APPROACH

This post was written for Five Minute Friday

Word prompt--APPROACH

Five minutes to free-write about it

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This week's prompt is very timely, and I am excited to write about it.

As some of you may know, I am a  writer of children's picture books. However, for the last couple of years I have been feeling so overwhelmed by other priorities that my writing--even blogging--has pretty much dwindled  to a standstill. 

Recently, by Divine orchestration, I was introduced to a virtual group. of children's picture book writers. Long story short, mostly out of curiosity, I attended my first meeting which turned out to be all about the best approaches to take in order to promote our books. As I took it all in, a tiny spark started to get fanned, along with the thought that if this was the Lord's nudging me back into writing, He would make a way where there seems to be no way.  

The picture of Blue Violet is the cover of a book I started writing quite a few years ago but never finished. It is on this post to remind me of the commitment I am making to go back and finish it. With the Lord's help and the approaches I learned about at our meeting I know it can be done.

Part of my new approach is to view my current circunstances from a new perspective and trust God to help me meet my needs His way, instead of thinking my way is the best and only way. 

One of the thigs I am working on is creating a newsletter, which means I will then need to build an e-mail list of people who might be interested in receiving it. If any of you would like to be on that list, please send me your e-mail (sksteinde@yahoo.com).

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY

 

ABANDON

This post was written for Five Minute Friday

Word prompt--ABANDON

Five minutes to free-write about it

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My first thought was Hebrews 13:5b--"...God has said: 'Never will I leave you, never will I forsake you."

The second thought was something I had written in my memoir about how God is the only one we can bank on; the only one whose word can be trusted one hundred percent of the time. 

I don't remember ever actually being abandoned, though in retrospect, that's what my husband did when he chose to take his life and leave me and our two young children behind. But I have been lied to and deceived many times. Once by someone I trusted who told me his word was something I could bank on. 

Lesson learned (quoted from my memoir), Man's word is subject to change. People make commitments they don't always keep. Sometimes it's because they make them impulsively, without first considering the ramifications. Other times it's because circumstances get in the way. Even the most honorable and best-intentioned folks are subject to sickness,  accidents, unavoidable delays, and death.

Circumstances have often gotten in my way, causing me to delay contacting people I care for and think about. That is something I need  to rectify. I have also abandoned projects I really wanted to complete because more pressing priorities robbed me of my time.

Today I went out on my balcony and realized I had abandoned my plants prematurely. Once the weather turned cooler and there was frost at night, I stopped tending to them. I figured the wildflowers were probably all dead by now, and the tomato plant that never bore a single tomato all summer was certainly not going to be producing any now.

Wrong! The tomato plant may not produce any tomatoes, but it is not dead. The leaves smell more tomatoey now than they ever have. And in one pot, a hardy little purple wildflower is blooming--and is surrounded by several little buds. Can you see them?

I am so grateful that God is patient and longsuffering and that He never gives up on me (or any of you) the way I had given up on these poor plants.

My five minutes is up.

FRIDAY FUNNY

 

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY

 

FRIDAY FUNNY

 

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY

 

SIGHT

This post was written for Five Minute Friday

Word prompt--SIGHT

Five minutes to free-write about it

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2 Corinthians 5:7 was the first thought that popped into my mind: For we walk by faith, not by sight (BSB). Then I got distracted by this sight that caught my attention as I walked past the balcony door.  The sight of one last wildflower still blooming, while the trees across the way are starting to change into their colorful apparel--a sure sign that summer is transitioning into fall.

Back to the verse, though. We all have faith in something, but is it faith in what is true--or faith in something that is not? There was a time in my life when I had great faith that I was on the right path, but I was not. Fortunately, the Lord came to my rescue and did not leave me there. (If  you are interested, I blogged about it here.)

Or are we putting our faith in what is visible and predictable, which is not really faith at all, as our senses can deceive us, and things we experience can be misleading.

That is why the scriptures tell us to walk by faith (in God and the truth of His word), not by sight. To trust in Him and His promises no matter how things may be looking around us, or what our intellect has to say.

Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight (Proverbs 3:5-6, BSB).

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY

 

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY