Now as they went on their way, Jesus entered a village. And a woman named Martha welcomed him into her house. And she had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to his teaching. But Martha was distracted with much serving. And she went up to him and said, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her then to help me.” But the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her.
Luke 10:38-42
Our school year began with good intentions. We wanted our children to develop a love for the Lord and a joy for learning. We didn’t want to get swept into discouragement or bitterness or simply be overwhelmed. We planned to model what it looked like to live for Christ, but as task after task fell to us, and child after child pressed those buttons they know so well, we were thrust into a place like Martha, where we were at risk of losing our joy.
Jesus speaks directly to Martha in our passage, and by looking a little closer, we see three things that can help us find our way back to the good and better portion.
First: It is not enough to only welcome Jesus with joy on the first day of school
Martha invited Jesus in. She welcomed him into her house. Martha loves Jesus and she receives him joyfully, but her joy turns bitter when things don’t go her way. So bitter that the Lord found it necessary to correct Martha’s attitude.
This can happen in homeschools. Joy sometimes turns bitter when things don’t go our way. So bitter that the Lord might find it necessary to step in and correct OUR hearts. Yes, He plans to use home education in the shaping and maturing of our children. And yes, He also plans to use home education in the shaping and maturing of us.
Second: Service can be distracting and cause anxiety
It’s quite possible that Martha desired to serve the Lord well using her gift of hospitality, just as we desire to serve the Lord well as home educators. There’s nothing wrong with this heart of service. However, when service distracted Martha from the Lord, Jesus pointed out how she had taken her eyes off the good thing—which was simply being in the presence of the Lord.
We start well. But circumstance has the potential to overwhelm us. So, we dig in, and little by little, we put distance between ourselves and Jesus because we are too busy working for Him to stop and be present with Him and it makes us anxious and troubled.
Third: Jesus is always concerned with the heart
One thing is necessary, Jesus says.
It’s interesting that Jesus doesn’t tell Martha to stop cooking and serving, He simply pointed out the better portion that she had missed. He pointed out the good thing that her sister already seemed to know: We are as close to Jesus as we let ourselves be.
The application here is NOT that all Marthas need to become Marys because the world needs Marthas just like the world needs Marys. The application is examining the overflow from our hearts and answering three questions:
Has my service to the Lord in home education moved me away from or closer to God?
Am I so busy educating my children and scheduling their day that I fail to model what it looks like to be present with God in my day?
Have I lost sight of the bigger picture of what God wants to accomplish through my home school and in my heart?
Whether we worship God through our service like Martha or worship Him through stillness like Mary, we can all choose the good and better portion that changing circumstances or a busy home school cannot take away from us.
Pray:
Lord, help us stop striving for more and more, to stop comparing what you’ve called us to do with what you’ve called others to do, and instead help us understand and celebrate how you have created us to worship you. Lord, we need you to help us choose the good and better portion each day and model it well, not just for the sake of those watching, but for the sake of our own hearts.
Are you in the Hamilton/Ancaster area in May? Are you considering home education? Check out the OCHEC Convention 2024 and be inspired, challenged, and encouraged as a home educator.
*I have the privilege of teaching a workshop titled: Why Do We Fight?
I rarely post about children’s books, but this one sounded super cute, and I expect some of you readers have sweet little ones that would be encouraged by the story of Phooey Kerflooey by Kristen Joy Wilks. Welcome, Kristen!
My husband (Scruffy) and I live and work off-grid at a remote Bible camp. The peaceful setting alternates between calm and chaos as herds of campers come to play and then rush home to be with their families once more, leaving us surrounded by the quiet of the forest and the rustling emptiness of our mountain meadow.
Maintaining the camp facilities adds its own brand of chaos even when the campers are gone. We don’t have water if the pump breaks or power if the generator has an issue, and when pipes freeze, water can flood the buildings.
When I was writing Phooey Kerflooey and searching for a theme that would truly push my young characters to their limits, helping them grow into their strengths, I settled on peace amidst chaos. I didn’t realize it at the time, but that theme is such a clear reflection of our own life here at the camp.
The protagonist wants a puppy to help calm down his daredevil brother, chase away an invading squirrel, and bring just a bit of peace to their chaotic home.
Our Newfoundland dog, Princess Leia Freyja, was such a comfort during the eight beautiful years that we were her people. Now, she was a crazy puppy. But she matured into a calm and loving dog who did therapy visits with me to local schools and always watched out for my husband.
One time, Scruff had to climb onto the roof of the camp’s main lodge to break away large chunks of snow and ice that wouldn’t slide down. With a worried slant to her ears, Leia watched him work. He was standing in the wrong spot when the last chunk started to slide and Scruffy barreled off the roof along with a small avalanche of snow! Leia was horrified!
She galloped over to where Scruffy lay atop a pile of snow, laughing. She did not think it was funny. Our worried dog leapt on top of his chest and licked and licked and licked him. Scruff could barely breathe for all her urgent care. He tried to sit up, and she slammed a paw down on his chest and pushed him back down. Then she licked him some more. Our girl wouldn’t let Scruff move until she was satisfied that he was both unhurt and well-washed.
Leia was such a gift from God. She brought us so much comfort during the chaos of camp work. When days were long and the needs of the people who were under our care were heavy, Leia always greeted us with a wagging tail and kind, understanding eyes. Stroking her soft fur brought us a moment of peace and her joy was contagious.
Losing Leia
Our three sons asked that I base a book character on our sweet Leia and thus Phooey Kerflooey was born. Before I could get the book polished and published, we lost our gentle dog to a brain tumor.
Both my husband and I have lost so many people over the years, but the loss of a dog is an especially difficult kind of pain. Dogs show love in a way that us humans can only aspire to with Jesus’ help. They love completely and with absolute forgiveness. Losing that made the chaos of ministry overwhelming.
Honestly, Scruff and I didn’t know if we would make it through that summer after Leia died. But with the Lord’s care, we limped along and He did amazing work in the lives of kids and staff despite our pain. Even using our pain for His work.
Comfort in a surprising place
You will keep in perfect peace those whose minds are steadfast, because they trust in you.
Isaiah 26:3
For the entirety of our twenty-three-year marriage, my husband has refused to get a cat. But this fall, on a wet November day, someone dumped a half-grown cat into the forest near our mountain home. The neighbors found her and wonder of wonders, my husband, the man who couldn’t abide cats for any amount of time, suggested that we take her in.
What a gift from God as we struggled with the loss of our Leia. Whisper Persnickety is a gentle soul with a soft meow and velvet paws. She curls up on Scruffy’s lap while he works on his computer and she twines around our feet all day, just wanting to be close. Her soft coat and gentle purrs bring that glimpse of God’s peace into our chaos once more.
Isn’t it just like God to answer our prayer for peace with the very kind of fuzzy friend my husband refused to consider? But God is like that. The peace He gives doesn’t have to wait for the roar to die down. It is stronger than whatever kind of chaos we find swirling around us. A gentle whisper in the storm, such is the peace of God.
The LORD said, “Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the LORD, for the LORD is about to pass by.” Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake came a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper
I Kings 19:11-12
Kristen Joy Wilks writes from a remote mountain meadow that alternates between quiet and chaos. She can be found tucked under a tattered quilt at 4:00 a.m. writing a wide variety of implausible tales or at www.kristenjoywilks.com. Sign up for her newsletter and enjoy a free book!
It’s hard to imagine a more powerful and incomprehensible truth than that the God of the universe sees, knows, and loves us intimately. Whenever I think of it, I echo King David’s words from Psalm 8:4, “What is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him?”
Two Sparrows for a Penny series
This idea, that God is always with us and sees and knows us, is the theme threading through all my romantic suspense novels, maybe none more so than my series two sparrows for a penny. This series follows the stories of three foster sisters—Tala, Rose, and Jae—who make a rash decision to run away from the foster mother they love, Felicity, after finding out she is dying. Convinced Children’s Aid will separate them, they throw together a plan to leave home in the middle of the night and find a place to hide out for a few months, until Tala and Rose turn eighteen.
The plan does not go well. A few blocks from home, a white van pulls to the curb and four men jump out. Tala and Rose are taken and spend the next eight years being trafficked (not spoilers – all of this happens before the series begins). Jae manages to get away, but she then disappears, and no one sees or hears anything from her during those eight years.
Tala manages to hold on to her strong faith during this horrific time. As she says later:
“I felt him. He was always with me—every time a man came into my room or Brady hit me or another girl disappeared. And God spoke to me, too, through beauty. There were always moments of beauty, even in the midst of all the horror.”
“Like what?” Cole couldn’t imagine beauty surviving in a place like that.
“My room had a window, high up. I couldn’t reach it to look out, but I could see the branches of a tree outside. Every season brought a gift—buds bursting out of their shells, thick green leaves with birds flitting between them, the stunning colors of fall, snow drifting softly from the sky to land on the bare branches and glisten in the moonlight. All of it even more breathtaking in contrast to the ugliness on my side of the window. The beauty of creation resonated deep inside me, as though God was using it to reach through the glass and let me know he saw me, that he hadn’t abandoned me. It gave me hope that one day there would be beauty in my life again, and that hope helped me to survive.”
In contrast, Rose struggles to hold on to her faith, to believe that God has not abandoned her. After she is rescued, she and Tala have this conversation:
They propped their elbows on the top frame of the lower pane of glass and gazed at the moon, the silent fields below glimmering silver. As far as Rose could see, those tiny flickering candles in the sky pushed back the darkness of the night. Tala nudged her gently. “What would you wish for tonight?”
The last prayer-wish Rose had made—for freedom from captivity—had come true. What were the desires weighing most heavily on her heart tonight?
“Peace. Healing. Joy. Hope.”
Tala kept her gaze fixed firmly on the heavens. “Love?”
“I have that already. From you and Felicity and Tag. My family.”
“What about from God? Can you feel his love?”
Rose gazed up at a star twinkling more brightly than the rest. “I think I’m starting to, yes. And maybe, when I look back, I felt it during those years at Brady’s too. Only I wasn’t sure what it was. Or I was scared to trust it.”
Two Sparrow for a Penny: books 1 & 2
The first two books in the series, Every Star in the Sky and Every Flower of the Field, are stories of healing in the aftermath of human trafficking. What Tala and Rose both come to see is that, even in the darkest, most evil circumstances imaginable, God was there, watching over them like He did the flowers of the field. And He saw them and knew their names like He did every star in the sky. That truth allows them to begin their journey of healing and finding love.
Two Sparrows for a Penny: book 3
Book three, Every Bird That Falls, tells the story of Jae, the third foster sister. Jae was not raised with a faith. When she comes to Felicity’s home, she sees faith in God in action for the first time and is deeply impacted by the love and grace her new foster family shows her. What happens to her during those eight years also tests her faith, but looking back she can see that God’s eye was on her, that, as no bird falls without his knowledge, He saw everything that happened to her and He was watching over her.
The awareness that in the midst of their horrific circumstances they were never alone allows all three women to begin to heal, to open their hearts to trust and love again.
Grab a copy at the PRE-ORDER price and save a bundle. Canada / USA
Takeaway from Two Sparrows for a Penny
And that is what I hope and pray for every story I write—that readers will take away with them the reassurance that they are never alone. That whatever they are going through, whatever they may have done or others have done to them, God is faithful and has promised to never leave them or forsake them. And, as Lia, my heroine in another of my stories, The Color of Sky and Stone, reminds the hero, Tane, “What can separate us from the love of God? Nothing. And what can tear us out of his hand? Nothing. Those are promises straight from the Word of God, and he cannot break his promises and still be God.”
Let’s Chat
What verse or passage of Scripture reminds you most powerfully that God is with you and will never abandon you?
Sara Davison has a passion for writing stories that keep readers on the edge of their seats—and maybe swooning a little. A finalist for more than a dozen national writing awards, including the Christy Award, Davison is a Cascade, Word, and two-time Carol Award winner for romantic suspense. She lives in Ontario with her husband, Michael. Like every good Canadian, she loves coffee, hockey, poutine, and apologizing for no particular reason. Get to know Sara better and subscribe to her short, monthly newsletter at www.saradavison.org.
I’ve been asked this before, why do I write Christian romance? It’s a fair question. With all the genres and subgenres out there that move way more copies, why do all my stories huddle together under the smaller, less lucrative umbrella of Christian romance?
It’s Simple
I write romance because our pursuit of human love, in some ways, mirrors God’s relentless pursuit of us. And I love writing stories that show God’s pursuit of His children. He never gives up on us. He never walks away. He never fails.
I believe our world needs clean, wholesome, and God-honoring narratives. It needs stories of purity, characters that honor the Lord, and illustrations of how true satisfaction comes from a right relationship with God and not from a human relationship. We need stories that showcase love thriving within the boundaries God has created and give hope to those who have only known broken love. We need stories of hope. Not hope in the right man, but hope in the Lord.
An Example of Love
In a culture that overflows with poor examples of love, I want to show readers what it looks like when someone cherishes you, what it costs to love sacrificially, and what it means to put someone else’s needs before your own. I want them to see love is worth it, and then set the bar high, refusing the settle for anything less than a partner who loves the Lord completely and loves others more than self.
I want readers to know what real love is so that when cheap imitations arrive with honeyed words and lofty promises, they are wise to its seduction. I want them to want more than crude jokes, filth, and stolen kisses.
When the apostle Paul penned 1 Corinthians 13 to the people of Corinth, he wasn’t penning a sappy Valentine’s Day definition of love. By the time the people of Corinth got to chapter 13, they all knew this was a correction. They were not loving well, so Paul was going to tell them how to change. I want to write stories that reflect this changed love that is determined to love as the Lord requires, no matter the personal cost.
HEA
In this genre, you can count on a HEA, your happily ever after ending—and I like that. But more important than finding her one true love is my heroine’s growth in her walk with the Lord. More important than saving the day, winning the girl, and defeating the villain is my hero’s surrender to God. Yes, I write romance. But the real story is exposing the lie my characters believe about themselves, the world, or God and proving that lie to be untrue. The real story is that God is the Hero, the pursuer of our hearts, and the lover of our souls. The real story is how human love, even the best love story, is only a shadow of the love Jesus has for His bride.
Light shone through the distant trees. Daybreak was on the cusp of presenting itself—but would it bring the sun or more clouds? She needed a ray of hope after the darkness.
Buried Grave Secrets
What is your worst fear? I know you have one. I do.
After my father passed away, I was terrified of losing my mother. The thought of life without her was unbearable.
In 2006, Mom was diagnosed with the unthinkable. A fast-moving cancer invaded and seized her brain. My worst fear became reality. I wanted to crawl back into her arms and never let her go.
That wasn’t the end
Then a few years later, the other shoe dropped. My dear brother was diagnosed with bone marrow cancer. Really, Lord? You’re going to take us through more darkness…so soon?
Again, I wanted to curl up in a ball, hide under the covers, and let the pain pass.
But God had other plans. He opened the door of my fears and let in a ray of light.
Hope and Light
After wrestling with Him, I began to learn I couldn’t run away from my fear. I had to walk through the darkness into the hope of His light.
If we don’t face our fears and learn to rely on God, we become stale and this inhibits our growth. We skirt around issues and try to live thinking they will go away. We run in circles and don’t get anywhere. Do we really want to live like that?
No. We need to face our fears and learn from them. Of course, this is not easy and I don’t have all the answers on how to do it, but I do know the One who can help. Our Savior. All we need to do is ask Him to turn on His light. Let it shine through the cracks to get us to the other side of the darkness.
In Buried Grave Secrets, Dr. Jordyn Miller battles her fears and in the end comes face-to-face with them in a cold, dark place. However, as a light emerges, so does her hope in God. Jordyn struggles with being a light in a darkened world, while Constable Colt Peters wrestles with his own inadequacies. Thankfully, they both were able to trust God, put their pasts behind them, and forgive not only others but also themselves. In doing so, God’s light lit a spark and soon illuminated their world.
What darkness are you going through today? I encourage you not to walk in circles around it but ask for God’s Light, and walk through it.
It’s the only way.
Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.
When bones are found at an unmarked grave site—and then shots are fired—forensic anthropologist Jordyn Miller knows someone wants old secrets to remain buried. She’ll do anything to uncover the truth about these suspicious deaths, including accepting the protection of her ex-boyfriend, Constable Colt Peters, and his K-9. But with targets on their backs, can Jordyn stay alive long enough to bring a serial killer to justice?
Darlene L. Turner is an award-winning and best-selling author and lives with her husband, Jeff in Ontario, Canada. Her love of suspense began when she read her first Nancy Drew book. She’s turned that passion into her writing and believes readers will be captured by her plots, inspired by her strong characters, and moved by her inspirational message. You can connect with Darlene at www.darlenelturner.com where there’s suspense beyond borders.
For many years of my Christian walk, I thought God answered prayer with either yes or no. Then about ten years ago, I heard a wonderful sermon and learned there is a third possible answer. It’s not “maybe,” it’s wait.
It’s all about God’s timing
Chapter 3 of Ecclesiastes tells us, “There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens” (NIV). In my own experience, waiting stretches my faith muscles. I am assured that if the answer I’m hoping for is best for me, it will come in God’s time. And if it’s not in His will for me, He will firmly shut that door. Even if I am disappointed, I can have peace knowing that the Master Designer sees the bigger picture and will bring about the best answer at the right time.
I heard a great object lesson once that illustrates this. We’re watching a parade through a knothole in a fence, seeing only the present frame. God is at the end of the parade, seeing the entire thing from beginning to end.
In Sisters Ever After, the main theme is trusting God’s timing. Gianna seeks answers to the reason for her husband’s recent death. Brock is on the run with his daughter, looking for safety. When Gianna and Brock meet, they begin to unravel the mystery of Gianna’s husband’s death but keep running into walls. Soon, their friendship takes a turn. Both fight the attraction. It’s too soon. What will people think? A threat causes Brock to prepare to flee again. Why can’t they find the answers they need?
But God whispers to both of them, “Trust my timing.” When the still, small Voice speaks to us, we need to stop striving, and know that He is God (Psalm 46:10, NASB) and that He will work all things for good according to His purpose (Romans 8:28).
Can God work in the hearts of two single parents so their daughters can be Sisters Ever After?
Gianna Harper is living on borrowed time. Newly widowed, she’s struggling to hold things together at home and keep her business afloat while dealing with her late husband’s effects. But something’s not right, and now, Gianna is convinced he was involved in something a lot more sinister than questionable business dealings.
Brock Hennessey fled California to make a fresh start in northwestern Montana. He hopes he’s put enough miles between him and danger—banking on a promised job to give his family a new start in a safe place.
Circumstances pit Gianna and Brock against one another, and neither one is willing to give an inch. As their professional dealings grow more acrimonious, their daughters become best friends, and suddenly, the four of them are thrown into situations that have them acting, looking, and sounding like a real family.
But there are hurdles to overcome, and danger threatens. Can God work in the hearts of two single parents so their daughters can be Sisters Ever After?
