Don’t give up!

I complained to a friend about not finding the right story for a children’s talk. But my friend showed no sympathy. “Write your own!” she said.

I was taken aback. I had no talent, or even any interest in writing. My life was too busy anyway. But God used her comment, even though it seemed too crazy to consider…

Now, eleven years later, with forty-four re-writes, twenty-seven rejections from publishers, and an illustrator who marched on valiantly, this Creation book has finally come to life!

Yes, there were those who helped me get back up, again and again. There was also a Bible verse. “Do not despise the day of small beginnings.” (Zechariah 4:10)

What is your seemingly-impossible small beginning? Accept every encouragement, and don’t give up!

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Coming soon. January 2018. Thank you, Sarah Grace Publishing!

 

Imagine that!

For decades I shut my imagination down. Life was too busy, too intense, too serious. I forgot what it was like to walk down a disused railway track and dream of travel, of doing unbelievable things. Riding a comet. Flying over mountains like the wind. Seeing God.

I forgot that in the beginning God imagined the earth, sea, and stars. He spoke and they came into being. I forgot he imagined you and me, and made us with his hands.

God also made us with imaginations, and he wants us to develop them. The Bible says, “Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine.” (Ephesians 3:20) Let’s use our hands to create unimagined things. Let’s speak out unimagined words. Let’s imagine them all with God. 

To wear it, or not

Derek bought me a hat, a green one with a bow in the back. We both like it, but others have not been so positive. “You look eccentric!” “You really look funny!” And the best one.. “Your hat looks like a lily pad!”

I appreciate the honesty. But… there is a wonderful verse in the Bible. It says that God “has made everything beautiful in its time.”* We don’t need to worry about opinions. God created beauty to stand out as different, for that is what beauty is. Each of us is beautiful, regardless of our peculiarities.

I still wear my hat, and when people meet me, they nod and smile. They even stop for a chat. My lily-pad hat might be eccentric, but so is God’s love.

* (Ecclesiastes  3:11)

 

This dark world

I don’t know how to fight injustice. I have tried to speak up for the weak. I have tried to show the weak how to speak. I have tried to protect the abused. I have tried to help the abused stand up for themselves. Now I have come to the end of my strength, and I too am weak.

Then someone reminded me of a verse. “Our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but… against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil.” (Ephesians 6:12) How could I forget?

I started praying specifically. It didn’t take long. I saw an amazing change. The weak are speaking. The abused make a stand. God can do anything, if we ask.

Over the edge

DSC_0041 - CopyI’ve been working too hard, and have gone over the edge. Have you ever done that?

The sun was already setting. I had to get outside. And it was as if God was there. The sun spread out its arms, soothing me. I followed it until it set.

Maybe I’ll start chasing sunsets every day. God is bigger than work.

 

Where is God?

DSC_0003How often I desire to see him, but “he wraps himself in light.” How often I want to know where he is going, but “he rides on the wings of the wind.” But… I can hear him, because “he makes winds his messengers.” (Psalm 104) The winds blow around me all the time. I can stop and listen. God speaks.

“Let my people go!”

When God sent Moses to Pharaoh, he wanted Moses to ask Pharaoh a request. “Let my people go!” Why was that necessary? God doesn’t need anyone’s permission to do what he wants. But God respected Pharaoh’s role. He was giving Pharaoh the chance to do what was right.     
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Instead Pharaoh revealed his true heart, and God showed Moses the consequence. “Pharaoh will refuse to listen to you – so that my wonders may be multiplied in Egypt.”(Exodus 11:9)

Just like for Pharaoh, God respects our role in life. But can we respect those around us? Can we let them thrive? God gives us a choice… and whichever way we chose, it decides which “wonders” we will see.
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