Inspiration to Write a Book from an Answered Question
(by Marina Maria)
Have you ever asked someone a question that was never answered?
I once knew a very talented musician who played many beautiful instrumental songs to the world. I witnessed to him over the phone every chance I could and encouraged him to play the guitar to Jesus. As the years went by, I kept asking him the same question: “Have you played the guitar or the piano to Jesus yet?” Time continued to pass. We both grew older and grew apart and I kept waiting in prayer while living in separate places of the world, and I continued telling him how much God loves him and how God is waiting to hear a song dedicated to Him. The clock kept ticking and at times I prayed for him over the phone.
Over five years ago, that musician, my dad, passed away and I never knew if he had played a guitar song to the Lord. Only God knows. However, this unanswered question inspired me to write a faith-based fiction book, Play the Guitar to Him, with a main character, Diego, who plays the guitar daily to the Lord.
Diego is a young man who lives in the small, fictional Mexican town of Tocales, Mexico. After experiencing a devastating loss, he begins diligently playing his guitar to the Lord outside his doorstep at night. At first, the townspeople complain about his music, but as time passes, the small town begins to change. Diego is on a spiritual journey to discover God’s purpose and plan for his life, maintaining his unwavering faith despite being left alone after losing his family. As Diego continues to trust in God, God faithfully responds.
My book, Play the Guitar to Him, will be released on November 7, 2026, and will be available in English and Spanish on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and other bookstores. This book is written for young adults and adults. Thank you to TG Media Studio for your social media services, TGMediaStudio.com
Many thanks to Storytime Publishing (storytimepublishers.com) for publishing and beautifully illustrating my book.
Marina Maria
Founder, Host, Author, Missionary
www.globalgospelworshipradio.org
Global Gospel Worship Radio
Meet the Author – www.globalgospelworshipradio.org/meet-the-author-founder
Cave-Dwelling Christians Who Were an Endangered Species
(by Joseph Wakim)
During a recent visit to Lebanon, my cousin Charbel took me on a spiritual ‘hike’ to a place that smashes every stereotype about this complex country.
We traversed the walking path across the breath-taking cliff face of the Qadisha Valley – home to over 20 ancient hermitages, monasteries and cave chapels. It stretches along both sides of the Qadisha River, which runs for about 35 kilometres from the sacred cedars that are featured on the Lebanese flag.
For context on your virtual tour, some brief history and geography:
Qadisha means holy in Aramaic – the native language of Jesus. The Syriac-Aramaic dialect of Levant Christians was the vernacular until Arabic gradually superseded it during the Muslim conquests since 634 AD.
However, the Christians who clung to the mountain villages of Lebanon also clung to their sacred language until the 20th century. I still treasure my great-grandfather’s bilingual prayer book in Syriac and Arabic with his handwritten notes in the margins. Today, Maronite Christians maintain both languages in their liturgy.
Since the 7th century, successive waves of persecution (Byzantines, Mamluks, Ottomans) have forced the Maronites to seek refuge in the mountains and valleys. They included followers of the 4th-century Syrian hermit and founder St Maroun.
In 1998, UNESCO declared Qadisha Valley and the overarching cedar forest a World Heritage Site for the ‘first Christian monasteries in the world … set in an extraordinarily rugged landscape.’
The early Christians carved caves on the rugged hillside that were inaccessible to bandits, armies and persecutors on horseback. Many frescos and inscriptions feature Syriac prayers. The caves were surrounded by terraces for cultivating grains, grapes and olives.
I stood in awe at these caves that were chiselled into the hillside.
How could stones sculptured by persecuted hands now attract pilgrims seeking peace? In these misty heights, I was surrounded by people seeking a different refuge: not physical safety from battles below, but spiritual serenity for the battles within.
We marched up the steep stone steps to the monastery of Mar Lichaa and were greeted by a chorus of birds, like a fanfare of trumpets.
Mar Lichaa (Saint Elisha) was a prophet in the 8th century BC, renowned for many miracles, which is apt for this monastery – a magnet for modern miracles. The king of Aram sought to capture this prophet as an ‘army with horses and chariots had surrounded the city’ (2 Kings 6:15) – just like the Maronite monks a millennium later!
Elisha prayed to the Lord ‘Strike this army with blindness’, rendering Elisha invisible to the persecutors – just like the Maronite monks a millennium later!
Carved on the edge of a vertical cliff face with hand tools, how could these monks have felt ‘safe’?
Upon entering the 700-year-old monastery, I was stunned to see many photos of Father Antonios Tarabay (1911-1998), the last hermit of this monastery. He features in my family history, as this holy man stayed in our home during his annual Lent pilgrimages, before he became a hermit. Next to his burial place at this monastery, there are testimonials of miracles attributed to his intercession.
My cousin then guided me to another ‘miracle’ – a series of stalactite beads that form the shape of the rosary. Surely, they were sculpted by the monks over the centuries. When I saw the tight crevice and cave ceiling from which they hang, my theory was instantly debunked. This unique geological feature was formed by drops of water over centuries. Its resemblance is too uncanny to be coincidental.
My gracious cousin is named after Saint Charbel (1828-1898), with over 30,000 recorded miracles attributed to his intercessions from people of all faiths in over 133 countries. This hermit was born in our ancestral village, Bekaa Kafra, which means fertile land in Syriac. With altitudes exceeding 1800 meters, our snow-capped village is the highest in Lebanon, nestled between the aromatic Qadisha Valley below and the sky above.
Charbel and I were indeed walking in the footsteps of an endangered species of Christians who were threatened with extinction many times. Our families are their benefactors.
As we left this sacred site, I saw cascading waterfalls and rope pulleys spanning across the valley – remnants of sharing vital supplies.
We inhaled the forest fragrance below and the frankincense rising. In winter, this place is blanketed with snow-capped mountains, ensuring life-giving water from above and below.
The profound juxtaposition has intrigued me ever since: how can we complain about physical discomforts and enduring ‘tough times’ of our life when our cave-dwelling ancestors were fleeing death?
How can this rugged and inhospitable hiding place now be an international sanctuary for pilgrims seeking spiritual safety?
Perhaps we all need to visit this refuge, perched on the edge of life and death. This significant sight reminds us of our smallness in the presence of great humility.
Transforming Sydney & Prayer Strategy for the Spheres of Influence Newsletter – October 2015 – From the Convenor
(by Lilian Schmid, October 2015)
Donate, Donate, Donate!?
I sent out the following message to the network on 26 Sep 2015:
Dear friends,
Many Christian people in marketing ask me this question: “How many people do you have in your network”. Honestly I smile and I respond to them like this “I have 7000 people in my network but I have trillions of angels supporting me in Heaven.” Sometimes people do fundraising to help the poor and provide shelters and seek others to donate. That is good, but we must have faith and believe that God is going to stir peoples’ hearts to donate and be generous and then His manna from Heaven will be poured over the fundraising.
This reminds me of 2 stories from the bible
1. The story of Peter in Acts 3:3 – Peter did not have money but he healed the lame Beggar
2. Jesus prayed for the multitude and fed them – Matthew 14:13-21 (Jesus Feeds the Five Thousand)
Brothers and sisters, if you walk in faith and believe God, He will provide all your need and more.
You also need to pray and believe what you ask for. You need to allow God to be part of what you are doing.
You need to acknowledge others in your missions.
Please think in the spirit, not in the flesh, in whatever you are involved with and in.
At the end give the Lord praise and glory in everything you do. Ask …Believe….Receive.
God bless you all
I then received this response from a respected businesswoman (edited for brevity):
This short & powerful message is better than any sermon I have heard.
Thank you for helping me to return to the radical but sheer success of the Holy Spirit remarkable ways!
Your email reply confirms and gives me peace not supporting our church project in Africa and an indigenous minister with their means of using gofundme and the way they harassed me via Facebook and SMS.
I just checked FB [and I wish] they stopped relentlessly using such means. How they can tag the video promo to my FB page? How can they be so desperate as to be so rude? Donate now! Tell your crowd to donate! Every day harping on it.
I strongly believe the body of Christ has to be taught not to harass business people. I am off FB for 2 months already because every pastor and itinerant minister in the world wants to befriend me when they know I am in business.
Christian cyber bullying? Everybody expect business people to foot their bill and have the gall to ask for huge sums (of money). I am going into hiding… !
God bless you,
Lilian Schmid
prayerstrategy.org