Category Archives: Christian Living

Friday Findings

God is Near

Everybody does stupid things. This spring one of my sons took his turn at it, and in early June he had a meeting to sort out the consequences. My husband and I went with him for moral support.

It meant an early start and a two-hour road trip. I knew people were praying, and I was too. Before we left, I wanted at least a few still moments with the Lord. It had been a busy week. I felt stretched, but not quite to the point of breaking, and at peace with God in the midst of all the activity and the uncertainty of what this day would bring.

With only minutes to spare before heading out the door, I squeezed in a short prayer time and then opened my Bible. The psalm of the day was Psalm 139. To me, that’s this son’s psalm.

His psalm, right before his big meeting. A reminder of God’s presence.

Even though I hadn’t been consciously tense, I felt myself relax in His care, His nearness. His provision.

I believe God is always with me—Jesus promised it—so why is it so hard to really live that way? Why do I still need reminders? Shouldn’t I be able to simply stop, breathe, and know He’s here?

For now I still need reminders, and I’m thankful for this one.

Places of Renewal

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I’ll be in the middle of the Write! Canada conference when these words are posted (well, okay, I’ll be sleeping—I set the post time early in the morning).

There may or may not be time for me to check on the blog and reply to any comments. Some of the people who might ordinarily comment will be at the conference too, and what a treat it will be to spend time with them.

I love this conference. It’s a great opportunity for developing my abilities as a writer, and for making professional connections. That is, after all, what it’s about and why I invest the time and money to attend.

Want to know what I love even more about it? The sense of homecoming, to people familiar and unknown who somehow “get” me. We’re each unique, but they get not only my faith but my writerly quirks. And I get theirs.

We belong, and to me that’s a rare feeling.

My favourite memories of Write! Canada’s past are of impromptu moments: sometimes professional, sometimes personal. God moments.

Where do you go for renewal?

Our Identity in Christ

Hero Worship

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I love hero stories, of incorruptible leaders you’d follow through battle or disaster when there’s no way out—because if anyone can make it, they can. And they won’t just save themselves, they’ll rescue as many as possible.

The popular trend in fiction is flawed protagonists like us, who muddle through to victory and give us hope we can do the same. I understand it, but it’s not much fun.

I miss the wonder, the larger-than-life dream, the characters I could admire.

Maybe that’s why I re-read favourite novels. I don’t have many “new” fictional heroes and a few have fallen to moral lapses along the way. In new fiction, the best I can hope for is a quasi-hero or heroine, the reluctant hero model where s/he grows into the role and may someday be pedestal-worthy to me.

Hero-worship… could it be the soul’s instinctive longing for something—someOne—higher, bigger, greater? That God-shaped hole inside us aching to be filled?

God took on flesh and dwelt among us. Jesus subjected Himself to human limitations to reach us. He went farther than that. He gave Himself as a willing sacrifice to rescue us from bondage to the enemy of our souls.

He wasn’t a hero sneaking into the strong man’s lair only to be caught and executed as a failure. He came intentionally, deliberately, with a plan so outlandish that the devil missed it entirely until it was too late.

Jesus, Son of David, Son of Man, Son of God, Messiah, Saviour, Prince of Peace. Arrested and condemned to death. He could have called more than twelve legions of angels to rescue Him.

Remember Elisha’s servant’s eyes being opened to see the angel army poised to rescue them? I think Jesus saw the heavenly hosts around the Cross and held them back by His own will. He chose to finish His work.

He saved us. At inexpressible cost.

How does that make you feel?

To me, it demonstrates one and for all the absolute and utter proof that He loves us with a strong and active love.

If our spirits are open to understand what He has done, and why it was necessary, what other response can there be but absolute and utter devotion and loyalty?

That’s what I’d give unreservedly to a fictional hero if I were in a story. It wouldn’t be a choice, it’d just happen. That’s what I want to give to my God. It’s His right. It’s cause and effect.

But God is unseen and His whispers are soft. The world is loud and in-your-face. I need to choose this day, each day, to take every thought, idea, doubt, suggestion to God—take it captive to Christ—and examine it from a point of unquestioning loyalty and devotion to my Saviour. My Rescuer. My Hero.

A fitting song is the newsboys’ “We Remember.”

Writers and Musicians

God’s Unfailing Love

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The NIV declares of God, “his love endures forever” 43 times. “Unfailing love” appears 40 times, always describing God’s love. These results are just from the Old Testament. The New Testament overflows with God’s love too, so I assume the writers used phrases that translate differently.

But Old Testament life seems to have a harsher edge to it than New Testament and into today. God was preparing the way, but the Messiah had not yet come. The Holy Spirit came to individuals but not to all. If God spoke to a person it was usually through a prophet or an angel.

God was preparing a people for Himself and there were a lot of growing pains. There still are, even now when we can rely on the Holy Spirit living in us, Christ in us, the hope of glory.

In the middle of the hardship of Old Testament life as God sculpted a reluctant people for Himself, when their actions often required correction in the form of invading armies and exile, His Holy Word proclaims His unfailing, forever-enduring love.

Whatever we face today, we can know and rely on God’s love God for us. There is hope.

Bullying and Prayer

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Bullying includes harm by word as well as by fist.

Increased awareness and social pressure is presumably making a difference, but in some cases maybe it’s making the perpetrators craftier. Texting and social media make it easier to shoot from a distance.

I’ve been reading lately about cyber-bullying, including some cases that allegedly drove the victims to suicide. If that’s true, you’d hope the spiteful talkers would feel remorse for what they’ve done. I suspect they’re saying “what a loser” and still blaming the victim.

School administrations are often helpless to intervene, and may even deny the problem now that it’s politically incorrect.

Our communities’ kids are under attack, and that’s nothing new. They’re vulnerable to one another—and to the enemy of our souls. How can they defend themselves, when it hurts too much to just walk away?

In Psalm 109, David opens his prayer with these words:

My God, whom I praise, do not remain silent, for people who are wicked and deceitful have opened their mouths against me; they have spoken against me with lying tongues. With words of hatred they surround me; they attack me without cause. (Ps. 109:1-3, NIV*)

David was bullied too, even as an adult. But David, a man after God’s own heart, knew where to go for help. How many of our kids do?

His prayer starts with this cry for help (Ps. 109:1-5) and then launches into what looks like a prayer for vengeance (Ps. 109:6-20). In typical Old Testament mindset, it carries the punishment for the bully’s acts into the lives of his wife and children.

Living under grace, I’m not comfortable with that. I’d rather pray for our kids’ bullies to be set free from their own spiritual darkness and to come into Jesus’ light.

I can’t call down vengeance. That’s God’s territory and I’ve needed too much grace myself. But look again at those verses. Sometimes it’s only when “what goes around comes around,” when we’re on the receiving end instead of in control, that we realize the truth.

God knows what it will take for bullies to understand the damage they’re doing, and if personal experience is what it takes, then may He bring it on. I still pray that with the end of the bully-life will come rebirth into Kingdom-life.

Ultimately, the prayer asks God to deal with the bullies. David knows he can’t fight this himself. Hear what he says:

For I am poor and needy, and my heart is wounded within me. I fade away like an evening shadow; I am shaken off like a locust. (Ps. 109:22-23, NIV*)

Can’t you feel his pain?

David knows how to pray. He comes to God, the highest Authority, and he holds nothing back: this is how I feel, this is what I’m asking in my anger and my pain, I’m asking You to repay my accusers. And I’m asking You to “help me, LORD my God; save me according to your unfailing love. Let them know that it is your hand, that you, LORD, have done it.” (Ps. 109:26-27, NIV*)

See how his prayer comes around to God? Not only for vengeance and help, but for God’s own glory? David is under God’s care, and he wants the world to know not just for his own sake, but for God’s.

He has laid out his need and his pain, and now he turns his focus to his God. In the moment, while circumstances are unchanged, David finds the strength to voice praise:

With my mouth I will greatly extol the LORD; in the great throng of worshipers I will praise him. For he stands at the right hand of the needy, to save their lives from those who would condemn them. (Ps. 109:30-31, NIV*)

David left us a valuable prayer to offer for our youth, for our friends, for ourselves. It reminds us that our God is Mighty to Save.

Marching Forward

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I don’t know what time of year our local writers’ group began, or how many months I attended before guilt made me write something: just a short letter to the editor of our local newspaper.

The group, bless their hearts, praised me as if I’d written a feature article. I started listening to my thoughts—and to God—a little better and writing inspirational and personal experience essays.

Got my first rejection letter—and a positive one at that—on my birthday one May.

When a novel started brewing, I resisted for a year before giving in. My earliest dated notes for that manuscript are from March 1994. That means I’ve lived with some of these characters for 17 years now, ignoring the long gestation period. No wonder we have cake every March!

Three years ago, again in March, God nudged me into this blog. It’s been a great way to meet some new friends in the faith, and I need to publicly say that not once has He not provided the input for a weekly devotional. He is faithful.

Since March seems to be the month for significant writing beginnings for me (not that I’d turn one down in, say, September) it feels appropriate to choose now to join the Christians keeping gratitude journals.

Not lists of positive things, but lists acknowledging that those things are gifts from God who loves us. Lists that accept the gifts and thank the Giver.

I’ll add a thank-you to Ann Voskamp, whose lyrical book, One Thousand Gifts, convinced me to give this gratitude journal idea a try.

I won’t post a weekly list, but here are the first gifts I’ve recorded (resisting the urge to play catch-up for the ones in my memory):

Bright, white seagull in a clear blue sky.
Spring sunshine.
Dancing candle flames—and the little girl who shared them with me.
Expansive stillness moment in my spirit.
Michael Tait singing “Glorious”.
Sparkles on my journal cover—and that it was waiting on my shelf for this purpose.
Fluffy black cat nestled on the back deck.
Sun stripe bright on green moss on the willow branch.
Small brown sparrow in the bare, brown hedge branches.

10. White-gold sun disc behind translucent clouds.

Thank You, God!

Lent

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The calendar is leaving me behind again. This past Wednesday—Ash Wednesday—I suddenly realized, “Lent is beginning.”

Full marks for observation?

I grew up in a denomination that didn’t put much emphasis on Lent, and I sure didn’t learn much about it from watching childhood friends give up chocolate or candy.

But if we look at fasting, which is what the “giving up for Lent” really is, there’s value in that. It’s not a mindless ritual that lets you diet a bit so you can eat a larger chocolate bunny.

It’s not giving something up in penance, maybe not even to show devotion. It’s abstaining from something—or adding in something—to make more room for God in our lives. To get closer to Him.

Ash Wednesday… and I was wishing I’d seen it coming, had put thought and prayer into discovering what I might do to better make room for myKing.

But He’s been planting seeds all along. Showing me how noisy it is in my mind. Wooing me with wistful thoughts of silence. Of silence with Him.

So it’s my intent to take a few minutes’ deliberate quiet with Him each day. Maybe over tea. And whenever I catch myself humming or making gratuitous noise, I will take that as a reminder to quiet my spirit and turn my thoughts toward Him.

They’ll be this child’s special moments with her Papa. My version of a Lenten fast.

Janet Sketchley

Writing Christian Mysteries & Suspense