I love this beautiful cover, and I love the beautiful story my friend, MaryAnn Diorio shares with us below about her reasons for writing this book. Welcome back to my blog, MaryAnn.
Thank you, Rose, for having me as a guest on your blog today. Not only are you a respected fellow author, but you are also a dear friend and sister in Christ. It is an honor to be here.
You asked me to tell of my journey writing my latest novella, SURRENDER TO LOVE. Years ago, my dear writing mentor, Nikki Arana, taught me that writing a story is much more than a literary journey. It is a spiritual journey in which, during the writing process, the author learns more about herself and about God. This is exactly what happened to me while writing SURRENDER TO LOVE.
As my readers know, writing fiction is my passion. Fiction has the ability to transform hearts for Christ, and my greatest passion is to see hearts transformed by Jesus Christ. A transformed heart is a truthful heart, and a truthful heart is a heart that lives in freedom. Jesus said that the truth will set us free. My ultimate purpose in writing fiction is to be used of God to set people free. Only the truth will set people free. That is the reason my officially registered trademark for my fiction is Truth through Fiction ®.
Well, my own heart was transformed as I wrote SURRENDER TO LOVE. Over the four years during which this story went from only a seed to full fruition, our Lord was dealing with me regarding surrendering to Him. Surrender has been and continues to be a continual theme in my own life. I’ve discovered that God calls us to surrender all totally to Him, but sometimes that surrender occurs in layers.
In the Author’s Note to my story, I recount what I call my “Isaac Experience”—one of the biggest experiences of surrender in my life. Since that Isaac Experience, I have had many other moments when God required me to surrender another aspect of my life.
Sometimes we think we’ve surrendered all when, in reality, there are stlll little corners of our lives that need surrendering. As I wrote SURRENDER TO LOVE, our Lord showed me that dying to oneself means dying to every impulse of the flesh that would rob us of Him. As I wrote this story, I saw even more clearly that the failure to surrender robs us of intimacy with our precious Lord.
Fear, rather than rebellion, is usually at the root of a failure to surrender. But as we come to know Jesus more intimately, He drives out that fear and enables us to give Him our all.
So, that is my brief account of my experience in writing SURRENDER TO LOVE. I trust that your readers will be as blessed reading my story as I was in writing it.
Surrender to Love is available in both kindle and print.
http://www.amazon.com/Surrender-Love-MaryAnn-Diorio-PhD/dp/0930037251/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1435959374&sr=8-2&keywords=surrender+to+love+by+maryann+diorio
Dr. MaryAnn Diorio writes compelling fiction for both children and adults. She is a Pennsylvania native who has lived in New Jersey most of her life. She is married to Dominic, a retired ER physician. They have two awesome daughters and five rambunctious grandchildren. When she is not writing stories, MaryAnn loves to read, paint, and make up silly songs for her grandchildren. You may learn more about her at www.maryanndiorio.com.
Congratulations, MaryAnn! Looking forward to reading this story. Rose, thanks so much for hosting today!
Thank you very much, Karen. I appreciate your good wishes. Blessings on you! :)