God's Word - T&R Independent Bookstore

Posted on June 8, 2023June 8, 2023 by Ronald Riddle — Leave a comment

An Invitation To Be Your Best part 2

An Invitation To Be Your Best part 2 continues the concept of being your best, especially as an author.

In the year 2000, we were living in an a-frame house in Pontiac, Michigan. My frustration had grown, and my motivation to be a successful author was fading. It was my habit to use the upstairs for my office and for my daily devotions. On this day I was in my daily devotions reading Genesis 6:1-22, an eyewitness account of the Flood.

The Call of God was My Invitation to be My Best

Suddenly a thought flashed through my mind. There is a story here!

Was it God’s voice or just a random thought? It was God pointing me in the direction He wanted me to go. It was God’s call on my life!

I realized God gave us all the facts we needed to know about sin, Noah, and the Flood. He is not in the business of entertaining, but of teaching us about our need for Jesus, our Savior. The facts were all there, but it was more like a skeleton. I could write a novel about the story behind the story, thus adding flesh to the skeleton. That realization changed my life!

As time went on, He gave me other evidences of His call, such as Psalms 71:18.

Immediately, I began writing what would become my first novel, Refuge: The Genesis Chronicles. Now, some 23 years later, I have written 14 books, including fiction and nonfiction.

The Invitation Continued

But that is not the end of the story. God had been working on me ever since my salvation date. He wanted all of me. That means He had to scrub all the dirt off me, teach me to depend on Him, and serve Him. This led to Teresa and me founding T&R Independent Books in 2014. The purpose was to publish all my books, and later her books as well. It was a journey that I am still traveling.

As a side note, Teresa wrote a novel, and 3 devotionals in 2022! Then, on February 19, 2023, she passed away in her sleep, and awoke in Heaven. It left me broken, but God sent people into my life to comfort me and enable me to move forward. This was an example of God’s love shining through His people.

That is just one facet of God’s love. He doesn’t want me to wallow in my grief. He still has the same plan for my life as He has always had. The journey is not over, but continuing.

The Invitation to Call Others to be Their Best

God gave me the idea of starting a course in 2022. I began working on it until Teresa went into the hospital. After she passed, God opened doors for me to resume working on the course. I knew instinctively that He wanted me to get the course set up and going. He also enabled me to take a course that would better equip me.

Helping others to be their best is an exciting quest. I dare say it is more exciting than seeing my name in print as an author. I liken it to when I was a Sunday School Teacher. Teaching Bible truths to 5^th and 6^th graders was indeed exciting, and now I experience that same excitement.

Are You Answering the Call to be Your Best

Each of us must answer that question for ourselves. Others cannot answer for us. I am glad I had the opportunity to take a course that caused me to take a deeper look at myself. It has caused me to take a bolder, more assertive view of my own life, which then enables me to do more for others. This is not a paid advertisement, but you might want to check out Gordon Duncan’s Capitalize Your Best.

T&R Independent Books brings you this blog post to keep you informed on the issues of today. Authors need to stay informed so that they can relate to their readers facts as well as entertain them with their imagination.

Basic Authors Training is a Basic Writing Course that explains and guides you into becoming an author. Powered by video along with PDFs and Coaching you learn the basics of writing. Each class registration occurs between the 25^th of a month and runs through the 24^th of the following month. The new class starts the following month.

To discover how you can be the writer you want to be, write to us at marketing@tr-indbkstore.com. We will respond.

Did God call you to write? If so, then you can contact me at info@trbookservices.com or use the contact form on the website.

VISIT MY AUTHOR’S PAGE TODAY: amazon.com/author/rfrederickriddle.

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Company information:

T&R Independent Bookstore is a division of T&R Independent Books founded in 2014 by R. Frederick and Tess Riddle. TR Ministry, aka Christian Fund, is both a charge and an exciting outreach to the Christian Community.

Posted on May 30, 2023May 30, 2023 by Ronald Riddle — Leave a comment

God’s Call is a Journey

God’s call is a journey, no matter the nature of His call. In this instance, it is a call to write.

God’s Call is a Personal Journey

My call came while reading my devotions one morning in the year 2000. It immediately became a call to write, thus beginning my journey as an author. It was a highly personal and often rocky journey. I virtually had no idea how to write, other than a few grammar rules.

It is a Journey of Faith

When we asked God into our life it was a step of faith. Every time we obey God it is a step of faith. A journey is made up of a lot of steps. God doesn’t entrust His entire plan for our lives at the very beginning. We need to be taught.

He enables us, however. His Holy Spirit entered our new hearts, slammed the door shut, and sealed it. Not to prevent Him from leaving, but to block anyone, including the Devil, from entering in.

But the Devil has a not-so-secret ally in our Flesh. Our Flesh hears every prayer we make, every thought we have, and knows our every temptation. Thankfully, he doesn’t have the ability to directly speak to the Devil.

Unfortunately, the Devil and the Flesh do have a communication, of sorts. If the Flesh can perform certain body signals, the Devil can read them, and thereby know what’s going on. That is why, we have to be circumspect in our outward appearance, and actions.

Even so, the Holy Spirit can influence us directly, and we can communicate through Him in the name of Jesus to the Father directly. My life bears the scars of the Devil and the Flesh disrupting my plans, my commitments to God. But they cannot stop God’s Grace and His willingness to wrap me in His arms. God may chasten me betimes, but He always assures me of His love, and encourages me to press on in the calling that He has called me to.

I had been a Christian for 27 years when He called me to be a Christian author. I loved the Lord, had been serving Him most of that time, and had grown in Him. But it became evident I still had much to learn.

It Energized Me

That call came as I was reading the Genesis account of Noah and the Flood. While it was a firsthand account, it was basically a skeleton. It told only the basic facts. God didn’t give us His Word to entertain us, but rather for us to learn His Will. Thus, it provided me an opportunity to flesh out the skeleton and tell the story behind the story.

It is a Journey of Trust

Did I truly trust God?

As I began writing my first book, Refuge: The Genesis Chronicles, I leaned on God a lot. I have a great imagination, but putting it together required more than that. It required trusting His direction. So, God led me to a verse that has governed my writing career ever since. It is Psalm 78:18, and reads, “Now also when I am old and grayheaded, O God, forsake me not; until I have shewed Thy strength unto this generation, and Thy power to every one that is to come.”

Please note that at 57 years old, I was barely old enough to be qualified as ‘elderly’, I still had my red hair, and wasn’t receiving Social Security yet. The part of the psalm I identified with was, “O God, forsake me not; until I have shewed Thy strength unto this generation, and Thy power to every one that is to come.”

My Journey Had a Vision

That verse motivated me, energized me, and focused me on a vision: to reach people through writing with the gospel!

That vision has carried me through rough patches. It kept me going, spurred my imagination, and opened doors I didn’t know existed. Moreover, it has been a very powerful motivator moving forward after my wife’s death. Only my faith in God and His comfort to me has been more important.

Over the extent of my career, I have written 9 novels, 4 doctrinal books, a how-to book, and others. I have also designed a writers course to help new and not-so-new writers become the authors they want to become. All of this and I am planning more books plus at least another course.

How do I do it? I have God’s enabling power. I have the following for a motto, Since God called me, and has enabled me, I can and will do His will. That motto is rather new, and it encompasses all areas of my life!

Do You Have a Call to Write?

If you do, then it is your prime motivation and should be your constant reminder that you can succeed because God has called and enabled you.

More on this subject in God’s Call is a Journey part 2.

Posted on May 10, 2022May 10, 2022 by Ronald Riddle — Leave a comment

Blog by Ron – The Love of Writing

Several years ago, I wrote about my love of writing. It seemed to me that it was time to return to that topic since that blog no longer exists. Perhaps you are contemplating writing a book.

Well, if that is the case, you might want to first examine your mindset. Do you love to read, or do you consider it just a job? It is my opinion that to become a successful author you first must have a love of writing. Let’s take a look at my journey and see if it resonates with you.

I Love to Read

Ever since I was a child, I have loved reading books. It was as a child that I read the masterpiece War & Peace. This was a large book that told the story of Napoleon’s invasion of Russia. His decision to invade Russia was probably based on two observations. The first was that England, his enemy, was distracted by a war with the United States. It was a case of the mouse against the mighty cat, but he wasn’t concerned about who would win, although he may have leaned toward America. The important thing was England would not be a threat while she was engaged against America.

The second observation was erroneous. He imagined that Russia would not be a problem. He had the mightiest army in the world; an army extremely loyal to him. Russia didn’t stand a chance! Well, if you know history, it turned out to be a disastrous invasion leading to defeat there and ultimately at Waterloo.

I Love to Write

Fast on the heals of reading came an unquenchable imagination. When reading, I would imagine myself in the scenes I was reading. My writing started out as playacting; my pretending to be the hero I was reading about. By the time I was a teenager, I was attempting to put my imagination on paper. However, I was untrained. Fortunately, I was unsuccessful. But it did teach me that I needed to learn more about writing.

The Love of Reading and Writing

The desire to write stems from my love of reading but desire didn’t grant me the skills I needed. That came from study, hard work, and repeated failures. While a young man I tried to write a book, but every time I would try, I would hit the proverbial wall. I would get about five chapters into the story and suddenly I was stopped. It didn’t help that when taking a writing course, I got laid off and was unable to continue taking it. But I did learn that I really enjoyed writing and had some skill. This knowledge kept me going in the years ahead.

So began years of attending what I call the school of hard knocks. It was rough, but my love of writing kept me going which brings me to another point.

Love of Writing can Sustain Your Drive

The love of writing sustaining your drive? Yes. And it is an important consideration. I used the words can sustain for a purpose. By itself the love of writing is a great motivator. But it is limited. Constant frustration coupled with a lack of knowledge can undermine and ultimately defeat you. So, you need something more which I will get to in a moment.

Still, the love of writing is a powerful force that will strengthen your writing career for years. But while it kept me going, I was not moving forward. I couldn’t overcome the ‘wall’ nor was my technical career improving significantly. I needed something positive.

The Love of God

That something positive came when I asked Jesus Christ into my heart on May 9, 1973 at the age of 30. That is the day that a fundamental change occurred in my heart. Now I had a love for God plus the love of God. It changed my life! But more than that, it changed my writing! Now my writing took on a distinctive Christian influence that continues to this day.

You ask did I start writing books that got published?

No, in fact, my stories continued to hit roadblocks. It took another 30 years before my first book was published. But the love of God coupled with a love for writing did sustain me and I began seeing improvements. Different people have different motives for writing, but looking back I realize that God wants me to write books, fiction and nonfiction, that are Christian and God honoring. And that is what I set about doing.

The Love of God’s Word

I realize that you the reader may not be a Christian, but this is the story of my life. But the moment I got saved I fell in love with the Bible, God’s Word. Coupled with a love for history, my whole focus turned in a positive direction.

Another transformative day arrived. It is my practice to have devotions in the morning (now it is with my wife). On this morning I was reading the Book of Genesis when God showed me that I could write novels based on the Bible. It proved a career changing direction.

Realizing that the Bible deals with facts and is historical in nature, I am now free to write novels and nonfiction books based on the Bible. Just like you can write historical novels based on secular history, I am able to write about historical people and events reported on in the Bible. It resulted not only in getting my first book published, but in my writing an entire series consisting of six books, all based on men and women in the Bible. That series by the way is The World That Was and is available on Amazon and at our bookstore. Now, I am also writing nonfiction books dealing with the Bible .

Love Letter

I still remember that morning devotion to this day. I was studying the Book of Genesis in chapter six which reports on Noah and the Flood. And it suddenly struck me. The Bible is essentially a history book relating historical facts. In this case, it was relating the facts pertaining to the Flood and Noah building the ark. It was as Sergeant Friday of the TV series Dragnet used to say, ‘just the facts’. But it provided room for me to write the rest of the story that enabled a reviewer to say that I “brought the Bible alive”. Ever since, that has been a goal; namely to bring the Bible alive to my readers!

That first book was Refuge: The Genesis Chronicles was published and was soon followed by Adam’s Chronicles. Then I combined those two books, added a ton of information and published Perished: The World That Was. As mentioned above five more books followed. Since then I have written other books and now I am writing a new series based on the life of Moses, plus another novel based on the life of Daniel. All of this has happened in part because of my love for writing!

Love of Writing Asserts Itself

With frustration gone, I now have a calling upon my life and stories to tell! I believe that as Christians we should be motivated by a love for God in whatever we do. And all writers should be motivated by a love for writing. It is why we write.

To be sure, God’s love toward me that led to my salvation was and is the dominant factor in my writing. But the love of writing that He gave me in childhood still plays an important role in my life and career.

Do You Have a Love of Writing?

As you undoubtedly have seen, I believe that having a love for writing is an important role to play in any author’s career. Yes, there is more needed, but you need to have an underlying drive, which will carry you forward. It will play a major role in overcoming obstacles and improving your writing.

. VISIT MY AUTHOR’S PAGE TODAY: amazon.com/author/rfrederickriddle.