Robin Gilbert Luftig's Blog, page 17

Meet Brandon Adams

Years ago my path crossed with Brandon Adams, and his words have blessed me ever since. While we have never met face-to-face, over the time we’ve known one other, I’ve watched as his blog has blessed many. Here’s one of his posts from 2019 (The Value of Knowing Your Value) that rings as true today as it did when posted. You should meet Brandon Adams, too, if you’re interested in the thoughts of an inciteful “Millennial” (n.): An individual born from 1982-2004.

Thanks, Brandon. 

I ran across the following meme the other day (who says the Internet is useless?):

This is an incredible quote, for it brings many of our lives into sharp relief. It went straight onto the Facebook page for my blog, for it was propulsive and illuminating, at least for me. All of a sudden, through this idea, many of the regrettable actions we take (or see taken around us) gain an interpretation they never had before.

Most of what we interpret as immaturity are unhealthy attempts to prove our value.

An office worker who stirs up drama is trying to prove his value by bringing others down.

The family member who deflects or passes the buck when called out on a mistake does not realize that she can be valuable and wrong at the same time.

That one person who turns every conversation towards themselves is too busy securing their own value to see that of others.

I’ve just described all of us somewhere. Like a dog chasing its tail, we are all trying to capture something that could not escape us if we tried. We cannot attain what is already ours.

Seeing our Value more clearly

Being made in the image of God carries incredible value. We are shredded and dirtied by sin, lost in a haunted house called the human heart, yet pursued by the Cross’ offer of redemption. God went to great lengths to open a way to salvation, all because he calls us valuable.

His ways not only clear us of sin’s sentence, but free us to live wisely in the practical realm every day by revealing our value. When one understands his value in God, they are protected from having to prove it. Compulsions no longer drive them. They no longer seek their identity in sports, hobbies, political causes, or cruel and legalistic religion. They can admit errors, break addictions, set boundaries, forgive, help, lead, and love. Since they’ve had their core questions about themselves answered, they can start focusing on others’ questions instead.

What stands in our way?

This is impossible with the world. They’re not even trying to hide their self-hatred anymore. More openly each day, they celebrate our supposed insignificance in the cosmos, place higher value on animal species than themselves, and embrace pornography. Suicide and self-centeredness are epidemic. Satan loves to claim you have no value, then propose an endless series of hoops to prove otherwise.

God cures all that. And only he can.

Come to Christ and let him break your chains. Whether you are new to him or part of the old guard, there is always something to be mended. He welcomes all comers with open arms, and writes new stories where there were only scribbles before.

I’m glad you tuned in today. If you found this post to be of value, please feel free to share it on social media. Thanks a bunch!

What say you?

What do you wonder about?  Are you happy … or are you doing what you never thought you’d do? Do you see consistencies … or are you all over the place? Drop me a line. I’d love to chat.

Struggling to find good in your life? Check out my award-winning book, God’s Best During Your Worst, or check out any of my other books on my Book page.

The post Meet Brandon Adams appeared first on Robin Luftig.

Deadly Conditions

When mining coal during the 20th century, often a caged canary was taken into the depths of the mines along with the miners. The reason? These birds were sensitive to carbon monoxide, a potentially deadly gas devoid of color, taste, or smell, that often formed in the mines. When the caged canary stopped singing, they knew they were in trouble. If a dead bird was found in the bottom of the cage, it meant the miners needed to leave immediately–deadly conditions were at hand.

What’s Around Us?

As we watch the political and social banter, we need to take caution. Pointing fingers and one-upping one another is taking front and center stage, while pressing issues such as the safety of our children and the security of our future has been left untouched.

In those days Israel had no king; everyone did as they saw fit. Judges 21:25

Hearts are breaking. Families are suffering. Finances are collapsing. Children learn that the person who shouts the loudest is right–never mind seeking Truth.

The Clock is Ticking

Let’s look around where we are. Pause. Don’t focus on what you’re getting ready to say, look around. Are these dangerous conditions we’re living in how? Is this world’s canary still singing, or is laying in the bottom of its cage? Please, let’s heed the issues at hand. Let’s seek Truth while we can still recognize it.

We still have time.

What say you?

What do you wonder about?  Are you happy … or are you doing what you never thought you’d do? Do you see consistencies … or are you all over the place? Drop me a line. I’d love to chat.

Struggling to find good in your life? Check out my award-winning book, God’s Best During Your Worst, or check out any of my other books on my Book page.

The post Deadly Conditions appeared first on Robin Luftig.

We’re Not Made to Isolate

We are relational. God made us that way. We’re not made to isolate. Relationships are spoken about in Ecclesiastes 4. While this passage is often spoken about marriage, it can also describe a true friendship.

Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their labor: If either of them falls down, one can help the other up. But pity anyone who falls and has no one to help them up. Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.
Ecclesiastes 4:9-10, 12

It Doesn’t Matter

Friendships like these have no boundaries. They cross state lines and they are not ruled by age. You can have a relationship with a good friend that started when you were young, or the friendship can be recent. But you know when God brings a person into your life.

Care for it

We must all take care of our friends. If we’ve offended them, make amends and ask how you can make it right again.

A good friend of mine, Tammy Whitehurst, interviewed Shelly Brown on the topic of friendship. Check it out. Shelly Brown can currently be found in social media. Watch for her website to go live!

My first novel, Ladies of the Fire is about friends like these.

Want to see how it all began?

Can a woman on the run find herself again?

Ladies of the Fire brought us to the late 1960s as we met the newly-widowed Lily-Rose Pembrick reeling as she fled Lincoln, Nebraska, with her children. Only taking the cash from the house safe and what she could get her hands on at the family bank, she left the recently-inherited and successful Pembrick Transportation company behind. Exhausted from driving all night, she stopped in Applegate, Ohio, and decided to start a new life on Norwood Street. There, she met Fiona Kasey, an African-American no-nonsense housekeeper/companion to an elderly white woman, and Sugar Bowersox, a Southern spitfire who has lost herself in motherhood.

Together, they enjoyed Lily-Rose’s backyard fire pit, where dreams were spoken and secrets revealed. As they embraced a kinship they never would have sought, Lily-Rose began thinking her past could finally be laid to rest—until someone ended up dead.

The post We’re Not Made to Isolate appeared first on Robin Luftig.

A Heavy Heart Isn’t Always Bad

I’ve come to realize a heavy heart isn’t always bad.

Over the past few weeks I have wept, as have many of you, for the people in Afghanistan. Many want to leave but cannot. Several have been able to leave, but for their own reasons, have chosen to stay.

I was reminded of the time when Jesus entered Jerusalem.

And when he drew near and saw the city, he wept over it, saying, “Would that you, even you, had known on this day the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes.
Luke 19:41-42

Let us not be afraid of weeping over what breaks the heart of Jesus. Remember, a heavy heart isn’t always bad.

 

What say you?

What do you wonder about?  Are you happy … or are you doing what you never thought you’d do? Do you see consistencies … or are you all over the place? Drop me a line. I’d love to chat.

Struggling to find good in your life? Check out my award-winning book, God’s Best During Your Worst, or check out any of my other books on my Book page.

The post A Heavy Heart Isn’t Always Bad appeared first on Robin Luftig.

Sand on a Beach

 

Life can sometimes swirl around us at an unbelievable rate. We watch standards we once took for granted disappear before our very eyes. How did we get here? Did we set our focus on unmovable truths, or did our dreams get washed away … like the sand on a beach?

Sand … a wonderful thing

Scripture often references sand. Sometimes to show our folly.

“Whoever hears these words of Mine and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand.The rain came down. The water came up. The wind blew and hit the house. The house fell and broke apart.”
Matthew 7:26-27

But it’s also used to show the vast unmeasurable love God has for us. See how God uses a word picture to show Abram (Abraham) the depth of his love and devotion.

“I will certainly bless you. I will multiply your descendants beyond number, like the stars in the sky and the sand on the seashore … ”
Genesis 22:17

Your Challenge

Do we see sand as vast and unmeasurable … or as shifty and unstable? Learning this may involve taking a long look into the mirror at who we are  … and ask ourselves some hard questions.

But by asking ourselves hard questions … even if that leads us to how we see sand … may give a clear direction when seeking peace.

What say you?

What do you wonder about?  Are you happy … or are you doing what you never thought you’d do? Do you see consistencies … or are you all over the place? Drop me a line. I’d love to chat.

Struggling to find good in your life? Check out my award-winning book, God’s Best During Your Worst, or check out any of my other books on my Book page.

The post Sand on a Beach appeared first on Robin Luftig.

No Words

Sometimes we have no words. God knew that would happen and guided Apostle Paul to instruct us in times when we are lost. When facing unbelievable obstacles, it’s important to ask the Holy Spirit to intervene on our behalf.

The Holy Spirit helps us where we are weak. We do not know how to pray or what we should pray for, but the Holy Spirit prays to God for us with sounds that cannot be put into words.  God knows the hearts of men. He knows what the Holy Spirit is thinking. The Holy Spirit prays for those who belong to Christ the way God wants Him to pray. Romans 8:26-27

Join me

Join me in prayer. If ever there’s a time to hit our knees, it is now. Hundreds–if not thousands–of people will be at the mercy of unspeakable evil. Many of those will be our Christian brothers and sisters.

Having no words isn’t a reason to not beseech God for mercy. He’s already got that part covered. All we have to do is bring a seeking heart.

 

What say you?

What do you wonder about?  Are you happy … or are you doing what you never thought you’d do? Do you see consistencies … or are you all over the place? Drop me a line. I’d love to chat.

Struggling to find good in your life? Check out my award-winning book, God’s Best During Your Worst, or check out any of my other books on my Book page.

The post No Words appeared first on Robin Luftig.

My Heart Aches

These are days of darkness. My heart aches when I watch the news. I weep, knowing how this might turn out for some of my Afghani Christian brothers and sisters. Anne Graham Lotz‘s prayer posted on social media resonates in my heart. Please read it prayerfully and join me in pleading to our Heavenly Father to bestow comfort.

Creator of the Universe. Ruler of All. Lord of the Nations.

Are You not the Judge of all the earth? If my heart is broken…shattered…over what’s taking place in Afghanistan, what must Your great heart feel? So I come to You and plead Your mercy for Your people who are now hiding in basements, caves, any hole they can find, knowing that demonic forces will not stop until Your people are found and slaughtered. So I pray for Your people…followers of Jesus…to be supernaturally protected and delivered. Send Your angel armies to surround Your people, as You did for Elisha (2 Kings 6). Blind the enemy so they cannot locate Your people in hiding. Didn’t You teach us Yourself that when we pray, we are to pray that we would be delivered from evil? (Matthew 6) So. Deliver Your people. By any means. Please.

But if You do not, and if You allow Your people to be slaughtered, then I pray that You would give dying grace to each and every one of them. Men. Women. Children. Fill them with Your supernatural peace. Give them a vision of Heaven opened for them, as You did for Stephen in Acts 7. Open their eyes to see You, Lord Jesus, standing at the right hand of the Father, waiting to welcome them Home and give them a martyr’s crown.

And then I pray…yes I do… for the fullness of Your wrath to fall on the evil perpetrators, whether they are in Kabul or Tehran or Washington, DC. Holy God. Avenge Your people.

I know You hear this prayer. Now I wait to see how You will answer.

Even so, come Lord Jesus. Surely it’s time for You to be glorified in all the earth.

For the sake of Your great name,

Amen

 

What say you?

What do you wonder about?  Are you happy … or are you doing what you never thought you’d do? Do you see consistencies … or are you all over the place? Drop me a line. I’d love to chat.

Struggling to find good in your life? Check out my award-winning book, God’s Best During Your Worst, or check out any of my other books on my Book page.

The post My Heart Aches appeared first on Robin Luftig.

A Glimpse into Ladies Uncover a Secret

Unofficial cover

Have you missed the ladies from Norwood Street in Applegate, Ohio?

Sugar Bowersox now lives in the Baltimore area with husband Dunger and enjoys being a mother to three girls and wife to a professional football coach.

Lily-Rose Pembrick still lives on Norwood Street, enjoying the life she found after leaving Lincoln, Nebraska, and Pembrick Transportation behind.

In Ladies Uncover a Secret (Elk Lake Publications, due out Fall, 2o22) we find Fiona Kasey, now Kasey-Boyer, married, pregnant, and living in Shaker Heights, Ohio.

So what’s the problem?

Fiona is struggling with a nagging thought–Why doesn’t she feel worthy of love?

In Ladies Uncover a Secret, the three friends get together again and begin to unravel the secrets of Fiona’s past. They discover lies the Kasey family kept for years. Will the answers to the revealed secrets strengthen Fiona’s chance at finding peace—or shatter it?

Ready for an unofficial glimpse? Check out the first (unofficial) chapter:

Want to see how it all began?

Can a woman on the run find herself again?

Ladies of the Fire brought us to the late 1960s as we met the newly-widowed Lily-Rose Pembrick reeling as she fled Lincoln, Nebraska, with her children. Only taking the cash from the house safe and what she could get her hands on at the family bank, she left the recently-inherited and successful Pembrick Transportation company behind.

Exhausted from driving all night, she stopped in Applegate, Ohio, and decided to start a new life on Norwood Street. There, she met Fiona Kasey, an African-American no-nonsense housekeeper/companion to an elderly white woman, and Sugar Bowersox, a Southern spitfire who has lost herself in motherhood.

Together, they enjoyed Lily-Rose’s backyard fire pit, where dreams were spoken and secrets revealed. As they embraced a kinship they never would have sought, Lily-Rose began thinking her past could finally be laid to rest—until someone ended up dead.

The post A Glimpse into Ladies Uncover a Secret appeared first on Robin Luftig.

New Opportunities, if You Dare

Summer will be coming to an end soon. School’s starting in some places, a sign of old things finishing and new opportunities starting. Looking at it, how willing are you to start the season with a new prayer in your heart?

Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. Psalm 139:23-24

This is not the typical, “Thank you for this food” prayer. This powerful prayer, when uttered in all seriousness, has the ability to take us to places we may never have seen.

But do you mean it?

We often hold back, because we don’t trust God … either that he’s not big enough, or he just doesn’t care. This prayer asks God to 1) Search your heart; 2) Reveal your fears; 3) Uncover your sins, and 4) Lead you.

Before you open yourself to this prayer, see what God’s word says about his character.

Know that he loves you.

There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love. 1 John 4:18

Then see how he’s built you.

For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline. 2 Timothy 1:7

Here’s the challenge. Offer this prayer, quietly in your heart, and see how God moves.  It may reveal more than you anticipate. You may find what you fear most reveals where you trust God the least.

What we fear most reveals where we trust God the least.

God’s waiting for you to invite him into your new opportunities if you dare.

 

What say you?

What do you wonder about?  Are you happy … or are you doing what you never thought you’d do? Do you see consistencies … or are you all over the place? Drop me a line. I’d love to chat.

Struggling to find good in your life? Check out my award-winning book, God’s Best During Your Worst, or check out any of my other books on my Book page.

The post New Opportunities, if You Dare appeared first on Robin Luftig.

Another Place of Comfort

Do you think God remembers us? With all of the craziness happening in the world today, we’re all looking for another place of comfort. Do you think God’s offering us such a place?

Scripture tells us over and over how he remembers people.

But God remembered Noah … Genisis 8:1

He can remember us, too.

Being on the mind of Jesus is a powerful yet humbling place to be. It windows his control. I believe the Pharisees were on Jesus’ mind when he looked over Jerusalem, and he wept (John 11:35).

Do you think he weeps for us today? Society is in a dark place, but we can trust God’s control in our lives. When we are on God’s mind—when he remembers us—we are not far from his protective hand. And when we have God on our minds, the Holy Spirit can share love and comfort as we have never felt.

How do we take it in?

Want to know how to stand in the middle of chaos and feel peace? Dwell on scripture.

Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you. Hebrews 13:5

Do you think he sees our pain? Look to scripture for that as well.

You keep track of all my sorrows. You have collected all my tears in your bottle. You have recorded each one in your book. Psalms 56:8

When you need another place of comfort, trust in the Lord. He’s waiting for you.

What say you?

What do you wonder about?  Are you happy … or are you doing what you never thought you’d do? Do you see consistencies … or are you all over the place? Drop me a line. I’d love to chat.

Struggling to find good in your life? Check out my award-winning book, God’s Best During Your Worst, or check out any of my other books on my Book page.

The post Another Place of Comfort appeared first on Robin Luftig.