NANO IS COMING! It's approaching on swift wings, flying down and upon us. Soon, we will be consumed in the craze nano brings: buckets of coffee, bars of chocolate, sore wrists, aching fingers, burning eyes, late nights, fists banging against the keyboard ...

It's easy to forget that November is still a month. A month of life that is precious and meaningful.

So, we as Christians must ask ourselves ... what about God?

It is so easy to forget, even when not in the Nano craze, that God is our rock and He is who we live for and strive to serve and please. I get so consumed with writing, I forget who gave me the gift of writing in the first place.

"I don't have time for God." That's such a tempting thing to say. Gotta get the words, gotta get them down. We only have 30 days and 50k is a lot. Those words aren't going to write themselves. If we take our minds off our task, we won't figure out that gaping plot hole. We've got to think about writing and our characters and the story every single minute or an idea might escape us.

...right?

I'm not saying you need to sit down to an hour long bible study every day. That's not really realistic. Not if you want to hit that 50k. But I am saying that you don't need to forget God. November is still a month of life. And, as Christians, we have pledged our lives to God.

So how do we keep our eyes on Him?

I went through a time last year when I was terrified I was going to have to give up my writing. I wasn't sure if that's what God had planned for me. I was afraid that it consumed me too much. That it was an idol to me.

And, for a time, it was.

Writing had consumed my every waking moment. Thoughts of my plot and characters drowned me daily so that I couldn't see the world around me, couldn't focus on anything else, couldn't give my whole attention to my friends and family when I needed to.

But how do you let go? How do you separate your story from yourself so that you can live?

Here are some things that have helped me.

This seems like a given, but it is (in my opinion) the most important thing you can do, especially during the busy times in your life (like Nano). I don't like to make a schedule for when to pray, because when I do that it becomes something just to "check off my list" and I don't ever want God or my faith and the things that will build it to become something that I need to "get done" so I can move on to other things.

That being said, I do try to pray in the mornings when I first wake up, and at night before I go to bed. If I don't have any sort of schedule at all, I can easily forget to pray. I really encourage you to get up in the mornings and pray. Go outside for a walk, pray while you go make coffee and breakfast, or pray at your bedside, on your knees. Pray while you watch the sunrise. If you start your day with a prayer, it reminds you of who you are and whose you are. And that is very, very important.



This also is a given, I know. But spending just a few minutes in God's word will really help orient you and keep you in a constant state of spiritual growth, which is what we as Christians strive for everyday.

I want to post on bible studies soon, but I'll briefly summarize my thoughts for you here. When I say "read the bible" I don't necessarily mean pick a book and read a chapter every day. If you do that, once again it becomes a chore or a thing that you just "check off" your extensive list of to-dos. The most meaningful studies for me have come from embarking on topic studies.

What weighs on your mind? What tugs at your heart? What do you struggle with? What fascinates you? I'm doing two topic studies right now (sort of). One on kindness and one on self image / beauty / self-esteem / etc.

Immerse yourself in the word for just a few moments. Look for a new perspective in God's word on something you're struggling with. It will help you grow and bless you.




We can never be perfect. We all know this. But keeping your mind on Christ-like behavior, being conscious of how you treat others, will keep your mind and heart on Christ.



This is sort of on the prayer spectrum, but you can praise Him in other ways too. Put on Christian music in the car and sing along. Put your heart into worship. You might find the break from writing-thoughts and all-things-books-and-nano will help freshen your mind for when it is time to write.



Nano is a wonderful thing. It is such a blessing to me in my life, and my writing and I cannot wait until November! But let's do our best to remember who made us and gave us the ability to write, to create. Thank Him, for He is good!


Do you struggle with separating your thoughts from all-things-books-and-writing? What are some things you do to keep your eyes on God?

"I will never be good enough."

Ouch.

I've struggled with this for a long time. "I will never be good enough." And, ever since I began striving to be better, began actively studying the bible, God has taken my hand and slowly, gently, began to show me the truth.

I've believed a lot of lies.

This is one of them.

I have a funny issue. I will believe something about myself, and part of me will know it's wrong, but part of me will keep whispering, "No, it's true. It's so true."

And I won't fully, truly understand how wrong it is until someone else tells me that same lie in application to themselves. Then I see the dirtiness of the lie, the wrongness of it, and say, "NO! That is NOT true. Here's why ..." and then, when I'm not emotionally connected to it, when I'm not taking it in application to me and I'm finding the answer for another person, the truth comes to light. Hopefully for both of us.

In this case, I have Grace to thank. She commented on my last post saying that she didn't feel her writing was "good enough". Before that comment, I had no idea what I was going to post about. I've learned so much in June, I didn't know where to go next. So I prayed for something that would uplift and encourage. God never fails, does He?

(Thank you, Grace. I hope you don't mind me mentioning your comment! <3 )

Do you believe this?

This is a tricky lie. See, in some ways, it is true. But in others, it is sooooo so wrong.

It all depends on this question: What is our definition of "good enough"?

There are two ways you can take this (actually, there are probably more but I'm going to handle two different ways today).

Here's the first.




In this aspect of the "never good enough" issue, you are under the impression that you can never be "good enough" in regards to earning your salvation and deserving God's love.

In this case, you are right. You can't. You can not earn your salvation. Your salvation is a gift from our loving Father. Nothing you will ever do can make you deserving of that.

BUT. (here's the catch)

You don't have to be good enough. You don't have to be perfect, because you CAN'T be perfect. Not on your own, at least.

The New Testament talks a lot about being "perfect". But what does that mean? Matthew 5:48 says, "Therefore, you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect."

What does that mean? How can we be perfect like God?

We can't. BUT. We can.

Hehe. Ehem. Allow me to explain.

We can't. Not on our own. But since Jesus died, and his blood continually washes our sins away as we walk in His light (1 John 1:7-9) we are perfect. We are perfect and pure and holy so that we can stand before God, blameless and clean.

But not by our own deeds. Only by Jesus can we be "good enough".

So yes, you can never be good enough. Not on your own. So the good news is, you don't have to be. You just have to do your best. Which leads to the second way you can take this lie.

The second way you take this lie is by thinking you can't be good enough in regards to, "My writing will never be good enough" or "I will never be good enough at sports" or just plain, "I will never be good enough."

And if you're just taking that lie like that, then ... You're wrong.

IF. (here's the catch to this lie)

If you are being the best you can be in the moment you are living, then you are good enough. If you are trying your hardest, if you are being the best you you can possibly be, then you ARE good enough. You are being as good as you can be. And that is enough.

Why torture and hate yourself for not being more than you can be in the moment you are living? If I write a story, and I edit it until it shines with all the skill I am capable of, then -- in THAT MOMENT -- I have done the best I can.

And that is enough.

I can't do more. Not yet. I will grow as the days pass, and more so as months follow. And when years have gone by, and I am in college, or I am out of school and have a job, I will be better than I was today, but I will still be growing. I will never stop growing.

There is no mark I can hit where I can say, "Okay! That's enough! I am exactly at the place I want to be so I can just stop trying now." That can't happen. Why are you hating yourself because you are not who you can't be?

If you are doing your best, then you are your best. And that's what we've got to do. That's what we're aiming for and striving for. To live lives worthy of our calling (Ephesians 4:1-2), always striving to be the best we can be.

We all mess up. We all constantly fall short and make mistakes. But if you're being as good as you can be, then you are good enough.

So here, Jesus tells us several things. First, our peace is not what the world would give us. Meaning, no, he's not going to relieve us of war. He's not going to take our trials and our hardships and give us a perfect, undisturbed life. We're going to have trouble in this world. It's just life.

But He's given us instructions. Philippians 4:6-7 says, "Do not be anxious for anything. But for everything, through prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus."

Pray. Pray a lot. If you have worries, just talk to God about them. Remember Matthew 6:26. "Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. are you not of more value than they?"

God takes care of everything else! Look at His marvelous, delicately balanced creation! What makes you think He'll ever give up on you?




This has been the hardest question with every fruit so far. How to apply it? How to let it change you?

There's no easy answer to this. The main thing is to meditate on it. When you are afraid, when trials come, remember who God is and what He has already done for you. Remember the eternity awaiting you in heaven with God. Remember that He loves you.

In the end, everything is going to be okay. You have to remember that. No matter what, God wins. Paul has it spot on in Romans 9:38-39.

"For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord."

Take a deep breath. We're going to be okay. In the end, God still wins. And, as His children, we win too. If that doesn't give you peace, I don't know what will.



Your turn! How would you define peace? What are some of your favorite scriptures about it? What do you think peace should look like in our lives? Please tell me your thoughts! <3

I'm sorry again about last Saturday. And I'm semi-sorry about this week's post.

So, I was on a trip all last week. We left on Saturday and didn't get back till late Thursday night (technically Friday morning). I didn't wake up till 11 either, and my thoughts were everywhere. It has been a long week and I just couldn't write the post I wanted to.

I wish I could promise you that it'll be up next Saturday, but the honest truth is I'm really not sure. Life is hard right now, and my creativity is dulled.

Here's my explanation.

My best friend is moving across the country in two days. I don't get to see her today, but I'll get to see her tomorrow. I get to go to her house for the last time for a few precious hours, and then she'll be gone.

Understandably, I'm only semi-functional right now. I can't think about writing, and I haven't written. I can't think about world building, so I won't blog about world building.

I was in a state, trying to figure out what I should do. Write another post excusing my absence?

My dear friend Katie told me to write a personal post about what's on my mind. So that's what I'm going to do.

I made an unconscious goal at the beginning of this year to study the bible more. I found a new way of doing that, an obvious way that made me feel like The Most Stupid Idiot Ever. Like, how did I not think of this before?

I call it a concept study. You pick a concept and you study it. Simple, right?

I started with love.

Love has always fascinated me. It's such an overused word with so many meanings. The love I was interested in, however, was true love. God's love. So I did a study of the love of the Lord and what that looks like in our lives, etc.

Now, a lot of things have been happening in my life lately to bring on the sadness. I was really beginning to feel it, especially towards the beginning of this month when I found out my friend's house had sold and they had to be gone by the 30th.

I couldn't believe it. I can still hardly believe it. Why would God take my best friend away? Again?

You see, this has happened to me once before, so I know the feeling well. I know the hurt that comes after. The pain. The loneliness. It'll take weeks before I feel remotely like myself again, and even after that I will get hit with the pain of her being gone. It'll be worse now, too, since I'm much older. The first time I was only seven.

So that was when I felt called to explore joy (and realized I was beginning a study of the fruits of the spirit without even meaning to). This lead to a big question.

What is joy? What does joy look like in our lives?

These were two big questions that troubled me for several weeks.

If we have joy, does that mean we cannot be sad? Why was I feeling so sad all the time? Was that wrong? Did that make me a bad Christian?

I slowly began to realize that joy and love are very similar.

They are both things you do in spite of your feelings. They are choices you make, no matter what  you feel. They are decisions. They are actions. They are attitudes we put on because we know that is how God wants us to live.

When we have the joy of the Lord, that means that no matter what we feel, we can still have joy. It is never too far gone. Because our true joy comes from the knowledge that we have a savior and an eternity with Him.

Joy is placing your faith in God to supply your peace and happiness. It’s not putting your trust in earthly things. It’s putting your trust in God. In your salvation. In the eternal.

But joy is more than just accepting everything in life and making the best of it.

No, joy is falling on your face and praising God in any and all circumstances.

This is one of many reasons joy is such a powerful thing. We as Christians defy our emotions and we praise God for all things. As Christians, we take what God gives us. Good and bad. And we praise Him for all of it.

This doesn’t mean we cannot grieve. This doesn’t mean we cannot be sad. But it does mean that we don’t have to be sad. We don’t have to be grieved. We have a hope. We have an eternity with the Lord in heaven. This life and all its problems may seem huge now, but in the end it will be the blink of an eye. It will all be over before we even realize it.

A big part of joy is trust. We must trust in God to provide and deliver what we need.

Paul says in Philippians 4:11: “Not that I speak in regard to need, for I have learned in whatever state I am to be content.”

Paul had the joy of the Lord. He had learned to take what life threw at him and make the best of it. More so, to be content.  But how is that possible? How can we be happy and praise God when our best friends move away? When our loved ones die? When we lose our jobs, when we are gossiped about and persecuted, how can we be happy? How can we praise God and thank Him for that?

I think we find our answer in James 1:2-3. “My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience.”

Trials. Trials help us grow. They test us and force us to learn. They shape us and mold us, and if we take it the right way, they make us into better and braver people. They help us connect with others in a way that nothing else can. Who can connect to someone who has suffered the loss of a child better than someone who has gone through that same trial?

I will conclude with this.

When hard times come your way and the world seems to have been flipped on its head, you can still  have  joy.

How?

Because we as Christians know that God is testing us. We are going through this for a reason. Proverbs 3:5-6 says: “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding. Acknowledge Him in all your ways and he will direct your paths.”

God has a plan for you, and if you trust in Him, you just might discover the blessings hidden in the hardships.



Thank you for reading! Next week I’ll try to have part four of the To Create a World series up. Be sure to bop in and check it out!

Do you have joy? Do you struggle with it? How would you define joy? Any additional thoughts? Please share in the comments! (verses and quotes on joy are welcome too!)

<3