Davalynn Spencer's Blog, page 42

The Lord is My Trail Boss

By Davalynn Spencer @davalynnspencer

God’s word has a way of reaching our soul, touching specific notes that respond to His call. Even if we don’t speak Hebrew or Greek or the King’s English.

Even if we live on the other side of the world from where His scriptures were first copied down.

Even if we’re a cowboy—like an ol’ crusty codger called Deacon who’d spent countless miles in the saddle.

Deacon is a fictional character of my making, but I believe he embodies many big-hearted men who have bowed their head to their Maker.

In Deacon’s translation, the scriptures sound different, but their meaning is the same. His imagery fits his life, full of things he’s familiar with.

Isn’t that the way the Lord spoke to the people of Palestine? In pictures they could understand?  

People from every nation and tongue hear His words in their own language. Why not a cowboy, speaking over the grave of a good man gunned down?

Who knows if somewhere, sometime in the Western past, similar words weren’t offered from such an open and rugged heart …

“The Lord is my shepherd

I shall not want.

He beds me down in green pastures

with sweet water …

He leads me on a good trail

and stays with me in the tight places …

And the Lord’s spread will be

my home forever.”

I wonder if this is what the Lord intended when he poured His songs into the Psalmist’s heart.

This week, take a moment away from the world’s noise, and write out the Twenty-Third Psalm with words that paint the picture of your life. You might just see how close the Lord is to you after all.

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She raised her eyes to Deacon, taking in his cattleman’s words that weren’t exactly what the parson would say but sure enough painted a picture of these high mountain parks.                                                           —from An Improper Proposal

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Many Happy Returns of the Day

By Davalynn Spencer @davalynnspencer

Today is my youngest granddaughter’s birthday. It is also my mother’s.

When girl-child number 3 was born, I felt an ancestral connection run through me that I’d not felt before. July 3 linked my granddaughter to my mother in a special way, with me as the conduit.

The date shouldn’t have mattered, but somehow it did. Somehow it brought my mother into the picture as I imagined what she’d think of her tiniest descendant.

What would she tell her great-granddaughter? What bit of wisdom would she pass on? Would it be something she’d passed on to me?

And suddenly I knew.

My mother taught me many things, and I’ve mentioned them on this blog before. Some of that knowledge is obsolete today because of changes in fashion, technology, and societal norms.

But one directive remains applicable regardless of the decade or century, regardless of political or social climate. The one single thing I want to teach my granddaughter is the most important thing my mother taught me:

“Love Jesus more than anyone. Even me.”

If I can plant this single truth into the next generation of my family—in all the girls and all the boys—then I will have given them the most precious birthday gift of all.

And it will result in many happy returns of the day.

 

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Living on Pins and Needles

By Davalynn Spencer @davalynnspencer

Every year my little patch of prickly pear cactus blooms with the most delicate yellow flowers—a flaring contradiction to the plant’s spiny pins growing in protective clusters.

Overshadowing the cactus patch on its east side stands a magnificent Colorado blue spruce with its characteristic blueish-green needles.

This year, the living metaphor captured my attention. Pins and needles, right in my front yard.

To be “on pins and needles” is an idiom defined by the Cambridge Dictionary as “nervously waiting to find out what is going to happen.”

Other idiom sites define the phrase as anxious, in suspense, worried or excited, nervously anxious.

Personally, I don’t enjoy living on pins and needles, anxious over what is going to happen. I’ve learned that such a state has absolutely no productive or positive effect on anything, particularly my health.

I’ve also learned that it’s near impossible to simply say, “I’m not going to worry about it,” whatever it may be. I must push the anxiety out of my mind and heart and substitute something else in its place.

God has known this all along.

And so he tells us how to get away from those pins and needles:

“Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your heart and minds through Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:6-7 NKJV)

Did you catch what the replacement is?

Thanksgiving. Telling God all about our worries while thanking Him.

We can thank Him for who He is, what He is, where He is—right in the thick of it with us. And like the beautiful blooming cactus flower, His peace blossoms in our hearts and minds.

We don’t have to understand how this works.

I just know that it does.

~~~

… and give thee peace. This time the words hit her from a different side. If she were given peace, then it was hers to accept or reject.

– from An Improper Proposal

 

 

 

 

 

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Train Up a Child

By Davalynn Spencer @davalynnspencer

Not until I had the photograph developed did I realize I’d caught the pattern.

Look at the feet and legs, the arms, and the focus of attention in this father and son—my husband, Mike, and our son, Jake. At two years old, Jake mirrored his father perfectly without even trying, without awareness of what was happening. It just came naturally.

You could say it was in his DNA. Or you could say it was the power of parental influence.

Our children do what we do. The old cliché, “Like father, like son,” is cliché for a reason.

We see the same principle hold true with Jesus and His Father, and Jesus emphasized the point to his followers:

“Jesus gave them this answer: “I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does. For the Father loves the Son and shows him all he does” (John 5:19,20).

Whether we are fathers or mothers, neighbors or friends, we often “train up a child.” We teach others by the way we live. Do they learn how to pray by watching us? Do they learn how to respect and love and laugh by living in our presence?

In these post Father’s Day hours, may we be mindful of the example we are providing, and pattern our lives after our heavenly Father who is not given to selfishness or hatred or violence or absence. He loves us more than any earthly father can.

Let‘s emulate Him—for someone, somewhere, will surely do what we are doing.

~~~

 

His father’s bold pen dominated the page, third entry from the bottom, noting the date that he and Madeline Bennett were wed. The familiar writing burned against Cade’s heart like a branding iron, and resentment fired once more toward the man who failed to practice what he preached. The man whose arrogance had cost his children both father and mother. -An Improper Proposal

 

 

 

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Today is the last day to enter the June Bride e-book give-away for a chance to win all ten of these inspirational and sweet romances, historical and contemporary. Just click on the image to connect with the rafflecopter entry.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Rest is Underrated

By Davalynn Spencer @davalynnspencer

I took a couple of days off, went to a mountain retreat, and planned to write thousands and thousands of words on my next novel.

No phone (when I turned it off). No chores or cooking or other life distractions. Just writing. Plain and simple work. Work. WORK.

Instead, I rested.

Did I berate myself?

A little. Between naps.

Did I fail?

No.

Did I learn anything important?

Yes.

Rest is underrated.

Rest is necessary.

Rest is a gift.

God did it. (Genesis 2:2-3)

Jesus gives it. (Matthew 11:28-29)

Refreshment follows it. (Psalm 62:1)

We are so production-oriented that we often miss out on this regenerative blessing.

I pray you will make time for rest this summer. Recharge your batteries. Renew your spirit.

Do what Jesus said:

“Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest.” (Mark 6:31)

~~~

Enter the June Bride e-book give-away for a chance to win all ten of these inspirational and sweet romances, historical and contemporary. Just click on the image to connect with the rafflecopter entry.

 

 

 

 

 

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The Mountains and Hills Will Burst Into Song

By Davalynn Spencer @davalynnspencer

I’ve often been told that the settings of my stories are almost like characters impacting the humans. That makes me smile because natural landscapes and seasonal weather situations affect how people live.

Each geographic location has its unique challenges whether mountain, desert, forest, prairie, or seascape.

But regardless of where we are, God’s fingerprint can be found in His creation, and scripture reminds us to look beyond ourselves to see the evidence.

“… where morning dawns and evening fades you call forth songs of joy.” (Psalm 65:8)

“The grasslands of the wilderness overflow; the hills are clothed with gladness

… they shout for joy and sing.” (Psalm 65:12, 13)

“He covers the sky with clouds; he supplies the earth with rain and

makes grass grow on the hills. He provides food for the cattle …” (Psalm 147:8, 9)

Since most of my stories are set along the Rocky Mountain Front Range, I love painting a glimpse of what can be seen and felt here and my recent release is no exception.

Continuing north with the meadowlarks’ encouragement, she drank in the earth’s sweet perfume after the storm. Everything was fresh and clean, and she reveled in the sense of new beginnings … marveling at the cerulean sky and rolling grassland that spread unfettered between mountain ridges. She felt exactly the same—unfettered. Free yet belonging to someplace, to someone.                   – An Improper Proposal

May you stop this summer, drink in the joyful songs, and breathe in the beauty around you. Wherever you are, if you take a moment and look for the hidden treasure He’s left for you to discover, you’ll find it.

 

She wanted to lose herself in the wildflowers and grassland and drink in the meadowlarks’ songs. – from An Improper Proposal

 

 

 

 

 

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In Remembrance

By Davalynn Spencer @davalynnspencer

If you’ve been to a rodeo, you know that the only moment of absolute silence usually follows a downed rider who fails to rise from the arena floor under his own power.

Apprehension sucks the collective breath of the crowd as they wait to see the cowboy push to his hands and knees.

When he does, the grandstands explode with applause and cheers.

When he doesn’t, the air is still as death.

At 3 p.m. today, Americans across this nation will pause for one minute of silence to remember those who have fallen on battlefields and did not rise.

This official Moment of Remembrance seems like a very small thank you for those who have died in service to our nation—“the land of the free and the home of the brave.”

In many homes those sacred moments of remembrance come every day a parent or spouse walks by a vacant room, an empty chair, or a cherished photograph. They don’t need a congressional act or national holiday. They can’t help but remember.

May we all do the same today, even if we can’t possibly remember the history of extended days and decades gone by.

Let us take at least a minute to convey the grace of gratitude as we pause and say, “I thank my God every time I remember you.” Phil. 1:3

 

 

 

Mae Ann dropped to her knees, ears ringing from the close gunshot. She lifted Henry’s head, and his blue eyes teared at her touch. Her first.

“I’m sorry,” he whispered. “I … ” Blood trickled from the corner of his mouth as he fought for a gurgling breath. His last.

 AVAILABLE for pre-order : An Improper Proposal

 

 

 

 

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i am not alone

By Davalynn Spencer @davalynnspencer

Ever feel like it’s you against the world? Occupationally, relationally, or physically if it’s not one thing, it’s another – right?

Just when we get our sea legs under us, a rogue wave hits, the deck rolls, and our stomachs follow. Why can’t our careers, relationships, and health be set on good ol’ terra firma?

I’ve learned the hard way that asking why is pointless. The answers to who, what, where, when, and how are much more satisfying.

WHO?

Lately, I’ve been reading about Jesus and how He dealt with people – His shouting, His quiet calm, His name-calling, His promise-giving. He was anything but static.

WHAT?

At one point, He told people He was the light of the world, and the Keepers of the Status Quo had a fit. You can read the account in John 8:12-20.

WHERE?

Right in the middle of the ruckus, Jesus revealed his personal, trinity-like support – a three-legged stool, if you will. The realization was so moving for me that I drew lines in my Bible connecting the three points Jesus made when addressing His adversaries:

I know where I came from
I know where I’m going.
I am not alone.

WHEN?

This is the kind of support we all need when the deck starts tilting.

In Him, we find origin, destiny, and companionship.

With Him, we can face any upheaval.

HOW?

May we let Him be our purpose, direction, and comfort.

(Listen to Kari Jobe sing “I Am Not Alone.”)

 

 

AVAILABLE for pre-order! … An Improper Proposal

 

Never had she felt so alone, so abandoned. Not even after her mother’s consumptive death at the rooming house.

 

 

 

 

 

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Mom’s Don’ts and Do’s

By Davalynn Spencer @davalynnspencer

My mother taught me most of what I know, but four important lessons stand out in my memory—two don’ts and two do’s:

Don’t …

… push your hair behind your ears—it makes them stick out.
… put your hands in your sweater pockets—it makes them sag.

Do …

… moisturize your neck as well as your face.
… love Jesus more than anyone, even me.

Mother’s advice scored much higher than that of other wisdom merchants in my life: three out of four for accuracy isn’t bad.

Number one was probably something she heard from her mother. The women in our family all have very thick hair, but today we all know that hair isn’t what pushes ears in or out.

Number two is factual, proven by the old, comfortable sweater I wear around the house but never in public.

Number three is a bit of prophetic perception that is better followed than ignored. For as any woman over the age of thirty has discovered, there is no undoing of neglect.

And number four is the most precious of all gems Mother could have given me. It is the North Star of her guidance, the essence of what I hope I have instilled in my own children.

Over the years my mother’s words have comforted me—as have God’s. The Lord and I first met through her tender nurturing, and for that introduction, I will be forever grateful. For as she taught me to love Him more than anyone else, so I have learned that He loves me more than anyone else ever could.

Can a mother forget the baby at her breast

and have no compassion on the child she has borne?

Though she may forget,

I will not forget you!

See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands.

Isaiah 49:15,16

 

COMING SOON … An Improper Proposal

Words she’d learned at her mother’s side rippled through her like a silken thread. All things work together for good to them that love God.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Life Wins

By Davalynn Spencer @davalynnspencer

Last summer, grasshoppers denuded a young aspen tree I had so lovingly planted in the spring. With plague-like precision, they took it down to nothing but trunk and stems.

The lady at the nursery where I bought the tree told me it wasn’t dead.

“Keep watering it,” she said. “It’s just defoliated.”

Watering a “stick” every evening wasn’t exactly encouraging. But by late August, new growth began to show, and I wrote about the tree’s resurrection (here).

This year the little aspen is twice as full of leaves that flutter as only aspen leaves can on a cool evening breeze.

Again, I’m amazed by the regenerative properties that flowed through it even though I thought it was done in.

That’s the power of Life. And that’s the power of the Life of Christ in us.

When we think we’re done in, if He lives within us, we live too.

Don’t give up. Life wins.

 

COMING SOON … An Improper Proposal

Things didn’t go as planned. Someone else’s greed cost her everything.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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