Staying Dependent

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A couple of recent online discussions (including Patricia’s excellent post last week) made me reflect on my writing journey.

At the same time, I had been reading Exodus 33 where Moses on being commanded to leave Sinai demanded of God that he wouldn’t go anywhere without His presence. Let’s have a look at the passage:

“Then Moses said to the Lord, “See, You say to me, ‘Bring up this people.’ But You have not let me know whom You will send with me. Yet You have said, ‘I know you by name, and you have also found grace in My sight.’ Now therefore, I pray, if I have found grace in Your sight, show me now Your way, that I may know You and that I may find grace in Your sight. And consider that this nation is Your people.”

And He said, “My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.”

Then he said to Him, “If Your Presence does not go with us, do not bring us up from here. For how then will it be known that Your people and I have found grace in Your sight, except You go with us? So we shall be separate, Your people and I, from all the people who are upon the face of the earth.” (Exodus 33: 12-15 NKJV)

Who do we rely upon?

Many commentators believe the favour of God on Moses increased the very moment he said yes and only if God would go with Him. God wants us to be people who do not depend on our own ability, but upon Him.

So many of us struggle continuously with the “am I good enough” syndrome. Irrespective of how many books we may have written and/or published when we turn up to the blank screen for the next one there’s always that doubt that we’re done; there’s no more coming out of us. All our decent stories and/or characters have all been revealed.

I’m currently working on a non-fiction project and everyday I feel absolutely unqualified to explore the topic I feel the Lord has put on my heart.

And you know what, I am. Just like Moses who’s task was impossible in his own strength.

And the more I surrender to my own inadequacies the more I procrastinate and nothing of any real value gets written.

What’s the prize?

We all want to get published, then have a bestseller, win awards, and sell sufficient copies that we can live off a writing income. Yes?

Perhaps we’ll never admit it to anyone (except the first point about being published) but the other three would all be marvellous. Not just for the kudos and trinkets that come with them but the sense of significance too. I really can write.

But the longer I walk this journey with the Lord the more I realise it’s all about doing it with Him. When we spend time with Him both in the secret place (Matthew 6:6) and at our keyboards all those “rewards” don’t seem all that important.

We get something so much better: Him!

“It is the relationship and intimacy that grows out of remaining in Him that allows you to know His heart …” (Heidi Baker)

In calling us to write and/or filling us with story ideas, the Lord invites us to abide in His presence so He can fill us with His desires for the world and us. Oh, and He’ll help us write those stories. They may not win awards or even get published but does it matter if we’ve got His heart?

“I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.” (John 15:5 NKJV)

If you’re struggling at whatever stage of the journey may I encourage you to be as bold as Moses and ask that you’ll only continue if the Lord goes with you. And when He says yes, enjoy spending time getting to know His heart for you and your stories.

Grace and peace, dear writing friends.

Ian Acheson is an author and strategy consultant based in Sydney. Ian's first novel of speculative fiction, Angelguard, is available in the US, UK, Canada and Australia. Angelguard was recognised with the 2014 Selah Award for Speculative Fiction.You can find more about Angelguard at Ian's website, on his author Facebook page and Twitter

DEVOTION: Moses of Her People ~ by Kathi Macias

 Public Domain: Harriet Tubman by
Squyer, NPG, c1885.jpg

But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty (1 Corinthians 1:27, NKJV).

After writing a four-book fiction series based on people in various countries who are persecuted for their faith, followed by a three-book series based on human trafficking victims, I am now in the midst of writing a novel built around the life of Harriet Tubman. Researching and writing these books have challenged my faith beyond measure, as well as helping me to re-prioritize my life and my goals.

Harriet Tubman was indeed one of the most amazing women who ever lived. Yet she was penniless and uneducated, a slave with a dozen siblings, none of whom ever had enough to eat or even any say in whether they lived or died. Harriet was beaten more times than she could remember and sustained an injury at the hand of one of her masters that left her with a permanent dent in her forehead, as well as headaches and a strange sleeping sickness that lasted her entire life.

But none of that stopped her. This young slave girl acquired a strong personal relationship with God from her earliest years, cultivating it daily and practicing it under the cruelest of conditions. As a result, she became one of the most courageous and admired women who ever lived.

Harriet Tubman, known as the “Moses of her people,” escaped to freedom as a young adult and then went back into slave territory, where there was a sizeable bounty on her head, nineteen times, successfully rescuing some 300 slaves, including many of her own family members. God used this uneducated woman, who remained penniless most of her life, to do incredible feats that affected countless lives—and He wants to do the same with us.

Does that intimidate you as much as it does me? How can we possibly live a life as powerful and meaningful as this amazing woman? Here is the secret: Harriet Tubman was able to lead a lifetime of great heroism because she cultivated a lifetime of great faith.

Don’t let the enemy intimidate you or tell you you’re ill-equipped to lead a noble, courageous life, inspiring others by your great faith. Remember, “God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty.”

Kathi Macias is a multi-award winning writer who has authored nearly 40 books and ghostwritten several others. 

A former newspaper columnist and string reporter, Kathi has taught creative and business writing in various venues and has been a guest on many radio and television programs. Kathi is a popular speaker at churches, women’s clubs and retreats, and writers’ conferences. 

She won the 2008 Member of the Year award from AWSA (Advanced Writers and Speakers Association) and was the 2011 Author of the Year from BooksandAuthors.net. Kathi “Easy Writer” Macias lives in Homeland, CA, with her husband.

DEVOTION: The Myth of Old Age ~ by Kathi Macias

And Moses was eighty years old and Aaron eighty-three years old when they spoke to Pharaoh (Exodus 7:7, NKJV).

We live in a youth-oriented culture, where anyone over the age of 65 is supposed to hang up their work ethic and spend whatever years they have left chasing a little white ball around a golf course. Nothing wrong with playing golf, mind you, but when it becomes our sole purpose for getting out of bed in the morning, we’ve lost our direction.

God did not create us to serve ourselves. We are made in the image of the Creator, and God has called us to partner in that pursuit, to one degree or another; that partnership doesn’t end when our hair turns gray or our step slows a bit due to arthritis.

I love reading about Moses and Aaron, don’t you? They were in their eighties when God sent them to confront the most powerful man on earth. God didn’t send young men in their prime of life so they could flex their muscles and pound their chest and intimidate Pharaoh. He didn’t send rich rulers from other countries who could threaten him with their armies or bribe him with their riches. He sent two brothers who, between them, had lived more than 160 years on this earth. Neither had experienced an easy life, since Aaron was raised as a Hebrew slave, and Moses, after growing up in a palace, had to flee for his life into the desert. And though Moses initially resisted God’s call to go to Pharaoh, he finally accepted, with his older brother at his side.

We can learn a lot through the story of Moses and Aaron and their ultimate success in leading the Israelites out of the bondage of Egypt. First, as long as we live on this earth, we are never too old to be useful to God. Second, if we continue to partner with God in whatever He has purposed for us, we can experience tremendous victories at any stage of life. And finally, though we may consider ourselves inconsequential in the scheme of things, God can use us to effect powerful changes in the lives of others.

So wherever you are today and whatever is going on in your life, listen for God’s voice. He just may call out to you from the burning bush and send you forth on the greatest mission ever.

Kathi Macias is a multi-award winning writer who has authored nearly 40 books and ghostwritten several others. A former newspaper columnist and string reporter, Kathi has taught creative and business writing in various venues and has been a guest on many radio and television programs. 

Kathi is a popular speaker at churches, women’s clubs and retreats, and writers’ conferences. She won the 2008 Member of the Year award from AWSA (Advanced Writers and Speakers Association) and was the 2011 Author of the Year from BooksandAuthors.net. Kathi “Easy Writer” Macias lives in Homeland, CA, with her husband.

DEVOTION: When A Strong Wind Blows in Your Life ~ by Val Waldeck

"Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and the Lord caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all that night, and made the sea into dry land, and the waters were divided” (Exod. 14:21).

The Israelites were standing on the shores of the Red Sea and the situation looked impossible. Behind them came the powerful army of Egypt. In front of them stood the sea. There was nowhere to go and human wisdom had no answer. And, worse, a strong east wind blew all night to add to their misery. The sand got in their eyes, their noses, their ears. What else could possibly go wrong?

Are you in that kind of situation today . . . in your life, your marriage, your job? You don’t know where to turn or what to do. You cannot go backwards or forwards and the strong winds of circumstances are buffeting you.

Moses trusted the Lord to make a way and He did. The very wind that was causing them so much discomfort was, in fact, the instrument God used to blow a path through the waters. That is why it had to be a strong wind!

Will you trust the Lord with your problem? Kneel on the shores of your Red Sea and acknowledge His sovereignty in the strong east wind that is blowing in your life.

Completely surrender your heart, and life, and will to the Lord Jesus Christ and allow Him to do it “His way”. “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved” (Romans 10:13).

Val Waldeck is an Author, Bible Teacher, Conference Speaker and Publishing Consultant. She has authored over 50 books and publications and is a senior contributor to South Africa’s biggest and most influential Christian magazine, JOY.

Val teaches writing seminars and specializes in Kindle book publication. She also co-wrote the best-selling book "Faith Like Potatoes" on which the international hit film of the same name is based.

She lives in Durban, South Africa, and the love of her life is a fluffy little Toy Pom with an attitude! Visit her website and see all the books she has written! 

DEVOTION: Ordinary People, Extra-ordinary Results ~ by Shirley Corder.

Moses was born under a death threat. Pharaoh had ordered the death of all male baby boys born to Israeli women. His mother, an ordinary Jewish woman who loved her new baby and trusted God, used ordinary tools to weave a tiny watertight basket. She placed her beloved baby in that vessel and lowered it into the River Nile. We know the results. He was rescued by Pharaoh's princess, and brought up by his own mother for the first three formative years. One day God used Moses to lead the Israeli people out of Egypt toward the Promised Land. An ordinary woman performed an ordinary task which produced an extra-ordinary result.

God planned to wipe humanity from the face of the earth, but he chose Noah to continue the human race. Noah, an ordinary but righteous man, obeyed God and built an ocean-going ship such as was never seen before. He used ordinary tools and skills he had obviously developed through his ordinary work on earth. The result? An extra-ordinary vessel that survived the biggest storm the earth has ever seen. And the human race and all the animal and bird species of the world were saved from extinction. An ordinary man, using ordinary tools, performed an extra-ordinary task.

The Scriptures are full of such stories. David, the ordinary young shepherd, who took up five ordinary pebbles, and killed an extra-ordinary giant. Rahab, an ordinary Canaanite woman, who hid ordinary Israeli spies in an ordinary way, and thus saved not only her family but brought herself into salvation and the extra-ordinary line of Jesus Christ. 

Fishermen, tax-collectors, religious leaders, men blind from birth, lepers, prostitutes . . . ordinary people. When they turned their lives over to Jesus, they used ordinary tools such as dinner parties, fishing boats, pens or quills and scrolls, walks on the dusty Palestine roads and chats along the way, to bring about extra-ordinary results in the lives of those with whom they came into contact.

Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu, an ordinary Albanian-born woman suffered from the ordinary disease of tuberculosis when she received a call to follow God. She went on to achieve many extra-ordinary results under the name of Mother Teresa.

William Franklin (Billy) Graham was born into an ordinary Scottish family in Carolina. He had an ordinary education and was nearly expelled from Bible College. He suffered from hydrocephalus, pneumonia, broken hips, and prostate cancer.Yet he has used his ordinary speaking ability with extra-ordinary results, to become indisputably the greatest evangelist the world has ever known.

Please note none of these were born with the expectations of being extra-ordinary. They were all ordinary people. Like you and I.

I am not worthy of being added to this list of remarkable people but I include this story to show it is not only the "greats" of our world that God can use. I am a very ordinary person. I wrote a very ordinary book using an ordinary computer. Yet I keep hearing from people who write to tell me about the extra-ordinary blessings they have experiences through reading the words of Strength Renewed. I know there are countless authors who have similar stories to tell.  

Are you an ordinary person? 

Oh good. Then you no doubt have ordinary tools and skills. Ask God today to show you which tools He wants you to use and what task He wants you to tackle. Then prepare to see some extra-ordinary results! And be sure to write and tell me about them.   

Do you have an extra-ordinary story to share with us? Please give us a brief summary below. We'd love to rejoice with you.  

SHIRLEY CORDER lives an ordinary life on the coast of South Africa with her husband. Her book, Strength Renewed: Meditations for your Journey through Breast Cancer continues to bring about extra-ordinary results for readers in the cancer valley. 

Please visit Shirley through ShirleyCorder.com, where she encourages writers, or at  RiseAndSoar.com, where she encourages those in the cancer valley. You can also meet with her on Twitter or FaceBook. 

DEVOTION: A Burning Bush ~ by Kathi Macias

And Moses was eighty years old and Aaron eighty-three years old when they spoke to Pharaoh (Exodus 7:7, NKJV).


We live in a youth-oriented culture, where anyone over the age of 65 is supposed to hang up their work ethic and spend whatever years they have left chasing a little white ball around a golf course. Nothing wrong with playing golf, mind you, but when it becomes our sole purpose for getting out of bed in the morning, we’ve lost our direction.

God did not create us to serve ourselves. We are made in the image of the Creator, and God has called us to partner in that pursuit, to one degree or another; that partnership doesn’t end when our hair turns gray or our step slows a bit due to arthritis.

I love reading about Moses and Aaron, don’t you? They were in their eighties when God sent them to confront the most powerful man on earth. God didn’t send young men in their prime of life so they could flex their muscles and pound their chest and intimidate Pharaoh. He didn’t send rich rulers from other countries who could threaten him with their armies or bribe him with their riches. He sent two brothers who, between them, had lived more than 160 years on this earth. Neither had experienced an easy life, since Aaron was raised as a Hebrew slave, and Moses, after growing up in a palace, had to flee for his life into the desert. And though Moses initially resisted God’s call to go to Pharaoh, he finally accepted, with his older brother at his side.

We can learn a lot through the story of Moses and Aaron and their ultimate success in leading the Israelites out of the bondage of Egypt. First, as long as we live on this earth, we are never too old to be useful to God. Second, if we continue to partner with God in whatever He has purposed for us, we can experience tremendous victories at any stage of life. And finally, though we may consider ourselves inconsequential in the scheme of things, God can use us to effect powerful changes in the lives of others.

So wherever you are today and whatever is going on in your life, listen for God’s voice. He just may call out to you from the burning bush and send you forth on the greatest mission ever.

Kathi Macias is a multi-award winning writer who has authored nearly 40 books and ghostwritten several others. A former newspaper columnist and string reporter, Kathi has taught creative and business writing in various venues and has been a guest on many radio and television programs. 

Kathi is a popular speaker at churches, women’s clubs and retreats, and writers’ conferences. She won the 2008 Member of the Year award from AWSA (Advanced Writers and Speakers Association) and was the 2011 Author of the Year from BooksandAuthors.net. Kathi “Easy Writer” Macias lives in Homeland, CA, with her husband.