Lone Star State

Texas! I think if I had to pick another state to live in besides my beloved Arizona, it would be Texas. Perhaps it is my misconception, but it seems friendlier to the gospel (more church signs and billboards about God/Jesus/faith/Christianity). For the most part, the landscape is beautiful.

My dad, God rest his soul, was from Texas. I love the Texan accent. I think I’ll write a a book based in Texas. Oh, wait, I am doing that already.

We are currently in Texas in a smaller town of Stephenville. We’re visiting our son, Jason, his wife, Danielle, and granddaughter, Kate. We stay at Danielle’s grandparents’ bed and breakfast. I’m not a bed and breakfast kind of person, but Marlene and Ed have become great friends.

This is all the perfect setting for a novel. Are other writers like me? I view everything now through the eyes of novel settings. On our trips to Stephenville, we fly into the Dallas airport, rent a car and drive to Stephenville. To get to Stephenville, we pass through the small town of Tolar, population 681. It looks like a town that has endured hard times, at least from the appearance of abandoned, dilapidated buildings on the main street. All I think about when we pass through is the possible story plots.

Or how about the current Ebola threat in America? On our flight from Phoenix to Dallas, the passenger aboard the plane in the seat directly in front of us was wearing a particle/germ mask over his mouth and nose. I whisper to my husband, “Is he afraid of catching something or spreading something?” All the possible story plots from that alone are endless. Besides the fact it truly did concern me.

Keep your eyes and ears open, and a notebook handy for jotting notes. Story plots are around us every day and everywhere. I love to get story plots from the sermons our pastor preaches. I’m constantly scribbling during Sunday services. 

When The World Spins Out of Control!

Everyday there is something in the news that causes fear among the people of our nation. Diseases, terrorists, economics, political battles, special interest group agendas, and the list goes on. 

As Christians now is not the time to let down on our prayers. We should be praying and bombarding heaven as never before. But do we? I'm as guilty as anyone of allowing "things" to distract me. Some days I just can't seem to muster the energy or time to pray.

God forgive me!

I have a large family. Yes, I know I've said that before. But in a family my size, there will always be a crisis, circumstance, or a need that needs God's intervention. Often we don't even realize what's going on. 

BUT! God, the Holy Spirit, always knows. Have you ever been praying and begin to weep and travail without understanding why? I do, frequently! Probably because my family is so large and the Spirit is prompting me to pray for something I'm unaware of. Sometimes I weep in prayer over things I am aware of. 

Romans 8: 26 (NIV) In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans.
Philippians 4: 6 (NIV) Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.

In 1 Thessalonians 5:17, we're told to pray without ceasing. Of course we can't pray 24 hours a day, but God is instructing us to always be in an attitude of prayer as we function throughout our normal day activities. You can breathe a prayer or pray in your mind at any time and anywhere. 

Please, during these troublesome times, I encourage you to not let down your prayer guard. We need to be praying like never before. 

Overcoming Failure

Reading a book isn’t like watching a movie. You get a visual image in a movie, but in a book, the writer strives to create a visual image for you through words. In a movie, you see facial expressions, what a person looks like, whether it’s day or night. A writer has to tell you those things.

So much can be determined about a person’s state of mind by their body language, the things they say, their facial expressions, and their eyes.

He gave so much away by all the things I just mentioned. It was easy to detect the despair he felt, the hopelessness. He was a co-worker when I worked at Teen Challenge – an international faith-based ministry that helps individuals with drug, alcohol and other life-controlling issues and addictions.

Although I wasn’t one that had, most employees are those who have previously gone through the rehabilitation program. This young man had come to be on staff in Arizona after completing a Teen Challenge back east.

A nice young man, he did very well for awhile. Then he was gone, just took off and no one knew where he was.  After several days, someone reported seeing him in a dive motel across town. Some of our guys went to rescue him. He had fallen – fallen to the lure of prostitutes and drugs. When they brought him back, he was a mess.

Teen Challenge is all about restoring people with God’s help, but this young man could not overcome the shame of his failure. It was a cloak he put on himself. Everyone was showing him love and compassion. I’d pass him several times a day. The slump of his body, his countenance and demeanor said it all. He was ashamed and discouraged. He kept his head hung and wouldn’t look you in the eyes when you spoke to him.

One day I said, “Why are you allowing your failure to beat you down like this? God forgives and restores. Accept that. We all love you. Others here have fallen. You're not the only one.”

Unable to overcome his shame, he left. Weeks later, our director received a phone call from a motel manager up the street. This young man had been found in his room dead from a drug overdose. He had been dead for a few days before they discovered him. I had already gone home for the day when another co-worker called to tell me. I laid my head on the kitchen table and sobbed.

Failure isn’t the final say in our lives unless we allow it to be. Are you discouraged? Do you feel defeated, ashamed, humiliated, desperate, hopeless? God is able to bring hope and joy and peace into your life. It might not be instantaneous, but if you allow Him to help you, it will come. 

There but for the grace of God go any of us. 

To Fear or Not To Fear

I was at a church women’s conference recently (AZWI Retreat) and the speaker asked us to think of what our fears are, then take them symbolically into our hands and offer them to God.

I had to really think on that for a moment. What do I consider a legitimate, debilitating fear in my life? I have normal fears, or I guess concern is a better word. I don’t want one of my loved-ones to die before me. I don’t want to suffer a painful or slow agonizing death, nor do I want a loved one to go through that. I don’t want to suffer poverty to the point of being hungry or homeless. I don’t want my husband to stop loving me and leave. I don’t want someone I love to hate me.

Some basic fear is good. It’s what causes us to take fight or flight when danger threatens. But what do I really fear? And is that fear healthy? I finally concluded that I fear that when I’m gone, who will stand in the gap for my family in prayer. Who will carry the burden and longing to see that everyone makes it to heaven?

I also concluded that there are so many things out of our control. For those things we can’t control, we have to trust God. And use the knowledge and wisdom He’s given us. If I’m walking in the woods and see a bear in the distance, I don’t keep walking towards it because.....well, I’m trusting God. I turn and walk or run in the opposite direction. Maybe that’s a silly analogy, but you get my point.

Other than God, family, and friends, my focus at this juncture in my life is my writing. I do care and have a concern that my writing will fail to bear fruit. But that is definitely when I need to trust God. 

Do you have a fear? Is it a normal fear, or an obsessive one?