The Sound of Rain

I’m loving the sound of rain this overcast afternoon.

Simply to sit beside an open window and listen is pure soul-joy.

A moment to lift my face to God, close my eyes and listen to His gift of gentle rain.

This is a quiet, splattery, soft kind of rain.

This rain creates rounded curves and ripples across our ponds.

It disturbs the serene water resting in the birdbath with the splashes of water on water.

This rain gathers and drips from eaves into waiting puddles that make me want to walk barefoot in them.

This rain holds promise. It will usher in wondrous, breathable, coolness tonight.

It’s the brief autumn we revel in after the heat leaves and we look toward a time of off-and-on sweater-weather in Florida.

This rain births thankfulness in me.

This rain makes me yearn to share my heart with you who also love the sounds and scents of rain as it nourishes and kisses the earth.

♥

For He says to the snow, ‘Fall on the earth’;

likewise to the gentle rain and the heavy rain of His strength.

Job 37:6

♥

Jesus said: “But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you,

do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you,

that you may be sons of your Father in heaven;

for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good,

and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.

For if you love those who love you, what reward have you?”

Matthew 5:44-46

Shaped and Formed

Do you have any idea how amazing—how wonderful you are?

The Lord God, Himself, shaped you inside and out.

He knitted you together, nestling you within the warmth of your mother long before you ever took your first breath.

You are His unique creation and He filled you with the senses of wonder and awe.

With His excellence, He created you with utmost attention to the tiniest detail of your being.

His work is amazing and He tucked this knowledge deep within your soul.

♥

King David writes in his Psalm:

“For You formed my inward parts; You covered me in my mother’s womb. I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; marvelous are Your works, and that my soul knows very well” (Psalm 139:13-14 NKJV).

♥

The Lord God walked down the staircase of heaven with you cradled in His arms.

♥

You—your life—is the story.

“Life is God’s novel. Let him write it.” Isaac Bashevis Singer.

♥

How has God shaped and formed your life?

Love,

Sally

amazon.com/author/sallychambers

Writer’s Desk: Creation Station

Ever feel like Eeyore looks on that mug? A while back, I was bursting with ideas for a new novel. But in the midst of nailing down thoughts and plots and opening lines, it was giving me a ton of trouble.☺

From enthusiasm to confusion to resignation, came rhyming words that matched my feelings. This is what emerged.

So, grab your choice of “libation” and enjoy a glimpse into my writing life! ♥

• Libation                                         Monster mug of Earl Grey tea
• Ideation                                Heavy plotting, brain-busting thoughts
• Celebration                                                    Yesss! Got it!

• Destination                          Hmm, exactly where do I go from here?
• Elation                                      Aha! There’s where I go from here
• Creation                         Mad-crazy typing, wondrous ideas—ah, purrrfect

• Evolution                                       Well—maybe not so perfect
• Agitation                                                     Downright awful
• Frustration                                    Did this really come from me
• Hesitation                         Well, surely I can make something out of it
• Procrastination                              But, maybe not right now
• Perpetration                           Hatch a plot to get rid of the evidence

• Assassination                               Just dispatch the whole thing
• Conflagration                                Delete, delete, delete, poof!
• Desolation                                        Oh no, now I’ve done it
• Deforestation                                      Pulling my hair out

• Resignation                                      I really did just do that?
• Aberration                                            Yup, you really did
• Prostration                                     On my face in fervent prayer
• Re-creation                                 It just might rise from the ashes
• Vacation                                             But not until I get back!

♥

“Laughter is a sunbeam of the soul.” ― Thomas Mann

Sometimes in life we need a break to simply laugh . . . with others and at ourselves.

God created us with the capacity to do just that. So laugh, then turn around and DO the thing!

Even frustration can become something to share, and it was fun to have this little piece end up published in a writers’ magazine.

♥

“And He said to me, ’“My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness’” (2 Corinthians 12:9 NKJV).

♥

Anybody relate to this poetic saga?

I’d love for you to leave a comment.☺

Love,

Sally

Sally’s Amazon Author Page  http://amzn.to/1MzgXNb

 

Storm Surge

New. Everything. New and different.

The polished wood desk is icy beneath my fingertips, shreds of self-assurance slip, my confidence suddenly a shipwreck.

Breathe.

Just sit here for a while. Take in this new place, this strange, foreign place.

I prayed, planned, vaulted every hurdle, passed every test, beat out the competition.

I’m here.

Doubts race in on the tsunami my mind has become. Have I done the right thing?

Leaving a secure job, one with everything . . .

. . . everything including the proverbial glass ceiling.

I went as far as I could go.

And I had a dream.

I risked it all, stepped out in faith.

The steely edge of panic presses its blade against my neck, set on supplanting my trust.

No! 

And my eyes fall on a single manual. A small reassuring link from my past to my future.

I haven’t come here alone.

♥

Are you in the midst of a storm?

Do you stand on a heaving deck, reeling, desperate, barely hanging onto the rail?

Do you fear your life is about to go under? Terrified of the rocks of failure, illness, grief, or a thousand other things?

You are not alone.

Ever.

♥

Those who go down to the sea in ships, who do business on great waters, they see the works of the Lord, and His wonders in the deep.

For He commands and raises the stormy wind, which lifts up the waves of the sea.

They mount up to the heavens, they go down again to the depths; their soul melts because of trouble.

They reel to and fro, and stagger like a drunken man, and are at their wits’ end.

Then they cry out to the Lord in their trouble, and He brings them out of their distresses.

He calms the storm, so that its waves are still.

Then they are glad because they are quiet; so He guides them to their desired haven.

Oh, that men would give thanks to the Lord for His goodness, and for His wonderful works to the children of men! (Psalm 107:23-31 NKJV)

♥

God hears your cry.

He saves you from your distress.

He calms your storms.

He stills the waves.

And in the ensuing quiet

He guides you into safe havens.

♥

The Captain of your ship will never leave you or forsake you.

There’s joy at the end of that rainbow!

♥

I am not afraid of storms for I am learning how to sail my ship. ~Louisa May Alcott

Please share your story.

Love,

Sally

♥

 

The Way It Is

The World

“The world is wet,” said the little frog;

“What isn’t water is mostly bog.”

“Oh, not at all! said the little fly;

“It’s full of spiders, and very dry!”

“The world is dark,” said the moth polite.”

“With ruddy windows and bows of light.”

“My poor young friends, you have much to learn.

“The world is green.” said the swaying fern.

“O listen to me,” sang the little lark:

“It’s wet and dry, and it’s green and dark.

To think that’s all would be very wrong;

It’s arched with blue, and it’s filled with song.”

Author Unknown

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

We look at our world and see many faces

We live in a whirl of various places

No matter how different our worlds may appear

God made us all and holds us all dear

♥ ♥ ♥

The heavens are Yours, the earth also is Yours; the world and all its fullness, You have founded them. Psalm 89:11

For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. John 3:16

Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. He who does not love does not know God, for God is love. 1 John 4:7-8

♥ ♥ ♥

Their stories. Every one of those little characters up there in that poem sees their world in a different way, believing “this is the way the whole world is.”

What perspective do you hold for “the world” you live in?

Me? I like the idea of hearing the world sing! ☺

And speaking of singing, I’m very happy about the way sales of my new Young Adult novel, The Stonekeepers are going!

Happy and Blessed New Year 2016 to all!

Love,

Sally

 ♥

Running Toward Christmas

This year, I’m running toward Christmas . . .

Running like crazy, with joy, as a child would run toward a father or a beloved big brother. Running headlong, arms open, as fast as my little legs will carry me . . .

Into joy

With my eyes focused on the Christ Child.I run to remember Bethlehem one star-strewn night.

To remember a hillside of quiet sheep, resting after a shining day full of grazing.

I run to remember . . .

♥

I settle back in against the hard wood pew, breathing in the light pine scent from fresh wreaths of pine boughs that grace the church as Christmas nears.

I close my eyes for a few seconds, thankful for a good year, anticipating the final two holidays before a brand new year.

♥

Reverend Hatch rises and walks to the pulpit.

Like a silent snow, holy quiet falls over the sanctuary

My back straightens as the Holy Spirit nudges me into deep listening. I pull in a breath.

I’m about to hear something wonderful.

Hatchie, as we lovingly call him, looks out over us and smiles and begins

“When God walked down the stairway of heaven with a tiny Baby in His arms, He came bearing the greatest gift the world has ever been given.”

The words race like a gentle fire into my mind, body, soul, and spirit—into the realm of wonder. Brushstrokes of color flow across my imagination.

From impossible white clouds in a star-pierced violet blue night sky, a figure of brilliant light descends a wide staircase.

Within God’s arms, a small, moving, living Being nestles in a blanket of light.

Above them hovers a transparent Presence, crystal waves of movement aglow with a palpable sense of power and love.

The Holy enters Creation.

Everything in me wants to kneel before the Holy Triumvirate.

I cannot move, captured in breathless awe.

♥

The Gift.

Delivered as I was and you were.

The Holy into humanity. Born to fill the void we came into the world with.

Born to fill the emptiness that nothing—no one but Jesus—can fill.

God is love, but He is just.

Born to save and free us from sin, He, the Lamb of God, came to sacrifice His humanity in our place . . .

and to prepare a place for us in Eternity.

God’s offered Gift.

Is our choice.

♥

Jesus told us “In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also” (John 14:2-3 NKJV).

An angel spoke to shepherds and to us “. . . and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were greatly afraid. Then the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people. For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord'” (Luke 2:9b-11 NKJV).

To the woman at the well “Jesus answered and said to her, ‘Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life’” (John 4:13-14 NKJV).

♥

Will you run in thankfulness toward Christmas? Will you look up in joy and wonder and remember . . . ?

If you have a special Christmas memory I’d love for you to share it in the comments!

And just in case I don’t post again before Christmas, I’ll leave you with this~

A very Merry Christmas full of joy and blessings to you and those you love!

Love,

Sally

Elegant Staircases     #Christmasjoy    #MerryChristmas

The Future’s Not Ours to See

But . . .

today . . .

When we look into the eyes of our precious children, we’re looking deep into our future.

No, we don’t see what’s there, but,

our children hold within them the generations to come

as we did.

They’ll take our place as stewards of God’s Word and His world.

They hold the future within them

as did we.

Pray that they press into the safe, everlasting love of Jesus’ arms—

just as you do.

Teach them to trust Him, their Savior and Friend, as they walk in His presence on His earth—

just as you do. 

Our decades are time-markers only to us.

We were once the future. Our parents were. Our grandparents were.

They once held us and looked into our eyes. We were their children.

That “great cloud of witnesses,” the countless generations before us that we’ll join one day,

see us.

Their prayers rise to the Father for us, our children, and our grandchildren.

I sense hope and love and encouragement.

I sense excitement and joy when my decisions fit choices that make the angels rejoice—

when I’ve followed the Lord well in listening, then doing.

And most wondrous of all—I sense no disappointment when I fail,

only a lifting in sureness that next time I will do better, and one day will not fail.

We are still little children in the realm of eternity.

We reach, learn, trust, try, within so many choices.

Our little ones are fresh from God.

Cherish them, trust in their future . . .

Trust in God who holds their future and ours in His hands.

Jesus said we are to pattern our hearts after those trusting hearts of little children,

with the pure faith of a child, trusting in Him.

Have a heart as trusting as the heart of a little child.

♥

One day some mothers brought their babies to him to touch and bless. But the disciples told them to go away. Then Jesus called the children over to him and said to the disciples, “Let the little children come to me! Never send them away! For the Kingdom of God belongs to men who have hearts as trusting as these little children’s. And anyone who doesn’t have their kind of faith will never get within the Kingdom’s gates.” Luke 18:15-17

♥

Just praying, musing, and sharing ☺

Do you have any heart-thoughts to share in a comment?

Love,

Sally

♥

 

 

Try Again

“I was that far from pitching the whole thing right straight into the fireplace!”

She was that far from tears, too.

My friend was so frustrated after her first book proposal was rejected that she wanted to burn her manuscript and wondered if she really should even be a writer.

And, her passion and determination to make a decision whether to give up or keep writing as she talked to me,

woke up my poetry gene.

I remember those feelings.

Bright leaping flames in the fireplace
A red-yellow study of arson and lace
Beckon me feed it these papers I hold
Truly, I want to, if the truth be told.

The pages engulfed in the frenzied inferno
Would satisfy something so deeply internal
To see them consumed in the hot conflagration
To see them destroyed would soothe agitation.

But what if God asks me to try once again
To review and pursue and pick up my pen
To steel all my shakiness, regroup and pray
It might be for my soul, a much better day.

So, Lord, if I turn my back on the fire
And stare at these pages with fresh new desire
Will you kindle in me your sparks, and renew
The dream you placed in my heart so to do?

Please lead me and guide me—stay by my side
O, Lord, inspire me as you change the tide.

+ + +

My friend and I are both thankful we decided to never, ever give up!

“And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up” (Galatians 6:9 ESV).

“But you, be strong and do not let your hands be weak, for your work shall be rewarded!” (2 Chronicles 15:7 NKJV)

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future” (Jeremiah 29:11 NIV).

“For the vision is yet for an appointed time; but at the end it will speak, and it will not lie. Though it tarries, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry” (Habakkuk 2:3 NKJV)

♥

Have you ever been tempted to give up on a dream of your own?

I’d ♥ for you to leave a comment!

Love,

Sally

About the Norman Rockwell painting photo by Cliff via Flickr CC

Jo Seated on the Old Sofa from “The Most Beloved American Writer”, Woman’s Home Companion, December 1937, oil on canvas, 32 x 25 in.

Rockwell traveled to Louisa May Alcott’s home in Concord, Massachusetts, before beginning illustrations for a serialized biography of her life. Alcott’s book, Little Women, became an immediate classic when it was published in 1868, and was a hit again in 1933 when George Cukor’s film adaptation won an Oscar for Best Screenplay. Its message—that family counts more than wealth, and happiness comes to those who help the less fortunate—was an apt revival subject in Depression-era America.

americanart.si.edu/exhibitions/online/tellingstories/

Bowls, Baskets, and Blessings

“Blessed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl.”
Deuteronomy 28:5

♥

Autumn, bowls, baskets and baking just seem to blend.

I close my eyes and I’m swept back into childhood to a cozy warm kitchen.

Come with me!

Smells wonderful in here.

Sunlight makes my mother’s hair glisten. I climb up onto the stool beside her.

I breathe in the scent of a heating oven and fresh dough in Mom’s big wooden kneading bowl.

My gaze roams the kitchen counter laden with a bags of flour and sugar, glass measuring cups, and measuring spoons.

Close by is a bottle of oil, a round blue box of salt and a container of snow-white vegetable fat. Mom lets me stick my fingers into the satiny white stuff so I can help “grease” the metal pans.

Over there is the big silver flour sifter with a screen in the bottom and a handle that makes a funny noise when she lets me squeeze it so the flour sifts through.

I pull the wrapper from the magical little cake of fresh yeast that’s ready to go into the next batch of dough.

Oh, Lord, Bread of Life, thank you for the gift of our wondrous senses.

There’s nothing quite like the sight of my mother’s beautiful hands as she kneads the shapeless dough and gives it form in her big wooden bowl.

Or the puffy soft feel of raised dough against my fist when I help punch it down to rise again.

Or the scent of baked homemade bread filling the house.

Or the sound of the ticking timer that matches the beat of my heart as I wait to taste and feel the blend of soft warm bread and melted butter on my tongue.

Jesus, Bread of Life, thank you for blessing our sturdy kneading bowls and overflowing baskets.

♥

And you’ve probably baked bread with your own little ones by your side as I have and as my daughter and her daughter have.

Baking bread together is as much a tradition as breaking bread together at the dinner table

or breaking it together at the Lord’s table when we remember Him as He’s asked us to

or sharing bread with others who have little or none.

Bread.

It is so much more.

Do you have a bread story? ☺ I’d love to have you share it in a comment

Love,

Sally

♥

“Then Jesus said to them, ‘Most assuredly, I say to you, Moses did not give you the bread from heaven, but My Father gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is He who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.’” John 6:32 33

Jesus said “I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats this bread will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.” John 6:51

Jesus said “I am the bread of life.” John 6:48

All scripture NKJV

Need a Christmas gift for your favorite readers?

Think about giving them a copy of the new novel, The Stonekeepers.

Click on the photo of the book to take you directly to the web page where you can purchase it.

Back and front cover image of novel The Stonekeepers

 

Are You There?

 

Are you there, God?

Where are you?

You seem to have disappeared like my peace of mind.

My trust is all shaky—wavery.

Maybe I’m the one who’s gone?

I mean, Lord, it’s been like a very bad hair day.

I know in my heart that it isn’t you who moved.

Why can’t I just rise above the things of this world?

Why do I let things get to me so easily?

I know.

I know all the reasons I let them in are real, Lord . . .

. . .  that I live in a fallen world. I’ll always have troubles. Eve and fruit and a garden, all those things and more . . .

But I get so tired.

Sometimes I just feel like running away.

I know it’s just me—how I’m feeling right now—it’ll pass.

Won’t it?

♥

Come here to Me, My child.

♥

“Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light” (Matthew 11:29-30).

And God was the first to ask the question, Where are you? “Then the Lord God called to Adam and said to him, ‘Where are you?'” (Genesis 3:9)

“Oh, sing to the Lord a new song! For He has done marvelous things” (Psalm 98:1a)

“He shall cover you with His feathers, and under His wings you shall take refuge; His truth shall be your shield and buckler” (Psalm 91:4).

No,

I don’t feel like that today . . .

but I did a little while back.

Our lives are like that,

Up and down days come and go.

But our God never changes, never stops loving us, is always ready to pick us up, dust us off, and hold us to His heart.

So!

What do you do instead of running away on a bad day?

Or maybe you do run away for an hour or two? ☺

I’d love to have your comments.

♥

Love,

Sally

All scripture is NKJV

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Do you love a good read with a twisty plot and well-drawn characters, a light thread of romance? Something inspirational, contemporary, with suspense that won’t let you sleep or do the laundry? One that insists that you go to the next chapter rather than to stop there to breathe? The Stonekeepers is all that and more.

Here are a couple of snippets from reviews, where to find my Author’s Page. While there, you’re a click away from where to go to get the novel:

5 star review “Mystery, suspense, typical teen angst, romance and world travel, The Stonekeepers has it all.”

5 star review “Mystery and romance. What else could one want in a story? Well, The Stonekeepers definitely fits those categories, but it doesn’t stop there.“

Amazon Author Page https://www.amazon.com/author/sallychambers

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