Time Capsule: A Letter to My Future Self by Sandi Somers

February 12, 2026

To my future self in December 2026,

I have a special Christmas card and letter for you to open in December, 2026. It’s sealed like a time capsule and is my gift to you—a review of your year.

I’ll give you the background to the letter, as a trailer-of-sorts.

In my yearly plans in January, the Lord gave me a special verse: “Launch out into the deep.” (Luke 5:4). I was also reminded of Paul’s words: “Be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power” (Ephesians 6:10).

I began with brainstorming all the things I’d like to accomplish this year. Then with that list, I asked myself:

· What would I attempt if I were sure the Lord were with me infusing wisdom, love, courage, and strength?

· What obstacles seem to be standing in my way?

· What specific things do I need to ask God to give me?

· What are some steps I need to take to get there? (List several)

· Where/how is the Lord prompting me now to step out in faith and risk?

I also included a quote from Lloyd John Ogilvie, one of my favourite authors, who wrote the book, The Lord of the Impossible: “Ask God to help you dare to risk attempting something He’s revealed He wants you to be and do.”

So as you open my card and read my letter, you'll find many questions about my life in 2026. They include such questions as: “What did you risk, and with what results? (Conversely, what risks did you not take, and with what results?) What surprised you? What was your greatest success of the year?” Unexpected events and situations often come up during the year, and my questions included: “What were they and how did you handle them? How did they influence your writing?” “How and where did you most honour the Lord this year?”

Before I get carried away with the questions, just a reminder to note that it will be important to assess what you learned from this process, and what takeaways you can offer for my plans and writing in 2027.

With love from your younger self,
Sandi

PS—I’ve tucked the Christmas card and letter in all my notes for the InScribe Writers’ Online blog. You’ll find it in the “December” notes.

 

Sandi Somers’ writing passion is to help readers grow their faith in Jesus, including their vision of what God wants them to be and do. Sandi lives in Calgary, Alberta, the delightful city between the Rocky Mountains and the Prairies, where she enjoys God’s beauty through walking and driving in nature, gardening in season, reading, and connecting with extended family and friends.

                                                                

What Are Your Best Summertime Reads? by Sandi Somers

 

Image by learningscientists.org on Pixabay

There Is Power in Reading!

What a better way to spend a summer afternoon relaxing and reading. Especially these days when Alberta and Western Canada have been sweltering in an unprecedented heat wave. As I finish this post, it’s 36 outside at 4:30 in the afternoon; this week we almost reached Calgary’s all-time high of 36.5 C.

This summer I’ve been grateful for a time away from responsibilities of volunteer activities of this past year. Instead, I’m relaxing as I putter in my garden and house. And I’m reading!

I begin reading in the early morning, spending long leisurely times in God’s Word, meditating more thoughtfully on the Triune God and on what God is saying to me. Currently I’m reading through the Book of Acts, a post-Gospel narrative I’ve read many times and could reread almost continuously. Add a praise Psalm and a devotional by David Wilkerson, God Is Faithful, or Lloyd John Ogilvie’s Lord of the Impossible, and a time of prayer, and the hours can fly by.

In my other reading, I’ve always been a non-fiction aficionado—biography, personal essay, prayer, creativity, and more. Our church library has been closed due to Covid and remodelling, and so I'm missing out on my usual faith-building books. However, I'm borrowing books out of my normal range from the public library. 

With Covid restrictions, I've missed my own travels to exotic places, and so I’m reading The Best Women’s Travel Writing series. These books are ideal for me to pick up now and again, choosing a shorter or longer essay depending on my time and attention span. In my imagination I revisit countries such as South Africa, Egypt, and Haiti, absorbing their stunning landscapes, bright colours, and wonderful people. Or other countries I’ve only read about: Mongolia, or Cambodia, or Bangladesh. Then I copy some of the essayists’ word nuggets in my “Quotes Journal”, to sharpen my own writing.

But not all my reading is nonfiction. This summer I rediscovered two novels with stunning detail, metaphors, and word images that are nourishing my senses: Fugitive Pieces by our Canadian Anne Michaels, and All the Light We Cannot See, by Anthony Doerr. These two books on different aspects of World War II have challenged my intellect as well as my spirits. They had the power to grab and hold my interest until I finished—but I declined to read until 3 o’clock in the morning!  

I do take my reading seriously. As I absorb other author’s writings and plan ahead to impact my readers, I think of Annie Dillard’s words: "The writer studies literature...He is careful of what he reads, for that is what he will write....Only after the writer lets literature shape her can she perhaps shape literature."

I also respond with the words from the Apostle Paul (1 Corinthians 10:31): Whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.

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Now over to you.

What genre(s) do you enjoy most? What books are you are reading this summer? What books are meeting your need of release and renewal? How has God used books and their genres to touch your heart and change your life? What has been the impact on your writing and purpose for your readers?

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Thanks to Lynn Dove for inspiring this month's theme, as she described her love of reading. "I was an avid reader from a very young age, disappearing whole-heartedly into a book, where I lived, breathed and took on the persona of the main character."  

What is Your Key Verse or Word for 2020? – by Sandi Somers

Picture by Pixabay

As we begin 2020, our writers will focus on their verse or word for the year, and what it means for themselves, their faith and their writing.

Image by Psychology Today

Before I explain my key words for 2020, I want to share with you what I discovered through my verse for last year. While working through interpersonal and situational issues, God gave me the verse, “Be of good courage and He shall strengthen your heart” (Psalm 31:24).

I decided to be intentional in keeping this verse in mind. I began a new process of reviewing every month my experiences and growth. I summarized discoveries and scriptures to understand more clearly what God was doing in and through me.

Then towards the end of 2019, I read both my journal and summary notes. This was an important step, because in the rear-view mirror of the year, I discovered that God was doing a larger and deeper work in me. Patiently step by step, He guided me in ways I didn’t always see at the time. 

From There to Here: Discoveries

Receiving an instruction and a promise: My verse came in two parts—I was to work at becoming strong, and God promised to give me strength, wisdom, and insight. Throughout the year He also stepped in with many encouraging words and promises.

Waiting on God: It took time, concentrated prayer and journalling to discern what was askew and to absorb what God was teaching me. I needed to wait in God’s presence. God was working in me to develop my character and maturity, to sink my roots deeper into God, and to find Him in the broken places of my life. I was amazed to discover just how specific and detailed were God’s solutions, solutions that had previously eluded me.

Focusing on God instead of my worries: In October I visited persecuted believers in Egypt. They reminded me how important it is to look to Jesus. “The enemy wants us to live in fear,” one leader told our group. “We focus instead, not on the persecution, but on our Faithful Father.” They were enthusiastic about God’s vision for their lives and ministry and what God was doing, rather than their persecution. What a wonderful model for me!

Forgiveness: How well I remember David Jeremiah’s words, “Forgiveness is always our turn.” As an important component of developing strength, extending forgiveness to others is becoming part of my prayer time. It’s not always easy, but it’s necessary.

Intercession: I discovered deeper lessons in interceding for persons and situations, and appreciated how much the Spirit intercedes for us when we don’t know how to pray.

Helps to others: Towards the end of the year, others began asking me for advice in the particular areas I had struggled with. God does extend our struggles into ministry to others.

Gratitude:  I look back in gratitude for this year. I have seen God do what seemed impossible, and this leads me into my words for 2020: 

God is the Lord of the Impossible. 

Image by Quotefancy

These words come from Lloyd John Ogilvie who added, “The Lord constantly wants to surprise us with what he can do if we dare to risk, to accept his gift of faith and to leave the results to him.” [i] I pray to make this concept go deep into my life and writing.

I include with a prayer, which includes my prayer for you:

Dear Father, I invite you into my word or verse for the year. I long to accomplish Your plans and purposes for me. Shine Your light into what You want me to do and accomplish this year in both my life and writing. Build my faith to: “Expect great things from God; attempt great things for God” (William Carey). As I thank you in advance, I will give You my praise. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

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[i] Lloyd John Ogilvie. Lord of the Impossible. Nashville: Abingdon Press. 1984, p. 10.

Choose Your Own Adventure by Sandi Somers

With school starting this week, I think back to the “Choose Your Own Adventure” books which my elementary school students loved. Readers could choose optional plot points leading to one of a number of climaxes and resolutions, or conversely to a dead end where they had to backtrack.

In this month’s prompts, you choose your own adventure: Tell us your best ‘How-To’ tips. | Take the Dictionary or other reference and select three words you don’t know and write a piece using those words. | What new resource has you wishing you would have had that when you first started out? | Inform your readers about the genre in which you write.

My first forays into “choose your own adventure” for this month’s blog post led me to brambles, mud holes and dead ends. Finally my meditation on the story of Joseph brought me to a satisfactory conclusion.

The Forward Moving Strategy of God

I have always been drawn to the Biblical story of Joseph, because it has spoken to me so often in so many circumstances. And as I’ve talked with other writers, I discover how his story has great implications for our writing.

Joseph had a dream. Two dreams. Dreams of greatness. Dreams of stardom. Was he aware that the source was God?

But then God took him on a circuitous route that contradicted the very idea of those dreams.

His envious brothers sold him to Ishmaelite traders and he landed as a slave in Egypt. There in Potiphar’s house he developed managerial and leadership skills. He also developed faith—deep faith—in God. But Potiphar’s wife accused him unfairly and he was bound chained and thrown into prison.

As a forgotten foreigner in Egypt, his life must have been at its lowest ebb.

He must have wondered how the evil done him could have any purpose.

He must have wondered if his prison time would ever come to an end.

Yet his faith in God grew and strengthened his character.

God was with Joseph, and these circumstances became the raw material out of which God was preparing him for his strategic role in Egypt. In time he was promoted to viceroy where he saved Egypt and his own family from famine. In Egypt, God formed his family into the nation of Israel.

Joseph’s story challenges us to look deeper into our dreams for our writing.

God is the source of our vision.

He wants to use us strategically in the lives of others.

He motivates us to move forward toward that vision.

However, circumstances may contradict our plans—health concerns, family disruptions, a major move—any number of situations may come up to prevent us from writing for a time.

At first they may seem like dead ends.

We may feel nothing is being accomplished.

We may even wonder if we have lost our way.

But God is the God of detours, and he gives us signposts such as this: “And your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, ‘This is the way, walk in it,’ when you turn to the right or when you turn to the left” (Isa 30:21 ESV).

So, like Joseph, let us be faithful in our current situation.

Let us yield our detours and our future to God.

Let us hold fast to any promises God has given us.

A day will come when we will look back and discover how even these detours have been part of the “forward moving strategy of God.”[1]


[1] Lloyd John Ogilvie. Lord of the Impossible. Nashville, TN: Abingdon, 1984, 55.