God Values Us and Our Writing by Sandi Somers

As I was mulling over the idea of what to write for our “V” theme, I woke up one morning with the thought that God is invested in us. He values us. He loves us. There was my topic, ready to be developed. 

I hadn’t grown up with the understanding of how much God loves us. I don’t remember a defining moment in those early years when I became overwhelmed with God’s love. But over time, this knowledge grew on me, especially when my friend Shirley told us that God loves us more than we can ever, ever dream or imagine. 

Later while reading through the book of Exodus, a thought jumped out at me in the most startling way. The Israelites, recently freed from Egypt, had crossed the most desolate desert imaginable, and God had been their provider and healer. Now they were camped near Mt. Sinai, where God was ready to teach them His laws. If they obeyed God, they would be His treasured possession—how much He loved them! (19:5). His treasured possession! How much He loved them! How much He loves us. How much He loves me!   

Then last November I heard a news item that became a metaphor for what we mean to God. On November 7, 2023, a vivid blue diamond sold to an anonymous buyer for a staggering $43.8 million (about $60 million Canadian) in Geneva, Switzerland. Named “Bleu Royal”, it is among the rarest and most valuable jewels in existence. 

I realized how much God treasures and values us more than the buyer valued that blue diamond. 

Not only does God treasure and love us, however. He values our writing and has invested Himself in us to produce the words on our pages.    

God has given us individual talents, individual ways to express His truths. I’m often reminded of Brenda Ueland, who in her book, If You Want to Write, maintained that each of us is creative and original. We have something important to say because we are creative, even when we spill out our scrambled jottings and as we risk exploring our vulnerabilities. All will contribute to our skill and future successes. 

But God intends our writing to go out beyond ourselves. He has intended that our writing should influence others for His Kingdom. How often I’ve heard authors say that their words have encouraged others, met a need at a pivotal moment, or given laughter to lighten heavy spirits. We enrich their lives. 

Which brings me full circle. As we enrich other lives with our writing, God enriches our lives with His love. Thoughts are sprinkled all through Scripture: 

•     “The Lord your God is with you…He will take great delight in you, He will quieten you with His love, he will rejoice over you with singing” (Zephaniah 3:17).
•     “I have loved you, my people, with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with unfailing kindness” (Jeremiah 31:3).
•     “For you are a people, holy to the Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen you…to be his people, his treasured possession” (Deuteronomy 7:6). 

…and this verse makes a wonderful conclusion: “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love” (John 15:9).

  

Giving Meaningful Gifts – Ramona Heikel

The first impression that immediately comes to my mind at the word “gifts” is wrapped presents. At Christmas time, the idea of presents sets in motion a line of thoughts: first, the excitement of opening presents with family instilled into me as a child; next, what kinds of meaningful presents I can give to family and friends.

Although I want my gifts to be useful, I am not excited at going out and buying a small appliance, an article of clothing, or a decoration for the house.  What I really want to do is give a special gift, something related to the loved one’s unique personality or interests, that speaks of our connection and my love for them.  Many a November has been spent considering various homemade gift ideas, and this one is no exception.

Giving such ideal gifts is much harder than flying through the mall and doing all my Christmas shopping in one afternoon.  So, many times I do opt for the easy way.  But I prefer giving the gifts from the heart, the ones that cost me more in time, effort and thought.

The original Giver gives gifts from the heart.  God didn’t just stop after he gave his children gifts of light, animals, plants, natural beauty, and all the wonders of this earth. He wanted to give more, to make it personal.  He came close to people, walking and talking with them.  He pursued them when they walked away, and set up various laws and constraints with the intention of protecting and caring for them from afar.  The history of his involvement with a people who often rejected him fills the Old Testament narratives.

And that still wasn’t enough.  In spite of their disinterest in him, God then came to live among them for over thirty years as a flesh-and-blood human being, Jesus. This was the only way to show them his true personality, so they could perfectly understand the depths of his love and tender care. 

God’s gifts cost him dearly, and he did not take the easy way.  His gift was the ideal gift, the perfect gift, a gift from the heart, tailor-made for his beloved.

No wonder we celebrate so joyfully at the occasion of Jesus’ birth! 

Merry Christmas all!

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Well, after almost five years, I am taking a break from my monthly contribution to this blog, so this will be my last regular article.  For now, I feel like I have said just about all I have to say about writing, and you may have noticed that I’m starting to repeat myself—ha ha!  I do plan to submit a book review or other special post to this blog now and then, and to contribute my voice—online, in print, or both—writing about my faith and prayer.  I am excited to see where God leads.  A million thanks and blessings to all of you bloggers here, for all of your insight, support and faith-building posts!

Ramona Heikel

Happilywriting.com

Have You Ever...? by Karma Pratt

Have you ever felt on point one minute, and hopelessly derailed the next? Have you ever felt hopefully expectant only to be brought "back to reality"? Have you ever wondered why your attempts to be obedient to God's will have you swimming in circles? Perhaps it's that, in your desire to please God you have forgotten what it means to love Him.

I have found myself, in this current season, swimming in circles regularly. Or, perhaps a better descriptor is, I have found myself flailing in the harsh waves of the frosty Atlantic. No tropical beaches here, folks. It's all ice caps and rocky shorelines these days. Encouraged, I stepped out of the boat only to discover, like Peter, that my faith floundered even as I continued moving closer to God. It's a complex thing, entering into the waters.

I have been praying, pondering and meditating on what it all means. How is it that an obedient woman of God, called to write - given the gifts of communication and encouragement even - can have such a hard time sharing her story, much less living it?

In my attempts to walk closer with God, I find myself being called deeper into a life of prayer. I often pray for wisdom, for clarity, for the knowledge required "to take the next right step." In my attempts to be faithful to what I believe God is asking of me, I've been unwittingly filing and compartmentalizing everything He calls me to on my ubiquitous "to do" list. Except I stopped calling it a "to do" list, because the sheer number of "to do's" was overwhelming and God called me to "be" not "do", right? So, in honour of that significant distinction, I changed my "to do" list into a "priority" list. That way, I could ask God what He wanted me to prioritize and then rearrange my list accordingly (it's okay, you can laugh. I did).

Can you imagine how well my priority list has worked out for me? Rather than truly adhering to God's rhythms of activity and rest, I repackaged His guidance and wisdom and stuffed it all into my own little box. I tied a neat bow on it and wondered why, if it looked so pretty, was I still feeling overwhelmed and out of control? Why was I still burning the candle at both ends, and wondering why I felt a disconnect between me and God? 

The answer is that I was continually striving to please God, rather than be with Him. I was searching for acceptance when I've already been accepted. I was looking for love and approval instead of showing God how much I love Him. 

God always tells you what you need to hear. He finds you in the storm, even (perhaps, especially) when it's a Category 5 hurricane of your own making. This past Sunday, He spoke to me through this spoken word poem. He helped me recognize where I was striving to survive rather than embracing His loving presence in my life and, by extension, in my writing. Perhaps it will encourage you on your journey too.

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Karma Pratt is a faith-driven mom of twins, a communicator, a writer, and an encourager from way back. She offers professional writing and editing services at redraincoatcreations.com. 

God’s Love Language – Ramona Heikel

In an attempt to write in a different genre than usual, I took some ideas and changed them from a blog post to a poetic format. Although you can see I have a long way to go with this genre, I hope the sentiments come through as well as, or even better than, the original.

Heavenly Love Languages

The Wizard of Oz, hiding,
Booming out angry threats,
Frightening with pretended power.
No, Beloved, that isn’t You.

Dystopian ruler, controlling,
Dispatching cruel robot guards:
Keep those people in line!
But this kind of world isn’t Yours.

Inventing and strategizing,
Commanding wayward humans,
Spiritual electric fences and dog collars
Are too harsh to be your way.

Bidding, you draw us, reaching,
Drawing your precious people,
Emmanuel on earth, the Holy Spirit
Wanting time with us, offering your attention.

Yes, you gave your Son, willing,
Now you give the indwelling Spirit,
Even giving talents, ministry, family, all we need,
Loving us with carefully chosen gifts.

Genesis-creation, populating, providing,
Israel-leading, establishing, blessing,
Your prophets warning, teaching,
All these your compassionate acts of service.

Gentle rays of sun on our skin, warming,
Spongy carpet of moss in the forest,
Red velvet petals, cool springs of water,
You are physically near, touching us.

Speaking the truth, writing,
Guiding scribes thousands of years,
Precious preserved scrolls
Offering your eternal affirming words.

Speaking through all your languages, loving,
Never-ending reminders of your affection
On earth as in heaven.
Yes, Beloved, we know this is you.


Posted by Ramona
www.happilywriting.com

Your Secret Admirer– by Ramona Heikel

I love the tradition of giving Valentines, and was delighted in elementary school when we celebrated Valentine’s Day. What a sweet way of confirming your special friendship and love to particular people in your class. It was so exciting to know that a classmate liked you well enough to make you a red construction-paper heart—maybe even adding a white lace doily—with their handwritten message on the back. Of course, since it was heartbreaking for some students to receive fewer cards than most (or no cards), compassionate teachers started requiring that you gave a Valentine to everyone. But even then, you could reserve your biggest or best Valentine for your favorite friends.

Then came the idea of signing the card as “Your Secret Admirer”. Ooh, how exciting! If someone didn’t want to sign their name, they surely must have extra-strong feelings of love that went beyond friendship. I remember how disappointed I was when Bruce, a boy I had a crush on, signed his name “From Bruce” on his valentine to me. Don’t get me wrong, I was glad to get an unforced store-bought card from him, because at least he considered me one of his many friends. But if I’d gotten a card from a Secret Admirer, I would have hoped that it had been from Bruce, and been thrilled at the possibility that I was significant to him.

Lately I have been noticing in the Old Testament how deep and constant God’s love is for the nation of Israel, no matter how often they ignore and reject him. I am reminded that there was a time that I wasn’t aware of God or his love. I was fifteen when I heard the message that God loved me. Before that, I believed that God loved “the world” as one big round object, with all of our faces blurred, and him not knowing or caring what our names were. This new revelation, that the far away creator of the universe knew me, and wanted me to know him personally, changed everything.

As I got older I began to see how even before I was aware of him, he was giving me gifts, Valentines signed “Your Secret Admirer”. One example of his gifts is my best friend, who I got to know in fourth grade. From then on, she has been my constant, loyal friend, and I now realize she was also my assurance that I was loved, and lovable through many confusing, bleak years. It wasn’t until tenth grade that we both heard the gospel at a high school Campus Life meeting and put our faith in Jesus. Yet during all those previous years, God was giving us little Valentine reminders of his desire to walk with us.

You have a secret admirer, too. And if he’s not so secret and you already know who he is, do you realize that he is your admirer, your friend who loves you constantly? Or do you feel, like I did, that you’re just a nameless, faceless, insignificant part of a big world that God loves? Or that his favorite hobby is catching you failing and sinning? Consider how God spoke about his admiration of Job in Job 1:8; think about the individualized “whoever” in John 3:16; look at his longing to always be with us wherever he is, in John 14:1-3; and read the scriptures that talk about his love, how he first loved us, in 1 John 4:7-19.


(These are Valentines from Bruce and another friend Katie from my grade school scrapbook.)


Posted by Ramona
www.happilywriting.com

 

God’s Love, God’s Gift – Ramona Heikel

Valentine’s Day is one of my favorite holidays because it spreads the idea of love throughout the nations that celebrate it. The story of St. Valentine is credited with the establishment of the special day, and that introduces an element of sacrifice in the celebration, which is the highest form of love. Even with the assault of red and pink in the stores and the subtle message that “how much you love is how much you spend”, I figure we may as well focus on love as anything else.

One of the biggest understatements in the Bible is “God is love”. It will probably take us all our lives to unpack the full meaning, and I have no doubt that the Lord takes delight is finding ways to show us the depth of his love.

About twenty years ago, something happened that showed me how much God loved me. Through these circumstances, for the first time, I felt His eyes on me, that he knew my name, and that he did this for me not because I needed it, but because he wanted to give me a gift.

My dream was to home school our children but that just didn’t work out. So my next choice was to send them to a Christian school, not just for the spiritual aspects, but also because I believed this was the best school around to give them a strong academic foundation for the rest of their education. We’d put them on the waiting list for grade one when my oldest turned five, and waited to see what would happen.

In the spring of the following year, we got a phone call to say that they had a spot for our son. Yippee! I was elated at this answer to prayer, but wasn’t sure what my husband would say. Since the boys had been born, we had pretty much lived on one salary, and it would be tough to come up with the extra chunk of money to pay for tuition. Transportation was also an issue, surprisingly. Since I was running a day home, I couldn’t drive my children to school, and the cost to bus them was almost as much as the tuition.

On top of that, my financially conservative husband had questioned the need for a Christian education, and was on a “break” in the oil business cycle, so the only income we had was my babysitting income. Yet I believed that God would direct this through his response.

For some reason, he left the decision completely up to me! This completely defied logic. It was a miracle. A first-hand miracle.

So, of course, the first thing I did was feel guilty for taking so much of God’s time praying for this miracle, even when there were people around the world who were far more desperate for God’s life-sustaining power. Then it was as if God said, “This is for you.” Tears came to my eyes then—as now—as I realized how a far-away God was touching my life. Only He knew how much this meant to me.

We registered our son for grade one, even though we had no idea how we’d pay for it. The situation was repeated each spring for the next two years, for both boys, and the result was the same, even when we were both unemployed.

I’m so happy for the benefits of their nine years in the school, but the best thing that happened from this in my own spiritual journey is that God forced me to not only face my fears, but to jump right in without a safety net. And better yet, He taught me repeatedly to turn the well-being of my children over to Him.

Such love!


Posted by Ramona
www.happilywriting.com

God's Unfailing Love -- Janet Sketchley

The NIV declares of God, “his love endures forever” 43 times. “Unfailing love” appears 40 times, always describing God’s love. These results are just from the Old Testament. The New Testament overflows with God’s love too, so I assume the writers used phrases that translate differently.

But Old Testament life seems to have a harsher edge to it than New Testament and into today. God was preparing the way, but the Messiah had not yet come. The Holy Spirit came to individuals but not to all. If God spoke to a person it was usually through a prophet or an angel.

God was preparing a people for Himself and there were a lot of growing pains. There still are, even now when we can rely on the Holy Spirit living in us, Christ in us, the hope of glory.

In the middle of the hardship of Old Testament life as God sculpted a reluctant people for Himself, when their actions often required correction in the form of invading armies and exile, His Holy Word proclaims His unfailing, forever-enduring love.

Whatever we face today, we can know and rely on God’s love God for us. There is hope.

© Janet Sketchley, 2011
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For devotionals, reviews and conversation, stop by Janet Sketchley's blog, God with Us: Finding Joy.