INTERVIEW WITH AUTHOR ALEXIS GORING
Book: Hope in My Heart
10 Amazon reviews,
mostly five-star
Your book, Hope in My Heart: A Collection of
Heartwarming Stories, has three different stories where you write about
love showing up unexpectedly: weight loss, a coveted Christmas gift, someone
who wants a bigger pay check and greater respect, an attorney who needs healing
from his parents’ divorce, and a woman’s search for her birth mother. How did
your characters grow beyond their problems to hope?
Good question! I believe just like in real life, growing
beyond our problems to hope is a gradual process that God takes us through if
we’re willing.
Let’s take the example of my character Eric, the divorce
attorney who you mentioned above from the final story in my book called Peace and Love. Eric had been dealing
with his issues from his own parents’ divorce since it happened at
Christmastime when he was younger. He’s a grown adult and has suffered through
the holiday season for years because of it. So he decides that it’s time to
deal with his issues and he reaches out to his dad whom he has not spoken to in
years. I think the key in this case to “growing” is to recognize the fact that
Eric decided he had to make a choice. He had to choose to seek reconciliation with his dad. He had to choose to move beyond his issues with
his parents’ divorce and seek healing.
And that’s the point—we have to be willing to move past our problems and ask God to show us His hope.
The Bible says that God has good plans for us, plans to prosper us and not to
harm us, plans to give us hope and a future (Jeremiah 29:11). You’ll have to
read my novella to find out how God gave Eric hope in his dire situation.
How do you define
hope?
Well first, the dictionary on Google defines hope as “a feeling of expectation
and desire for a certain thing to happen.”
I
agree with this definition because all of my characters in my book about hope
are longing for a dream of their hearts to come true. Such as in the story Peace and Love: Eric is hoping to
resolve his issues with his parents’ divorce, Kristine is expecting to find her
birth mom and Elle desires a full-time job with a sufficient salary and
benefits.
I
think it’s important to remember that there is always hope when God is in the picture.
So
to answer your question, I define “hope” as a desire for a dream to come true
or the expectation that there is a rainbow after the rain, a silver lining in
the stormiest cloud, a deep anticipation that everything is going to be okay
and whatever situation you’re facing will be resolved for the better.
Hope is an anchor like having faith in God,
it’s something we hold on to when things get tough. It’s a word that we as
Christians have believe in because we know that with God in the picture, there
is always hope for a brighter
tomorrow.
Depression is big
problem in today’s society. Victims often don’t think they have hope. What do you
recommend for these people?
If you’re dealing with depression, I would first recommend
that you pray to God to direct you to a compassionate Christian counselor and
effective psychiatrist. You need a psychiatrist to prescribe the right medicine
for you that will effectively treat your illness and you need a Christian
counselor who can show you compassion, understand your depression and help you
through it. I think a Christian counselor could also incorporate Bible-based
truth and share Scripture in their counseling sessions with you. It’s important
for all of the doctors on your medical team to be effective. I cannot stress
the word “effective” enough because as in any profession, there are people who
are very effective at what they do and their patients benefit greatly under
their treatment. Then there are also those
who cannot help you properly because they are not effective, Therefore
your situation doesn’t get any better, it either stays stagnant or gets worse.
Therefore, I believe that with an effective Christian
counselor and psychiatrist along with God leading in your life, you can
overcome the dark days your depression brings and hold on to hope of brighter
tomorrows. There’s that word again, hope. It’s important to remember that with
God, we always have hope.
What is the key to
people finding hope?
Knowing Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior is the key to
hope. The Bible says in John 8:12 (ESV), “Again
Jesus spoke to them, saying, ‘I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but
will have the light of life.’”
There are two beautiful songs that illustrate this point-
“Lifeline” by Mandisa (former American Idol contestant turned successful gospel
artist) and “Light of the World” by Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir (on their
Christmas album of the same title).
I love both songs because they share the true message of
hope. If you have God in your life, you have hope in every situation. If you
don’t believe in God and you don’t trust Jesus Christ then when devastating
things happen to you in your life, you feel like you don’t have hope and that’s
one of the main reasons why a lot of people go off the deep end. But if you
trust that God will work all things together for your good as He says in Romans
8:28 then even on your darkest days, you know that you have hope because God is
in the picture of your life story and you trust His will for your life.
Therefore you know God will help you overcome anything and everything you face
in a way that’s best for you and others.
The song “Lifeline” describes how God comes to your rescue.
He can lift you out of darkness and save you. He is the One who you can call on
who will always be there and help you no matter what you’re going through. God
is available to you 24/7/365. Only He has the divine power to save you.
The song “Light of the World” is about how Jesus Christ is
as the Bible says, the “light of the world” which I believe is a reference to
hope because it means when this world seems dark, dreary and depressing you can
look to Jesus and He’ll shine His light (a metaphor for hope) and His Light
will break through the darkness of your life which results in you having hope.
Just like God sends a rainbow after the rain, He sends Jesus to give you hope for
a bright future.
Anything you want to
add?
Thanks for hosting me on your blog today, Ada! I appreciate the opportunity.
MEET ALEXIS GORING
Author
bio: Alexis A. Goring is a college graduate with a degree in print
journalism from Washington Adventist University in Takoma Park, Maryland.
Writing is her passion. She hopes that her stories will touch hearts, bring
smiles to faces, and inspire minds to seek God whose love for humanity is
unfailing.
Book
blurb:
Hope
in My Heart is a collection
of short, heartwarming stories with characters in need of hope.
In “Love Unexpected,” a car crash
brings commitment-wary Sebastian and career woman Chandra together. Neither is
looking for romance, but those around them see the potential, and Sebastian and
Chandra discover that sometimes love shows up unexpectedly.
Christmastime is the setting for the
middle story, “The Best Gift.” Christina desires to lose ten pounds so she can
fit into her dress for her sister’s wedding. Jordan wishes her mom would stop
trying to marry her off. And Joshua hopes to be reunited with his ex-girlfriend
but eventually learns that the best gift this Christmas will be the restoration
of his relationship with God.
In “Peace and Love,” three characters
living in a metropolitan area are desperately searching. Elle, a starving
artist, aspires to become a paid professional. Eric, a divorce attorney, wants
to resolve his issues concerning his parents’ divorce. Kristine anticipates
finding her birth mom before she marries Derek. All characters pray their
searches will conclude this holiday season and fill their hearts with peace and
love.
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