Risky Transport by Christine Johnson

Have you ever found yourself facing a mode of transportation that has you second-guessing? As someone who has found herself face-to-face with a bear while hiking and plowing into heavy seas with a sailboat, I’ve had my share of travel adventures and misadventures.

Sometimes, though, I know beforehand that it’s something I do not want to do. Naturally, those “no way” modes of transportation are precisely what my husband is dying to do.

First he insisted on parasailing. “It’ll be fun,” he said. I saw instead the potential for an ugly crash landing on the deck of the boat. Yep, me splattered with broken bones. Only after grilling the captain, did I agree to go. Yeah, it was fun. I loved it. Hubby? Let’s just say his knuckles never stopped being white.

Next up, whitewater rafting. When they made me sign a waiver that they weren’t liable even if I died, I had to ask how many had died on their tours. Well, none yet, but there’s always a first time. Don’t you love a kidder?

Next he wanted to take a helicopter ride through the mountains. Really? Hadn’t he read the same newspaper articles I did about tour helicopters crashing? I might have a chance over water but not over the northern Rocky Mountains. 

The writer’s mind automatically thinks up all the possibilities and settles on the one that will most dramatically change the story and affect the characters. That’s great on paper but not so fun when I’m the one signing off on the waiver.

Yes, I did all of these, though it took a lot of praying and reassurance from the Lord before agreeing to the helicopter ride. And you know what? None of the bad stuff happened. In fact, each adventure was fun and at times exhilarating. The moment the helicopter landed following the tour, I turned to my husband and said, “Let’s do it again, right now.” How else could I see God's beautiful creation from this perspective? 

Lately the Lord has been showing me that I need to trust Him completely. It’s not easy for this constant what-if thinker, but He has always come through. He is faithful. I’m the baby, uncertain whether to try that first step or not. Thankfully my Heavenly Daddy has big arms and unshakeable love.

In our books, our heroines all take a leap of faith, whether it’s women answering a mail-order bride advertisement, such as in my Love Inspired Historical Boom Town Brides series, or a poor woman spending everything to go to a new land to make a new life, such as in Honor Redeemed (Revell).

What leap of faith have you made that turned out to be the best decision ever?

Christine Johnson

Honor Redeemed (#2, Keys of Promise, Revell, July 2016)

Mail Order Mix-Up (#1, Boom Town Brides, LIH, April 2016)

Mail Order Mommy (#2, Boom Town Brides, LIH, Nov 2016)

http://christineelizabethjohnson.com

Not a Christmas Post :)

Being that it's December and I have a Christmas book in release (2 actually), I had intended to do today's post about Christmas. Makes sense, right?

But then today happened.

And I knew that this testimony was more important than another Christmas traditions post.

Twice in my life now I have had a similar situation, and twice God has reminded me of his presence.

The details don't matter (and frankly I don't even remember them from the first time), but both times I was having a really bad day and found myself wishing for a hug - you know the really good kind of hugs where the other person wraps you up in their arms and just holds you tight.

My father was the best hugger, but we lost him 13 years ago this month. I miss his hugs. One of my daughters was a great hugger, but she doesn't live at home any more.

Anyway, I remember the first instance so clearly. I was walking into church on a Sunday morning thinking of how I really needed a hug.

At some point I noticed a woman and young child sitting in front of me, and before long I recognized the woman as a former student - a girl I'd taught in sixth grade.

After Mass was over, she turned to me and said, "You probably don't remember me, but I was in your  class and you made me love science so much, that I'm going to medical school to become a pediatrician." We chatted for awhile about her desire to serve underprivileged communities, about the little girl who was her niece and how she would pick her up and bring her to church on Sundays so she knew God's love.

As I walked out of church, I remember thinking, "Lord, that might not have been the hug I was imagining, but you really came through for me." I'd felt so warm and loved in that moment, that whatever trouble I'd been having was washed away.

Fast forward to today - another day fraught with problems and I was wishing for one of those all-enveloping hugs from dad. I was chatting on the phone with my sister and we kept starting to get off, but then one more thing would lead to another until phone batteries were dying.

We were just about to hang up when she said, "One last thing. I've been meaning to ask if you know the group Casting Crowns?" I said I did, and she said, "I know you'll love their Christmas song."

After we hung up, I googled Casting Crowns to find the song.

This came up instead.

I'll admit, the tears were flowing freely as I embraced God's goodness and his answer to me. All day I have been trying to remind myself to just be in his presence. This song was just what I needed to hear, but it struck me that it's also the message we try to send with so many of our books.
I hope it helps you too.

I did eventually find the Christmas song. I bet all of you historical readers/writers will particularly enjoy the explanation in the beginning. And all of us can appreciate the message at the end.

Ask Elnora--About Tenacity??--Lenora Worth

Elnora is fashionably late this morning. But with a not so fashionable headache. But don't cry for me, Bloggerville. I took a migraine pill. I think the headache came after a few of my "church lady" friends and I cleaned up our class room just in time for the church's fifty year anniversary. The dust in our classroom must have been that old, too. And most of it went into Elnora's dainty little nose! So ..... headache in the middle of the night and the realization that alas, I didn't pre-schedule this blog! But not to fear. I already had my subject planned. Drumroll please.... The subject of today's post is TENACITY!!

This potato vine has tenacity. I posted a picture of this on Facebook a few days ago. Since then the potato vine has grown even more. It all started last summer when I placed a dish garden by the pool. It contained several different thrillers, fillers and spillers. The potato vine outlasted all the other plants well into fall. Big Daddy cleared and emptied the pot and moved it. This spring, however, a little bud began forming in a crack between the pool rim and the cool deck--literally between a rock and a hard place! And the picture you see is the result of that little bud. Potato vines have tenacity. This vine has become a symbol to me during this long, hot summer. Durng this long, hard year, too. Elnora is strong and determined and hard to break, but this year I came very close. The BIG move and packing for that, the BIG backache and trying to either ignore that or get well from that, and a lot of other life things had all gotten me down. But seeing this tenacious vine every day and watching it grow and thrive in the hot sun, well, that taught Elnora a valuable lesson. We can't give up. We can't let go. We have to hold tight to God's love. We have to draw from our own strength and the strength of our faith. I love that word, tenacity. It sounds tough and sure and confident. So, my little tator vine bloggers, let's discuss tenacity. What does it take to cling to the vine? What does it take to get out from between a rock and a hard place. Do you have tenacity?

Showing Love

Since our theme this month is love in all its many aspects, I want to share a book with you that changed my life several years ago.


The Five Love Languages by Dr. Gary Chapman


http://www.fivelovelanguages.com/





Knowing my love language and my husband's love language has helped my marriage tremendously. Also, knowing the love languages of my children has helped me be a better parent.


On the link I've provided, you can take a 30 sec quick assessment test and learn more information about your love language and the love language of those you love.

Perseverance

As we've gone through the verses in 1 Corinthians 13, I am reminded each day of another facet of love. Love always perseveres. I like to think of persevering as staying the course. No matter what happens, love doesn't give up. This means if someone disappoints us, we love them anyway. That's the way God is. We can read about God's love in Psalm 103:8. "The LORD is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love."

We should have perseverance in our earthly relationships. We have to work through the good times and the bad times when we love someone just as God does with us when he forgives us. Here are two verses from James that tell us a lot about perseverance.

James 1:12 says, "Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him."

James 5:11 says, "As you know, we consider blessed those who have persevered. You have heard of Job's perseverance and have seen what the Lord finally brought about. The Lord is full of compassion and mercy."

As I wrote this I was thinking mostly of our relationships with God and with the people we love, but I also want to give a little side note about perseverance. When I was assigned this topic, I thought about my writing career. I just want to say to anyone who has a dream that perseverance pays dividends. My dream was to be published. I wrote and sent in manuscripts for twenty years before I finally sold. I believe that God was teaching me perseverance and also teaching me to give my writing over to Him so that He could use it to glorify Him. I thank the Lord that I didn't give up that dream.

I want to close with two more verses from the Bible. They tell us about perseverance better than I ever could.

Hebrews 12:2-3 says, "Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart."

Galatians 6:9 says, "Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up."

Uh, oh...Love Keeps No Record of Wrongs?

1 Corinthians 13:4-7: Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs...

Missy here. Talking about that last part, love keeps no record of wrongs...

Okay, I’ll admit I forgot to mail a check to a friend recently. I also forgot to make my son a haircut appointment (poor thing looked like he had a growth out the back of his head!). And I forgot to buy ice cream at the grocery. I forgot…I forgot…I forgot…

I forget a lot of things. But I bet I can tell you every single time my husband irritated me last week! :) And I can tell you exactly which days my youngest two kids fought on the way home from school. (Not hard to do. It was EVERY SINGLE DAY last week!) I can tell you the biggest mistakes my parents made while I was growing up. I can even tell you friends who have hurt my feelings over the last 20+ years.

Love keeps no record of wrongs. Oh, my.

I guess I’m in big trouble.

So I’m asking for help from you (and from God). How can I let these little things go and truly love my husband? I mean, come on, how bad is it, truly, that he’s so fastidiously organized while my piles are exploding everywhere? Shouldn’t I be thankful?? :) And so what if he moves my piles out of his way on occasion? (No, he doesn’t understand that I know where everything is in those piles!) And so what if he hogs the covers? And hogs the remote control?

Maybe I can focus more on the sweet things he does, like helping with the laundry, taking the dogs out each morning, emptying the dishwasher, taking care of the kids while I’m at conferences, offering to make me a sandwich when I’m writing toward a deadline (and missing meals)…

Love keeps no record of wrongs.

Okay, how do you do this with the man you love? How do you do this with your parents or your children? How do you love them with a First Corinthians 13 kind of love?

P.S. Don't forget Valentine's Day is Saturday!!

Blessings Through Adversity--Real Life & Fiction

One day my dh looked at me as I was planning a new story.
I use a spiral notebook to write out my hero and heroine personalities, backgrounds, motivations and challenges.
He looked at it and said, "You're kind of like God."
I was speechless for a few moments. Then I asked, "What do you mean?"
He said, "You plan their whole lives and know what will be best for them."
He got it.

When I plan a story, I create realistic characters, meaning they have problems, troubles from the past, and something to learn. That's the tough part--on them. As the author, I can't go easy on them. I have to keep throwing things at them, that demand change and growth. If I'm too easy on them, they won't change and they won't be prepared to receive the blessings (love) God wants for them. (And I won't have a story anyone including my editor will enjoy!)

Sometimes I will actually be too nice to my characters. I mean I'm not a mean person and I hate pulling out rug after rug from beneath my heroes and heroines. But if I'm nice, there is no story.

In my second Love Inspired, NEW MAN IN TOWN, I planned that my heroine's grandmother who raised her was deceased before the story began.

Imagine my surprise when in chapter two my heroine started driving to town to visit her grandmother at the local nursing home. I grabbed the steering wheel and said, "Hey! She's at the cemetery!"
My heroine wouldn't give in and there she was going into the nursing home. Then I knew why I had tried to rid my heroine of her grandmother, her "Mommy Dearest" grandmother. The grandmother was the villain!

And I didn't want her messing with my hero and heroine's lives. And interestingly, that book brought me the most readers letters. Every woman wanted to tell me about a manipulating, conniving, self-centered women in their lives. So without Grandma Dearest the story would not have had the impact it did. It wouldn't have forced my heroine to see her grandmother for what she was and to begin to have a relationship with her dad and his second wife and her half-sister. And she wouldn't have been ready to have a grownup love with the hero.

I don't know what challenges are in your life right now. Illness, unemployment, prodigal children, mourning. Life is never easy for anyone. I've learned over the years never to look at someone else and say--"Oh, she has it easy."

We all have our public faces and our private suffering. EVERYONE. No one gets through this life without paying hefty dues.

The secret is that if you love the Lord, the suffering is always for a purpose.

He doesn't torture us for the fun of it. He loves us enough to force us out of our comfort zones and sometimes He's pretty rough with us.

Especially if we resist change. Better to go with Him and find out in the end what the purpose of the present challenge was.

A friendly warning--learn whatever truth or change is necessary the first time you're confronted with it. Don't make God give you a make-up assignment!

"For we know that all things work together for good for those called according to His purpose"!

God loves us enough, not to let life be so easy we remain immature. He loves us enough to make us grow up! And be more like Him.

Hold Fast--God Knows The Way

Hi Everyone!

I'm sorry I'm running late getting this post done. I'm on deadline with a book and am at the point where I'm bleary eyed and bumping into doors because of lack of sleep! BUT--His Cowgirl Bride is almost ready to be dropped in the mail on Wednesday and will meet its deadline. Praise God :)

However beware--the post below hasn't been edited!

I'm really enjoying the wonderful post on faith. I know for myself, walking by faith these last five years has been a must. When my husband died in 03 I learned trusting God's plan for my life was all I could do. I clearly was able to look back over the three years prior to Wayne's death and see the beautiful gifts of love that God had given me. He'd urged me to lay my writing aside and concentrate on my family for the four years before my son's graduated. At the time I knew I was very close to being published but I had been feeling that way for six years. God awakened me to the fact that at that time I needed to be obedient to what He was telling me and to concentrate on my family. The writing would still be there at the end of four years. I listened, and for the next three years didn't write a word. I went to ballgames, watched TV with my husband and sons. Went on a wonderful vacation in the Smokey mountains--and was completley in the moment with my family--not half in the moment with the other half of my brain plotting a book! I have to tell you that laying down the writing hadn't been and easy decision. I sort of laid it down kicking and screaming. Thankfully the next day God gave me peace about it and I was able to completely enjoy my family time without any sort of regret for the dream that I was delaying. I thought God had given me this nudge for the benefit of my son's but had no idea it was because God knew that He would be calling Wayne home to be with him during that time.

We serve an extraordinary God! He has our backs! He asked us to have faith in what we can not see--and to trust in what He can see and where He leads. For me, walking in faith since Wayne's death has been easy. Yes I've had my struggles with great grief. But I've also moved forward knowing that He loved me enough to give me a beautiful gift of speacial family time with Wayne and my boys before Wayne died.

I tell this story often as a reminder that God is faithful and His love for us is not measurable. We must trust in what we cannot see...but I can see what He has done for myself and others and so we do not blindly trust. So now, here, in this hard time that is happening all around me I will admit that I have moments of worry. For my friends and family and others who are struggling or fearing their futures. But when I start to worry, I back up, thank God for the way he has been faithful and then I put myself in His hands and go on.

He has never failed me even in the darkest of times...so if you are out there and this is a dark time for you I pray that you will hold fast to God and let Him lead you to the other side.

Blessings to all!
Debra Clopton