SAFETY IN THE EARTHQUAKES OF LIFE

      Our daughter lay dying down the hospital corridor and my heart screamed, “Where are you God?”

      It was the first time in my life an earthquake struck my faith in the message of John 3:16: “For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son that whoever believes in Him shall  not perish but have everlasting life.”

      The Bible says, however, if you build your life on the sure foundation of Jesus Christ you can stand through the storms, even a large spiritual and emotional quake and the aftershocks, as I discovered.

      The interesting thing about faith is it’s an act of the will. “Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see,” we’re told in Hebrews 11:1 (NIV). The scripture further explains: “By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command. So that what is seen was not made out of what was visible…. Without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him (verses 3, 6).

      When we back up into Hebrews 10 we’re admonished to keep believing, even when our faith has been shaken: “So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded. You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised. He who is coming will come and will not delay. But my righteous one will live by faith. And if he shrinks back, I will not be pleased with him” (Hebrews 10:35-39).

            Abraham, after living a long life of believing and communing with God, had his crises when Sarah got tired of waiting and tried to bring about their desires for a child herself. But apparently Abraham kept believing he would father a son and many nations: ^“And being not weak in faith, he considered not his own body now dead, when he was about an hundred years old, neither yet the deadness of Sarah's womb: He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God” (Romans 4:19-20)
            Sarah did become with child and Isaac was born.
            Through prayer, study of the Word and surrounding myself with brothers and sisters in Christ, I found I truly believe those who have faith in Jesus will never die, but have eternal life.
            If your faith sometimes falters, you are not alone, however. Jesus’s disciple, Thomas, said “Unless I see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.”
            Eight days after Jesus rose from the dead, although the doors were shut, Jesus appeared right in the middle of the gathered disciples. He greeted them, then said to Thomas, “Reach your finger here and look at my hands; and reach your hand here, and put it into my side. Do not be unbelieving, but believing.”
            Thomas slowly reached out and touched the place where the spear pierced the Son of God on the cross, and then examined his hands.
            “My Lord and my God,” Thomas exclaimed.
            “Thomas, because you have seen me, you believe. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe.” (From John 20.)
            Since we lost our daughter, I have found plenty of evidence that shows we’re more than a body and we’ll live beyond the grave.
            Because I was a newspaper medical reporter and a student of God’s Word, I compiled this information into a book to build your faith: Swallowed by Life: Mysteries of Death, Resurrection and the Eternal. It’s now available at the link below.
            Yet as you read the book, notice I said “to build your faith.”
            Can we prove Jesus rose from the dead? Can we show the world they’ll live beyond the grave?
            No. Despite all the evidence that is so concrete it’s difficult to deny, faith is still necessary for salvation and God requires we believe. Romans 10:9 says “If you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”
            That’s the Easter message in a nutshell.

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Donna Good, author of 24 books and 700 published manuscripts tells how she gets the job done

Interview with Donna Good

· It’s been said that writers must first be readers. Do you enjoy reading?

Yes, I even read cereal boxes.

· What genres do you read most?

I like mysteries best, but also read light romance novels and biographies.

· Who are your favorite authors, and what makes them special to you?

In the secular market, Mary Higgins Clark; religious market, Max Lucado.

· When did you decide you wanted to write?

I think I always knew. I enjoyed the essay-type questions in school, and wrote my first poems at 9 years old.

· How many books have you written, and how many of them have been published? 29; 21 published, plus edited two anthologies, and self- published 1 writers’ club booklet.Have a new book coming out next year from Harvest House: Rhyme Time Bible for Little Ones.

· Can you tell us what you believe has had the greatest influence on your writing?

It would have to be “who”, not “what”, and that would be my mother, our children’s librarian in my hometown public library, my 5^th-6^th grade teacher, and my book editor boss at the publishing house.

· How do you prepare to write a book? Did you do any special research?

I keep notes for a long time until I get time to sit down and write the book. I also use personal experience and stories from others, plus quotations from books I’ve read.

· How long have you been writing?65 years.

· What genre do you usually write?

Everything—devotional, how-to, self-help, biography, etc.

· What made you choose that genre?

· Can you tell us a little about your latest book?

I’d like to mention my last two if that’s okay.   

1) A Step in the Write Direction—the Complete How-to Book for Christian Writers is taken from all the conference workshops I’ve taught over the years. I wanted something to offer all the people who called saying, “I want to be a writer. How do I get started?”

2) The idea for The Freedom of Letting Go came from the fact it took me 11 years to let go of my mother after she died. Then I realized it wasn’t just letting go of her, it was the whole principle of letting go of many things: grief, guilt, hurts, success, failure, children, material things, worry, doubt, fear, then the book ends with The Land Beyond Letting Go.

· How do you get an idea for a book?

I have more ideas than I’ll ever have time to write. I see the needs of people around me and would like to help meet those needs.

· What one piece of advice would you give to a beginning writer?

Find a local writers’ group and join. If there isn’t one in your area, start one. Also (and I know this is two!), try to attend a writers conference.

· Do you have any favorite inspirational quotes?

“We are called to write, and I feel we will be held responsible at the Judgment for the people that we could have helped but didn’t because we didn’t write what God laid on our hearts to write” (Harold Ivan Smith).

· What is your writing schedule like? Do you write only when inspired?

I have no schedule, just fit it in when I can. I edit and proofread for publishers and writers and these jobs usually have deadlines. I also care for a disabled husband.

· Did your parents encourage your love for reading and/or writing? If not, where did encouragement come from?

My dad left when I was 11, but he and my mother both gave me a love for reading. My mother should have been a writer. She gave me a lot of ideas for articles and books. But my greatest encouragement came from the children’s librarian at our public library. She introduced me to The Writer magazine when I was 9. Also I was in what would be known as an accelerated class in the 5^th and 6^th grade, and that teacher encouraged me a lot.

· Do you like the promotional aspect of being a writer? What are your best promotional tools?

That’s my weak spot. I need a PR person! I know what to do; just don’t take the time to do it.

· How did you study the craft of writing?

I took journalism one year in the 10^th grade. Mostly it was on-the-job training: secretary to a book editor, magazine associate editor, newspaper reporter and columnist, and attending many writers’ conferences.

· Do you read books on the craft of writing? If so, what are your favorites and why?

Not many. Favorite is You Can Tell the World, an out-of-print book by Sherwood Wirt.

· Are you a plotter or a panster? Explain your writing process.

I sort of outline, at least my main ideas. I keep folders for various chapters and drop things in these folders—ideas, personal experiences that fit, quotations, etc.

· What do you do when you are not writing? Do you have any hobbies?

I like music, reading, and crossword puzzles.

· How did you get your first book published? How long did it take? Was this the first book you had written?

I sent 30 puzzles to a Sunday school paper, and they wrote back they’d like to put them in a book. It sold for 29 cents, and before it went out of print, had sold app. 150,000 copies. The first that sold that I actually wrote was Winning Souls Through the Sunday School¸ a devotional book for S.S. teachers.

· Why do you write?

As my nephew says (a gospel songwriter who was sick for 19 years, and has 25 #1 songs to his credit), “I can’t not write.”

Donna Clark Goodrich

www.thewritersfriend.net

http://donna-goodrich.blogspot.com

(blog appears every Monday)

www.thewritersfriend.net
"A Step in the Write Direction--the Complete How-to Guide for Christian Writers"

THE MYSTERIES OF LIFE-ARE YOU MORE THAN A PUFF OF STEAM?

IT'S ALMOST EASTER! WILL YOU AND YOUR LOVED ONES LIVE BEYOND THE GRAVE?

Read more about this subject in my book, SWALLOWED BY LIFE: MYSTERIES OF DEATH, RESURRECTION AND THE ETERNAL. E-book, through March: 99 cents
                                        

 The book, released in 2012, is available at http://buff.ly/TLkr0a 

CREATED TO LIVE FOREVER

By Ada Brownell

               “Whoever lives and believes in me will never die” (John 11:2

                                          

 Is the water that makes steam gone forever?

No, because the earth has only a certain amount of water, which is constantly in a precipitation and evaporation cycle. Clouds, which are nothing but water vapor like steam, hold water until they become so heavy it rains or snows.  Then the sun comes out, water evaporates into clouds, and the cycle continues.

Do you know the Bible says our lives are similar to vapor?  (James 4:14) But when we die, we are still somewhere, just as the water isn’t gone when it becomes steam.  We are made to live forever.

 Another amazing fact is we’re not walking around in the same bodies in which we were born, or the bodies we had last year. Our flesh developed from one cell and now each of us has about 75 trillion living cells, constantly dying, and being replaced.  Everything, except for the neurological system, has died numerous times in our , then replaced by new cells that knew exactly what to make, such as skin, blood, hair, bone and your inward parts. Our skin is estimated to be rebuilt every seven days.

 The birth and the death of cells is not the only way we know we are more than a body. For instance, we can lose weight and it doesn’t change who we are. We can have parts cut off, such as our tonsils, a wart or even a hand or leg, and still live. We can even live with someone else’s, kidney, liver or heart!

            The person you are, that God made you, is more than flesh and blood. But you also have a unique personality, and a spiritual side. When God’s powerful breath went into Adam’s nose, the eternal soul was born and every person born since then has a soul and spirit, which lives forever.

            Watchman Nee, author of The Spiritual Man,[1] said humans are a combination of spirit, soul and body.[2] A person’s spirit is where spiritual things happen.  That’s the part us where Jesus lives if we accepted Him as Savior and the Holy Spirit dwells.

Your soul is your mind, will and emotions.  That’s where you learn things, make decisions (I will or will not do something), and feel things such as love, joy, hate and jealousy.

Your body is where your soul and spirit live, and all three parts of you work together to make you the person we see and God loves.

The person you are will never die—whether you choose to give your heart and life to Jesus or choose to reject Him. God in His love, made you so you could live forever with Him, but it’s your choice.  Hell was made for Satan and the false prophets, but people who reject God also will be sent to that place of torment.

But God does love you. Jesus did die and He rose from the tomb—alive! Because He lives, we can live forever also.

©Ada Brownell 2012

           

---

[1] Christian Fellowship Publishers Inc., New York, 1968

[2]Ibid, Volume 1, pages 22 and 23

Vanessa Riley's testimony: Even when earthly fathers fail, The Heavenly Father never forsakes

Ada Brownell: GUEST AUTHOR VANESSA RILEY TALKS ABOUT HER REGENCY CHRISTIAN NOVEL, MADELINE'S PROTECTOR, HOW GOD'S HAND HAS BEEN WITH HER EVEN AS A CHILD, AND  HER  CHARACTER'S ASSURANCE OF GOD'S LOVE, TOO

Vanessa:

Thank you Ada for hosting me today. I'm excited to be here. For people who comment  on the blog, I will give away a T-shirt to the winner, in their size. It's a black T-shirt with white writing: on the front, "Who's your daddy?" the back, "Romans 8:15 God is my daddy."

In my debut book, Madeline's Protector, the heroine is Madeline St. James. Though she is young, and a might naïve, she holds to her faith. No matter the challenges tossed her way, she knows God is in control. At one point, when everyone has let her down, she's hurting and she's cries out to Abba, Father.  Abba is translated as daddy and it shows the closeness of her relationship to God.

As Romans 8:15 says, we've been adopted by God and should cry out Abba.

 

Romans 8:15

For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. (KJV)

Think about that. All who know Jesus and have invited Him into their hearts are sons and daughters of the king. God is our father, but do you call him daddy? Do you believe and feel that warm relationship of a Daddy-and-daughter or a Daddy-and-son?

No, maybe, not every day.

But God is our daddy.

Who do you want to pick you up when you scrape your knee? Loving Daddy

Who do you want to embrace you when you've face the loss of a job or a rejection. Consoling Daddy

Who knows how you hurt on the inside, when your breath is stolen at the death of a spouse or a friend's anguish over a terminal diagnosis.  Huggable Daddy

I've been a Christian since I was eight years old. I still remember making the long walk from the middle section of the church pews. Down the shaggy burgundy carpet, I kept moving until I stood at the front underneath the shadows of a gigantic oak altar. Every set of eyes from the congregants seemed to bear down on me as I stumbled reciting the pastor's words. I squinted as the altar call ended. A majestic stained-glass window allowed the sunlight to stream inside, almost blinding with its brightness.  I was awed and struck with the reverence of committing my life to God in this formal tradition, but it would be a few years before I could call Him, Abba.

When my world ripped asunder as my middle-class life disappeared, I found God was Abba. My earthly father decided he wanted a new life and never came home again. An ache like I've never known twisted in my stomach as I watched my mom soldier on even though she'd have to figure out how to feed four children. That night, I dropped onto the cold ceramic tile of the bathroom, and cried until I felt God's spirit warming me, whispering everything would be all right. Abba cradled me and has been there for me as Daddy ever since, whether to share a triumph or to hold my hand.

Whatever you are going through, know God loves you. He cares about you. He is your Daddy, and He's waiting for you to call upon Him.

Vanessa Riley's CHRISTIAN REGENCY NOVEL: MADELINE'S PROTECTOR

Today's guest, VANESSA RILEY is a technology enthusiast who loves all things regency. Her debut novel, Madeline's Protector, published by Pelican Books, exhibits her skill in discovering the hidden nuances of a character: making him believable, her touchable, and both ready to be used of God. Vanessa holds a doctorate in mechanical engineering and loves writing from the comfort of her southern porch. You can buy the book in a few days on Amazon and other outlets when it releases in April.  

· http://www.christianregency.com,

· Blog: http://www.regencyreflections.com, http://www.infinitecharacters.com

· FB: ChristianRegency,

· Twitter: @VanessaRiley

Back Cover Blurb of Madeline's Protector: If all the young men of England leapt off a cliff, Madeline St. James wouldn't care. Then she'd have peace. Her nightmares of courtship would end, and she'd cozy up with a Psalm in her aunt's quiet sculpture garden. Yet, a chance meeting and a bullet wound change everything, and Madeline must trust the Good Shepherd has led her to the altar to marry a dashing stranger, Lord Devonshire. Death and pain are no strangers to Justain Delveaux, Lord Devonshire, and he vows his dutiful bride will be kept safe and in her place. Though this compromised marriage is in-name-only, his wife and her unwavering faith both intrigue and allure him. Perchance when he thwarts his brother's killer, Justain will tempt the unpredictable Madeline with the comfort of his arms. But can Madeline and the stubborn earl forge a true bond before the next disaster strikes?

Raccoon Tales--A Great New Children's Book

Into New Waters By Guest Blogger Joy DeKok

It took me ten years to get Raccoon Tales, my current e-book release, into publication--and another four to catch it up with current technology. Waiting is hard for me, but I’m also a bit on the tenacious side.

So were the baby raccoons I wrote the book about. When they came into our lives, they were completely helpless. Only a few days old, their eyes were shut, and they couldn’t stand on the tiny legs. For them growing up went quickly and within weeks, they were toddlers. When it was time to learn things, they were determined to master it all. As their temporary mom, I knew this trait would serve them well in the wild.

Soon they needed more space to play, so we took them out on the deck a couple of times a day. Here we introduced them to big black bowls of water. The first day, the four bigger babies were more interested in climbing in Jon, but not RC. The runt of the litter, he was the most adventuresome of the bunch. I watched as he inspected fresh water for the first time. He hung on to the rim and looked over, then seemed a little surprised to find another raccoon in the bowl. He reached out to touch the newcomer and was delighted when his reflection became a splash!

His siblings watched from the safety of Jon’s lap and shoulders as he played with and then finally jumped into the big water bowl. He chased water drops until there were none left, stopping only to take a quick drink. Exhausted, he climbed out on to the now soaked deck floor and scrambled up my legs. He was cold and shivered, so I rubbed him down with a towel, and wrapped him a blanket.

By this time, the others decided to give the other bowls a try. In a few minutes, they were all drenched, and decided to climb my jean covered legs looking for the same treatment had RC received. That afternoon was a milestone for the babies – they’d discovered one of life’s essentials and loved the way the water tasted, felt, sounded, and it became one of their favorite places to play. Now, running the faucet in the kitchen woke them from a sound sleep, and they were ready for water games.

As I tucked them in for a nap, I day dreamed about the day the raccoons would return to the wild and enjoy finding the same refreshment and some nutrition in a babbling brook. That would mean letting them go and never seeing them again, so I prayed the days would move at a slower pace than normal. However, I wanted the best for them, and in time, that would be freedom.

Together we’d crossed an invisible line – soon they’d be teenagers and would need me less. I stayed a little closer to their box that day and when they woke up, I was very ready to hold them again. A few months later, they started the process of reverting to wild ones. So, we released them next to the babbling brook I’d dreamed about. They loved it and we loved them enough to leave them there.

When it was time to write this book and have it illustrated, I was amazed by Leslie’s gift for capturing the moment in her art. Here are the words I wrote for this page in the book and her painting of the moment.

RC discovered the big water bowl.

He reached inside and shivered; it was cold!

He held on to the edge and looked over the rim,

And saw his reflection—a picture of him!

The others weren’t quite as thirsty yet,

So he splashed and got himself all wet.

You can share four of our real-life raccoon adventures with your children, and encourage them to draw near to the God who loves them. Find out how to order the paperback book or the e-book HERE. There are also two free coloring pages waiting for you to download.

MEET THE AUTHOR

Joy started writing as a little girl. She carries a large purse so she can take her journal and an assortment of pens with her.

Joy lives on thirty-five acres of woods and field in Minnesota between Rochester and Pine Island. She’s been married to Jon for thirty-five years and they enjoy their many nieces and nephews. Their dogs, Sophie and Tucker, keep them company when they explore the land riding their John Deere Gator or while watching the many birds that visit their feeders.

She has seven books in print and is working on a novel series featuring main character, Olivia Morgan. Joy is also developing a writing group called, Write Yourself Strong, for hurting women.

Faith is a vital part of Joy’s life. When she was sixteen, Joy asked God to find her and He did.