Falling for Books: LoRee's book

Turn Your “Without a Song” into a New Song
A devotional by LoRee Peery

“Sing to the Lord a new song, Sing His praise from the end of the earth!”
~Isaiah 42:10 (NASB)

At five o’clock on a Wednesday a few months ago, author Mary Manners asked me to join her and three others in compiling a novella collection. I responded that I’d pray about it. All I had in mind for a project was my next novel-length story, which I’m working on now.

On the way to choir that evening, during rehearsal, and driving home, the title, premise, and setting came to me. How could I not say yes?

I love the way the Lord works and pray I will always trust Him with what He calls me to do. Without a Song is a novella within a boxed set called "Fall in Love" which celebrates finding love during the autumn season.

You’ve probably heard the term that our heads are about twelve inches from our hearts. I’d venture to guess every reader has a different reference to that concept. Often, the term head knowledge relates to those who have grown up in the church, attended multiple Bible studies, and memorized Scripture. However, something is missing from the enjoyment of life. They have not asked Jesus to forgive their sins and enter their hearts.

Dawson Bennett, the hero of Without a Song, has lost the ability to write music following a record deal going awry in Nashville. His brother invites him to stay on a ranch. Dawson returns to his hometown in Nebraska and discovers his sister-in-law opened up the house to friend Roni Marsden and her young daughter.

In my story, Roni suggests Dawson study the verses in Scripture that refer to a new song because a new song praises the Lord. “O sing to the Lord a new song, For He has done wonderful things” (Psalm 98:1). She becomes his earthly inspiration.

Psalm 9:10 says, “And those who know Your name will put their trust in You, For You, O Lord, have not forsaken those who seek You.” Both Roni and Dawson have to trust their todays and their tomorrows to our God.

Psalm 33:3 reads, “Sing to Him a new song; play skillfully with a shout of joy.” For Dawson to find that new song, and compose the melody on his guitar, his heart and head must jibe with new excitement over his reestablished relationship with the Lord. Honest, emotional lyrics flow from the reality of life rather than “knowing” how to sing and play. In other words, his head and heart need to be in sync.

“He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God; many will see and fear and will trust in the Lord” (Psalm 40:3). Renewed by spending time in the Bible, Dawson latches on to a new song of love for the Lord that affects his testimony, and his music.

My favorite number is 49, and I sing in the choir at our church, so I personally like this verse: “Sing to the Lord a new song, And His praise in the congregation of the godly ones” (Psalm 149:1).

I hope you rediscover your trust in the Lord, a hunger for His Word, and can joyfully say, “I will sing a new song to You, O God; Upon a harp of ten strings I will sing praises to You” (Psalm 144:9).

One way to renew a song in your heart is to pray a Psalm. I suggest Psalm 100.

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Author Bio:

Christian romance author LoRee Peery writes to feel alive, as a way of contributing, and to pass forward the hope of rescue from sin. 

She writes of redeeming grace with a sense of place. LoRee clings to 1 John 5:4 and prays her family sees that faith. 

She has authored novellas and novels published by Pelican Book Group. Her desire for readers, the same as for her characters, is to discover where they fit in this life journey to best work out the Lord’s life plan. 

She is who she is by the grace of God: Christian, country girl, wife, mother, grandmother, sister, friend, and author. She’s been a reader since age four.

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Book Blurb for Without a Song:

Still reeling from the loss of her husband, young widow Roni Marsden resolves to be strong for her precocious daughter. Invited to stay on the cleansing hills of her friend’s ranch in Nebraska, she tries to figure out the next step. Should she leave Norfolk? Could she find work if she did?

Country songwriter Dawson Bennett returns home to the quiet of his brother’s ranch when the production company for his first album goes bust. He searches his heart for new songs, but finds himself unable to write. Even as he seeks direction for his career, he attempts to mend the past with his elderly father.

Back in high school, Dawson had crushed on the lovely Roni when she dated his brother. Those emotions are reawakened when he discovers Roni and her daughter also taking emotional shelter at the ranch. Protective feelings for the child, as well as for a stray pup that arrives on the scene, work together to soften his bitterness. Will these connections enable him to write lyrics that honor God?

Or does God have a different future in mind for these searching souls? 

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Buy LoRee's book:

Without a Song in print on Amazon

Fall in Love (boxed set) including LoRee's story "Without a Song" on Amazon  

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Connect with LoRee:
Website - www.loreepeery.com
Twitter - https://twitter.com/LoreePeery
Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/LoReePeery
Amazon - https://amzn.to/2E96I40

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Words of Faith: Lee's story about church songs and peace for your mind

A Song of the Mind

A Words of Faith story by Lee Carver

The elderly women behind me in church wouldn’t stop chatting during the prelude. The ladies seemed urged to talk, ignoring this moment of quiet inspiration just to visit, making no attempt to lower their voices. But perhaps they had been lonely all week, I thought. Or maybe there was a certain gene activated in aging women that compelled them to talk during the prelude, during the music, during the sermon. I should be patient. I might be there someday.

Virginia and Ed, a dear couple well known to us, sat down to my left, and I smiled and nodded. It was clear that her losses to Alzheimer’s disease were progressing. An hour before, she had not recognized me. Now Virginia looked directly into my eyes and said in a clear voice, “Where are we?”

On what level should I answer the question? What, exactly, did she want to know? What building we were in? What city? What meeting we were attending?

“We’re in church. We’re going to worship God together,” I answered.

For a moment that satisfied her, and then she asked her husband, “What church? What church is this?” He tried to gently quiet her. Then she took the hymnal from the rack before them and read its title aloud, “The United Methodist Hymnal,” her thin, childlike voice standing out as the congregation stilled. “Oh. That’s nice.”

Virginia loved to sing, and she knew the words to all the verses of the old hymns as the service progressed. On the less familiar songs she bent low over the hymnal held by her husband.

During the offertory, the choir sang a tender and moving hymn arrangement accompanied by the organist and a violinist. Virginia sang along, inaudible more than a few feet, “My Jesus, I love Thee, I know Thou art mine.” She smiled peacefully as she sang, and no one minded a bit.

As they sang, my mind wandered back to last week’s sermon which had deeply impressed me. Dr. Jerry Chism asked the question most painful in a believer’s odyssey: When life is hard, when suffering comes to Christians, is God there with us? To these I added the question which so saddened me today: Why do elderly people who have lived good lives of dedication to God and their families become senile or suffer dementia? Is God still with them as the light of their minds grows dim?

As if answering my question, the choir and Virginia ended their anthem together, “If ever I loved Thee, My Jesus, ’tis now.”

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Author bio: 

Lee Carver is once again failing at retirement, a hybrid author in every sense: fiction and nonfiction, traditionally and independently published. 

She also does freelance editing, formatting, and uploads as well as being a Stephen Minister, alto in the choir, crocheting with Pray Shawl Ministry, and volunteer pianist, among other activities.

Married forty-eight years to a very tolerant man, they have two children and five grandchildren.