One of the quickest ways to lose our joy is to compare ourselves to others. Have you ever felt you’re not measuring up because you don’t do what someone else does? Your friends post on social media their beautiful spotless house, their homemade perfectly decorated birthday cake for their child or the gorgeous costumes they sewed for the school play. We don’t all have the same gifts.
One of my coworkers is older and has worked in our building for many years. He knows everything about the building and how to run every piece of equipment. He is an extremely valuable employee because of his knowledge and experience. He spends a lot of his time training the younger employees. Instead of taking pride in his abilities, I often hear him lamenting that he’s not as fast or as sharp as the younger employees, not realizing his value. Looking at his contributions, I’m amazed he feels that way.
Is that how God hears us?
I wonder how often God listens to our comparisons and is equally amazed. He’s given us all different gifts. We’re not all meant to do the same things. 1 Corinthians 12 is a wonderful study in this. God tells us the hands were meant for one thing, the feet another, and the eyes and ears for another. We are all parts of the body of Christ, but we shouldn’t be expected to function the same way. The Lord has gifted me with the ability to write, but I certainly couldn’t illustrate my books. Artistic talent is a different gift.
My latest novel, Sunflowers and Suspicions, follows the tale of twin sisters when one of them goes missing. As identical twins, the sisters are often compared to one another, but they are very different people. Instead of rejoicing in their differences, they often feel envious of each other. As they learn and grow closer to God, however, they eventually see God created them to be different.
How about you?
The next time you feel as though you don’t measure up, ask God to reveal your gifts to you. Then use them for his glory! It’s a sure way to restore your joy!
For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, in proportion to our faith; if service, in our serving; the one who teaches, in his teaching; the one who exhorts, in his exhortation; the one who contributes, in generosity; the one who leads, with zeal; the one who does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness.
Romans 12:4-8 NIV
Sunflowers and Suspicion
A Deception Revealed …
When Julie Wagner’s identical twin Jade goes missing, Julie travels to New York pretending to be her sister so she can discover the truth. There, she meets the only person who has ever been able to tell them apart. Together, can she and her sister’s neighbor unravel a shady restaurant owner’s mysteries and find Jade?
A Fractured Family Healed …
Matt Callahan has lived across the hall from Jade Wagner for a year but never understood the pain behind her eyes. When her sister appears in his apartment building, he is amazed at the differences he sees in the twins. As he helps Julie find her twin, he discovers she just might be the answer to helping his own fractured family.
*Sunflowers and Suspicions is the third book of the Pine Springs Series, but all the books can be read as standalone novels. To find out more, check out the links below.
Karen Malley lives in Southeastern Pennsylvania with her husband and two sons. She works full-time as a scientist but enjoys writing in her spare time. When not writing (with her left hand), she enjoys camping, hiking, playing board games, and especially reading! She loves reading faith-based stories because we can all use a happy ending.
Karen loves to hear from her readers. You can connect with her on her website: www.KarenMalley.com. If you sign up for her newsletter, you’ll receive a free short story in your mailbox each week.
First of all, Stacey, I’d like to thank you for letting me visit today.
What’s one thing all mankind seeks? Freedom.
Several years ago, my husband and I began attending a large church not too far from us. Over the years we’d heard people talk about the inspiring sermons the pastor there would preach. I’d come to work on Monday morning, and several of my co-workers would be discussing the Sunday sermon delivered by their pastor, Buddy Hoffman. So when the time came for us to change churches, we knew exactly where we wanted to go.
Buddy was unlike any pastor I had ever heard. He had a folksy manner, and he loved tripping all over the English language. Once he told us about his recent mission trip to Asia where he saw Kubotas (i.e. pagodas) dotting the landscape. All I could picture was a hill covered with riding mowers and tractors.
One Sunday morning, he was preaching about forgiveness. Ten years later, I don’t remember the scriptures he chose or the major points of the sermon. I remember only one statement he made. “Unforgiveness is a prison.” My English-major self tensed, knowing unforgiveness wasn’t even a word. It was what my husband and I called a Buddy-ism. But it didn’t matter that it wasn’t listed in the dictionary, that spell-check would underline it. That brief statement carried a depth of meaning that entire books might not.
It’s not easy
I truly believe one of the hardest things God asks us, as Christians, to do is to forgive. Anyone who’s ever parented children knows forgiveness doesn’t come naturally. It’s often easy to forgive the penitent, but forgiving someone who’s not sorry, who doesn’t care? That can be tough. It’s sometimes easier to push the wrong aside. Try to forget it and go on with life. But forgiveness is active. It’s not enough to simply push the wrong way down into your heart rather than dealing with it.
As humans, we often seek justice instead of grace. If someone has hurt us, our carnal selves can want them to be hurt––to feel the pain we felt. And the unwillingness to forgive becomes a prison. True freedom is found in only one place.
Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.
Colossians 3:13
You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love.
Galatians 5:13
No Longer Captive
In No Longer a Captive, Ethne is trapped in a prison of “unforgiveness.” She’s spent most of her life running away from the pain her father’s behavior caused, searching for peace through forgetting. But the only way she can find peace in her life is to come to terms with the hurt her father caused in her life. To forgive him as she has been forgiven.
He who walks blamelessly and does what is right and speaks truth in his heart; who does not slander with his tongue and does no evil to his neighbour, nor takes up a reproach against his friend; in whose eyes a vile person is despised, but who honours those who fear the Lord; who swears to his own hurt and does not change; who does not put out his money at interest and does not take a bribe against the innocent. He who does these things shall never be moved.”
15:1-5
Context:
This psalm describes the character and qualities of the ideal follower of God.
When crafting a story, authors often ask themselves questions. We ask questions like:
What would make things worse for my hero?
How can I raise the stakes?
What friendship or love interest would complicate things?
What poor decisions can the main character make that threaten the happily-ever-after?
We like to write and read characters with layers of personal issues and mountainous obstacles to overcome because a perfectly blameless protagonist (or antagonist) is relatively dull.
Enter Reality
When it comes to our real life, perfectly blameless is exactly what is required. Psalm 15 asks and answers the question: Who can dwell with God? The answer is sobering: the blameless and righteous.
Only people who meet God’s qualifications can enter His presence.
Only a few chapters after Psalm 15, in Psalm 24, the psalmist repeats the truth that God requires perfection from his followers. Only those with clean hands a pure hearts can ascend the hill of the Lord (Ps 24:3-4).
Who among us is blameless and righteous? Who among us has clean hands a pure heart? The Old Testament priests continually offered sacrifices to atone for the people’s sins. Hebrews 10:11-14, “every priest stands daily at his service, offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins ….”
A Single Sacrifice
But we no longer need the intervention of a human priest. “… But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God … For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.” Hebrews 10:19 confirms, “we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus.”
As writers, we want to shake the foundations of our stories and characters, but as believers, we want stability. We want what Psalm 15:5 promises and what Hebrews 10:22-23 guarantees. We want an immovable faith and the confidence to draw near and hold fast to God because He is faithful.
Pray through Psalm 15 and Hebrews 10, acknowledging your need for and thankfulness to Christ for making it possible for you to enter into the presence of God.
I was offended that he (and other heroes of the faith) had multiple wives. I’ve read and accepted that the Bible doesn’t condone sin, even when it doesn’t directly call it out in a particular passage. But David. He took things further when he committed adultery with Bathsheba and then had her husband killed to cover his sin.
God sent the prophet Nathan to confront David. David repented, but the consequences the Lord assigned were devastating and long-lasting: the child born of the adulterous union died, and eventually, another of David’s sons rebelled against him.
Talk about Heartbreaking.
Much later, in Acts, Paul summarized David’s life and legacy this way:
“God raised up David their king. He testified about him: ‘I have found David the son of Jesse to be a man after my heart, who will accomplish everything I want him to do.’ 23 From the descendants of this man God brought to Israel a Savior, Jesus, just as he promised.”
Acts 13:22-23, NET
How could David, the adulterer and murderer, be a man after God’s heart? How could he be a hero of our faith, the author of so many beloved passages of Scripture, in the lineage of Christ?
I knew the answers lay in David’s repentance and God’s forgiveness and restoration, but my niggling dissatisfaction with the way God used David told me I had more to learn about the heart of God and the redemption He offers.
Writing it Out
As a novelist, one way I work out my deep questions is by writing about them, so I borrowed elements of David and Bathsheba’s lives and loosely translated them into a contemporary story.
David was famous and a musician. So, the hero in To Bring You Back is a rock star. (At this point, I hope you’re sensing I wanted the story to be entertaining and not something that would read like a Bible study.)
Like David, Gannon has tragic sin in his past, but he’s repented and embraced God’s forgiveness.
We’re not told much about Bathsheba’s side of the story in the Bible, so Adeline, the heroine in To Bring You Back, allowed me to put some of my own doubts and questions in the story.
Unlike Gannon, she’s still carrying heavy shame over what happened years before. It’s crippling her life, and when Gannon shows up again, you can bet she resents the freedom he’s found.
Confounded, Adeline poses the question in the story, “How good is grace?”
And there it was. I’d finally found the central question, the answer to which would not only free Adeline, but would also resolve my feelings about King David, the people I share my life with, and even myself.
How Good is Grace?
I’m sure I didn’t answer the question completely or perfectly, even in the 300+ pages of To Bring You Back, so you can’t bet I wouldn’t do it justice in the short space of a blog post.
Rather, I’m writing to extend an invitation.
If you find yourself stumped by the way God’s mercy and grace have played out in the pages of the Bible or in the lives of believers around you, I invite you to lean in. Instead of flipping to a new chapter or avoiding the discomfort, explore until you find the central question, and then seek the answers in God’s Word.
There are answers in Christ, and they are beautiful.
If you happen to also wonder how good grace is, well, the book I wrote is nothing compared to God’s. You can read about David and Bathsheba in 2 Samuel 11 and 12 and Psalm 51.
Question
Are there people described in the Bible that you sometimes struggle with? How has God helped you come to a new understanding of His work in their situations?
Emily Conrad writes contemporary Christian romance that explores life’s relevant questions. Though she likes to think some of her characters are pretty great, the ultimate hero of her stories (including the one she’s living) is Jesus. She lives in Wisconsin with her husband and their energetic coonhound rescue. She is the author of the stand-alone novel Justice and the Rhythms of Redemption Romance series, as well as a series of short stories, which she emails in installments to subscribers. Learn more about her and her books at emilyconradauthor.com or on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram.
About To Bring You Back:
My thoughts:
I listened to this title using the read to me option on my Kindle. (If you have never tried this before, I included instructions on how in my August newsletter.) This option is not the high-priced voice actor version. It’s more like Amazon’s Alexa or Apple’s Siri. Despite the mechanical narration, I LOVED this title. I couldn’t wait to hear more. In fact, I think I put in more miles running because running time was the only time I had to listen. That alone speaks volumes about how much I grew to love Adeline and Gannon.
There are few authors that I find reliable enough to convince me to pre-order their next title, but Emily is now one of them. I can’t wait for the next installment in the Rhythms of Redemption series. Conrad consistently writes clean and God-honoring stories, and she threads beautiful redemptive threads through her novels. If you’re a romance lover that hasn’t read her, you’re missing out.
Blurb:
He’s determined to confront the past she’s desperate to forget.
When Adeline Green’s now-famous high school crush descends on her quiet life, a public spotlight threatens to expose her deepest regret. After eight years of trying to bury her mistakes under a life of service, she’s broke financially and spiritually. The last thing she can afford is feelings for the man who took center stage in her past—even if he does claim to know the secret to her redemption.
Gannon Vaughn and his rock band, Awestruck, have conquered the music industry, but he can’t overcome his feelings for Adeline. When he hears she’s struggling, he sets out to turn her life around and win back the love he lost to poor choices eight years ago.
But when Gannon’s fame and their mutual regrets jeopardize their relationship anew, will grace be enough to bring them back to God and each other?
To Bring You Back is the first of the Rhythms of Redemption Romances, a series of Christian, rock star romances.
“Sometimes the hardest person to forgive is yourself. Fans of Karen Kingsbury will enjoy To Bring You Back.” – T.I. Lowe, author of Under the Magnolias
and my tongue will sing aloud of your righteousness.
O Lord, open my lips,
and my mouth will declare your praise.”
Psalm 51:14-15
Context:
The psalmist asks the Lord for mercy and forgiveness of sin and declares he will tell others of God’s righteousness.
Devotional
When I began writing fiction, I created a purpose statement that conveyed my desire to create God-honoring, life-changing messages through the form of entertaining stories. I keep this statement and a key verse, “I’ve decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified,” 1 Cor 2:2 before my heart and mind.
Psalm 51 reminds me that knowing nothing except Jesus and Him crucified is an impossible task apart from God. We need God’s mercy to cleanse and purify us. God creates clean hearts. God causes ears to hear and bones to rejoice. God restores joy. God delivers from bloodguiltiness. God opens lips and mouths to declare His praise. Apart from God, our sin is ever before us. God not only calls us to a purpose but then requires us to depend on Him to live it out.
Psalm 51
Ponder:
The singing and declaring that burst from the lips of the psalmist are a result of God opening his lips. What impact might it have on our writing if we began every writing session by confessing our guilt and inviting the God of our salvation to open the lips of our pens and the tongues of our keyboards that our words might declare His praise?
Pray:
Lord, too often, I run ahead of You, eager to get the words on the page, anxious about meeting a deadline or goal. Today, instead, I begin by confessing my desire to control the outcome of my efforts. I confess that sometimes, I need less productivity and more time with You. I need to listen better. I need to welcome You and set aside my words. I invite You to open my lips, and I pray the words that flow would teach others Your ways.
Lord, I desire to obey You in all things. David models the kind of humble repentance that pleases You. He freely admits that his sin is first and foremost against You. The same is true in my life. Against You and only You have I sinned. Therefore, you are justified in Your wrath. You desire truth in the innermost of my being, so Lord, I ask that You will make me know wisdom. Lord, show me how to weave Your truth through my writing. I do not want a separation between my faith and my job. I desire to have my faith in You impact every word that flows from my mind. Create in me a clean heart. Renew a steadfast spirit. Keep me in Your presence. Fill me with Your Spirit. Restore to me the joy of salvation and sustain with a willing spirit.
“Keep your tongue from evil and your lips from speaking deceit.”
Psalm 34:13
Telling the story of how God captured our hearts, led us to faith and repentance, and transformed our lives is often called sharing our testimony. Testimonies are powerful opportunities for believers to declare their confidence in the Lord, not only in what He has done in redeeming them, but in what He will continue to do for them as they walk in obedience, and how God longs to do this for others. These shared stories allow the church family to praise God together for His saving work in the lives of the people. They are a declaration of what God has done and an invitation to join in praising Him.
David begins Psalm 34 by declaring his story of confidence in the Lord. He tells a story of continual praise and invites his listeners to join him in magnifying the Lord. Throughout the first 11 verses, David intersperses a call to join the praise with details from his testimony.
David invites the humble to “magnify” and “exalt” the Lord (v3) because those who “look to him are radiant and unashamed” (v5). He implores the hearer to “taste and see the Lord is good” (8), to fear the Lord (9) and listen to him (11). He speaks of himself as a poor man who cried out to God, and the Lord heard. The Lord saved him from his troubles. His story is an invitation to believe that if God could hear, answer, deliver, save, and redeem him, then He can do this for the reader. He invites the people to come, listen, and fear the Lord (11).
Wisdom
The rest of the Psalm is filled with wisdom for the righteous. The man who wants to see good (12) must do good (14). The details of how this goodness plays out in the lives of the redeemed are sandwiched in between those statements, the redeemed should keep their tongues from evil (13). This command is so important that he rephrases it in the last part of the sentence, “keep your lips from speaking deceit.” The list continues. Turn from evil, do good, seek peace, pursue peace (14).
Troubles
David acknowledges that the righteous will face troubles. The righteous will cry, be brokenhearted, crushed, and afflicted (12-19). But our souls can boast in the Lord because God delivers us. He slays the wicked and condemns those who hate the righteous (21). None who take refuge in God will be condemned (22).
Ponder
If the redeemed should keep their tongues from evil (13), should redeemed authors keep their pens from evil? Should we keep our words from communicating deceit? How do we turn from evil, do good, seek peace, and pursue peace (14) while telling stories of brokenness and redemption?
Pray
Lord, we hear the wisdom of this passage. As Your children, the words we write and speak should be truthful, good, and peaceful. As we craft the necessary scenes to illustrate the fallen state of characters, we ask for the Spirit’s help to show the awfulness of life apart from You. We ask for the Spirit’s help to create character arcs that illustrate the saving power of Christ. Give us the courage to write boldly and the wisdom to differentiate between necessary details and sensationalism.
