A Seal Out of Water - Friday Devotion

A seal on land is a clumsy thing, right? Everything about them is designed to work in water. On land they tend to shuffle about awkwardly. Just look at this poor fellow...

That is you and me on this earth. We are spiritual beings who happen to live in earth-suits. When we don’t know this, we go about thinking that the earth-suit is as good as it gets. We are like seals, shuffling about – super-vulnerable should some igloo-dweller decide he’d like to have seal meat for supper.

But when you put a seal in the right environment – in the water, he becomes the most graceful, quick moving creature because everything about him is designed to thrive in water.

When we get around God, He makes our spirits come alive and when we live according to that life, we are like seals in water.

If you take something that is meant to live in water and put it on dry land for a while, a few significant things happen:

1.  It becomes vulnerable. A seal on land is way easier to bop on the head than in water.

2.   It loses its color. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve brought home a rock or a shell from the beach, only to be disappointed when the colder fades.

3.    It becomes a dried out, crusty version of what it is meant to be.

   It’s the same with us. We are first and foremost creatures of Spirit. We were designed for His presence. If we live thinking the physical is all there is, we are vulnerable, colorless, dried out versions of our true selves. But when we live according to the Spirit, we get to do life with the One who knows us best and loves us completely. Life becomes an adventure in full color. 

If you find yourself struggling today, maybe it's time to dive back into the environment He created you for - His presence!

God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth. 

John 4:24

Dianne J. Wilson writes novels from her hometown in East London, South Africa, where she lives with her husband and three daughters. She is writing a three book YA series, Spirit Walker, with Pelican / Harbourlight. Affinity (book 1), releases on the 8th of June 2018.

Finding Mia is available from Amazon, Pelican / Harbourlight, Barnes & Noble and other bookstores.

Shackles is available as a free ebook from Amazon & Smashwords.

Find her on Facebook, Twitter and her sporadic blog Doodles.

Devotion: Goosebumps and Tears

My heart has a way of recognizing truth long before my mind catches up. I can be washing dishes, driving my car or feeding the cat, but when truth hits home inside of me, two things happen - I get goosebumps all down my arms and I find myself blubbing. (Ugly crying, in case you didn't get it.) Without fail. Every time. It doesn't matter whether it comes through a movie, music or an ad on t.v... Prod. Bumps. Crying. That's just how it works.

As a writer, I get excited when I go goosies reading something I've written simply because I know what moves me will touch my readers. Maybe not all of them, but that's okay. 

Us creative types are 'moved, to move'. Rory Noland describes this dynamic beautifully in his book The Heart of the Artist. To paraphrase... when you watch a movie, hear music or see a painting that makes you want to weep - its because the artist felt deeply about what he was creating.

So I'm learning to breathe and write those things that don't sit comfortably. Awkward things that refuse to fit into my neat theological boxes and some days leave me with more questions than answers.    

There's a song that had me undone for weeks when I first heard it. Why? Because Matt caught the heart of the Father and sang it over me. Over you. Over a broken, hurting world. Truth got hold of my insides.

I'll leave you with the song as an invitation to explore those things that give you goosies and make your eyes leak... then write them!

Dianne J. Wilson writes novels from her hometown in East London, South Africa, where she lives with her husband and three daughters. She has just signed a three book contract for a YA series, Spirit Walkers, with Pelican / Watershed.

Finding Mia is available from Amazon, Pelican / Harbourlight, Barnes & Noble and other bookstores.

Shackles is available as a free ebook from Amazon & Smashwords.

How to stay sane and meet your deadline - 3 ax sharpening tips for writers

I'm writing this post instead of working on my current WIP, book 2 of the Spirit Walker series for Pelican / Watershed. I'm currently 700 words short of 70K, aiming at about 80K when complete. My deadline is the end of February. 

This is totally do-able, unless (like me) you write at the speed of tortoise.

In that case, you have a legitimate excuse to freak out. (Pats you on the head and hands you a cookie.)

But, fear not! I have discovered some handy tips that will help us.

You remember the old story of two lumberjacks who were having a little manly-I-have-more-hair-on-my-chest-than-you tree felling competition? The smart one stops to sharpen his ax, the less smart one is delighted because he just keeps going and is obviously going to win. Until smarty gets back into action with a sharpened blade and annihilates his buddy's tree score completely. That didn't end too well for less-smarty.

This is how I've sharpened my writing ax over the past few weeks.

Get Organised (Unless you started out organised, in which case skip ahead to number 2.)

I've been using The Box (as pictured above) for a while now, but it got a little shabby and disarrayed and I ended up with little clumps of notecards in my handbag or in a pile next to my bed, or doubling up as bookmarks. Not really the best way of tracking a story. So I took an hour last week and made some new dividers. I also decided to keep all three of the books that I'm brooding on in there. This is useful as I can jot down thoughts and ideas even for those that are on the back-burner.

As you can see, I've kept it uber-simple. Each book gets four sections:

• Plot - one card with notes for each scene or major plot point.  
• People - characters in the story
• People Groups - racial, organisational, teams, families etc.
• Theme / message / verses / symbolism - story backbone, theme, any symbolic things that are included

Just having my notes sorted has done wonders for the spaghetti state of my brain.

Boring Manual Labour (Gardening, dishes, hanging laundry, vacuuming floors)

If you are stuck in your story, the best plot-laxative is to put aside your writing for a short while and do something practical that doesn't really need your brain to get involved. While you are up to your elbows in soap suds, your mind will be running free and spitting out ideas faster than you can say New York Times Bestseller. 

Read, Pray, Worship

Jesus has the best ideas. I write because He created me to be a writer and told me to get on with it. So when I'm stuck, where do you think is the best place to go? God has given us access to His glorious Holy Spirit oil to get our writing cogs unstuck. Sometimes I find the light-switch in the Bible, or when I'm talking to Him. Some of my most profound moments of inspiration have come during moments of loving Him and being loved in return. Those have happened on Sunday's in church, or in my car while driving, quietly at home in my room or even smack in the middle of a month-end grocery shop surrounded by people on their own missions.


Take time to sharpen your ax and watch the deadlines fall all around you. How do you manage deadlines and low inspiration?

Dianne J. Wilson writes novels from her hometown in East London, South Africa, where she lives with her husband and three daughters. She is neck-deep in a three book contract for a YA series, Spirit Walker, with Pelican / Watershed.

Finding Mia is available from Amazon, Pelican / Harbourlight, Barnes & Noble and other bookstores.

Shackles is available as a free ebook from Amazon & Smashwords.

Find her on Facebook, Twitter and her sporadic blog Doodles.

Magnetic Mercy By Marcia Lee Laycock

Magnetic Words

My thoughts flew in a thousand directions. I couldn’t sleep. I tried to write, but the words wouldn’t come. I tried to pray, but my prayers lacked focus and depth. Until I appealed to that “magnetic mercy,” as C.S. Lewis called it -

"And all men in their praying, self-deceived, address The coinage of their own unquiet thoughts, unless Thou in magnetic mercy to thyself divert Our arrows, aimed unskillfully, beyond desert.
Take not, oh Lord, our literal sense. Lord, in thy great, Unbroken speech our limping metaphor translate."

It’s easy to get lost in the “coinage of our own unquiet thoughts.” Trying to settle them, or even direct them along constructive paths, can be an exercise in frustration. This often happens in times of stress. It happens especially in times of grief. I believe it happened to Jesus, in that moment of grief so intense He wept blood. In the garden of Gethsemane, Jesus did what we are called to do. In those last hours before His arrest, He acknowledged His weakness and relied on His Father to do what He himself could not.
 
As we acknowledge our weakness, we are drawn to His mercy and the One who is eternally strong gives what is needed. In the case of Jesus, it was the strength to go to the cross. In my case, it was the words I needed and the confidence to write them.

How utterly astounding that mercy is, that the God of the universe should be as active in the lives of we who are so insignificant, as He was in the life of His Son, the Messiah. He does translate our “limping metaphor.” Romans 8:26 says – “In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness.”

May we all allow ourselves to be drawn to that “magnetic mercy.” May we allow the Spirit to translate our limping metaphors and direct our poorly aimed arrows of prayer. We can be assured, He will answer. 
****

Marcia Lee Laycock writes from central Alberta Canada where she is a pastor's wife and mother of three adult daughters. She was the winner of The Best New Canadian Christian Author Award for her novel, One Smooth Stone. The sequel, A Tumbled Stone was short listed in The Word Awards. Marcia also has three devotional books in print and has contributed to several anthologies, including the Hot Apple Cider books. Her work has been endorsed by Sigmund Brouwer, Janette Oke, Phil Callaway and Mark Buchanan.

Abundant Rain, an ebook devotional for writers can be downloaded on Smashwords or on Amazon. It is also now available in Journal format on Amazon. 

Her most recent release is A Traveler’s Advisory, Stories of God’s Grace Along the Way.

Visit Marcia’s Website

Sign up to receive her devotional column, The Spur

Devotion: Leap of Faith

Psalm 27 v 1-2 NIV

Unless the Lord builds the house,

    the builders labor in vain.

Unless the Lord watches over the city,

    the guards stand watch in vain.

² In vain you rise early

    and stay up late,

toiling for food to eat—

   for he grants sleep to those he loves.

I love this Psalm as it reminds me where my trust belongs. How often do you find yourself trusting in your own efforts, your own plans? If you’re anything like me, too often! Like a bungee jumper, we take an initial leap of faith, but when it comes down to it, we’re still tied by our ankles to the bridge of our own understanding, our limited resources and human wisdom. Sure, after the initial fall there are some ups (and downs!) but at the end of the day, we’re left hanging by our feet, staring at the same dry riverbed of our best intentions that are doomed to fall short every time.

But this Psalm hints at a better way. Imagine doing life strapped into a Jesus parachute. When you take a leap of faith, when you jump out of the aeroplane—your full trust is in Him and in Him alone. There is nothing tying you to the limitations of trying to do life in your own strength. You are free to be blown wherever the wind of the Holy Spirit may take you, knowing that you can rest in Him, without worrying because he’s got your back.

Prayer:

You love us! Your love for us is perfect and we can cuddle up and rest in it. You don’t want us to worry, or try and make this broken life work without You. Our resources will never stretch far enough to make a difference, but You let us use yours. Father, help us to understand what it means to live, loved by You. Not tolerated, but truly loved! 



If you liked this devotion, you'll love this... 

Pelican Book Group authors and staff have come together to produce a 40 day devotional for Lent. Download your free copy here.

Dianne J. Wilson writes novels from her hometown in East London, South Africa, where she lives with her husband and three daughters.

Finding Mia is available from Amazon, Pelican / Harbourlight, Barnes & Noble and other bookstores.

Shackles is available as a free ebook from Smashwords.

Find her on Facebook, Twitter and her sporadic blog Doodles.

Hijacked!

I finished up Affinity, first book of my YA Spirit Walker series, with a head swimming full of ideas for the next one. Knee-deep in plot cards and notebooks, I opened an email from my publisher with a special story call out. That's nice, I thought, and brushed it aside knowing my brain was taken up with my current mission. I have limited time and brain cells - 3 girls in the house will do that to you - there was no way I could even think of a different book at this stage.

And then I was hijacked.

It happened somewhere between the shower and putting the kettle on for a cup of tea. Out of nowhere; a title, back page blurb, protagonist and a bubbling excitement that I couldn't ignore. Um, excuse me? What about Spirit Walker 2? But there was Meg, fragile yet feisty, front and center in my mind. And.She.Wouldn't.Go.Away.

So I'm listening. Spirit Walker can wait and it will. 

Friends, I'd like to introduce you to a tiny glimpse of my hijacker:

One Step Forward, Two Steps Back

Fresh from a spectacular break up and faced with a looming big-O birthday, Meg throws her cautious nature aside and signs up for dance classes. Little does she know that Ballroom will stretch more than her muscles as she is forced to confront her greatest fear...

Right now, I feel like I'm adventuring way off the beaten path, hand-in-hand with my favorite co-author and I wouldn't swap it for anything.

How about you? Have you ever had a book push its way to the front of the queue? I'd love to hear your story.

The Frog in my Handbag aka Writing for Eternal Impact

It all started when the zip on my handbag broke. I left it in the lounge overnight, and was in traffic the next day when I discovered the stowaway. There's nothing quite like reaching for lipgloss and pulling out a frog. There may, or may not have been a bit of screaming involved. It took every scrap of self-control to keep driving until it was safe to pull over and evict my new friend. Ugh. On that same day, I nearly lost my purse because I couldn't zip my bag closed.

What does this have to do with writing, I hear you ask? Apart from the fact that all good prose involves frogs, one of the chief things that I pester Jesus for, is for Him to write Eternity through me.

I love to leave my reader chuckling, satisfied and keen to read more of my writing. I also want to have stirred a hunger for Eternity inside of them, a curiosity about this God who loves them.

One simple way of achieving this is to lace our writing with, what I call - Holy Spirit bombs. These are the revelations, the spiritual lessons that God gives you through living normal life that are profoundly simple, yet carry His anointing to shift the heart and spirit of your reader.

Jesus spoke to me about my bag and I wove it into my novel Finding Mia. When ones carries a load that you're not meant to (say, a cheating husband who leaves you), over time something breaks which allows things into your life that you would never normally allow in (being wooed by a smooth-talking kidnapper who is acutallly after your children). It also allows things to be stolen from you (common sense, in this case!) But when your life is hidden in Christ, He doesn't replace the zip on your life, He becomes the zip through which certain things are allowed and other things are simply not.

So as you go through your day and the odd bizarre thing happens to you, ask Jesus what it's all about. You can rest assured that most of what you go through is never meant for you personally at all, but is there to become grist for your mill and food for your reader.

Seen through His eyes, even a frog in a handbag becomes meaningful!

DEVOTION: To the Ends of the Earth ~ by Judith Robl

Focus verses: Acts 10:1-11:18

The disciples were all Jews. And until now, the gospel had been preached in the synagogues, reaching more Jews. It was generally thought that this new religion was a sect of Judaism.

In this passage, however, we see that this man named Cornelius – who was not Jewish – had been selected by God to be a convert to this new faith. Cornelius was righteous, much as Job was righteous. He did all the right things and prayed to God. He simply wasn’t a Jew. But he was a son of Adam.

We also see that Peter had been selected to teach Cornelius. The Jewish dietary laws were very explicit. God had told them that certain things were clean or unclean for eating purposes. Peter, in his hunger, was shown a vision of many living creatures and told to kill and eat them. But he objected that he had never eaten anything unclean – ever. But God told him not to judge. That God can make anything clean.

Peter’s physical hunger seems to have been a metaphor for God’s hunger that all the world should know Him. God’s overriding desire is that all men should be saved. Jesus said that the disciples would be witnesses to Him throughout all the earth.

As the spiritual descendants of the disciples, we should be witnessing, too. We should be witnessing to the pagan, the atheist, the deluded, the deceived, the murderer, the rapist, the robber – the entire world.

Let me be very clear here. We do not convert. That is the work of the Holy Spirit. We merely inform. We tell what we know. God will do the rest.

Father, God,
Teach us more of You that we may tell all the world around us. Keep us open to the movement of Your Holy Spirit and rein in our tendency to prejudge.
In Jesus’ most precious name.
Amen.

JUDITH ROBL is the founder of Reflected Light Ministries and speaks to women’s groups about prayer, forgiveness, and drawing closer to God. Trained as a secondary level English teacher, Judith has a heart for mentoring. She and her husband, Martin, have been married fifty years and have four children who have presented them with nine grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.

Her book, As Grandma Says, is a devotional gift book, incorporating her grandmother's adages with an appropriate scripture, a pertinent life lesson, and a word of prayer. Visit her at her website or on Facebook.

Devotion: A New Spirit and a New Heart ~ Yvonne Ortega

Note from Shirley: In some parts of our world, Spring in springing, while in other areas, we are bringing out the winter woolies. Wherever we live, this message of Yvonne Ortega's is a reminder that in Christ we have new life.

Ezekiel 11:19: “I will give them an undivided heart and put a new spirit in them; I will remove from them their heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh.”

Bright yellow daffodils sway in my front yard and throughout the area. The dogwood trees have sprouted and form an arch of pink and white blooms on the Colonial Parkway. Everything looks new and beautiful. The area has come to life after a cold dreary winter.

We can also come to life. We can look new and beautiful because God works in us through Jesus Christ.

In that work, God gives us “an undivided heart.” When we have an undivided heart, we put God first in our lives. We are not torn between the way of the world and the way of the Lord. The decision to choose godly behavior over ungodly becomes easier, because we love God and want to serve him.

That new spirit is the Holy Spirit. When we invite Jesus Christ into our lives, the Holy Spirit dwells within us. We can quench the Holy Spirit through complacency, compromise, or condemnation of self or others. On the other hand, our thoughts, words, and actions can fan the flame of the new spirit through daily prayer and Bible study, fellowship with other Christians, and confession of our sins directly to God, our heavenly Father.

God also says he will remove our “heart of stone.” The heart of stone lacks compassion and kindness for self and others. The heart of stone holds a grudge and leaks the poison of bitterness, rage, and unforgiveness. A person with a heart of stone may show up for church on Sunday but that is the extent of the person’s acknowledgement of God and others.

After God removes our heart of stone, he gives us “a heart of flesh.” That heart is alive with love for God and both love and compassion for others. A heart of flesh beats daily for God and his children and prays for those who don’t live for God.

Dear God, please give me an undivided heart. Amen.

Over to you: What will you do this week to show you have a heart of flesh?

Yvonne Ortega is a counselor, international bilingual speaker, trainer and eleven-year breast cancer survivor. She is the author of Finding Hope for Your Journey through Breast Cancer (Revell) and a contributing author to The Embrace of a Father (Bethany House) and Transformed (Wine Press). She has also been published in several magazines online and hard copy. Yvonne hosted a blogtalkradio program on breast cancer, addiction, domestic violence, and other types of trauma. Archives are available. Visit her website.

Daffodil image courtesy of Marcus at FreeDigitalPhotos.net