babe was being birthed, knowing the sex, and exact design of every aspect of that precious child, but not knowing when that miracle would happen.

I felt that way until I attended services last Shabbat. I had gotten in the habit of taking a journal with me because our rabbi’s sermons always stirred something within me and being a writer I wanted to write down what he said and what God revealed. However, last Shabbat I received a blessing I did not expect when the worship team sang songs that contained these words;

1. The Fallen Tent of David

2. The Daughter of Zion

3. A Royal Gem in the Hand of God

4. Behold Yeshua Comes

5. The Steps of a Good Man

6. Psalm 125: 1 “As the mountains surround Jerusalem, so the Lord surrounds his people both now and forevermore.”

Suddenly I understood how Messiah wanted the last book to begin. If you think it odd that, I am now mentioning Yeshua where before I wrote about God let me share that the change is deliberate. Chaz, Naomi’s husband, becomes more than a hero. For in the last book he becomes a foreshadowing of Messiah Ben David – The King Messiah, who returns to claim His bride, and with whom believers will tabernacle with forever.

Next entry, “In the Beginning.