The Hug that Unlocked My Heart by Steph Beth Nickel

 

A few months ago, still in the thick of COVID restrictions, we helped dear friends move. They have regularly helped us. So, we volunteered without hesitation.

Sandra has had the best parts of 100 surgeries on her leg and several hospital stays. Because of the extreme pain she regularly experiences, we don't get together as often as either of us would like. Even so, I consider her one of my dearest friends.

Let me take you back to our first encounter on the phone. Her family had just begun attending our church. Because she was at a physical low point, she had not yet joined them. I, therefore, didn't know if her hubby was a single dad or if she was a believer. I called to see if her family would be attending the potluck at the church and to ask what they'd be bringing. I didn't feel I was being abrupt, but it came across that way.

Years later, long after we'd become great friends, she admitted that, as a result of our first telephone conversation, she thought I didn't like her. Never underestimate the impact of your interactions with others, especially those first conversations.

I laugh and cringe when I think back on this revelation. I'm so incredibly thankful for God's mercy and grace and the precious friendship that has developed over the last almost 30 years.

Until the pandemic hit, four couples would regularly get together at a restaurant during the Christmas season to enjoy one another's company. I deemed our group the Crazy Eights. Trust me. The staff and other patrons were glad when we had a table off in a quiet corner because it wouldn't be quiet for long. Let's just say, we enjoyed one another's company—a. lot.

I consider these get-togethers among my happiest memories. Even though the restrictions have eased some, for various reasons, I'm not sure we'll all get together anytime soon. 

Another memory stands out in my mind. I spent an hour or so visiting with Sandra when she was in the hospital many years ago. As I was leaving, she matter-of-factly stated, "I love you." I was blown away. Although I'd heard those words countless times over the years, never before had a friend said them so unironically, so naturally, so surprisingly.

This is the kind of friend Sandra has been over the years, despite the fact that she originally thought that I didn't like her. So, you can see why it was a no-brainer to help this precious family relocate—thankfully, not too far away.

Well, as I was standing in her new kitchen, Sandra gave me a hug. Not a shoulder squeeze. A full-fledged hug. 

And that's when it happened ...

The door to a room in my heart that I didn't even know was shut, locked, and barred closed swung WIDE OPEN.

All because of a hug.

Some of you have lost loved ones to COVID, and my heart hurts for you.

Some of you have contracted the virus and are still suffering its long-term effects. May God strengthen you and restore you to full health.

While we may not have been impacted so directly, I believe we've all suffered loss because of COVID-19. 

I wasn't aware how desperately I needed a hug from a friend. It's such a simple act, but one with unimaginable power.

If you're not comfortable hugging or shaking hands at this point, don't underestimate the power of a phone call; an in-person physically distanced visit; or a card popped into the mail.

You may be the one with a hurting heart or you may be instrumental in healing someone else's hurt. Most likely, a simple act of love will unlock both your hearts and fill a void neither of you may have been aware of.

No wonder the Bible says, "A friend loves at all times, and a brother [or sister] is born for adversity" (Proverbs 17:17 ESV).

Extraordinary Directions, Extraordinary Peace by Marcia Lee Laycock

My husband and I, Dawson City Yukon, 1978

As I made our bed, the one my husband had constructed that week as a temporary place for us to lay our heads as we finished our eight-sided log home, I wondered how long we would live there. The still small voice that responded, “six years,” made my hands stop their tucking and smoothing. I did not recognize the voice of God at that moment, but for some reason I believed it. I peered out the window at the hayfield and hills around it and listened to the gurgling Klondike River that ran just beyond our door. Six years. Well. I purposed in my heart to enjoy every day of that time.

It was six years later when my husband came home after a hunting trip with our pastor. He was laughing as he came in the door and when I asked him why he shook his head and said. “Oh, that crazy Pastor Jack Sailor! He just told me he thinks I’m going to be a pastor someday.” I smiled. I knew it was true and I knew God was about to cause our world to turn upside down, once again.

But I had complete peace. God didn’t reveal all the details of what was about to happen, and it’s a good thing He didn’t or I likely would have tried to run, but I knew, as each step unfolded, that we had been called to go in an extraordinary direction by an extraordinary God.

We had only been believers in Christ for about two years. Our lives had already been turned upside down, the changes obvious to all. Now the road was narrowing even more, and the challenges just kept on coming as we made the decision to go to Bible College.

We had to come to terms with selling the house we had built with our own hands, giving it to God, not as a precious sacrifice on our part, but as something He had given us for a time and was now taking back so that He could give us something much more valuable– a life lived in service to Him.

We had only just gotten our heads and hearts around that hurdle when things started going awry. We bought an old station wagon and a tent trailer to make the 3,222 km. trip south with two young children and an aging husky dog, but shortly after we bought it the motor died. A wonderful mechanic friend came to our rescue, helped us find another motor, and installed it for us for free. 

We had thought the house and property were sold but that fell through at the last minute. The new butcher in town asked if he could rent it, so we agreed, with a handshake but no lease signed. He backed out just after we’d mailed all our belongings away. Then a man who’d just had an amazing conversion to Christ told us he’d dreamed about living in our house and believed God wanted him to buy it – two days before we had to leave. Those are just a few of the details that should have shaken my world. 

But I had extraordinary peace. 

God had told me we’d live in that home for six years and it came to pass. He made it clear to us that He wanted us to go to a Bible college in Saskatchewan and even though my husband resisted that idea at first, I knew it would come to be. Things began to fall apart in many ways, but I just kept on packing.

That was thirty-five years ago, almost to the day. It has been an extraordinary path He set our feet, and our minds and hearts on, way back then. It hasn’t all been easy, by any means, but it has been a life I would not change for all the gold and silver in the world. His blessings have abounded, His grace evident at every turn and His mercy enough to send us to our knees over and over again, as He continued to teach us and grow us into His disciples. Flawed though we are, He continues that work.

Extraordinary directions. Extraordinary peace. Extraordinary God.

****

Read more at www.marcialeelaycock.com

God's GRACE - by Tracy Krauss

Several years ago at an InScribe Fall Conference, guest speaker Nancy Rue challenged attendees to think long and hard about their work and try to distill each piece into one word. While a novel can have multiple themes or "moral lessons", this one word should be the driving force behind the story. I felt inspired by the exercise and it is a practice that I have maintained since. 

With more than twenty books and plays in print, my list has grown a bit since then. It includes: TRUTH, REDEMPTION, GRACE, ACCEPTANCE, TRUST, ADAPTATION, SURRENDER, FRIENDSHIP, UNCONDITIONAL LOVE, TENACITY, and HOPE. (Okay, so 'unconditional love' is two words...!)

When looking over this list, the element that I think is the most encompassing is GRACE. God's amazing grace to mere human sinners is at the heart of my writing, especially my fiction. There is always at least one person who comes to know Christ, so readers journey with that character through some rough spots. As well, characters who are already believers don't always act in Christ-like ways, but God's GRACE is there, no matter how badly they fall.

I suppose I keep coming back to this theme because to me it is true to life. I did not come to know Christ until I was a young adult, so I know what it's like to live on the 'other side', so to speak. It has helped me to see the world from a different perspective and perhaps have a bit more empathy and understanding for folks living a secular life. I still have a lot of friends, acquaintances, and family members who are not saved - and I'm not afraid to hang out with them! My husband also grew up in a non-believing home and had a much rougher background than I did. In our time in ministry we've seen many examples of God's GRACE at work in both the church and outside of it. We're used to dealing with drug addicts, street people, and victims of poverty and abuse. Strangely (or maybe not so strange) we've also seen a fair bit of hypocrisy within the body. Just because a person is saved, attends church regularly, or lives an outwardly 'clean' life does not mean they don't sin. But God extends His GRACE when true repentance occurs. 

My desire is that readers sense the all encompassing GRACE of God in my writing and turn to Him without fear of judgement from others. He is the only one we need fear when it comes to judgement, and fortunately, His GRACE is made perfect in our weakness. It is greatly fulfilling to hear from readers who were impacted by one of my stories, and often it is the unconditional acceptance - this GRACE of God - that is mentioned.

As a side note... 
Please take the time to read this exquisite post from InScribe member Brenda Leyland, which was the inspiration for this month's theme: https://inscribewritersonline.blogspot.com/2019/07/the-gift-of-beautiful-words-in-troubled.html

Tracy Krauss writes from her home in northern BC. She is enjoying semi-retirement from a long time career as an Art, Drama and English teacher, and currently has the honour of serving as InScribe's president. Visit her website to learn more about her more than twenty published titles. -fiction on the edge without crossing the line- 

The Immeasurable Reach of God by Valerie Ronald

          
I prefer a window seat when I fly, one back from the wing for an unobstructed view. Leaning my forehead against the rectangular window, I can see the miniature scenes below becoming smaller and smaller as the plane gains altitude. Aeronautics is a science, I know, but there is a mysticism to the vast altitudes a plane can reach. It is the visual picture I imagine when reading Ephesians 2:4 & 5.

“But because of His great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions --- it is by grace you have been saved.”

These have become my life verses because I see encapsulated in them the immeasurable reach of God in saving a wretch like me. God “made me alive with Christ even when I was dead in transgressions.” Is there any span greater than this? I was an enemy of God, wallowing in sin with no thought of my Creator, yet He reached down to pick me out of the muck of a broken world and raised me up to sit beside Christ in the highest heaven. It makes me dizzy to imagine being transported such an immense distance!

There are times when my repeated, stumbling transgressions overwhelm me with sadness and make me long for perfection. Who am I to receive God’s grace? If I have these thoughts as a forgiven child of God, how much farther did He have to reach when I was buried under mountains of sin, a dark, lifeless soul? I did not even know I needed a Savior. But God did. And He intervened, “because of His great love with which He loved me,” says one scripture version. He loved me even when I was terribly unlovable because His mercy is so rich, immense and generous that it lifted me up on a swelling wave of love to seat me next to Jesus in heaven.

“Measure how high heaven is above the earth; God’s wide, loving, kind heart is greater for those who revere Him. You see, God takes all our crimes --- our seemingly inexhaustible sins --- and removes them. As far as the east is from the west, He removes them from us.” (Ps. 103:11-12 The Voice)

God’s mercy is an unknowable reckoning. It isn’t just benevolence or leniency but an actual removal of our sins onto His Son, Jesus, the perfect sin offering. Mercy means we do not get the punishment we deserve. Grace means we do get the salvation we do not deserve. This makes my head spin if I try to work it through my own finite mind. Though I cannot know how it happens, I am grateful to accept by faith the gift of His grace.

These verses from Ephesians resonate in the back of my mind when I am writing about the Christian journey. They motivate me to do my best to convey the immensity of who God is and what He has done in a way that will touch souls who long for God. The distance between what I write and the incomprehensible being of God is as far as the east is from the west, yet I will always reach for the next word to give a small glimpse of His wonder.

Attempting to figure out what keeps a multi-ton metal airplane full of people and luggage in the air will bring me to the end of my knowledge quickly. So I choose to sit back and enjoy the journey, admiring the view of God’s beautiful creation from 35,000 feet, trusting the aeronautical engineers and commercial pilots know what they are doing.

The reason I can do the same with God’s perfect plan of salvation is because I trust the Omnipotent Designer, "whose love knows no limit, whose grace has no measure, His power no boundary known unto men." (excerpt from hymn, He Giveth More Grace, by Annie Johnson Flint)


More of my devotionals can be read on my blog https://scriptordeus.wordpress.com

The Reasons I Write - Marnie Pohlmann

A Mom struggles to overcome harmful thoughts that were hardwired into her brain during childhood trauma.

First responders search for ways to protect themselves from the cumulative stress of carrying the pain and pictures of those they have served. 

A young woman is anxious about an upcoming surgery that may remove a breast as the doctors cut out cancer.

An immigrant family who knows they are now safe cannot erase from their minds the thoughts and nightmares of the horror they have experienced.

A young woman betrayed, beaten, trafficked to be owned by others. Trapped.

A First Nations woman is stuck in the belief the past defines her and determines her present and future, unable to see any choices.

A young man grieves his life choices, his failures, and contemplates a choice to stop the pain coming from the consequences.

A teenager is confused about her identity, yet she trusts no one with her secret because they would not understand.

A believer in Christ becomes depressed; her faith seems to only condemn not comfort her in the darkness.

Each of these individuals is who I imagine being my audience, the "world" my writing could possibly influence. I am burdened with the pain and darkness these people are experiencing because I relate to them. I have been in these situations, believed these thoughts, considered these actions. Yet I have also found hope and peace through Jesus Christ who provides life amid the darkness. I still struggle but I have experienced victory in these areas before and I know I will again. Not that "I" can, but that God will walk me through the darkness and teach me new ways of thinking, feeling, and acting.

Does my writing or speaking change the world? Honestly, I rarely get feedback on what I share except family and friends who love me and other writers who encourage me. So, I don't know. I don't hear of or see my words changing any of the people in my imaginary audience. Perhaps, although I occasionally share the words, I write only to solidify in my own ears, eyes, brain, and heart the truth of God’s redemption.

While I would like to think I can change the world through writing blogs, poetry, lyrics, magazine articles, fiction, or memoirs or by speaking my understanding of God's Word, changing others may not be the result or the purpose. I am called to write, but how that writing is used is out of my hands. That is God's department. I believe He uses anything He wants to further His Kingdom, whether a silver chalice or a chamber pot. So yes, He can use even me, even my writing, though the ink may flow in words that mention nothing of God.

Psalm 45:1 says in the Message paraphrase,

"My heart bursts its banks,

spilling beauty and goodness.

I pour it out in a poem to the king,

shaping the river into words."

(I shared a couple years ago on my blog, Phosphorescent, an essay delving into what this verse shows to a Christian writer, called "Waterfall.")

Walking with God, whether in darkness or joy, my heart bursts when I contemplate His grace to me. I then cannot help but write. My true audience is God. His love is amazing and we as Christians who write cannot express that at all adequately. Yet we must try. Yesterday at church we sang "The Love of God," a hymn expressing that truth.

Writers who are Christian, whether or not we know we are changing the world with our writing, have three reasons to continue.

To change the lives of others.

To change the life of ourselves.

To bring joy to God.

God’s Word changes hearts. Our words - written, spoken, sung, or acted out, - may be used by God to change the world. Therefore, I write.

*photos CCO license compliments of Pixabay.com

God is present. God is at work. Marnie writes.
Phosphorescent

Semantics - Linda Aleta Tame

Am I a Christian writer or a Christian who writes?  I wrote a Christian novel.  Now that I've said that, I need to clarify that a novel cannot be Christian.  I know I'm being too literal, but I guess it's a pet peeve.  Only people can be Christian, so it's a novel with Christian-related content.  And yes, I'm also a Christian who writes.  I don't always write about Christianity or Jesus or faith.

Have I sufficiently frustrated you with such quibbling over this question?  Perhaps, this blog contribution could be considered Christian writing, but am I still a Christian who writes if I frustrate my readers?  You can see how convoluted this discussion can be.  It's about semantics, isn't it?

So many misunderstandings result from semantics.  For example, the whole topic of God's grace.  For many years I understood God's grace to be a believer's character trait, synonymous with having poise.  When I learned it was more about God's unconditional love and mercy, I could hardly believe how far off the mark I'd been.  God's grace is definitely not about our posture or composure, although those things can be affected by it.  His grace is something we can't earn, it's not a reward, it's a gift, freely given.  In fact it was given while we were still sinners.

But isn't that indulgence?  That God, the Creator of the universe, would pour out His undeserved loving kindness on people who don't deserve it proves the whole gospel message is foolish, doesn't it?   It's not hard to see why the grace message comes under suspicion by those who have yet to understand it.  They "stumble over the stumbling stone."  Romans 9:32 (That Jesus Christ, our Saviour, is referred to here as a stumbling stone, is about semantics too, isn't it?)

Yet, once we've experienced God's grace, once we grasp the truth of what it means to be wrapped in that lavish outpouring of His love, we are irresistibly smitten.  Our failures become as quickly forgotten as they were made evident in the light of His precious gift.  If it's foolish for me to relish in this love, call me a fool!

So, am I a Christian writer or a Christian who writes?  I guess I would say I'm always a Christian who writes, and sometimes a Christian writer.  Either way, it's important to just write if that's what we're called to do.