I recently discovered two wonderful and encouraging blogs made just for Christian ladies. Let me share a bit about them.
A while ago, I told you all about my friend Jen, who was running a magazine called 'The Christian Girls Club.' Well, Jen has now started a website for girls: littlefaithblog.com. Jen loves to use Disney, crafts, and other girly things to talk about our relationships with Jesus. It's a super fun site. She'll even show you how to make a "Little Faith Book."
Me and Kristen at the awards banquet.
The second site is calledthinktruethoughts.com. It's run by Kristen Hogrefe, who is a Christian author I met at the writer's conference (check out her book!). Kristen is a sweet and wise woman. Don't miss the truth and encouragement she is sharing!
I hope you girls check out and enjoy these awesome blogs.
This past week, my family and I visited Haiti. It was the first time I had been out of the country (unless you count the Canadian side of Niagara Falls).
All the cousins before the wedding.
We went because my cousin, the lovely Nicole, was marrying a Haitian man named Onny. Nicole and her family have been involved with the Haitian church for years. Now she and her new husband will continue the work together from inside the country.
After hearing about Haiti from Nicole for the past few years, it was exciting to finally experience it. My sisters and I rode with Nicole and Onny from the airport to the house where we were staying for the week. Onny commented that we didn't talk much, but that was because we were absorbing everything with our mouths hanging open. Talk about culture shock.
Homes built into the mountains. Picture by Michaela.
Haiti is one of the 20 poorest countries in the world. The towns we drove through felt like half inner-city slums and half Indiana-Jones-style Middle Eastern. The house where we stayed had no indoor plumbing. Electricity ran for only a few hours in the evening via a generator. It was fun to adapt and learn an everyday life different from my own.
Though the earthquake in 2010 devastated Haiti, we saw people getting back on their feet. There were many gardens growing tomatoes and cabbage (say "shoo" in Creole), very few piles of rubble, and even roads being re-paved.
My cousin and her family have been working closely with a particular Haitian pastor. This pastor has many projects to help people. One thing he does often is take orphans into his home.
My sister and I with the village kids on the wall of their original church.
We went to a village that had a church made of tin and tarp. Their original church of stone was
destroyed by the earthquake, and now the people are exposed to the elements during the services. The pastor and several members of the church are working to rebuild the church, plus build an orphanage and a hospital. Nicole and Onny have a vision to be part of this huge work.
We also visited a woman's house that had a collapsed roof and cracks in the walls caused by the earthquake. With help from my uncle, the pastor is working to build her another house. They have the land bought. Now they are waiting for funds to build the building.
The pastor also works closely with a school. The school currently has about 50 students, but it is capable of holding 200 more, if people could afford to pay the government-imposed fines.
Spiritually, the people of Haiti are much like Americans. We all fear and do not see how powerful God is; for unsaved Haitians, they fear voodoo. We all misplace priorities and put emphasis on things we can see and touch, rather than eternal things. We all need the counsel of others to spur us toward Godliness. Though these things are our faults, we all do some things well. We worship from the heart. We care for the hopeless. We hold to the true Gospel; that Christ died for us, rose again, and will return, and we will be with Him forever if we trust Him.
Our cultures are very different, but if we only have the Gospel in common, it is enough to share the love of Christ. I am thankful for the opportunity I had to see Christ's crazy ("foo" in Creole) love spreading over Haiti. Please pray with me for both countries, Haiti and America. Post Tenebras Lux!
-ST
With the last strength I had, I made my choice. Covering my eyes with my hands, I cried, “Jesus, help me! I can’t do it without You!”
Not even one second passed before He came. I sensed Him standing in front of me, and I looked into His face. The creatures were behind Him, but they were no longer docile. Furious at His interference, they launched themselves onto His back, trying to tear at Him with their nails and teeth. He remained unscathed by their livid strikes and ignored them completely.
The shadow creature’s false light still shown, but my mind was clear. Though their deceptive fingers had released me to attack Jesus, I was too shocked to stand.
Jesus simply stood, watching me with a smile tugging at the corner of His mouth. I noticed His strong sword still hung in its sheath at His side.
He saw my glance and shook His head. “You still don’t understand. Dear heart, they have already been defeated.” He reached down toward me, the scars made by the cross clearly visible. Grasping my hands in both of His, He pulled me to my feet. “You cannot defeat them. You cannot even resist them, except through Me. Use My strength; don’t depend on yours. I am faithful. I will provide a way out so that you can stand up under them.”
It was so easy, and yet so difficult. I suddenly felt like I wanted to cry, now that I was beginning to understand. “So,” I asked past the lump in my throat, “all I have to do is…?”
“Hold on to Me.”
Gripping His hands tighter, I said, “Ok. I trust You.”
The smile that burst upon His face was the grandest I had ever seen.
Soon after, some of the shadow creatures tried to bring me back under their power. They whispered in my ears and pulled at my arms, but I kept a firm clasp on Jesus’s hands and never looked away from His face. It was almost funny, actually; what chance did the shadow creatures think they had while I was holding onto my Savior?
Eventually, the shadow creatures tired of their fruitless efforts. Their light faded, and their masks of white skin disappeared with it. They slid, one by one, into the forest.
“We’ve arrived,” said Jesus. He turned me around.
Between two trees, like two door posts, I could see my bedroom.
“I’ll always be with you. Always use My strength. Don’t forget.”
“I won’t.” I spun back and threw my arms around Him. “I love You.”
“I love you so much, dear heart.”
I didn’t let go.
After a minute, He laughed. “Go on. You know this won’t be the last time you see Me!”
I nodded and pulled away. “I know. Ok. Bye.”
“Bye? Didn’t I just say I will always be with you?”
“Oh, yeah.” I laughed along with Him and walked toward my bedroom.
Though I was coming out of late afternoon, the first rays of dawn greeted me through the windows of my bedroom, chasing away the night’s darkness.
"Our temptation is to face adversaries from the standpoint of our own common sense. But a saint can “be of good cheer” [John 16:33] even when seemingly defeated by adversaries, because victory is absurdly impossible to everyone, except God."
He looked me in the eyes before responding gently, “Dear heart, I am training you not to fight.”
“What? I don’t get it. You’re training me not to fight the shadow creatures? But they’ll keep bringing me back to that tower!” I was beginning to go into hyper-panic mode.
Jesus placed His hands on my shoulders. “Dear heart, this is what I’ve been trying to teach you. I want you to surrender. Listen to Me.” He continued slowly and deliberately, “You will never be able to defeat the enemy. They are far too cunning…. But I can defeat them for you.”
At last, His point was starting to click inside my thick head.
He went on, “You have to let Me do it. Dear heart, I want so badly to help you. Surrender to Me.”
“But…,” I attempted an excuse and failed. There was nothing to say. His words went against every instinct in me, but He had to be right because He was Jesus.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw movement among the trees. By the time I turned to look, they were just a few feet away.
I screamed and fled, pulling away from Jesus as I ran, but the shadow creatures moved faster than I did. They were on me in a moment, their icy hands pulling me down.
And then I did the dumbest thing. I fought the shadow creatures. I tried to claw at them and bite their hands. I pushed and squirmed and screamed, but they held on.
The now familiar light suddenly bathed me in its unnatural beams. My head lolled and I felt my muscles slow. Thoroughly groggy, I couldn’t keep up the fight.
Something brushed my ear. “Follow meee…,” the creature whispered.
No, I couldn’t. Why not? I didn’t know why not. The light made me so dizzy….
A sliver of sanity crossed my mind, telling me to surrender. Surrender to Him.
No, I could fight! I had to fight! I could do this!
The shadow creatures’ fingers felt so soft and smooth. The light made me so sleepy….
A gentle touch pulled me from my slumber. I looked up. It was Him.
As fresh tears cascaded down my face, He pulled me into His arms. “I’m sorry,” I sobbed out.
“Dear heart,” He said tenderly. “I forgive you.”
He held me until my wails evolved into hiccupping spasms. Then He helped me stand. “Come on,” He said. “You can’t stay here.” Taking that small gold key from his pocket again, He unbound my chained hands and feet.
I followed Him to the rope dangling into my prison through the crack in the wall. He gestured at our escape route and said, “Ladies first.”
I tried to pull myself up the rope, but the sides of my prison had somehow become smoother than last time, and my feet couldn’t find a good hold. If I hadn’t been so weak from days without eating, I may have been able to climb it, but I’m not sure.
After a few tries, I turned to Jesus. “I can’t do it. I can’t climb up.”
He nodded. “It’s always harder to escape the second time.”
“So, we’re stuck in here?!” I panicked aloud.
He waited.
I remembered Who I was talking to. Not even a sealed tomb could keep Him in, much less my prison. “Can You help me get out? Please?”
With an ear-to-ear smile, He replied, “I was hoping you would ask.”
He climbed the rope as easily as a fish swims; the slick wall could not hinder Him. When He was safely above ground, He told me to hang onto the rope. I obeyed, and He slowly drew me up. We were both under the blue sky in a matter of minutes.
Jesus untied the rope from the tree He had secured it to. As He began coiling the rope, a thought suddenly hit me, but I hesitated to voice it. He stopped His work and looked at me. “Go ahead,” He said.
“Jesus,” I began, “I know my capture was my own fault; I shouldn’t have given into the shadow creatures. But… why didn’t You help me? Didn’t You… I mean, You must have known what was happening. Didn’t You wake up?”
His eyes grew deeply sad. “Yes, dear heart, I knew what was happening. I was watching.” His voice cracked just a bit. “But,” He added, “you didn’t ask Me to help. You were too busy trying to fight them on your own.”
“I have to ask for Your help?” How could He have just stood there and let me be dragged off? I was incredulous.
He was patient. “You have to want my help. I never force it on anyone; I will only help you if you want Me to. My way is the perfect way, but I gave you a free will to accept or decline My help.”
So it was still all my fault.
We started walking through the forest, covering the same ground we had covered before. The sun moved across the sky slowly, but I kept a close eye on it. When it was past noon, I spoke up, “Hey, um, Jesus. Do You think now would be a good time to start my training? Because, those shadow creatures might come back for me tonight and I want to be prepared.”
“Your training has already begun.”
“What?” I cried. “But all I’ve done is get captured! You haven’t even given me the smallest bit of advice on how to wield a sword!”
He stopped and turned to look at me. “Did I ever say your training would involve weapons?”
“Um, well, not exactly….”
“I never hinted at anything of the sort.”
“But that’s what training is!” I protested.
Shaking His head, He explained, “You train to become better at something, and it doesn’t have to be with weapons. Athletes train to race better. Warriors train to fight better.”
“But I thought You were going to train me to be a warrior to fight the shadow creatures!”
He looked me in the eyes before responding gently, “Dear heart, I am training you not to fight.”
Again they pulled at me with their freezing hands. I cried out, “No!” and tried to stand, but they kept me firmly fixed to the ground. I looked around for Jesus, but the shadow creatures surrounded me and blocked my view of Him.
Suddenly, there was that same dizzying light. The same feeling of stupor. The same urge to give in.
No! I willed myself to fight back. I felt that I couldn’t fail again. I couldn’t let myself give in.
But the shadow creatures did not let me go, and I couldn’t tear myself from them. I wondered if I really wanted to. Was that prison so bad? Were the chains so heavy? And Jesus would rescue me as soon as I asked Him to. He was nice like that.
The intoxicating aura of false peace washed over me, irresistible. The creature leaned over and whispered, “Follow meee….”
I don’t even remember the first step this time. All I know is that I found myself starting awake, once again, in the prison tower with the vague recollection that I had chained myself there.
I had never thought I would fall into the same trap. If it had been horrible the first time I failed, it was double the horror now.
And then I thought of Him. I’d let Him down. And that was the greatest heartbreak of all. How could I have ever thought He would rescue me again? And even if He did, how could I face Him?
My shame overwhelmed me. My guilt was heavier than my shackles. I mourned and moaned in the tower for days. No one came, which only made my sorrow deepen, until it was so deep I felt like I could drown in it.
I was hungry, thirsty, tired, and cold. It was the closest to death I had ever been.
Finally, just when I thought I would burst from the pain, I did the only thing left to be done. I cried out for help.
“God,” I whispered, “I’m sorry. I’m so, so sorry. Please… help me. I’ll die without You.”
He shouldered the coiled rope and strode into the forest.
I scurried after Him, calling, “Wait! Where are we going?”
“Follow me.”
I halted. “Did You just quote Yourself?”
Thankfully, He understood my sense of humor and laughed. “Yes, I tend to do that. It makes it easier for people to see things the way I do.”
“And that’s supposed to mean…?” I asked as I again hurried to keep up with Him.
“That I never change. I am the same at this moment as I was two-thousand years ago, and as I was at the creation of the universe. Today, tomorrow, and yesterday, I remain the same. And so I can quote Myself in everything.”
We continued walking. And walking. And… walking. The forest floor was uncommonly free of debris, and a soft carpet of moss covered the earth, much to the glee of my bare feet. But after several hours of walking, and walking, and… walking, I finally said, “Ok, don’t get me wrong. I want to follow You wherever You go. But can You give me some clue as to where we’re headed? Please?”
“We are going home,” Jesus replied.
I gasped audibly, feeling both excitement and fear. He took one look at my face and cracked up. “No, dear heart! I mean your house. It’s not your time yet.”
“Oh,” I said. Then I saw the funny side of it and laughed along with Him. After a few minutes, it finally occurred to me what He had said. “Hey! Why are You taking me back home? You said You were going to train me!” I cried.
“No worries,” He replied. “We won’t arrive until you’re trained.”
It took me a while to try to sort that out. “So… You’ll be training me on the way?”
“Yes. We won’t get there until you’re trained.”
“Oh, ok. Gotcha.” Little did I suspect that I had no clue what He meant.
We walked some more. And walked. And… well, you know. But it wasn’t as boring as it sounded. The forest was beautiful and peaceful, and I was walking beside the Prince of Peace.
Presently, Jesus remarked, “We’ll stop here and make camp. We’ll continue your training in the morning.”
I can’t deny that I gave Him a funny glance. Continue? I wasn’t aware that we had started. I hadn’t even touched a sword or a bow yet!
He stripped the lower branches off some nearby trees and soon had a small fire going. We ate bread and drank water that came from the pack He carried on His back.
We slept on the soft moss under some light blankets from Jesus’s pack. The weather was perfect. I didn’t feel cold until early in the morning.
Shivering, I pulled the blanket more tightly around me. My eyelids fluttered for just a second, but what I saw in that moment made me sit up and scream.
I lifted my shackled wrists up and said wistfully, “I’m chained. I don’t know where the key is.”
He reached into a pocket on his tunic and took out a tiny gold object. “You mean this key?” Grinning at my surprise, he quickly bent to unlock the chains on my wrists and ankles.
“How did you know I was here?” I inquired as he unbound me.
“Well,” he replied, “I’m here to train you. And I can’t train you if you’re locked up like this.”
I decided not to push the question he had obviously avoided and let the conversation carry on. “Train me? Why?” I had read many stories of kids who were sucked into fantasy worlds and trained to be warriors for special missions. The thought that I could be like them filled me with jittery excitement.
“‘Why?’” he repeated, letting my final shackle fall to the floor. “You think you don’t need training?”
“No, no! It’s just that… why me? Why was I chosen to be trained? Why were those creatures after me?”
He looked me in the eye. “They are after all of you, dear heart.” With that, he turned back toward the rope, leaving me to follow and wonder what he had against direct answers.
It was fairly easy to climb out of the dungeon with my feet braced on the wall and my rescuer beneath me to give me a lift if I needed it. Soon, he and I were treading the green grass outside my prison. I shaded my eyes from the sun as I turned to look at the dreadful place. It was a single, tall tower without any doors or windows that I could see from this side. No banner flew from the top of this lonely turret, so I had no emblem to associate with the enemy who had captured me. The tower was set in the middle of a forest.
“Um, so, Sir…?” I let my sentence trail off and turned to look at my rescuer, who was busy coiling the rope. “Sorry. I didn’t get your name?”
“Jesus,” was the calm reply.
I balked. His grin returned as He added, “You wanted directness.”
Now I had to decide if it was a complete miracle or complete lunacy. The fact that He could read my mind pretty much ruled out insanity, but could it really be Him?
Before I could say anything, He stretched out His hand toward me. One look at the ugly scar marring His skin was enough to convince me. My mind spun.
He pulled me out of my circling thoughts by pointing out, “You were about to ask Me something?”
“Uh, yeah. When do we start… um, that is, when are You…?”
“When does your training begin?” He prompted.
I nodded, still dumbfounded.
“When you are ready,” He said.
I managed to squeak out, “Am I ready now?”
He smiled. “You tell Me. Are you?”
“I think so.”
He waited.
“Yes. I’m ready.”
“Good. Then let’s get to work.” He shouldered the coiled rope and strode into the forest.
The Battle SurrenderedPart TwoStoryteller SilverLoom
The next thing I knew, I was blinking as if I had just
woken up and saw that I was no longer in my bedroom.
The eerie
light was gone. The shadow creatures were gone. I was completely alone in a
dark, damp prison. The only light in the place filtered in from a crack far above
me. Someone had chained my ankles and wrists to the stone floor of the dungeon.
I had a vague memory of the creatures telling me to chain myself up.
Now I realized
just how dumb I had been to follow the shadow creatures. “Hello?” I called. No
answer except for the constant dripping of water from a corner of my prison.
“Hey! Let me go! Get me out of here!” I yelled. Was it my imagination, or did I
hear malicious laughter coming from the darker parts of the dungeon?
My heart
pounded with fear. I had never thought something like this could happen to me.
This sort of thing only happened to people in books. It wasn’t supposed to
happen in real life.
A scream
welled up inside of me and I let it go, along with a torrent of tears. The
worst part of it was that I knew I had put myself in this place; that I hadn’t
fought hard enough.
I curled up on
the cold stone floor and sobbed. Then I called for the only One who could hear
me. “God, please… please help me! I don’t know where I am! I shouldn’t have
given in. Please! Help me!”
As my tears
fell afresh, the light from the crack in the wall suddenly disappeared. I
stopped mid-sob and froze. I even held my breath.
A voice
reverberated off the solid walls of my prison. “Hello, down there!”
I looked up at
the crack. The face of a man stared back at me, his head almost completely
covering the crack. He had the widest smile I had ever seen. “Not the most
comfortable place to live, I’d say,” he remarked in a friendly manner.
I wiped my teary
eyes with my pajama sleeve. “Can… can you get me out?” I stammered. I felt
reluctant to trust this guy, afraid this was another trap.
His smile grew
even larger. “That’s what I came here to do; to help you out." His face drew back from the hole
as he stood.
I waited while
he hacked away at the stone, making the crack large enough for him to crawl
through. It was a few minutes before I realized that he was using his sword to
send the bricks of my prison tumbling down. That was one strong blade.
Finally, he
secured a rope outside the dungeon and used it to climb down through the gap he
had made. He looked like a prince out of a fairy tale; dressed from head to toe
in white stitched with gold thread, a voluminous cape thrown over his
shoulders.
When he stood
in front of me, I lifted my shackled wrists up and said wistfully, “I’m chained.
I don’t know where the key is.”
In a previous post, Tell Me a Story, I gave you the first paragraph of a short story I was writing and asked you to create your own version while I created mine. The stories you all wrote were great and I really enjoyed reading and discussing them.
My short story is finally finished, standing at about seven pages. Yeah, I really took the idea and ran with it. Apparently, it is nearly impossible for me to write a story shorter than a page.
Needless to say, I will not be posting the whole thing all at once. The story will appear, bit by bit, over the next few days... or week... or so... Anyway, I will try to keep the parts short and sweet for easy reading. Hope you enjoy it!
The Battle Surrendered
Part One
Storyteller SilverLoom
They came at night. Like gliding shadows, they moved soundlessly across my bedroom. I had no idea they were coming for me. There was no time to prepare for their attack.
I woke just in time to see them reaching toward me. It was too late. Their fingers were like ice; black icicles circling around my arms, my neck, and my head.
Screaming in terror, I pulled back, trying to roll over, trying to get away from the shadow creatures. Still they clutched at me.
All at once, a dim light dawned over me and my assailants. But instead of clarifying, this light seemed to make everything blurry. It illuminated the shadow creatures, but they did not disappear like shadows; instead, they seemed to grow more solid, and their skin turned white, soft, and pleasantly warm. Their eyes were dark, but gentle. The light seemed to emanate from someplace unseen behind the creatures.
A strange feeling invaded my body and mind, similar to the one you get when you have a fever and take a sedative cold medicine. I could feel my eyelids droop under the unnatural disorientation, and I began to wonder why I was fighting. I reasoned that I was not being hurt, so why bother to struggle? It was too much work to try to get away.
The creatures pulled me into a standing position beside my bed. I didn’t resist. One of the creatures twittered in my ear, its voice soothing, “Follow meee….”
I didn’t ask where it wanted me to follow it to. I would see when I got there. It would take too much effort to talk.
I remember taking the first step to follow the creature. Something nagged within me, telling me that what I was doing was stupid and wrong, but I buried the feeling and stepped forward. The next thing I knew, I was blinking as if I had just woken up and saw that I was no longer in my bedroom.
Like many American's, I am bewildered and troubled by yesterday's Health Care vote. It is very easy to feel heavy-hearted and angry when I think about the direction this country is headed. Yes, my imagination tells a fearful story of America plunging to its doom in the same way that the ancient Roman Empire did.
But there is hope.
Not in Washington. I have very little hope that our nation will ever be the same as it was in the time of our Founding Fathers. I am not saying it is impossible; just that I place little confidence in our present leaders.
My hope is found in only one place, or rather, one Person. He is the only perfect One to trust.
I truthfully believe that every form of government will eventually fail unless its people and its leaders know God as Supreme. No amount of laws will stop sinful people from doing sinful things; only Jesus can do that. No amount of politicians will be able to make good decisions all the time if their worldviews are flawed; only Jesus can give us new eyes that see clearly. No amount of money can heal every illness; only Jesus brings peace to the hurting. Jesus is the only Solid Rock.
America may one day be destroyed. That is the stark reality. But God is the King of kings. No matter where we are, no matter what happens, He is with us.
As Believers in Christ we are "convinced that neither death nor life... neither the present nor the future, nor any powers... nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Rom. 8:38-39) There is no fear in God's infinite love for us.
This is not to say that we should sit back and watch our country crumble. We have been given the gift of freedom. Let us use it while we still can! But use it for the sake of the future generations, and not out of fear.
Come wind, waves, or fire... come terrorists, national debt, or Obamacare... God is firmly seated on His throne, and nothing can make Him walk away.
There are times when the unbelievable characteristics of God just hit you in a way that makes you go "WOW." When you are still and simply contemplating His awesomeness, doesn't it blow your mind? Fill you with a fire? Make you want to run and leap and laugh and cry and dance all at once? Sometimes the beauty of nature makes you stop and think about it, or sometimes it's something you read. God reveals Himself in marvelous ways, truly. I wrote the following during a moment of being in awe of Him. It isn't exactly a story, just my ponderings over something that has become so ordinary, we hardly ever think about it. I hope you are encouraged.
"God loves you." We hear that phrase a lot, but do we often stop and really muse over the meaning of those words? Think about it:
GOD... the One who created the entire universe; every star, every blade of grass, every little atom. The One who makes the sun rise and set. The One who holds everything together. The only One who gives life. (Gen.1:1) LOVES... with an agape love that will never ever cease, no matter what happens, no matter what you do. His love is a constant stream that never fails. An endless song. A forever refuge. A Father's care. (1 Cor. 13:4-8)
YOU... though you have betrayed Him countless times. You have broken His commands, denied His truth, pushed Him away, fled, and tried to hide from Him. You are well versed in finding excuses for your sin. You do not deserve Him. (Rom. 3:23)
"What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God- through Jesus Christ our Lord!" (Rom. 7: 24-25)
GOD LOVES YOU! He actually loves you!!! Isn't that amazing??? GOD LOVES YOU so much, He gave you His Son, so that you don't have to be under sin's bonds! So you can be with Him forever! So you can really know Him!
What are you waiting for? Don't you want to love Him back? He wants to be in your life, wants a deep relationship with you. Tell Him. Talk to Him. He Loves You.
A while ago, I told you all about my friend Jen, who was running a magazine called 'The Christian Girls Club.' Well, Jen has now started a website for girls: littlefaithblog.com. Jen loves to use Disney, crafts, and other girly things to talk about our relationships with Jesus. It's a super fun site. She'll even show you how to make a "Little Faith Book." 
