Welcome, Laura J. Davis! For those who aren’t familiar with your work, can you tell us a little about yourself?
I am a former singer/songwriter who had a singing ministry for a little over 30 years. Around 14 years ago a tumour was discovered in my abdomen and when the doctors took it out they accidentally ruptured my bladder without knowing it, sewed me up and sent me back to recovery. When I didn’t recover as expected, I was sent back in for emergency surgery. Somewhere in that time frame, my vocal chords were damaged due to being intubated. Although I was assured that my voice would come back, it never did and to make a long story short the Lord began a “new work in me” that ended with my first novel – Come to Me.
So you had a singing career and then a writing career – just like that?
Not really. Over a period of several months, while I was recovering from my surgery, I struggled desperately to get my voice back. I went through a time of depression because I couldn’t understand why the Lord would allow my voice to be taken away. During that time, a story was beginning to form in my mind about the life of Christ through the eyes of his mother. I had the distinct impression from God that I was supposed to write about it, but I was so angry at losing my voice I ignored it because I wanted my voice back. Besides, I couldn’t see the end of the story, only the beginning. But, over time, the desire to write became so strong that I could not ignore it. Then one day I went to my computer, placed my hands on the keyboard and said, “Okay, Lord. I surrender. Use my hands as you used my voice.” The next thing I knew the floodgates were opened and I didn’t stop typing until the story was complete.
[Tweet “Over time, the desire to write became so strong that I could not ignore it. – @LauraJeanDavis”]
But the Lord still had some more changes to come, didn’t He?
That’s for sure. About a year, maybe less, after my surgery, a fall down a flight of stairs left me partially disabled. In time, other problems set in, including arthritis. Then I was diagnosed with a disease called lipo-lymphedema, which affects my lymphatic system and causes my legs to swell which requires me to keep them elevated all the time. I have to spend two hours every day in something called a lympha-press that massages my legs to get the lymphatic fluid moving. It has pretty much zapped my ability to move about on my own. However, the good part of this is that it forces me to stay at my computer writing every day!
So how long have you been writing?
Not including my songwriting days, it would be about 14 years.
How many books have you written?
I have written a few but only three have been published – Come to Me, a Bible study to go with my other book, called Learning from the Master, Living a Surrendered Life and He Who Has an Ear, Who the Seven Churches of Revelation are Today. Sometime in the spring of 2016, my next Bible study, Unlocking the Truth of Daniel, will be released.
Tell us about your latest book.
He Who Has an Ear started as an inductive Bible Study for me. I was wondering about the churches the Apostle John sent letters to (in the book of Revelation) and asked myself if they still existed today. Out of the seven churches, only two received commendation from the Lord. The rest were letters of warning. So I was shocked when I realized these warnings are very relevant to the church today. It broke my heart at times to realize how similar the modern 21st century church is to those churches that existed over 2000 years ago. So the warnings Jesus gave to them also apply to us.
Is there a message in your book that you want your readers to grasp?
Yes. It is very important that Christians study their Bibles inductively, precept by precept. We have to get back to the Word and study it earnestly. The Bible says Jesus is the Word and Jesus said to abide in Him, if we are only having a short devotion each day, or not opening our Bibles until Sunday morning, we really aren’t allowing Him to abide in us as He should. Studying the Word of God keeps the Believer discerning. If we are a church that studies the Bible, we will not compromise our beliefs, nor will we be led astray by false doctrines. Unfortunately, the church has let in false doctrines because its people do not know the Word of God. This is exactly what happened to the churches in Revelation. Get back into the Word. It is so important.
[Tweet “Get back into the Word. It is so important. – @LauraJeanDavis”]
Tell us about your next book Unlocking the Truth of Daniel.
It will be the first book in a new series called Digging Deeper. The second book in the series will be on Revelation. The goal of this series is to encourage people to “dig deeper” into their Bibles so that they can discover for themselves all the incredible mysteries it holds. The new series concentrates on keeping scripture in context, so I focus on that by also investigating where things stand in history. The book of Daniel clearly speaks of Jesus’ life, but not in the way most people think. It also speaks of the Kings of the North and South, but again, not in the way most people have come to accept. So I believe this will be an interesting study for any Christian who wants to take their Bible study times to the next level.
Thank you for joining us, Laura! If you would like to learn more about Laura J. Davis’ books or purchase them, you can find them below:
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