Sunset

 

When Morgan, one of the main characters in my novel, was 27 years old, her mother, Sharon, took her on a picnic to the lake for the very first time. 

They were having a wonderful time when suddenly Morgan  thought about her childhood and how sad it was her mother never took her anywhere. She questioned Sharon about her reasons for becoming a recluse.

Soon an argument happened, and both Sharon and Morgan took off in opposite directions to cool down.

After stomping off angrily into a little clearing containing a bench, she plopped down. The atmosphere was so calming with birds cheeping and a breeze rustling the leaves of the bushes and trees. She found herself listening to the Holy Spirit as He dropped thoughts into her brain for her to consider. By the time He was done speaking to her, she had been gone an hour in real-time, but she had also walked awhile in her mother's shoes.

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I based this scene on one of my favorite places to go when I want to hear God's voice, Arrowhead Lake. Being outdoors in the middle of God's creation seems to be conducive for hearing God and thinking thoughts that never occur to you at home!

The picture above was taken just as dusk was beginning to arrive. Because I live over an hour away, and my husband and I try to avoid driving in the dark, this is as close to sunset as I have ever seen it.

The next picture shows how sunset looks at home. Sometimes God shows out and swirls orange and purple up there, too!

The point is, God's creativity in nature helps convince you He has answers for all the areas of life. Anyone who can dream up all this beauty and the way the world works is way smarter than me. I want to listen to Him and see what He has to say.

Do you hear God better outdoors?

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This is Day 8 of taking my reader along a journey with me as I birth my book. I hope you consider checking in daily to see my progress.

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I write for believers, but if you are not a believer and would like to know more, visit A Ticket Home. to find the way Home.

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All photos created in PicMonkey by Jerralea using personal, family and stock photos. Please do not copy

The Writing Room

When we became empty nesters, we turned one of the bedrooms into an office. This is where I stady and prepare my bible study lessons. I work from home at my part-time church job here. This is also the "birthing room," if you will, of my book.

Mondays are my writing days. I consider it a good day when I can spend all day at the keyboard actually writing.

Sometimes, life presses in and it doesn't happen. I'm always sad when other chores squeeze out the writing. But I walk away with a pledge to myself, "Next Monday, I'll try again."

Do you have a place where you create, read or study?

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This is Day 7 of taking my reader along a journey with me as I birth my book. I hope you consider checking in daily to see my progress.

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I write for believers, but if you are not a believer and would like to know more, visit A Ticket Home. to find the way Home.

Sharing at InstaEncouragements Link-Up

All photos created in PicMonkey by Jerralea using personal, family and stock photos. Please do not copy. 

How I Shifted to Writing Fiction

Dear Readers, my blog recently celebrated its eighteenth blogiversary and my one millionth reader. (I know one million is not a lot for 18 years, but it's still exciting that a lot of people at least read some of my words over the years) 

I started blogging with the idea of relating family stories to preserve for my kids and grandkids.

As time went on, I really enjoyed blogging about insights I had received regarding the Word of God. I began to believe some day I would write either a devotional or perhaps a bible study.

One day, I saw on Facebook that a former creative writing teacher who had visited our church was offering a free Writer's Club online. She would give prompts, and then we would write a story on the prompt and turn it it. We would meet once a week to go over what we had written and she would teach us a nugget about the craft of writing.

I am always up for a challenge, so I dove in and became a member of the club. I absolutely loved it! I was such fun and quickly became the highlight of my week.

I learned there was a reason God had given me such an imagination.

In fact, one story I had written for one of her prompts would not leave my brain. I kept thinking of more to add to the story until I realized, "Hey, this character has a story that needs to be told."

And that is how I made the shift from blogger to fiction writer.

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This post was written in response to the prompt, "shift," provided by the Five Minute Friday writing community.

It was also written as Day 6 of taking my reader along a journey with me as I birth my book. I hope you consider checking in daily to see my progress.

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I write for believers, but if you are not a believer and would like to know more, visit A Ticket Home. to find the way Home.

Sharing at Five Minute Friday

All photos created in PicMonkey by Jerralea using personal, family and stock photos. Please do not copy. 

What bible verse are you living this week?

 

One of my characters in my fiction work-in-progress is Sister Clara who felt led to take in some new believers under her wing and teach them more about the bible. She started with Psalm 23, particularly emphasizing verse 1.
 

“The Lord is my shepherd; I have all that I need.” Psalm 23:1 NLT

 
As she explained to the bible study ladies: “Everything we need to make it in this life will be given to us. We are to live our lives believin’ that and standin’ on it. When lack comes knockin’ at your door, slam the door in its face and say, ‘My God shall supply my need, Lack, you go away and don’t come back!’”
 

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In my own life, this week this verse is speaking to me:
 

“May integrity and honesty protect me,
    for I put my hope in you.” Psalm 25:21 NLT

Since I have a horror of confrontation, sometimes it is tempting to smooth things over. But some things cannot be smoothed – to do so would be a lie.
 
I’m trusting in God to work out things for He knows my heart is to always honor Him above all else.
 

“To do righteousness and justice
    is more acceptable to the Lord than sacrifice.” Proverbs 21:23 ESV

Have you ever had to make an unpopular choice to stand up for integrity?

All photos created in PicMonkey by Jerralea using personal, family and stock photos. Please do not copy. 

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This is Day 5 of taking my reader along a journey with me as I birth my book. I hope you consider checking in daily to see my progress.

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I write for believers, but if you are not a believer and would like to know more, visit A Ticket Home. to find the way Home.

Sharing at Sweet Tea & Friends

The Book that Changed My Life

There are books you read that make an impression. Some of their words stick in your brain forever.

 

The book that changed the life of my character, Morgan Ford, in my fiction work, “The Hesed Files: Morgan’s Redemption,” in surprising ways was Grandma Rose’s bible. It wasn’t just the penetrating words of scripture in the bible that first affected her so deeply. That would come later.

 

It was the recording of the births in the pages of the bible that first caught her attention. She learned the names of the father and the grandfather she had never met.

 

There was a card in its pages that surprised her: a card from her mother to her grandmother expressing gratitude for the Proverbs 31 woman she had modeled for her. Up to that point, Morgan had never heard her mother say a word of thanks to anyone.

 

But the shocker was the newspaper clipping, old, yellowed, and tucked in the back pages that revealed the family secret.

 

Her mother had thrown away the bible after Grandma Rose died. But Morgan had found it and hid it away from prying eyes. 

 

The day she found it changed everything. Morgan set in motion a plan to leave town and never come back.

 

 

I, Jerralea, also had a bible change my life. I’d had different copies of the bible all my life, but I well remember the first study bible I ever had. It was a Dake Study bible, by Finis Jennings Dake, King James Version. I got it when I was in my late twenties because I was hungry for more and Bro. Chamblee, my pastor, recommended a Dake. 

 

I had never had a bible with commentary before! I dove in and highlighted my favorite verses. I wore the gold leaf finish off the sides of those pages in no time.

 

Nowadays, I do most of my study online. There are a wealth of commentaries and versions to study and compare. I especially love finding out what the original Greek and Hebrew words mean. Sometimes, it changes everything.

 

I don’t use my Dake as much anymore because of the fine print. But it will always be special to me because it instilled in me the love of searching out the meanings of the scriptures.

 

Is there a book that made a difference in your life? Leave a comment and let us know!

All photos created in PicMonkey by Jerralea using personal, family and stock photos. Please do not copy. 

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This is Day 4 of taking my reader along a journey with me as I birth my book. I hope you consider checking in daily to see my progress.

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I write for believers, but if you are not a believer and would like to know more, visit A Ticket Home. to find the way Home.

Sharing at Sweet Tea & Friends

Grateful for Salvation Stories

 

It's good every day to reflect on the good things in our lives. An attitude of gratitude is important.

My main protagonist in my book, accepts Christ as her Savior in her sixteenth year; but by the time she turns eighteen, she learns some hard truths and turns away from Christ. For nine long years she neglects God and barely speaks to Him.

But over time, she learns the lengths to which the Father will go to find that one lost sheep. Once she realized her value to the Father, she became bold to testify about her story.

 

My salvation story contains a near-death experience when I was fourteen. A Sister at church had witnessed to me just a week earlier. I told her I would give my life to Christ later. I had things I wanted to do first. She ended the conversation, “Don’t wait until it’s too late.”

Days later, my family and I were travelling in a car that had a carbon monoxide leak.  I was discovered when my parents stopped way earlier than they normally did for lunch and realized I was in trouble. Rushed to the emergency room, I was revived in time to hear the doctor tell my dad, “It’s good you stopped driving when you did. I don’t know how much longer she would have lasted breathing in that poison.”

I thank God for that story because it woke me up. No one is promised tomorrow – not even a 14 year old girl!

The day of salvation (accepting the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior) is today!

Don’t wait!

All photos created in PicMonkey by Jerralea using personal, family and stock photos. Please do not copy. 

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This is Day 3 of a taking my reader along a journey with me as I birth my book. I hope you consider checking in daily to see my progress.

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I write for believers, but if you are not a believer and would like to know more, visit A Ticket Home. to find the way Home.

Sharing at Sweet Tea & Friends

What's in your cup?

The characters in my story drink one thing: tea. They live in a small southern town and they drink tea in two ways: sweet tea over ice, preferably sipped from tumblers while sitting on a swing in Grandma Rose's rose garden. Or they find solace in drinking Sister Clara's tea served from a steaming kettle accompanied by white chocolate macadamian nut cookies.

But, I mustn't forget Kai. Kai is an angel sent to minister to the family. Although Kai is an angel, he has learned to love a "cup of joe," and is delighted to find one of his assignments is being a barista at a coffee shop where he ministers to all sorts of amazing people.

As a writer, I always have my trusty insulated cup nearby while I'm at the keyboard. I used to be a sweet tea addict but lost the taste for it when I had COVID. Now, my drinks of choice are ice water or iced coffee; or when cooler temps prevail, hot coffee with peppermint mocha creamer.

I can type for hours without stopping to eat if I have something in my cup.

What's in your cup? Inquiring minds want to know.

All photos created in PicMonkey by Jerralea using personal, family and stock photos. Please do not copy. 

This is Day 2 of a taking my reader along a journey with me as I birth my book. I hope you consider checking in daily to see my progress.

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I write for believers, but if you are not a believer and would like to know more, visit A Ticket Home. to find the way Home.

Sharing at InstaEncouragements Link-Up