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BOOKS BY LORILN ROBERTS VISIT LORILYN'S WEBSITE BY CLICKING ON THE LINK TO THE LEFT TO LEARN MORE ABOUT HER BOOKS.
LINKS TO BOOK PAGES TO ORDER
- Home
- Tails and Purrs for the Heart and Soul
- Seventh Dimension - The Door, Book 1, A YA Fantasy
- Seventh Dimension - The King, Book 2, A YA Fantasy
- Seventh Dimension - The Castle, Book 3, A YA Fantasy
- Seventh Dimension - The City, Book 4, A YA Fantasy
- Seventh Dimension - The Prescience, Book 5, A YA Fantasy
- Seventh Dimension - The Howling, Book 6, A Young Adult Fantasy
- Seventh Dimension Inspirational - Am I Okay, God?
- Children of Dreams, An Adoption Memoir
- Food for Thought: Quick and Easy Recipes for Homeschooling Families
- The Donkey and the King, a Story of Redemption

Wednesday, July 30, 2014
Sunday, July 27, 2014
Ten Characteristics that Make Good Books Great, by Lorilyn Roberts
This was posted three years ago on my blog and is the most popular blog post I have written. I am reposting it here for those who may have missed it.
Ten Characteristics that Make Good Books Great. #book #author #John316author
Click Here
Monday, July 21, 2014
BECOMING, Devotional from "Am I Okay, God?"
I
gave you milk to drink, not solid food; for you were not yet able to receive
it. Indeed, even now you are not able to receive it.
—I Corinthians
3:2
We are
born. We get married. We raise kids. We pay taxes. Then we die.
*~*~*~*~*~*
From
Seventh Dimension — The Door, a Young Adult Christian Fantasy quoted from Shakespeare’s play, The Tempest.
All
the world’s a stage.
And
all the men and women merely players
They
have their exits and their entrances
And one
man in his time plays many parts
His
acts being seven ages.
—Mrs. Wilkes, chapter two
*~*~*~*~*~*
Sounds
depressing, doesn’t it? While the above statement is an exaggeration, at times
I have felt like life is far too woeful with little reward. But without God,
life would be a hundred times worse.
Goodness in the world is an extension of
God’s love. Hardship is an extension of his grace. How much darker the world
would be without God’s presence. Would we even know the difference between good
and evil without the Holy Spirit? I am thankful for absolutes. God does not
change, and when I feel threatened, I am comforted by knowing that God holds
everything together.
You lose your job, your home, your health—God
allows it. An accident lands you in the hospital—God allows it. Sorrow is part
of the human condition—all over the world.
Hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes, and
floods ravage and destroy property. The toll on human life is difficult to
comprehend. “Why, God?”
Randomness is universal to us. God causes it
to rain on the just and unjust.
I used to think I suffered because I was bad.
I thought bad things happened because I deserved it. Some Christians will tell
you that if you get a disease, it’s because there is sin in your life or you
don’t have enough faith. If you had more faith, you would be healed of your
disease.
Or if you suffer economic hardship, you must
have done something to cause a reversal in your fortunes—something you did
displeased God.
Perhaps, when I was young, this is where I
got the idea that I was born under a cloud. You shouldn’t make that correlation
because it’s not true.
Bad things happen to good people. Good things
happen to bad people. Why? We live in a fallen, sinful world. Although God is
in control, he allows events to happen. While life might seem random to us, it’s
not random to God.
Why do bad things happen? I don’t know. I
don’t know the mind of God. I have often said, when I get to heaven, I want him
to tell me why he allowed this thing to happen or that thing to happen. Then I quickly
remind myself, when I see him, it will no longer matter. He will wipe away my
tears.
Besides, God already knows the outcome. The
process is for our benefit—to reveal what’s in our heart. How much do we really
love God? Do we only love him when we receive good things from him and not hard
things? How well do we know ourselves?
God cares about the process. If the process
of suffering draws us nearer to him, then God can be glorified in our
suffering. When I feel that I can’t take “it” anymore, God reminds me that my
momentary afflictions will not be remembered in heaven. One of my favorite
expressions is, “this, too, shall pass.”
Besides that, where else can we go? If we hit
rock bottom, where will we turn? Who holds the answers? Who understands us? If
we can glorify God despite hardship and loss and suffering, then we know we
love God—not because he gives us good things, but because we know he is with us
in the hard things.
Throughout history, Christians have suffered
at the hands of others. Corrie ten Boom and her sister Betsie were taken to a
concentration camp during World War II after helping Jews to escape the
Holocaust. Betsie died while in the camp.
Foxe’s
Book of Martyrs shares the testimonies
of Christians who have died for their faith. I tried to read this book with my
older daughter when we homeschooled. I couldn’t quit crying.
An average of 159,960 Christians worldwide
are martyred for their faith each year (http://christianity.about.com/od/denominations/p/christiantoday.htm).
While you may never suffer persecution, there
are other forms of suffering. There’s disease, hunger, disability, hardship,
and death. God never promised that Christians wouldn’t suffer. A student is
never above his master. Jesus suffered unimaginable pain and separation from
God when he died on the cross. If God
wanted to spare the death of his son on the cross, surely he could have avoided
the process, but he chose not to.
Jesus asked for the cup to be taken from him,
but it didn’t happen. Jesus willingly chose to die. Thousands of angels would
have come to his rescue had he asked. He didn’t. Jesus willingly died for you
and for me. That was his passion, and God has given you yours.
It’s in the process that we choose how we
shall live—what our attitudes will be and what choices we’ll make. Are we
willing to sacrifice and toil and labor for the God whom we claim we love, or
will we succumb to our sinful nature?
Life is about the process. We’re born and we die, but it’s all the stuff
in between about which God cares.
When you enter college, you meet with a
guidance counselor who will create a plan for your four-year academic career. For
example, if you want to be a doctor, you must take calculus. At the end of the
semester, you must take a test to see if you have mastered the subject. You
can’t graduate from college if you don’t pass all your tests and complete the
requirements laid out for you by the counselor.
If we never faced challenges, we would never
be tested. God tested Abraham when he asked Abraham to sacrifice his son,
Isaac. God knew what Abraham would choose, but did Abraham himself know? The
process of becoming reveals to us who we are in Christ.
In the same way, God has a plan. His plan is
to help you become more like Jesus. Our sanctification, the process of
becoming, will not be completed here. In Pilgrims
Progress, Christian overcame many obstacles along the way, and as the name
of the book implies, he progressed in his faith until God called him home. We
are becoming Christian.
God gives us times of rest and times of work,
times of war and times of peace, times of tearing down and times of building
up, but in everything under the sun, we are becoming.
We need Christian leaders, peacemakers, and
prayer warriors. These heroes of the faith aren’t born that way—they have
become that way. While God gives us gifts to become, it’s up to us to use the
talents he gives us. If we misuse our gifts or pride puffs us up, God may take
away our gifts and give them to someone else.
In the low points of our life we feel the
depth of God’s love. Oh, the Deep, Deep,
Love of Jesus Samuel Trevor Francis wrote in his well-known Christian hymn.
Years earlier as a teenager he had contemplated suicide. Perhaps a better
question to ask is not why I have suffered so much, but how much more would I
have suffered without God’s grace?
Only when we arrive home will we be made
perfect in Jesus Christ. Until then, we are becoming—and suffering is part of
that process—our passion.
Dear
Jesus, when bad things happen, you are with me. Even if I am fearful, I will trust
in you; and if I trust in you, who can separate me from your love?
Friday, July 18, 2014
FREE COOKBOOK FOR LIMITED TIME - Single Mom Shares Easy Recipes For Busy Moms -- with Encouraging Quotes and Homeschooling Activities to Boot!
FREE Cookbook. Fri and Sat. Single mom shares easy #recipes for busy #parent #John316author http://t.co/LfdXCOU8sf pic.twitter.com/MF5Wfexv4S
— Lorilyn Roberts (@LorilynRoberts) July 18, 2014
GET FOOD FOR THOUGHT: QUICK AND EASY RECIPES FOR HOMESCHOOLING FAMILIES BY CLICKING HERE
Thursday, July 17, 2014
Single Mom Writes Cookbook to Survive Homeschooling and Make Homeschooling Fun! FREE Friday and Saturday on Kindle
FREE #cookbook Fri & Sat #quotes, #inspiration, #homeschool #John316author http://bit.ly/Foo_for_Thought_KindleF pic.twitter.com/JAEkhfSfpb
72 RECIPES, GREAT INSPIRATIONAL QUOTES, AND HOMESCHOOLING IDEAS - GET YOUR FREE BOOK BY CLICKING HERE!
72 RECIPES, GREAT INSPIRATIONAL QUOTES, AND HOMESCHOOLING IDEAS - GET YOUR FREE BOOK BY CLICKING HERE!
BE INSPIRED - Quotes, Recipes, and More - Food For Thought, by Lorilyn Roberts, FREE ON KINDLE FRIDAY and SATURDAY
#parenting #quotes Recipes & more! FREE Fri & Sat. #food http://t.co/PBOukR7rPs pic.twitter.com/AwNypgJLKH pic.twitter.com/O8WFXt89Zq
— John 316 Books (@John316Network) July 18, 2014
GET FOOR FOR THOUGHT ON KINDLE FOR FREE!
FREE Cookbook for Homeschoolers Friday and Saturday, Recipes and Homeschooling Activities, Quotes, and Much More! July 17 and 18
#parenting #cookbook. Recipes and more! FREE Fri & Sat. #cooking #John316author http://t.co/PBOukR7rPs … pic.twitter.com/AwNypgJLKH
— John 316 Books (@John316Network) July 18, 2014
GET ON KINDLE FREE TWO DAYS ONLY!
Food for Thought - FREE Friday and Saturday July 18 and July 19, 2014
#homeschooling #cookbook. Recipes and more! FREE Fri & Sat. #cooking #John316author http://t.co/PBOukR7rPs pic.twitter.com/ykdUVvWbPt
— John 316 Books (@John316Network) July 18, 2014
FREE ON KINDLE FRIDAY AND SATURDAY
Tuesday, July 15, 2014
Children of Dreams, An Adoption Memoir, #1 Best Seller in Mothering on Amazon
ON SALE FOR THREE DAYS FOR 99 CENTS. #1 Best-Seller in Mothering on Amazon!
99 cents on Amazon. 3 days only. #John316author #adoption #memoir http://t.co/pA2TXxOPhV … pic.twitter.com/x5UH6N97R8
— Lorilyn Roberts (@LorilynRoberts) July 15, 2014
Friday, July 11, 2014
God Means It For Good from "Am I Okay, God" by Lorilyn Roberts

Genesis 50:20
I have to
remind myself there is good in the world and it’s worth fighting for.
Especially when bad things happen or someone treats me unfairly.
*~*~*~*~*~*
From
Seventh Dimension – The Door, a Young
Adult Christian Fantasy:
Her
voice trailed off as she read a few more lines to herself. Then, with one fell
swoop, she threw my paper in the trash.
“This
is too well written to be original. I’m sure Shale copied it off the web. I’m
not going to read it.”
Thirty
sets of eyes shifted to me and my face and neck felt hot. Mrs. Wilkes’ beady
eyes pulsated. No one moved. If I dropped the straight pin that was in my
sweater pocket, the room would have heard it ping on the floor.
—Mrs.
Wilkes and Shale Snyder, chapter two
*~*~*~*~*~*
Have you ever felt unfairly accused of something
you didn’t do? Or something happened that was unfair?
How
could God use what happened to Shale for good? Shale’s writing ability was far beyond
her years, so the teacher thought she had plagiarized her report. But Shale’s
insecurity kept her from seeing her true value. The teacher’s accusations
stung. Whatever talent she did have for writing was overshadowed by the pain
she felt inside.
My
favorite story in the Bible is the story of Joseph. God chose Joseph to save
the nation of Israel. Before God’s plan was revealed, however, Joseph’s brothers
sold him into slavery. The brothers were filled with jealousy toward Joseph
because their father had given Joseph a beautiful coat of many colors, but he had
not given one to each of them. Later, Joseph was falsely accused by someone
else and sent to prison for something he didn’t do.
The
only thing we can control is our attitude and our response to all the things
that go wrong.
We’re
like soldiers in a war zone fighting evil. No matter what, God is on our side. We
must not allow the evil to consume us with bitterness. We don’t want anything
to become an idol or to come before God. The first commandment in the Bible says,
“You shall have no other gods before me” (Exodus 20:3).
I
find it helpful to remember that God knows the beginning and the end. He knows when
I have been wronged and treated unfairly.
I
will share a secret. I was accused of plagiarism by a teacher when I was in
fifth grade. It never occurred to me at the time that I had a gift of writing.
All I could think of was how embarrassed I was that the teacher had accused me
in front of the class and I couldn’t defend myself.
But
what Satan intended for evil, God meant for good. Today I have an opportunity
to share my experience with you and to encourage you. I can remind you that God
knows the truth about your situation, just as he knew the truth about me. He
knew someday I would become an author and write about these things, and use
these bad experiences to bring him glory.
Can
you encourage someone who may be going through a difficult situation? God will
not waste opportunities. Allow him to redeem the bad and the ugly. That’s the
best part about being a Christian. Whatever Satan does to cause problems, God always
has the final word. God knows how to make lemonade from lemons.
Thank you, Jesus, that you know the
beginning and the end. Thank you that everything in my life you can use for
good—even the bad parts. Please help me not to become discouraged but to keep
my eyes on you. Help me to remember that everything that happens passes through
your permissive hand. Thank you that I can trust you in all these things.
http://bit.ly/God_Means_For_Good (Video)
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