Davalynn Spencer's Blog, page 7

April 28, 2024

What if?

By Davalynn Spencer @davalynnspencer

This two-word query is one of the most important questions a novelist asks while writing a book. Various answers propel characters into riveting plot twists or brain-throbbing conflicts.

But for those seeking to live faith-led lives of obedience in the real world, “What if?” can be the most derailing question of all.

How often do we ask, “What if?” when God tells us to do something? Because—let’s be honest—He’s asked His people to do some challenging things.

Like march around a walled city for seven days blowing trumpets.

Or feed a crowd of thousands with a kid’s sack lunch.

Or invite a neighbor to church.

Sometimes God asks us to be unlike everyone else because He wants to lead us on a different trail, often referred to as a path of righteousness.

But instead of stepping out in obedience, we start asking “What if?”


What if it doesn’t work?


What if my timing is off?


What if people won’t like me?


These worry-inducing questions can stop us in our tracks.

When it comes to walking the right path, it helps to remember that we’re not alone. The same God who said, “Let there be light,” is lighting our way.

Peace rushes in when I do what God whispers in my heart.

It’s just a two-step process, like the old song my parents used to sing, “Trust and Obey.” 

It may not be easy, but it really is that simple.

What if we just do what He says?

He renews my strength.
He guides me along right paths,
bringing honor to his name.
Psalm 23:3

~

ALT=By the time they rode down Main Street, Mary’s head hurt from trying to smell the past. Hugh pulled up in front of the Denver and Rio Grande train station, set the brake, and came around to help her. Secretly relieved, she arched her toes to keep the shoes on as she climbed down, using his hand for support.

When she landed successfully, he didn’t let go and enfolded her hand in both of his. “Remember.” His voice dropped to an intimate level. “Not a word to your brother about what I told you.”

She resisted her instinctive reaction to his husky tone and tried to look away, but neither would he release her gaze.

“Promise.” He held on.

“I promise. But why?”

“Trust me.” A quick squeeze of her fingers.

Could she? Could she trust this big, not-always-so-brazen cowboy with her future? Her inheritance? Her heart? ~Hope Is Built

Inspirational  Western Romance – where the hero is heroic.

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Published on April 28, 2024 14:37

April 21, 2024

Work Together

By Davalynn Spencer @davalynnspencer

In a scene from one of my Western romance novels, the heroine struggles with memories of her Christian mother’s favorite counsel: “All things work together for good.”

She struggles because things are not going well. Bad things have happened. A lot of bad things, and the scripture-turned-platitude chaffs my heroine’s sense of fairness.

Certain external conflicts and setbacks are beyond her control. Her less-than-perfect life has landed her in a stranger’s home where she is trying to do her best. At one particular moment of helplessness and frustration, she does the only constructive thing she can think of: she decides to make a cake.

Flour dust taints the air as she sifts the proper amount into a bowl. A person could choke on flour—a tasteless death for sure.

Then she adds Baker’s chocolate, a dark and bitter ingredient.

Next comes sugar—everyone’s favorite but sickening in great quantities.

Eggs follow, not exactly tasty in their raw condition.

None of the ingredients she adds to her mixing bowl are appetizing on their own, but when worked together, they combine to create a chocolate cake—something very good indeed.

As she pours the batter into a baking pan, she sees how her efforts reflect what God does in her own life. He takes the bad—the less-than-perfect things—and works them together into something good for her. Because she loves Him.

Because He is good.

If God can make light and earth and sky from nothing, and man—made in His image—from dirt, imagine what He can do with our difficult circumstances and challenging situations. Our wrecked lives.

Imagine what He can do with our surrendered hearts.

And we know that all things
work together for good
to those who love God,
to those who are the called
according to His purpose.
Romans 8:28
~

Together for good
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The kitchen window framed a perfect view of the neglected garden. Had Cade’s heart been left in similar condition after losing his mother, sister, and the—well, the woman Willa had mentioned?

An idea sparked in Mae Ann’s breast. A tiny flare that hinted at purpose. Could God use her to break through Cade’s wintered soil and stir life there again? Perhaps that was why she was here and not with—

No. God had not taken Henry’s life. She had to believe that.

As soft as the parson’s blessing had whispered earlier that morning, 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.

She did love God, but did she love Him enough? He’d allowed her mother to die penniless and abandoned by Mae Ann’s father, though the dear woman had insisted God was working all things together.

And He’d allowed Henry to be gunned down in cold blood—an act she would never understand. How did God plan to work that together?

Her fingers ached, and she looked down to see them clenched and white at the knuckles. Taking up her apron, she tied it on, then wiped the eggs clean and gathered other ingredients for the cake. ~An Improper Proposal

Inspirational  Western Romance – where the hero is heroic.

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Published on April 21, 2024 14:31

April 14, 2024

What Is Your Foundation?

By Davalynn Spencer @davalynnspencer

Wind and water have two-sided natures. When used in creative writing, wind whispers as a cooling breeze or roars like a tornado. Water sings in a trickling stream or crashes through canyons as a flood.

Winds along Colorado’s Front Range flutter through golden aspen leaves or pummel with shuddering gusts that send lawn chairs, trash cans, and fences flying.

Rain sprinkles the earth, watering wild grasses and flowers, or it falls in torrents that wash out roads and force landslides of mud and car-sized boulders.

Life often pounds us like the extremes of wind and rain—not just physically, but spiritually and emotionally as well. Jesus knew this and He told us how to withstand the onslaught. He said if we’d put His words into practice, we’d survive the storms the same way a sturdy house built on a rock survives the wind and rain.

It’s all about foundation.

This picture of a gnarled tree was taken atop an exposed hill. Wind and rain have twisted the tree into its unique shape. But the tree hasn’t washed away or blown off the hilltop because its roots are imbedded in the rock.

This image reminds me that if I’m rooted and anchored in Him, the Rock of my Salvation, together we can weather anything.

Anything.

What are you rooted in?

Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine
and puts them into practice is like a wise man
who built his house on the rock.
The rain came down, the streams rose,
and the winds blew and beat against that house;
yet it did not fall, because it had its
foundation on the rock.
Matthew 7:24-25

~

What is your foundation?
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ALT= An Improper Proposal

Light exploded ahead of them, and the horse reared. Cade tore off his sling and fought to keep the mare in hand. Again lightning speared the road and thunder slammed through the wagon seat and into Mae Ann’s bones. She caught a glimpse of Cade’s corded neck, his clenched jaw, and linked an arm around the bench back to keep her seat.

Lightning ripped across the cloud canopy, illuminating the scene and opening heaven’s stores. The mare bolted.

Cade stood with one boot braced against the buckboard, leaning back, the reins wrapped around both hands and every rock-hard muscle in his arms and legs bulging against his drenched clothes.

Mae Ann had learned what a summer storm could do. Rain-gorged creeks became raging rivers, and if Cade didn’t stop the wagon before they reached the upper crossing of Olin Creek, they might not make it across without being swept away.

“Oh, Lord, we need your help.” The slashing rain and wind tore the words from her lips. She thought of Jesus stilling the tempest, and pleaded for Him to calm their storm and give Cade the strength he needed. ~An Improper Proposal

Inspirational  Western Romance – where the hero is heroic.

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Published on April 14, 2024 14:39

April 7, 2024

The Heavens Declare the Glory of God

By Davalynn Spencer @davalynnspencer

Most people in the U.S. are aware of the total solar eclipse occurring in North America on April 8, 2024.

NASA Eclipse Explorer website states: “The total solar eclipse will be visible along a narrow track stretching from Texas to Maine on April 8, 2024. A partial eclipse will be visible throughout all 48 contiguous U.S. states.”   

According to an excellent article about the event, several U.S. counties and principalities have declared a state of emergency in order to handle the influx of visitors anticipated in total blackout areas.

Additional explanation and spiritual application can also be found in this informative article and video that follows. 

Our God is indeed a God of wonders, and He uses creation to reveal Himself and get our attention.

David, the great singer of songs, wrote in Psalm 19:1, “The heavens declare the glory of God. The skies display His craftsmanship.”

That should be a comforting reminder that Creator God is in control. He knows what is happening and what will happen, and He loves His people beyond their comprehension. 

So what should we do as we await this amazing celestial event?

Let’s ask ourselves:


What is the light in my life?


What eclipses the light in my life?


Can pain, discouragement, or fear?


If you haven’t yet, let Jesus be your light. Nothing will eclipse Him.

Jesus spoke to the people once more and said,
“I am the light of the world.
If you follow me, you won’t have to walk in darkness,
because you will have the light that leads to life.”
John 8:12

~

The heavens declare the glory of God.
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Published on April 07, 2024 14:23

March 31, 2024

A Quiet Miracle

By Davalynn Spencer @davalynnspencer

I imagine Jesus’ resurrection from the garden tomb was a quiet miracle—aside from the earthquake and fainting guards that Matthew records in his gospel.

The other three Gospel writers—Mark, Luke, and John—tell us, like Matthew, that women arrived early at the site to care for the body but found the tomb empty. However, no trumpets.

All four Gospels also mention angels, but no Hallelujah Chorus.

In none of the accounts is there fanfare.

No slides or video presentations.

Not even a heavenly choir singing, “Glory to God in the Highest!”

Jesus simply rose.

His other life-giving miracles were also quiet.

The water became wine.

The blind man saw.

The bleeding stopped.

Jesus never spread His arms and shouted, “Ta-da!”

But He did spread His arms and say, “It is finished.”

There is a message for me here regarding the way I live my life. Am I ever quiet enough to let His voice be heard, still enough to sense His touch, attentive enough to see Him move in someone else’s life?

His quiet miracles continue because He rose from the dead.

And that is the quiet miracle upon which I base my life.

They will flog Him with a whip and kill him,
but on the third day He will rise again.
Luke 18:33

~

A quiet miracle.
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ALT= Always Before Me – 90 Story Devotions for Women

On Sundays I felt self-conscious about raising my hand during worship—a common practice for many who attended our church. What if someone turned and looked at that imperfect hand? How could I lift it up to a perfect God? I was embarrassed.

And then one Sunday morning the worship music touched my heart so deeply that I had to raise my hand. I suddenly felt bare, exposed, as if I were lifting my whole imperfect, scarred life to God. Would He accept me?

In that moment I sensed Him reaching down to me through the scarred hands of Jesus. It was as if He were revealing His own wounds, opening His hands to me, unhesitatingly, unembarrassed. I realized that I was not the only one who had scars in her hands. Nor was I the only one with scars on her heart. Isn’t that all we really have to offer God anyway—our torn, ruined lives? ~Always Before Me

 

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Published on March 31, 2024 14:17

March 24, 2024

Hosanna!

By Davalynn Spencer @davalynnspencer

The mob can turn.

One day you’re the favorite, the next day you’re not.

It happened a couple thousand years ago as Jerusalem was getting ready for a big event called Passover.

Everyone was busy preparing, anticipating, and rushing around when a man rode into the city on a donkey. Not all that unusual, but the actions of the people with him were.

They spread their cloaks on the road for the donkey to walk on, waved palm branches in the air, and shouted “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD! Hosanna in the highest!” 

Hosanna means “send help from on high.”

This guy was trending.

The people had Messiah in mind—the one who would rescue them from oppression.

They didn’t know He was the sacrificial “lamb of God” who had come to rescue them from their sins, not wage war against Rome.

Four days later, the crowd called for His crucifixion.

They demanded it. Screamed for it.

Got it.

He wasn’t what they had expected. He didn’t fit in their idea box.

They didn’t know He was indeed the help they needed from on high, for who but God could snatch mankind from the jaws of judgement and death?

To be continued …

Because God’s children are human beings
—made of flesh and blood—
the Son also became flesh and blood.
For only as a human being could he die,
and only by dying could he break the
power of the devil,
who had the power of death.
Only in this way could he set free all
who have lived their lives as slaves to
the fear of dying.
Hebrews 2:14-15

The mob can turn.
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Published on March 24, 2024 16:19

March 17, 2024

All Things New

By Davalynn Spencer @davalynnspencer

As spring approaches, I’m inclined to envy the vibrant, living metaphors of renewal sprouting in the bulb garden and singing from the trees.

Oh for a fresh start, a do-over, new growth. Is it possible? Can we rejuvenate like the flowers and trees in our yards?

I believe the answer is yes.

This is the season for new beginnings, a perfect time to take stock of our lives and lay out a plan of resolution.

Spring is our annual reminder that life really does go on. It’s another chance to hear God say, “It’s not too late.”

Forget about New Year’s resolutions and start a Spring Supplement, listing physical, spiritual, and relational areas in which you’d like to see growth.Set aside a new time of day—morning, afternoon, or evening—and spend a few quiet moments alone with the Lord. A new time may result in a new perspective.Put feet on your focus. Get moving physically with a new walking route, a new exercise routine, or a new exercise partner. Music can be an inspiring companion.

Spring is a great time to rediscover God’s promises of revival and redemption. Here are three to get you started:


“Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.” Isaiah 43:18-19 


“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!” 2 Corinthians 5:17 


“‘For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the LORD, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.’” Jeremiah 29:11 


~

“Behold!” said He who sits on the throne.
“I make all things new.”
Revelation 21:5

All things new!
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ALT=Mae Ann left the egg basket in the kitchen and hurried out the back door with a small pail of water and a trowel. As if sensing her intentions, the dog ran ahead of her across the open field toward the small rise.

She marveled at her strength of limb and lung, for she would not have been able to hike so hurriedly when she first arrived. Colorado had been good for her, with its clean air and food for the soul. She had flourished, and she believed the rose cutting would do so as well.

Billowy clouds hung against the sky like freshly washed petticoats, adding to a sense of new beginnings. A small picket framed the matching plots, and she easily stepped over onto revered ground and knelt between the crosses. The bottom of the tree had been limbed, and morning sun slanted in, warming the earth.

She loosened the soil, planted the cutting—potato and all as Travine had directed—and patted the dirt around it. A small thorn snagged her finger, and she jerked her hand away as a red bead formed at the first knuckle. She sucked it between her teeth and with her other hand, pushed the soil into a shallow bowl. She pressed her fingers in as if investing herself in a family she’d almost become a part of. Then she emptied the pail around the cutting and watched the dirt drink it in.

Sitting back on her heels, she drew a deep breath. A breeze soughed through the big pine, and she looked up into its spreading arms, a protective canopy from the ravages of summer’s heat and winter’s blasts. No wonder Cade had picked this spot for his parents’ graves. ~An Improper Proposal

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Published on March 17, 2024 14:05

March 10, 2024

From the Rising of the Sun

By Davalynn Spencer @davalynnspencer

It happened again.

I’m sure you noticed when you had to get up earlier.

Due to Daylight Saving Time, we “lost” an hour of sleep Saturday night so it could be saved.

How are we saving daylight?

Where is it being stored?

Is there a safety deposit box that holds all those lost hours?

State legislatures and the U.S. Senate have tried for several years to get the clock locked, but Congress can’t agree.

An article by the American Academy of Sleep Medicine in the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine suggests the transition to Daylight Saving Time is unhealthy and potentially dangerous due to its negative effects on human biorhythms.

It is the position of the AASM that the U.S. should eliminate seasonal time changes in favor of a national, fixed, year-round time. Current evidence best supports the adoption of year-round standard time, which aligns best with human circadian biology and provides distinct benefits for public health and safety.

What if everyday American citizens decided not to change their clocks and kept everything the way it was? Arizona, Hawaii, and several other nations of the world have done so and they didn’t fall off the map.

Here, on our little farm, the hands of the clock may advance an hour, but our donkey and goats won’t be moved from their daily routine. Birds will wake with the sunrise every morning in spite of what the alarm clock says. They don’t give up an hour in the spring and add one in the fall.

So our human lives are unsettled once again by outside pressures, yet those pressures cannot disrupt the Word of our Lord who set in motion the rising and setting of the sun as earth orbits it. In spite of what schedules and systems appear and disappear over the eons, our God remains unshaken, unmoved.

As the psalmist has said,

But as for me, I trust in You, O Lord; I say, “You are my God.” My times are in Your hands; (Psalm 31:14-15).

Thank God, my times are still in His hands and not the hands of a clock.

~

From the rising of the sun
to the place where it sets,
the name of the LORD
is to be praised.
Psalm 113:3

It happened again.
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ALT=

Cade’s shoulder screamed for relief, but he refused to let go of Mae Ann. The soft warmth of her through her rain-soaked blouse and skirt reminded him again that life was more than cattle and land, rustlers and renegades. Lying in the mud beneath the wagon, he thanked God for bringing her to him. For he was finally convinced that the Lord had done exactly that.

And Cade had almost lost her.

He shuddered at the thought and kissed the top of her head cradled on his throbbing arm. He’d slept in spurts, but now dawn brightened the horizon and birds chirped from the brush as if there had been no storm at all.

Mae Ann pulled away and opened her eyes. She pushed herself up on her elbow and smiled at him, and it warmed him to his very core.

“It’s over.” She crawled out, leaving him profoundly empty.

He rolled out the other side and pulled himself to his feet only to be met by her hand-smothered snort across the wagon bed.

“What?”

She laughed, tried to stop, but laughed harder. “You’re … you’re … covered in mud!”

He cut her a squinted look as he rounded the back of the wagon. She giggled and backed away, playing like a young woman with her suitor. Turning to run, she slipped, but he caught her and lifted her off her feet.

“You’re not exactly spotless yourself, Mrs. Parker.” ~An Improper Proposal

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Published on March 10, 2024 14:03

March 3, 2024

God Sees You

By Davalynn Spencer @davalynnspencer

March is Women’s History Month. Several national sponsors have added their support in “commemorating and encouraging the study, observance, and celebration of the vital role of women in American history.”

It’s an interesting topic, and more can be learned about it at the Women’s History Month website.

Recently, however, I’ve been reading about some lesser-known women who lived long before the United States was founded—interesting biblical women I didn’t learn about in children’s Sunday school.

Most of us have heard of Deborah, Ruth, Esther, and Eve. But what do we know of Asenath, Jehosheba, and Rizpah?

These women don’t have names that have crossed cultural boundaries over the centuries, appearing in English-language baby-name books. But they are worth noting for their contributions.


Asenath became the wife of Joseph after his rise to authority from captivity in Egypt. Historical references argue her origins, but she is known as the daughter of an Egyptian priest and the mother of Joseph’s two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim, who are included in the tribes of ancient Israel (Genesis 41:50).


Rizpah was a grieving mother who watched over the bodies of her slain and unburied sons, driving away scavenger birds and wild animals, and finally prompting the king to bury the men. It’s a lengthy and complex story, but her faithfulness and unwavering determination moved the king’s hand (2 Samuel 21:10).


Jehosheba was an aunt who paid attention to political intrigue in the palace. She spirited away her infant nephew and hid him for six years from those who wished him dead (2 Kings 11:2-3). In the line of kings, he himself became a king at the age of seven and faithfully ruled Judah for forty years.  


What if these women had not stepped into the gap? Had not responded to the need or said the equivalent of “It’s not my problem”? Would history have been altered?

The New Testament also mentions remarkable women like Mary, Elizabeth, and Mary Magdalene. But have we considered Priscilla, Phoebe, Lydia, and Dorcus? Common everyday women who merely did their part caring for their families and others, contributing their talents and skills.

If you are a woman reading this post, don’t feel as if you can’t measure up to the History-Makers highlighted this month. Instead, remember that you have a purpose and God has a plan. Fame and recognition have nothing to do with it. It’s more important than that.

God sees you. And you are His precious daughter.

~

“You are the God who sees me.”
Genesis 16:13

God sees you.
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ALT= An Improper Proposal

Mae Ann left Cade to his chores and returned to the house. The garden had been abandoned because the men had not tended it, the women had, and they were gone—his sister and mother. The kitchen had fared somewhat better because men must eat. But the absence of a woman’s touch was evident in the spare larder and the limp, dusty curtains.

The window framed a perfect view of the neglected patch. Had Cade’s heart been left in similar condition after losing his mother, sister, and the—well, the woman Willa had mentioned?

An idea sparked in Mae Ann’s breast. A tiny flare that hinted at purpose.  Could God use her to break through Cade’s wintered soil and stir life there again? Perhaps that was why she was here and not with—

No. God had not taken Henry’s life. She had to believe that.

As soft as the parson’s blessing had whispered earlier that morning, 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.

She did love God, but did she love Him enough? He’d allowed her mother to die penniless and abandoned by Mae Ann’s father, yet still the dear woman had insisted God was working all things together.

And He’d allowed Henry to be gunned down in cold blood—an act she would never understand. How did God plan to work that together? ~An Improper Proposal

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Published on March 03, 2024 14:06

February 25, 2024

Out of Control

By Davalynn Spencer @davalynnspencer

A small natural disaster created a major inconvenience here a few years ago. On national radar it was a blip. Locally it was a rockslide.

Literally.

Seven thousand tons of rock slipped off the mountain and across U.S. Highway 50 like a broken string of beads. The 20-foot swath closed the two-lane road west of Cañon City for nearly a week. Commuters, tourists, and delivery trucks had to reroute more than 100 miles out of their way.

Twenty feet doesn’t seem like much, roughly the length of a modern living room. But when individual boulders are themselves 20 feet across, there’s no getting around the issue.

Road crews broke, blasted, and drilled the boulders into more manageable pieces before loading them into trucks. Three hundred truck loads later, traffic again flowed along the main artery that courses through Colorado’s Arkansas River canyon.

It doesn’t take much to stop our forward progress: a big rock, downsizing. A disabled refrigerator, a disabling illness. Rumors of war. Death.

How startling to discover that we are not in control after all.

How dare those rocks slide into our path. How dare our boss fire us. How dare we get sick now when we’re so busy.

How dare the carefully threaded beads of my life come tumbling down around my feet and roll away.

And how glad I am – truly – that it’s not all up to me.

Oh, God what would I do without You? Thank You for being bigger than anything that happens in my world and for having my eternal interest at heart. Amen.

I have told you all this
so that you may have peace in me.
Here on earth you will have
many trials and sorrows.
But take heart, because
I have overcome the world.
John 16:33

~

ALT=

This post excerpted from my devotional book,
Always Before Me – 90 Story-Devotions for Women

~

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Published on February 25, 2024 14:19