Melody Trowell
9 min read ⭑
“I believe God lives in language. The veil between our realms of physical and spiritual thins in the presence of good words. My task at hand is to re-enchant the world through fairy tales so children (and their adults) can be reminded of the closeness of God.”
Melody Trowell is a teacher, writer and a lover of words. She holds degrees in English and linguistics and has taught middle school, high school and college. Currently, she teaches full-time as Associate Professor of English at Dallas Christian College. Her first children’s book, “The Girl Whose Frown Shook the Ground,” will be released in October with Calla Press Publishing.
In this interview, Melody shares her passion for words and how she believes God lives in language. She also reveals how her morning workouts have become holy moments, how a dinner at Red Lobster changed her life and how she found life-giving rest when she traded a few habits for some new ones.
QUESTION #1: ACQUAINT
There’s much more to food than palate and preference. How does a go-to meal at your favorite hometown restaurant reveal the true you behind the web bio?
Twenty years ago I went out with my roommate and best friend for a girls’ night out. Before the evening activities, we met with her fiancé and his friends for dinner at Red Lobster in my hometown of Abilene, Texas. I don’t remember much about the actual meal, except that I was trying to limit myself to just one cheesy biscuit, because I was trying to impress the “cute boy” sitting across the table. Afterward, as we were getting in our cars (one for the boys, one for the girls), my friend told me one of the guys had asked for my phone number. Excited about the idea of the “cute boy” across the table taking an interest in me, I said, “Oh! Who was it?” Not the “cute boy” across the table. It was the one sitting next to him. The one I hadn’t spoken a word to the entire meal. That piqued my interest. A boy pursuing me unsolicited? That had never happened to me before. So I leaned in. I got to know him. He was (is) everything I had ever imagined an amazing husband could be. A man after God’s own heart who loves me like Jesus loves the Church. So, every year, no matter where we are (Abilene, Dallas, wherever), we go to Red Lobster and split The Ultimate Feast. For God knows what we need before we even pray it (Matthew 6:8), and sometimes that’s your lobster.
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QUESTION #2: REVEAL
We’ve all got quirky proclivities and out-of-the-way interests. So, what are yours? What so-called “nonspiritual” activities do you love and help you find spiritual renewal?
Every morning at 6:00 a.m., I workout in my living room — barefoot. I fill my water bottle, close my children’s bedroom doors, cue up my DVD and meet God in the light of my television. Sweat drips down my face and stings my eyes, and I ask him to help me get through the next thirty minutes. Some days, I barely make it. But I keep showing up. And it feels sacred. I’m taking care of his temple, my body. Not worshiping it — caring for it. I know the difference now that I’m in my forties. I didn’t always. As a college athlete, I exercised for different reasons. I’m grateful for that season, but this is different. Holy. Me and God on my blue floral carpet, cracking my neon green PoundFit sticks together, defeating the enemy one squat at a time.
I also meet God in stories. Not just “Christian stories.” In fact, I see him more often where people don’t tell me he is. Where I can find him on my own, like Lucy unexpectedly seeing Aslan when nobody else could. He shows up in the literary texts I teach my students, like “The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin in the way the main character is clearly unaware of herself, but actually never changes. And “Tulips” by Sylvia Plath in the way she uses color of something typically beautiful to evoke feelings of hatred. God also shows up when I write — this is where I lose my breath and sometimes cry.
QUESTION #3: CONFESS
Every superhero has a weakness. Every human, too. We're just good at faking it. But who are we kidding? We’re broken and in this thing together. So what’s your kryptonite and how do you hide it?
I grew up in the 90s, when TV reigned supreme. Sitcoms and rom-coms were alive and well. It was my every evening. TV and ice cream. It’s how I wound down from a day at school and later in life from a day at work or parenting. When I needed a break, I found the remote. And then the Lord poked at me about the junk I was putting in my body. Not culinary junk, although there was plenty of that, but TV junk. So I moved the TV from the main living room wall to a not-so-main living room wall. It helped, but not a lot. I still fought the urge to numb out to a show. Then Covid hit, and I moved life outdoors. I started gardening, reading again and writing again. I found life-giving rest. When we returned to in-person activities, we made a rule: no electronics on school nights. That was hard for me at first. Still is sometimes. Sometimes I break it. But at least now I’m watching “Wheel of Fortune” or “Murder She Wrote.” Baby steps.
QUESTION #4: FIRE UP
Tell us about your toil. How are you investing your professional time right now? What’s your obsession? And why should it be ours?
I believe God lives in language. The veil between our realms of physical and spiritual thins in the presence of good words. My task at hand is to re-enchant the world through fairy tales so children (and their adults) can be reminded of the closeness of God. My book, “The Girl Whose Frown Shook the Ground,” is a short chapter book about a spoiled little girl whose parents give her everything she wants because if she gets upset, she frowns so big that it shakes the ground and destroys stuff around her. But when she suddenly shrinks and enters a hollow tree, she meets someone who sees her for who she should be but isn’t yet. She can’t regain her size until she completes three self-sacrificing tasks. Children ages 5 to 11 will love it. This story is important because our world has forgotten where our hope comes from and who we’re really fighting. Childlike faith is how we’ll be able to see him again. This story reminds us that there is hope, and he’s never left. The book also has beautiful imagery and language that respects the depth of children’s God-given understanding instead of simplifying language and speaking down to them. And, true to fairy tale form, the characters are nameless, so any reader can connect to any character in any season of life — sometimes I’m the girl, and sometimes I’m the mother. “The Girl Whose Frown Shook the Ground” releases October 16, 2024.
QUESTION #5: BOOST
Cashiers, CEOs, contractors or customer service reps, we all need grace flowing into us and back out into the world. How does the Holy Spirit invigorate your work? And how do you know it’s God when it happens?
I pay attention to my tears. When my son was young he struggled with social anxiety. He and I went to our first mother-son dance, but we never got to the dance floor. He cried and cried: “I wanna dance, Mommy, but I just can’t." The only way I knew to process that night was to write about it, and during the writing, God used words to teach me that my son would dance with him one day. And I cried. Another time, I was vacuuming my living room carpet while listening to praise music on Pandora, and I was suddenly overcome with a joy that caught in my throat. Before I knew it, I was crying. It surprised me! I felt an overwhelming gratefulness for my life even though all I was doing was vacuuming the rug. What was it? It was the song. I can’t remember the words, but they moved me to tears. Another time, I was teaching a poetry class when a student recommended “Oranges” by Gary Soto. I choked out the final stanza and had to wait a moment while I cleared my throat after seeing how holding an orange could be like “making a fire in my hands.” The Holy Spirit lived, really lived, in all those words. So anytime I get stuck writing, or feel loss of hope, I ask for the Holy Spirit’s help and turn to words because I know where he lives. And every time, without fail, he opens the door and lets me in.
QUESTION #6: inspire
Scripture and tradition beckon us into the rich and varied actions that open our hearts to the presence of God. So spill it, which spiritual practice is workin’ best for you right now?
I sit with my Bible every morning after my workout at 6 am. My husband takes our children to school so I can have that time before I go to work. I dine on a breakfast of eggs and potatoes and the Living Word of our Lord. It’s completely silent for about thirty minutes. God told me to “be still” in 2018, and for two years he had me waiting for something that I actually think is happening right now. Needless to say, I’ve gotten pretty good at sitting in silence and just listening. In 2022 I began to pray consistently for discernment. You can’t discern if you’re talking and moving all the time. You have to sit still and be quiet. Last summer, I had zero words when I went to pray. None. I just sat and stared and listened. Now, I spend just a few moments each morning with him in my corner armchair upholstered in black fabric adorned with French greetings with my feet on the ottoman and my black coffee in my right hand. And I remind my heart of his voice. And guess what? This helps me hear him even when I’m not sitting in my corner armchair, which is really the rather exciting bit of being a follower of Christ.
QUESTION #7: FOCUS
Our email subscribers get free ebooks featuring our favorite resources — lots of things that have truly impacted our faith lives. But you know about some really great stuff, too. What are some resources that have impacted you?
“When God Writes Your Love Story” by Eric and Leslie Ludy changed the way I viewed dating when I was 21, the year before I got married. I had idolized marriage and was desperate for that partnership, but that book taught me that God’s plans were better than mine. I let go. “Crazy Love” by Francis Chan woke me up to God’s love for me when I was 33. Chan taught me to wonder at God instead of legalistically obeying him. That book changed how I operated in practical ways as a Christian. “Paradise King” by Blaine Eldredge solidified my Christian mysticism and gave me permission to fully engage in my calling to re-enchant the world for God’s people. I cried while reading that book. Then I met Blaine when God confirmed my calling, and I cried again.
We all have things we cling to to survive (or thrive) in tough times. Name one resource you’ve found indispensable in this current season — and tell us what it's done for you.
My favorite podcast is “Women Who Dare to Believe” with Nan Gurley and Bonnie Keen. My very best days are when they drop an episode! They do a beautiful job of bringing their audience into the worlds of various women of the Bible with gorgeous music and singing, robust research, and their fun personalities. They remind me not only that I am not alone in my struggle of feeling different as a follower of Christ, but also that it’s actually a good thing to be different! I end every episode feeling full and hopeful and equipped. It’s a good work (Ephesians 2:10).
QUESTION #8: dream
God is continually stirring new things in each of us. So give us the scoop! What’s beginning to stir in you but not yet fully awakened? What can we expect from you in the future?
I feel like God is telling me it’s ok to keep writing stories. He’s been giving me more story ideas that are good, beautiful and true. I’m hesitant sometimes to lean into this new role of writer/author because I’ve tried so many times in the past to do creative work for his glory, but I’ve somehow made it all about me. So I’m entering this new phase cautiously and self-aware. I’m working on my second fairy tale though! It’s about a boy who lives in a world where strength is looked down on, and all this boy wants is to be like a knight from his storybooks and find his missing father. One day, the boy’s grandfather gifts him a toy castle, and that night the boy dreams that he shrinks down and goes into the castle to become a knight-in-training. But, when it’s all over, he discovers it wasn’t a dream after all! I know this story is also from God, like “The Girl Whose Frown Shook the Ground,” but I’m scared about putting the focus on myself and not God. I’m also scared it won’t get published, but I haven’t queried or finished writing it yet. I covet your prayers, readers!
Melody understands the power that words have on us and those around us. All through Scripture, we see examples of how words are both a gift and a force to be wielded with love, care and restraint. For example, James 3 talks about the incredible power of spoken words, and Proverbs 18:21 says that the tongue has the power of life and death. Spend some time asking God to reveal times in your life when words have been a force of life and times when they haven’t. Ask him to show you how you can use your words more intentionally as a force of love.
Melody Trowell holds degrees in English and Linguistics. She has taught middle school, high school and college and has been a small business owner. Currently, she teaches full-time as Associate Professor of English at Dallas Christian College. Her first children’s book, The Girl Whose Frown Shook the Ground, was released on October 16, 2024 with Calla Press Publishing. She also has poetry featured in the Calla Press Literary Journal and An Unexpected Journal. She’s been married to her husband, Randy, for twenty years, and they have three incredible children.
