Category: life

trust is always a thing…

As the anthology seems closer to becoming a reality, it feels like I have to trust even more that the writing will come.

As the new novel gets closer to being finished, it feels like I have to trust even more that the story will come.

As I continue to go through the days – and continue to deal with my lifelong stuff of anxiety, self-doubts, feeling like few people care – it feels like I have to trust even more that Jesus is with me.

Maybe it’s not that I’m really having to trust more. Probably it only feels that way because this is now, this moment… and past times and past feelings can feel less intense (sometimes) when we look back.

In reality, trust has always been a “thing” for me, whether it’s trusting God, trusting other people, trusting myself, trusting my voice and my writing.

Earlier this month, I made myself a small, easy TRUST bracelet.

I’ve been wearing it every day.

Around 20 years ago, I made a similar TRUST bracelet because I wanted a visual reminder to trust God, trust Jesus, on my faith journey. Because, like I said, trust has always been a thing for me. And back then, as it has been through so many periods in my life, my anxiety was amped up big-time.

(I believe there are many reasons for the severe anxiety issues I’ve had most of my life… and trust definitely plays a part.)

That particular trust bracelet was on a gold chain, dainty, easy to wear. After daily use for a very long time, I put it away. When I decided recently I wanted to return to wearing a daily reminder of TRUST, that old bracelet wasn’t an option anymore.

So I decided to make myself a new one. Inexpensive. Simple. Easy.

The main thing is the message it carries, the reminder whenever I glance at my hand.

TRUST.

God is with me. Jesus has my back. I’m never alone. The writing I’m given to write will come.

I see my bracelet with the simple block letters. I’m reminded of what I already know.

And I remember to trust.

It’s not always easy for me. But it’s oh so necessary.

♥

 

what you do matters…

This is an excerpt from the last newsletter I sent out, back in December. (I’m not current doing newsletters.) The message is one I want to share again – a reminder that what you do matters and makes a difference… more than you know.

So often, in various ways, I’ve talked about how you make a difference, more than you realize, even in simply going about your day and in seemingly small ways.

Smiling at someone. Holding an elevator door long enough for someone to get in without having to wait for the next time. Sending a text to ask how things are going. Responding to a text, to let the other person know you heard, you care, you like being in touch. Giving someone four quarters in exchange for a dollar bill so they can get out of a parking garage.

These are a tiny, tiny fraction of examples – and they’re examples from my own life, small acts of kindness given to me during very stressful times at hospitals and surgery centers these past months.

And I can’t even begin to tell you how much small things like these helped me during those times, and how I’m so very grateful to everyone (many of them people I don’t know and will never see again) who helped in any small (or big) way or showed any small (or big) kindness. (And really, I don’t believe any kindness is too small – I believe all kindness counts, and I believe the world could benefit very much from more kindness.)

These kinds of things matter. What you do, how you go about your day, your acts of kindness, your words, your smile, your prayers, your thoughtfulness – it all matters, it all makes a difference.

And you never know when your small touch of kindness, or one sentence, or one smile, will be the thing that helps someone hold on a little longer, or will ease their fear or struggle even just for a while.

Of course, doing “bigger things” out in the world or with your work can make a difference and matter too. But so often these days, I think we hear so many messages of “going big” or “changing thousands of lives” that we can forget how even our ordinary days, even touching the life of one person, matters… and can matter more than we ever know.

So please remember that what you do, in your ordinary everyday life, does matter – and you create ripples in other lives you often never even know about.

You make a difference.

♥

 

writing Ruth…

Something I’ve always done is write out Bible verses and passages I want to remember and reference. Verses that are helpful, uplifting, comforting. Verses that remind me of God’s love and who Jesus is.

I have pages of those handwritten verses, some of the pages dating back decades, tucked away in Bibles and notebooks.

I’ve got stacks of index cards with a verse on each card. Some are placed around the house or in drawers where I’ll come upon them unexpectedly. Over time, I’ve filled two or three spiral-bound “index card journals” with verses.  Several years ago, I started keeping a large ring of index cards with verses, and I continue to add to it.

Copying verses by hand has been, and will continue to be, important and valuable to me.

But something I’d never done – until this month – is copy out an entire book of the Bible.

This month I wrote out the book of Ruth.

And what a blessing it has been!

Sometime last spring, as I was roaming around youtube looking at videos about Bible journaling, I came across Cat Woods’ channel. This month she’s had a challenge to write out, copy out, the entire book of Ruth.

Ruth isn’t a long book. It has only four chapters.

I figured I could manage four chapters in a month, so I decided to take on the challenge.

I gathered the journal and the Bible I wanted to use. I settled on the NLT, the New Living Translation, for my writing.

And I decided to use a purple pen… just because I love purple pens.

(The fact that the purple ink went along with the color theme of my journal was a happy plus.)

I chose to use a separate journal for writing down study notes, name meanings and word definitions, map notations, and various things like that.

At the beginning of this month I got started. I didn’t follow a plan of writing certain verses or a set number of verses each day. I wrote as much as I felt guided to write each time (and also going by how my eyes were doing, since that’s something I have to be mindful of).

I finished a few days ago.

The whole experience has blessed my life.

Writing out an entire book has helped me see the whole context, and receive the message of the book, in a deeper and richer way than ever before.

Over the decades, I’ve heard sermons and Sunday School lessons about Ruth, I’ve done Bible studies about this book of the Bible, and I already knew so much about the story of Ruth and Naomi and Boaz.

But this experience has taken the messages and meanings of this book to a whole new level for me.

Something about writing out all of Ruth has made it sink in more.

I’ll still be copying down individual verses and passages – that’s not going to stop.

I’m adding something else too, though – writing out entire books of the Bible… letting the Word flow into me in an even deeper way as the ink flows out of my pen, verse by verse and chapter by chapter, from the beginning of a book until the end.

I haven’t decided yet which book is next.

But I have the whole Bible to choose from.

♥