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| Tuesday, December 26, 2006
Interview with Carolyn Ros Writer : Dawn FungDawn Fung met with Carolyn Ros, author of Broken Dreams and Fulfilled Promises, in Amsterdam, Holland during the Nations2Nations Consultation in late November - December 2006. Ros talks about publishing struggles and the reward in establishing another road marker for the young to follow God's leading. You can also hear the taped interview below which is longer. There is a random announcement in the background for a person called Johan Ros, who happens to be Ros' husband and the subject of her book. Carolyn_Ros_Interview.mp3 Dawn : The Chinese version of your book stated an extra verse from Psalms 34:19. Did you know that? Carolyn : No because I do not have the ability to proof-read the Chinese version. They [the Chinese translators] had the freedom to take what I have imparted and work with it. Dawn : They did a good job of translation. And I found the additional verse rather significant somehow. It says "A righteous man may have many troubles, but the LORD delivers him from them all" (Pslams 34:19, NIV). Carolyn : That was a significant verse for us along this journey, that God will fulfil his promise. Dawn : I noticed that there was no time specifics in the book. You didn't know when the incident took place. Carolyn : I purposely did not give specifics for the time because about 99% of life is a process. And this story has taken 22 years. At first I kept questioning, How long Lord? What can't you intervene? I had to answer that question that at any given time He can, but in taking this long process, it helped me understand that He was working out something in us that was going to be important for today. To pass onto younger people the message to hold onto Jesus - don't let go. That is why this story is a long story in a sense, not in pages but experientially. God is wanting us to hold onto Him for the long haul and not see Him as the quick fix. The generation today goes for the quick fix but God wants to show us that He is able to sustain us through the months, the years. Dawn : The book came across to me more like a devotion, something that you read meditatively from any chapter. Some of the authors that came to mind were Corrie Ten Boom and Jeanne Guyon. Do you relate to these authors in some way? Carolyn : Personally I sense the Lord was giving me a verse in Jeremiah in the summer of 2002 : Make note of the road marks to show the way that you have come. [Jeremiah 31:21] The reason was so that other people could follow the road. We are the markers for others to see down the path to where God is leading them. Obviously as you read people like Corrie Ten Boom, she is such an encouragement. I pray this little story be like a seed as well to be an encouragement in this day and age. Dawn : For a younger person like me, the challenge in reading this book is to surrender it all to God, and somehow that is somewhat daunting for me. How have others responded to it? Carolyn : The response that I have heard from the younger readers is that they learn to take one day at a time. If you read closely, it's really one day at a time or a morning to evening portion. There will be fragments and moments not knowing if there would ever come a day [of full restoration], while holding onto the promise that there would come a day where our sorrows will be turned into joy. On this side of eternity, we hold onto the fact that we can see God's goodness. Dawn : Are there any obstacles in publishing this book? Carolyn : Oh many in the sense that it does not look like most Christian books. I received a lot of "No"s from publishers but each time the Holy Spirit has to encourage me not to give up. Each time I look up the website for a publisher and I feel intimidated but the Lord has to assure me that it is His fight. And God is such a strategic God even if you don't have the wisdom or training. I have to ask the Lord to teach me how to do this. This is like an iron door with bars on it and I don't know how to open it. Now the challenge is in finding an American publisher because the publisher I have now is British, and the book is in British English. Dawn : Kingsway does not have an branch in the US? Carolyn : It's not an automatic branch. Again the manuscript has to be submitted and that's the next challenge. Dawn : Right. But how did Kingsway get hold of the publishing rights? Carolyn : Kingsway was one of the first publishers I approached. In our initial conversation they wanted more words. I don't embellish the story with description of clothes or colour of the trees, you know. I am pretty lean in my words. I sensed that I needed to keep to that style because I wanted to keep three things clear : I wanted God to be honoured in what I said, I wanted Johan to be honoured, and also the children so that they would not say, Mother, why did you say that [in any extra descriptions that may not have kept the story true to their shared experience]? From the moment I finished writing I let my husband and children read it, and about 60 other people who gave their feedback. From the moment I finished that process to the publisher it was about two years. I had first the Dutch version, Norwegian, German and then English and Chinese. Dawn : The last two came out 2006? Carolyn : 2005 - 2006. I guess that God is wanting our story to be told to the nations. That was also my prayer to make it a blessing to the nations. The delight in our hearts is not that the book is being published but more that people would see that God is trustworthy and put their hope in Him. Dawn : I was reading in my quiet time today about Lazarus in John 11 and 12. Especially where it says "for on account of him many of the Jews were going over to Jesus and putting their faith in him". (John 12:11, NIV). Carolyn : It seemed that God had allowed these years to persevere in Him but also to show that we've been there, it's not cheap, but Jesus is real. Read the review of Carolyn Ros' book, Broken Dreams and Fulfilled Promises here.
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