Lasting Memories and Loving Comfort

Dear Fellow Writers, Publishing Friends, and Good Friends,

After over two years of hustling in the writing world, I have finally earned my first small paycheck for a short story about dogs as part of an anthology to be published by Lonnie Hull DuPont. Oh, my! I guess it will cover the cost for all the paper I have used or thrown away trying to become an accomplished writer. Thanks be to God for His gracious gifts.

 

I had a wonderful time this past Friday at the First Presbyterian Church of Clinton (pronounced as Clinnon) with Dr. Edna Ellison who spoke to ladies from various area churches on "Putting God First in Your Life". I also made a closer acquaintance with two friends from our common writing group in Spartanburg, Blessed Temple and Dianna. We laughed ourselves into tears on our voyage.

Edna was gracious enough to let me have a small end of her long publications table, and I actually got 4 orders for Susan T. Osborn's anthology Too Soon to Say Goodbye. The women who came to my end of the table were recounting very recent suicides in their circle of friends. I was glad to be able to offer some comfort and a well-written book for them to give to the victims of suicide in their community.

Suicide is becoming an all too often end to lives these days. How sad to suddenly lose a loved one to such a hurtful death. It is an especially deep wound when there is no note left, and you are wondering, "Why did this happen? What could I have done? Were there signs I missed on life's roadway?"

 

I know, as a contributor to this anthology from my husband's sudden suicide in the Army oveseas, it took me at least three years of recovery to function. I still had two young daughters we brought into the world to mother.

Everyone takes their own path and time to grieve a suicide. Their spiritual heartbeats are weak, irregular, and pining to find God through a valley of tears. Putting time limits on a mourning person just adds to their weight of grief.

Another word of advice to well-meaning friends: When someone has told you their young relative or spouse has died, please don't ask what happened. The surviving members of the family don't know the answer to a suicide and may never know for sure this side of eternity. Offer the mourning person Christian comraderie, your ears, and your prayers. And give them lots of hugs, too!

Blessings and Agape,

Linda B. Greer

New Year, New You?

Is this the year your spiritual heartbeats will thump with your highest joy for His utmost glory? Will you resolve to have a special time and place for reading God's Word each day? Will you sign up for your first mission trip? Will your prayer life blossom like a beautiful magnolia, large and fragrant?

I know we all make and usually break our New Year's resolutions. But some promises to ourselves are bigger than ourselves. If you were to increase your time in prayer and Bible reading by twice, would that be a great sacrifice? How can you do such a thing when the urgency of the banal calls? Dishes need washing, clothes need folding, errands need running, your workplace needs you on time regularly, homes need cleaning, and meals need to be made and eaten.

Even though we are part of the microwave generation, some things are just too important to breeze through in seconds or moments. Think about the vow that a priest makes: to be chaste, to be poor, and to obey God. As future citizens of God's kingdom, we must peel away the non-essential parts of our lives and dig down to the foundations of our soul to find the peace and joy only God can give us.

In order to be closer to God, perhaps you could peel away some of the obstacles between you and the lover of your soul, the one who makes your heart soar with undeserved love, mercy, and grace. Here are some of my own personal obstacles:

• too much TV watching
• too much email to manage, read, delete
• too much junk snail mail
• too much time wasted looking at online bargains for things I want but don't need
• too many dogs that need attention, food, snacks
• too much time doing my make-up and hair (vanity, vanity!)
• Disorganization at my desk, especially for my business cards

You may have an extremely different set of obstacles or perhaps one like mine. In the big picture, what will we leave behind as a legacy of how we spent the time God gave us on earth? Will it be one that includes great God conversations or the flotsom and jetsom of life?

Blessings and Agape for the New Year,
L. B. Greer

Let's Not Weary of Doing Good

That is a pretty tall order from the book of Galations (6:9) if you suffer from a chronic pain condition such as Fibromyalgia, Chronic Fatigue, or Rheumatoid Arthritis. Since today (5/12) is National Fibromyalgia Awareness Day, it’s appropriate to examine believers who suffer each and every day of their lives. The apostle, Paul, entreats all of us to never weary of doing good. So how do you follow his commandment when you’re in pain constantly?

If there is one thing that saps your energy and motivation more than constant body-wide pain, I don’t know about it. It’s a dangerously self-absorbing condition, too. You begin to think, “How can I minister to others when I can barely take care of myself?”

How would you answer God if He asked you about your weariness in doing good? Would you say, “Lord, you understand why I am mostly home bound, don’t go on mission trips, or attend church regularly”? Would you say, “Until you heal me, Lord, I can’t be of use to the Kingdom of God”? Would you say, “I’ll just wait until the medical profession comes up with a cure before I become your good and faithful servant”?

All of these responses leave out the most extravagant gift of service you can give to any person—prayer! No matter where you are or in what condition or circumstances, a believer’s spiritual heartbeats can always turn his/her heart toward prayer.

I recently saw on a church marquee these words, “If you are having trouble standing, fall to your knees.” How often we excuse our absence from God’s good works by omitting prayer. As Americans we are somehow conditioned to think delivering a meal, manual labor, or a trip to needy believers is required. Our heavenly Father is much more pleased with personal communion than any work we might do.

Stop today and think about praying for your neighbors, your church members, your church pastors and staff, your city officials, your state governing body and their assistants, and your national leaders and Cabinet members. Nothing great in the history of God and man was ever accomplished without the fervent prayer of at least one believer. In many instances, whole bodies of believers were asked to fast and pray.

List now from memory some of the extravagant and seemingly impossible prayers recorded in the Bible that resulted in God’s power being displayed. Remember, even a feeble and frightened person can pray.

Meditate on Christ’s prayer of anguish in the Garden of Gethsemane as he sweat drops of blood from the strain of knowing his torture and death were near at hand. In Christ’s most painful, last moments on the cross, He was still talking with His Father in heaven. Yes, it is a tall order to simultaneously suffer and supplicate for others.