Author Chat with Eva Marie Everson on Her New Release, The Third Path

In 2020, I had the privilege of being part of Eva Marie Everson’s Labyrinth class at the Blue Ridge Mountains Christian Writer’s Conference. In the class, she presented us with questions that God posed to characters in the Bible and challenged us to answer them ourselves. It was an incredibly rich class that I will never forget, and I’ve been waiting since then for her book on this topic to release.

Two years later, The Third Path is in print, and it is a gem. I’m only part way through, mostly because my newborn likes to skip naps and I have new-mom exhaustion, but I look forward to savoring it and digging into these questions with fresh eyes.

I’m thrilled to welcome Eva Marie back to the blog today as she shares more about The Third Path.

Q: You are the best-selling, multi-genre author of both fiction and nonfiction titles. What prompted you to write this project?

After discovering the description for a prayer labyrinth located at the Blue Lake Conference Center in Andalusia, AL, I began to study prayer labyrinths, their history (they go way back). This particular labyrinth had four paths—the path of silence, the path of memory, the path of questioning, and the path of prayer. I began to journal my own labyrinth, but when I got to the Path of Questioning, I found myself stumped. My questions? I had three for God that I knew would never be answered this side of Heaven. When I questioned God about how this Path of Questioning was supposed to work, I heard that still small voice whisper to my heart, “Not your questions. My questions.”

At first, I questioned this too! God has questions?? Then I remembered some of the questions we find in the Bible. I grabbed my nearest copy and opened it to Genesis 1, scanning for question marks.

It has taken me years of answering questions and I’m still not done. But in 2018 I asked Edie Melson, director of Blue Ridge Mountains Christian Writers Conference if I could teach what I’d learned so far as a spiritual class rather than my typical fiction class. She jumped at it . . . suddenly, I was teaching it at other conferences. One day, Rachel Hauck (NY Times bestselling author) said, “Where’s the book?”

And there you have it.

Q: I had the privilege of sitting in your Labyrinth class at the Blue Ridge Mountains Christian Writer’s Conference in 2020 where you challenged us writers to answer several questions God asked His children in the Bible. These seemingly simple questions were much harder to answer than expected! Why do you think these questions remain relevant for believers today?

Because questions—any question—that is asked between parent and child or between friends or between spouses is not meant solely for receiving an answer, but to allow the two (the asker and the answerer) to draw more intimate in their relationship.

Q: Are you still teaching the Labyrinth class at conferences? What has been one of the most rewarding moments from teaching these classes?

Oh, yes.

There has not been a single time that I have spoken about “the Labyrinth” or given the class that I have not witnessed the Holy Spirit break down walls and strongholds. I’m always amazed. I don’t know why I’m always amazed, but I am.

Q: I’d never heard of a prayer labyrinth prior to your class. For others who are unfamiliar with the concept, would you please explain it?

From the book: A labyrinth is not a maze. Mazes are designed to confound and confuse. They are puzzles to be solved. Finding your way in is no problem. Finding your way out becomes the goal. Labyrinths, on the other hand, are not designed in complexity but as a single path. They are unicursal. One sets their feet at the entrance and, once inside, they walk a clear and narrow way, circling back and around until they find the center.

But that doesn’t mean that labyrinths are simple; the quest of the walker is to let go of the world so as to draw closer to God.

Q: Of the 26 questions from the Bible discussed in your book, would you choose one and share how answering it impacted you and helped bring you closer to God?

Where did you come from and where are you going? (Genesis 16:8)

It took me weeks to answer this question. I had to dig into where I’d grown up, the influence of the adults and other children in my life . . . the decisions I’d made as a young adult leaving the influence of my parents to make my own way in the world—those that were not so wise and those that were. I had to face the fact that I have pretty much lived by the seat of my pants and that wasn’t always the way to go. I had no real direction until I got to a certain point, which led me to where I’m going. To be honest, where I’m going wasn’t what I had in mind, but I realized it was what God had in mind. So, there was that.

Q: What is your desire for readers as they embark on this journey of questioning and answering?

To draw closer to God (and God closer to them) as they walk the path toward Him. To become more intimately in love with their God, their Heavenly Father, their Bridegroom. To know more the sound of the Holy Spirit’s “voice.” To walk the path of life with a whole new vision.

Q: How can readers stay in touch with you?

EvaMarieEversonAUTHOR.com (Not EvaMarieEverson.com!! That’s a name-squatter!)

Or

PenNhnd@gmail.com

Q: Can you hint about what next project you have in the works?

Too much!

A follow-up book to Our God is Bigger Than That! a children’s book co-written with Michelle Medlock Adams

A follow-up book to The Third Path (and a journal)

A novel (nearly done!) titled Beth Bettencourt.

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About the Author

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About The Third Path