Looking Down on Fear

While on my journey to become a full-time writer, I work a monthly job at a trades day market. It provides the income we need to survive on beans and cornbread (and an assortment of chicken, fish and steak dishes. God is good).

This job is hard manual labor, but I love meeting people and getting out of the house five days a month.

These portable shops are set-up and torn-down each time, and I do some of that work in addition to my sales job. But one thing I always avoided was the ladder. *shiver* Anything over two rungs up and my knees Jell-O.

The day came and the last touch left required decorations on the top shelves running the length of the booth. With other workers occupied, I bravely grabbed the ladder and set to work.

I tried just the first two steps. Not high enough. I stepped to the third one and wanted to close my eyes. Instead, I glanced around. Wow. What a view. Familiar faces and corners took on a new depth, and I felt a rush of elation for no reason. I loved the new view. It was cool.

I remembered my fear of the third rung, but I didn’t tremble. I continued decorating the shelves, repositioning the ladder down the line as I worked. I paused at each spot to take in the view. I felt empowered. Not only was my fear conquered, I found that facing it brought a pleasant experience. I enjoyed it.

What else am I afraid of without cause? What’s keeping me from the wonderful things God has for me? How much have I missed in life because of fear?

Back to writing. I constantly force my characters to face their fears (sometimes I feel so mean). I strive to make the outcome realistic. If you can’t relate to my character, what good is the story? It’s not right when things turn out rosy for them and it could never happen that way in real life. But my characters do have the power to motivate you to face your own fear.

Whether it’s heights or sharing the gospel with someone or visiting a new church, I pray the real fears in life shine through my characters and into your heart; and hopefully give you a fresh perspective.

Rise above your fears–God has a new view for you.

For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. 2 Timothy 1:7 NKJV

For Him, Sarah Elisabeth

Lessons from the Lawn

  With the luscious spring comes my least favorite task: mowing grass. I hate it. But when my attempt to use the lawn mower to scalp it to the roots fails, I resign myself to the fact that I’ll have to cut grass all through the hot Texas summer.

The trademark I leave behind is the wiggle rows of tire tracks. I can’t hold to a straight line. Not in cutting grass, not in drawing on paper. Not in life.

Before each week begins, I detail my schedule hour by hour. Regardless of the number of years I’ve done this, it turns out the same–only half the list gets marked off (maybe). Why do I keep up a practice that sets me up for failure? Simple. Half the list gets done. It keeps me on course for my annual goals.

My fictional characters’ lives are the same. They have things planned on how life should be, when poof! it’s gone before they can blink. Sometimes it’s gone before I can blink. A character will say or do something that disrupts what I had planned for them. At those times, I’m tempted to highlight and delete where things went wrong in the plot.

But not even God does that. I make a bad choice. He stays with me until I get my line straight. In the end, the destination is the same–not perfect, but still filled with hope.

And the whole yard gets mowed.

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For Him,

Sarah Elisabeth

P.I.C.N.I.C. Problems

  In case you missed my post on the Jewels of Encouragement blog, here it is:

I encountered a P.I.C.N.I.C problem—again. 

I first learned that term during a Toastmaster’s roast speech given by “Joe” who had spent the last twenty-eight years working on computers. Joe said the problems he’d dealt with fell into two categories, the most common being P.I.C.N.I.C. He explained the techie term:

Problem

In

Chair

Not

In

Computer

I fall into that category more than any of us would want to admit. Nothing more frustrating than constant Error! Error! messages.

Back to my P.I.C.N.I.C problem of late. I was determined to learn how to format my own eBook for such devices I’ve never seen, such as Kindles, Nooks, Sony Readers, this-and-that newest gadget. Not to mention iPhones and Macs. Okay, we won’t go there.

I had a wonderful step-by-step guide to light my way down the lonely HTML path. Scary stuff, not because I’d never used it, but because I had.

The first step got me because it was deceptively simple. Download a freebie Programming Text Editor. Nothing to it.

Error! Error!

I tried again. And again.

I decided to skip that step and move on, trying to use the lame default text editor on my computer. Soon I was back to the freebie, determined to get it downloaded. It proved to be a P.I.C.N.I.C problem.

That overcome, I tried to copy my half-formatted Word doc into my prize editor. Another simple step.

Error! Error!

Three deep breaths, I tried to save the doc.

Error! Error!

Getting frustrated with the Error! Error!? Me too. In my brother’s words, I was ready to throw my laptop into the street. Well, I’d never do that to my baby, but one of us was about to lose it. I did the only thing I could do. Shut it down. Let the soft purr of the fan quiet to stillness. In that silence, it dawned on me the one thing I hadn’t tried to get this to work.

Prayer.

So I did. And I got specific. Lord, please let this program work right. Let me be able to do this.

I rebooted, opened my programs and got back to work. I discovered my latest P.I.C.N.I.C problem and resolved it. Onward.

It wasn’t until I shut down for the night with a hot shower that I realized another prayer was needed.

Thank You Lord, for letting me see my errors.

Ah. I should stop and pray about life’s P.I.C.N.I.C problems more often. God is always waiting with the answers to life's Error! Error! messages.

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Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths. Prov. 3:5-6 NKJV 

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For Him,

Sarah Elisabeth

Making the Right Choice

  About unPlanned:

unPlanned is the story of former Planned Parenthood director, Abby Johnson. It begins with her background of growing up in a small Texas town with two loving and supportive parents. Her journey takes a dramatic turn with college life, her first pregnancy and abortion. Before long, Abby gets drawn into a passionate career with Planned Parenthood in the hopes of helping women. A rising star in the organization, she becomes the director for the abortion facility. In the meantime, family and the workers at Coalition for Life are in continual prayer for Abby. A hard look at abortion procedures brings Abby to the truth of the organization she had dedicated her life to.

My Thoughts:

There could not have been a more appropriate time to watch this documentary than on Mother’s Day weekend. I sat with my mom and heard Abby’s story for the first time. I was struck by Abby’s strong spirit and desire to make right choices.

Focus on the Family (in association with Tyndale House Publishers and Franklin Films) presented both sides of the story well, staying with facts. I found it ironic that the frivolous lawsuit by Planned Parenthood is what brought Abby’s story to the attention of the mainstream media.

Mama:

My mom felt inspired by this story in that we should never give up hope, never stop praying for the ones we love. She was also encouraged that Coalition for Life is propagating the pro-life movement with love and compassion, not judgment. This is critical in all witnessing efforts. God is love. And He loves those behind that “iron curtain” as much as He loves anyone.

Recommendation:

This is one amazing story, and I highly recommend everyone to sit down with the family and watch it. (Parental discretion advised)

Drawing:

Leave a comment on this review and you'll be entered in a drawing for a copy of this DVD, unPlanned. I’ll announce the winner at the most appropriate time: Mother’s Day.

Deadline for comments is Sunday 12 p.m. CST

Wrap Up:

Abby experienced a life-changing event. I pray God will use it to save lives.

Watch the Trailer:

Note: Tyndale House Publishers provided me a complimentary copy of this DVD to review.

Kittens and Prayers

       I’m not much on the forwards that inundate my email inbox, but this was too good to pass up. And it provoked some interesting thoughts which I’ll get into after you read:

 

The Pastor’s Cat

     Dwight Nelson recently told a true story about the pastor of his church. He had a kitten that climbed up a tree in his backyard and then was afraid to come down. The pastor coaxed, but the kitty would not come down. The tree wasn’t sturdy enough to climb, so the pastor decided that if he tied a rope to his car and pulled it until the tree bent down, he could then reach up and get the kitten.

     That's what he did, all the while checking his progress in the car. He figured if he went just a little bit further, the tree would be bent sufficiently for him to reach the kitten. But as he moved the car a little forward, the rope broke.

     The tree went 'boing!' and the kitten instantly sailed through the air - out of sight.

     The pastor felt terrible. He walked all over the neighborhood asking people if they'd seen a little kitten. No, nobody had seen a stray kitten. So he prayed, 'Lord, I just commit this kitten to your keeping,' and went on about his business.

     A few days later he was at the grocery store, and met one of his church members. He happened to look into her shopping cart and was amazed to see cat food. Everyone knew this woman was a cat hater, so he asked her, 'Why are you buying cat food when you hate cats so much?' She replied, 'You won't believe this,' and then told him how her little girl had been begging her for a cat, but she kept refusing. Then a few days before, the child had begged again, so the Mom finally told her daughter, 'Well, if God gives you a cat, I'll let you keep it.'

     She told the pastor, 'I watched my child go out in the yard, get on her knees, and ask God for a cat. And really, Pastor, you won't believe this, but I saw it with my own eyes. A kitten suddenly came flying out of the blue sky, with its paws outspread, and landed right in front of her.'

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      After some doubled over laughter, I thought, “True story? Yeah right.” It’s too bizarre. Too outrageous. Too unlikely. Yet how many things like that have I experienced? My life is a beautiful example of just how far God will go to ignite joy in His children’s hearts.      Maybe the story is true, maybe it isn’t. But why am I so quick to doubt? Instead, I should pray, “Not my will, but Yours be done,” and trust Him with the rest.      So the next time you pray, look up. You never know when God may send the answer in the form of a kitty flying over your fence of doubt.