Week 4--Entertain!!

As promised, this final week of my theme blogs will end with the final post--Entertain!  I thought I would share with you one of my first stories I wrote back in 2007 six weeks after my oldest son left for Navy Boot Camp.  My writing muse has changed since this writing, but the overall message comes across loud and clear...I hope you enjoy the piece of the originally titled piece "Camp Wannabe" later titled "A Light in the Darkness"!!

“Tom, hurry up!  The kids will be here soon!”  Beth yelled to her husband who was busy preparing for the new campers in the barn.  Their secluded mountain home was a retreat and refuge for many, but for the next two weeks it would be a school for a group of teenagers.  They would learn how to rock climb, become disciplined, and most importantly, the youth would learn to work as a team and be confident in their own skills.

“I’m coming!  I wanted to make sure the climbing wall was ready for our guests!” Tom hollered back.  He was in the barn readying the ropes, carabiners, and harnesses for the day’s events.  Beth was walking towards him looking as beautiful as the day he had met her.  Her long blond hair was tied back with a baby blue ribbon that waved across her face as the wind blew gently. 

Tom and Beth had operated Camp Wannabe as a self-confidence camp for youth who had troubled pasts, whose parents needed some place to send them for the summer, or for those kids who truly needed to belong.  Tom had grown up in an orphanage after his parents were killed in a car accident and his elderly grandparents were not able to care for him.  They felt it was the only option for the boy at the time and later would apologize for the pain it caused him.  Tom’s grandparents lived to see their grandson join the Navy and then his grandmother passed away within two years of her husband’s passing.  It was as though they needed to see him come out of that orphanage and be alright.  He forgave them and understood, but the emotional scars he carried from being bullied and teased would linger for years.  The confidence he received from being in the military was the reason he wanted to create a place where kids like him would be able to gain the inner strength they lacked.  It was then that they decided to open Camp Wannabe.

Week 3--Empower!!

I looked up the definitions for empower and was surprised, especially from a Christian perspective. 

 

1. To invest with power, especially legal power or official authority.

2. To equip or supply with an ability; enable.

 

The Lord has invested power and official authority in you when you accepted Jesus as your Lord and Savior!  That means that if you put your faith with Jesus’ Name, you can move mountains, overcome situations, and live a victorious and prosperous life.  The situation you may be facing today may seem bigger, deeper, and worse than anything you’ve faced until now.  But the good news is that God sees you where you’re at.  He sees the pain, the hurt, the frustration, and the crying out of your heart.  He has empowered you with official authority to use His son’s name as a weapon to defeat the one who has tormented you, stolen from you, killed relationships, finances, health and other things, and destroyed your life.  You have been equipped to overcome the situation by the power of Jesus’ Name and your faith in God!  Say today, “Cease your activity, Satan!  You must stop your efforts in (whatever area of your life—finances, health, relationships, addiction, etc.) in the Name of Jesus!”   

When your breakthrough comes, give God the glory and share it with someone. 

Matthew 5:16 (The Message) says:

I'm putting you on a light stand. Now that I've put you there on a hilltop, on a light stand—shine! Keep open house; be generous with your lives. By opening up to others, you'll prompt people to open up with God, this generous Father in heaven.

Birthdays With Empty Arms--Shared from "One September Day" blog

September's story will bring you to tears, but it is the true seeing of God's much bigger picture that will also allow you to see the grace and love of our Father in Heaven!!

Birthdays With Empty Arms

Week 2--Engage!!

The words and actions of others do indeed tend to shape us, good or bad.  I remember growing up, my grandmother would say things to my mother like, “I don’t know why those girls are wasting their time and yours going to Fort Lauderdale to a performing arts high school.  No one in this family ever amounted to a hill of beans, and they won’t either!”  Well, my twin sister and I aren’t performing on Broadway, but I am involved in community theatre and my sister…is a teacher!  She’s got performances Mondays through Fridays with a captive audience from about 8 a.m. until 3 p.m.  And I may not be the actor I had once aspired to be, but I am a writer; that is the thing God called me to be so many years ago as a child. 

When my sister and I were little, we played two things: newsroom and school.  I was always the big TV news anchor and she was the weather girl, then we would switch; she was the teacher and I was the student!  I’m not writing or reporting news for a big network either, but that’s not what God has called me to do.  I am a writer.  I AM a writer.  I did major in journalism in college, and took classes that interested me very much!  One class I had was called “Voice and Presentation,” and my professor very kindly attempted to point out that since I was an older, non-traditional student...I had a beautiful face for radio.  Wait a minute!  Did he just say I wasn’t pretty enough to be a television news anchor?!  In a manner of speaking, he did.  But that’s not what God called me to be either!

I was created to write!  Ever since I was a child, I remember writing just for the fun of it.  As I grew older, I investigated things that piqued my curiosity and wrote about such things as multiple sclerosis, foreign and domestic adoption, space, and James Michener—just because I wanted to write about what I had discovered!  I was also a script-writing maniac!  I wrote several plays throughout high school, but sadly, those have been lost.  Casualties of my parents’ divorce and then at some point mine and my husband’s moves across the country.  It was in 2005 that I felt the Lord prompting me to begin writing a book.  After three years, that original piece was published in my college literary magazine, and it felt amazing to have my work in print, not just printed from my computer!  Today, I am working on completing one book while in the process of writing another.  I know the Lord has plans for these books, and I put them in His loving and merciful hands. 

I ask you to consider these questions:

·         What were you playing as a child? 

·         Is that something that has followed you throughout your life? 

·         Have you asked the Lord how that “thing” might be preparing you for your calling at an appointed time and place?

       How can others pray for you in the realization of your calling?

      If you feel comfortable to do so, I would love for you to share your thoughts, questions, or experiences on the Super Mom the Illusion Facebook page!

Week 1--Encourage!!

Encourage

Verb; to inspire with courage, spirit, or confidence…

 When I was in sixth grade, my twin sister and I attended try-outs for cheerleading at our local middle school.  We went to every teaching time offered by the high school girls, got our jumps and kicks down pat, and were confident that we would make the squad.  Our parents encouraged us to do our best and watched hours of routines as we perfected them for the big day.  We went to the try-outs and felt so confident about how well we had done that we were completely shocked and discouraged when our names failed to appear on the list of those who had made the cheerleading squad.  I remember feeling like that was the biggest disappointment I had ever faced.

Fast forward to high school…my sister and I were blessed to audition to enroll in a performing arts high school in Fort Lauderdale.  I remember feeling the threatening outcome of my cheerleading attempt looming over me as if to say, “What makes you think this is going to be any different than that?”  What I would realize many years later was that was Satan lying to me; telling me that I wasn’t good enough, and worse yet, I never would be.  Many people in our church prayed for us that we would experience God’s favor and that His Will concerning this school would be done.  The auditions went very well, and we were accepted into the program!

How many things might have been different for me if I hadn’t let that first experience, and what I then labeled a failure, consume me?  I discovered that when I listened to those who were building me up, encouraging my pursuits and ambitions, and praying for me, I had successes.  But when I listened to those who would feed disbelief into my life, shoot down my aspirations, and who essentially gave up on me, I met failure and became depressed.  What’s worse is that at times, even family had fallen into the latter category.  I had to choose who I was going to listen to, and I still do in everything I think I want to do in my life. 

Today, you have the same choice to make.  Are there things you want to do as a career?  In your life?  For your family?  I would encourage you to find out what the Word says about your endeavors; surround yourself with Godly Christians who will build you up in your faith and the Lord’s Will for your life; and take time to pray and seek the Lord in that area, no matter what your age; whether you are married or not; have children or not; or are in school or not.

If you haven’t yet accepted Jesus as your Lord and Savior over your life, start right there.  Ask Him into your heart to rule and reign over you.  Then tell someone about your decision! 

As C.S. Lewis said, “You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream!”