Meet author Jodie Wolfe and read what she has to say about finding that peace we all desire. Jodie’s latest book was released last week, and in it, her main character faces some tough decisions. But she, like us, can choose peace.
Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.
John 14:27 KJV
Have you ever found peace to be elusive? Fleeting? You pray and ask the Lord for peace but all you experience is a constant reminder of the storm you’re going through. You can’t see past your current troubles. Every time you think you’re making some headway; you get slammed with something new that’s even harder.
You begin to question whether God is really with you. Is He really listening, or is He busy doing something else? You pray for direction, but no answers come. Or so it seems.
I’ve found myself going through trials through the years that tested my peace in God. Sometimes I floundered and didn’t do so well. Sometimes I recalled His faithfulness. What made the difference?
I need to make a choice of where I focus my attention. Am I going to keep looking at the problem and mull over the ‘what ifs’ and ‘if only’, or will I choose to focus on the truths of God? I choose to remind myself of all the answers to prayer He’s provided through the years. To study His Word to find His faithfulness. To dwell on His promises. Deuteronomy 31:6 reminds me, “Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the Lord your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you.”
Peace is an active choice we can make, even in the middle of a storm. This is something my character, Gertrude Miller, discovers in my new release, Wooing Gertrude. When her life falls apart, she’s faced with some tough decisions.
Will you choose God’s peace today?
Check out Jodie Wolfe’s latest book!
Enoch Valentine has given up finding peace for his past mistakes. He throws everything he has into being the new part-time deputy in Burrton Springs, Kansas while maintaining the foreman position at a local horse ranch. But when trouble stirs on the ranch, he questions whether he’s the right man for either job.
Peace has been elusive for most of Gertrude Miller’s life, especially under the oppressiveness of an overbearing mother. She takes matters into her own hands and sends for a potential husband, while also opening her own dress shop. Gertrude hopes to build a future where she’ll find peace and happiness.
Author Susan Lyttek is talking about change, her interpretation of Psalm 23, and how it connects to her new release, Portal Watchers. (I have to say, this book/series sounds like it would make a GREAT movie!)
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; For You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.
Psalm 23:4
Change and the issues of dealing with it have been a theme and an instigator in the last couple of books I’ve been working on. We know change happens. Some changes we look forward to, even if they mess up our status quo. Others, in fact probably most of them, we dread.
God, Sheep, You and Me
God knows we need to grow and become more and more like His Son. He also knows we’re like sheep. Sheep resist change.
Now, I’ve never raised sheep, but I have helped herd them a couple of times. With my car. Trust me when I say, they don’t want to move. They don’t want the changes the shepherd has planned for their own good. Even honking a horn won’t dissuade the most stubborn of them from remaining in the rut it has found with a bit of brown grass and dirty water.
In light of what sheep are and how they behave, I’d like to say we totally miss the tone of Psalm 23. We see it as calm, reassuring and pastoral. We read it and see swathes of green grass, hear the birds chirping and feel ready for a nap. Uh-uh. It’s all about change. We should read it as an action-adventure novel.
Think about it.
It starts with the idea that we will not want. In order to not want, we have to follow the shepherd. First, he makes us lie down. Emphasis on the make. When sheep get agitated to the point that they no longer obey the shepherd, he will force them down, his hand on their backs until their breathing regulates and they see him.
From that point, he can lead them past water that might be brackish or poisonous, and they will follow without trying to drink. Before the next set of challenges, he will restore them with food and water. Then they follow him through narrow, craggy paths through the mountains, down into dark and dangerous valleys, and into the presence of predators. It’s only trusting the shepherd that makes any of the changes and obstacles good. Dwelling in his house forever is an attitude, not an absence of conflict.
In The Portal Watcher Series by Susan Lyttek, three young men (all around 14 as it begins) have their world upended. Without wanting to, they find themselves embroiled in prophecy and the instigators of change. Other than vague references, they don’t even know the Creator Tel who has singled them out for this fate.
But like the sheep that need to be forced down to see the Shepherd, the love of the helpless will use their inner characters to pursue good. Because as we know, when David says “surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life”, he means that God will follow him as well as lead him… Making certain he does what will change him and his world for the better. Or as David says in a later Psalm, You hem me in behind and before, and You lay Your hand upon me.
As Garth, Ne-tel and Bern find themselves hemmed in by their desire to protect the dinosaurs, change will happen and they will grow for their good. Whether they like it or not. And isn’t that how the best of changes in our lives often begin?
New release by Susan Lyttek
A world oppressed. An Ancient Prophecy
When Bern, Ne-tel, and Garth witness the appearance of a portal through which emerges a great flying creature, the three do not realize this is an event long foretold. These beasts, these dinosaurs, will be sent by the Creator Tel to aid his children in a time of great oppression.
Queen Subja rules Telantia with cruelty and malice. She controls the masses with her unnaturally powerful servants, the Vil. But the appearance of the three pterosaur eggs signals her reign over Telantia is nearing its end.
But the creatures have been sent to three young men. How they stand the face of such evil?
Sometimes the ordinary can accomplish the extraordinary.
Katherine Robles is here to tell us a bit about her new book, Falling For Forever – which releases today! Welcome, Katherine!
Years ago, when my kids were little, I went from working part-time at the Y, to part-time at a school cafeteria, to full-time as a school paraprofessional in the span of three years. Each job change added more hours and higher pay. One memory stands out vividly from my first week at the paraprofessional job. I was in the staff lounge with my new co-workers, feeling rich because I was making $8 an hour more than I had been three years before, and listened in shock as they complained that we don’t make enough money! No matter how much we earn, there will always be someone earning more.
Is It Wrong To Want Success?
Is it wrong to want success? A promotion, a raise, accolades for a job well done? Of course not. But that desire needs to be balanced with submission to God’s sovereignty and gratitude for God’s provision.
In Falling For Forever, Hillary aspires to climb the corporate ladder and have an influential life. But her dissatisfaction with her circumstances causes her to judge those around her harshly and almost costs her the love of her life. In Philippians 4:11, Paul says that he had “learned to be content whatever the circumstances”. Did you catch the keyword there? He learned contentment. Which means that we can learn it too. A great way to start practicing contentment is by giving thanks.
Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.
1 Thessalonians 5:16-18
Father, thank you for providing for my needs. Help me work heartily to please You and not man. You cherish and value me, and that is enough. Amen.
A Bit About Falling For Forever
Hillary is stifled by an entry level IT job in the Virginia suburbs and longs to move to Washington D.C. where she can make a difference in the world. When Javier comes to her rescue in Great Falls National Park, Hillary likes everything about him except for the gorgeous fiancee hanging on his arm. But things are not as they seem and he enlists her help to renovate a homeless shelter. Romance blossoms over paintbrushes and pipes until a career launching opportunity arises. Hillary can chase her dreams, but they might cost her Javier’s heart.
I am thankful for the three fathers in my life. My dad has always been my greatest cheerleader and a man of stability and love. His love for me made it easy to see God the Father as my loving creator. I’m thankful to God that He gave me my dad.
My husband is wise and gentle, showing me his love in a million small ways. I love to watch him with our children and listen to him preach the Word. Finding him every morning sitting in the same chair with his bible open on his lap is a blessing beyond my ability to communicate. I’m thankful to God that He brought us together.
“Be watchful, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong.”
1 Corinthians 16:13
I’m thankful that both these men, in their own unique ways, have illustrated the unconditional love of God my Father. I’m thankful for a Father in heaven who pursues me, loves me, and promises to always be with me.
You only have to watch the news once to know that we live on a fallen planet, a planet filled with darkness and suffering. It’s easy to become overwhelmed by the amount of evil in the world, especially as it seems to be flourishing. So, what are we to do? Stop watching the news is one way to combat the “darkness fatigue,” and that’s not a terrible strategy. If you’re like me, however, you want to keep up with world events. Personally, I have compromised by cutting back on the number of times I watch news programs, from every day to only a couple of times a week.
Another strategy is to watch the news with a different perspective—to observe events unfolding and consider how they might line up with Biblical prophecy or God’s unfolding plans for humanity. And to watch with a deep desire and commitment to pray for the people involved in the stories being told—both victims and perpetrators—as well as for wisdom for world leaders and all those in authority. Ultimately, we pray for peace and justice, even as we know that perfect peace and justice will only be achieved when Christ returns.
My latest romantic suspense series, two sparrows for a penny, delves into one of the darkest issues prevalent today—human sex trafficking. Although this is a difficult topic to read—and write—about, it is an important one for us to be aware of and to be thinking and talking about. After all, unless we acknowledge the existence and extent of the darkness, we cannot comprehend the healing, redemptive power of the light.
The series title comes from Matthew 10:29, “Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground outside your Father’s care.” And that is the theme of these books, that God sees these precious women (and some men and children). He has not abandoned them. He loves and cherishes them and, one day, He promises that perfect judgment will be meted out against those who perpetrate such evil against the weak, the vulnerable, and the exploited.
Join me in praying for that day, and for all those caught up in this heinous practice, that they might personally experience the truth of John 1:5, that “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”
Sara Davison is a Word, Cascade, and two-time Carol Award winner of romantic suspense. She resides in Ontario with her husband, Michael, and their three mostly grown kids. Like every good Canadian, she loves coffee, hockey, poutine, and apologizing for no particular reason. Get to know Sara better at www.saradavison.org
Some fun changes are happening online, and you have a few kind comments from your fellow readers to thank.
First, some context.
Writers can feel like they are speaking into a black hole. It can feel like no one is listening. You write something and hope it resonates with someone, but that someone is often no one. Or so you think.
That’s how I’ve felt lately, until a small spark of connection revealed that I was not only heard, but missed.
In the unending deluge of information we often find in virtual spaces, a reader noticed something was absent from my previous online contributions. My heart leapt for joy as she expressed how she missed it. Her comment delighted me, and I felt validated and energized to keep going.
You see, kind words are like gems carefully sprinkled around for us to find when least expecting them – a sparkle of joy that cheers up bad days and scatters doubts. It’s amazing how a single word can provide strength during moments filled with dark clouds.
I know there’s no guarantee anyone will read my words, much less appreciate them. I’m not owed an audience. A readership is earned. That’s partly what makes it so rewarding to hear that my thoughts have mattered to another. So this post is about saying thank you. Thank you to the people who hit reply on the monthly newsletter. Those one-line responses mean the world to me. Thank you to those who engage on social media with a comment, a smiley face, or a thumbs up. It shows me someone saw me. And thank you to the handful of people who have mentioned how they missed Write the Next Line Wednesday.
Write the Next Line Wednesday
I’m bringing back the word game! Write the Next Line Wednesday is easy to play. I’ll provide a sentence or two, and you write what you think should come next in the comments. We’ll play the game on my Facebook and Instagram pages on Wednesday evenings. I hope to see you there.
Until then, keep reading, and when you have a minute or two to spare, send someone a message of encouragement. It will mean the world to them.
