Beth K. Vogt's Blog, page 68

In Others’ Word: Flying Free

One quick question for today:

When have you let go of your life — given up control — and seen it soar in unimaginable ways?

And yes, I’ll go first:

When I stopped fighting God about my past — what was and what wasn’t the truth … whether I could handle it or whether I’d crumble beneath the weight of it all … if I’d believe God would be sufficient or not — that was the first step to my life becoming more than I ever imagined.

Okay, now it’s your turn: what did you do to soar?

Take You Hands Off Your Life   Click to Tweet

What Did You Do That Helped You Soar?  Click to Tweet

 

 

Don’t forget to enter the You Made Me Love You Rafflecopter giveaway to win all sorts of fun prizes, including a grand prize basket and 7 signed Advance Reader Copies (ARCs) of Somebody Like You. Click on the link or the image above to enter! Giveaway ends March 26, 2014.

Enter the You Made Me Love You Rafflecopter Giveaway! Click to Tweet

 

In Others’ Words: The Right Place

 

In high school, I was involved in drama — both acting and directing. When I earned a role in a play, I had to learn both my lines and the stage directions — specifically, entrances, exits, and where I stood onstage. My spot on stage was called my mark. Sometimes my mark — as well as other actors’ marks — was designated with an “x” made out of criss-crossed pieces of duct tape. In acting lingo, I was supposed to “hit my mark.” No looking down and searching for the duct tape “x” — that would ruin the scene.

How often in real life have I wandered here and there, unsure of where I want to stand?

Do I want to stand up and defend myself in this moment, this argument? Or do I want to let the moment pass by?
Do I want to stand up and ask forgiveness when I know what I just said wounded someone … or do I step back and let silence engulf the opportunity?
Do I want to stand up and wade into a controversial topic? Or do I sit down and stay quiet because I think stifling what I believe is somehow better than having an honest, albeit at times tense, relationship with a friend or family member?

In the scenes of my life, how do I determine where my mark is … and then stand firm?

In Your Words: What do you do when you are unsure of where you want to stand? Where have you made definite choices on “right places” where you are determined to stand firm?

Where do you stand firm in life? Click to Tweet

“Hit your mark” in life … and stand firm Click to Tweet

You Made Me Love You Rafflecopter Giveaway Click to Tweet

 

In Others’ Words: Blessed are We …

God is a God of relationship. He wants a relationship with us … and he wants us in relationship with others.

One thing I know — and I write about: relationships are messy. We are  broken, messy people trying to love other broken, messy people. Sometimes, when God steps into our fumbling attempts at relationship, something beyond us transpires. I learn how to love you more than my brokenness allows.

My less than … my poverty … becomes more than because God makes it so.

So often I think of what I bring to a relationship — a friendship, my marriage, whatever — in terms of what kind of strength I have to offer someone else.

But when I start from the point of acknowledging (at least to myself and God) that I am broken, wounded and in great need of God’s lavish grace and love, I have so much more to offer someone else. I lean into my relationship with God, drawing from that place of deep communion … and my dependence on God can only benefit my relationships here on earth.

In Your Words: How does your relationship with God influence your relationships here on earth? How do you experience being “blessed where you are poor, where you are broken?”  

“Blessed are we where we are poor, where we are broken” Click to Tweet

My less than … becomes more than because God makes it so. Click to Tweet

You Made Me Love You Rafflecopter Giveaway Click to Tweet 

In Others’ Words: Mask On, Mask Off

Sometimes I find the quotes for my blog posts and sometimes … well, sometimes the quotes leap off the page and find me.

It’s Friday. I usually keep my Friday blog posts light. Short. It’s Friday, after all.

But Anne Lamott’s quote took me back to a time when God was changing me … reclaiming parts of my life I thought were unredeemable. And in the midst of all his changing and reclaiming and redeeming, God told me the masks I wore had to go.

Me? Wearing masks?

Oh, yeah. I toted around a virtual suitcase of ‘em.

At one point in the process, it felt as if an invisible mask had slipped and was hanging off my face. Try as I might, the invisible-but-weighty mask wouldn’t go back in place. And believe me, I tried to reposition it.

There were a few people — a very few — who saw me at my worst during this time. Accepted me. Prayed for me. And because of their acceptance … their patience … the safety of their loving relationships, I was able to remove the mask. And leave it off.

In Your Words: Who in your life do you trust enough to see you at your worst? And what about masks? Do you love ‘em  … or are they not a part of your daily attire? 

No Masks Required: When Relationships are Safe   Click to Tweet

Mask On, Mask Off — Choosing Real Relationships Click to Tweet

You Made Me Love You Rafflecopter Giveaway  Click to Tweet

 

 

 

Rafflecopter Contest: You Made Me Love You

Don’t ever ask me which of  my books is my favorite. I love them all for different reasons.

Why do I love You Made Me Love You?

Maybe because it’s an eShort novella for all of 99 cents!!
Maybe because I get to answer the question “Do opposites attract … or combust?”
Maybe because it’s the long-awaited sequel to my debut novel, Wish You Were Here .
Maybe it’s because it’s the romance of my jilted groom, Seth Rayner.
Maybe it’s because it’s got quite a few fun kisses.
Maybe it’s because it has an excerpt of Somebody Like You , which releases in May!

To celebrate the March 25, 2014 release of my novella, I’m having a Rafflecopter giveaway with all sorts of fun prizes, including a grand prize and 7 signed Advance Reader Copies of Somebody Like You. Click on the link or the image below to enter!

Have you ever won a Rafflecoter giveaway? Do you think opposites attract or combust?

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You Made Me Love You Available for Preorder Click to Tweet

In Others’ Word: The Reality of Wealth

I’ve heard Oscar Wilde’s quote before.

The real question is: How would I answer the question?

Have I put my bank balance above an intangible but oh-so-powerful emotion?

Have I squandered the feelings of another … or underestimated the value of loving someone?

The real question for today is this one: Who are you going to make wealthy today … by loving them?

In Others’ Words: Who makes you feel rich by loving in you in a true, honest way? 

Love someone & increase their “wealth” Click to Tweet

1 way to make someone feel rich today Click to Tweet

In Others’ Words: Blessing

What a good way to start the week: with a blessing. A prayer for protection. For sustenance. For joy. For love. For dreams fulfilled.

So after I uploaded the blessing, I did two things:

1. I prayed for each one for you to be blessed today … and this coming week.

2. And I wondered what kind of blessing you would craft. Given the chance to pray a blessing over someone, what words would you utter or write?

I know I would pray something like this:

May you always be blessed with loyal friends. May your days be satisfying and your nights be restful. May your relationships be honest and trustworthy. May you see God’s faithfulness even in the dark times. And may you pursue your dreams with unwavering hope. 

In Your Words: How would you bless others, given the chance? What words would you utter or write? 

Irish Blessing: May You Always Be Blessed  Click to Tweet

How Would You Bless Others Today? Click to Tweet

 

In Others’ Words: Planting Seeds

 

So was it a week where you harvested … or a week where you planted seeds?

I’m curious: What seeds did you plant this week?

 

In Your Words: Would you rather harvest or plant seeds? What seeds did you plant this week? Are you a virtual gardener or a real one — or both?

 

 

Judge the day by the seeds you plant Click to Tweet

Virtual Gardening: What seeds did you plant this week? Click to Tweet

In Others’ Words: Waste Not

I have CJ, my youngest daughter, to thank for this post.

Her volleyball coach asked each girl to list five things they bring to the team. As we talked about it this morning on the way to school, I told CJ to include resilience on her list of attributes.

For a 13-year-old, CJ has an amazing ability to shake things off. The team loses a volleyball match? Okay. She keeps her head in the game (pardon the cliche) and refuses to give up, give in, or to stop believing they can win the next match.

There have been times when I’ve looked to my daughter to help me adjust my attitude when we’ve had a rough day. Yep. I’m the mom and she’s the daughter — but she’s the one with a strong core of resilience.

Sometimes life shatters like a plate. You stand there in the midst of all the shards of glass and you don’t dare move because your feet are bare. How do you begin to clean up all the broken pieces of what was once whole? How do begin to make sense of it all … or even begin to believe that there could be beauty in all the fragments?

Some people, like my daughter, have an inbred ability to bounce back when life pushes them down. I’ve learned to lean into the strength of others … the prayers of others … and discovered how to bend but not break with adversity.

In Your Words: When life shatters, what helps you bend without breaking? Is resiliency second nature for you or more of a learned response?

 

Resilience: Bending without breaking in adversity Click to Tweet

When life shatters like a plate … find beauty  Click to Tweet

In Others’ Words: Inner Grace

The first time I read Anne Morrow Lindbergh’s quote about achieving a state of inner spiritual grace, I thought “Yes. I want that too.”

I just didn’t know the journey I would need to take to “function and give as I was meant to in the eye of God” was going to be so arduous.

Inner spiritual grace sounded so beautiful … so delicate.

And yet it has been a battle to claim grace.

I’ve had to face some harsh truths about who I was.

I’d lived decades of my life believing a lie. I wrestled with God for months before I stopped fighting him about the truth of my past … telling him I couldn’t handle the truth. When I finally stretched myself out before him, facedown on the carpet in the sanctuary in a small church in Florida, and said, “I’m done fighting. Help me learn how to live with the truth of what happened” — his grace surrounded me.

Accepting the truth of who I was, while the first step of healing, meant people I loved weren’t going to agree with me. Weren’t going to support me. Ultimately, those people were going to walk away from me.

You can’t label a lie as the truth just to keep someone happy.

Walking in the truth, however feebly, was the first step to achieving my longed for state of inner spiritual grace.

In Your Words: How have you discovered inner spiritual grace? What helps you function and give as you were meant to in the eye of God?

Are you functioning & giving as you were meant to in the eye of God? Click to Tweet

Thoughts on achieving inner spiritual grace Click to Tweet

“You can’t label a lie as the truth just to keep someone happy.” Click to Tweet