Real Life is Better Than Fiction

Nativity But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Philippians 2:7-8 When we think of nativity, Christmas automatically comes to mind. A nativity is simply the place, condition, and circumstances surrounding a birth. The Nativity is the place, conditions, and circumstances surrounding the birth of Christ. The Place – Jesus was born in Bethlehem, which fulfilled prophecy. What a lowly place for the King to be born. Herod, evil as he was, was used by God as a tool. He was taking a census of the people, requiring them to return to the city of their birth. So Joseph packed up himself and a very pregnant Mary, to go to Bethlehem, thus fulfilling one prophesy of Jesus being born in Bethlehem. The Conditions – While most of us were born in the sanitary conditions of a hospital, Jesus w

Rejoice Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Philippians 4:4 Rejoice – to take joy in, give joy to, take possession of When an angel appeared to Mary and told her that she would bear a child – out of wedlock – how did she respond? She rejoiced. That would probably not be the response of most young women today had they had the same experience. They would probably scream, holler, cry, etc., but not Mary. Mary rejoiced. Mary knew the Scriptures, as is evident in her song. Here she quotes the Old Testament 15 times. She rejoiced because God was giving her a gift, not only a gift just for her, but for the entire human race - past, present, and future. She rejoiced that she was the vessel God chose to use. While she was proud of this fact, she was not conceited. On the contrary, she was very humble. Mary was spending time with her cousin Elizabeth when she sang this song. I can't help but wonder if she needed a little bit of time to escape and soak up

Emmanuel Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel. Matthew 1:23 This story, like many stories I tell, was taken from a real-life scenario from a friend of mine: While our son Kev was being wheeled into surgery, he just kept crying for his bear he had named Baby Jesus. Although Evie was only getting tubes, Kevin was having a more serious surgery. To be honest, that bear that had been dragged through the mud, into stores, many doctor visits, and finally into the hospital, had unknowingly become my security blanket that day. I remember the empty feeling I felt as the nurse took Baby Jesus from me and took him off to the operating room to comfort my own baby. I know, it was an inanimate object, but just the feel of Kev’s ugly, scrawny, yet loved bear was somehow giving me comfort when I didn’t have my own baby in my arms. I sat there in the waiting room for a few minutes feeling empty and alone wh

Ornament They have freely scattered their gifts to the poor, their righteousness endures forever. Psalm 112:9a Each year our trees look more and more beautiful as we place ornaments all over them. One year, while bringing home our Christmas tree on a very windy day, the tree blew off the top of the car, damaging the top portion of the tree. Once we placed the tree in its stand at home, we had to do a little doctoring to make that tree even somewhat presentable. Some strategically placed ornaments helped as well. Other people may not have noticed, if they didn't look too closely, but our family knew the truth behind it all. Sometimes people are the same way. We dress ourselves up in nice clothes and put on a little make-up to improve our appearance, but all that preparation does nothing for what's on the inside. We may think we're fooling people, and we may be, but we can never fool God. He knows all about us, inside and out. This Christmas season let's not jump

Bible Books are some of my very favorite things. I am rarely without a book nearby. If I have a few moments to spare, I indulge and allow myself to escape reality. And then there is the Bible. That is the Ultimate Book. When I get lost in the pages of the Bible, I see miracles, I learn more about God and Who He is, I grow closer in my relationship with Him. Reading the Bible is one of the ways in which God communicates with me. But, do I pick up the Bible enough? Do I spend enough time searching the Scriptures looking for answers to my prayers and questions and finding out how He wants me to live my life? The answer is probably no. We can never spend enough to too much time in the Word. I remember the Christmas I received my first grown-up Bible. I spent the afternoon reading through the first chapters of Genesis. That is definitely one of the things I need to be working on.

Persistence Children may not know the meaning of the word persistent, but they have the concept down pat. "Can I have a snack?" "No." "Can I have a snack?" "No." "Can I have a snack?" "No." This is a typical conversation with one of the little people I babysit, only the conversation lasts a lot longer. I don't have a problem with snacks, but I do limit them to no more than 20 per day. She'd like more. She's persistent. As a child, I was persistent. Not for snacks, but for salvation. Every night I would pray and ask Jesus to come into my heart. I was afraid that maybe I didn't do it right or something. God was more than willing to listen to the persistent please of a child. Now, as a writer, persistence is key in my life. I have to send out a lot of articles and stories if I want to receive paychecks. You know that old adage, "If at first you don't succeed,

Reliable We all want to be friends with that person who is reliable. Reliable people are the ones you can depend on. They are the ones you can call on when you're in a pinch and need a helping hand. Reliable people get things done. I had a great example of reliability in my parents. If they made a promise to do something, it would be done, and it would be done well. That's something I'm still working on. A friend of mine falls into the category of reliable. She is always the first in line to fix a meal, bring a treat, or take care of any job that needs doing. I want to be like her when I grow up. A few years back I was convicted about my own reliability. A friend of mine desperately needed some help. She didn't call on me at that time, but I had to think about what I would have done if she had called me. Would I have told her I was too busy? Would I have dropped everything and ran to her immediately? I honestly can't answer about what I would have

Dedication Dedication is something I think is seriously lacking in today's society. So many people aren't dedicated to anything. Young people get a job and find out it isn't as much fun as they thought it should be so they quit, or better yet, they just stopped showing up. They have grandiose ideas about jobs they love with huge paychecks. There isn't anything wrong with enjoying the job or looking forward to payday, but the reality is that jobs aren't always what we expect them to be. Another reality is that companies aren't exactly dedicated to their employees anymore either. People would often take a job and plan on being there into retirement. My grandfather started working for the railroad when he was a teenager and stayed until he stopped working altogether. If someone wants to do that today, companies make it very difficult, if not impossible. But it isn't just the workforce where this is true. People say they'll work in an are

Patience Years ago I had to make a trip to the DMV. Since I homeschooled my kids, they pretty much went everywhere with me, including the dreaded DMV. This was back before we could do most everything conveniently online. That day my little boy learned the word "patient." I thought he understood the meaning, but I learned the next day that I was wrong. I had to go to the fabric store – one of my favorite places, but not his. Again – homeschoolers – kids went everywhere with me. I had put The Boy in the cart so my hands were free. He wasn't happy and pleaded with me to let him out, "I will be patient!" A fellow customer standing nearby burst out laughing. So, he hadn't learned what patience was after all.  It takes all of us time to develop that  P word. Patience is not a natural human trait. We must learn and practice it. As we mature spiritually we will develop patience. It's one of the Fruits of the Spirit found in Galatians 5.

Believe Here's a question for you: what do you believe? I know, it's a rather broad question. What do you believe…about what? I believe it's going to be a beautiful day. I believe I'm going to cross things off my to do list today. But… What do you believe about God? Some of my favorite times of the week when my kids were still all at home were Sunday afternoons. We would have Sunday dinner and sit at the table for a couple of hours talking. Those were the best conversations. These discussions don't happen as much anymore since the kids are all grown and have their own lives, but once in a while they do. One happened the other night with my son and his girlfriend. She was commenting on an article she had read about a Christian celebrity. The point he wanted to make was that we got so caught up in so many different things about worship and spirituality, people have a tendency to push the actual Word of God aside. People are more conce

Captivating Captivating is defined as "to capture and hold our attention." Think about what captivates you. Movies we watch can certainly captivate and hold our attention. I read a lot and have friends who read a lot. We often share titles that sucked us in and wouldn't let us go.  But what about God? Are we captivated by Him? Does He hold our attention? In a world where attention spans have a limit of about 30 seconds, there is not a whole lot that keeps us interested for any length of time. I as a person am not captivating, but I want my books to be. I want them to draw readers in and captivate them with the presence and holiness of God working in the lives of ordinary people. If you are a believer and keep your eyes open to see the hand of God at work, you know it's an amazing thing that can capture and keep your attention. Even those who have ADD attention spans, every time you turn your head to look in a different direction, you can see God at work.

Valuable Sometimes as a mom it's hard to feel valuable. It's often a thankless job. Nobody sees even half of what you do. Work is often paid for with a screaming baby, a temper tantrum throwing toddler, a temperamental teenager, and a husband who just wants his dinner. I once read an article that said stay-at-home moms "should" be earning $162,581 a year. Where are my mom friends who see that in their bank account? You know something? Our mom value is not in money. Being a mom is the highest calling God gave to women, not climbing the corporate ladder. I am not dissing moms who work outside the home. Each one has to make choices as to what is best for her family. This is for all those who choose to stay at home, those who sometimes feel value less. Our value was in the little lives you are molding each day. Your payment is all the sticky, syrupy kisses and the I love yous from the lips of those to whom you gave life. Our value is raising ch

Radiant I once knew a girl whose face was always radiant. I have never known anyone like her before or since. After I got to know her better I realized the cause of that radiance. It was God and His presence in her life. She had grown up as a missionary kid in the Philippines and told story after story of how God had been so real in their lives in such a dark place. Her face, and probably the faces of her family as well, had to stand out in a place where witchcraft and demonic activity were so prevalent. Her smiling face would give makeup companies a run for their money. She never wore any. I can't help but wonder if there were times she and her family were in the presence of God. This young woman makes me think of another radiant face; the face of Moses when he looked upon the back of God upon Mount Sinai. Moses wanted to look upon God and in a word, God said Moses couldn't handle it. Got covered Moses in the cleft of the rock until He passed by. God pulled His han

Victory The word "victory" takes me back to my childhood in a couple of ways. From grades 5-9 I was a cheerleader in our small Christian school. Most of our cheers had the theme of either school spirit or victory. Everyone wanted to win – the team, us cheerleaders, and the entire student body. The times that victory did come we were all excited. We jumped up and down. We clapped our hands. We shouted. Victory was sweet! A person from my childhood that reminds me of victory was singer George Beverly Shea. Remember him? He would often travel with Billy Graham and sing at his crusades. I had the opportunity to attend a crusade my senior year of high school, and I was not disappointed when Mr. Shea stood up and sang "Victory in Jesus." His rendition was, and still is, my favorite. I would often call into the local radio station during request time and ask they play that song. (He and Joni Eareckson Tada were my regular requests. Am I dating myself?) How d

Journey My parents instilled a love of camping in me at a young age. That little baby in the stroller, that's me! Journey is a word that can evoke a lot of thoughts and feelings. A journey can be physical, mental, or emotional. Sometimes a journey we take is all about reaching a specific destination, yet other times it's all about the getting there. We all take journeys from time to time. Maybe the word brings to your mind family vacations. My family would often go camping when I was a child. To pass the time the car my brother and I would play a game he made up called "open your mouth and close your eyes and I will give you a big surprise." The rules were pretty much self-explanatory. One time when I opened my mouth and closed my eyes he fed me dirt from the floor of the car. I didn't want to play the game anymore after that! Many times a journey needs planning. I tell my writing students that they should know the beginning and the ending of their

New Anyone who knows me knows I homeschooled my kids from beginning to end. One of the aspects of that I enjoyed most was seeing the light shine on their faces when they learned to read. It's fun to see people's reactions to new things – whether by sight, sound, taste, or feel – especially with children. Watching a child as he or she puts letters together to read a word is an amazing thing. Their eyes light up in recognition and realization. I still have the set of books my mom bought for me when I was leaning to read. (Not sure she really understood what she was starting with that book purchase!) I used those same books with my own children and am keeping them for future generations. I enjoy visiting new places, trying new food, making new friends. Every time we have a new experience, we open the doors of our minds and hearts. When my oldest daughter had the opportunity to go to Europe and see new things, she came home with a couple thousand pictures and a whol

Gratitude Gratitude is something we are not exactly full of these days. We would much rather show ungratefulness with all of our petty complaints. And what do we complain about? Big things? Sometimes. But more often than not we gripe about such minor issues like the temperature being too hot or too cold. Have you ever known someone who complained about everything? Did/do you like to be around that person? The complaining person can be almost toxic. They bring us down and make us want to complain more. There was one time I was going through the checkout at the store. The cashier complained about the company that employed her the entire time. Apparently she needed to be out of her apartment that day and wasn't allowed to take the day off. My cynical mind didn't want to hear her griping. I'm sure she had more than a couple hours' notice to vacate her apartment. As usual, my mouth was at work before my brain. "You should be glad you have a job."

Joy Someone recently told me she wasn't experiencing any joy in her life. Each day she would go through the motions of simply surviving. There was nothing to look forward to. She didn't feel as if she had many friends with whom she could get together and make plans. While her feelings may have been true, the reality of the matter is that sometimes we need to make an effort. Yes, we need to work. Yes, we must pay the bills. But we also must make time for the things that bring us joy. My sisters and I dressed up in some CW finery. One of the things my family did for fun when I was growing up was Civil War skirmishing. That is something that is similar to reenacting, only the different regiments shoot at targets for competition instead of at each other. My parents started doing this when I was only five months old. They continued doing it after I got married. We camped with the same people many weekends from spring to fall. We made lifelong friends, some I'm

Enjoy Summer is a time when people often think of vacation. Families make plans when the kids are out of school. Summer is a time to enjoy life. The weather allows for more outdoor activities. People plan BBQs (activities surrounded by food are something I always enjoy!). As a child, summer for my siblings and me meant riding bikes, making trails through the woods, plenty of badminton, and long, sunny days at the community pool with friends. We would spend hours with our friends and only come home at dinner time or when Mom rang the bell Dad had installed on the porch to get our attention in far off places. Now that we're all adults, whenever my siblings and I are all together we do a lot of reminiscing. We remember those days gone by that we enjoyed so much. We enjoy the time remembering. So many of our conversations begin with, "Do you remember that time…" "Do you remember that time you spit on my head?" "Do you remember when Mar

Kindness What do you do when people are rude to you? I have a tendency to "kill them with kindness." Unfortunately, my "kindness" is laced with sarcasm. I'm pretty sure sarcasm isn't what God had in mind when He commanded us to "Be kind one to another" (Ephesians 6:1). While I might have the right thoughts, my attitude is definitely wrong. I'm certain Christ didn't have a sarcastic bone in His body, even when there were those who treated Him so poorly. Sometimes people just need a word of kindness. I was going through the line at the grocery store one day when the cashier, whom I'd had several times before, said, "Thanks for always being so nice." To which I responded, "I try to be. I don't know who came through before me that may have been nasty." "You don't know who's coming after you, either." There have been countless times I have witnessed customers being rude to emplo

Attentive Attentive. There's another one of those traits where I need some work. I have a friend that I want to be like when I grow up. She not only notices needs, but she also does something about meeting those needs. If I were to be absolutely honest, I would have to admit that I see needs sometimes, but I just come up with a whole lot of excuses as to why I can't do anything about those needs. Yes, my life is busy, but is it really that busy? Am I too busy to do something even once in a while? My friend puts me to shame. When she sees a need, she jumps into action. That's the difference between my attentive and her attentive. I need to rethink my attentive. I need to be more like God's attentive. He sees our needs and begins meeting them before we even know they're there. Have you ever prayed for something and almost before you were finished getting the words out of your mouth an answer was there? I have. There was one time we were struggli

Ambivalence Oh, how this word defines us as humans! We are ambivalent about so many things. We are wishy-washy. We can't seem to make up our minds about anything. Just look at a woman's bedroom after she has gotten dressed. The pile of clothes on the bed tells us that dress is the wrong color, that one is uncomfortable, today's the wrong mood for that one, that one isn't appropriate for the situation, that one doesn't fit anymore… I've known women that can't make up their minds about who they want to date. Some can't make up their minds about which women they truly want to be friends with. College students enter the university with one major and come out with another, yet work in a completely different third field. Couples get married only to find out shortly after the wedding that marriage (or the person they chose in the first place) isn't really right for them I could go on with examples of how we have mixed feelings, unc

Intentional Intentional is one of those ideas that we have to… well… be intentional about. We have to think about something and do it on purpose. Most of our lives are made up of instinct or habit. The good news is that we can make "intentional" a habit. It just takes a little practice. I once read somewhere that to develop a habit we need to do something for 21 days straight. Sometimes I think it takes longer than that. It certainly takes much less time to ruin what we are trying to do. One of the times in my life that I recall being intentional was when I saw this boy I thought was cute. I didn't exactly throw myself at him or do anything wrong, but if my mom had seen my actions, I'm pretty sure she would not have been happy with me. But whether my actions were right, wrong, or somewhere in the middle, they were intentional and they worked. I caught that boy's attention and have kept it now for 33 years. If being "intentional" is

Bible There have long been debates over which version of the Bible is "correct." I grew up with KJV, the church I now attend uses KJV, but I have also long used the NIV. When I'm studying a passage I will read several different versions to get a better understanding. Sometimes a different word is used and it gives me more clarity. Yes, there are good versions and some definite bad ones. The writer in me looked at the original NIV as being in language that's easier to read for many people. Some argued the NIV had so many fewer words than the KJV, my writer brain also saw with KJV's "Jesus saith unto them" as the wordier form of the NIV's "Jesus said." While working on a project not too long ago, I was copying and pasting a plethora of versus off-line to help me save some time. However, as I read back through the project, many of the verses didn't look right. I pulled out my old, falling apart NIV and looked up each vers

Rest As I write this, my husband and I are away from home for the weekend celebrating our anniversary. The past year has been an extremely stressful year for us. A lot happened that was out of our control. The couple of months leading up to our anniversary were even more stressful, and we felt Satan attacking us in huge ways on a daily basis. Knowing it was Satan helped ease our minds a little bit, but it didn't really help our hearts. We were physically and mentally exhausted. We needed a time of rest. Beyond renting a cabin, we made no plans. We needed a break. We needed to rest. I asked friends to pray for this time away. You see, when my husband and I go away, disaster seems to follow. I joking-not-joking asked a few of my friends to pray – specifically for no falling trees, no car problems, no one jumping/falling/being pushed off balconies, no police banging on her door in the middle of the night, no major parental health issues that would make us cut our trip sh

Please welcome my fellow author, Kellyn Roth. She has a new book out and I think it's one you will thoroughly enjoy! About the Book  Click the cover to go to Amazon and grab your copy! Adele has been lost for a long time now ... Adele Collier has sought a carefree lifestyle ever since her tragic childhood. Determined to never allow anyone or anything to control her life or emotions again, she consistently seeks distraction in gaiety. But shaking her ghosts isn’t as easy as she’d like. Troy Kee has been alone in the world since the Great War took his parents and left him in care of his younger sister. When she marries, he’s left to seek after his goal of a healthy, complete family. But how can he focus on his dream when trouble plagues his family vineyard? When Adele and Troy meet, a whirlwind romance begins—but can two lost souls have a healthy relationship? About the Author Kellyn Roth is a Christian; historical author from North-Eastern Oregon. Kell is a ran

Knowledge Some people love learning. Some people make a career out of it. If we are wise, we should be learning new things every day. I enjoy learning how to do new things; if it's home repairs or craft projects, I feel good in the end being able to stand back and see the fruits of my labor. I love reading and history. I enjoy combining the two even more – reading about history. The funny thing about knowledge is that some people have a wealth of it, yet don't have any wisdom. What's the difference, you may ask? Knowledge is a knowing; wisdom is putting what we know to good use. As we were raising our children, we gave them as much knowledge as we could. That's where our responsibility stopped. It's what they did with that knowledge that actually made a difference and turned knowledge into actual wisdom. Sometimes we hated to watch them go through things, but those were lessons they each had to learn for themselves. I imagine God often feels th