Dianne E. Butts

                               Freelance Writer, Author, Screenwriter

Manna - "What is it?"

After God brought Israel out of slavery in Egypt, the Israelites spent 40 years wandering in the desert. Estimates are at that time there were more than a million people, so how do you feed them? God sent them "manna" every morning. Exodus 16:31 says, "The people of Israel called the bread manna. It was white like coriander seed and tasted like wafers made with honey."  Numbers 11:7, 9 says, "The manna was like coriander seed and looked like resin... When the dew settled on the camp at night, the manna also came down."

When God gave the miraculous bread from heaven, He also gave instructions to the people. You can read this story in Exodus 16, but basically the people were to go out every morning and gather enough manna for the day--except on the day before the Sabbath when they were to gather twice as much so they would not have to go out and gather it on the Sabbath.

Of course some people thought they'd be slick and gathered more than they needed one day thinking they'd save themselves the work the next day. But the next morning their left-over manna was rotten, stinky, and filled with maggot. Eww. However on the Sabbath the manna they'd gathered the previous day was not rotten but was still fresh.

We don't see actual "manna" today, but God's Word (found in the Old and New Testaments of the Bible) is God's bread from heaven and is what sustains our spiritual lives giving us life for all eternity. God wants us to gather manna from His Word every day.

In the New Testament, Jesus proclaimed that He was God's miraculous Bread from Heaven sent by God:

"Jesus said to them, 'I tell you the truth, it is not Moses who has given you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.' ... Then Jesus declared, 'I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty' " (John 6:32-33, 35, NIV).

When the Israelites first saw the manna, "they said to each other, 'What is it?' For they did not know what it was" (Exodus 16:15). Translated, the word "manna" means "What is it?" How perfect is that?

In the desert, the Israelites gathered the literal manna that was a metaphor for the coming spiritual manna: God's Word which came in the flesh in Jesus Christ. But today, many people don't know how to gather manna, or even that there is manna to be gathered! That's why my motto is:

"Gathering Manna and Giving it Out"

I haven't always been a Christian, and my heart's desire is to reach out to others who do not know the Lord Jesus Christ but would like to. I also love to teach those who are new to the Christian faith or who maybe aren't new but want to grow and learn. I've spent many years "gathering manna," which means to me studying the Bible and learning God's Word. Now I want to share what I've learned with others by giving out what I've gathered. I do this primarily through my writing: writing books, screenplays, magazine articles, and contributing to others' books. I also speak to groups.

This site is meant to let you know what I have to offer and keep you up to date on my new projects.

Latest News:

 

 Grand Magazine's Best Grandparent Book Award 2012

Deliver Me wins a Christian Small Publishers 2012 Book of the Year

 

See my byline recently in:

Recent Book Contributions:

Interviews:

My Books:

Please click on the "Books" tab at the top of this page for detailed information about my books:

  1. Prophecies Fulfilled in the Death & Resurrection of Jesus (Pix-N-Pens, April 2013)
  2. Prophecies Fulfilled in the Birth of Jesus (Pix-N-Pens, November 2012)
  3. Grandparenting Through Obstacles: Overcoming Family Challenges to Reach Your Grandchildren for Christ (Pix-N-Pens, August 2012)
  4. Deliver Me: Hope, Hope & Healing through True Stories of Unplanned Pregnancy (Connections Press 2011)
  5. Dear America: A Letter of Comfort & Hope to a Grieving Nation (Ampelos 2002, Kindle 2012)

 

My work in Film:

Short Film

The Choice:

Please check out the "Connections Press" page to read about my work in film.

Dianne's IMDb.com Page.

 

 

 

Dianne E. Butts

www.JodieWestfallPhotography.com 

www.DeliverMeBook.com

www.DeliverMeBook.blogspot.com

www.GrandparentingThruObstacles.wordpress.com

www.ButtsAboutWriting.blogspot.com

 

Dianne's Books:


 

Dianne... is the author of these books:

Now Available: Prophecies Fulfilled in the Death & Resurrection of Jesus (Pix-N-Pens, April 2013)

Prophecies Fulfilled in the Birth of Jesus (Pix-N-Pens, November 2012)

Grandparenting Through Obstacles: Overcoming Family Challenges to Reach Your Grandchildren for Christ (Pix-N-Pens, August 2012):

Deliver Me: Hope, Help, & Healing through True Stories of Unplanned Pregnancy (Connections Press, April 2011)

Dear America, - A Letter of Comfort & Hope to a Grieving Nation (Ampelos Press, March 11, 2002; Kindle March 11, 2012)

Dianne's Writing

Dianne has been writing for publication for over twenty years with her first publication in 1991. Since then she has seen over 340 publications in print magazines including Light & Life, Enrichment Journal, On Mission, Encounter, and Focus on the Family's Clubhouse. She has written for online publications including FindingGodDaily.com, ThinkingAboutSuicide.com, and  TheChristianPulse.com and has contributed to CBN.com. She has also contributed to nineteen books, including Chicken Soup for the Christian Soul 2, Chicken Soup for the Soul: 101 Best Stories of Faith, and Zondervan's New Woman's Devotional Bible.

Dianne's writing has appeared in Great Britain, Bulgaria, Poland, Canada, and Korea.

Dianne's Screenwriting

As a screenwriter, Dianne attended Act One Program's "Writing for Film and Television" in 2010. Since then her screenplay, Daemon, was a semifinalist in the Kairos Prize for Spiritually Uplifting Screenplays in January 2013. She was contracted to write on a project from an optioned nonfiction book in 2011. In 2010 she entered the 168 Project's "Write of Passage" contest and her short script, "A Cowboy's Faith" (which was inspired by a true story in Dianne's book Deliver Me) was a finalist.

Dianne also participated in the 168 Film Project in 2011 with a team from her Act One class that produced the short film Steel City. She participated in the 168 Film Project again in 2012 and this time headed up her own team and wrote, produced, and directed The Choice, another story inspired by a true story in her Deliver Me book.

Visit Dianne's IMDb page here.

 

Dianne and her husband, Hal, are also professional voice talents. Listen to their Demos here:

Dianne's Voice Demo

Hal's Voice Demo


Deliver Me Book Page

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Books Dianne has contributed to:

 

You can purchase copies of my books, signed personally for you, at this site:
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