True Friends--Remembering Nita

When have you connected with a true friend?

Not the Facebook, collecting kind--
But real, honest to goodness friends.

Today I'm remembering a true friend--Nita.

One morning I called her and

Instantly we connected.

Not surface, game-playing talk but

A deep, cozy sharing--

Like slipping into a pair of comfy slippers.

She laughed and laughed--

And her joy was contagious--

Like good medicine.

There was nothing gloomy or complaining--

Oh yes--she had one complaint--

"No news--just lying here."

The delicious delightful moments passed and

Her love was  like the warmth of sunshine--

While her positive, upbeat talk

Touched me deeply.

Later I dropped the coffee pot--

Wet coffee grounds and glass

Sprayed over the floor and cabinets.

Then suddenly I thought of Nita--
Her wonderful, infectious joy
Amidst the storms of life--
And my mess meant absolutely nothing.

Where was Nita when she called?

She was lying in bed

Battling cancer.

She wasn't gloomy or complaining,
While apologizing for "not emailing much,"
Her thoughts and love

Were focused on others.

She bragged about her family
Whom she adored--
Yes--they mattered most. 

Today my precious Friend is in Heaven.

And to Nita I write--

Thank you
For your exquisite friendship and showing me
How to live.

Thank you for the reminder:

There's nothing more valuable than--

Loving, caring and connecting with others.
Family, friends and faith-
Are our greatest wealth.

Thanks to you Nita--
My life will ever
Be richer!

********************

"A thankful attitude opens windows of Heaven."

--Sarah Young ("Jesus Calling")

Encouragement from Writers to Writers

Along the arduous path into the publishing world,
There are those who have been helped and seek to help others.
Some extend a critique, words of wisdom or a warm hug of encouragment.
Others lend confidence via the written page--
Cutting a vein and sharing their blood, sweat and tears.

One such encourager and lover of writers is
Author Cecil Murphey who has written over 100 books.
http://cecmurpheyswritertowriter.blogspot.com/
This new book and his blog--are a must read for writers.

"If God is calling you to be a writer,        

then He will lead you from this point on.

And you will soon discover that He has known all along

That you'd have this desire and has been building into your life

A whole set of unique events from which you'll be able

To draw your own one-of-a-kind perspective."

    --Bodie and Brock Thoene, Writer to Writer

"I think the crucial thing in the writing career

Is to find what you want to do and how you fit in.

What somebody else does is of no concern

Whatever except as an interesting variation."

--James A. Michener

Author, Editor and Speaker Susan Titus Osborne--
After 30 books--sums up the journey:

"When all I had to hold onto was a thread linking me to God,

I learned to step out in faith and to take risks.

If I had not been forced to earn a living,

I never would have developed my current programs and ministries. . .

                                                  I am now blessed with a supportive husband and a thriving business."

Whether it's writing or some other creative adventure--

I hope you have a happy week
Mastering and enjoying
  Your God-given gifts. :)

Does God Reveal Himself Today?

Will God speak today?
Does He care about you and me? Where is He when our world falls apart?
Have you ever wondered?
I have.


And while wondering,
 I looked for someone to answer the secret nagging questions.
But there was no one.

Oh yes I knew ministers and plenty

 of religious people--some dear friends and sincere seekers.

Like me, they were at church regularly.

Singing loudly on the church pew but spazzing out in the nitty gritty of life.

God seemed far off in the sky somewhere--
And I wondered--how do I connect with him?

So I rushed to the bookstore and searched
Through books by Andrew Murray, Watchman Nee, Catherine Marshall, Dr. Francis Schaeffer And others who wrote about their friendship with God.



That's what I wanted. I devoured the books,

And found they all had one thing in common--

They thirsted and searched for God.

Determined to find answers,

I sat quietly each morning, with a cup of coffee, the Bible, pen and paper.

 Day after day, I searched, prayed and jotted notes.

One morning a verse leaped off the page and into my heart.

And that was just the beginning of a journey into knowing

And finding that God reveals Himself today.

"He loves us with an everlasting love."

As Catherine Marshall wrote:

"And every time where I had met God

Had not been on the easy straight-aways but on the turns

When I had least expected the revelation of His presence. . . .

He met me at my point of need...

I have met God when the straight road turns,

And He has picked me up,

Wiped away my tears,

And set me back on the road of life."

(Meeting God At Every Turn)

xxxxxxxxxxxxx

"If you seek Him with all of your heart

Then will you find Him."

Writers Needed Today

Where are the writers needed today?

This week the news was filled with alarming events--
The devastating monster storms that ravaged middle America,
The death of investigative reporter and publisher 
Andrew Breitbart who dropped dead at 43,
And a report by John Stossel entitled
"Everything Illegal" http://youtu.be/OuIahM4mB-8.

Amidst news broadcasts filled with emptiness such as
Reports about Lindsey, Angelina and Snookie
The questions nagged--
Where is the real news
And
Where are conscientous writers of truth?

Courageous Writers of yesterday:


Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Wrote and warned of dangerous trends and threats in
His beloved homeland.

He loved God, he loved people and he loved Germany.
And as the Nazis robbed them of freedom
Bonhoeffer pleaded for all to awaken 
And arise against the forces of evil.
But many were blind to truth
And deaf to his cry.

Before his martyrdom by the Nazis he wrote:

"We have learned a bit too late in the day
That action springs not from thought but
From readiness for responsibility."



(Photo from Wikipedia)

Another hero of the written word was
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn.
Amidst danger, degradation and destruction
He wrote but the 
Soviet government tried to silence his warnings.
Imprisoned in the Gulag Archipelago he wrote:
"It is time in the West to defend not so much
Human rights as human obligations."

And to writers he encouraged:
"It is the artist who realizes there is a Supreme force
Above him and works gladly away
As a small apprentice under God's Heaven."

"Where are the trained professional writers
Who will set forth the truth about good and evil
In the idiom of our time?"
--Dr. Sherwood Wirt
(Editor Emeritus - the Billy Graham Association)

If you have any doubt there's a need
Stop, look and listen.
Then Google
"Text of Address by
Alexander Solzhenitsyn
at Harvard Class Exercises
Thursday, June 8, 1978."

Let's join the ranks of Solzhenitsyn, Bonhoeffer
Corrie ten Boom and others--
Because today we desperately need voices,
Warnings,
And courageous writers.