Welcome!

Welcome to "Showers of Blessings" which is a blog for writers and their readers! It is my prayer you will find many blessings in these humble words as you open your heart to hear about my best friend, Jesus Christ. He has called me to write for Him and though I remain stunned by this, wondering how He could use someone like me in this competitive industry, I know He has equipped me to do the job or He would never have opened all the doors He has to a career in writing. He gets all the glory for such an awesome plan, believe me!

Below each post there is an indication of the number of comments for that post. If you click on that it will bring up the comments for you to read and allow you to leave a comment for me if you would like to do so. I look forward to hearing what you have to say and thank you for taking the time to step with me into the showers of blessings He shares with all of us through His Word!


Saturday, March 26, 2011

"INSIDES VERSUS OUTSIDES"

Recently I read online an article about building characters in fiction and it got me to thinking about the fact that we do this with people who do not exist! The first step suggested is to lay out a thorough and detailed character sketch, outlining life experiences such as birth and childhood, education, dreams, goals, marital status, description, personality quirks, spiritual depth, joys and disappointments. As new ideas occur during the writing process, the author adds to all this so that by the time the book is completed each character jumps off the page into “reality”. For a fiction writer this is a normal and necessary process; if the characters cannot live in your mind, how on earth will you ever make them come to life for your readers?

Yet, it made me think about how often we create a persona for the public to know while reserving a vastly different one for our family and friends. And I’m not talking about simply writers. All of us are guilty of this to some extent because we yearn to “put on our best face” and not allow others to see the ragged edges underneath. Nothing wrong with that in most cases, as long as we are not lying to ourselves. God sees the truth and knows our hearts better than we could possibly know them even, and we cannot hide anything from Him. Psalm 139:1-12 is an amazing passage to remind us just how present He is no matter where in the universe we may go. We cannot get away from Him, no matter how hard we try!

Read those words and examine your own heart this coming week in light of how impossible it is to run away from our heavenly Father. Ask Him to show you how you are doing the same thing when you create a whole new “you” for others to see without confronting and allowing Him to heal the rottenness beneath. Have you ever seen a log or large piece of wood that looks whole and perfect, only to discover it has been eaten away inside by termites? Ouch! I desire for my "insides" to match my "outsides"! Or maybe I should say it the other way around--for my outside appearance to match up with the real me inside. Only through the Holy Spirit can that miracle take place, however. I cannot do it in my own strength.

No matter how many words I write or how many fictitious characters I create in my imagination, eventually I am forced to confront my own spiritual needs and weaknesses. But not to worry—God has them all under His control as long as I continue to submit to His leadership. Oh, I’ll sin along the way all right, wish I could pretend otherwise. But when I do He will quickly remind me and just as swiftly cleanse me when I come to Him in repentance. Sound “preachy”? As I said, read this passage carefully. I believe you will find yourself there, as I have. But I also see God right there with me, and what a comfort that is!

I pray for this shower of blessing to fall on your heart in the coming days!

Saturday, March 12, 2011

RUN OR OBEY?

Have you ever said, “I would love to write a book but . . . ” and left the sentence unfinished? How you fill in that blank is nothing more than an excuse. Whether it is a lack of time, energy, expertise, idea, or determination, you are running from the calling God has put on your heart. For so many years I argued with the Lord about this very thing, feeling that pull yet knowing in practical terms there weren’t enough hours in the day to stretch myself any thinner. So finally I threw out a fleece to Him: if You truly desire to use me in this way, then help me rearrange my priorities to find the time to embark on this venture. And you know what? He did!

With the move to Oklahoma three years ago, I found myself at a temporary loss of what to do with my time. Yes, we’d moved to be closer to our families, in particular our kids and grandkids, and I certainly spent many blissful hours doing precisely that. Building our business from the ground up also proved to be a challenge but an exciting one I enjoyed joining my husband to create. But I needed more than simply the role of wife and mother to be fulfilled.

“Oh, yes, that writing thing . . . well, maybe I’d better give that a shot.” The phrase became a daily reminder until it formed a lump in my stomach. How to undo that knot? Uh, write??

And write I did! See any relation in this? “He did . . . I did.” Our God never wastes anything and in His economy, He pushed me relentlessly to put my money where my mouth was. So I took a deep breath and began on a writing regime designed to complete a novel that was about half done at that point. In one of the first key steps, He led me to a primary source that turned into one of the most amazing gifts He’s given me in this long process. Not only did I get the historic facts confirmed and realigned, out of that and the friendship I formed with this person I discovered numerous additional plot threads I’d never considered before. In turn, I became so energized and excited about the characters and events in my story, they became more real to me and, I hope, to my readers. Amazing how God works!

You may ask what the turning point was, what one thing led to the unleashing of my potential as a writer? I can respond immediately with one key word: obedience. When I finally laid aside my own expectations and plans and concentrated on the one God apparently had for me, He is the one who set loose all that potential. I simply sat and wrote while He did all the work. And the result is a completed novel which I hope will bring Him honor, as well as the Kiowa people whose story it is. Now, once more it is up to Him. As my husband says about homebuilding: I am responsible for production but it is up to God to do the marketing!

It is my sincere hope and dream that soon From Now Until Forever will be available on Christian bookshelves everywhere!