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Showing posts with label memoir. Show all posts
Showing posts with label memoir. Show all posts
Sunday, May 9, 2021
FREE FOR MOTHER'S DAY: Children of Dreams - An Adoption Memoir
Thursday, October 22, 2020
NEW BOOK RELEASE: “Tails and Purrs for the Heart and Soul,” by Lorilyn Roberts
I’m very excited about my newest
release, Tails and Purrs for the Heart and Soul.
If
you love animals, this book is for you. Between the covers are many stories
about the four-legged friends that have impacted my life. We have a rich
tradition in the Roberts’ household of adopting strays off the streets and
fostering cats through the Humane Society, and my family spent twenty-plus
years in the dog show world, finishing half a dozen champions and breeding many
other champions finished by others.
My
goal, in the beginning, was just to entertain, but the stories became more than
that. They became a glimpse into my soul. I tried to imagine what kind of
person I would be today without all the animals over the past sixty years that have
touched me spiritually, mentally, emotionally, and physically.
God
supernaturally brought dogs and cats into my life during good times and difficult
days that, in some instances, turned into weeks or months. My furry friends
became my soulmates along the way. They showed me God’s unconditional love when
I needed that wet kiss on the nose or that head butt or that reassuring wagging
tail—that I mattered, that I was important, and that I would get to the other
side of the latest trial or tribulation.
Then
I had an unusual thought: What if I’d never seen the faces of all the animals
I’ve cared for, rescued, and loved? What if I’d never hugged them? But alas, God
knew I needed them as much as they needed me.
Through
my animals, I feel God’s unconditional love. I sense my Savior’s reassuring
presence, and I hear His kind, gentle voice whisper to my soul. The sound of a
purr and the wagging of a tail speak to the undeniable spiritual connection
between people and animals.
I
hope you will take time out of your busy life, away from the woes that steal
our joy, away from Covid-19, and away from all those accusing voices that rob
us of God’s heavenly presence. Be still. This world is passing away, but God
never meant for us to be alone. Even during Covid, our furry friends can be
with us.
Curl up with your four-legged companion and enjoy my latest book, Tails and Purrs for the Heart and Soul. Many answers to probing questions lie within its pages.
Wednesday, October 11, 2017
MEMOIR AUTHOR LORILYN ROBERTS BEARS HER HEART IN CHILDREN OF DREAMS
When I took the introductory class for my Master’s in Creative Writing, one of the books I had to read was Writing for Story by Jon Franklin. The fourth chapter in the book, “Stalking the True Short Story,” was based on two famous stories he wrote, one of which was his Pulitzer Prize-winning entry, “Mrs. Kelly’s Monster.”
Because everybody would love to win a Pulitzer Prize, his comments are worth noting. To quote Jon Franklin on page 81: “One of the best ways to teach positive lessons while entertaining at the same time is to write stories about how people successfully cope with the world, endure, and even sometimes win.”
I have thought a lot about that. Much of what I report as a television captioner is mundane news to a world that hardly blinks an eye at the everyday, run-of-the-mill, shoot ‘em up, rob-him blind, dope-addicted, shoddy moral, or over-spending bureaucratic figure news story which people scoff and ignore if it doesn’t affect them directly.
In contrast, Jon Franklin dug deep for the motivations, the conflicts, the resolutions, and the redemptive endings in his books and articles. In the same vein, when I wrote Children of Dreams, I wanted to share a part of me that no one else knew. I risked being venerable, revealing traits and values that I knew some would not understand. I am not perfect, and did I really want to reveal my failures, confess my doubts, and admit my flaws?
Our lives, particularly if we are memoir authors, must be real or we will come across every bit like the superficial news stories that I alluded to above—irrelevant to the reader. Too much of our time is lived at a frenzied pace with quick posts on Facebook and Twitter, or text messages written in code, risking little, and only recognizable enough to make us feel we have value in the world of cyberspace.
If you have been forsaken by your family, hurt by others, stuck in a job you hate, gone through a divorce, experienced major health issues, sacrificed your own lost dreams, or struggled in your Christian walk, I share unabashedly with profound honesty how God helped me through these tragedies. This is the “true story” within the story in Children of Dreams. There is no superficiality—only raw emotion and truth. I had to get permission from my kids and family. There are still open wounds that God will have to heal. There was a price to pay and I am still dealing with it now. Do I regret it? No. I know God will eventually redeem all which is broken.
The typical reader, much like a typical reporter, will see Children of Dreams as another adoption story; give it a cursory glance, and move on. The sensate reader, who reads for deeper meaning, will experience God’s profound love and redemptive hope, knowing without any doubt, God is the fulfiller of dreams.
My desire is that the reader will be stirred—emotionally renewed and batteries charged, believing if God can do the impossible for me, he can do the same for him. God can heal infected wounds, redeem broken dreams, and convince the skeptic to believe in miracles. None of us should live as though we have no hope, and Children of Dreams is a testimony to God’s grace, reassuring the reader that where there is God, there is always hope.
Children of Dreams won bronze in the 2016 Readers Favorite Book Awards for Memoir. To purchase from Amazon in Kindle, print, or audio format, click here.
Sunday, September 4, 2016
THIRTY YEARS AGO TODAY, SEPTEMBER 4, 1986, MY LIFE CHANGED FOREVER: Devotional From Lorilyn’s Adoption Memoir “Children of Dreams”
It was thirty years ago today, September 4, 1986, that my life changed forever. I thought I would never be happy again. I couldn't imagine I would find joy or be able to move beyond my pain.
While I hoped God would be sufficient to help me thrive after my failed marriage, I wasn't sure He would. I wasn't even sure God could heal my broken heart. Yet, when we trust God, there is hope, and despite my devastation and loss, I clung to that hope, the kind of hope referred to in Hebrews 11:1: Faith is the confidence that what we hope for will actually happen; it gives us assurance about things we cannot see.
My life has been full of blessings since that dreadful day when I walked out of the courthouse with a big "D" on my forehead. I can't imagine the blessings I would have missed had I stayed married. Marriage to a godless man is no substitute for God. God is my husband, my provider, my sustainer, my healer, my everything.
If only I had known thirty years ago all the wonderful things God had planned for me. But without the pain of a failed marriage, without surrender to The One Who loved me enough to die for me, I don't believe I would have appreciated the cost.
If you are going through a tough time, don't lose heart. Nothing is impossible with God, and all things, if we let go, He will use in a way we can't even imagine. If not completely in this world, He will use in the world to come. God can mold you and me into the person He longs for us to become. And what greater opportunity to serve Him is there than being His child?
All the fame we amass, all the riches we accumulate, all the knowledge we learn, all the experiences we rack up, and all the prestige we earn, none of it comes close to what it means to be a child of God.
The following is an excerpt from my memoir, Children of Dreams. Enjoy.
…the children of the
promise
Romans 9:8
“I took away her
dreams,” my husband told the judge on September 4, 1986. Humanly speaking, he
might have thought so. In John 8:44, God describes Satan as the “Father of
lies.” He desired to destroy me, to make me doubt God’s love and goodness. In
my pain, I believed a lie, much like the children believed Aslan was dead in The
Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.
However, a higher law
governs the universe, a law that supersedes every human sin and evil that
attempts to corrupt God’s perfection. Our heavenly Father, who is full of grace
and mercy, works out His purposes despite the evil that lurks in the shadows. No
human being has the power to thwart God’s ultimate plan.
He works in spite of the
prince of this world and uses everything for His glory. God wastes nothing,
whether it is a disease, affliction, corruption, greed, lies, or betrayal. Jesus
is our ultimate example of being perfect and commanded us in Matthew 5:48: “Be
perfect, even as your heavenly Father in heaven is perfect.”
God’s incredible love
for us is even more astounding when one considers He was under no obligation to
adopt us. He could have treated us as angels, making us spiritually alive
through regeneration, and justifying us under the law through His death and
resurrection (Wayne Grudem, Systematic Theology, Grand Rapids,
Mich., 1994, 738-739) To adopt us and call us His children, to call Himself our
Father, displays an intimacy in our relationship that defies, in my limited
understanding, all logic. Why would the Creator of the universe want to be our
Father? Even Albert Einstein, for all his genius, could not understand God as a
personal God (Hugh Ross, Ph.D., The Creator and the Cosmos,
Colorado Springs, Col: Navpress, 2001, 75.)
Just as I signed a
contract and made a down payment to adopt my children before I left for Nepal
and Vietnam, God has given us “His Spirit as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to
come.” (2 Corinthians 1:22).
On July 26, 2000, we
made a memorable trip to the Alachua County Courthouse to finalize Joy’s
adoption. A few years earlier, I had taken Manisha to the same place to
finalize hers. Both of my children’s adoption decrees are now sealed and kept
safe, just as God sealed my adoption and yours in heaven.
I renamed my children
Hope and Joy, and God promises to give us a new name, “…known only to him who
receives it.” (Rev 2:17). The adoption of my children represents a
foreshadowing of what God has in store for all of us.
Much of the meaning of
being a child of God has yet to be revealed. It is hard to comprehend the King
giving me heavenly possessions that will never break, become outdated, cost too
much, get lost, or that I don’t have to return because they are defective.
In my limited
understanding, I have tried to imagine a world where there will be “no more
death or mourning or crying or pain.” (Rev 21:4). Where the “dwelling of God
will be among us, and He will wipe away every tear.” (Rev 21:4). Where every
kind of “precious stone forms the foundation of the heavenly city that is paved
in gold.”(Rev 21:19).
How can we envision
perfection when all we have known is imperfection? God longs to be our Father,
to share His inheritance with us, just as I longed to be an orphan’s mother.
God planned us to be part of His family from the foundations of the world. He
made us for His glory and “set eternity in the hearts of men.” (Ecc 3:11). He
will give us new bodies that will never grow old or die but will be raised
imperishable (I Cor 15:42).
I am sure if I told my
children, “You can go back to Vietnam or Nepal and live your former way of life
before I adopted you,” they would turn it down. Why would they want to go back
to depravity, worms, and hunger? In our heavenly home, the old order of things
will have passed away (Rev 21:4) and the former things will not be remembered
(Isaiah 65:17).
Before I adopted my two
beautiful daughters, it was hard to imagine what it would be like to be a
mother. I dreamed about little girls and birthday parties, Christmas trees and
toys, bear hugs and butterfly kisses, and my name transformed into the magical
word “Mommy.” Through prayer and God’s faithfulness, what seemed impossible
became real. So it will be someday with our heavenly Father and us.
Hebrews 11:1 says,
“Faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.”
God knows how we are formed and remembers we are dust (Psalm 103:14). Jesus
said when we pray, to call God “Our Father.” The Spirit testifies with our
spirit that we are God’s children (Romans 8:16). God compares Himself to a
father having compassion for his children (Psalms 103:13). Our heavenly Father
loved us so much that He gave us His only begotten Son (John 3:16), and He has
made us heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ (Romans 8:17).
Even creation itself
will be liberated when we are brought into the glorious freedom of the children
of God (Romans 8:21). Through adoption, God gave me my Children of
Dreams and quenched the desires of my heart (Psalms 37:4). With God,
our heavenly Father, before the foundations of the world, made us His Children
of Promise (Romans 9:8 and Galatians 4:28).
Revelation
5: 9-10
“You are worthy to take
the scroll and break open its seals.
You are worthy because
you were put to death.
With your blood, you
bought people for God.
They come from every
tribe, language, people, and nation.
You have made them
members of a royal family.
You have made them
priests to serve our God.
They will rule on the
earth.”
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