Hi y’all! Virginia Vaughan here. I’m so happy to be posting
today and I wanted to share an interesting thing that happened recently.
Besides being a writer, I’m also a reader and a collector. I LOVE LOVE LOVE
books. Did I mention I love books? I will buy books even when my TBR pile takes
up an entire bookshelf all on its own. <I’m sure many of you can relate.>
So imagine my horror when God spoke to me a few weeks
ago and told me to give some of my precious, treasured books—ones that I had already
read and loved—to a good friend who lived on the other side of North America
from me.
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| Look how far they had to travel!! |
This friend had been my neighbor for many years before
she moved to Washington to be closer to her grandchildren. But she’s also a
voracious reader. When she was still next door, she would buy books, read them then
walk across the yard to share them with me and my mom one book at a time. These
days, she continues that tradition by mailing them to us a box of books at a
time. And who doesn’t love getting boxes of books in the mail
every couple of months? I sure do! But the books she buys and sends are usually the steamy
romances or the secular suspense books.
My friend always gets a copy of my current
release and reads it. She even tells me how much she enjoys my books and how
she cannot wait for the next one. While I’m always happy to hear that from anyone, I never questioned that she actually liked them until a few months ago when God
whispered a command to me.
Send
her some books.
I’d just gotten the author copies for my current
release so, at first, I thought He was talking about that. No problem. I slipped
one into an envelope and got it ready to put in the mail. Lickety-split. Oh yeah,
I was feeling good about myself and how effortlessly I followed God’s
directions. *patting myself on the back*
Only no. That wasn't what He'd meant.
As I passed by one of my bookshelves filled with that precious
treasure—aka my collection of books—I felt that prompting again. Send her some books. I vividly recall
reaching out to touch the spines of my books and stroking them ever so gently
as I cringed at the thought of getting rid of even one.
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| Actual photo of me stroking my books |
Was He really asking me to give away my books! Not my books! I thought. Not the books I’d spent hours upon hours reading and falling in love with. What if I wanted to re-read them? What about the book tree I do every Christmas with my collection? What about—what about—what about??
After my minor—okay, not so minor—pity party, I knew
it was the right thing to do. My friend was constantly sharing her books with us.
It was time I shared some of mine with her. I packed up a box of my favorite Christian
romantic suspense titles and shipped them to her.
Then I held my breath and waited.
You see, my friend was once hurt badly by the church
and has never returned. She avoids anyplace, so it seems to me, that she might
hear the word of God preached. That pain she endured has colored her judgement
of Christianity for over forty years. I hadn’t told her I was sending her these
books and, while she’s always been ready to read the stories I’ve written, I
worried she wouldn’t be receptive to other Christian fiction novels.
It wasn’t long before we received a call from her. She’d
read through the books I’d sent her. AND SHE’D LOVED THEM! She even asked me
about other titles from the authors of the books I had sent and stated she was going to look
for other books by them.
PTL!!!
Does this mean she’ll stop reading the steamy romances
or the secular suspense books with all their bad language? *I'm not bashing them.* All I know is that
she’s now added Christian fiction into her rotation of reading. New doors have opened
to her and those doors will do more than just entertain her. They’ll minister
to her in ways she’s been unwilling to hear before. They’ll also guide her and,
hopefully, ease the hurts people of the church inflicted on her all those years
ago. How do I know this? Because at the heart of Christian fiction is the word of God and Isaiah 55:11 tells us that His word will
not return void. It will accomplish that it was meant for. And, in case I wasn’t
clear, sending her those books was not my idea. That was all God.
My November release DEADLY CHRISTMAS DUTY was one of
the books I sent to my friend. She’s already read it and loved it. You can read
it too in only eight short days—eeek!!!—when it releases in E-book on November
1st.
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Blessings and Happy Reading!
Virginia
Award winning author Virginia Vaughan lives by the
motto ‘It’s not hoarding if its books’.
Always the kid with her nose stuck in a book, becoming a multi-published author
hasn’t stopped Virginia from continuing to grow her own collection of favorite
reads. Her family has refused to help her move anymore because of the sheer
number boxes of books, but she’s no quitter. She’ll keep buying books and, the
next time she moves, hire a moving van.
If you love stories where romance intersects danger
and faith, subscribe to Virginia’s email list at http://eepurl.com/dtFeVP and be the first to know when a new
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Posts
Virginia, I loved this. So happy you reached out to your friend. Thank you for sharing this blessing with us.
ReplyDeleteWhat a neat thing to do. I always mean to give away (and even mail out) copies of books, but the mail out part is hard because I never go to the post office. I've owed a promised book to someone since February. Arg.
ReplyDeleteAnd, I hope everyone who reads your posts sends a prayer your friends way so she enters a church building again and finds healing.
What a wonderful story Virginia! Isn't God great? Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing this story, Virginia. I'm a book lover too, so I could feel your pain. I'm so glad your sacrifice was well-received. And you know what it means????
ReplyDeleteYou should go buy more books!!!!!!!
That is so awesome! I'd have a tough time doing that, too. God bless.
ReplyDeleteYou are so brave! So happy that your friend was receptive.
ReplyDelete