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Writing Update June 2024

June 2024 By Editor

Never say God isn’t able. Over this past while, God has shown his mercy, grace and providing hand to me. To start with, I was given a scholarship to attend the Blue Ridge Mountains Christian Writers Conference this past May in North Carolina. Then God provided the transportation. It was an amazing trip. I was able to attend workshops presented by many skilled teachers, learning more about the craft of writing. As well, I submitted a portion of my current manuscript, None So Blind, in for the Blue Ridge Mountains Christian Writers Conference Foundation Awards for unpublished work. My first three chapters took first place in the Historical/Biblical fiction category. My writing mentor and editor, Edwina Perkins, worked alongside of me, as did other writing friends to strengthen my manuscript. I am both humbled and grateful for their help in achieving this.
This writing journey has been a long road, with moments where I considered laying it down. However, I pushed through, and will continue to forge ahead to the goal of publication.
So, stay the course, Writing friend. Never say God cannot move in your life. He is the reviver of dreams, and the worker of miracles. God didn’t promise a life that would be easy, rather that He’d walk you through your storms.

Two Perspectives on Psalm 91

June 2021 By Editor

Those who live in the shelter of the Most High will find rest in the shadow of the Almighty.This I declare about the Lord: He alone is my refuge, my place of safety; he is my God, and I trust him. Psalm 91:1-2 (NLT)

Sheltered Beneath His Wings

Chaos swirls around me here
Amid the fire and din
Battle weary and worn am I
I’m battered deep within

But you, oh God, are there for me
Amid the floods or flames
I hide beneath your sheltering wings
Your peace I now reclaim

I will arise within the storm
With strength that’s not my own
I will stand and battle on
For I am not alone

By Lauren A. Harrison
Copyright June 9, 2021
All Rights Reserved

***

God, My Plum-line and Truth. My Refuge

A plum-line is an old-fashioned builder’s tool used to prove if a wall is in or out of vertical alignment. You don’t have to be a builder to appreciate how this works. Can you imagine living in a house that’s off kilter, never knowing when the walls will fall?

Much in our world feels like everything is falling around us. It’s filled with uncertainty and chaos. Psalm 91 speaks of deadly diseases, terrors of the night, arrows that fly in the daylight, and thousands dying around you.

Sounds like today.

Are you battle weary? I know at times I’ve been, especially this past year. People are broken. They’re going through hardships, feeling deep pain, sensing life is off kilter.

Life is chaotic. And when it is, I know I have my plum-line. I have my safe place and my refuge. God’s truth. And it never wavers. His truth helps me navigate my thoughts—my hairy ideas at times, and my very steps. If I go off course, which I sometimes do, I have his truth to run to. It is my plum-line. I love that God’s character is unchanging. And that he says he hides me under his wing.

Psalm 91 also says He will rescue you from every trap. It’s easy to follow wobbly opinions, rocky news, doctrines that tend to lean on peoples fancy, and aren’t plum. When we get out from under God’s protective wing and travel our own paths, all kinds of mayhem follow.

Do you struggle with what is true? Are you looking for safety?

There’s only one place you’ll find it. Held in the palm of Jesus’ hand and sheltered under the wings of the Father. In Psalm 91:9-10a, God promises that; “If you make the Lord your refuge, if you make the Most High your shelter, no evil will conquer you.”

The Lord wants to be your refuge and so run to Him. You don’t have to battle alone.

I praise Him today for being my Refuge. My safe place. My absolute.

Blessings,

Johanna Janssen

When Your Story Doesn’t Jive

April 2021 By Editor

You thought God said turn right

There are moments in this writing journey when the desire to throw up your hands becomes overwhelming. Your story doesn’t jive. The plot merely plods along at a crawl, then comes to a complete halt because you’ve taken a right when you should have taken the left. Then there are those moments after another rejection, from yet another publisher, leaves you deflated.

Yet there are those moments that keep you planted in front of your computer. God spoke a word into your heart. A message. A story. A poem. An article. It’s from Him and is for someone who perhaps you don’t know personally. Your reader.

You could choose to quit

You have to stop and write. I could say you don’t have a choice but to write and muddle through. But we both know you do. One choice is to quit. The other is to stay the course and run the race. At times you wonder how anyone can press on in the face of such bleak uncertainty. It’s not easy, but with God are not all things possible? And if this is true, is he not capable of using your voice to tell His story?

He will make it jive

So, sit yourself down. Power up your computer. Quiet the thoughts running rampant in your brain. Talk to the Author and Finisher of your faith. He’s got the plot laid out. He knows how to make the story line jive. He can put you back on the right path. However, occasionally, that left turn might actually be Him showing you the direction He wanted for your story. To be certain, you will have to spend time with your Heavenly Father.

God Bless,

Lauren.

My Prayer

May 2018 By Lauren

Almighty God, almighty Lord,
Great is your power, which cuts like a sword,
Awe filled I am at your mercy and grace,
That extends above all here in this place.

Unworthy I am, you see that I’m weak,
You know every downfall, for it’s you that I seek,
Fill me anew with your power of old,
As those in the bible with stories untold.

Open my eyes, to see all that you are,
Take me, my Lord, heal every scar,
All that I have and all that I am,
I place in your hand, show me your plan.

Forgive me, Oh God, for my weak human ways,
Give me your strength throughout all of my days.

Not Alone

September 2017 By Editor

Why fight this fight alone my child?
Why walk with sorrow near?
Why plunge through life with head bowed low
I want to make things clear.

I am the light that filters in.
The light that scatters night.
The light which shows the hidden path
Where love and hope take flight

I am the shelter from the rain
A refuge for your soul
A place for you to find your rest,
A place I make you whole.

I am the one in every storm
I’m in the raging seas
I am the one who will speak peace
Force winds to gentle breeze

Why fight this fight alone my child?
I long to have you near
To hold you close to my own chest
To wipe away each tear.