Category: My Faith

Author life, My Faith

Writing- test of endurance and willingness to take a LEAP OF FAITH

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So many points along the writing journey have required a leap of faith.

–Taking a writing course (even when it cost money)

–Believing that my manuscript was good enough to submit to an agent, magazine publication, or a book publishing house.

–Submitting the manuscript for the possible acceptance/rejection of that agent, publication, or a book publishing house. (FOLLOW THROUGH)

–Going to a Writing Conference

–Signing up for a 15 minute appointment with an expert at the Writing Conference

–Talking to other people that I didn’t know at the Writing Conference

–Joining a critique group

–Setting up a Blog, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter promoting the fact that I am a writer.

–Actually telling people face-to-face that I am a writer.  That was and is probably the hardest!  Especially when I don’t have anything published to show for myself (yet) 🙂

And,
I have taken each of these steps of faith along my writer’s path! And survived! God was (and is) with me every step along the way.

And, currently in my writing journey, I am facing another LEAP.  Can’t explain the whole thing, but it is there.  And looking very impossible!

So that’s why I’m reminding myself of the faithfulness of God.

Philippians 1:6 “being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.”

Not to take this verse too far out of context but.. 1 Thess 4:24 “The one who calls you is faithful and he will do it.”

Many of Jesus’s miracles required the person he was helping to take a leap of faith.

Can you think of any examples?

Here’s an example from something I studied last week:

Jesus’s first miracle…turning the water into wine.

Have you ever noticed that the servants had to take the “water” to the master and present it to him as wine.  The question is, when exactly did they KNOW they had wine in their jars?

I admire their faith.

I want to imitate their faith.

I will take my leap of faith.  (Hold me accountable, please!)

I will let you know how it goes.  Are you facing a leap of faith?  I’d love to hear about it.

P.S. BTW, a good reminder. Even if what I want to happen doesn’t happen, God is there.  And HE is enough!

My Faith

5 Minute Friday — OVERCOME

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Giving the 5 minute prompt a try again this week!

The word is OVERCOME

The first thing that pops into my mind is Mandisa’s Song “You’re an Overcomer.”  Love that song, and I ran to it regularly when I did a couch to 5K Bible study.

I was overcoming my fear of running, my fear of making a fool of myself in a running group, and my fear of not being able to do it.  

It’s not on my current playlist, but if I hear it, my mind goes straight to the memory of that group, and the new friends I made while in it.

Mandisa’s song “Overcomer”

Then, my mind is drawn to all of the things that overcome me…

-I am overcome by fear
-I am overcome by anger and bitterness
-I am overcome by my obstacles
-I am overcome by my bad habits.
-I am overcome by worry

But every writer knows you get RID of the passive voice!  Use strong verbs!

So that needs to flip!

-I overcome fear.
-I overcome anger and bitterness.
-I overcome obstacles.
-I overcome my bad habits.
-I overcome worry.

BUT HOW?

A verse come to mind…

“Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good!” (Rom 12:21)

That verse gives a strategy –Good overcomes evil.  Kind of like fighting the negative with the positive.  

(My inner voice says…But I lack the strength to do that!)

So I keep searching the Scriptures… love this verse!

Jesus said “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace.  In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”   (John 16:33)

As my time limit draws to a close, I’m summing it up with…

Jesus = key to overcoming–being an overcomer in his strength and not our own!

Now to go live it!  I’ll tell you how it goes, if you tell me how it goes for you 🙂

My Faith

5 Minute Friday DISCOVER

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Today I’m trying something new–or should I say “discovering” something new!

It is called a 5 minute write.  I’m hoping it will help me dive more deeply into “Blogging World.”  
I’m actually scared to death to post this because this is my writing. On display. And probably to other blogger/writers!  But here goes:

The word today is DISCOVER.
What am I discovering?
How insecure I am?…  Nah.  I knew that already.
How much I still have to learn?  Maybe… 
Or, how refreshing it is to try something new…learn something new…find out something new!

New things for me happen constantly…
1.  In the World Language classroom as I shift the style of my teaching practices and try new techniques. (I teach Spanish)
2.  With my teenagers (I have 3 of them–talk about another culture) as they try to teach me what it is they are saying, doing, and buying.  
3.  Technology…need I say more?  (Look at me today…attempting to embed my post on someone else’s blog…incredible discovery about to take place!)
4.  Conversation connections that surprise me–I am amazed at what I discover I have in common with the least likely candidates.
5.  In Scripture…I discover a thought that gives me the strength to meet the day.
What about you?  What are you discovering? What keeps you from discovery?
Well, my five minutes went quickly!  (I have to admit it was more like 15…but hey this is my first attempt)