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Hearing Truth
Hearing is the key word. Listening is not quite hearing. We've all listened without hearing. And,
of course, we know the words of our Lord, "Those who have ears to hear, let them hear."
The Spirit talks to us all the time. And you know what? I don't think He always uses words. For
me, it's more like—sometimes He uses words. I rarely hear that "still, small voice." And I mean
rarely. But I don't think hearing a voice is near as important as hearing what that voice didn't say
aloud.
Hah! How's that for a major spiritual revelation? : ) (I can hear you all now discerning the truth
out of that one!)
Ahh . . . but He speaks. He teaches. And we learn. And know. And we . . . get it. And what we
get is something worth holding on to with all our might.
We hold on to it, but we also want to express it. To share it. Such is the nature of the Truth. It's
such a revealing, eye-opening, heart-warming thing. And who wouldn't want to share such a
wonderful thing? "Hey world! We can know the Truth! We can know why we exist! We can
know what it's all about!!" If any heads turn our way, if any ears are willing to listen . . . oh, may
we speak only the Truth as we've been given it!! God help us.
Lately, I've been listening. And, ya know? It's been amazing. Cuz I've also been hearing. Truth is
something I think we all long for, with every fiber of our being. Deep down, unless we've allowed
our hearts to harden, we know the Truth. We know we need the Truth. But it's soooo much easier
just to live in our own little worlds and not worry too much about it, since we've got soooo many
other things to worry about and we only have a wee little bit of time to worry about all we've got
to worry about . . .
On and on it goes.
Unless we stop it. Or have it stopped for us.
Right now, and in these past seven weeks, I've been having my world slowed, my eyes widened,
my ears opened, and my ride . . . stopped. The ride . . . we could talk long and hard about the
wonder of the ride! (And I have—from the first post on this blog!) : ) But now, the ride is . . . not
quite a ride anymore. Oh, yes, it's still going round and round and round . . . the ride is still very
much a wonderful ride for all those aboard it . . . but I've been allowed to get off. Or, should I say,
I've been encouraged to get off, before the wonderful craziness of the ride sweeps me away. Well,
not actually just "away," but any more farther away from the place my Lord would rather have me
be. The ride is still there, and I can jump back on at any time. But I don't want to do that just yet.
Right now I'm looking up at my Father and just patiently waiting for Him to take me by the hand
and lead me to that place He wants me to be.
And He's patiently waiting . . . for my dizziness to ease so I can see Him clearly. So I can reach
up and place my hand in His.
Right now, that's where I'm at. I'm off the ride, but very much aware that it's carrying on quite
nicely behind me . . . without me. I'm blinking and blinking and trying to gain my bearings as my
head continues to spin. But each time my eyes open, I'm gazing up at my Father. What patience, in
His eyes. What amazing . . . I can't describe it. Even for a novelist who made her living
describing things . . . there are no words to describe the level of compassion in our Father's eyes.
The depths of His mercy. And of His love.
Just see it with me. Look into His eyes. You won't be able to describe it either. But that doesn't
me we can't both bask in it.
Bask . . .
VcD,
donna
I Don't Know Anything About Pelicans
But I wish I did, cuz right now half the world's population of pelicans are flying south for warmer
climes, flying not more than fifty feet off shore, not more than two hundred feet from my living
room window. Which makes it about two hundred and three feet from my recliner. But still too
far.
So I grabbed up my binoculars and went out to watch them from the water's edge. Amazing. I
wish I knew more about pelicans, but this is what I do know. They have an adventurous spirit.
They love the water. From time to time, they fly so close to the swells the tips of their wings trace
lines in the water. They love each other, cuz they're willing to follow the brother or sister in front
of them, until it's time to switch positions by a daring undercut move that results in a new leader.
But they don't seem to mind—all are on the lookout for one thing: fish. First to spot it, first to take
the lead, and all the rest follow.
Though, I have yet to actually see a pelican dive down for a fish. I think the Lord is pacing me
with pelicans—if I actually saw one swoop up, then crash into the water like I've heard they're
known to do to scoop up a fish in that big bill of theirs . . . I'd probably faint dead away. Too
awesome.
I've seen an osprey dive into a calm lake from about a hundred feet up. Amazing.
Wish my binoculars didn't make me dizzy.
: )
Or maybe it's all that roiling water? Something. Standing at the water's edge peering through
binoculars watching flying critters pass centimeters over roiling water is not an activity I can
engage in for long periods of time. However, the few minutes I engaged in this morning . . .
amazing. Thanks, Lord. Thanks for the pelicans.
Oh, and thanks for the spotted owls too. Talk about amazing. And thanks for the tufted puffins I
saw this morning too. And the Canadian geese in long v-shaped strings far off the horizon. I
wouldn't have seen them without the binoculars. And thanks for those roiling waves. And thanks
for settling my dizziness.
: )
VcD,
donna
The Thing About Dizziness . . .
. . . is that it usually goes away.
Mine is gone, though I'm left a bit weakened by the experience.
Last night, I received news. Stunning news. Well, news that stunned my agent, anyway. It's news
that eases my dizziness, yet leaves me a bit weakened. And I can only pray that in my weakness . .
. Well, you know the rest. I won't spell it out for you.
But before we talk about this new news, can we go back to Truth for a little bit? In a way, I left
unsaid what I really wanted to say the other day. Here's what I wanted to share, the moments of
Truth validating and strengthening the Truth already made known in my soul by the Spirit of God—
my Resident Teacher of Truth. Truth made especially real by the events of my past few weeks.
Truth made especially vivid by the timing with which it was shared to me through words spoken
nearly a hundred years ago.
Ahh . . . timeless Truth. Just the way Truth should be.
For the next few posts, I'd like to press copyright issues just a tad and share bits of Truth that have
strengthened my resolve to stand firm on my foundation stone no matter what happens in my life,
my "career," my "calling," or the industry I've been "called" to swim in. Truth does that—it lays
bare what really matters.
The man speaking these words of Truth is none other than Oswald Chambers. He spoke these
words before his death in 1917, to crowds of preacher-boys studying at the Bible college where
he taught. It makes no sense to lift up the man, Oswald Chambers. But I'm grateful his words of
Truth remain to now flow hand-in-hand with what the Spirit is teaching me (and us all) about Truth.
It was August 22nd when circumstances in my life caught my attention. When Truth stepped
forward to be the one and only most important thing in my life.
These are bits of the daily devotions compiled in Chambers's My Utmost for His Highest from
August 22nd until today.
"We have to discipline our minds and concentrate on willful prayer. A secret silence means to
shut the door deliberately on emotions and remember God."
"It is no use praying unless we are living as children of God. Then, Jesus says—'Everyone that
asketh receiveth.' "
Jesus said, "I have called you friends." "It is a friendship based on the new life created in us
which has no affinity with our old life, but only with the life of God. It is unutterably humble,
unsulliedly pure, and absolutely devoted to God."
"When one confers with Jesus Christ the perplexity goes, because He has no perplexity, and our
only concern is to abide in Him. Lay it all out before Him, and in the face of difficulty,
bereavement and sorrow, hear Him say, 'Let not your heart be troubled.' "
Here's something else about Truth. Like fine chocolate, it's something to savor, not with our lips
and tongue, but with our entire eternal being.
Until tomorrow . . . vcD.
donna
Savoring Truth . . .
. . . like this. (From My Utmost from His Highest by Oswald Chambers.)
"The final thing is confidence in Jesus. Believe steadfastly on Him and all you come up against
will develop your faith."
"Jesus Christ says, in effect, Don't rejoice in successful service, but rejoice because you are
rightly related to Me. It is the work that God does through us that counts, not what we do for Him."
"The joy of Jesus was the absolute self-surrender and self-sacrifice of Himself to His Father, the
joy of doing that which the Father sent Him to do. Jesus prayed that our joy might go on fulfilling
itself until it was the same joy as His."
"Continually restate to yourself what the purpose of your life is." (To this I would add: Don't let
someone else state to you what the purpose of your life is.) "The destined end of man is not
happiness, nor health, but holiness. He came to save men because He had created them to be holy.
Holiness means . . . every detail of the life under the scrutiny of God."
"If you satisfy yourself with a blessing from God, it will corrupt you; you must sacrifice it, pour it
out, do with it what common sense says is an absurd waste."
And all of the Truth shared on September 4's entry. In a nutshell, one word. "His."
Simple Truth spoken simply (okay, maybe not so simply—sometimes Oswald's wording is a bit
obscure) : ) simply reaches our soul more deeply than anything else. Because the Spirit of God is
there, and He is Truth. Deep in our souls, we feed on His Truth, and we feed our minds with His
Truth from the Written Word or by words spoken by those who speak the Truth . . . it ingrains us,
uplifts us, refocuses us, molds and creates in us all that the Spirit longs to create. In other words,
we are being transformed.
Ahhhhhh . . . savoring it . . . . . . . . .
More tomorrow. Why not.
VcD,
donna
Basking In It
Faith, Hope, and Love. When our Faith and Hope are based on Truth, we've discovered the secret
of the universe. It's not a secret, but when we discover it, it feels like we've discovered the depths
of infinity. And then, when we discover all Truth is based on LOVE . . . wow. Yep, we're baskin'
. . . savorin' . . . and thankin'. Thank You, Lord God, Lord Jesus, precious Spirit of the Living
God. We're with You. Lead on.
"Never allow anything to come between yourself and Jesus Christ, no emotion, or experience;
nothing must keep you from the one great sovereign Source. Keep at the Source, guard well your
belief in Jesus Christ and your relationship to Him, and there will be a steady flow for other lives,
no dryness and no deadness."
"Ministering as opportunity surrounds us. This does not mean selecting our surroundings, it means
being very selectly God's in any haphazard surroundings which He engineers for us."
"If there is something upon which God has put His pressure, obey in that matter, bring your
imagination into captivity to the obedience of Christ with regard to it and everything will become
as clear as daylight."
"Have no other motive than to know your Father in heaven."
"Do you continue to go with Jesus? The way lies through Gethsemane, through the city gate,
outside the camp; the way lies alone, and the way lies until there is no trace of a footstep left, only
the voice, 'Follow Me.' "
"Jesus Christ has not tenderness whatever toward anything that is ultimately going to ruin a man in
the service of God." (Wow. That statement needs some serious digesting. Talk about powerful!)
"If a man or woman is called of God, it does not matter how untoward circumstances are, every
force that has been at work will tell for God's purpose in the end."
O-boy. Here's another set of statements that require some digesting: "We slander God by our very
eagerness to work for Him without knowing Him. This is your line of service—to see that there is
nothing between Jesus and yourself."
Sometimes the Truth cuts like that double-edged sword, doesn't it? We're cut to the soul, but it's a
wound that heals us. Amazing.
"No human being knows human beings as God does."
Yay!! Thank You, Father God, for knowing us down to our vile cores, and still loving us enough
to make us Your own!
Yep! We're a baskin'!!!
VcD!!
donna
Baskin' Is Fun!
Ain't it? It's the soul-deep delight of watching an incredible sunset paint itself across the sky. Or
watching pelicans glide across the surface of the waves, the very tips of their wings tracing white
lines in the water . . .
Let's go back to a Truth from yesterday. "No human being knows human beings as God does."
And add this: "Jesus Christ rehabilitated the human race; He put it back to where God designed it
to be, and anyone can enter into union with God on the ground of what Our Lord has done on the
Cross."
Amen. Thank You, Lord!!! : )
"As long as you have the tiniest bit of spiritual impertinence, it will always reveal itself in the fact
that you are expecting God to tell you to do a big thing, and all He is telling you to do is to 'come.' "
"Obey God in the thing He shows you, and instantly the next thing is opened up."
And then we arrive at the devotional for October 11th. This literally sucked the breath from my
lungs that morning as I read it.
"Has God trusted you with a silence—a silence that is big with meaning? God's silences are His
answers. God will give you the blessings you ask if you will not go any further without them; but
His silence is the sign that He is bringing you into a marvelous understanding of Himself. Are you
mourning before God because you have not had an audible response? You will find that God has
trusted you in the most intimate way possible, with an absolute silence, not of despair, but of
pleasure, because He saw that you could stand a bigger revelation. If God has given you a silence,
praise Him, He is bringing you into the great run of His purposes. The manifestation of the answer
in time is a matter of God's sovereignty. Time is nothing to God."
And this on October 14th:
"We are apt to look upon Our Lord as One Who assists us in our enterprises for God. If I want to
know the universal sovereignty of Christ, I must know Him for myself, and how to get alone with
Him; I must take time to worship the Being Whose Name I bear."
" 'If ye abide in Me, and My words abide in you . . .' —that is the way to keep going in our
personal lives. Where we are placed is a matter of indifference; God engineers the goings."
"No Christian has a special work to do. A Christian is called to be Jesus Christ's own, one who is
not above his Master, one who does not dictate to Jesus Christ what he intends to do. Our Lord
calls to no special work: He calls to Himself. 'Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest,' and He
will engineer circumstances and thrust you out."
"Receive Jesus Christ to be made sanctification to you in implicit faith, and the great marvel of the
Atonement of Jesus will be made real in you."
Believe. Receive. Trust. Truth. Truth is a Man. Jesus Christ the Lord. Our Savior and Lord.
It's real, and it's true. The depths of infinity resting in two words, "Follow Me."
More tomorrow? : )
VcD,
donna
Here's A Truth For Ya
It's November already. Yikes!!!!
Ahh . . . my favorite time of year. Bring on the cold, dreary, gray days of winter. Bring on
Thanksgiving, Christmas, and the New Year. 2006. I mean, like, totally! Yikes!
How about three more Truths to stand on as we face the next eight weeks of festivities.
"There is only one thing God wants of us, and that is our unconditional surrender. The only way is
by allowing not a bit of the old life to be left; but only simple perfect trust in God, such trust that
we no longer want God's blessings, but only want Himself."
"We are acceptable with God not because we have obeyed, or because we have promised to give
up things, but because of the death of Christ, and in no other way."
" 'Though He may slay me, yet will I trust Him.' This is the most sublime utterance of faith in the
whole of the Bible."
May it be our utterance. May we see through the myriads of falsehoods in this world, the ever-
present barrages of new and exciting deceptions and distractions, and may we hold tightly to
Truth. In the end, Truth—and those who have clung to it—will be the only things left standing.
In that day . . . may we stand.
VcD,
donna
News
You're waiting for it, huh. My new and stunning news. I guess at this point it's a bit anticlimatic.
Truth is I still don't know exactly what's going on. You may have already figured it out. And you
may not really care about it one way or the other.
: )
How 'bout this: I'll share the details of my new and exciting news just as soon as they solidify to
the point where I can share them. Until then I'll leave you hanging a bit. But I will say this: it
looks like there may just be a few more stories in the Homeland Heroes Series after all. Chris
McIntyre may just get the chance to share more of her adventures with you. And me.
She's pretty jazzed about it. Me? Yeah, I'm jazzed too. But I'm still a bit cautious, stunned, and,
yes, just a wee bit dizzy. I'm still trying to process everything—just exactly what it all means. But
that's a laugh. I'll never understand how or why things work out as they do. But hey. Ain't that
why I'm clinging to Truth?
What better time to cling to Truth?
VcD,
donna
I Wasn't Lying . . .
. . . when I said I didn't have even a hint of an idea for a new series with all new characters. That
was pure truth. And it still is. Not even an inkling of a hint of an idea.
I think Zondervan finally realized it. The offer they are offering me now goes beyond generous. It
goes beyond all common sense. Goes beyond good financial sense. Goes far beyond anything I
can make sense of.
So now I have my work cut out for me. In CBA fiction these days, it's extremely rare for a series
to play out beyond four books. Zondervan is willing to give Homeland Heroes six. Six books in a
series that has only moderately sold its first two installments. Sales are not exactly through the
roof to say the least. But yet . . . could this be a story with just a wee bit of staying power? Could
it be possible for Book Six to sell enough to at least justify its existence?
See, that's me trying to make sense of it. And I can't. So, let's cut to the chase, shall we? Here's
what I have been slowly starting to realize since August 22nd. Well, even before that, but it's been
made very clear to me since then. For me, and for God in all this, it has been about the story.
That's why I cried in my poor agent's ear when he told me there would only be one more book to
complete the story. One more wouldn't be enough! And that's why, now, I'm jazzed about having
more books to tell the story . . . Chris now has another 285,000 words to finish telling her story . . .
God has another 285,000 words at His disposal to do with as He wants. I'm jazzed, because I'm
along for the ride!!!
But it's not that same ride. This time, this ride will not make me dizzy. I understand so much more
now about how things work. My expectations are truer now, more real, and I'll not be bogged
down by exorbitant expectations like I was before. And this time, on this ride, instead of holding
tight to the mechanisms of the ride, I'll be holding on—no clinging to—Truth. Like never before.
Could be a fun, wild, amazing ride.
Another fun, wild, and amazing ride.
Am I up for it? Dear Father God, help me!!!!!!
: )
Vaya-ing con You!
Hope y'all are too.
love,
donna
And Now I'm Really Wondering
Brandilyn has been blogging at Charis Connection about a part of her NES, her Never Ending
Saga as she calls it. She's been through what I've been facing lately, and she calls it "having no
plot." Simple. Nothing to worry about. No big deal.
So now I'm really wondering. Why have I been making such a big deal out of this?
I was going to quit this post right there and leave the question hanging. But there's no point in that.
I know the answer.
Why? Well, because I'm not Brandilyn, that's why. Though I adore Brandilyn, and all my fellow
Christian novelists, I'm not like any of them. I'm not like any other normal (or not so normal) plain
(or not so plain) person I know. And that's how it should be. I'm not Brandilyn Collins. Or
Angela Hunt. Or Gilbert Morris. They are who they are. I'm me. And you're you. I wouldn't
change them a bit. I wouldn't change you a bit. And, ya know? I wouldn't change me a bit either.
: )
I guess I should quit wondering about stuff, huh. Get on with it, donna! Whatever IT is!!
Well, it's not for me to say what IT is. And all through this I've allowed myself to wonder about
things. Remember? Wondering . . . but never worrying.
And now, to cease sounding like a broken record, I'll quit with this line of posts. I'll pass along
any news when it arrives and forms itself into something pass-along-able. Until then . . . well, I
don't know exactly what we'll talk about. But we'll find something.
Besides, the waves are crashing big time today. Another storm sits just off the horizon. Right now
patches of crystal blue sky peek through the puffy gray clouds. And I've gotta get back to work.
More blogs to peruse. More e-mails to answer. More hanging out with Erin Mathis and Chris
McIntyre before I have to go hang out with Melsie. More living and praying and waiting and
trusting. More clinging to Truth. More basking. And more wondering.
Ahh . . . what a job. It's a tough job, I'll have you know. Putting up with Erin Mathis and Chris
McIntyre ain't easy. But someone 's gotta do it.
I'm so glad that someone is me.
: )
VcD,
donna
Hearing is the key word. Listening is not quite hearing. We've all listened without hearing. And,
of course, we know the words of our Lord, "Those who have ears to hear, let them hear."
The Spirit talks to us all the time. And you know what? I don't think He always uses words. For
me, it's more like—sometimes He uses words. I rarely hear that "still, small voice." And I mean
rarely. But I don't think hearing a voice is near as important as hearing what that voice didn't say
aloud.
Hah! How's that for a major spiritual revelation? : ) (I can hear you all now discerning the truth
out of that one!)
Ahh . . . but He speaks. He teaches. And we learn. And know. And we . . . get it. And what we
get is something worth holding on to with all our might.
We hold on to it, but we also want to express it. To share it. Such is the nature of the Truth. It's
such a revealing, eye-opening, heart-warming thing. And who wouldn't want to share such a
wonderful thing? "Hey world! We can know the Truth! We can know why we exist! We can
know what it's all about!!" If any heads turn our way, if any ears are willing to listen . . . oh, may
we speak only the Truth as we've been given it!! God help us.
Lately, I've been listening. And, ya know? It's been amazing. Cuz I've also been hearing. Truth is
something I think we all long for, with every fiber of our being. Deep down, unless we've allowed
our hearts to harden, we know the Truth. We know we need the Truth. But it's soooo much easier
just to live in our own little worlds and not worry too much about it, since we've got soooo many
other things to worry about and we only have a wee little bit of time to worry about all we've got
to worry about . . .
On and on it goes.
Unless we stop it. Or have it stopped for us.
Right now, and in these past seven weeks, I've been having my world slowed, my eyes widened,
my ears opened, and my ride . . . stopped. The ride . . . we could talk long and hard about the
wonder of the ride! (And I have—from the first post on this blog!) : ) But now, the ride is . . . not
quite a ride anymore. Oh, yes, it's still going round and round and round . . . the ride is still very
much a wonderful ride for all those aboard it . . . but I've been allowed to get off. Or, should I say,
I've been encouraged to get off, before the wonderful craziness of the ride sweeps me away. Well,
not actually just "away," but any more farther away from the place my Lord would rather have me
be. The ride is still there, and I can jump back on at any time. But I don't want to do that just yet.
Right now I'm looking up at my Father and just patiently waiting for Him to take me by the hand
and lead me to that place He wants me to be.
And He's patiently waiting . . . for my dizziness to ease so I can see Him clearly. So I can reach
up and place my hand in His.
Right now, that's where I'm at. I'm off the ride, but very much aware that it's carrying on quite
nicely behind me . . . without me. I'm blinking and blinking and trying to gain my bearings as my
head continues to spin. But each time my eyes open, I'm gazing up at my Father. What patience, in
His eyes. What amazing . . . I can't describe it. Even for a novelist who made her living
describing things . . . there are no words to describe the level of compassion in our Father's eyes.
The depths of His mercy. And of His love.
Just see it with me. Look into His eyes. You won't be able to describe it either. But that doesn't
me we can't both bask in it.
Bask . . .
VcD,
donna
I Don't Know Anything About Pelicans
But I wish I did, cuz right now half the world's population of pelicans are flying south for warmer
climes, flying not more than fifty feet off shore, not more than two hundred feet from my living
room window. Which makes it about two hundred and three feet from my recliner. But still too
far.
So I grabbed up my binoculars and went out to watch them from the water's edge. Amazing. I
wish I knew more about pelicans, but this is what I do know. They have an adventurous spirit.
They love the water. From time to time, they fly so close to the swells the tips of their wings trace
lines in the water. They love each other, cuz they're willing to follow the brother or sister in front
of them, until it's time to switch positions by a daring undercut move that results in a new leader.
But they don't seem to mind—all are on the lookout for one thing: fish. First to spot it, first to take
the lead, and all the rest follow.
Though, I have yet to actually see a pelican dive down for a fish. I think the Lord is pacing me
with pelicans—if I actually saw one swoop up, then crash into the water like I've heard they're
known to do to scoop up a fish in that big bill of theirs . . . I'd probably faint dead away. Too
awesome.
I've seen an osprey dive into a calm lake from about a hundred feet up. Amazing.
Wish my binoculars didn't make me dizzy.
: )
Or maybe it's all that roiling water? Something. Standing at the water's edge peering through
binoculars watching flying critters pass centimeters over roiling water is not an activity I can
engage in for long periods of time. However, the few minutes I engaged in this morning . . .
amazing. Thanks, Lord. Thanks for the pelicans.
Oh, and thanks for the spotted owls too. Talk about amazing. And thanks for the tufted puffins I
saw this morning too. And the Canadian geese in long v-shaped strings far off the horizon. I
wouldn't have seen them without the binoculars. And thanks for those roiling waves. And thanks
for settling my dizziness.
: )
VcD,
donna
The Thing About Dizziness . . .
. . . is that it usually goes away.
Mine is gone, though I'm left a bit weakened by the experience.
Last night, I received news. Stunning news. Well, news that stunned my agent, anyway. It's news
that eases my dizziness, yet leaves me a bit weakened. And I can only pray that in my weakness . .
. Well, you know the rest. I won't spell it out for you.
But before we talk about this new news, can we go back to Truth for a little bit? In a way, I left
unsaid what I really wanted to say the other day. Here's what I wanted to share, the moments of
Truth validating and strengthening the Truth already made known in my soul by the Spirit of God—
my Resident Teacher of Truth. Truth made especially real by the events of my past few weeks.
Truth made especially vivid by the timing with which it was shared to me through words spoken
nearly a hundred years ago.
Ahh . . . timeless Truth. Just the way Truth should be.
For the next few posts, I'd like to press copyright issues just a tad and share bits of Truth that have
strengthened my resolve to stand firm on my foundation stone no matter what happens in my life,
my "career," my "calling," or the industry I've been "called" to swim in. Truth does that—it lays
bare what really matters.
The man speaking these words of Truth is none other than Oswald Chambers. He spoke these
words before his death in 1917, to crowds of preacher-boys studying at the Bible college where
he taught. It makes no sense to lift up the man, Oswald Chambers. But I'm grateful his words of
Truth remain to now flow hand-in-hand with what the Spirit is teaching me (and us all) about Truth.
It was August 22nd when circumstances in my life caught my attention. When Truth stepped
forward to be the one and only most important thing in my life.
These are bits of the daily devotions compiled in Chambers's My Utmost for His Highest from
August 22nd until today.
"We have to discipline our minds and concentrate on willful prayer. A secret silence means to
shut the door deliberately on emotions and remember God."
"It is no use praying unless we are living as children of God. Then, Jesus says—'Everyone that
asketh receiveth.' "
Jesus said, "I have called you friends." "It is a friendship based on the new life created in us
which has no affinity with our old life, but only with the life of God. It is unutterably humble,
unsulliedly pure, and absolutely devoted to God."
"When one confers with Jesus Christ the perplexity goes, because He has no perplexity, and our
only concern is to abide in Him. Lay it all out before Him, and in the face of difficulty,
bereavement and sorrow, hear Him say, 'Let not your heart be troubled.' "
Here's something else about Truth. Like fine chocolate, it's something to savor, not with our lips
and tongue, but with our entire eternal being.
Until tomorrow . . . vcD.
donna
Savoring Truth . . .
. . . like this. (From My Utmost from His Highest by Oswald Chambers.)
"The final thing is confidence in Jesus. Believe steadfastly on Him and all you come up against
will develop your faith."
"Jesus Christ says, in effect, Don't rejoice in successful service, but rejoice because you are
rightly related to Me. It is the work that God does through us that counts, not what we do for Him."
"The joy of Jesus was the absolute self-surrender and self-sacrifice of Himself to His Father, the
joy of doing that which the Father sent Him to do. Jesus prayed that our joy might go on fulfilling
itself until it was the same joy as His."
"Continually restate to yourself what the purpose of your life is." (To this I would add: Don't let
someone else state to you what the purpose of your life is.) "The destined end of man is not
happiness, nor health, but holiness. He came to save men because He had created them to be holy.
Holiness means . . . every detail of the life under the scrutiny of God."
"If you satisfy yourself with a blessing from God, it will corrupt you; you must sacrifice it, pour it
out, do with it what common sense says is an absurd waste."
And all of the Truth shared on September 4's entry. In a nutshell, one word. "His."
Simple Truth spoken simply (okay, maybe not so simply—sometimes Oswald's wording is a bit
obscure) : ) simply reaches our soul more deeply than anything else. Because the Spirit of God is
there, and He is Truth. Deep in our souls, we feed on His Truth, and we feed our minds with His
Truth from the Written Word or by words spoken by those who speak the Truth . . . it ingrains us,
uplifts us, refocuses us, molds and creates in us all that the Spirit longs to create. In other words,
we are being transformed.
Ahhhhhh . . . savoring it . . . . . . . . .
More tomorrow. Why not.
VcD,
donna
Basking In It
Faith, Hope, and Love. When our Faith and Hope are based on Truth, we've discovered the secret
of the universe. It's not a secret, but when we discover it, it feels like we've discovered the depths
of infinity. And then, when we discover all Truth is based on LOVE . . . wow. Yep, we're baskin'
. . . savorin' . . . and thankin'. Thank You, Lord God, Lord Jesus, precious Spirit of the Living
God. We're with You. Lead on.
"Never allow anything to come between yourself and Jesus Christ, no emotion, or experience;
nothing must keep you from the one great sovereign Source. Keep at the Source, guard well your
belief in Jesus Christ and your relationship to Him, and there will be a steady flow for other lives,
no dryness and no deadness."
"Ministering as opportunity surrounds us. This does not mean selecting our surroundings, it means
being very selectly God's in any haphazard surroundings which He engineers for us."
"If there is something upon which God has put His pressure, obey in that matter, bring your
imagination into captivity to the obedience of Christ with regard to it and everything will become
as clear as daylight."
"Have no other motive than to know your Father in heaven."
"Do you continue to go with Jesus? The way lies through Gethsemane, through the city gate,
outside the camp; the way lies alone, and the way lies until there is no trace of a footstep left, only
the voice, 'Follow Me.' "
"Jesus Christ has not tenderness whatever toward anything that is ultimately going to ruin a man in
the service of God." (Wow. That statement needs some serious digesting. Talk about powerful!)
"If a man or woman is called of God, it does not matter how untoward circumstances are, every
force that has been at work will tell for God's purpose in the end."
O-boy. Here's another set of statements that require some digesting: "We slander God by our very
eagerness to work for Him without knowing Him. This is your line of service—to see that there is
nothing between Jesus and yourself."
Sometimes the Truth cuts like that double-edged sword, doesn't it? We're cut to the soul, but it's a
wound that heals us. Amazing.
"No human being knows human beings as God does."
Yay!! Thank You, Father God, for knowing us down to our vile cores, and still loving us enough
to make us Your own!
Yep! We're a baskin'!!!
VcD!!
donna
Baskin' Is Fun!
Ain't it? It's the soul-deep delight of watching an incredible sunset paint itself across the sky. Or
watching pelicans glide across the surface of the waves, the very tips of their wings tracing white
lines in the water . . .
Let's go back to a Truth from yesterday. "No human being knows human beings as God does."
And add this: "Jesus Christ rehabilitated the human race; He put it back to where God designed it
to be, and anyone can enter into union with God on the ground of what Our Lord has done on the
Cross."
Amen. Thank You, Lord!!! : )
"As long as you have the tiniest bit of spiritual impertinence, it will always reveal itself in the fact
that you are expecting God to tell you to do a big thing, and all He is telling you to do is to 'come.' "
"Obey God in the thing He shows you, and instantly the next thing is opened up."
And then we arrive at the devotional for October 11th. This literally sucked the breath from my
lungs that morning as I read it.
"Has God trusted you with a silence—a silence that is big with meaning? God's silences are His
answers. God will give you the blessings you ask if you will not go any further without them; but
His silence is the sign that He is bringing you into a marvelous understanding of Himself. Are you
mourning before God because you have not had an audible response? You will find that God has
trusted you in the most intimate way possible, with an absolute silence, not of despair, but of
pleasure, because He saw that you could stand a bigger revelation. If God has given you a silence,
praise Him, He is bringing you into the great run of His purposes. The manifestation of the answer
in time is a matter of God's sovereignty. Time is nothing to God."
And this on October 14th:
"We are apt to look upon Our Lord as One Who assists us in our enterprises for God. If I want to
know the universal sovereignty of Christ, I must know Him for myself, and how to get alone with
Him; I must take time to worship the Being Whose Name I bear."
" 'If ye abide in Me, and My words abide in you . . .' —that is the way to keep going in our
personal lives. Where we are placed is a matter of indifference; God engineers the goings."
"No Christian has a special work to do. A Christian is called to be Jesus Christ's own, one who is
not above his Master, one who does not dictate to Jesus Christ what he intends to do. Our Lord
calls to no special work: He calls to Himself. 'Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest,' and He
will engineer circumstances and thrust you out."
"Receive Jesus Christ to be made sanctification to you in implicit faith, and the great marvel of the
Atonement of Jesus will be made real in you."
Believe. Receive. Trust. Truth. Truth is a Man. Jesus Christ the Lord. Our Savior and Lord.
It's real, and it's true. The depths of infinity resting in two words, "Follow Me."
More tomorrow? : )
VcD,
donna
Here's A Truth For Ya
It's November already. Yikes!!!!
Ahh . . . my favorite time of year. Bring on the cold, dreary, gray days of winter. Bring on
Thanksgiving, Christmas, and the New Year. 2006. I mean, like, totally! Yikes!
How about three more Truths to stand on as we face the next eight weeks of festivities.
"There is only one thing God wants of us, and that is our unconditional surrender. The only way is
by allowing not a bit of the old life to be left; but only simple perfect trust in God, such trust that
we no longer want God's blessings, but only want Himself."
"We are acceptable with God not because we have obeyed, or because we have promised to give
up things, but because of the death of Christ, and in no other way."
" 'Though He may slay me, yet will I trust Him.' This is the most sublime utterance of faith in the
whole of the Bible."
May it be our utterance. May we see through the myriads of falsehoods in this world, the ever-
present barrages of new and exciting deceptions and distractions, and may we hold tightly to
Truth. In the end, Truth—and those who have clung to it—will be the only things left standing.
In that day . . . may we stand.
VcD,
donna
News
You're waiting for it, huh. My new and stunning news. I guess at this point it's a bit anticlimatic.
Truth is I still don't know exactly what's going on. You may have already figured it out. And you
may not really care about it one way or the other.
: )
How 'bout this: I'll share the details of my new and exciting news just as soon as they solidify to
the point where I can share them. Until then I'll leave you hanging a bit. But I will say this: it
looks like there may just be a few more stories in the Homeland Heroes Series after all. Chris
McIntyre may just get the chance to share more of her adventures with you. And me.
She's pretty jazzed about it. Me? Yeah, I'm jazzed too. But I'm still a bit cautious, stunned, and,
yes, just a wee bit dizzy. I'm still trying to process everything—just exactly what it all means. But
that's a laugh. I'll never understand how or why things work out as they do. But hey. Ain't that
why I'm clinging to Truth?
What better time to cling to Truth?
VcD,
donna
I Wasn't Lying . . .
. . . when I said I didn't have even a hint of an idea for a new series with all new characters. That
was pure truth. And it still is. Not even an inkling of a hint of an idea.
I think Zondervan finally realized it. The offer they are offering me now goes beyond generous. It
goes beyond all common sense. Goes beyond good financial sense. Goes far beyond anything I
can make sense of.
So now I have my work cut out for me. In CBA fiction these days, it's extremely rare for a series
to play out beyond four books. Zondervan is willing to give Homeland Heroes six. Six books in a
series that has only moderately sold its first two installments. Sales are not exactly through the
roof to say the least. But yet . . . could this be a story with just a wee bit of staying power? Could
it be possible for Book Six to sell enough to at least justify its existence?
See, that's me trying to make sense of it. And I can't. So, let's cut to the chase, shall we? Here's
what I have been slowly starting to realize since August 22nd. Well, even before that, but it's been
made very clear to me since then. For me, and for God in all this, it has been about the story.
That's why I cried in my poor agent's ear when he told me there would only be one more book to
complete the story. One more wouldn't be enough! And that's why, now, I'm jazzed about having
more books to tell the story . . . Chris now has another 285,000 words to finish telling her story . . .
God has another 285,000 words at His disposal to do with as He wants. I'm jazzed, because I'm
along for the ride!!!
But it's not that same ride. This time, this ride will not make me dizzy. I understand so much more
now about how things work. My expectations are truer now, more real, and I'll not be bogged
down by exorbitant expectations like I was before. And this time, on this ride, instead of holding
tight to the mechanisms of the ride, I'll be holding on—no clinging to—Truth. Like never before.
Could be a fun, wild, amazing ride.
Another fun, wild, and amazing ride.
Am I up for it? Dear Father God, help me!!!!!!
: )
Vaya-ing con You!
Hope y'all are too.
love,
donna
And Now I'm Really Wondering
Brandilyn has been blogging at Charis Connection about a part of her NES, her Never Ending
Saga as she calls it. She's been through what I've been facing lately, and she calls it "having no
plot." Simple. Nothing to worry about. No big deal.
So now I'm really wondering. Why have I been making such a big deal out of this?
I was going to quit this post right there and leave the question hanging. But there's no point in that.
I know the answer.
Why? Well, because I'm not Brandilyn, that's why. Though I adore Brandilyn, and all my fellow
Christian novelists, I'm not like any of them. I'm not like any other normal (or not so normal) plain
(or not so plain) person I know. And that's how it should be. I'm not Brandilyn Collins. Or
Angela Hunt. Or Gilbert Morris. They are who they are. I'm me. And you're you. I wouldn't
change them a bit. I wouldn't change you a bit. And, ya know? I wouldn't change me a bit either.
: )
I guess I should quit wondering about stuff, huh. Get on with it, donna! Whatever IT is!!
Well, it's not for me to say what IT is. And all through this I've allowed myself to wonder about
things. Remember? Wondering . . . but never worrying.
And now, to cease sounding like a broken record, I'll quit with this line of posts. I'll pass along
any news when it arrives and forms itself into something pass-along-able. Until then . . . well, I
don't know exactly what we'll talk about. But we'll find something.
Besides, the waves are crashing big time today. Another storm sits just off the horizon. Right now
patches of crystal blue sky peek through the puffy gray clouds. And I've gotta get back to work.
More blogs to peruse. More e-mails to answer. More hanging out with Erin Mathis and Chris
McIntyre before I have to go hang out with Melsie. More living and praying and waiting and
trusting. More clinging to Truth. More basking. And more wondering.
Ahh . . . what a job. It's a tough job, I'll have you know. Putting up with Erin Mathis and Chris
McIntyre ain't easy. But someone 's gotta do it.
I'm so glad that someone is me.
: )
VcD,
donna