April is here, and we are hoping for nice weather with showers that bring about May flowers!
To celebrate the start of April, I have partnered with Celebrate Lit for a giveaway just for you!
Here is your chance to win 35 books or a $500 Amazon card to buy a ton of books for yourself in Celebrate Lit's April Showers Bring May Flowers Multi-Author Giveaway.
Click here to enter: https://promosimple.com/ps/29ac1/2024-april-showers
The giveaway is going on now through April 21.
Spring is almost upon us and it is the perfect time to curl up with a good book! With this in mind, I have partnered with Celebrate Lit for a giveaway just for you to build up that spring TBR pile!
Here is your chance to win over 35 books or a $500 Amazon card to buy a ton of books for yourself in Celebrate Lit's Hop into Spring Giveaway.
Click here to enter: https://promosimple.com/ps/294ea/2024-hop-into-spring
The giveaway is going on now through March 24!
One of my favorite words that is used in conjunction with God is 'lavish'. There's something in that word that just speaks to my soul about the quality of God's affection for me. It's so easy for me to believe the lie that God tolerates me, that He loves me because He has to, but that's not the case. God loves me with a lavish love.
"See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him." (1 John 3:1, NIV) To be adopted by the King of kings is a privilege indeed, and He doesn't adopt us out of obligation, but out of His great love for us. He was absolutely thrilled when that adoption was finalized, and we know that the Bible says that there was a celebration in heaven on that day. (Luke 15:7)
Because of this love, He also lavishes grace upon us. "In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace that he lavished on us." (Ephesians 1:7-8a, NIV) His measure of grace isn't skimpy or insufficient. It never runs out. He never gets tired of giving us grace or forgiveness. There will never be a time when we have used up our allotment of grace, or when we have done something so wrong that God throws His hands up and abandons us. He has an abundance of grace and from that abundance, He gives it to us lavishly. How amazing is that?
I spent so many years knowing that God loved me, but feeling like I had to prove myself worthy of His love and grace. I knew how unworthy I was and that I mess up all the time. In my head, I told myself that my best wasn't good enough (which is true) so I needed to try harder to prove I was worth it (which was not true). The very definition of grace claims that I can't earn it and the same is true with love. The fact that I'm not worthy of it makes it that much more precious.
God's resources of grace and love never run out. He is rich in both commodities. He is the author of both commodities. They are not dependent on me in anyway. I can't be good enough to earn them, and I can't be bad enough to lose them. There is a limitless supply, and God has no need to hoard it or save it, so He lavishly gives to all who believe. Hallelujah!
Photo by Pixabay: https://www.pexels.com/photo/seashore-269583/
Valentine's Day is here, and I wanted to take a moment to tell all my readers how grateful I am for your love and support. In light of this, I have partnered with Celebrate Lit for a giveaway just for you.
Here is your chance to win 45 books or a $500 Amazon card to buy a ton of books for yourself in Celebrate Lit's We Love Our Readers Giveaway.
Click here to enter: https://promosimple.com/ps/28cdb/2024-we-love-our-readers-multi-author
The giveaway is going on now through Feb 18
It started when I got a gift card for Christmas to Barnes & Noble. I was looking up books on my wish list and decided that one of my purchases would be Fervent by Priscilla Shirer. It had been on my list for a long time, and I thought it would be a good one to start the year reading.
For the month of January, my church has been focusing on a series called "Habits" about different things we should make a habit of in the coming year. One of the topics being prayer, of course.
Then our new Bible study started up. The study that was chosen is called When You Pray. Our leader has us paired randomly with a new prayer partner every week. We exchange numbers and text one another with prayers, requests, and encouragement throughout the week.
My principal started something new for our staff this year, too. She had all of us pick a verse for the year, then printed them out so that we could pray those verses for each other. In staff meeting, we take a some time to do it all together as well.
This past Sunday, when I was looking up a verse to share on social media as I do every week, what verse should just happen to pop up? Luke 18:1, "And he told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart."
I don't believe in coincidence. I believe that when things like this line up over and over and over again, that God is at work, guiding and directing my life. Obviously something that is weak in my life right now is prayer, and it's something that God wants me to grow in.
Here are some things that I have become aware of:
- I often jump straight to my requests and don't take time to praise God.
- When I make an effort to praise God first, my heart settles and becomes less anxious as I'm reminded of the God who is listening to my prayer.
- It's easy to say that I will pray for others, and harder to follow through.
- Having a specific focus (a prayer partner for the week, a verse to pray for someone) helps me to take the time to pray for others.
- It can be convicting when I pray, and God uses that time to align my heart to His, and to make me aware of the sins and wrong attitudes that I have so that I can confess them and repent.
I know that God is faithful to finish the good work He began, and that He will continue to grow me in this area. It will be interesting to see where He leads this year.
Photo by Tima Miroshnichenko: https://www.pexels.com/photo/woman-in-white-sweater-and-blue-denim-jeans-sitting-on-bed-5199759/
As the new year begins, we wanted to say how thankful we are for all your love and support throughout the year! What a better way to celebrate you than with an awesome giveaway just for you. I have partnered with Celebrate Lit Publicity Group to giveaway over 45+ books or a $500 Amazon card to buy a ton of books for yourself in Celebrate Lit's Happy New Year Readers Giveaway.
Click here to enter: https://promosimple.com/ps/285a7/2024-happy-new-years-readers
The event and giveaway is going on now through Jan 21
“I’m going to say it one
more time, man. A Christmas album is the best option for you.” Ozi North leaned
back in his desk chair looking relaxed, but Matthew knew that the music
producer was frustrated with him. After his slip in an interview, his sales had
dropped and then continued in a downward trend. To make matters worse, people had
started a #boycottMatthewWhittier campaign on social media urging people not to
listen to any of his music.
Matthew propped his right
ankle on his left knee and sighed. “You know that isn’t going to happen, Ozi. I
can’t do it.”
Ozi shook his head. “You
are bound and determined to be the martyr in this situation, but this is the
mess you got yourself into. I’m offering you a way out, but you refuse to take
it.” He leaned forward, placing his elbows on his black desk. “No one even
wants to talk about supporting your next album. Your other option is to take a
sabbatical and pray to God that one day what you said will be forgiven and
forgotten so that you can make music again.”
Matthew ran a hand down
his face. A year ago, he had been one of the top selling Christian artists in
the nation. Crowded arenas had sung his songs with him in worship. Churches
regularly used his songs for their worship time. Now, no one wanted to hear
from him at all.
“How long can they hold a
grudge? It’s not like I committed some serious sin! All I said was that there
was nothing worth celebrating at Christmas.” Even as he repeated it, he didn’t
see anything wrong with what he said. Christmas was over-commercialized even
within the church. The holiday didn’t even take place during the time of year when
Jesus was most likely born. As far as he could tell, that day in December only
promoted self, greed, and indulgence.
Ozi sighed, and Matthew
took a moment to study the man who had been his mentor and supporter since the
beginning of his career. Ozi hadn’t seemed to age a bit in the ten years that
they had worked together. His black hair was done in cornrows tight against his
scalp. Black glasses framed his brown eyes and he had a goatee. His brown
fingers drummed a beat on top of his desk.
“That was only your
opening statement,” Ozi reminded Matthew. “If I remember correctly, you started
on a tirade that the interviewer had to cut off because you were getting a
little too – animated.”
Matthew shrugged. The
actual interview was a blur for him, and he had refused to watch it or listen
to it after it happened. To be honest, he had thought it would blow over faster
than it had.
“I’m entitled to my
opinion,” he said folding his arms across his chest.
“You certainly are, but
people generally don’t like to be called ‘dumb sheep’ and hear their pastors
called ‘wolves’ and ‘false teachers’ for ‘exploiting’ the birth of Jesus for
monetary gain.” Ozi looked down at some notes on his desk. “You also said that
anyone who bought gifts, had a tree, or listened to Christmas music should
question their Christianity, because they were worshiping the gods of
commercialism, greed, and comfort.”
While he didn’t remember
saying it, Matthew didn’t question that it had happened, because they were
thoughts he had often had before. He never went to church during the month of
December because of his strong feelings on the subject.
It wasn’t that he didn’t
think that the birth of Christ was important. He often read the accounts in the
gospels about the nativity, but never in December. It was better to keep it
separated from the taint of modern Christmas celebrations.
“It seems like we’re at
an impasse,” Matthew finally said. “You think the only way to get back into the
good graces of the industry is to do a Christmas album, and I refuse to do
that.”
Ozi grinned. “Why not?
You could release a new Christmas classic called Why Christmas is
Detrimental to Christianity and let’s not forget that great hit, Christmas
is for Suckers.”
“I’ve never said that!”
“I believe that was your
closing line before the interviewer cut you off,” Ozi said with a chuckle as he
looked back down at the transcript. “Yep, here it is. ‘People should wake up
and realize that Christmas is for suckers.’ Seems like you were about to go on,
but the interviewer had more sense than you did and stopped the interview
before you dug your grave any further.”
Matthew frowned. “Okay, I
might have gone a little far with that.”
“You think?” Ozi scoffed.
“You insulted almost everyone that would support your music. How did you expect
them to react? Even the people who tried to support your beliefs did so
tentatively and reluctantly because they didn’t want to be seen as supporting
you personally after how antagonistic you were. If you genuinely wanted to
change the culture, you couldn’t have done it in a worse way.”
“Well, I can’t go back
and undo it. I refuse to apologize for my beliefs. There’s no way I’m going to
make a Christmas album. So now what?” Matthew felt his stomach twist. He knew
that Ozi could very well tell him that he appreciated what he had done, but
Glory Records no longer had a place for him there. If it came to that, he
didn’t know what his next step would be.
Ozi stood up and came
around his desk and perched on the front of it. “I know you well, and I know
that you love the Lord dearly. There’s a reason why your music has been so well-received
for the past decade. There’s a chance that if you lie low for a little while,
you can stage a comeback, but I’d give it at least a year. People have a short
memory most of the time.”
“What do I do in the
meantime?”
“Write your music like
you would normally. You can even use the studio to record it.” Ozi put a hand
on Matthew’s shoulder. “You have a God-given ability to express the truths of
God in a way that resonates with people. I believe that He has more for you in
the future. This is just a little setback. You’ll get through it.”
“Yeah, I can do that.”
Matthew was thankful that he had lived modestly and saved most of what he had
earned. It seemed like he was going to need that savings for a while.
Ozi smiled. “And if you
need a little extra money, you can always teach piano to kids in the
neighborhood.”
“I doubt any mothers are
going to want me near their children. I might tell them Santa Claus is a myth
or that the Easter Bunny isn’t real.” Matthew didn’t even want to get started
on that tangent.
With a laugh, Ozi stood
up. “Glad to see you can joke about it.”
Matthew got to his feet.
Ozi was a good friend, but he was also a busy man. He no doubt had other things
to do than deal with Matthew’s mess.
A tap on the door drew
their attention. The person on the other side didn’t wait for an answer. She
burst through, her chest rising and falling as if she had run, but Matthew
wasn’t sure how she would manage that with the three-inch heels that she was
wearing.
“I’m sorry to barge in,”
she said, “but I need help!”
