Dreaming with Julie Carobini

Dreaming Through
the Dark Times
by
Julie Carobini

I’ve been through divorce, brain surgery, and serious financial hardship. Probably not the way a post about dreams should begin. The reality is, though, that many of us go through times so tough that dreams seem both vaporous and unattainable.

Unless we know the ‘lifter of our heads’.

During many of those dark days, I found myself standing at the water’s edge, pleading with God. Sometimes I lived close enough to walk. Other times I had to get into my car and drive an hour just to stand in front of the vast sea and cast my cares upon the One who created them.

Since then, I’ve experienced many bright days too. New love, a family, healings, fresh joys…and still through the years, I have often taken to the sea to talk to God. At one particular point, I remember worrying that the beach had become my idol, and promising God that I would give it up, if that’s what he wanted. (I even made myself stay away, an endeavor that lasted all of two weeks.)

Instead, he gave me a writing career. He took all the lows and highs in my life and created something new with them. Believe me when I tell you that I had no plans of my own to write beach-themed novels one day. I just kept praying and writing and seeking until an idea popped into my head. I followed that idea, and now find myself writing my fifth novel filled with ‘waves of grace’, as I’ve come to think of these stories.

So what does this all have to do with dreams? Plenty. Has God given you a dream? Does it seem outlandish—maybe even to you? Don’t be quick to discount it. Instead, be patient. Pray over your idea until you know that it is absolutely not from him—or perhaps that it absolutely is!


ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Julie Carobini writes beach-themed novels for the ‘young at heart.’ Sweet Waters, the story of a woman whose fairytale turns out to be a soap opera, is available now (B&H Publishing Group). Visit her at http://www.juliecarobini.com/ ~ Julie would love to hear from you!


ABOUT THE BOOK - Sweet Waters

What happens when the fairytale turns out to be a soap opera?

Tara Sweet is nothing if not sensible. Usually. But her engagement is off, and her mother—yes, mother—is newly married and gallivanting around Europe.

It’s time for a change. So she convinces her sisters to honor their father’s final wish and rediscover the fairy-tale life they knew in Otter Bay, California. But Tara discovers fairy tales are fragile—and truth is often one ugly layer after another of secrets, accusation, rumor, and a past an entire church wants to forget.

Firefighter Josh Adams knows all about battling personal demons. He’s been doing so ever since a woman nearly died in his arms. Actually, long before . . .

As the turbulence in their lives grows, Tara and Josh find themselves at odds with their families, their faith, the townspeople of Otter Bay—and each other.

Only in facing the lies from the past can they find the truth.


WIN THE BOOK

If you’d like to be entered to win a copy of Sweet Waters, just leave a reply to this blog. I’ll pick a winner at random on September 15th. Please leave an email address so I can contact you if you're the winner. (To prevent spammers from trolling for your email, please use this format with the brackets--you [at] yourmail [dot] com--or something similar.) Good luck!