Davalynn Spencer's Blog, page 54

Truth or Mercy?

My guest blogger today, author Amy Blake, spotlights an important balance point. Be sure to leave Amy a comment and check out her latest release, Whitewashed.

 

To me, the gospel is all about the intersection of mercy and truth. The truth is as sinners, we deserve punishment for our sin including eternity in Hell. The mercy is, as the only sinless Son of God, Jesus took the punishment for Christians and gave us His righteousness instead.

Truth: God is holy and punishes sin.

Mercy: Jesus made a way for us to spend eternity with that holy God instead of getting the eternity we deserve.

In my new adult suspense novel, Whitewashed, Patience is a stickler for truth, so much so that when her childhood friend Devon starts down the path of drug abuse, she screams truth in his face and pushes him away. As a student at Verity College, Patience encounters Lily Rose–a young woman with a bad attitude and an abusive boyfriend–and Patience again spews cold, hard truth without considering how her words might do more harm than good.

Yet when Patience endures her darkest moments, trapped by a psychotic killer and on the verge of death, she begins to comprehend the verse her old friend Mabel, a woman caught in the throes of Alzheimer’s, repeated to her the night before: “In mercy and truth atonement is provided for iniquity; and by the fear of the LORD one departs from evil” (Proverbs 16:6, NKJV).

Patience begins to understand that truth and mercy go together to make the way for repentance. As Mabel’s elderly husband Moses says, “The truth shows you the sin you need to root out, while mercy helps you do the rooting.” Patience realizes speaking the truth to Devon and Lily Rose could never be enough without mercy to help them comprehend the truth.

Just as God is a God of truth who showed great mercy to His children through the death and resurrection of Jesus, so we ought to be people of truth who show mercy to those around us.

 

About Amy:

Amy C. Blake is a pastor’s wife and homeschooling mother of four. She has a B.A. and an M.A. in English from Mississippi College. She contributed to Barbour’s Heavenly XOXO’s for Women, Book Lover’s Devotional, and Every Good and Perfect Gift. Amy’s short stories and articles have appeared in Focus on the Family, Mature Years, Significant Living, Vista, Encounter, and other publications. She has won awards at St. David’s Christian Writers Conference and West Branch Christian Writers Conference, and her juvenile fantasy novel, The Trojan Horse Traitor quarterfinaled in the 2011 ABNA contest. The Trojan Horse Traitor releases in November 2015, and Whitewashed, released February 15.

Connect with Amy on her website, Facebook page, and Twitter.

About Whitewashed:

Eighteen-year-old Patience McDonough has a plan. Despite her parents’ objections, she will attend Verity College in Hades, Mississippi, and live with her grandparents. She’ll complete her degree in record time and go on to become a doctor. But things at the college are strangely neglected, her class work is unexpectedly hard, Grand gets called out-of-town, and Poppa starts acting weird—so weird she suspects he has Alzheimer’s. On top of that, she has to work extra hours at her student job inputting financial data for the college—boring! But soon her job gets more interesting than she’d like: she finds that millions of dollars are unaccounted for and that something creepy is going on in the Big House basement. She discovers secrets tying her family into the dark beginnings of Verity, founded on a slave plantation, and she is forced to question the characters of people she has always trusted. Finally, confronted with a psychotic killer, Patience has to face facts—her plans are not necessarily God’s plans. Will the truth set her free?

Whitewashed is also available through Mantle Rock Publishing and as a Kindle e-book.

one thousand blessings

The shadow of His wings has become an important theme since a family member has fallen so ill. Two weeks ago I blogged about the juniper branches in our yard spreading like protective wings over the birds and rabbits and squirrels, providing shelter during winter storms.

Yesterday at church a friend presented my husband and me with what he called his Christianized version of a Japanese blessing. His cultural tradition expresses long life and fidelity in the form of a crane, and an origami hanging of a thousand cranes is often presented to loved ones and friends on special occasions such as a wedding or the birth of a child.

Our friend invited people from our church to write prayers and scripture verses related to my family’s situation on 1,000 pieces of origami paper. Then he folded each one into a crane and strung it into a beautiful waterfall-like hanging.

Such a visual representation of prayer is astounding. A thousand hand-written prayers and scriptures offered by young people and adults alike, each one folded into a colorful crane.  What an outpouring of grace and faith, time and labor to cover my family with prayer.

Another friend dear to my heart wrote to share with me the significance of “wings” in scripture. She said the ends of a Jewish man’s prayer shawl () were often referred to as wings, particularly when he spread his arms.

And she, too, was astounded by the cranes. “Two thousand wings,” she said.

I love the interweaving of God’s metaphors as He delivers His message to us. He captures my imagination and faith with such visual reminders:

“Both high and low among men find refuge in the shadow of your wings” (Ps. 36:7).

Indeed, as I mentioned before, I feel the feathers of His presence.

May you tuck yourself beneath the shelter of His wings.

 

Photo of Tommy Sakamoto courtesy of Karen Gee.

Have you tried the shadow of His wings?

This photograph captures three birds. The first two are obvious; the third one is entering their shelter. Can you spot it?

The snow-blanketed juniper in our back yard is one of many spreading varieties around our Colorado home that offer dry haven to rabbits, birds, and squirrels.

These tree/bushes spread their branches like wings, bending with the weight of the snow while sheltering small creatures that flourish in spite of harsh weather.

God offers a similar protection to His children, and lately I have been burrowing deep and close.

David, the great king wrote:

Because you are my help,

I sing in the shadow of your wings.

My soul clings to you;

Your right hand upholds me. Ps 63:7, 8

Sometimes the birds sing and I can’t see them. They’re hiding in the branches of their safe haven.

How great a God we have who would give to His people the shelter and protection of Himself.

Try it – sing in the shadow of His wings.

Have you ever pressed so close that you felt the feathers of His presence?

Red versus Grey

Seriously?

Women are supporting the book, Fifty Shades of Grey? They approve exploitation?

Where are those who will stand up and say, “This is not a story of love”?

If you want romance, read romance. Read uplifting, liberating stories of “love wins.” There are countless books by excellent authors who have written such tales.

And you know what?

In the inspirational market, you will find even deeper stories of men and women looking for redeeming love-me-in-spite-of-my-faults encouragement.

The books are out there.

Don’t pay money for and read a book just because it is hyped by marketers and movie makers.

Don’t support something that will lead young women down a dishonoring and denigrating path.

Pick something else. Tout something else.

Wouldn’t you rather feel good after reading? Wouldn’t you rather feel uplifted, as if there is hope in our crazy world?

You can. Here is a list of 15 awesome inspirational books to start with: 15 Christian Novels

And if you really want to kick this recent Grey hoopla in the teeth, shed the light of God’s love on it and order the weekly devotional book, RED, from Pelican Book Group or Christainbook.com.

Fight back. Spread the word this Valentine’s Day. Share the truth.

Real love wins.

 

For God so loved the world that He gave …

John 3:16

What does doubt whisper in your ear?

Doubt crawls up my shoulder and whispers: “Writing make-believe stories is a worthless occupation. What good can fiction possibly do? And romantic fiction? Ha! What a joke.”

And then I walk down the hospital hallway to the coffee room, past artwork and photographs of my genre – the West.

Cowboys saddling horses. Log cabins. Barns, corrals, extravagant sunsets.

I want to climb into those pictures. Escape for a while. Smell the dawn sifting through a forest, hear the nicker of a horse at feeding time. Run my fingers through the rough hair of a good cow dog.

Someone took those photographs and painted those pictures, someone with a creative gift that touches my heart and offers me respite.

And I finally see why readers write to me and say they “escaped” into my stories.

I get it. I see the restorative value in the gift of story—whether told in words or pictures.

Thank God He poured creativity into His children. Thank God He lets us walk in His image and share in His touch.

How gracious He is.

 

“Let us make man in our image.”

Gen. 1:26

Photo by AJ Spencer

Circling the Wagons

My heart stops when I see the hospital number displayed on my ringing cell phone, but it is only the nurse helping my loved one call me.

Other callers I don’t have to answer, though I cherish their hearts and prayers, for they weave together into the hammock of God’s grace that holds me close to Him.

But sometimes I just can’t answer.

I’m circling the wagons, pulling the rough board bellies as close as possible and hunkering down behind them, looking out through the lower spokes of the wheels.

Have you ever felt like that?

I build a fire and sit in front of it with the end-of-the-month bills. The house payment. Electricity, water, internet. The phone rings. People want to help and it blesses me and I hope they understand if I don’t always answer.

Unavailable is okay, I’m learning. Instead, I turn off the phone, put down the bills, and pick up my Bible. Quiet fills me.

The peace of God’s presence rushes in like water through an opened valve and I lean as if against Him, to the left, toward the warmth of the fire.

For He is there, with me, in the circle of the wagons.

 

Be still, and know that I am God. –Psalm 46:10

The $5 Bill

I spotted the bill on the carpeted hospital hallway as I rounded the corner from the rehab unit where I’d been sitting with a loved one.

Folded twice, it looked like mine.

Instinctively, I reached into my left pocket and felt the few ones and fives I carried rather than fidget with a purse at the hospital café.

Earlier that morning, I’d pulled out a $5 bill for the drive-through carwash. But the line was too long, so I stuck the money back in my pocket. Had I later tugged it out with a restless hand?

What if the $5 belonged to someone else who walked this hall as often as I? Someone who needed it more. What if finding it was a test—by God or security cameras?

Part of me felt it would be poor stewardship of my money to leave it there.

And part of me felt like a thief as I picked up the bill and shoved it in with my double-folded wad on my way to the elevator. Surely God would forgive me if it wasn’t mine.

An hour later as I pulled out of the Walmart store parking lot, I waited for traffic at the main exit where a young man stood holding a cardboard sign: “Iraqi war veteran. Anything will help.”

I didn’t have to fumble with my purse and wallet because the $5 bill slipped easily from my pocket. I rolled down the passenger window and held it out.

“Thank you,” he said. “God bless you.”

Then I turned left onto the road for home.

It didn’t matter if the man was pulling a fast one on soft-hearted shoppers.

It didn’t matter if the man went home to a nice apartment and a girlfriend with a job.

It didn’t matter what he spent the money on. That was between him and God in the same way my act was between God and me.

What mattered was that the $5 bill on the hospital floor made its way to his hand.

 

 

“Give and it shall be given to you …” –Jesus

Dying can be easy…

… especially for the believer who knows his God awaits him.

Death of the human body, of a dream, of a goal—not necessarily painless, but easy if one lets go in faith. The death is not an end, but the beginning of a new life, a new dream, a new goal. A new direction that perhaps we didn’t see before.

But what if death does not come? What if transition tarries, and it’s hard, really hard? Then what? Do we believe God is with us still, in the rehab ward where progress is measured in centimeters? In the cold dark desert where ideas once flourished and only partial thoughts remain? In the bleak job market where no one seems to want our skills?

Will we take God at His word and believe that He is with us even there?

The dilemma is centuries old. We can choose to be Job or we can choose to be his wife.

Perhaps the road God asks us to walk is one of faithfulness in spite of pain, frustration, or defeat.

Are we called to support and encourage yet see no measurable improvement? Then encourage we must.

Are we called to pray yet see no answers to our prayers? Then pray we must.

Are we called to sing, yet no one is around to hear our songs? Then sing we must.

Christ is with us in the hard way. His presence abides. It is a matter of trust and when we lean into him through the fog that dims our sight, we feel His warmth, His strength.

He is there. He is faithful.

It is a lesson we learn in the living.

 

“I will never leave you nor forsake you.” –Jesus

Expectation or Expectancy?

I’m learning the difference between expectation and expectancy.

Expectation weights my foot on the gas pedal because I need to arrive at an appointed time.

Expectancy allows me to enjoy the ride, respond to careless drivers without elevating my blood pressure or hand, and consider the view.

Expectation calls for a predetermined desire/event/goal, and can, therefore, spawn disappointment.

 

Expectancy eagerly anticipates what lies ahead.

When God reveals Himself to us, expectancy often follows: “What will He do?” Expectancy allows us to stand in awe of His grace and power and love. Expectancy acknowledges that He is sovereign.

Expectation stamps its foot and demands that God do things our way.

We walk by faith, not by sight. Do you sense the expectancy in that statement?

New Year’s resolutions take on a different flavor when I look toward tomorrow in expectancy.

What might God have in store for me?

What might He have for you?

First day after Christmas we wrecked our car

Not exactly the plan. No, I take that back. Not at all the plan, not even a little bit.

Who wants to ride a spinning teacup across a snowy road only to slam into a highway sign?

Sometimes things don’t go as planned. I’m sure Mary didn’t plan to give birth in a barn, but she made do with what she had.

Our Christmas overnight get-away this year was a long-anticipated break from the norm. Breaking the driver’s side window was a last-minute add-on. So was the road closure that prevented us from taking the usual 50-mile stretch home and forced us into an over-the-mountain detour. But hey, who’s hurrying on icy roads?

 

At Trout Creek Pass, elevation 9,487 feet, my husband pointed out a herd of elk that had to number in the hundreds. “This wouldn’t be so bad if I could roll up the window,” he said.

Humor has seen us through hard times before, and on that Dec. 26 return trip home, it got us through a four-hour drive in 10- to 18-degree weather without a window.

Did you know that if it’s snowing and your windowless car is not moving, it snows in the car?

No, things didn’t work out the way we planned that day. We hadn’t planned to see a Rocky Mountain big horn sheep stroll across the road in front of us, or spot a majestic bald eagle surveying the area from atop a bare cottonwood tree, or marvel at an elk herd blanketing a high mountain valley. We hadn’t planned to drive across a snowy plain near a rise of steam from a subterranean hot springs or witness the severe contrast of piercing blue sky against blinding white.

But we made it home safely with a tale to tell … and maybe even a great scene to write into my next book.

What adventures did you have this Christmas that were unexpected?

 

In his heart a man plans his course,

but the Lord determines his steps.

Proverbs 16:9