I realized today that I have sorely neglected this blog, which is not normal for me. Looking back, I used to write a post nearly every day or at least every week. To let over a month go by…well…I will use this time to try to bring you up to date.
If you follow me on social media, you know that I participated in a couple of contests both a scavenger hunt and a BookSweeps promotion. The goal of both was to hopefully appeal to new readers to join my newsletter list. I have two newsletters scheduled for June – one is the COVER REVEAL for Joseph’s story – along with the title of the book. The other is my June newsletter with a bit of a makeover. I’m still learning how to make newsletters interesting for you to read and hopefully we will all have fun in the process. Bear with me as I learn please!
Part of the time I’ve been pulling ideas together for a devotional to offer free for people who sign up for my newsletter, but alas, that plan has been sidetracked by many things. I am not letting it go though, so I will announce it when/if it happens.
In the meantime, we have been steadily going through things in our house to sell/donate/throw out with the goal of moving. We’ve lived in this house for over 33 years. Raised our kids here, so there are a lot of memories. But as our neighborhood gives rise to a younger generation, this house needs a younger family to inhabit its rooms and halls. It will be hard to bid it farewell when that time comes, but we are preparing both the house and ourselves. Randy is doing most of the decluttering while I continue to write, etc. But I’ve parted with many things I thought I wanted until I realized that sentimental value only goes so far.
Of course, we want to find the new house before we put this one on the market, but so far in the place we are looking, there are very few unless we choose to build. I will try to keep my readers up to date when that time comes.
Also in the meantime, I’ve been working feverishly on Eve’s story. Well, maybe not so feverishly, but I’m working on it. This book is due next March, but I want the first draft done by July, if I can. This book will be different than any I’ve done before because Eve lived in a time we can’t fathom. It’s been fun imagining Eden and the unseen world, and life after the fall, but I have never plotted a book chapter by chapter. I’m used to life after the flood, after rain came and people lived in times not so different than our own except for their culture. But Eve’s world…they either knew how to do everything because God told them or they had to learn. I’m going with a mix of the two. But how do you make a container to hold food? How do you make clothing without killing the few animals in your flocks and herds and using their skins? How do you make a spindle for wool or a loom to weave? How do you even know what weaving looks like? I’ve researched things I never dreamed I’d have to look for, but it’s been fascinating to travel on this journey with Eve. More to come on her in the next two years.
We celebrated 44 years of marriage last week, and can’t believe how fast that time has flown. And we’ve had a few concerns to infiltrate our lives this past month. No one gets through this life without struggle. But God is good and gracious and we are learning more each day to trust in Him and His timing.
We’ve had the joy of finally spending time with friends again in a backyard celebration. They were married 50 years! It was the best time. But I discovered something about myself when I got home that evening. I realized what COVID has done to so many of us this past year when I began to cry after the party had ended and I was reading before bed. I miss people. I miss up close and personal and hugs and time in person with people. I’ve lived this past year without much fear of this disease so I didn’t think I was so lonely until that moment. God did not make us to be isolated. I hope we never face a situation where we allow that to happen to us again because while I do not make light of real concerns of those with health issues, I fear we forget how many more problems our isolation has created in our world.
I saw a woman at a store the other day and the mask mandate was not in effect any more there, and she turned to me and said how good it was to see a face. I’ve missed so many smiles.
This is not a condemnation on anyone who views this situation differently. That’s another thing this year has brought about that is deeply concerning and it is that no one seems to be able to have a reasonable discussion any more. The cancel culture has silenced the voices of anyone who disagrees with them. This ought not to be. Are we really that type of people? Do we really think we are right and everyone else is wrong with absolutely no room for debate? How far we have fallen.
Which brings me back to the work I’ve been doing. The writing is not easy, but the stories in the Bible give us so much to think about, so much to learn from. Joseph’s story is coming out next March, while Miriam’s Song is already available. And in both cases these people dealt with those who wanted to destroy them. Joseph suffered horribly at the hands of his own brothers. Miriam and her people at the hands of their Egyptian overlords. While these stories are mainly about Israel and her people, they apply to all of us. Because in the end, we will all likely be betrayed by someone we love and enslaved by people. How? We may not be held captive in a foreign land, but any time we choose to hold a grudge we become enslaved to the hurt someone else caused us.
Forgiveness is always the end game. God came to earth to die so He could forgive us. And in turn He expects us to forgive others. When we refuse to do that, we end up like the people who try to silence everyone else. Or we go along with the crowd that shouts the loudest and we don’t stop to think what we are really doing and saying.
I hope and pray that we are not those people. I am often too busy and too silent, but my heart is not uncaring and my prayers are daily/hourly. This world can keep us caught in a whirlwind of busyness in our vain attempts to find meaning. Or maybe we just have too much to do (and too much clutter). But this world cannot keep us from leaning on Jesus and speaking when we need to speak, politically correct or not.
Sometimes, hard as it is, we do need to learn from Scripture – when to be silent as Jesus was before they killed him so He could save us – and when to speak for those who cannot speak for themselves – like Esther. Either way, we need the only Savior Jesus and we need His help to find the truth in a dark world. The light IS shining. But we have to seek Him to find it.
~Selah
