The Simple Faith of Sir Leonard Tilley - guest post by Violet Nesdoly

Sir Leonard Tilley still had the previous day’s meeting on his mind when he picked up his Bible one morning in1866 to read his customary chapter. The Confederation fathers’ discussions about what to call the new union of territories they were forming had gone no where. The question of what to call this new country laid heavy on his mind.

His Bible reading that day took him to Psalm 72. Verse eight snagged his attention: “He shall have dominion also from sea to sea, and from the River to the ends of the earth” - Psalm 72:8 KJV. 

One word jumped out at him. “Dominion.” What a splendid name to give Canada!

When he made that suggestion at the meeting that day, the others agreed. And that’s how our country came to be called the Dominion of Canada.

However, the presence of that Scripture passage in our Canadian heritage doesn’t stop there. In 1921 the architect of Ottawa’s Peace Tower, John A. Pearson, commissioned the words “He shall have dominion also from sea to sea” be engraved over the East window (along with engravings of Psalm 72:1 and Proverbs 29:18 over the South and West windows). 

As well, Canada’s coat of arms includes the Latin words: “A MARI USQUE AD MARE.” This  is a phrase that comes from the Latin Vulgate translation of Psalm 72:8. 

Sir Tilley’s story speaks to us of how God’s word can impact our lives. I love how this founding father of Canada retained his simple faith. It included reading the Bible every day and paying attention to what it said to the extent of applying its words and ideas to the problems and challenges of his life. 

I love too how the Scripture he claimed for Canada that day is now part of our story, engraved on one of our most iconic buildings, and woven into our very identity on the Coat of Arms. 

Let’s similarly read the Bible regularly, and then take God’s words with us into our daily lives. Let’s look to them for answers to everyday challenges. Who knows the effect they will have as they ripple through our lives and through us to our families, neighbourhoods, cities, provinces, country, even the world!  

**************

Bio: Violet Nesdoly lives in Langley, B.C. She blogs daily devotions at Other Food Daily Devos, and shares book reviews and a weekly article about Bible art journaling at VioletNesdoly.com.

Sources:

Canada: Portraits of Faith - Michael D. Clarke, Reel-to-Reel Ministries, 1998, p. 61. 

Samuel Leonard Tilley - wikipedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_Leonard_Tilley

“Canada’s Parliament Buildings Remind Us of God” by Douglas Cryer

https://www.christianity.ca/page.aspx?pid=12262

“Ad Mari Usque Ad Mare” - Nathan Betts on Canada 150 (RZIM regional Canadian blog)

http://ca.rzim.org/regional-blog/canada-150/

On Journals and Writers’ Notebooks by Sandi Somers

This month our writers discuss their experiences with writing in journals and/or notebooks. InScriber Violet Nesdoly gave us a prompt when she wrote: "the very act of noticing and writing things down makes us more observant, alert people—all part of the package we need to be successful writers.” 

“Write the vision…” Habakkuk 2:2

My journals and notebooks

Over my life I’ve had different kinds of journals: travel journals, including one from my two years in South America; several binders full of cultural perceptions and classroom interactions while teaching ESL; and a journal of praise which focuses on the positive side of writing. I keep a notebook handy for writing ideas for this IWO blog.

I also have an almost-daily journal, in which I explore and process dilemmas and how God is speaking to me through scripture in my quiet time. Writing helps sort through my thoughts, and I come to a deeper understanding than I would have without writing.

A wonderful benefit of journal writing is that often gem thoughts become the raw material for articles and blogs. For example, while writing an article for our InScribe Christmas Anthology, my writing seemed flat. With divine timing, God led me to a forgotten version I had written some years before. There I found more vivid descriptions, more immediate emotions and clearer details which strengthened that article (it was accepted, by the way).

On the Values and Varieties in Journals/Writers’ Notebooks

Journals and writers’ notebooks are very individual, and the varieties and values are endless: ten minute freewrites of "moments in memory "; an idea journal which you can carry with you; a quotation journal; a submission journal; a dream journal. Or your journal can be the first draft of a memoir, story or other article.

           

Over the years I’ve collected a number of journal/notebook ideas and approaches from various writers. Here are a few.

Julia Cameron, in The Artist’s Way, advocates “morning pages”: three pages of free writing first thing every morning. Doing so, she says, taps into our left brain’s creativity and inner wisdom without concern for that “inner critic”.  Many writers follow her advice.

Judy Reeves advocates another daily approach: writing practice. Her book, A Writer’s Book of Days, includes focused prompts, one prompt for every day of the year.  Writing from prompts, she says, is a discipline that improves writing as well as gladdens our spirit and adds to the quality of life. 

Violet Nesdoly switched from journal writing to a writer’s notebook. Rather than a process of fluid writing of journals, she said a notebook is a place to keep track of: details of life, ideas for future projects, lists, dialog, telling details in a scene, and more. (Read her article filled with practical ideas here.) 

Joan Didion’s notebooks are a “flotsam and jetsam” of ideas. She often wrote just words, locations, time of day, or brief notations—sometimes wondering on rereading why these details had been so important in the first place. She would probably never use these erratic thoughts in her writing, but they often brought back vivid memories and moods from those earlier times--memories she was otherwise likely to forget. (Read her article, “On Keeping a Notebook” here).

Writers have creatively woven journal entries into books or articles. Madeline L’Engle and her family spent one summer on a USA cross-country camping trip. At the end of each day she pulled her typewriter from the car and journaled the family’s excursions. Later this trip became the basis for a children’s adventure novel, The Moon by Night. (As I read the novel, I easily noticed the connection between her family’s travel and the adventures in the novel.)

As Christ followers, we often journal our daily devotions, spending time alone with God and opening ourselves to whatever God want us to hear. Janice Elsheimer, in The Creative Call, called her journal the “artists’ daybook” (a name I’ve adopted). Writing daily for ourselves alone, we come to hear the voice of the Spirit and “understand more clearly the relationship between journaling and listening, between listening and being an artist.”

Jack Popjes, past-president of InScribe, has incorporated a unique approach to journaling daily devotions:  he writes his regular prayer requests as conversations with God—question-and-answer format. Writing his prayers this way helps him keep track of his requests and God’s answers.  The additional benefit, he wrote, is that he’s also practicing his writing craft. (You can read his article, “Let Your Fingers Do the Talking,” in our InScribe anthology, 7 Essential Habits of Christian Writers.)

In conclusion, Phyllis Theroux in The Journal Keeper wrote that your journal or notebook “should be a wise friend…Choose what you think has some merit or lasting value, so that when you reread (it) in years to come, it will continue to nourish you."

 What varieties of journals/notebooks do have, and what value do you place on yours?

PS Writing this blog has been inspiring. My daily journal had come almost to a standstill, but last week new ideas began flowing and I resumed my morning pages with a renewed vigor. Hmm, I think I’ll try Jack’s conversations with God, too!

Further resources In her blog on notebooks, Amy Ludwig Vanderwater’s guests explain different ways they use notebooks. (Check it here)    Famous authors discuss the importance of keeping a journal (Read here) Here’s another read on keeping a notebook or three.

The World Is Your (Social Media) Field - Violet Nesdoly

I am thrilled to have long time Inscribe member as our guest blogger today. Here is a wonderful article that first appeared on the Canadian Bible Society Blog, but it fits in so well here. Thank you for sharing it Violet!

Wherever we are these days—waiting to pick up our kids at school, in a lineup or around a table in a restaurant, in a hall waiting for the lecture to begin—chances are many around us are engrossed in their phones or tablets. Despite how antisocial they appear, they may well be socializing after all, not with those around them but with someone on social media.

Social media plays a big part in many of our 21st century lives. Email bring us news of who has liked or commented on our Facebook update. Twitter is way more timely than any news feed when it comes to what’s happening in the hockey or football game we’re keeping an eye on, while we read opinions, reviews, or the light-hearted take on life of our favorite blog. Do you need ideas for crafts, recipes or decorating? Scan boards on Pinterest for lots of inspiration. Want to share the stunning sunset you’ve just seen? Snap a photo with your smart phone, post it on Instagram and watch the gush of “Likes” and comments from friends and followers. And the above are just a sliver in the pie-graph of social media apps and technologies available.

Despite how easily social media can take over our lives, making us smart phone, tablet or computer addicts, it’s not all bad. In fact, its badness or goodness rests pretty much in the hands of the person behind the keyboard or trackpad. Whether we like it or not, social media is here to stay. So as Christians, let’s use it to spread the good news.

In that vein I started blogging my devotions in 2010. Using the Canadian Bible Society reading guide as the day’s passage, I’ve kept up this practice at Other Food: daily devos for six years.

Early in the game, I connected my blog to Feedburner  (a web feed management provider) so that people could subscribe (and unsubscribe) to these devotions and get them delivered daily by email. I’ve also set Feedburner to publish the day’s devotion on Twitter each morning. It’s my small way of adding a Christian voice to social media.

Share your faith on social media

If you enjoy social media but would like to use it to more intentionally share your faith and God’s word, here are some things you might try:

1. Blog about whatever aspect of faith excites you—true stories of how people came to Christ, answered prayers, your favorite Bible verses, mission trip logs. Start a blog for free at Blogger.com or Wordpress.com.

2. Encourage interaction on your blog by ending your post with a question.

3. Use catchy titles that will cause people to stop and take a second look.

4. Compose and format articles to make it easy for readers to scan your piece; use short paragraphs, bulleted lists, and highlight important points.

5. Honor copyright of both words and pictures. Attribute all quotes. Post Bible translation permissions. You can find these on Biblegateway.com. Click on the linked name of the Bible version you’re using.

6. Use your Facebook profile and Twitter account to tweet Bible verses, sayings by famous Christians, Christian music videos,  and links to your  blog’s articles and other Christian articles you’ve enjoyed.

7. When posting on Twitter or Instagram, use a hashtag (#) in front of words that describe the category or subject of your post (e.g. #devotions) so that people who are looking for that topic will find you.

8. Use your photos to make Bible verse posters. Publish them on your blog or Twitter and add them to a board on Pinterest.

9. Make Pinterest boards for the various faith subjects that interest you. I’ve probably had more likes and follows to my “Bible Illustrators” board than any other.

10. Pray that God will cause the Word seeds you scatter to fall onto prepared soil.

In His explanation of the Parable of the Sower, Jesus said to the disciples: “The seed is the word of God”  and “The field is the world” (Luke 8:11; Matthew 13:38). When we use social media the world is indeed our field. In preparing to write this article, I looked over my blog’s stats for the last several weeks and saw that visitors had come from all over the globe: Canada, U.S., France, Netherlands, Australia, Ireland, Indonesia, Sweden, Germany, Ukraine, Russia, Vietnam, China, and Slovakia.

How will you use social media to send your words into the world-field in the days ahead?

***********

Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Violet Nesdoly is a freelance writer who lives near Vancouver, B.C. You can find her on Twitter, Facebook, and Pinterest, as well as at her website and devotional blog.

The good new days -- Violet Nesdoly

This month's theme of remembering in the context of writing has me thinking back to when I first started writing and all the changes I've seen in a mere 15-or-so years.

Horse and buggy days

It was in 1997 (March to be precise) that I made my first manuscript sale to Keys for Kids. What an exciting day that was! I had begun my ICL course "Writing for Children and Teens" just a year before and had promised myself five years of trying before I'd give up on my childhood dream of becoming a writer. Now I had made my first sale just a little past one year in!

Those days my ICL Magazine Market Guide was my writer's bible and a laid-in stash of Canadian and U.S. postage stamps my calling card to request magazine samples and send out manuscripts.

I operated like that for a few years, until the internet came to our house. During our family's first days online we only had the family computer connected so I was still relatively free from the distractions of email and online life. But once I connected my computer to the web, how quickly everything changed for me and my writing business.

Writing goes digital

One by one publishers began accepting email queries and submissions. The speed of this was pushed ahead by 9-11 when publishers suddenly became wary of opening unsolicited packages (after a few mystery deliveries contained ominous white powder).

The internet had other attractions too. As search engines improved, a world of information became available at a mouse click. And I found places online where I could post my writing—places that had "Buy this Article" next to every piece I posted, implying that there were buyers out there who might be interested! My naive hopefulness changed to realism after a few months of offering pieces there without receiving a single offer. But there were other payments to vie for—comments, clicked stars, votes, possible inclusion in anthologies, altogether far too much excitement to ignore!

And then blogging came along. I first got on the blogging bandwagon with with my personal blog  promptings in October of 2004. Of course I soon found out that if I wanted people to read and comment on my blog, I had to read and comment on theirs. I recall how nervous I felt the first time I left a comment on someone's blog with my signature a link back to my blog. I don't know what I thought would happen—the world would come flocking to my little place on the web to find out who violet was? I'll bet you can guess what did happen. That's right. Nothing!

All these changes brought with them not a little dis-ease too. I remember, even in the early days when the speed of online life was still half the pace it is now, thinking—What am I doing? I should be back in my old womb-room writing instead of indulging in all this online gadding about.

But I couldn't go back. It was as if I had shed too-small clothes, moulted,* if you like, and returning to the way things had been before was as unthinkable as a snake trying to fit himself back into the outgrown, shriveled skin of last week.

Changes have continued. I've begun many blogs, joined Facebook, become active on Twitter, set up my own web page, read and sifted through books and articles about blogging, self-publishing, marketing, publicity and selling, and earlier this year published a book...

At each new stage I get some of the same feelings I did when my writing life changed from solitary to web-based: I'd like to go back to the way things were before. But  just like then, I can't. In some strange way I feel like I keep outgrowing the old.

Too much of a good thing

Changes are in the wind again. I've come to realize that I'm a little burned out with blogging and have decided to simplify my online life.  A few weeks ago I shut down my  writing blog (Line Upon Line) and have now begun blogging from my website. This will become my main blog.  Though I will keep recycling my kids' devotions and writing my daily adult devotions, my dear old personal blog promptings will change to a photolog with mostly photos and less words. This will be my last post on the Inscribe Writers Online for a while as I'm taking a break from posting to group blogs as well.

Where is God in all this? I trust that He is in the restlessness to shed some of these commitments  now, as I sensed His go-ahead to get into them years ago. But as in many things, it's faith, not sight.

Will I be back? In the comments for sure. But as a blogger—perhaps, perhaps not. You see, it all depends on what the next moult allows.

*"Molting, or Moulting, the shedding, or casting off, of feathers, hair, horns, shell, or a layer of skin by an animal. Molting is a periodic process of renewal, the cast-off parts being replaced by a new growth." (emphasis added) - Animal Planet

~ by Violet Nesdoly
Website
Author Violet Nesdoly on Facebook

TheThankful List - Violet Nesdoly

"Praise is awaiting You, O God, in Zion; And to You the vow shall be performed." Psalm 65:1

Do you make lists?

I do. Lists to remind me of what needs to be done, organize my thoughts, help me with shopping and packing, keep me on track when I give a talk or speech ...

Psalm 65 is David's list of praise and thankfulness to God. He praises God for:

1. Hearing and answering prayers (Psalm 65:2)
2. Providing atonement / forgiveness for sin (Psalm 65:3).
3. Choosing people to come near to Him (Psalm 65:4).
4. Being approachable (Psalm 65:4).
5. The temple (Psalm 65:4).
6. The joy and satisfaction of living in God's presence (Psalm 65:4).
7. The way God inspires confidence (implied is the need to remember ways God has come through for him in the past) (Psalm 65:5).
8. God's power illustrated in nature — the grandeur of mountains, God's ability to calm physical and people storms (Psalm 65:6-7).
9. That He is visible and available to all on earth (Psalm 65:8).
10. The reliability of day and night (Psalm 65:8).
11. God's nourishment of the earth with rain (Psalm 65:9-10)
12. An abundant harvest (Psalm 65:11-12).
13. The beauty of a pastoral scene (Psalm 65:13).

David's list is a good example of one way we can set the tone of the day by focusing on God's gifts to us. Instead of dwelling on what's wrong with life, what we dread, fear, or regret, let's focus on the good stuff.

Canadian writer Ann Voskamp began an initiative some years ago to encourage everyday gratefulness.  She challenges readers to, over time, list 1000 gifts which they jot down and share with others. These can be things as small as the comforting taste of bread and butter, to life-changing events like the safe birth of a baby.  Bloggers from around the world come together on A Holy Experience (Ann's blog) every Monday to share links to their writings of gratitude. Join in the conversation in Ann's Gratitude Community on Facebook. Though I finished my 1000 gifts project some time ago, I found listing things for which I am grateful such a powerful focus-changer I have continued the practice privately. Why don't you give it a try.

Ann's book One Thousand Gifts released in January 2011 and continues to be a best-seller.

- Violet Nesdoly (Adapted from "The power of a list" - first posted on Other Food: daily devos)

***********

Need a break from the 21st century rat-race? Travel to a different time and place via Destiny's Hands, a new novel recently released by Word Alive Press.

Experience Egyptian slavery, the exodus, crossing the Red Sea. Meet Moses, Aaron, Miriam, Hur, and Bezalel.  Eat quail and manna. Drink water from rocks. Live the temptations and questions of wilderness wandering.

Find out what readers are saying and where to purchase HERE.

Website: www.violetnesdoly.com

Take control of online reading and social media - Violet Nesdoly

These days a writer is expected to do a lot of things in addition to writing. Staying abreast of industry trends and participating in social media are two of them. Trouble is, keeping track of all the interesting and useful stuff on Facebook, Twitter, and blogs can not only suck time from writing but also bury inspiration, dampen enthusiasm, blur focus, and deplete energy. Posting and reading social media updates can be just as distracting. There is so much out there to read and do—and still only 24 hours a day in which to do it.
Two little programs that I use regularly have helped me streamline my time online, even as I attempt to stay on-task in the midst  of all the noise.

Pocket (getpocket.com - formerly Read It Later) is one. It's a program that works on any device (phone, tablet or computer). I have installed it on both my desk computer and laptop using Firefox.

The program puts a little pocket-shaped icon in my browser bar. If I find an article that looks interesting but I don't have time to read it, I simply click on the pocket (which then turns red). It gets saved to a list of links that I access by clicking on a second pocket found at the far right of my browser.

Because I have Pocket on both computers, I can browse the internet for information at my desktop, save all the articles in my pocket, and read them later when  I'm relaxing  with my laptop.



A second great time-saver is Buffer (bufferapp.com). This program lets me schedule tweets. I also installed it on both computers using Firefox.

The free version of Buffer lets me schedule updates to one Twitter, one Facebook, and one LinkedIn account, but it does have some limitations. For example, I'm limited to how many tweets I can schedule; I think it's 10. However, that's easily enough to schedule enough tweets for a day or two (I have control over how many times a day I'll tweet and when).

So gone are the days of inundating my followers with a deluge of tweets within seconds of each other. Now I set aside some time most days to Buffer my twitter stream for the next day, remembering to sprinkle in a few tweets for my book or other writing. I haven't posted any updates to Facebook or LinkedIn with Buffer but I'm sure it works just as well. 

These two handy little programs (plug-ins, apps, whatever they're called) have helped me take control of my online reading and social media endeavors. Why don't you give them a try?  You might like them too.

- Violet Nesdoly

******************

Need a break from the 21st century rat-race? Travel to a different time and place via Destiny's Hands, a new novel recently released by Word Alive Press.

Experience Egyptian slavery, the exodus, crossing the Red Sea. Meet Moses, Aaron, Miriam, Hur, and Bezalel.  Eat quail and manna. Drink water from rocks. Live the temptations and questions of wilderness wandering.

Find out what readers are saying and where to purchase HERE.

Website: www.violetnesdoly.com

When writing feels like walking on water - Violet Nesdoly

"To me the story lacks drama. I think it needs more conflict, more suspense, more changes in pace and more growth in Bezalel himself."

These were the words I read about a quarter of the way through a one-page document titled "Critique of Destiny's Hands" on January 3, 2012. They were the considered opinion of a wise and astute writer friend whom I had contacted, just before Christmas, to give me feedback on my book-length story.

My first reaction on reading her whole critique was panic. What have I done? I asked myself, as I thought of my signature, newly dry on the publishing contract I had already signed, and the people at the publishing house, eager to get on with the job. My friend's words conjured up a hefty rewrite that could take weeks, maybe months to complete. Could I even make this story work?

There was another problem. Hubby and I were one week away from a much anticipated vacation to Hawaii. So I wouldn't be able to tackle this for at least three weeks as I wasn't about to wreck our dream holiday with writing work.

You know the command, "Pray without ceasing"? Right about then, that's what I began to do.

Also about then, I kept bumping into advertisements of James Scott Bell's Elements of Fiction Writing - Conflict and Suspense. Ping! Wasn't that the very thing my critiquer said my story lacked? And so the night before leaving on our trip, I downloaded it onto my Kindle, along with his Revision and Self-Editing. I might not be able to work on my story, but at least I could read about how to salvage it.

In hindsight the timing couldn't have been better. The break gave me distance and an objectivity that I needed. I started playing with the ideas my friend had thrown out and getting new ones—all executed, in my imagination, with the techniques and finesse that JSB explained and demonstrated so well. By the time I returned from our warm January break, I was eager to get on with the job.

Of course, working out those things in real time was another matter entirely.  It took six gruelling weeks of concentrated effort with many ups and downs and  sleepless nights before I emailed my publisher the revised document, hoping that I had hit the mark. The words of my editor at Word Alive Press: "...let me tell you how much I enjoyed your manuscript. I found this to be utterly captivating and well-written. Well done!" brought a huge sigh of relief. 

Looking back on this whole experience, I'm quite sure of one thing: the way this happened was no accident. For if I had known the amount of work still needed on the book, I would not have contracted to publish it, and it would not be around today.

All that to say, when you find yourself walking on water, push aside the panic with prayer. Get help. Work really hard. Keep looking at Jesus' face instead of the waves. And one of these days you'll be scrambling back into the boat with a stronger faith, and maybe you'll be a better writer too. 

- Violet Nesdoly
******************

Need a break from the 21st century rat-race? Travel to a different time and place via Destiny's Hands, a new novel recently released by Word Alive Press.

Experience Egyptian slavery, the exodus, crossing the Red Sea. Meet Moses, Aaron, Miriam, Hur, and Bezalel.  Eat quail and manna. Drink water from rocks. Live the temptations and questions of wilderness wandering.

Find out what readers are saying and where to purchase HERE.

Website: www.violetnesdoly.com

Brought out - Nesdoly

With vivid description the writer of Psalm 105 details the things God did to bring the Israelites out of Egypt:

"Their land (Egypt, where the Israelites were slaves) swarmed with frogs even in the chambers of their kings .... He gave them hail for rain and fiery lightning bolts through their land ... He shattered the trees of their country .... He opened the rock and water gushed out; it flowed through the desert like rain ....So He brought His people out with joy, His chosen ones with singing" (excerpts from Psalm 105).

There is in many of our histories the story of going from oppression to freedom, dotted similarly with signposts of God at work. I come from Mennonite stock. For this ethnic mix of original German, Swiss and Dutch peoples there is the story of an exodus from Europe to Russia and then to the U.S. and Canada in a quest for religious freedom.

My husband's Russian great-grandfather converted from the Orthodox faith to simple faith in Christ as taught by the Russian Baptists. As punishment for converting he was imprisoned for eight years in Siberia before he could bring his family to Canada.

The Secret Holocaust Diaries by Nonna Bannister is the fascinating true story of a young Russian girl who, from ages nine to about 20, kept detailed journals of her life. She describes her happy experiences as part of a large wealthy Russian family. She relates how the Bolsheviks expropriated her family's property. She tells of the dreadful winter of the German occupation of Russia when she was a teenager. She does eventually get to America. Hers is a story full of the evidences of God bringing someone out with joy and singing (though she shed many tears along the way).

In addition, many of us have a personal story of being in bondage to our old life and finding new life in Jesus.

And so it might be an interesting exercise to write a Psalm 105 of our own. It could be the story of our people. Or it could be our personal story where we recall the details of God taking us out of a life of slavery to sin. (If you write such a psalm, don't hesitate to use your imagination for the details, making it come alive like the psalmist does with the rain of hail, the fiery lightning, the shattered trees, and the miraculous gushing water!)

PRAYER: Dear God, thank You for the way you have worked in the history of my forefathers by bringing them to Canada, and for my own personal story of coming to freedom as your child. Amen.

(Adapted from "God Brings Us Out" first published on Other Food: daily devos August 8, 2011.)


- by Violet Nesdoly
*************

Website: www.violetnesdoly.com 

Find out about my newly released novel, Destiny's Hands. Find out where to order HERE.

Check out my Facebook Author page to keep up with my latest writerly news.