Set in the Holy Land, Come to Me offers a unique glimpse into the life of
Jesus through the eyes of His mother. Share in Mary’s joy at the birth of the
Savior and mourn with her at the foot of the cross, as she shares her story with
compassion, humor and warmth.
Come to Me is a story about the faith and obedience of a young girl whose
absolute trust in God set in motion a chain of unprecedented events. It is a
moving tale about the life of Christ from the mother who raised Him to
become the Savior of the world.
Here's an Interview with the Author Ms. Laura Davis:
1. Can you give us a brief testimony on how you got saved?
Hmm…I’m not sure how brief this will be, but I’ll give it a go. When I was about 17 and in my last year of high school, I was reading the book The Omen. In the book, there were several quotations from the Book of Revelation. These quotations scared me as they all talked about Jesus coming again, the judgment and of course the antichrist. I did not attend church when I was growing up and all I knew about the bible was Easter and Christmas. Intrigued, I found a bible and read the entire book of Revelation. Of course, I was very confused at what I read (it’s not something you should read the first time you pick up a bible!), however God in His mercy, gave me the gist of it and I went to bed afraid of where I would go when I died. That night, I had a dream. I was standing on a corner, under a streetlight and a voice shouted out to me, “Laura, where are you going?”, and I shouted back that I was going to hell. Next thing I knew – I was in hell! I was terrified and woke up in a cold sweat. I didn’t know what to do to make myself right with God. Then I remembered a tract I had received at school called The Four Spiritual Laws. I had thrown it in my dresser and forgotten about it, about a month earlier. I searched for it, found it and did everything it said to make myself right with God. Confessed my sins, repented and asked Jesus into my life. I spent the rest of the evening reading the Book of John. I went to bed at 5:00 am and had another dream. In this dream, I was coming out of the darkness and I was dressed all in white. I stepped into heaven, Jesus came, and He took my hand and said, “Now, everything is going to be alright.” It would be sometime later before I realized that I had just become a born again Christian!
2. What kind of advice do you have for aspiring writers?
If you have a manuscript you are working on – edit, edit, edit. Then, before you send it away to a publisher, (or if you self-publish to get it printed) edit it again! I took 3 years to edit my book and then called everyone I knew to look for mistakes, spelling errors, etc. and I STILL found things that we had missed! It’s maddening! I even had a fellow writer critiquing my novel as I went along. I welcomed all criticisms and if I thought they were valid, I made the changes. Don’t be afraid of negative comments – they will only help you grow as a writer.
3. Who’s your favorite fiction author?
That’s a hard one! Can I pick two? I love Liz Curtis Higgs and Lynn Austin.
4. If you were to die tomorrow, what’s the one thing you would want to do?
I suppose I would write a letter to each of my children, my husband, my best friend, parents so that they have something special from me and I would have a game night with my family and sit around, and talk. I would just want to be with those I love.
5. Who do you want to meet and why?
I would love to sit down with the apostles and talk to them about everything they experienced when Jesus was with them. I’d love to hear their stories about our Saviour, what their lives were like back then, who was the biggest prankster (if there was one). What it was like to see, touch and just BE in the presence of the Saviour.
6. What would be your dream vacation?
I would love to take about a month to visit Rome, Athens and Jerusalem to visit all the historical places in the Bible relating to the early church.
7. Is there anyone who has influenced / encouraged you to write other than God who ultimately gives us any talents including creativity? Who and how / why?
I have a very dear friend, (her name is Carol) without whom ‘Come to Me’, probably would never have been published. No one encourages me more in my writing than her. She is my sounding board, my editor and my greatest critic.
8. What first gave you the idea for Come to Me?
I used to have a singing ministry for over 25 years. About 7 or 8 years ago, a planned surgery ended up ruining my vocal chords. For about seven months, I felt like a fish out of water. Singing was my identity and suddenly I seemed to have no ministry – no purpose. I didn’t know what God wanted me to do and after wallowing in self-pity for about 7 months, I finally asked God what He wanted me to do. Immediately, an idea for a story about the life of Christ through the eyes of His mother came to mind. I have a hard time obeying God when I think He’s asking me to do something I’m not capable of and at first; I refused to write the story. But, the urge to write was overwhelming and one day I went to my computer, put my hands on the keys and said, “Okay, Lord not my will but Yours be done. If You want me to write, then I am Yours to use.” Well, the words did not stop coming for about three months! At first, I thought God wanted me to write a short story – I was very surprised it was a novel. From there it took another 3 years of editing and rewrites. The amazing thing about the whole experience was that as I wrote the book, which was largely about individuals who had to learn to surrender their freewill to God, the same thing was happening to me in real life. It wasn’t until I surrendered my will to God that He could even begin to use me to write ‘Come to Me’.
9. What else have you written / are you currently writing (including unpublished works)?
I am currently working on a sequel to ‘Come to Me’, about the trials of the early church. I am also working on a Christmas romance novella and a teenage murder/mystery.
10. Can you give a brief synopsis of your journey to publication with your first book?
Every little detail seemed to come from above on this one. I couldn’t decide on a title and over the course of several days, I would hear the same scripture from different sources (Come to me all ye that are burdened and heavy laden and I will give you rest…). The words Come to Me seemed to jump out, then out of nowhere I received a Christian cd sampler in the mail, with one song on it. The name of the song? … Come to Me! So I knew what the title was, but what about the cover? I had in my mind what I wanted it to look like. Since the story is about the life of Christ, the cover needed to represent his birth and the reason why he came. I searched for photographers on the internet and met a wonderful Christian gentleman by the name of Gino Santa Maria, who liked my idea (of a manger with a crown of thorns in it) and he took several beautiful pictures that brought me to tears. My daughter who is a freelance illustrator did the cover design and I went with Lulu as my publisher.
11. Share with us one of the craziest things you've done or that's happened to you?
LOL! I once broke into a church! Not on purpose! I was delivering flyers for a Precept Ministry conference to several churches in my hometown. I walked through the back door of one particular church and it was eerily quiet. As I searched for someone to give my flyers to, the security alarm went off! I realized after about 3 minutes that no one was in the building but me! So I ran outside and just as I was stepping out the door a police car came barreling into the parking lot. I thought, “Oh boy, they’re going to think I broke into the church!” I waited at my car to see what the officer would do. However, he just sat in his car and didn’t move. By this point, I’m thinking, “Is he waiting for backup?” So I decided to make the first move and walked slowly towards his car…still nothing. I made sure he could see my hands because at this point I didn’t know what to think. As I approached his car, I was surprised to find the officer eating a sandwich! So I said, “The door was unlocked, I thought someone was here.” He said, “What are you talking about?” “The alarm went off in the church, but I didn’t break into it!” I assured him. He sighed heavily and put his sandwich down. “Are you telling me that the alarm is on in this church?” I said, “Yes. Isn’t that why you’re here?” He said, “No…I’m here to eat my lunch!” After I explained who I was and why I was there, we both went back into the church together. He told me to stay behind him and then he drew his gun! He believed that someone else was in the church. After a thorough search of the premises, he let me go, but first he took my flyers and put them on the Pastor’s desk!
12. What five books would you take with you to a desert island?
The Bible, A survival guide for living on a deserted island, a journal, a photo album of my family and friends and a novel by Liz Curtis Higgs.
13. What concept or scripture is God revealing more deeply to you in this season of your life? And how is that revelation influencing your life?
It’s all about surrender to God for me. It’s a scary thing to “let go and let God”, but it is also the single most rewarding experience of my life. I’m amazed every day at what God can and will do in my life, if I just stop insisting on going it alone.
14. How do you choose names and get to know your characters?
Come to Me was very simple, as it involved real people, so the names were never an issue. As for getting to know my characters, I simply tried to put myself in their shoes. For instance, what would your reaction be if an angel appeared to you? How would you feel if you saw your son dying on a cross? I try to imagine myself as that person.
15. What’s your favorite character / scene from Come to Me so far?
It’s hard to choose a favorite character because these are real people. I learned quite a bit from Mary; however, I fell in love with my Saviour all over again, so it’s hard to decide. As for my favorite scene – I loved it when Mary tricked Luke into baking bread.
16. Do you have any teasers you can share for your next project?
I can share that the title of my next project is, Upon This Rock. Mary and the apostles will be back. The timeline picks up immediately after Jesus’ ascension into heaven. I have tried to focus on their personal lives as believers, their difficulties in establishing the early church and their persecutions from various sources including Nero’s Circus. While I will remain true to scripture, I have included a love story between Peter and his wife. I have also included a very prominent scene from Come to Me, that I hope readers will enjoy.
17. Are there any closing remarks you’d like to share?
Thank you for inviting me here today to share a little about my book and myself. I hope that all who read it will be blessed and encouraged.
Thank you for taking the time to share with my readers.
Check out these member blogs Sept. 7-13 for more info.
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Laura, your testimony is quite interesting. I never would have thought of The Omen as a tool to bring someone to know Jesus, but it just goes to show God can use anything, as long as the path leads to Jesus Christ.
After reading so many books in the past year, I have to agree with you about edit, edit, edit. There have been several books that I couldn't support whole-heartedly because they were in serious need of further editing. It can lead the reader away from the story when there are too many errors.
A very nice and informative interview!
I too, was moved by your testimony. There should be more of that, for Scripture says that we overcome by the "blood of the Lamb and the word of our testimony." I think a lot of our failures in our Christian walk have to do with not voicing our testimony. You were quick to do so and God was quick to respond. People need to know that God wants to give us all the treasures of His kingdom. They can know that if we begin to live and believe that as well. It begins with our testimony.