Robin Gilbert Luftig's Blog, page 24
March 16, 2021
What We’ve Missed
People want to see friends again. Maybe do some traveling. And going to their favorite restaurants again. We all have a list of what we haven’t had the chance to do during the past year. We all know what we’ve missed.
My goal is not to be fooled by adding my goals back onto my list.
I’m looking for a simpler way of life. All of my dreams and plans are good. But I cannot lose a sense of purpose.
There was a day not too long ago I savored each moment because I didn’t know how many more moments were left for me.
I want balance again. What I want—need—is a sense of peace throughout the day. I’m done living vicariously through activities.
I’m putting everyone on notice. While I still have a checklist, I am no longer ruled by it. I am determined to enjoy today and plan for tomorrow. But know, without a doubt, that I am not ticking off accomplishments anymore.
All we have is right now—today. It would be a shame if we rushed through today forgetting what we missed only find we had no tomorrow.
“Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring.” Proverbs 27:1
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 What We’ve Missed appeared first on Robin Luftig.
March 15, 2021
Fear of Being Canceled
Conversations are tense these days. People often look over their shoulders before offering opinions. Or worse yet, people stop giving input at all. Friends are no longer safe–they are all suspect. People hold their breath when long-held beliefs are shared with a group. Will their words be accepted or scorned? Why does it seem that everywhere you turn people are so edgy? Everyone seems to be living on the edge these days. The cause: people are in fear of being canceled.
These days, opinions are fine, as long as they are the same as what the audience shares. Celebrities and politicians are darlings one day, then ghosted after making a casual, unmeasured comment. And don’t think you can support a friend with an opinion that is out of favor for the moment. If you support them, you–by association–will be canceled too.
If people are looking to be offended, know they will find what they’re looking for.
How to Control Your FearLet’s chose to focus on what is true, not what is fleeting … on what is constant, not what is fashionable. Let’s focus on the permanence of God’s Word.
“See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! be like him, for we shall see him as he is.” 1 John 3:1aWe are children of God–the creator of the universe. In that, there should be no fear.
“So you are no longer a slave, but God’s child; and since you are his child, God has made you also an heir.” Galatians 4:7As God’s heir, He has provided for us all the riches that matter. We once wore chains, but are now free.
“Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death.” Romans 8:1-2God says there is no condemnation for His children, so why do we fear what flash-in-the-pan people have to say about our thoughts or opinions? We have been provided with an escape from death!
It’s important to make sure our words are pleasing to God. We should always control them and make sure to build others up, not tear them down. But let’s do this in honor to the One who loves us, not in fear of being canceled.
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 Fear of Being Canceled appeared first on Robin Luftig.
March 10, 2021
It’s a God’s Best Celebration!
It’s a God’s Best Celebration, and I’d love for you to join me!
Ten years ago, doctors told me I had 10 days to get my affairs in order. TEN DAYS. But here I am today celebrating my story, which inspired my book God’s Best During Your Worst. Will you join in the festivities by joining my CELEBRATION TEAM to help me share God’s Best? Here’s a little more about my story:
In 2011, my world was rocked when doctors discovered a tumor on my brain. With less than two weeks before the life-threatening surgery, I struggled with the possibility of losing everything—experiences undone, journeys never wandered, loved ones left behind. Resolved to not waste another second, I prepared what might be my last ten days by relishing every moment and seeking the answer to my most pressing question:
—Are God’s promises meant for me?
What’s Next?
After surviving surgery, I realized I couldn’t be the only one dealing with doubting God during a tragedy. That’s when God’s Best was born. I took all I experienced and built a lifeline for those who are stymied by their loss of faith during a catastrophe. Adding to my own story, I include scripture, trusted resources, and stories from famous and not-so-famous people to whom God offered His best while they were experiencing their worst.
God’s Best originally launched in March 2020, right along with the pandemic. So, while this is not a “new release,” it will certainly be new to many since the book release competed with Covid for attention. But God’s timing always amazes me. How much more meaningful this book will be to so many people who have experienced their “worst” in the past year! And, for me personally, what is a better way to celebrate this anniversary than to reintroduce God’s Best?
Join MeI’d love for you to be a part of the CELEBRATION TEAM, which will be similar to a book launch team. The celebration will be March 22-April 16. The team will receive a digital copy of the book, join our private Facebook group, post 1-2 promo graphics (provided) to Facebook each week, and post honest reviews to Amazon, Goodreads, and CBD.
To join my CELEBRATION TEAM, please answer a few questions https://forms.gle/XJdrnMaWnkJhXBMC7 and our celebration leader, Karen Sargent, will email you all the details on March 18.
Whether you join the celebration or not, thanks for following and supporting me during my journey.
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 It’s a God’s Best Celebration! appeared first on Robin Luftig.
March 9, 2021
The Importance in Reaching Out
I learned an important lesson on the importance in reaching out to others and first published this post years ago. I was moved by the support Rick Franzo offers as well as receives. He has been consistent with his mantra “A warrior never lets another warrior walk alone–ever!” for as long as I’ve known him. Check out his book, How Horseshoes Saved my Life: A Tale of Two Brain Tumors.
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It’s terrible to feel alone. And there’s probably no other time when a person feels more alone as when they’re dealing with a life-altering illness.
Let me introduce you to my friend Rick Franzo, the founder of Brain Tumor Talk. BTT was a radio show that ran between 2014 and 2017. He was the creator, producer, engineer as well as host of the worldwide radio show … one of the only radio shows on the planet dedicated to brain tumors and brain cancers. He knows very well what this is like. In 2009, he received his first diagnosis of having a brain tumor (a Meningioma), that left him paralyzed from the waist down. In 2017, he was diagnosed with yet another Meningioma along with an Acoustic Neuroma, a rare, non-malignant brain tumor.
To overcome his physical restrictions, Rick’s dealt with months of inpatient and outpatient therapy, Yet he never stopped practicing gratitude. I had the privilege of talking with Rick in 2015. I was more interested in listening to his story than telling my own.
Rick knows what it’s like to face insurmountable odds. His go-to move … help others. “I became interested in coaching because I never wanted people to feel helpless.”
God talks about that very thing.
“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God.” 2 Corinthians 1:3-4
Be someone’s hero. Reach out to them. You don’t need to have answers. That’s not what they want from you. They have doctors and specialists for that. Ask them what they need. They might just want someone to stay close by.
Someone they can cry with … scream at … and someone who won’t lie to them and say everything’s going to be okay. Because nobody knows what’s coming with the next day.
“The most important one [commandment], is this: ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second [most important commandment] is: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.” Mark 12:29-31
Don’t be afraid to reach out to someone who is hurting. And know you may not do it perfectly. But listen to them. Hear what they have to say. Isn’t that what you’d want … someone to do with 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 The Importance in Reaching Out appeared first on Robin Luftig.
March 8, 2021
Discover Your Purpose
When we discover our purpose, it’s not so difficult to embrace all of Life.
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 Discover Your Purpose appeared first on Robin Luftig.
March 5, 2021
Nominated for a Selah Award
I’m super excited to share with y’all that Ladies of the Fire (2020, Elk Lake Publishing) was just nominated for a Selah Award in the category of FIRST NOVEL.
It thrills me that the story of three women in the 1960s and 70s, each completely different than the other, could become best friends. Lily-Rose Pembrick … a red-headed, porcelain-faced beauty … owned a secret and fled her Lincoln Nebraska home in the dead of night with her children to ensure their safety. Fiona Kasey … with her exotic ebony-skin and blue eyes … struggled against all odds for an education to take her from her position of housekeeper/companion to a career in finance. Sugar Bowersox ... a blonde bombshell from the hills of eastern Kentucky … used her wit and sass to cover the fact that she suffers a deep depression from losing her identity and became only a mother and wife. The relationship between these three blooms into something they all hungered for and they finally found life to be perfect–until someone is killed.
Elk Lake Publishing
I was lucky enough to catch the eye of Deb Haggerty and Elk Lake Publishing, and she took a chance on me and my first novel. ELP was well-represented in the Selah Awards. this year:
Anthologies: The Men of Amish Fiction Present a Christmas Collection
Devotionals: God’s Intriguing Questions–Kathy Collard Miller;
Middle Grade Fiction: The Rubber Band–Christy Hoss;
YA Fiction: Freerunner–Kathy Cassel;
Short Stories: Lonestar–Murray Pura, The Light at St. Silvan’s–Murray Pura, The Silo–Thomas Nye;
First Novel: Ladies of the Fire–Robin Gilbert Luftig
Contemporary Romance: When Hearts Break–Jerry Eicher;
Speculative Fiction: Child of Destiny–T.E. Bradford
I encourage you to check out Ladies of the Fire. it’s filled with references that will take you back to a time; a time when there were no cell phones and the best coffee came from a percolator. It’s my hope that you’ll fall in love with them all.
The post Nominated for a Selah Award appeared first on Robin Luftig.
March 3, 2021
Dealing with a Mind Full of Jumbles
If you’ve been following me for any time at all, you’ll know I’ve had a bit of a comeback from a pretty devastating surgery–brain surgery. Hard to believe, but my surgery was in April 2011. That means I’ve been dealing with a mind full of jumbles for almost ten years.
It’s thrilling to speak to groups of women when I have the jumbles. While it does bring its obvious challenges when I forget a name or lose my train of thought, I am always encouraged by the grace that others give me.
Trying to write after brain surgery brings challenges as well. Like most writers, I deal with the distractions of social media and rabbit holes. But add to it the task of trying to stay razor-focused on the task at hand when your mind is doing summersaults.
Jumbles Give Me Reson to SmileWhen I write
, I enjoy the seclusion of my own office. There, I can best control my jumbles. There, find the structure I need to do what I need to do.
And isn’t that what it’s like for each of us … finding a way to do what we need to do?
Each of us has a struggle … a type of mind jumble. Maybe yours in a past that keeps you from reaching for the future. Your mind is filled with all the reasons you can’t succeed. Or maybe your mind is filled with comparisons. Why you think others are more qualified than yourself.
Stop the JumblesStop what you’re doing and take your Jumbles captive. Focus on what’s at hand. Figure out what is your driving force. Seek the face of Jesus in your task. What does he say about achieving your goals? He has lots to say:
But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Matthew 6:33Take a deep breath and relax. God is bigger than the Jumbles. If there’s a burden in your heart, dealing with a mind full of Jumbles will not stop what God’s burned into your 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 Dealing with a Mind Full of Jumbles appeared first on Robin Luftig.
March 2, 2021
Does God Cry for Us?
Have you ever wondered … does God cry for us?
To help me understand what’s involved with having a personal relationship with God, I try to see Him as I see others with whom I have relationships. I mean no disrespect by this. I bring Him down to my level—figuratively, of course—so I can look into His eyes and try to understand who He is to me.
That’s how I started the morning of April 1, 2011. It was Friday and I thanked God for bringing me through another work week. Little did I know while I was thanking God, He was sitting on the edge of his bed, elbows on his knees with his head in his hands. He knew when he got out of bed that day everything would start falling into motion. God chooses to stay on the edge of his bed—just a few moments more. He knew this day had to come. And He knew before I went to sleep that night I would hear the news that had the potential to rock me to the core of my foundation. He knew today would be the 
beginning of my need to revisit my personal hell and the demons He had banished from my life years earlier.
As He finally got out of bed and strolled to His kitchen, He knew this wasn’t how He planned to do things. This had never been how He planned it. Sin had gotten in the way all those years ago. His children were all paying the costs and He was cleaning up after it—still cleaning up.
As he poured Himself a cup of coffee and fixed His cereal, He felt the pain I would experience later on that day. With each spoonful of cereal, He pondered on what was to come. He stopped, put his spoon down, and rested His arm and forehead on the table.
I wonder if God cried for me that day.
These are some of the thoughts that careened through my mind in the early part of April 2011. I’ve written about that and many other thoughts I had during that time in God’s Best During Your Worst.
What about you? Do you think God cries when He knows you’re about to face a tragedy you have no way of facing on your own? When your marriage appears to be doomed to failure? How about when the police bring your teenager home in handcuffs? Or when a family member tells you of unthinkable abuse? The Bible gives us a verse–the shortest verse in all of the scriptures–that tells us so. There have been sermons written over this verse through the years, it’s that moving and provocative.
Jesus wept. John 11:35Does God cry for us? I think He does, but it’s not enough for me to think so. It’s also up to you. What do you think?
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 Does God Cry for Us? appeared first on Robin Luftig.
March 1, 2021
Under Construction
My site will be under construction … again.
I plan on still blogging, Tuesdays through Thursdays, but if I get interrupted, please know I’ll be back.
Chatting with y’all about God’s faithfulness and reading your responses is always a treat. And I enjoy throwing in a stray thought once in a while, too.
But that’s how my mind works. Thoughts come in and go out. Often not related. And I see you like that as well.
So ignore the dust and loud banging. I’ll try to do business as usual. But I’m asking for grace during this time. It’s my hope that when I ge back, our connection will be even better.
Want to leave a note while the site is under construction? You can still reach me at robin@robinluftig.com.
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 Under Construction appeared first on Robin Luftig.
February 25, 2021
Wisdom from Steve Laube
I’ve met several people over the years who I know will forget more about publishing than I will ever know. One of these people is Steve Laube, president and founder of The Steve Laube Agency. Steve’s a veteran of the bookselling industry with nearly 40 years of experience. In the 80s he was a bookstore manager and was awarded the National Store of the Year by the Christian Booksellers Association (CBA). He then spent over a decade with Bethany House Publishers and was named the Editor of the Year by AWSA. Over sixteen years ago he became an agent where he and his agency have represented nearly 2,000 new books and Steve was named Agent of the Year by ACFW. He was also inducted into the Grand Canyon University Hall-of-Fame by their College of Theology. When I can glean wisdom from Steve Laube, I jump at the chance.
This guy knows his stuff. And what’s more, he shares what he knows about the Christian Bookselling industry.
Why Are You Telling Me This?Recently he wrote a blog post that should set every writer quivering in their boots. Hit the link to see what he’s been telling us for years. After you do, please consider going to the “Let’s chat” tab and provide me your email. That will give me a way to continue our chats if Facebook decides to pull the plug on my page and personal site. It’s already happened to other writers I know, so I have no doubt that it could happen to me as well.
I don’t think the sky is falling dear friend, but I do believe in being pro-active.
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 Wisdom from Steve Laube appeared first on Robin Luftig.
