Davalynn Spencer's Blog, page 59

Ever feel different?

Ever feel like a misfit? Like you don’t measure up or conform enough? Like you’re just too different?

Author Karla Akins knows the feeling but is encouraged by other nonconformists in the Bible. She says:

Now that I’m a grandmother (okay – old), I find great comfort in the Bible’s stories of older women used by God.

Let’s consider Elizabeth. In her old age, Elizabeth became pregnant and bore the very one who would baptize our Lord and proclaim His coming.

Imagine the patience and sense of humor it must have taken to raise the child who became known as John the Baptist.

     Zechariah: Where’s John? Doesn’t he know it’s time for dinner?

     Elizabeth:  Oh yes, dear, but he ate too many locusts this afternoon and won’t be joining us.

Never think you’re too old, or odd or unworthy for God to use you. He has a purpose for each one of us. Whether we’re running around wearing camel’s hair coats and eating bugs, or sporting our mismatched grandma socks.

No matter your past, God has a beautiful plan for your future. He is always up to something good.

Karla’s new book The Pastor’s Wife Wears Biker Boots! is about a bunch of women who don’t quite fit in. Pre-order your copy for a side-splitting read filled with laughter, surprises, and God’s good grace.

Ever feel like a misfit?

Ever feel like a misfit? Like you don’t measure up or conform enough? Like you’re just too different?

Author Karla Akins knows the feeling but is encouraged by other nonconformists in the Bible. She says:

Now that I’m a grandmother (okay – old), I find great comfort in the Bible’s stories of older women used by God.

Let’s consider Elizabeth. In her old age, Elizabeth became pregnant and bore the very one who would baptize our Lord and proclaim His coming.

Imagine the patience and sense of humor it must have taken to raise the child who became known as John the Baptist.

     Zechariah: Where’s John? Doesn’t he know it’s time for dinner?

     Elizabeth:  Oh yes, dear, but he ate too many locusts this afternoon and won’t be joining us.

Never think you’re too old, or odd or unworthy for God to use you. He has a purpose for each one of us. Whether we’re running around wearing camel’s hair coats and eating bugs, or sporting our mismatched grandma socks.

No matter your past, God has a beautiful plan for your future. He is always up to something good.

Karla’s new book The Pastor’s Wife Wears Biker Boots! is about a bunch of women who don’t quite fit in. Pre-order your copy for a side-splitting read filled with laughter, surprises, and God’s good grace.

Celebrate by winning a free copy

In celebration of my upcoming release, I’d love to give away an advance copy to someone willing to write a brief review on Amazon or elsewhere between Aug. 6 – 17. The lucky winner will also win a signature “bootmark.” To enter this event, comment here with the name of your favorite cowboy or cowgirl (past or present) and tell me how/why they earned that ranking in your eyes. I’ll choose a winning entry Tuesday July 30 at 8 p.m. MT!

Whose brand do you wear?

Photo by AJ Spencer

 

Unbranded cattle in the early days of ranching were often nabbed by rustlers and burned with the mark of whoever caught them.

Sounds like something that could happen to people with no direction or focus. After all, we do have an enemy that shoots fiery darts.

A long time ago a man named Paul said he bore the “marks of the Lord Jesus.” He could have meant this metaphorically, denoting himself as a slave of Christ, branded by his owner. Or perhaps he was referring to the scars from beatings and stonings he received because of his faith.

But I get the sense that Paul was using those “marks” as cattlemen use a brand—for identification and protection.

“From now on, let no one trouble me,” he wrote. He could have been saying, “No rustlers need bother. I’m branded. See this? It’s the mark of Christ. I belong to Him.”

One quick look to the right hip of the calf pictured above, and area ranchers can see who it belongs to.

Is that how it is with us? Can people cast an eye at our life and see the mark of Jesus?

Whose brand do you wear?

 

It took God six days, takes me longer …

This blog and my website will soon share the same address and a new look, but everything is currently being rounded up. I hope to see you soon. And I hope you’ll like what you find when you check back in. Until then … Blessings!

A Sure-Fire Way to Reach Never-Never Land

Persist. Persevere. Overcome. Don’t give up. Don’t give in. Hang on.

Tired yet?

Just looking at those terms wears me out, yet without struggle there is no victory.

My literary agent, Linda Glaz, understands this principle on a couple of different levels, and today she is sharing her discoveries.

Never too late

I began writing when I was 42 years old. I was published at 62.

Okay, don’t let that discourage you. If anything, understand that any calling you honestly believe in, anything you truly long for, can be yours if you persist in working at it. “Rome wasn’t built in a day.” Truer words were never spoken. So if I wrote six novels by the time I was 48 or so, what did I do for the next 14 years?

I studied the craft. I wrote more. I attended conferences. I met and began to work with the fine critique partners that I still have today. In other words, I stopped thinking my writing was the next best thing to ice cream and made the moves to learn what I should be doing to improve it.

Never too much

When I weighed over 200 pounds, I knew I wouldn’t decide to be a healthier version of myself and BAM! I’d be healthier. I began to eat healthier. I started walking at the track…wait. That’s an understatement. I went to the track and stumbled around one lap, wheezing and coughing halfway through. Thought I was gonna die.

Then the next day, I did one lap in an almost upright position, breathing a hair (and I mean a hair) better. The next day easier…and the next…and the next. A week later, I did two laps, then three, then a whole mile. And I was breathing so much easier I could hardly believe it.

Half a year later, I was a much healthier version—down four sizes and feeling like a million bucks. No more sugary diet, and I didn’t miss it. A couple miles aren’t even a challenge anymore. How did I do it? Perseverance!

Never give up

And writing is the same idea. One step, one lap at a time until the novel’s done. Until you’ve met your critique partners. Until you’ve found your agent. Until you have five books published and a contract for three more.

WOW! When did that happen?

Oh yeah, and somewhere along the line I became a literary agent, hopefully to encourage others to stick it out and make it to the finish line. Hmm, could it be that God helped me become a better agent by allowing me to make all the mistakes?

Never say die

If you are a writer, truly a writer, you will have to write as surely as you have to breathe, because only then can you claim the title. Writing is a gift, one to be shared, and the only way to share it is to persevere, cross the finish line. Keep doing laps until you’re jogging/walking as many miles a day as you choose with each breath as fresh as the one before.

Perseverance! The only answer to all your questions.

Check out Linda’s latest title:

Abby’s all grown up. She just needs Will to notice.

When WWII soldier Will Judge brings home an orphan boy from Europe, it turns his world upside down.His fiancée might be ready to marry him, but not to mother a war orphan. As Will struggles to figure out his next move, he turns to Abby, his childhood friend.

Since they were teenagers, Abby Richardson’s feelings for Will have always been more than friendly. Once she was willing to be his pen pal and his confidante, listening as he poured out his heart. But now Abby wants so much more: to be part of Will’s ready-made family. What will it take to open Will’s eyes—and his heart?

Can God Forget?

In light of Memorial Day, my last blog post referenced several biblical comments on remembering—how important it is, how honoring, even humbling. But during the research for that post, I also noticed God’s forgetfulness.

God forgetful?

Yes, He is forgetful. By choice.

The Old Testament prophet Jeremiah says the Lord “will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more” (31:34b).

Another prophet speaks of God’s forgiveness when he says, “You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea” (Micah 7:19).

And in Psalm 103:12 we read that God has removed our sins from us as far as the east is from the west.

I’m sure glad He didn’t choose a northerly or southerly direction.

Look at a globe. Choose a starting point with your finger and move it around the globe heading east. Or west. Either will do.

If you’re moving east, do you ever run into west? If you’re moving west, do you ever run into east?

Now try the same thing starting at the top or north point of the globe and move your finger down. Eventually, you will hit “south.” If you keep going, your direction will change and you’ll run into “north.”

South and north meet. They turn back on each other again and again even though you keep moving straight ahead. But east and west never meet.

Thanks to Jesus, when God chooses to forget our sins, it’s a done deal.

One Way to Remember

Remembering: It’s a worthy act when we stop to partake with grace. When we remember those before us who cleared the road ahead or laid the foundations or laid down their lives.

Out of curiosity I looked up the word remember in a Bible reference and found a varied list:

Remember the Sabbath day …

Remember that you were slaves …

Remember, O Lord, your great mercy …

Remember your creator …

Remember the poor …

Remember my chains …

Do this in remembrance of Me …

“I will remember my covenant

between me and you and

all living creatures of every kind.”

Gen. 9:15

Many have died to obtain our freedoms, and we pause and think of them this Memorial Day. May we impart the grace of gratitude as we take time to say,

“I thank my God every time I remember you.” Phil. 1:3

Show Don’t Tell

How do these Canada goslings know what to do? Are mom and dad standing on the log squawking out orders like the famous insurance mascot duck?

Of course not.

Those furry little balls are simply doing what they see the grownups doing. The elders are showing, not telling—a feat which embodies the standing mantra in the writer’s world:

“Show Don’t Tell.”

The first time I heard this I didn’t understand. How can a writer show without telling since words are all he has?

Here’s an example. Which sentence shows?

1. She was so angry she could have choked him.

2. She squeezed her fingers around the arms of the chair instead of his throat.

Number 2 is the correct answer because a picture is worth a thousand words.

Show me the money.

Practice what you preach.

People evidently prefer show over tell or these clichés would not be cliché.

Last week a guest speaker at our church picked up on the writer’s catch phrase and proved that it’s nothing new.

“Show them, don’t just tell them,” he said of sharing our faith with others.

A couple thousand years ago a man named James pressed a similar point when he said, “I will show you my faith by my works.”

And roughly a thousand years later, a Franciscan monk put it even more succinctly:

“Preach the Gospel always. If necessary, use words.”

—St. Francis of Assisi

Let’s work on our “show don’t tell.” How well are we showing others what we believe?

Who is Your Enabler?

A woman from church recently encouraged me that God had equipped me to accomplish certain tasks that lie ahead.

Her words were “apples of gold in settings of silver” – exactly what I needed to hear.

I munched on that golden apple, relishing the taste of knowing God had prepared me. I thanked Him for enabling me.

Social norms immediately swept through my mind, denouncing my use of the term enabling, but I resisted the taint now associated with the word.

Merriam-Webster lists the following definition for Enable: 1 a: to provide with the means or opportunity … b: to make possible, practical, or easy … c: to cause to operate … 2: to give legal power, capacity, or sanction to

The next entry in the MW dictionary adds an r to the end of enable and the word becomes enabler, the less-than-flattering term that today bears a load of negative connotations.

Again, I resisted. God enables us but not in a passively harmful way. He empowers us, strengthens us, gives us what we need to serve Him and grow in faith.

One morning soon after, my devotional reading took me to John 6 and the account of people deserting Jesus because of something He said. He explained to His disciples that He knew even some of them didn’t really believe.

“This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless the Father has enabled him” John 6:65 NIV).

Though surprised to see the word enable, I was thrilled to find it. Vindicated somehow.

Of course God enables us. How else would we have strength for anything?

The choice is ours, the power is His.

Phil. 2:13 NIV