by Stacey | Sep 15, 2016 | Devotionals, reflections, and encouragement
September rushes in unavoidable change. Summer turns to autumn. Trees drop their leaves. Temperatures dip. Fortunately, September has always been a favourite month of mine. However, this year, the changes ushered in have been bittersweet.
Sweet Changes
Some of the best changes are the two new book contacts signed within one week of each other. (Whoo hoo!) Novel #2, tentatively titled, In Too Deep, has been picked up by my publisher, Pelican Book Group. And, Glorious Surrender, (the book – not the website) was awarded the Women’s Journey of Faith award. It won a publishing contract and will be released within the next year. Sometimes, I have to pinch myself to believe this dream of writing is actually coming true. The ‘sweet’ is holding Unexpected Love in my hands, turning the pages and seeing Julie’s passionate love for her children and Lord come to life through images and words.
Bitter changes
The most bitter change was saying good-bye to a dear friend who is now with her Lord. There are no words to convey the hole she leaves in her community, her church, and in her family. Her departure makes autumn a little bit harsher and a whole lot colder.
Emotional changes
We started homeschooling again. Day one was great, two, three, and four left me questioning my sanity. Can I really teach these kids? This is so much harder than I remember it being last year. What if I fail?
As I navigate this emotional month, I thank the Lord my identity and self worth are not rooted in the external. My identity and worth are rooted in the One who never changes, the One who never fails. His strength is enough. He fills every need, comforts every wounded heart, and holds the only opinion that matters.
What really matters
In the end, it doesn’t matter how my next two books are received by the world as long as my words glorify the Lord.
It’s normal and right to grieve the loss of my friend. God promises that as I prioritize Him and His word, pressing onward day by day, eventually this mourning will turn into joy. Blessed are those who mourn, for they are comforted. There have been some sweet moments of drawing closer to my Lord during my grief.
And school? Well, there are good days and bad days, easy days and hard days. And God is with me every day, reminding me to speak in love and with gentleness, to persevere, and to keep the big picture in front of me. These precious days with our littles are going too fast. They are worth the extra effort, the extra time, and the extra energy.
Living a life that points them to Christ is what really matters.
by Stacey | Sep 8, 2016 | For Writers
Write every day. Those two words were the most repeated advice offered to me as a new writer. However, there was a huge discrepancy between what was said to me and what I actually heard.
Said: “Write every day.”
Heard: “Write novel material every day.”
Said: “Write every day.”
Heard: “It only counts if the writing is on your major writing project.”
Said: “Write every day.”
Heard: “If it doesn’t benefit the novel, it is a waste of time.”
Why Write Every Day
A new writer writes every day because it is through the practise of writing that improvement is achieved. A new writer writes every day because it develops a habit that increases ones chances of reaching success. A new writer writes every day because no one masters a craft in which they half-heartedly invest. So yes, write every day.
What I’m Not Saying
It’s amazing that two simple words could be misunderstood for so long. To prevent you from repeating my mistake from years ago, let me clarify. Write every day means write something. Anything. Novel project? Sure. Brainstorm a new project? Sure. Work on a blog post? Sure. Trade your fiction for non-fiction? Sure. Simply write.
Something.
Anything.
Write.
As you string words together it contributes to your ability to write well. You learn to tighten your thoughts. You learn to structure your sentences. You learn to present information in a logical fashion. These are all necessary skills for every kind of writing.
Enjoy it!
My best advice to a new author? Love what you do, but don’t so tightly define what you do that you fail to recognize the value in all others styles and genres of writing. Love your fiction work (if publishing a novel is your dream). But don’t devalue non-fiction, poetry, research, blogs, articles, or newspaper work. Sometimes, dipping your toe into a different pond sends out ripples of creativity.
Credit
Publishing my first novel was my dream. However, I took a break that stretched over a few years and worked for a magazine, freelanced for various small publications, and worked on writing classes. I wrote every day for years and misbelieved I was failing because it wasn’t on my novel. What wasted years beating myself up! I would not have been able to rework that novel without those years of writing non-fiction. Those years schooled me in the art of writing. Those years—those writing classes—sharpened my skills.
Write on, my friend. And don’t fear taking a break from your major project. All writing is profitable when you are doing your best to write better today than you did yesterday.
by Stacey | Sep 1, 2016 | Devotionals, reflections, and encouragement
This week a good friend transitioned from the perishable to the imperishable. My youngest prayed that she would: “have a great first day with Jesus.” I know she did.
As I mourn her death, this excerpt, adapted from Unexpected Love, reminds me that despite how I feel, this good-bye is not forever..
Good-bye arrives too soon and it tempts me to say it wasn’t enough. I’ll never be ready. I’ll never be ready to let go, but I must because God sheathed immortal souls in temporal flesh and earthen vessels.
He gives us just enough.
We have just enough time to embrace our Creator. We have just enough opportunity to glorify him. We have just enough love. We have just enough laughter. We have just enough.
She inhaled the temporary and exhaled eternity. She is with her Lord.
Now, we must remember the Lord. He is the perfect Father who never leaves. He will guide us, counsel us, and love us until all our written days transpire. He is the only constant in this changing world. Through good and bad, hard and easy, joys and sorrows, we must turn to him and believe.
We have just enough time to believe that he is more than enough for all time.
Yes, I grieve her death. But I also celebrate her arrival in the place where she now shares in the resurrection of Jesus. This truth means that all who believe in Jesus and fully surrender to him will one day join her in worshiping our King for eternity. Because of that truth, this isn’t good-bye; it’s until then.
Until then, my sweet friend, I will miss you.
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by Stacey | Aug 18, 2016 | Devotionals, reflections, and encouragement
The goodness of God is everywhere: new routes made in a traumatized brain, babies born too early now healthy and strong, blades slicing through flesh but not stealing life, a pushing back against paralysis, delayed surgery resulting in new, life-saving options.
The goodness of my Father overwhelms me when I dwell on all he has done. Who am I to receive such mercy from God? Who am I to receive what I don’t deserve?
Who is God?
God has revealed himself to be who he says he is: healer, provider, sustainer, and Lord. He has made his love known. Every answer to my prayers is not ‘yes’, but still, he has made it plain that he—and only he—holds everything in his hand. What remains to be determined is how we respond.
Earthly healing, as magnificent and wonderful as it is to receive, is a dim foreshadowing of eternity where Jesus heals all wounds, rights every wrong, and welcomes the redeemed into his eternal presence. “Yes, be amazed at earthly healing,” says the preacher. “But be more amazed at the Lord who heals.”
The only fitting response
Each merciful act is a point of decision. It is a call to repent, to turn from sin, and embrace the forgiveness of God. It is a call to move from simply being aware of the Lord to completely surrendering all that we are and all that we have to him to use for his purposes and glory.
A deeper calling
But this call goes even further. God doesn’t save us so we can be comfortable in this life. He has called us to, “proclaim the excellencies of him who called us out of darkness and into his marvelous light.” 1 Peter 2:9
The world is filled with people who need to hear of Jesus and “how will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him who they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching?” Romans 10:14-15
How have you responded to his goodness? With whom have you shared the goodness of God?
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by Stacey | Aug 11, 2016 | Devotionals, reflections, and encouragement
Dead men walking fill the world. You look into their eyes, on the street, in the mirror. Dead men with an over-inflated sense of self importance. Dead men with loud voices. Dead men setting their own course. Dead men deceived into believing their good deeds bring something of value to the table. Every man, woman, and child was once a dead man, following the father of lies, giving themselves over to the passions and desires of the world.
But God
Rich in mercy. Withholding the punishment we deserve. Gifting what we don’t deserve because of love. He loves us. He made us alive. He raises us up. He seats us with him in the heavenly places. He shows us the immeasurable riches of his grace and kindness through Jesus.
Dead in sin
We were dead in our trespasses, bringing nothing to the table, not even the urge to live. Deceived into believing we set our course, but blindly following the rut carved out by the enemy. Existing, but dead. Influencing the world, yet influencing nothing of eternal value. Lulled into a false sense of existence, eyes blind to eternity, and not knowing—or not caring—about what we are missing.
But…
Isn’t that a great word? It changes EVERYTHING. It acknowledges the reality of everything stated before, then sets us in a new direction.
But God, in a great act of grace, gives what we don’t deserve—life through saving faith. He calls. He opens eyes. He gives life. And the dead become alive in Him.
It is not our own doing. It is a gift from God.
Ephesians 2:1-10, “And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience—among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body[a] and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
