Smoothing the Rough Edges and Growing

God likes to help us learn. I was originally going to say that he likes to teach us lessons, but wanted to be more optimistic. I've been struggling lately just dealing with particular people. We cannot lie. There are just some people in this world that are hard (no, impossible) to get along with. None of us escape them. I was once told that God gives us sandpaper in our lives to smooth our rough edges. I do believe that. But what is rough about me that I see in these people? Am I just hiding from an issue that I need to address? The more I prayed the more I realized that it was not necessarily that I had those same characteristics (thank goodness), but more like I needed to grow in dealing with theirs. Can I change them? No. Only God can. But I can work on me. I can grow instead of focusing on their lack of growth and stopping my own progress.

God, You take care of them. You are much more creative than I am and much more impressionable. I'll focus on getting myself where I need to be. Just don't take too long :)

Devotion

2 Peter 2:19

They promise them freedom, while they themselves are slaves of depravity – for a man is a slave to whatever has mastered him.

Do we really understand what freedom means? If I took a poll around your town, how many different answers would I get? “Freedom is when I get to do whatever I want.” “Freedom is not having to answer to anyone.” “Freedom is when I don’t have to follow rules.” “Freedom is being released from bondage.” But are we ever truly free? I don’t get to do “whatever” I want because there are laws in place to prevent me from doing that. I have to answer to the law, my parents, my boss….. I haven’t found a place yet where there are no rules for me to follow. Do we ever get rid of bondage even the bondage of TV, selfishness, arrogance? We are always slaves to something. There is always something that masters us. The first thing we need to do is find out what we are bound to, what do we call master. It could really be the TV. It could be our job, our relationships, a drink, a drug, food, satisfying any of our personal urges, being in control, money, being in the spotlight, always needing to be right, needing control of everything, depression…. The list could go on for 10 pages. Find that master of your life and evaluate if it is a truly good, merciful, and loving master. Does your master love you, desire only the best, do anything for you to protect you, is there for you at ALL times when everyone else abandons you? If you cannot say yes to every one of those, is that really who you want to call master? Find who your master is, evaluate their actions toward you. Then decide if you should stay bound there or find the most desirable and sacrificing master. There are other masters out there. But don’t just jump to another one so that you can brag that you took that leap and changed masters. You could be jumping from the fire into the inferno. Evaluate them all before choosing. Who does love you no matter what? Who guides you through the tough times? Who would die for you? Who already has? Before directing others to a life of your version of freedom, check your freedom barometer. Where does your “freedom” lie?

Focusing on Devotion

Jeremiah 6:14
They dress the wound of my people as though it were not serious. ‘peace, peace,’ they say, when there is no peace.

What happens when you have an injury and you just ignore it? It usually gets worse. Infection can set in. If it is still not addressed, gangrene and death could await you. All this could have happened from a small innocent cut on the finger. We do that in the other areas of our life, also. We pretend that we don’t have any problems. We find ways to make the ugly pretty so that we can bury our heads in the sand and pretend that it is all a rose garden. We ignore the beatings, the extra drink or two, the inappropriate touches, the persistent desire for more and more, the urge to express our anger instead of our love, the extra 6 helpings of food, the fact that we never exchange polite words in our marriage anymore, anything that is dragging us down and hurting us. We apply dressing to the wound instead of medicating and seeking the much needed help to prevent more serious side effects. We think we’ve got it covered and all looks good. But when there is war, and you refuse to say there is anything but peace, the whole world sees the bombs exploding behind you and the fires of destruction burning. We lie to those in front of us. But worse, we lie to ourselves. Stop! Look at your life and see where you are hurt. See where you have been ignoring a “small” cut that now is swollen and infection is residing. Find where you need the help that only God can give. Find where you cannot cure it and find the ultimate cure. Stop living a fantasy. Start living a strength filled eternity.

A Night to Appreciate

Last night we had our weekly Friday meal and it was great. 25 people showed up which was our second highest number. There were 3 new people and everyone of them are planning on coming back next week for homemade ice cream. It was wonderful. Everyone seemed to have so much fun. And the number of kids there was high. Of that 25, 10 were kids. It was so much fun to see them all running around.

Sold three more books!! It is great. The second book, The Nightingale in the Garden, is with the illustrator now. The third book is in first draft mode. I'm hoping in a week or so review that one again before sending it to the editor. I have such a new found respect for writers as we go through so many versions and corrections.

Today's Devotional:

Matthew 5:3

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

This verse always bothered me. In reading it, I took it to mean that you had to have less faith or less of the Holy Spirit, if you could quantify it. But upon deeper study, I found that my use of the words were not the way the original message was intended. The Message interprets it in a way I get as “You’re blessed when you are at the end of your rope. With less of you there is more of God and his rule.” The Amplified says that blessed are the humbled. That makes sense now! At the end of my rope…… I’ve been there many times. Kind of hang there sometimes, too. Never knowing where to go from here. Only seeing the abyss beneath me. That’s when I’m blessed? At the end of your rope, do you have any friends left to help you? Is there an escape plan waiting for you? By then, do you have the strength to swing to the edge of the cliff? What else is there left for you to figure out on your own? What else can you do? Notice what is emphasized in those last two questions. What can “YOU” do? It is only when we are at the end of our rope, or poor (humbled) spirit, do we stop looking inside at “ME” and begin looking up at HIM. That is when we can realize and confess that we cannot do anymore and that only He can. It is only then when we surrender unto Him and release into His capable hands. You are blessed when you get there because you know total helplessness and total crying out to your Father. It is not a matter of how much of the Holy Spirit you have, it is how humble you are to realize that YOU are not in control. That is when you become poor in spirit.

What a Wonderful Day!

The devil got a black eye yesterday. Let's be honest, he got it 100 times over. Yesterday was a stellar day. It didn't start off so good. Work was frustrating. When you are trying to teach someone and they just don't get it no matter how simple you make it, it gets tiresome. Then the other half wasn't listening to me at all. So I began to go over the edge with it all. Then a guy walked in who had been struggling finding a job. He found one that morning and started today. What a praise! Then two people from another church showed up to help us clean up from a remodeling project. The blessings from that were amazing to see brothers and sisters join up and get a job done. Then later that night we held our Celebrate Recovery meeting and had one new person show up. She is already a believer and seemed to have enjoyed herself. She has no church home. That was another praise. Then during the small group time, a man who has only been coming a couple of weeks accepted Christ!!!!!! What more could we ask for? Then a friend of ours made several of her milestones which was a huge celebration. Someone else celebrated 9 months sobriety! This is great. Tonight we could conceivably have 30 people with all those that have expressed an interested. God is really pouring out His blessings on us after the week of attacks that we had last week. I even sold three more books in the last two days. I'm on cloud nine.

Article of the week - Apples - More Than a Pie

Baby Steps of Success

Yesterday was kind of a blah day. Nothing bad happened, but all the things I wanted to happen just didn't go as planned. But at the end of the day, my phone blinked letting me know that I had an email. Since my computer was up, I just glanced at it to see what it was. It showed two messages. My phone said three. I refreshed my webpage and it still said two. I looked further at my phone at it was from the book email address and not my personal. I was so excited. It was an order!!!! That makes three books I've sold so far and the marketing is still barely existing. Some more well-known authors might laugh at the excitement I felt, but that one sell made my day. I was on cloud nine. Then my mind began to whirl and how to make it six books and then twelve and so on.

Yesterday I learned that I need to be patient and wait on God. It is not easy, and it is not fun. But it is SOOOOO worth it.

Devotion of the Day:

2 Corinthians 12:9-10
But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

Have you ever wished for pain and suffering to go away? Have you tired of dealing with it or putting on a strong face? I know I have. And in 2 Corinthians Paul was in the same boat. Paul! The man we at times put on a pedestal as one of the most holy of men. He struggled. He suffered. And he begged for relief. Many times God gave him relief. But this time, God said no. How can this be? It doesn’t make sense. But when God said no, he added that His very grace should be more than enough to get Paul through it. Maybe we need to look at what is grace. Grace is accepting consequences and the mercies all wrapped up in one bundle. An example I read was an illustration where a guy was speeding and slammed into a police car. He had to accept the consequences of a fine but he also had to accept the free coffee the policeman got him to help him calm down. Consequences and mercy all in one. Wow! We have to accept the consequences. They might be fines, embarrassments, loss of possessions, unemployment, jail, or sickness. But there is mercy in each of those if we just look. It could be a new friend, a chance to be a better parent, to learn new experiences, to see a different side of others, to understand those we hurt in the past. When we are weak, the power of God shines the brightest because we are not competing for the spotlight. Only His light can shine that bright. Paul accepted that answer and took it further by saying that now he was glad of whatever problem he was having. Glad? Yes, if it will cause the light of Christ to shine all the brighter and others see Him more clearly, then yes. When my father was diagnosed with liver cancer, so many people asked why. It just didn’t make sense to us. He had a history of heart problems not cancer. There was no cancer in our families. Heart problems plagued everyone and took all their lives. But God chose him to have cancer. Though it seemed a rapid way to die, it was slower than a heart attack would have been. As people watched how strong he was, they were amazed. His faith only grew. He knew there was a reason for the method of death. He discovered one of the reasons when a man, with whom he had been friends with for many decades, asked him to come over to talk about Jesus because he had to know about what drove my father’s faith. That 77 year old man accepted Christ that day. My father said that if that was the reason why he was given cancer, and he had to go through so many treatments, then he was glad to have been chosen. God’s grace. Accepting the results while accepting the blessings. How can you see God’s grace in the hardships you are facing? In the struggles you are enduring? In the conflicts that seem to be encompassing you? Open your eyes to what He is showing you. Open your eyes to His many mercies.

Marketing Frustration

Ok, I have to admit that those that do successful marketing are not getting paid enough. I'm working on getting the book out there and get some sales. Nada is happening. This is very frustrating. I've sold two in the last two months. Now, that is not bad but it is disappointing. I'm not expecting to see hundreds sold, but a few extra would just help me (at least mentally).

The second book in the series is already at the illustrators. He should be done in a few months. Then back to the editor. I've got the third book done in first draft. I'll probably review it again in a few weeks. When you let things age, you see areas of improvement.

I've started work on a new series for older children. I've got the first two chapters done. I really need to concentrate to do it and with a house full, it is hard. I need to find a place to get away to so that I can find that quiet that I need for writing.

Lessons to Learn

God has a sense of humor. He loves to see how we handle the brick walls we encounter that lead to our growth. We see them as major obstacles that cannot be overcome. He sees how short it really is and that with a little (ok, a lot) of patience we would see what He sees. Well, my brick wall yesterday about killed me (at least in my mind).

I work from home and right now the "regular" job is getting intense. I'm hourly so every moment counts if I want a decent paycheck. My computer decided that it wanted to act up. It kept shutting down and restarting. I did everything I knew to do. It did no good. I was so frustrated because all I could think of was not getting any work done on Tuesday. I was worried about what it would cost to fix it or if I would need a new one. Well, I finally breathed and realized that maybe this was God's way of telling me to relax. Take a night off work and actually go to bed on time. I did and God blessed me for listening to Him this time that when we went into the office the next day, my husband was able to fix it. I'm up and working which was a big relief. It was also a lesson to relax and let Him have control.

I'm not too old to learn. Thank goodness.

Yesterday was a very full day. My husband preached in the morning at a sister church that has always welcomed us so warmly. After church we were invited to a house on a lake for lunch and the kids spent so much time in the water. Our youngest has been afraid of water since she was born. In the last two years she'll get in the water but that is about it. Yesterday she actually went tubing and would jump in the lake all by herself. I do belief our little one grew up some yesterday. The weather was just beautiful. Needless to say, the kids got a little sun exposure but they declared very loudly that it was worth it.

That evening we had our church service. Being a pioneer church plant, you'll find that you don't know if you will have 20 show up or none. Right now we don't have many that you can count on to be at every function. But last night we were very blessed to see 11 people. That might not sound like much to many out there, but when you are only reaching out to those who are looking at drinks, drugs, divorce, and so many other issues as the primary focus of their lives, this is a huge number. We saw one who fell off the wagon come back determined to do it this time. What a praise! We had a another show up when he could have been too embarrassed to ever show his face again. He is wanting another chance. These are the ones Jesus spent his time with. He didn't fixate on the "righteous". He sought those that had to hope in their lives. And that is what we are trying to emulate.

That is one of the reasons I started writing my Redemption Tales Series. We seem to put God in this box and we forget the wonder it felt to see Him and realize that He was doing it all for little unworthy me.

How to Start Out.....

I was wondering how to start off blogging. Maybe I could talk about the challenge of learning new technology, or how I'm learning about search engines and keywords. I could even talk about the great guy who is helping me with the technology and doesn't laugh at my ignorance of it all. But, I discovered that that was not what was really wanting to jump out of me.

We are spending the night at a B&B on a lake. It is just beautiful. As the children were jumping in the water off the pier, I sat on the porch just savoring the quiet and light breeze. A chipmunk ran up to within a few feet of me and went to looking for any food we might have dropped. He was so cute, and not the least bit afraid of me. He then decided that I was stingy and went further into the lawn to see what he could find. He must have ventured too far when another chipmunk appeared running him off. They were romping in the grass and playing their version of hide and seek.

We can learn so much just by looking more closely at the world around us. I needed to relax a little more and have some fun. All this from a little own chipmunk.

I wonder what I could learn tomorrow?