Ears that Hear by Marcia Lee Laycock

 Ears that Hear by Marcia Lee Laycock

                                                    Photo by Mohamed Nohassi on Unsplash

I watched an interesting movie some time ago, called August Rush. It’s a story about an orphaned boy who is a musical prodigy. He believes that if he follows the music he hears all around him it will lead him to his parents. As he realizes he can make music, he believes that his parents will hear it and they’ll find him. So he sets out to follow the music he hears and to use the gift he was given. He wanders the streets of the city and is taken in, (in more ways than one), by a street musician (Robin Williams) who sees the boy as a ticket to fortune.

After watching the DVD we clicked on some of the deleted scenes. One in particular struck me. Robin Williams, the street musician who is exploiting the boy’s talent, cries out in anguish as he admits, “I can’t hear it – the music – I can’t hear it anymore. But you can – so play! Play!

The scene moved me because I believe we have all, to one degree or another, lost the ability to hear, the ability to see, the ability to feel in the way God intends. I believe the premise of the movie is right – if we hear, see and feel what God has put before us, and use our gift to express it, it will lead us to where we are supposed to be. But the corruption of the world has robbed us of the ability. Our own corruption prevents it.

The good news is that it can be redeemed. We can come alive again through the power of Jesus Christ and the indwelling of His Spirit. We can learn to hear His voice in the very air around us, to see His face in the creation He has given us, and to feel with compassion and grace as He created us to do. And we can continually find ways to express it by honing our talent and skill.

As writers who are Christian I believe this is essential. And it’s something we have to work at. The corruption around us and even in us will do its worst to prevent that connection with God that will lead us to Him. It will prevent us from hearing the Holy Spirit and using the gift He gave us, the gift that will lead those who need to hear our words, to us and to our work.

The good news is that God always wins. His purposes will be fulfilled and He will be glorified. As we listen to His voice, feel His Spirit rise within us and see his glory in the world around us, and express it in our work, His purposes for our lives will be fulfilled. We will be fulfilled in the truest sense of the word.

The street musician in that movie was a tragic character – one who has lost what he was given, through his own sin and the sin of those around him. May we guard our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. May we all have ears to hear and eyes to see.

"You will be ever hearing but never understanding; you will be ever seeing but never perceiving. For this people's heart has become calloused; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes... but blessed are your eyes because they see and your ears because they hear." (Matthew 13:14-16, NIV).

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 To read more of my work visit my Website

 

Small Step, Big Leap

Our prompt this month asks writers: What “small step” in your writing life turned out to be a giant leap?

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I stared at my computer’s monitor for some time, my heart racing just a bit. I’d been following the blog Novel Journey.com for a couple of years, enjoying the posts about writing, interviews, industry news and the weekly Sunday devotional. It was a highly respected blog, on the list of Writers’ Digest’s best blogs for writers. From time to time I’d left comments and was impressed with  the founders, Gina Holmes and Ane Mulligan. They were always willing to engage and I felt as though I knew them. 

So when this post went up it made me sad but excited at the same time. Their regular devotional columnist had to step down. They asked everyone to pray for a replacement.

Though I’d been writing devotionals for a few years, and published a book that was selling well, I was hesitant to approach these professionals about writing for them. All kinds of reasons why I shouldn’t bother flitted through my head: they would likely have a flood of writers apply who were more qualified; I’d never written devotionals specifically for writers before – could I really do it every week? I almost closed the page but something kept my hand from hitting the close button. My last thought was: what could it hurt? If they say no, they say no.

I popped off a short note and attached a few samples of my work. Gina responded quite quickly. “You’re an answer to prayer! Can you start right away?”

I gulped and said yes. That small step has led to several years of writing for the blog, now called Novel Rocket. The discipline of writing to the deadline every week was invaluable and I’ve discovered mentioning that I write for the blog is regarded as a bit of a feather in my cap by industry pros. from the US. And the responses from readers has been greatly encouraging.

I was also greatly encouraged when Gina and Ane asked me to step back in after a brief time away when I was going through treatments for cancer. “Our readers miss you,” they said. I agreed to post every second Sunday and have loved getting to know other devotional writers who have shared the load with me over the past few years.

Yes, it was a small step, to approach Gina and Ane and offer my services, but it has led to open doors I did not expect as well as the gratification that writing always brings. It has also led to another book: Abundant Rain – a devotional journal for writers of faith.

It never ceases to amaze me how God can take our small steps and turn them into giant leaps. All to His glory.

"Who dares despise the day of small things..." (Zechariah 4:10)

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Marcia Lee Laycock writes from central Alberta Canada where she is a pastor's wife and mother of three adult daughters. She was the winner of The Best New Canadian Christian Author Award for her novel, One Smooth Stone. The sequel, A Tumbled Stone was short listed in The Word Awards. Marcia also has two devotional books in print and has contributed to several anthologies. Her work has been endorsed by Sigmund Brouwer, Janette Oke, Phil Callaway and Mark Buchanan.

Abundant Rain, a devotional for writers can be downloaded on Smashwords or on Amazon. It is also now available in Journal format on Amazon. 

Her most recent release is a devotional book for travelers:     A Traveler's Advisory

Visit Marcia’s Website

Sign up to receive her devotional column, The Spur

Creative Outlets I’ve Known and Loved by Marcia Lee Laycock

Dad in Chair

“You have a challenge before you.”

The drawing instructor grinned. “Oh? What’s that?”

“Me.” I said. “I don’t do mornings. (The drawing class started at 8:00 a.m.) “And I couldn’t draw a decent stick figure to save my life.”

The instructor laughed. “I’ll have you drawing well enough by Christmas.”

I doubted it, but as the weeks went by it began to happen. I not only learned to draw, I learned to love drawing. I found it relaxing in a meditative way and was continually amazed at what you see when you have to focus on something enough to replicate it.

That form of creativity has been put on the back burner many times in my life as I’ve concentrated on writing, but every now and then I pull out a sketch pad, sit down and draw. I’ve also done some water colour painting and have taken a couple of courses in the past.

I’ll never be a great artist but the exercise is one I find relaxing and fulfilling. I’ve tried many other art forms over the years. When my husband and I decided to leave the Yukon after twelve years, we sold almost everything we owned, including the log home we’d built ourselves. We had a massive yard sale and I pulled out all the left-overs from my dabblings in stained glass, silk screening, pottery, weaving and spinning. One woman who was pawing through it all asked if there was anything I hadn’t done. I was sure there must be something, but I couldn’t come up with an answer.

All were fun in their own way but none stood the test of time.

One thing I have learned about any creative endeavour – they all take work. It takes time and effort to develop the skills necessary to do any creative work well. Perhaps that’s what draws the line between a hobby and a life’s passion – the willingness to work at it.

When we moved to Alberta after Bible College I made a decision to focus on the writing. It had always been my first love and now that I was a believer in Jesus Christ it had a new and exciting focus. As God opened the doors and showed me what He wanted me to do I felt a new and exciting sense that I had finally found the creative outlet I was meant to pursue with all my heart and energy.

But now and then I do pick up a sketch pad and my water colours. Just for the fun.

By the way, the piece above is a collaborative effort with my daughter. Laura took the drawing I had done of my dad sleeping in his chair and made it into a painting.

Marcia Lee Laycock writes from central Alberta Canada where she is a pastor's wife and mother of three adult daughters. She was the winner of The Best New Canadian Christian Author Award for her novel, One Smooth Stone. The sequel, A Tumbled Stone was short listed in The Word Awards. Marcia also has two devotional books in print and has contributed to several anthologies. Her work has been endorsed by Sigmund Brouwer, Janette Oke, Phil Callaway and Mark Buchanan.

Abundant Rain, an ebook devotional for writers can be downloaded on Smashwords or on Amazon. It is also now available in Journal format on Amazon.

Marcia's most recent release is A Traveler's Advisory, Stories of God's Grace Along the Way.

Visit Marcia’s Website
Sign up to receive her devotional column The Spur

A Pivotal Moment On My Writing Path by Marcia Lee Laycock

“I’ll pay your way if you’ll go with me,” my friend Linda said. 

I sighed but nodded. “Okay, if you really want me to go that badly.”

“I think God wants you to go that badly,” she said.

My husband was about to graduate from Bible college and our funds were limited so when Linda asked me to go to a seminar called Speak Up with Confidence, being done by Carol Kent, I was reluctant. I’ll never be a public speaker, I thought, and I had a lot of packing to do to get ready for our move to Alberta in a few weeks. But my friend really wanted to go and insisted God wanted me to go with her. In the end I gave in.

Carol Kent was engaging and as she spoke about speaking she gave a lot of good tips about writing. I don’t remember the exact moment when it happened but at some point during that seminar I realized that I could now write as a believer in Christ. 

I had always written, from the time I was very young, but I had never shown anyone any of my work, other than assignments I’d done for teachers in high school and university. Although I’d been praised for that work, I did not believe that it was of any value. Since becoming a believer I had put the writing on hold. The work I had been doing no longer interested me and I had thought that part of my life was gone forever. 

But I left that seminar with a clear path to a new and exciting call to ministry, through writing. 

It wasn’t long before we arrived in the town where my husband would take on his first church. When he met with the previous pastor he told my husband one of the many things he was now responsible for was a weekly column in the local newspaper. My husband was already quite overwhelmed with all that he had to do so he asked me if I could write something for the paper. 

I felt God swinging the door wide open and I was more than delighted to walk through it. That was the beginning of almost twenty years of writing my faith column, The Spur (taken from Hebrews 10:24). The column eventually morphed into a devotional book, The Spur of the Moment, which is now in third printing. I have been stunned at what God has done with that small effort, stunned at the responses of readers from all over the world as well as the streets of my own home town. 

Then the requests to speak started to come in and another branch of my ministry blossomed. Who knew? 

Obviously God did. And all because a friend obeyed His nudge and offered to pay my way to a seminar for which I thought I neither had the time nor the finances.

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Marcia Lee Laycock writes from central Alberta Canada where she lives with her pastor/husband and two golden retrievers. She is a long-time member and past president of InScribe.

Marcia will deliver the keynote address at Spring WorDshop in Blackfalds Ab. on April 23rd. (click Events on the InScribe website)

Marcia has published two contemporary novels, four devotional books and numerous articles and devotionals both online and in print. Her work is available on Amazon

When it All Seems Wrong by Marcia Lee Laycock

Jumbled Letters

“It has to be here somewhere,” my husband’s voice was annoyingly calm.

“But the road ends right here!” My voice was not.

“Are you sure you have the address right?”

I sighed and dug out my cell phone to find the website and address for the courier again. I groaned when it finally came up. The number was 7476 not 4767. I opened my GPS app. and typed in the correct address. My husband chuckled as it directed us to the right spot.

I always have been a bit dyslexic when it comes to numbers but I couldn’t believe I had gotten the address so wrong. Not just one number out of place, but all of them! I sighed with frustration.

I remember having that same feeling one day when I was editing my first novel. I had put it away for a while, after writing The End, but now it was time to take a close critical look at it. I marked it up with my own unique editing notations and when I reached that last page I sighed with frustration. Many scenes seemed out of order. In fact, it seemed all wrong. I was tempted to just hit the delete button and start again, but there were segments I liked, characters that worked and scenes that had a good emotional punch. If I could just figure out where to put them! It took a while but the hard work of rearranging was worth it in the end. The novel won me the Best New Canadian Christian Author Award and I have had some wonderful responses from readers. In the end, I was glad I hadn’t hit that delete button.

Sometimes life seems like that doesn’t it? Sometimes we look at what’s going on around us, in our world, in our country, in our own local area and even in our own family, and it seems like it’s all mixed up – it’s all wrong. Sometimes we’d like to just hit some kind of delete button and start over. But then we see those shining moments when things do work, when the goodness and kindness of humanity prevail, or when right conquers wrong in a stunningly powerful way. We realize our world, our country, our city, our family and our work is worth the effort.

And then there are those wonderful promises in God’s word: “In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world (John 16:33). And this one: The Lord himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged (Deuteronomy 31:8).

2016 will no doubt have many challenges and perhaps even trials in store that will stretch us all in many ways. There will be times when it will seem that everything, including our writing, is all wrong.

But as we head into a new year it is good to remember that “Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness (Lamentations 3:22,23).

May He bless you and your writing mightily in 2016!
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Marcia Lee Laycock writes from central Alberta Canada where she is a pastor's wife and mother of three adult daughters. She was the winner of The Best New Canadian Christian Author Award for her novel, One Smooth Stone. The sequel, A Tumbled Stone was short listed in The Word Awards. Marcia also has two devotional books in print and has contributed to several anthologies. Her work has been endorsed by Sigmund Brouwer, Janette Oke, Phil Callaway and Mark Buchanan.

Abundant Rain, an ebook devotional for writers can be downloaded on Smashwords or on Amazon. 

It is also now available in Journal format on Amazon. Here's a review by Tandy Balson:

"In Abundant Rain, author Marcia Laycock has given writers of faith a tool to challenge and inspire. The devotional journal has stories from the author’s life, each one ending with the lessons she learned from them. I found myself applying these lessons to my life and my writing as I was still reading them. This journal is a valuable resource that will help us dig deeper into our calling as writers."

 

Her most recent release is A Traveler’s Advisory, Stories of God’s Grace Along the Way. 

Here's a review by Ane Mulligan -
"Marcia Laycock has an inspired ability to deliver devotions that pierce the heart with a message from God. A Travelers Advisory is a unique devotion book, filled with everyday occurrences from travel, and each reached home in my heart."

Visit Marcia’s Website

Sign up to receive her devotional column, The Spur