THE POWER OF LOVE

THE POWER OF LOVE
Wednesday, May 29, 2019 by LISA SIMONDS

PLEASE WELCOME

LISA SIMONDS

DEVOTIONAL WEDNESDAY

Here’s how my novel, All In, came to be (see below for more information about the book)

In the 1990s, I was vacationing in NYC with my travel buddies. As we often did when we got to town, we took the phonebook—the thick Manhattan phonebook—from the nightstand drawer to see if any people with our last names were listed. There was one. One person with the same name as my friend’s. Two initials and a surname, as single women frequently listed their numbers in those days. The address was only a few blocks from our Midtown hotel, and we joked about calling to see if she was a long-lost cousin who might show us around town and take us to her favorite shops and restaurants.

We didn’t call, but the “what if?” stuck with me. What if you did call? What if the person you called was in crisis? Or about to face a crisis? What if that off-the-wall phone call resulted in a friendship that became a lifeline? That notion was the inception of ALL IN.

Once I’d written a number of drafts, certain themes emerged, which I tried to strengthen in the final manuscript. One of these themes was the power of prayer, of praying by faith for someone even when everything we see shouts that our prayers are having no effect. Another theme was the ever-reaching love of God.

There’s a scene in the book when the protagonist, Cami Taylor, and her new-found relative, Kate Davis, are shopping together in Bloomingdales. Cami has just pitched a fit in a bookstore over a mistake made by a rude clerk. Here’s an excerpt in which Cami tries to back out of defending her actions and explaining to Kate how hardened New Yorkers are:

“Look, never mind,” I say. “I don’t even know why I brought it up.”

“You know what I think?”

“No, Kate, what do you think?”

“I think people are the same no matter where you go. And, frankly, a little undeserved kindness goes a long way toward softening up the hard ones.”

“I don’t know about that. I’m pretty sure they’ll take advantage of you every chance they get.”

“That’s the price you have to pay,” Kate says.

That bit of dialogue is ironic because Cami is about to take advantage of Kate in the same way she accuses others of doing.

I hope you will read ALL IN. If you do, I urge you to focus your attention on Kate, even though Cami is front and center. Kate’s is the real story. The novel was conceived in the idea of friendship that reaches and keeps reaching. It was conceived in Isaiah 65:1,

I was sought by those who did not ask for Me;

I was found by those who did not seek Me.

I said, “Here I am, here I am,”

To a nation that was not called by My name.

Grace and blessings,

L. K. Simonds

ABOUT ALL IN

The book released on August 29 and can be purchased at https://www.amazon.com/All-Novel-L-K-Simonds/dp/1642792918/

NOTE: The $2.99 sale price ends May 31.

Synopsis:

Cami Taylor is a blackjack dealer, a bestselling author, and a fraud.

Cami’s boyfriend, Joel, loves her in spite of her flaws. He wants to marry her, buy a house on Long Island, and raise a family–a life that’s a million miles from Cami’s idea of happiness. Her therapist suggests compromise and trust, but Cami bolts like a deer. She breaks off the relationship and launches on a new quest for happiness, not knowing that a nasty surprise waits around the corner. What follows is a fight to the death.

Who will be the one left standing?

ABOUT L.K. SIMONDS

L. K. Simonds is a Fort Worth local. She has worked as a waitress, KFC hostess, telephone marketer, assembly-line worker, nanny, hospital lab technician, and air traffic controller. She’s an instrument-rated pilot and an alumna of Christ for the Nations Institute in Dallas. All In is her first novel.

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