Monday, October 17, 2016

LORILYN ROBERTS PERFORMS A READING of “Seventh Dimension - The City” at the Los Vegas Book Festival 2016



Because it's a little hard to hear, I've provided the words below so you can follow along.

The choirs of hell chanted in prideful arrogance.
The trial is over, the king is dead,
He failed to smite the serpent’s head.
Now if Satan can deceive humankind,
Demons can mislead the blind.
Praise, praise, surely we have won,
And defeated God’s own son.
Who died in sin and cursed shame,
Now we’ll set the world a flame.
With fear, hate, and cruel pain,
Sin will leave a crimson stain.

I wanted to silence their voices, but I was powerless. I clenched my eyes, imagining this was all a dream. Suddenly, I heard the crashing of thunder shattering the unholy dirge of vomit. The roaring bellows sounded like mighty waters, followed by slashing lightning and a convulsing earthquake. Fiery, falling rocks descended on the godless assembly, and the shocked underlings scattered.

Lucifer could not speak. His boastful mouth was sealed shut by the most powerful voice in the universe. A voice who long ago said, “Let there be light,” now proclaimed something so wondrous that its significance would last forever.

The past, the present, and the future stood redeemed. From the smallest creature to the largest, from the sky to the watery grave, God’s proclamation reverberated with the magnificent utterance, “IT IS FINISHED.”

The familiar voice raised my hopes and spoke to my heart—the voice of mercy.

The walls began to crumble and collapse, as if they were nothing more than wispy, thin paper. A chasm opened, and the screaming demons and fallen angels disappeared into the gaping hole—all those who had sung the words of blasphemy. Chaos engulfed the wicked creatures, and those remaining scattered in terror.

Suddenly, out of the fiery destruction and lingering dust, a powerful figure emerged. Triumphant glory surrounded him. Gasps filled the cave at the sight of the risen king. Every wicked creature in the pit of the watery grave fell to his knees in total submission.

The defeated underlings held their breath, uttering not a sound.

The king faced the serpent of old. “How far you have fallen, Lucifer. Hades is mine. The only power you have or will ever have is what I give to you. I have conquered and defeated sin. I am alive forever and ever. And I hold the keys of death and Sheol.”

“No,” the serpent bellowed. “The cross defeated you.”

“I died, but now I am alive forevermore.”

A host of angels shouted from heaven: “It is finished. He has risen. Glory to God in the highest!”

The king of kings stormed past the sullen and shocked underlings and entered the chamber of paradise. Shouts of praise filled the hall. At last, their day of visitation had arrived. The conquering king would set the captives free.

The disintegrating walls deafened the defiance of Lucifer. He was defeated. The cowardly beasts slunk back into the amphitheater, gloomy and humbled. An uneasy silence lingered.

Then the dragon roared again. “No—I am not defeated. Trickery!”

His arrogance was sickening.

The fallen angel gashed his reptilian claws into the dirt as if he were a child throwing a temper tantrum. 

“We can still be victorious. We’ll convince humans that the death of the man in white was a sham. We’ll convince humans that he is not God’s son. We’ll win through delusion, lies, and deception. Puny man does not deserve mercy. He deserves death. All we have to do is convince humans that the Bible is a lie. Once a human rejects God’s love, he’ll be mine.”

Another of the fallen angels joined in the contrived celebration. “Yes, Lord Lucifer, you will be their master. Humans should humble themselves and worship you and you only.”

I glanced at Daniel. Why didn’t God just vanquish Satan right now? Why wait?

Daniel read my thoughts. “It is in the process of redemption that God is glorified. As each soul turns to Yeshua, Satan must concede he has lost one more human, one more soul, from now until eternity.”

*~*~*~*

If you would like to purchase this award-winning book, you can visit my website at: 


Saturday, October 8, 2016

MEDIA: HOW I BECAME AN AUTHOR: “50 Great Writers You Should be Reading 2016 Contest,” by Lorilyn Roberts

Lorilyn Roberts

I JUST ENTERED A CONTEST    
50 Great Writers You Should be Reading 2016 Contest
(contest closed but enjoy the post)




My love for writing began with a homework assignment in third grade. The teacher asked us to write a short story. Fifty-plus years later, on occasion, I’ll pull the old, faded, handwritten story out from underneath my bed and read it. I still remember writing the words.

In fourth grade, I wrote poetry.

In fifth grade, my teacher accused me of plagiarism in front of the class. My father went to the school and talked to her. He never once questioned my integrity.

By the time I was in ninth grade, I had written two unfinished books. Yeah—I didn’t know how to finish them.

When I was thirteen, my parents gave me a guitar for Christmas. For the next few years, my writing waned as classical guitar took up most of my time. I loved the attention and self-worth it brought me as I performed at many major events.




When I went to the University of Georgia my freshman year, I rediscovered my love for writing. Since I grew up in a family business, however, English wasn’t on the list of “qualifying” majors; maybe physical therapy or business administration, but not English. No starving authors were allowed in the Roberts family.


Then, as often happens, I fell in love.


I hit a crossroads. What was I going to do with the rest of my life? In a moment of insanity, I threw my college degree out the window, and at my parent’s urging, agreed to go to court reporting school. My future husband promised someday I could go back to college.

As a court reporter, I was writing, if you can count thousands of pages of depositions writing. I imagined how many books that would be, and I longed to write something different.

When my husband finished medical school, we moved to Gainesville, Florida, where he began his residency in radiation oncology. I enrolled in college and earned my two-year degree toward a bachelor’s in journalism. I took my first creative writing class, and my writing appetite was whet once more.

My life changed forever when tragedy struck. I discovered my husband was having an affair and had gotten his girlfriend pregnant. Not only was I devastated because I loved him, but I had sacrificed a lot for his career. My dreams were just beginning to be fulfilled, although my inability to get pregnant caused me great depression. My hopes of becoming a mother, earning my college degree, and writing books evaporated overnight.



I cried oceans of tears and didn’t want to live anymore, but God heard my desperate wails. I sought counseling, began to read the Bible, got involved in a local church, and started attending a prayer group. Most importantly, I recommitted my life to Jesus Christ.

Perhaps the hardest part was accepting God’s will. I had to go back to work as a court reporter since that was the only skill I had. I had dreamed of so much more.

While it took some time, God gave me new dreams and better opportunities. I obtained that elusive college degree, and in the process, did quite a bit of traveling that included studying in England, Israel, Italy, and Australia. On a whim, I got certified as a scuba diver and made over a hundred dives around the world.

However, my longing to be a mother remained unfulfilled for eight more years. Then, on May 8, 1994, on Mother’s Day, I arrived home with a three-year-old Nepali girl. Five years later, over Christmas, I adopted an infant girl from Vietnam.

Manisha a couple of months after arrival.

Joy in Vietnam When I Adopted her

Reading picture books to my daughters unexpectedly rekindled my love for books and writing. We made frequent trips to the library, and I would come home with armfuls of books. We read hundreds of books together, even into their teens—one of the best things about homeschooling.

Not surprisingly, the first book I wrote was a children’s picture book, The Donkey and the King. When I finished it, God told me something I didn’t expect. He wanted me to wait until my children were older before I wrote more books. My passion for writing was all-consuming. As a single mother, my daughters needed me when I wasn’t working—now as a broadcast captioner.



I waited four years to write my memoir Children of Dreams. I was afraid if I waited any longer, I would forget my daughters’ adoption stories. I wanted them to know how God had brought us together as a forever family.



After writing Children of Dreams, my passion for writing grew. However, I only knew how to write picture books and nonfiction. How could I learn to write fiction? I remembered those two books I wrote as a teen—the books I never finished.

At the Florida Christian Writer’s Conference, I heard about a Master’s in Creative Writing degree from an accredited online college. I later enrolled at the spry young age of 53. When I completed my Master’s, the book I wrote as part of my thesis became a best-selling book in Christian fantasy on Amazon. Three years later, Seventh Dimension – The Door is still listed in the top twenty Christian fantasy books (I eventually made it free on all eBook platforms).



Following Seventh Dimension - The Door, I wrote three more books in the series: Seventh Dimension - The King, Seventh Dimension - The Castle, and Seventh Dimension - The City. Currently, I’m working on the fifth book in the set to be published next year.

What drives me to write? I write for an Audience of One. God gives me the desire to write, and He gets all the glory. I feel God’s pleasure and spiritual insights I can’t explain.



As I look back, I’ve learned I needed to live a little so God can teach me much. God has shown me He never wastes anything and limits the feasts of the locusts. They can only eat what He allows. It is never too late to start writing, and it’s always too soon to quit. If we commit our way to our heavenly Father, God will multiply our time, effort, and ability. If my writing can change a life—even if it’s only my own—then I know I’m in God’s will, and really, isn’t that all that matters?

You can read more of Lorilyn Roberts’ blogposts at LorilynRoberts.com




*~*~*

Friday, September 23, 2016

GOD'S LOVE REVEALED IN A WORM: Devotional by Lorilyn Roberts



Recently some friends and I were discussing when we feel closest to God. I sheepishly responded I feel closest to God when I am writing or scuba diving. I feared that didn’t make me sound very spiritual— until someone remarked that’s probably when I feel most needy. 

I reminisced back to my diving days before kids. Away from the noise and distractions of a busy life, I would be overcome with the immense beauty and vastness of the world beneath the ocean.

On one night dive in the Florida Keys, my dive buddy and I were at seventy-five feet. We were diving off a shipwreck, and when I shone my underwater light on the rustic red side of a sunken boat, I discovered a brown caterpillar-like creature with tons of legs.

He was edging his way along at a rather slow pace. I probably stunned him by
the intrusion of my bright light in what was otherwise total blackness.
As I floated beside the ship and examined the peculiar worm,

I wondered why, in the middle of the vast Atlanta Ocean, I would discover this rather ugly creature.
Asking questions of seeming insignificance can lead to discussions latent with deeper meaning. Why did God create me? Are the things we stumble upon in life purely by chance?

Twenty-five years later, I’ve not forgotten that worm at the bottom of the ocean’s depths. I am reminded that our words bear witness to God’s nature in all of nature. We feel God’s pleasure in the stories that we tell—the stories that touch us deeply.

One worm found its way into a Bible story. In the book of Jonah in the Old Testament, God sent Jonah to warn the people of the city of Nineveh to repent of their ways. After being eaten by the whale, Jonah traveled to the wicked city and did as God had asked him. But when God didn’t destroy the city and spared the inhabitants, Jonah brooded over God’s mercy to Israel’s enemies. Then God supplied a plant to give Jonah shade as he sat angry in the hot noonday sun. The next day, however, God provided a worm to eat the plant. Sometimes
my life seems like that. What is God is trying to teach me?


Diving into the depths of the ocean reminds me of diving into the depths of God’s love. I see His creativity in the world of worms, garden eels, and sea urchins; manta rays that glide over the sea wall, nurse sharks that hide under rocky ledges, and barracuda that amass in the hundreds.

God’s underwater paradise gives me hope that harmony with the world through Him is possible. I may not understand it all, but I don’t have to. Perhaps God just wants me to enjoy the journey and channel His creativity that I so much love
into my soul.
As my kids get older, I look forward to once again putting on the weight belt, BC, tank, and octopus. I always enjoyed spitting into my face mask to clean it (after all, how many times in life is that acceptable behavior); and, of course, getting that last strand of hair out of the mask so
as not to burn my eyes with seeping saltwater. I can’t wait to push that regulator button and hear the compressed air spew out (pretty important down there to be able to breathe) and I will waddle like a duck in all my gear to the back of the boat and wait my turn (imagining I look better than I feel with the cumbersome tank on my back).






I will make sure I remember all those hand signals (the out-of-air one might come in handy), and hopefully, heave off the back of the boat in a spectacular somersault.

The rising bubbles as I sink and the sound of the regulator imitating my breathing will bring me back to my favorite pastime. I will be wooed once more to enjoy God’s presence in a world of unparalleled beauty where even a worm bears witness to His unconditional love.


* * * * * * *

To enjoy more of Lorilyn Roberts' writings, check out her website at LorilynRoberts.com.

Sunday, September 18, 2016

BOOK AWARDS FOR THE SEVENTH DIMENSION SERIES (as of 2016)



Winning awards has been a great validation of my passion, tenacity, and hard work in writing books, but I don't take it for granted that every book will win anything. Like an athlete, I'm constantly striving to make each book better, spending months researching and thinking about the plot before I ever write the first word. 

The next book in the Seventh Dimension Series will be book five. In the meantime, as I research and read books dealing with Islam - yes, a hint about book five - I felt led to share all the awards the series has won so far. Many friends and readers are unaware of how many I've accumulated. 

Next month, I'm going to Las Vegas to receive an award for The City from Literary Classics. I’ve never been to any ceremonies for the awards I’ve won, so I'm looking forward to being a “celebrity” of sorts for an evening. Maybe I’ll have a photo snapped that I will post on my blog. I guess that means I need to buy some new clothes and get my hair done so, as my kids say, I’ll look presentable. Maybe that’s just what I needed, a good excuse to indulge myself and pull myself away from the computer. 


📘📘📘📘📘



Seventh Dimension - The Door, Book 1
  • 2013 International Book Awards Finalist
  • 2013 Grace Awards Finalist
  • 2013 Selah Awards Finalist
  • 2013 Readers' Favorite Finalist
  • 2014 Book Goodies Best CoverContest Winner, YA category













Seventh Dimension - the King, Book 2
  • Winner of the 2014 Literary Classics Book Awards for faith-based YA fiction 
  • Finalist in the 2014 USA Book Awards for religious fiction 
  • Winner in the 9th Annual National Indie Excellence Awards for spirituality 
  • Finalist in the visionary category for the 2015 International Book Awards. 
  • Silver winner in the 2015 Readers' Favorite Book Awards for YA 
  • Finalist (fifth) in the 2015 Best Indie Book Award for YA fiction 


Seventh Dimension - The Castle, Book 3

  • Foreword Reviews' 2015 INDIEFAB Book of the Year Awards Finalist
  • 2015 Literary Classics Awards Winner for YA Faith-Based Fiction. 
  • 2015 USA Best Book Awards Finalist: Religious Fiction Category 
  • 2015 Winner BooksAndAuthors.com - Young Adult Spirituality  
  • 2016 Great Southeast Book Festival Runner Up Winner for YA
  • 2016 New York Book Festival Honorable Mention.
  • 2016 Readers Favorite Award Winner, Historical Fiction  
  • 2016 Global eBook Awards Winner, Fantasy/Historical


Seventh Dimension - The City, Book 4

2016 Literary Classics Award Winner for Young Adult Faith-Based Fiction
(Since The City was just published, hopefully, it will win more awards in the future).


I thank God for allowing me to pursue my passion for blogging and writing books, and I pray that everything I write glorifies my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. To God be the Glory!






Finalist in 2014 International Book Awards for Christian Inspirational and Book Cover Design and 2015 Readers’ Favorite Finalist in Young Adult Nonfiction