Archive for May, 2008
May 31, 2008 @ 4:10 pm | Filed under: he said she said
Mike: “You ready?”
He is kneeling, waiting for me to join him for our morning prayer time.
I am, meanwhile, running around our bedroom, gathering up last minute things and dumping them in my purse.
I have about three-and-a-half minutes, tops, before I need to be walking out the door this morning.
Me: “Yes, I’m coming.”
I slide into my 3-inch black pumps right as I reach him.
Me: “Oh, yeah. NOW I’m five-FIVE!”
I quickly drop to my knees and try to switch gears really fast, turning my thoughts to prayer time.
Mike (shaking his head and pretending to pray): “Lord, help her to grow.”
Me (whispering, although I have no idea WHY): “Taller, please. NOT wider.”
May 30, 2008 @ 7:23 am | Filed under: CFBA Reviews
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Tina Ann Forkner writes contemporary fiction that challenges and inspires. Originally from Oklahoma, she graduated with honors in English from CSU Sacramento before ultimately settling in the wide-open spaces of Wyoming where she now resides with her husband and their three children. Tina serves on the Laramie County Library Foundation Board of Directors and enjoys gardening, spending time outdoors with her family, and works as a full-time writer.
ABOUT THE BOOK
Sometimes, the key that unlocks your future lies in someone else’s past…
In Ruby Among Us, Lucy DiCamillo is safely surrounded by her books, music, and art─but none of these reclusive comforts or even the protective efforts of her grandmother, Kitty can shield her from the memory of the mother she can no longer remember. Lucy senses her grandmother holds the key, but Kitty seems as eager to hide from the past as Lucy is eager to find it.
From the streets of San Francisco and Sacramento, to the lush vineyards of the Sonoma Valley, Lucy follows the thread of memory in search for a heritage that seems long-buried with her mother, Ruby.
What she finds is enigmatic and stirring in this redemptive tale about the power of faith and mother-daughter love.
“What an incredible story. As both mothers and daughters, Ruby Among Us struck a special cord in each of the four of us. Tina writes in a way that makes us feel like we’re there; from the first line, we were captivated and drawn into an intricate weaving of the precious and fragile relationships that define us.”
~Point of Grace~
“Reading is a passion of mine, and when I find myself identifying with the characters, anxious to get to the next page to find answers to my questions, I know I’m into a good book! The daughter-mother-grandmother theme in Ruby Among Us pulled me in. Wonderful story-telling.”
~Jordin Sparks~, 2007 winner of American Idol
“Highly recommended. If you’re a mother or daughter, you’re going to love Ruby Among Us. Forkner does an extraordinary job…. I look forward to more from this author.”
~Ane Mulligan~, Novel Journey
“Don’t miss this one! Tina Ann Forkner is a strong new voice in fiction and Ruby Among Us is an amazing story of trials, regrets, and, ultimately, redemption. Lucy and her family history in the historic wine country of Sonoma bring to life the Scriptures about the Vine and His branches.”
~Kristin Billerbeck~, author of The Trophy Wives Club
If you would like to read the first chapter go HERE
Christian fiction, new authors, publishing
May 29, 2008 @ 12:36 pm | Filed under: Soul Food
grace: unmerited divine assistance given humans for their regeneration or sanctification b: a virtue coming from God c: a state of sanctification enjoyed through divine grace
_____________________________
I can’t get away from it this morning.
I woke up with these words, a space of grace, trailing again and again across my mind. I wanted to write about something entirely different here this morning, but the right words for that post are just too elusive. And so I’m giving in to the words that are here, and I’m exploring them.
I’ve always known these spots existed, these spaces of grace, but I’ve never had reason to put a name or a description to what they were, or what they meant to my life. They are these “pockets of time” in our spiritual journey when we experience moments so filled with His power that we are literally enabled to do what we could not do before.
Things seem to both, accelerate and slow at the same time. Oftentimes our learning, our talents, and our abilities will seem to be fastracked during these periods even while our observations, our reflections, and our times of meditation are slowed and filled with enormous amounts of clarity.
For some, these may be the times when they capture the vision of what they have to offer to the world around them, and they go for it. For others, these moments may be where they find strength to see their way out of temptations, and do. For still others, it is a time of discovering their voice, their passion, their ability to lead, and they step out in faith.
A space of grace is when we find ourselves in that holy place where heaven touches earth and we happen to be standing in the middle of it.
I saw a billboard a few weeks back that simply read, touching heaven, changing lives. That’s what this life is truly about, whether that life that becomes changed is someone else’s or our own.
For me, many of these times have meant moments of ‘lightbulb revelations’ - times when His word suddenly became real to me in ways that I’d either not understood before, or simply not seen before. It is during these times that I soak up, absorb, crave…more, more, more of Him. It is always a time of thankfulness, a time of rejuvenation, a time of a lot less struggle and a lot more energy.
Sometimes these pockets of time last days, sometimes months. To be honest, when the day would eventually come that I would realize that once more I seemed to be deep in the mire and muck that is daily life I would feel a bit of disappointment in myself.
I think - even though until now I’ve not taken the time to analyze these times - I thought that I had somehow brought myself to that spot with God. That my own spirituality had somehow merited me this favored time with Him. So if I’d brought myself to this special place, then it would only stand to reason that it would be ME who took myself away from it, who brought about the end of something so precious, so sacred.
Thinking about that this morning, I feel silly. But I also feel a deep joy bubbling in my soul that just cannot be unseated.
These times - these spaces of grace - are rest stops for our soul. I picture it as though I’m on a trip, a long journey, and I pull over to the side of the road. Not necessarily for a rest, or a drink, or a bite to eat. Maybe I pull over to take out the map, look back over the miles already traveled and plan and dream and anticipate the exciting stops that lie on my horizon.
It’s a time of planning and reflection, a time to dump out the trash and fuel up with all things good. It’s a time to look back on the road behind and see - maybe for the first time in a long while - just how far along on this journey that you are, and it’s a time to look ahead, knowing now from experience that the sights, the scenery, the people might move and change or even dissipate.
But not His great love. Not His direction. Never His grace.
I’m thankful this morning for spaces of grace.
May 28, 2008 @ 2:04 pm | Filed under: Scrapbooking
May 27, 2008 @ 5:35 pm | Filed under: Scrapbooking, Uniquely Me
These are the BEFORE pictures of the scrapbooking closet…
May 27, 2008 @ 11:42 am | Filed under: Mary & Martha Project, The Solid Rock
There have been days in the past couple of months when I’ve wanted to throw Mary and Martha beneath the bus.
That sounded harsh, didn’t it?
I have a feeling that if any two women would understand that statement, and would agree with it (had there been buses way back then), then surely it would have been these two. Finding that elusive internal balance has always been an issue for women, it seems, for as far back as time goes.
I sat in the Sunday school lesson this past week and listened as we learned about the balance of life. The rise and fall, the lulls and the swells, that life’s ocean carries us on. Things come. Things go. People come. People go. Circumstances are bad. Circumstances are good.
It’s the circle of life, and it’s only in coming full circle that balance is achieved. Good wouldn’t be recognized as ‘good’ if not for the balance of the ‘bad.’ Sweet wouldn’t taste nearly as delectable without the memory of ’sour.’
When we step back and look through the lens of clarity it’s almost easy to see this external balance at work in our lives, and in the world around us. So I’ve been thinking this morning, are not the internal scales of balance working in much the same way?
So often I think that every segment of who I am must be at work simultaneously. The thinker in me. The spiritual woman in me. The creator in me. The caretaker in me. I expect all of these things, of course, to work in perfect tandem with my roles as mom, wife, friend, writer, student, encourager, leader, granddaughter, sister, Nana, aunt…
I just checked and there is no S for SuperWoman on my chest. (You know what - I don’t even own a cape.)
In Mary & Martha’s defense (since I am the one who brought them into the lives of the women in our church), I have to say that the main thing I’ve learned from our study of them is that this internal balance is not evidenced in a single day. When viewing individual days, there is no balance. Some days are frought with hassles that require very little creativity but a lot of intense care. Other days are nothing but creative ones. Still others will be spent in quiet speculation, only to be followed the next by merriment and a sense that anything is possible.
We aren’t capable of seeing this internal balance at work in our lives. It truly is a matter of waking each morning with one purpose for that day. Lord, direct my thoughts, my path, my life today.
It’s loving Him so much that we seek only His approval. It’s loving ourselves enough to have mercy when we stumble and resolve enough to get right back up and try again. It’s loving others so intently that the frustrations of occasionally being thrown off-balance are virtually undetectable in the light of doing what is right.
I came across the following that was supposedly written by a seventeenth-century nun. It sums up very well both, the truth and the humor, about this life that I’m embracing this morning.
Lord, you know better than I know myself that I am growing older and will someday be old. Keep me from getting talkative, particularly from the fatal habit of thinking that I must say something on every subject and on every occasion.
Release me from craving to straighten out everybody’s affairs. Make me thoughtful, but not moody; helpful, but not bossy. With my vast store of wisdom it seems a pity not to use it all, but you know, Lord, that I want a few friends at the end. Keep my mind from the recital of endless details - give me wings to come to the point.
I ask for grace enough to listen to the tales of others’ pains. Seal my lips on my own aches and pains - they are increasing, and my love of rehearsing them is becoming sweeter as the years go by. Help me endure them with patience.
I dare not ask for improved memory, but for a growing humility and a lessening cocksureness when my memory seems to clash with the memories of others. Teach me the glorious lesson that occasionally it is possible that I may be mistaken.
Keep me reasonably sweet. I do not want to be a saint - some of them are so hard to live with - but a sour old woman is one of the crowning works of the devil.
Give me the ability to see good things in unexpected places, and talents in unexpected people. And give me, O Lord, the grace to tell them so!
And - to that - I will only add these words of my own:
Lord, direct my thoughts today. Direct my pathway. Direct my life. Help me to listen to You, and to You alone.
Help me to do just that - ‘one thing’ - today.
balance, Mary & Martha Project
May 26, 2008 @ 3:55 pm | Filed under: Friends
still totally rocks!
Thank you, Rochelle, for remembering your diet Coke-lovin’ friend in your travels!
You brought me several really cool things, but this - THIS is my favorite! My Israeli diet Coke now holds a place of prominence in my office - right next to my Moroccan diet Coke!
Could you maybe go to Italy and Japan next…?
May 22, 2008 @ 6:12 pm | Filed under: Summer at the ballpark, he said she said
(The following conversation takes place on the drive to the game. Obviously, we’re both hungry…)
Mike: “You know what I’m going to have tonight?”
Me: “I don’t know about you, but I’m going to have a hot dog.”
Mike: “Me too. Isn’t it funny how we never eat hot dogs except when we’re at a baseball game?”
Me: “That’s because they really do taste good at games.”
Mike: “I’m going to have mustard on mine.”
Me: “Oooo, and relish.”
Mike: “Don’t forget the cheese.”
Me: “Definitely going to have cheese.”
Mike: “And onions…”
Me: “Blech. Don’t think so, mister. No onions.”
Mike: “You know…they say that if you have a little onion too, you’ll never even notice the onion on my breath…”
Me: “I hear that’s what ‘they’ say.”
Mike: “So you’ll eat onion?”
Me: “We’ll see…” (Translated: not in THIS lifetime!)
(Twenty minutes later, as we’re walking into the ballpark.)
Mike (pointing in the opposite direction of the hot dog place) : “Let’s go have barbeque at Sonny Bryan’s.”
Me (shrugging): “Sure. Okay.”
America's favorite pasttime, baseball, Roughriders
May 22, 2008 @ 5:27 pm | Filed under: Uniquely Me
“For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.” II Timothy 1:7
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When I think about some of the women who have made the largest impact on my life, I find that these women quite often had a gentleness about them. A gentleness that I desperately would want to emulate. I can’t say the number of times that I would try to do just that, only to have my own personality rise to the surface again and again…and again.
I finally realized that I needed to embrace the ME that God created me to be. It wasn’t until I began to fall deeper and deeper into Him that I finally learned that this gentleness that I so wanted for myself was not merely a “personality” trait. It was an inherent trait that was a gift from God.
It’s not something that can be emulated. It’s not something that can even really be learned. It is simply something that is gifted gradually, as you learn more, trust more, give in more…to Him.
I read these words this morning, “A quiet and gentle spirit is a heart free from fear.”
I had to read it several times and think about it. And then read it a few more times. That is a powerful statement and, the more I read it, the more God opened up my understanding of it.
I’ve always wanted that gentleness for myself.
But I’ve always struggled with the fear factor.
Fear of failure. Fear of rejection. Fear of letting someone down, of dropping an important ball. Fear of the unexpected. Fear of the future. Fear of the past. Fear of my accomplishments.
In hindsight, it’s fear that has made me occasionally do some of those kind of crazy things. Fear speaks without thinking. Fear freaks out. It wanders on its own for solutions and explanations. It races to “fix things,” or at least searches for a way to figure them out.
Fear fusses and fidgets, messes and obsesses.
This morning my heart is repentant and I kneel before Him with an all-new understanding of both, fear and gentleness. I’ll try to remember from now on to fear in only these ways:
- Protected: “The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him, and he delivers them:” (Psalm 34:7)
- Given wisdom: “Who are those who fear the Lord? He will show them the path they should choose” (Psalm 25:12, NLT)
- A friend of God: “Friendship with the Lord is reserved for those who fear Him. With them He shares the secrets of His convenant.” (Psalm 25:14, NLT)
- Secure in God’s love: “For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him.” (Psalm 103:11)
- Provided for by God: “Fear the Lord, you his saints, for those who fear him lack nothing.” (Psalm 34:9)
- Satisfied: “The fear of the Lord leads to life, and he who has it will abide in satisfaction; he will not be visited with evil” (Proverbs 19:23, NKJV)
I want a lot, spiritually speaking. If I were to make a wish-list for all that I desire in this realm, I’d be hard-pressed to know what I want most. But I do know that somewhere very close to the top of that list would be this gentleness that is bred only by being rooted and secure in Him. In times of stress or lonely drought, I want to exercise faith, not fear. I want to radiate peace and joy.
I want a fearless beauty.
devotions, grace, inner beauty
May 21, 2008 @ 10:13 am | Filed under: Family, Pure Sunshine
