C.S.Lewis once wanted to become a great poet. A ruling passion to achieve acclaim as a poet controlled him at one time.But after he came to Christ, another passion,his passion for Christ, must have over-ruled his earlier desire, because in one of his letters he openly admitted that his frantic desire to succeed as a great poet became almost an idol to him that God had to put an end to it.
The C.S.Lewis, whom we have come to love through his writings is well known internationally for his prose writing rather than for his poetry. If the author had clung to his dream of becoming a poet and not yielded to God's guiding, the world may have lost the chance to enjoy the reading of the Chronicles of Narnia, The Screwtape Letters, Mere Christianity.
I chuckle at the thought that even I once wanted to become a great writer. The truth is, until I turned 50, I had no idea what the word freelance writer truly meant. Creative cooking was my passion, not creative writing. Tired of being the guinea pig for my recipes, my husband decided to divert my attention by asking me to write a cookbook. His suggestion sounded splendid in my ears, but what did I know about writing a cookbook?
Luckily, I came across a writers' correspondence course in a magazine, and decided to enroll with the hope of writing my cookbook. But by the time I finished my course, I had completely forgotten about writing a cookbook; Instead,I started to write inspirational articles and devotionals for Christian market. It's amazing how God's leading takes us to places where we would have never thought of going. I never intended to become a writer. But, here, I am pounding the keys and writing stories or posting blogs. There are days when I want to just quit writing. But I don't, because I know I'm called to write.
I remember a time in the early days of my writing life,when I got frustrated over a my story writing and spending the night tossing and turning in bed ,wondering , whether to quit writing or not, I came down the stairs the next morning in a sulky mood. As I entered the kitchen, I saw something bright and red flashing from the window sill. Smiling atop the potted hibiscus plant on the sill were three freshly blossomed , jumbo-sized flowers. Ever since I noticed the buds on the plant, I was waiting for them to bloom. But they didn't until that very morning. Perfectly timed, they had blossomed on the day I desperately needed some uplifting of spirit.
It was as if God was trying to cheer me up with the bouquet of flowers. I felt as if God was telling me, if you could tend a dying plant and nurture it to grow and blossom, you could definitely tend to your writing and make it flourish it too. Not wanting to forget His message, I quickly grabbed my camera and took a snapshot of the plant. Whenever writing becomes a battle and quitting seems an easy option, the photograph on my desk enables me to keep going.
Another time, I was going through my old journals, when I came across something I had written some years back. It was the Lord’s Prayer I had written for my own understanding. I didn’t intend to share it with anyone or ever thought of submitting to any publication. But something within me nudged me to submit it for publication. I quickly discarded the idea, thinking that no publisher would ever want to publish something written by a lay person like me on the Lord's Prayer. There's no way I'm going to send it to any publisher, I thought and tried to get away from the thought. But the nudging went on.
Finally I gave in, and submitted&the article to the Edmonton Journal with the least expectation of getting an acceptance. I was living in Saskatoon at that time and I had no way of checking whether my article was published or not unless I went to the local library to get the Edmonton Journal. But I didn't bother to do that. Three Sundays later I received a phone call from a woman asking me whether I was the person who wrote the article, Let's pray with a clear understanding in the Edmonton Journal. When I said yes, she thanked me for writing the article and told me how it had helped her to better understand the Prayer. I had no idea how she obtained my phone number, but we spent at least half an hour talking on the phone that morning.
If I want to answer Brenda’s question, “One change that transformed my writing life,” I’d point to the above two reasons that keep me going still.
Monday, November 28, 2011
Sunday, November 27, 2011
Precious link to God-P-R-A-Y-E-R.
This morning when I woke up, it's still dark outside,but my bedside clock read 6.45 in bright red. Yes, it was another morning of hurried prayer uttered on knees, a quick shower and ten minutes dress up, devotional read, cereal instead of warm oatmeal with cinnamon and honey, grab the jacket and out the door. Yes, it was one of those late mornings you hate to get up to go to work. Worse, my hubby wanted to take a conference call and he needed to use the telephone on my desk. Result-I had to drag myself out of my bed to the dining table for my morning devotions.
Let me not utter anything before I share what I read this morning from my favorite devotional book Streams in the Desert. I want you to be blessed as I was when I read what prayer warriors like Andrew Muray and A.B. Simpson had told about Prayer.
"Do we know the power of our supernatural weapon? Do we dare to use it with the authority of faith that commands as well as asks? God baptizes us with holy audacity an ddivine confidence! He is not wanting great men, but He is wanting men who will dare to prove the greatness of their God. But God! But prayer!" A.B. Simpson
"Beware in your prayer, above everything, of limiting God, not only by unbelief, but by fancying that you know what He can do. Expect unexpected things, above all that we ask or think. Each time you intercede, be quiet first and worship God in His glory. Think of what He can do, of how He deligts to hear Christ, of your place in Christ; and expect great things. "Andrew Murray.
Can I expect great things with my kind of hurried prayer? Does my prayer look like a supernatural weapon or has the holy audacity and divine confidence these men talk about. I say nay, nay, and nay with great conviction. Prayer has lost its' power in my hands, in my circle and in the church of today. Why? Because we've either become too busy working for God or too busy working for us.
O God, Awesome and Almighty One,
Help us to wake up and see You as You want us to see Your power and majesty. You've so much to give us but we are too blind to see the divine inheritance You're provided us. It's only a prayer away the key to victory abides and yet we are so ignorant and power deprived because of our prayerless or quick-fix prayer life. Help us to become prayer warriors like Andrew Murray , A.B. Simpson and others like them, so that this world could witness what a powerful and mighty God You are. Amen.
Let me not utter anything before I share what I read this morning from my favorite devotional book Streams in the Desert. I want you to be blessed as I was when I read what prayer warriors like Andrew Muray and A.B. Simpson had told about Prayer.
"Do we know the power of our supernatural weapon? Do we dare to use it with the authority of faith that commands as well as asks? God baptizes us with holy audacity an ddivine confidence! He is not wanting great men, but He is wanting men who will dare to prove the greatness of their God. But God! But prayer!" A.B. Simpson
"Beware in your prayer, above everything, of limiting God, not only by unbelief, but by fancying that you know what He can do. Expect unexpected things, above all that we ask or think. Each time you intercede, be quiet first and worship God in His glory. Think of what He can do, of how He deligts to hear Christ, of your place in Christ; and expect great things. "Andrew Murray.
Can I expect great things with my kind of hurried prayer? Does my prayer look like a supernatural weapon or has the holy audacity and divine confidence these men talk about. I say nay, nay, and nay with great conviction. Prayer has lost its' power in my hands, in my circle and in the church of today. Why? Because we've either become too busy working for God or too busy working for us.
O God, Awesome and Almighty One,
Help us to wake up and see You as You want us to see Your power and majesty. You've so much to give us but we are too blind to see the divine inheritance You're provided us. It's only a prayer away the key to victory abides and yet we are so ignorant and power deprived because of our prayerless or quick-fix prayer life. Help us to become prayer warriors like Andrew Murray , A.B. Simpson and others like them, so that this world could witness what a powerful and mighty God You are. Amen.
Saturday, November 26, 2011
Worry-The Worm that eats us alive
Worry, just the mention of the word make me weary and mournful. Like a gnawing bad tooth that need to be pulled out ,worry need to be pulled out firm and whole for us to know the joy of living. Life without worry is sure to be wonderful. Yet, we choose to worry. Why? Maybe it has become a second nature to us from the time of the Fall in the garden of Eden.
From the moment, Eve took a bite of the forbidden fruit in the garden, worry entered without permission to displace the joy and contentment she enjoyed with Adam at that place. Worry made her drag Adam along and hide under the bushes to get away from God's sight and wrath. Worry does make us do stupid things and get frantic in panic.
The have- nots worry of not having enough to spend and survive, while those who have, worry about how to secure what they have from losing them.
The homeless worry they don't have a house to call their home, while those housed in mansions worry they have no free time to enjoy the luxury of the houses they've acquired.
The unmarried worry of not getting married at all, while the married worry about how to keep their marriage happy and secure.
The unemployed worry about not finding a job, while the employed worry about keeping the job and toiling long hours.
Some women worry about not getting pregnant, while some others worry when they become pregnant.
Funny it may sound, but it's true that we start to worry when we haven't got anything at all to worry about. It's no secret worry depletes our enthusiasm to enjoy life, drains our energy, degrades our confidence and delay and destroy our opportunity to do anything productive. Still, we give into worry.
So, how do we get out of this menace called worry?
Pray, ponder, prioritize, release and rest.
Pray about everything you fear and worry about.
If you worry about not having enough to make ends meet or about your future, , go to the One who saidl
"For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things.But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things shall be added to you."
"What if?" is the question we raise most often and tend to imagine the worst possible scenerio and starts to worry.
But, if we trace back the record of things we worried about in the past, we'd realize that most of the things we were anxious about hardly came to pass. In vain we had wasted our God given time on worrying, instead of doing something productive. So, the next time the " What if " question strikes you, be courageous enough to slap it with the question, 'So, what?"
As long as we trust in God's goodness and faithfulness, we need not give into the habit of worrying.
"Come to me all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." Mathew 11:28.
If in doubt, look back on some darkened pages in your life and see whether God had ever failed you.
He may have allowed you to go through some difficult periods, but you survived and came through stronger and better to handle and share your story for others benefits.That should give you the reason not to worry but to rest in the Lord.
Thirdly, we need to learn to prioritize the things in our lives. Stuff and busyness stews worry which in turn morphs into stress. We need God's wisdom to know what is valuable and worthy to spend our time on and distract the unneeded and unworthy activities from our to do list. By doing so, we save time, energy, marriage, family, and store them up for contentment.
Instead of being Worriers, let us prepare ourselves to become Warriors of Prayer and Faith. When we do, we become show pieces of God's faithfulness.***
From the moment, Eve took a bite of the forbidden fruit in the garden, worry entered without permission to displace the joy and contentment she enjoyed with Adam at that place. Worry made her drag Adam along and hide under the bushes to get away from God's sight and wrath. Worry does make us do stupid things and get frantic in panic.
The have- nots worry of not having enough to spend and survive, while those who have, worry about how to secure what they have from losing them.
The homeless worry they don't have a house to call their home, while those housed in mansions worry they have no free time to enjoy the luxury of the houses they've acquired.
The unmarried worry of not getting married at all, while the married worry about how to keep their marriage happy and secure.
The unemployed worry about not finding a job, while the employed worry about keeping the job and toiling long hours.
Some women worry about not getting pregnant, while some others worry when they become pregnant.
Funny it may sound, but it's true that we start to worry when we haven't got anything at all to worry about. It's no secret worry depletes our enthusiasm to enjoy life, drains our energy, degrades our confidence and delay and destroy our opportunity to do anything productive. Still, we give into worry.
So, how do we get out of this menace called worry?
Pray, ponder, prioritize, release and rest.
Pray about everything you fear and worry about.
If you worry about not having enough to make ends meet or about your future, , go to the One who saidl
"For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things.But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things shall be added to you."
"What if?" is the question we raise most often and tend to imagine the worst possible scenerio and starts to worry.
But, if we trace back the record of things we worried about in the past, we'd realize that most of the things we were anxious about hardly came to pass. In vain we had wasted our God given time on worrying, instead of doing something productive. So, the next time the " What if " question strikes you, be courageous enough to slap it with the question, 'So, what?"
As long as we trust in God's goodness and faithfulness, we need not give into the habit of worrying.
"Come to me all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." Mathew 11:28.
If in doubt, look back on some darkened pages in your life and see whether God had ever failed you.
He may have allowed you to go through some difficult periods, but you survived and came through stronger and better to handle and share your story for others benefits.That should give you the reason not to worry but to rest in the Lord.
Thirdly, we need to learn to prioritize the things in our lives. Stuff and busyness stews worry which in turn morphs into stress. We need God's wisdom to know what is valuable and worthy to spend our time on and distract the unneeded and unworthy activities from our to do list. By doing so, we save time, energy, marriage, family, and store them up for contentment.
Instead of being Worriers, let us prepare ourselves to become Warriors of Prayer and Faith. When we do, we become show pieces of God's faithfulness.***
Friday, November 25, 2011
When God Seems Silent
When God seems silent, was the topic Pastor Bob chose to preach this morning. A great subject to teach I thought because who in the world hadn't experienced God's silence from time to time to their pleas and petitions. We may have raised so many Why?s looking up at the ceiling and weeping, when our requsts seemed bouncing back instead of getting through to the Throne room.
I'd like to share what Oswald Chamber has written about God's silence in his devotional book My Utmost for His Highest.
"If God has given you silence, then praise Him- He is bringing yu into the mainstream of His purpose... His silence is the sign that He is bringing you into an even more wonderful understanding of Himself.
A wonderful thing about God's silence is that His stillness is contagious-it gets into you, causing you to become perfectly confident so that you can honestly say, " I know that God has heard me." His silence is the very proof that He has. ... If Jesus Christ is bringing you into the understanding that prayer is for the glorifying of His Father, then He will give you the first sign of His intimacy-Silence."
Wow! What a lover of God Oswald Chamber must had been to come to that level of trust in God. In comparison, I stand in faith like a Liliputian in faith. We all want our prayers answered promptly, mostly with a big Yes. A "No," or a delay make us anxious, downhearted, and even to give up praying and quit on God.
If I could summarize last Sunday's sermon into a few paragraphs, it would read like the following:
"Persist on your prayers!" Jesus' stories of persistant widow who went to the judge and the man who put up his friend at night to get some loaves of bread to feed the stranger who came to his house. In otherwords, we're required to persist in our asking until we get a clear 'No ' from God. Tha't something new to me for I usually stop asking the same thing after a few times thinking that it may not be God's will.
Deal with your sin before you expect to hear an answer from heaven. Confess, repent and wait patiently for God to answer you.
Our falling world and satan's demonic power in the world are real and because of that we face with problems, disasters and attacks along with the rest of the world and those times we may see God as silent and distant. A perfect example is what happened on 9/11. Believers as well as non believers died on that day when the plane hit the twin towers. Many would have prayed before they left for work at the Towers on that day, and many of the family members must have prayed for their loved ones protection on that morning. It did seem God to be silent and far away to many of the prayers that was raised later that day. Yes, we live in a rotten world where evil exists and people chose to kill and destroy innocent people for their own reason and justification.
Sometimes God's silence remind us who God is. Otherwise, it's easy for us to fall into pride and arrogance if we get our way all the time. God's silence sometimes mean that the miracle is just a day or two away, but have we got the faith to believe that God could turn around anything for good at His timing.
God is silent at times in order to save us from ourselves. Yes, it sounds crazy, but it's true. Looking back on our lives, how many of are so thankful that God say "No" to some of our desperate prayer requsts. How many disasters and distreses were avoided because God kept silent to our wants.
God chooses to be silent to train us for His ministry. His silence teaches us to trust Him completely. He doesn't want us to see Him as a Genie who grant all our wishes to appease us. Instead He wants us to see Him as a loving Father who know what and when to give His children what they ask. He doesn't want to grow up like bratty kids who shouts " I hate you!" when the parents refuses to give or allow them to do what they want. Instead, He wants us to be loving and understanding children who trust the Father's unconditional love rather than loving Him for His gifts and yeses.
I pray that you and I will grow to have the faith like Oswald Chambers who saw love, faithfulness, and intimacy in God's silence
I'd like to share what Oswald Chamber has written about God's silence in his devotional book My Utmost for His Highest.
"If God has given you silence, then praise Him- He is bringing yu into the mainstream of His purpose... His silence is the sign that He is bringing you into an even more wonderful understanding of Himself.
A wonderful thing about God's silence is that His stillness is contagious-it gets into you, causing you to become perfectly confident so that you can honestly say, " I know that God has heard me." His silence is the very proof that He has. ... If Jesus Christ is bringing you into the understanding that prayer is for the glorifying of His Father, then He will give you the first sign of His intimacy-Silence."
Wow! What a lover of God Oswald Chamber must had been to come to that level of trust in God. In comparison, I stand in faith like a Liliputian in faith. We all want our prayers answered promptly, mostly with a big Yes. A "No," or a delay make us anxious, downhearted, and even to give up praying and quit on God.
If I could summarize last Sunday's sermon into a few paragraphs, it would read like the following:
"Persist on your prayers!" Jesus' stories of persistant widow who went to the judge and the man who put up his friend at night to get some loaves of bread to feed the stranger who came to his house. In otherwords, we're required to persist in our asking until we get a clear 'No ' from God. Tha't something new to me for I usually stop asking the same thing after a few times thinking that it may not be God's will.
Deal with your sin before you expect to hear an answer from heaven. Confess, repent and wait patiently for God to answer you.
Our falling world and satan's demonic power in the world are real and because of that we face with problems, disasters and attacks along with the rest of the world and those times we may see God as silent and distant. A perfect example is what happened on 9/11. Believers as well as non believers died on that day when the plane hit the twin towers. Many would have prayed before they left for work at the Towers on that day, and many of the family members must have prayed for their loved ones protection on that morning. It did seem God to be silent and far away to many of the prayers that was raised later that day. Yes, we live in a rotten world where evil exists and people chose to kill and destroy innocent people for their own reason and justification.
Sometimes God's silence remind us who God is. Otherwise, it's easy for us to fall into pride and arrogance if we get our way all the time. God's silence sometimes mean that the miracle is just a day or two away, but have we got the faith to believe that God could turn around anything for good at His timing.
God is silent at times in order to save us from ourselves. Yes, it sounds crazy, but it's true. Looking back on our lives, how many of are so thankful that God say "No" to some of our desperate prayer requsts. How many disasters and distreses were avoided because God kept silent to our wants.
God chooses to be silent to train us for His ministry. His silence teaches us to trust Him completely. He doesn't want us to see Him as a Genie who grant all our wishes to appease us. Instead He wants us to see Him as a loving Father who know what and when to give His children what they ask. He doesn't want to grow up like bratty kids who shouts " I hate you!" when the parents refuses to give or allow them to do what they want. Instead, He wants us to be loving and understanding children who trust the Father's unconditional love rather than loving Him for His gifts and yeses.
I pray that you and I will grow to have the faith like Oswald Chambers who saw love, faithfulness, and intimacy in God's silence
Thursday, November 24, 2011
Thanksgiving Day-2011
It's Thanksgiving Day here in US and we are given a day to take off and to celebrate the day with family near and far and thank God for all the blessings this year.
Thanksgiving withour roasted turkey in most homes never happens,
but we in our family are no turkey lovers, and couldn't find a whole chicken at Vons to roast this year.
So, in the humble surrounding of my home
As I punch out these words onto the screen,
Lamb marinated in herbs and spices is roasting in the oven
Green been cassserole topped with roasted onion is baking on the lower shelf
Sourcream mixed mashed potatoes and celery/mint salad resting on the counter ready to be served
And pumkin cheesecake sourcream topping and sprinkles of pecans is chilling in the refrigerator.
All the toil of baking and roasting , just four of us to sit down, thank and dine
Is it worth the time and trouble for only a few mouths to feed
Oh yes, and O yes, it's worth all the trouble
For these are the times that are stored and remembered in years to come.
Our children will tell their children how they celebrated their Thanksgiving Day in their parents' home
how they prayed and thanked the Lord for each and every blessing they had in this home.
Each day is a Thanksgiving Day for you and me
And each blessing we get from God need not be taken for granted.
It's good to set a day apart to celebrate this day with family and friends
And it's fun to roast the turkey or lamb, bake the pie, and eat and laugh with family on this special day.
Thanksgiving withour roasted turkey in most homes never happens,
but we in our family are no turkey lovers, and couldn't find a whole chicken at Vons to roast this year.
So, in the humble surrounding of my home
As I punch out these words onto the screen,
Lamb marinated in herbs and spices is roasting in the oven
Green been cassserole topped with roasted onion is baking on the lower shelf
Sourcream mixed mashed potatoes and celery/mint salad resting on the counter ready to be served
And pumkin cheesecake sourcream topping and sprinkles of pecans is chilling in the refrigerator.
All the toil of baking and roasting , just four of us to sit down, thank and dine
Is it worth the time and trouble for only a few mouths to feed
Oh yes, and O yes, it's worth all the trouble
For these are the times that are stored and remembered in years to come.
Our children will tell their children how they celebrated their Thanksgiving Day in their parents' home
how they prayed and thanked the Lord for each and every blessing they had in this home.
Each day is a Thanksgiving Day for you and me
And each blessing we get from God need not be taken for granted.
It's good to set a day apart to celebrate this day with family and friends
And it's fun to roast the turkey or lamb, bake the pie, and eat and laugh with family on this special day.
Tuesday, November 22, 2011
Happy Day.... Oh Happy Day!
Today turned out to be a very good and happy day for me. Or what else can I call it when I sat at my endochronologist room nervously waiting for him to walk in at anytime with my blood reports. Soon,there walked in my doctor with his handsome face beaming and his mouth voicing, "I've great news and good news for you!" Oh, what a relief that was for me.
When he saw me last year, he was concerned about the rise in sugar level and was surprised that my family physician hadn't put me on medication for that. He was certain that my blood sugar level would read much higher by the time he sees me in a year. His prediction got me worried as wel as mad at him for telling me so. I left the room that day with the intention of changing to another endochronologist, but the year passed by quickly that I didn't even have time to think of finding another endochronologist.
So, today, when I walked into his office, I was expecting him to come with news I didn't want to hear. To my disbelief, when the doctor walked in and announced the good news that not only my sugar level has come down, but I wasn't going to be diabetic in the near future, tears misted my eyes.
I was glad that his prediction last year hadn't turn out to be correct. Praise God, prayer does has power to bring down any stronghold, even bringing down doctor's prediction. Prayer works! No doubt about it.
The doctor wanted to know what I've been doing differently since he saw him last. I couldn't think of anything other than cutting down on sugar, adding bittermelon often into my diet, and of course praying. I was even bold enough to tell the doctor that I prayed a lot about it. I don't know what he thought about it, but I truly believed prayer played a major part in it for me to hear such good news.
Also, the day at work and home went well with no mishaps that I claim this day to be one of the happy days to remember.
When he saw me last year, he was concerned about the rise in sugar level and was surprised that my family physician hadn't put me on medication for that. He was certain that my blood sugar level would read much higher by the time he sees me in a year. His prediction got me worried as wel as mad at him for telling me so. I left the room that day with the intention of changing to another endochronologist, but the year passed by quickly that I didn't even have time to think of finding another endochronologist.
So, today, when I walked into his office, I was expecting him to come with news I didn't want to hear. To my disbelief, when the doctor walked in and announced the good news that not only my sugar level has come down, but I wasn't going to be diabetic in the near future, tears misted my eyes.
I was glad that his prediction last year hadn't turn out to be correct. Praise God, prayer does has power to bring down any stronghold, even bringing down doctor's prediction. Prayer works! No doubt about it.
The doctor wanted to know what I've been doing differently since he saw him last. I couldn't think of anything other than cutting down on sugar, adding bittermelon often into my diet, and of course praying. I was even bold enough to tell the doctor that I prayed a lot about it. I don't know what he thought about it, but I truly believed prayer played a major part in it for me to hear such good news.
Also, the day at work and home went well with no mishaps that I claim this day to be one of the happy days to remember.
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