From God's Heart to Yours

Posting at The Barn Door today also:

God gave me a little love message when the electric company cut this tree down.

Back several years ago, author Rachel Hauck (Love Starts with Elle is one title)challenged from her blog to look for the love from God that He conveys to us every day.For an entire month we were to wake up each day and say, "Jesus, here I am, Your favorite one.God likes me and I look good to Him." 

She went on to say you may need to repeat it throughout the day, six, seven, eight times. "Take a moment to meditate on what you are saying. Hear Him respond!" she said to us.

 

It's hard to allow someone (including God) to love you if you know nothing about yourself and if you close your heart and mind to the signs. Even if you have people in your life who say "I love you" every single day, isn't it true we sometimes feel we are unworthy of that love?  Maybe if you find things to love about yourself and admit that you are indeed, God's favorite, you'll soon be looking for the love messages God sends to us each day. 

But it really is a tough concept in my opinion. If it weren't tough, then the whole world would have accepted God's love by now. How could they not?

My very favorite verse in the Bible is: "But God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were yet sinners,Christ died for us." (Romans 5:8 NIV)

My heart is racing already with anticipation! I think in the Midwest it's easy to find little love notes from God, don't you? If you're really looking for them, it will be like opening little gifts all day long. 

God says, "You are the apple of My Eye." 

 

Crystal Laine Miller

I WON!

When I first moved here, I couldn't get a library card. Really. It frustrated me to no end and I tried every angle. What had we done moving to such a literary forsaken place??!

But then I took Doc Hensley's writing class at Taylor University in Ft. Wayne and he got me started on the road to writing book reviews--and with book reviews came FREE BOOKS.

Back then (about ten-twelve years ago) that was a revelation to me. I also got on board with Multnomah Publishing as a reviewer, giving feedback to them on books they sent to me. Before I knew it, I had started libraries in two churches and in an elementary school. Of course, I didn't give away the ARCs (Advanced Reading Copies,) but I did give away many books to these libraries.(And still do.)

Now, after a thousand published reviews and countless copies of books, you would think I have had enough. Not so. Even though I gave up my book review column in a magazine, I still review for Church Libraries Journal and will influence for Christian authors as I am able. And I sometimes enter drawings on blogs for books I am thinking of getting. That's what I did when I entered the contest for Dining with Joy by Rachel Hauck in the Thomas Nelson contest.

Dining with Joy by Rachel Hauck (Thomas Nelson) released November 2010

I was hoping to win her new book. Well, I ended up winning the grand prize, too--a Kitchen Aid mixer! That was something I would have never thought would happen.

I influence heavily for my Indiana ACFW authors, but also any ACFW member, so don't tell anyone, but I'd do this without winning a book or a mixer (but I can't tell you the boost of joy--pun intended-- that it gave me on Tuesday to learn I'd won!)

Do you have a blog where you do influencing for authors? Do you belong to a book review group where you are sent books in exchange for a word about them?Do you ever enter the book contests either to win a book or other prizes?

If nothing else, I will always be a reader. And when you offer a reader a free book, how can she resist?? We didn't have to in this contest (though encouraged to do so,) write a food preparation faux pas, but I put mine in the comments section on Rachel's blog.

Here it is:
"I've been married about 30 years now and have done LOTS of cooking since for our four sons and my hubby and lots of family and friends. BUT when I first got married, my husband was in school and we lived on scant groceries and creativity. One night I was in a big hurry to get supper on after teaching all day. I had chili powder, but for some reason as I mixed chili ingredients, I got the cinnamon! I dumped out the cinnamon before I realized what I had, so frantically I scraped as much of the cinnamon off as possible. It wasn't even an option to start over!

I gave the chili extra chili seasoning, as I knew some of that cinnamon soaked in. Then, I got out some applesauce and sprinkled generous cinnamon on top. I set that next to my husband's bowl and hoped he wouldn't notice. Back in those days I was still sensitive about my cooking, so no way would I admit what I'd done.

Hubby took a bite and then put down his spoon. Little did I know I'd married a man who would could discern every ingredient, could taste the difference between Coke and Pepsi, Lay's Potato Chips and Seyfert's. He says to me, "Is there cinnamon in this chili??"

And I'm alarmed but still not wanting to own up to my mistake. I say, "You have cinnamon on your applesauce." (See? Not really lying....) He puts the applesauce on the other side of our table and takes another bite.

"Yup. Tastes like cinnamon. New recipe?"

At that point I broke down. We laugh about it now....

I can't wait to read Dining with Joy! Love stories like that."


See what admitting your mistakes can do? Enter a book contest today! (I'm a happy camper.) Now, to find a good cookie recipe to mix up in my new Rachel Hauck/Thomas Nelson Kitchen Aid mixer so I can eat cookies with my new book. (I'll post a cookie recipe tomorrow.)

In the Bible Jesus Prayed for ME

I continue my quest this month to find how God loves me and that I am His favorite one as per Rachel Hauck's favorite one challenge. I admit to you that this makes me laugh some days, like Sarah in Genesis laughed incredulously when she found she'd have a baby of promise (Isaac which means laughter!) at age 90. I will be 50 years old and let me say right up front--this having a baby at 90 is one I would laugh (that would be hysterically) at 50, much less 90. Sheesh. But I've had four boys, so unlike Sarah, I'm not longing for my own child like she was, ok? I am sure she prayed for a child for years, before she finally gave up. I have prayed for things and people, and I have to admit that I sometimes give up. But maybe I'm laughing like Sarah did over some promise that God gave to me as a kid? What if? It does have me thinking.

Who prays for you? I don't know of anyone who regularly, consistently prays for me, but I do have a core of friends who pray on a regular basis, especially if I ask them to. I pray for you, if you are reading this blog, or if you have consented to an interview with me on this blog or my When I Was Just a Kid blog. When my mother was alive, she prayed for me. When she died, I felt a severe loss--who would pray for me now? Can those who have died continue to pray for us? I don't know. This is a mystery.

But Jesus who died and then was raised from the dead and lives on today, prayed for me way back centuries ago and it is recorded in the Bible.
John 17:20-21 tells me this after the beginning of the chapter talks about Jesus praying for his disciples. It says:
My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me.

It goes on to talk about how Jesus wants me to be with him in glory and how he asks God to make him known to the world through me (and all you guys who are one with me in believing in Jesus as the savior of the world. Maybe not all of you believe in Jesus. That's ok, keep reading, anyway, ok? It's part of my story.)

Right after this intense praying, Jesus was arrested. He knew he was going to be arrested. He knew he was going to die a horrific death--but he knew he would be raised from the dead, get to talk to his people again before he went to stay in heaven with God--like he is today.

It was a great day to me to know that Jesus was thinking of me even back then.

I pray for several people, personally and by name, each day. Sometimes I don't even know why I am praying for them. When I was a just a kid, I used to pray for my dad, mom, brother and all my relatives in Tennessee. I'd pray for my aunt, uncle and cousins in the mission field in Africa (at that time they were in Nigeria during the war.) I didn't even know what to pray about--I just put them in front of God by name and asked to keep them in Him. Mostly I worried about dying and safety. I worry less about dying, but I still worry about living. But except for my mother, I wasn't aware of anyone who prayed for me and what I was doing. Maybe my teachers did in grades 1-5. After I left that school, I went to a public school and my teacher was a Jewish man. I don't think he prayed for me, but who knows? I figure my mother prayed for him because she was wise about these sorts of things. She cared deeply about people.

One of my favorite places in the Bible (well, ok, I always say this every time I bring up a story...ha) is in Nehemiah. He got this idea (after praying a bunch) to build up the wall again in Jerusalem. He was in the citadel at Susa and he was visited by his brothers from Judah. They talked about what a disgrace it was that back in Jerusalem everything was in shambles. Nehemiah was so upset, he sat down and wept for days, not eating and just praying to God. Now, I don't know about you, but yes, I get upset when things in Christiandom/my world get all messed up and people aren't taking care of themselves or watching things closely enough in their lives. But sit down and cry and fast and pray solidly? It isn't usually my practice. It is something to think about and maybe act upon.

Lately I have been struggling over stories I've written in the past, ones I wish to write in the future, and want to submit to publishers. It has come across my mind that I haven't been writing about the things that break my heart any more--like Nehemiah got all passionate and built his wall. It was obviously a passion for him. Do my passions show? Michelle left a message--just one person, but I do listen to such comments, especially encouraging ones--and said she liked it when I wrote about my own memories. My boys have said this to me, as well. I took that seriously, Michelle.

Maybe God gives us certain things in our lives and we're supposed to do something about them somehow? The stories that I still think about that I've written are these stories about these kids (which were mostly my own memories and stories.) Well, I put those in a drawer and didn't know what to do with them because no one wants children's stories. But maybe I'm supposed to put them into another form? I'm a book doctor and have fixed all kinds of manuscripts(sci fi, fantasy, romance, suspense, women's fiction, kids' stories...) I read manuscripts (and have one on my desk today--romantic suspense--got to get it read and back in the mail...)so why can't I fix myself? I guess God is still working on that part.

Maybe prayers for me a long time ago are being answered now. I wouldn't have thought of any of this, if I hadn't been made aware of some things in the last month, one being Rachel Hauck's challenge for me to personally explore how God thinks about me all the time. And just like Nehemiah's brothers coming to him to tell him about the shambles back home, awakening his desires to work on those things, maybe I am being awakened now. It's a thought and I try to hang on to those serious thoughts, since most of the time I'm cynical and laugh my head off like Sarah.

So, what is God laying on you today that you feel you need to do something about? Is it a story or something else that makes you worry, pray and weep? (I just heard that "weep" word in the news lately. Still relevant today.)

Are You God's Favorite?

I swiped this photo from Robin Lee Hatcher awhile back because it made me laugh and I'm living in Bird's Nest, Indiana. I remember The Smothers Brothers and the fight they had, "Mom likes me best!"

But I don't know that I ever embraced just how crazy God is about me. Yes, I know in my head and heart that He died for me, would've done it ALL just for me, but in the back of my mind, playing over and over again are the old tapes about me not being "good enough," last in line for God's love (in the line, but last!) Well, that's a lie. And I know it, but I need to truly embrace it.

Along comes Rachel Hauck with a challenge for November:

"So, here's the Favorite One Challenge. For the month of November, wake up saying, "Jesus, here I am Your favorite one." Add to it, "God likes me and I look good to Him."

Repeat it throughout the day, six, seven, eight times. Take a moment to meditate on what you are saying. Hear Him respond!

Do a scripture search on "delight," "love," or "beloved." Study the Psalms or Song of Solomon as God's message of love to the individual believer."--Rachel Hauck
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So, I'm telling you and maybe you can keep me accountable or maybe you will join me. In the month of November I will find a verse a day where God tells me (in the Bible) what He thinks of me--that beloved thing. Rachel is so good at this, and it takes someone like her to inspire me.

If you want to take the challenge, too, hop on over to Rachel's and let her know. Do you think we could change the world if we all truly believed we were God's favorite one? Or you can just tell me, or just read my verses that I find in November.

I'm God's favorite. (And so are you.)