My guest today is author Connie Almony, a successful author who has an autistic son. You'll enjoy her ideas about success, failure and misfits.
1. You
have a special love for folks who feel they don't quite fit. Tell us about
it.
Oh yes! You’d be
shocked at how many people feel this way. As a counselor, I specialized working
with perfectionistic, workaholics. The world viewed them as successful, but
they often saw themselves as one small misstep from utter and complete failure.
Then, there are those who are so busy acknowledging other’s gifts, and their
own lack of the same, they don’t realize that God made them especially for the purpose
He has assigned to them—different from everyone else.
- How do
you encourage them and give them a purpose?
I like to point out
the little things people do that carry a large weight with God. One of my
favorite Biblical examples of how Jesus turns a small gift into a large
opportunity is when the boy gave Him a basket of bread and fish. Did you see
what Jesus did with it? He does that with our offerings as well. We often think
we don’t do enough because large numbers of souls are not saved. And sometimes
we don’t even try, because we don’t think our efforts are big enough. However,
it’s not about the size, but the heart, and willingness to serve at a moment’s
notice where He calls us.
- You speak of the "nudge." Does God do the nudging or you?
Oh boy! That’s a
good question. One of the reasons I like to emphasize small works for God is
because too often we focus on the big works, and I have to wonder how much of
that is about ego and pride. I speak of my own, of course. As a writer, I’ve
had to grow a readership. In doing this, I need to constantly ask Him, “Is this
what You want … or is this about me propping up my own name?” The question can
be very scary, because the answer often comes in the form of a humbling.
I’ve had two
significant God-nudges with writing. A few years ago, while working on a school
story project with my daughter, I caught the fiction-writing bug. I began to
write seriously and loved it so much I couldn’t imagine anyone ever seeing it
as work. Then I “heard” His voice in my soul, “This is going to get really hard …”
Huh? Hard? No way!
Still, I felt the willies just the same.
“ … but I want you to keep going.”
Um, okay, God.
At that time I
didn’t know what “hard” was in writing. After submitting my work to critique
partners, entering contests and being rejected by agents and editors, I now
know what that voice meant. Currently, I have a wonderful agent in Rachel Kent
of Books & Such, but the journey still has a few landmines to maneuver.
Another “nudge”
you’ve probably seen on my blog, Living the Body of Christ,
is a series I did on Military
Ministries. At the time I did that series it seemed I was hearing about the
needs of our soldiers once they come home, from many sources in my life. That
was the series that inspired me to write the novella, At the Edge of a Dark Forest, about a war-veteran, amputee who is
struggling with PTSD. I think God was preparing me for this novella two years before
it was to be written.
- Is that part of "motivating the minions for the mighty? Tell us about minions.
The minions,
that I often speak of on my blog, are the people who do not call attention to themselves,
but are doing God’s work in the everyday. We too often don’t give these people
enough credit. As writers, we often extol the virtues in the power of the
written word, propping ourselves up as influencers. Yes, our work is important.
I don’t mean to minimize it. But it’s the people who were willing to listen to
me, love me and sometimes just BE with me, who really impacted my life and my
faith. Those are the minions for the mighty. I LOVE these people!!! They are so
powerful and they don’t even know it.
In At the Edge of a Dark Forest I placed a
minion, named Beckett Forsythe, in Cole Harrison’s life. He was a young Marine,
impacted by the war, but with God, was able to do extraordinary things. Though
his act of submission only affected one man, his commanding officer, it has a
ripple effect that will heal generations.
- What's your favorite testimony from these folks?
The reason I titled
my blog, Living the Body of Christ, is because I love the idea of many
different parts making a whole. For this reason, I can’t pick out one testimony
from it that would be better than the other. However, I noticed recently a
contrast between two that gave me a glimpse of how God works. One,
about a man who’d come to Jesus after being in an explosion that almost took
his life. He mentioned a list of people who spoke of Jesus during the moments
immediately after the explosion as well as in the months of healing. Another
story on my blog features a woman who didn’t mention any one person in her
coming to faith. Though you can bet someone was praying for her somewhere.
Still, the moment was solely between her and the Big Guy Himself. This contrast
of testimonies was a great reminder to me of how God works in our lives. He
uses us to point others to Him, but we will not be the ones doing the saving.
That’s His job.
- You speak of your child's autism and the effects of this disorder on the home. How have you felt the prayers of others and experienced God's strengthening power and wisdom?
I don’t know why,
but I sometimes get an overwhelming peace whenever my autistic son is
mentioned. I speak about the power of BEING WITH someone to help them find God.
My son is the master of BEING WITH. He is a wordless, gentle soul, who when he
touches you, you feel your stress drain away like someone opened the valve of
an over-swelled levy. I don’t know why he was given this gift, but I’m glad I
can partake in it. Still, I have many concerns for him and his future. I know
God will provide, but it sometimes scares me to wonder HOW. I also feel the
burden of those who have autistic children whose disorder leads them to become
violent on a regular basis. God has given us glimpses of that as my son travels
through adolescence. I think He is reminding me that I shouldn’t take what I
have for granted, nor should I assume that another child’s violence is the
result of poor parenting, when there are so many chemical factors involved.
Many families are struggling in severe ways with this disorder and avoid
churches because they get no support, and have nowhere to place their child
while they attend. This shouldn’t be. These families need the church more than
anyone.
I have felt a lot
of prayer for my family. On my blog, the most read post is about whether or not
God can/will heal
autism. I get lots of comments from people who tell me they are praying for
my son, and I pray for their families as well.
- Tell us
about your new novella and how you came to write it.
Last year, one of
my critique partners had the brilliant idea for the five of us to do a series
of novellas based on Fairytales. I’d call them modern-day retellings, but I
believe at least two of them will be set in the 19th Century (one
Regency England, the other Western U.S.). I chose Beauty and the Beast because I’m drawn to the theme of loving
someone beyond their appearance. The only thing that concerned me was the idea
that a woman’s love changes the man. Sorry, but as a former counselor who’s
worked with abused women who dated projects instead of soul-mates, this kind of
bugged me. So I adjusted the story, just a little, and now it’s not her love that makes him whole.
As I began to
conceptualize a “beast” and how he might be physically transformed in a story
without magic, having done the above-mentioned military ministries series, my
mind caught on the idea of an Iraq-war vet with both physical and emotional
scars. As I wrote the story, I was again reminded of the sacrifices made for me
and my freedom, and it quickly became a labor of love. That’s why I’ve decided
to give 10% of my earnings of At the Edge
of a Dark Forest to Military Ministries
(now called CruMilitary), an off-shoot of Campus
Crusade for Christ. I love the God-filled resources they provide churches
and families to help our vets. I hope more churches will make use of these
resources to help these families.
Connie’s Bio:
Connie Almony is trained as a mental health
therapist and likes to mix a little fun with the serious stuff of life. She was
a 2012 semi-finalist in the Genesis Contest for Women’s Fiction and was awarded
an Honorable Mention in the Winter 2012 WOW Flash Fiction Contest. Her newest release, At the Edge of a Dark Forest, is a
modern-day re-telling of Beauty and the
Beast about a war-vet, amputee struggling with PTSD.
You can find Connie on the web, writing book
reviews for Jesus Freak Hideout, and hosting the following blogs: InfiniteCharacters.com and LivingtheBodyofChrist.Blogspot.com.
You can also meet her on the following social
media outlets:
At the Edge of a Dark Forest
Cole Harrison, a war veteran, wears his
disfigurement like a barrier to those who might love him, shielding them from
the ugliness inside. He agrees to try and potentially invest in, a prototype
prosthetic with the goal of saving a hopeless man’s dreams.
Carly Rose contracts to live with Cole and
train him to use his new limbs, only to discover the darkness that wars against
the man he could become.
At
the Edge of a Dark Forest is a
modern-day retelling of Beauty and the
Beast. Only it is not her love
that will make him whole.
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