Category Archives: writing

faith gives a good offering to God…

I’ve been writing this morning, trying hard to edit and rewrite portions of my current work-in-progress. In particular, I’ve been focusing on Hebrews 11:4 and Abel’s great contribution to our walkabouts in faith. The title of the piece is “Faith Gives a Good Offering to God {Abel}.” All characters mentioned in Hebrews 11 make their own personal contribution to the definition of faith. My goal is to broaden our understanding of faith by giving each person and his/her story a tangible characteristic that can be applied to our daily living. Accordingly, with this particular piece I examine what a “good offering” is and how faith is connected to the process. I wanted to share with you a bit of what I wrote this morning, and then I want to connect it to something else. Here’s a portion…
“…Good offerings initiate from a pure heart. A heart that is willing to release the best to God’s altar—the fat portions, the first yearlings, the choicest lambs… even the diseased flesh— is a heart ready to see the exponential increase of the Father’s kingdom. Such lavish surrender reaches the portals of heaven and burns as sweet aroma before the throne. As it arrives and moves into the loving heart of the Father, it then becomes a sacrifice for all humanity, which begs a further question.
 
How is faith connected to a good offering?
 
Surrendering for surrendering’s sake—as a formality or as good, religious practice—isn’t an offering of faith. An offering of faith believes forward, beyond the act of surrender to take hold of God’s bigger picture. Good offerings made in faith understand that, in God’s hands, the law of multiplication is at work. When faith gives with God in mind, an enlargement takes place, not just in our own hearts but in the grander scheme of God’s greater purposes. When we release our best to God, he takes the gift, breaks the gift, and begins to share it with the world. Our small sacrifices seed largely into God’s soil of increase.
 
We may not be privy to the resulting grace around us; God’s work and ways are mysterious to most. But we can be certain that as we lean into our good surrenders, God willingly uses them for his good, his glory, and his gain. The kingdom increases when we give our good offerings to God. Not only are we changed, but the world around us reverberates with the witness of our sacred contributions.”(ElaineOlsen.4-26-11.allrightsreserved.)
With that being said (actually being typed), here’s the connection I want to make today as it pertains to good offerings and the law of multiplication.
Friends, you have blessed me in recent days with your good offerings. Many of you know that Sheri started a scholarship fund for me to attend P31’s She Speaks this year. Because of your generous contributions, I’ll be able to attend and to share my heart and work with other women and professionals in the publishing world. Given our family’s strained budget in recent days, I wouldn’t have felt comfortable attending this year’s conference. You have made the difference, and in doing so, have invested in God’s work through my life. Who can fathom the increase to come? I cannot, but I certainly believe that whether small or large, the gain is a direct result of your loving, good offering to God on my behalf. Thank you.
Secondly, I want to thank Kathie for sending me this beautiful table covering. I saw one that she had made over at her blog and commented about its loveliness. A few weeks later, this one was waiting on my doorstep. Thank you, friend, for the good offering of your hands. Your sewing love will grace my dining room for many seasons to come.
Lastly, I want to thank Deborah for writing this song for me. Several weeks ago she contacted me about writing such a gift. I heartily agreed; Deborah has been a reader of the blog for a long while, so she already had a good sense of my heart. She spent a lot of time reading and reflecting on my posts before writing the song. I’m so tickled to be able to share it with you today. Please make sure to visit this post for a listen. Thank you, friend, for the offering of your hands. Your musical love will rest in my mind, heart, and soul for many seasons to come.
Good offerings. I have been the recipient of many of yours. Offerings, first made to God and then trickling downward to me. I am blessed to be a part of your faithful “increase.” May God continue to multiply its witness in me and through me in the seasons ahead. Some day soon we shall all be privy to how our “good offerings made in faith” have genuinely and exponentially impacted the kingdom of God.
Keep to it, friends. I love you each one. As always…
Peace for the journey,
~elaine

one word…

“Just one word from You, and everything changes.
Just one word from You, will bring me life.”
–Vicky Beeching {“Listening”, Eternity Invades, 2010}
Just one word.
I awakened with this refrain running through my thoughts this morning. I’ve been thinking on it ever since… pondering the one word that would mean the most to me. The one or two or five situations in my life and the one or two or five situations in a friend’s life where one word from the everlasting Word would change the landscape of both of our lives.
One word. One thought. One loving look. One wink or nod in my direction. One break in the clouds. One droplet from the sky. One ripple in the water. One whisper from behind the veil. One gentle grace released from the Father’s heart, and everything changes…
for all eternity.
I don’t know what it is about our prayers that move the heart of the Father in one direction or the other, but I do believe that they do… move the heart of the Father. And today I’m just bold enough, harbor faith enough, to bring a few thoughts before him and ask him for that one word that would change everything… that would bring me life.
Perhaps you’d like to join me in the pondering—to take some time this weekend and speak some words to the Father, believing that with his one word, everything in your life will change…
for all eternity.
God’s words have eternal consequences. He doesn’t speak them casually or coincidentally. Instead, he considers them reverently and then reveals them to us with all the confidence and certitude of heaven. We may not always like what he has to say, but we can be certain that when he speaks, everything in our lives will change…
for all eternity.
Of this I am convinced, friends. There have been a few one word moments in my life over the past year, and eternity reverberates with the witness of what I’ve chosen to do with God’s holy utterings. How I pray always to be found faithful with their receiving, even more so with the living of them out on the pavement of my everyday life.
And so this day I pray for that one word from God that will make the best difference for all of his eternity. His glory. He renown. He knows what that one word will be regarding my one or two or five situations. He knows the desires of my heart, even as he knows his own. And somewhere between the two—my desires and his—an understanding is reached. A decision is made. A holy word is spoken.
I wait in anticipation of what that might be, whenever and however he chooses its release.
What is the one situation in your life right now that could benefit from a single nod from heaven—a sacred one word from the Father’s heart that would bring you life? The one word that would change everything… for all eternity? I imagine that you are intimately acquainted with that situation… that it rests heavily upon your heart and even more prominently in your thoughts. Even as I have asked myself that question, it doesn’t take long for me to recall my one or two or five weighty situations.
One of them pertains to my writing; in particular, my recent WIP (you can read about it here). Along those lines, I’d like the opportunity to flesh out my ideas with other Christian writers and make some stronger connections in the publishing arena. Lysa TerKeurst at Proverbs 31 ministries is offering two Cecil Murphy Scholarships to attend this year’s She Speaks Conference in July (a conference for women interested in speaking, writing, and leadership). I was able to attend the conference a couple of years ago and would like to attend again this year. There are still a couple of variables to weigh out in the matter in regards to my participation, but I’ve been praying over it and am confident of God’s leading in the weeks to come. I suppose I don’t have to tell you what a scholarship would mean to me.

 

It’s just one of the few things I’m earnestly talking to God about in this season of my life. It’s not the most important thing but important enough to warrant a few prayers in anticipation of God’s one word. I would appreciate yours as well. Now, if you care to share, what is the one situation in your life that needs the application of our Father’s one word? I’d love to pray for you this weekend. You mean more to me than you know. As always…
Peace for the journey,
~elaine

PS: If you’d like to read more about my first visit to She Speaks, click here.

50,000 words of faith…

50,000 words of faith…

It mocks me from a distance; sits on a shelf in my den, begging for notice while collecting dust. A purple, three-ring binder containing 50,000 words, personal words. Words written from a place of noble thought and understanding. Words that took nearly a year to write. Words that I thought would surely play a bigger role in my “next” than they currently are. Words that serve as a reminder to me of where my heart was twelve months ago…
A woman completely in favor of faith and the pursuit therein.
I thought I had it figured out… my faith. Little did I know that the greatest challenges to my previously rehearsed faith were dancing on the horizon, hidden from me in the moment, yet soon-to-be unveiled with the passage of time. Most of you might reason (even as I have reasoned) that, as my struggles came into view, I would take hold of the earlier written 50,000 words. That I could and willingly would apply “noble understanding” to the strife at hand. That I would pull the binder from the shelf, shake off the dust, and dig into the thoughts, precepts, and strength from my earlier season. But I didn’t. I couldn’t. I wouldn’t.
Why?
Because maybe, just maybe, I wasn’t ready to fully trust these words to see me through. They were good words, right words, words in keeping with all that I know to be true, but in many ways, words untested by the pulls and strains of a stressful season. Accordingly, I left the purple binder untouched, leaving it in the same place where it had been residing for the past eight months. That is, until today.
Today I dared to take it down off the bookcase. I began reading those 50,000 words again and wondering if the faith that I wrote about back then would match up with the faith steps I’m taking right now. Where did I get it wrong? Where did I, by the grace of God, get it right? Are these “old” thoughts in keeping with my new reality? Is this manuscript worthy of a second read-thru with the further goal of publication?
It’s a daunting task… this survey of a previously written faith, yet one I want to apply myself toward. In doing so, I expect my faith perspective to evolve into fuller understanding. I know some things now, hold some things now that I didn’t know or hold a year ago. Today, my faith lives and breathes at a higher level. Today, I can better address the issue of faith, because mine has been tested with the purifying flames of God’s eternal love. Today, I can hold the purple binder in hand with deeper clarity about the words printed therein.
Today, and in the days to come, I want to sit with my words before God and examine them under his microscope. I want to finish that which I thought was finished a year ago. I want my faith to live even as it writes… truthfully. Thus, I get to it. No timetable this go around, just a willingness to fall into some words, sentences, paragraphs, until the work is complete and up-to-date with my faith.
Along those lines, I want to ask you a question or two, even as I ask them of myself:
1. What would you hope to learn/gain by reading yet another book on faith? (I just typed in the word “faith” under the book tab on Amazon and the results are 93,862 currently listed titles regarding faith). Who needs another book on faith? What can be written about faith that hasn’t already been written? What is the take-away value for this book?
2. What format/style works best for you as a reader? Longer, fewer chapters? Shorter, more chapters?
3. What keeps you interested as a reader? Stories, anecdotes, scripture study?
4. Are application questions at the conclusion of each chapter important to you as a reader?
5. Any further thoughts on faith that would help me as a writer better understand what you as the reader wants…
I’d love your input; no need to answer all the questions, but your insight is valuable to me as I shake off the dust from my 50,000 words and attempt to edit them in this new season. For the record… I’m still a woman completely in favor of faith and the pursuit therein. This old, purple binder and a freshly tested faith seem like a good place to start.
Thank you for joining me on the road, and thank you for your prayers this week. I’m recovering, and I am at peace.
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three years of Peace…

I wanted to wait and write when I had something profound to say; I decided against it because…
1. You might be waiting a long time to hear from me, and
2. Today marks my three year blogging anniversary.
My heart longs to mark this occasion with eloquent prose and promises for another year to come. Alas, prose and promises aren’t mine to give to you this day… only a few miscellaneous thoughts rambling through my brain.
I’ve written this post a least a dozen times in my mind… rehearsed it in the dark of night, searching for the right words to use, longing for the strength to write them. Still and yet, each time I entreat this blank screen, words fail me. They disappear as dawn approaches, and I grow increasingly frustrated by this new reality. Accordingly, I tried to make a video to express my thoughts; eight minutes into it, I gave up… just looked at the camera and said, “This isn’t working.”
And it isn’t… this working out of words through me, whether written or verbal. For this woman who’s had so very much to say over the past forty-four years, I have little to offer these days. At least it seems that way. I’m not a fan of my new, diminished capacity. It’s cruel torture for a soul that longs for exposure… for corporate connection with others. Words are often the catalyst to lead me there. When they are absent, isolation creeps in all around me, leaving me to work out this new irritation. Like a small piece of gravel trapped in a runner’s shoe, so is this bankruptcy of words. It prevents my stride, my focus, and my determination as it pertains to my running and living my race in a public venue.
I’ve thought about quitting at least a hundred times over the past few weeks… thought about shutting down the blog and turning in my writing pen. It seems an easy thing to do… to quit. Instinctively I know that should I choose that route, a week later I’d have something else to say with no place to say it, and that wouldn’t be easy for me. That would be a very hard thing for me, because deep down, I can’t help but be a collector of words. I can’t help my desire to write them, speak them, and give them to you as quickly as they are given to me. But therein lies the rub; the words aren’t coming as quickly these days. And while I’m well connected to my thoughts and ponderings, I’m less connected to the process of getting them all down on paper.
This pains me greatly, friends. Hurts me badly and taunts me viciously. Calls me less than and mocks the previous ruminations of my heart. The barren inkwell dares me to surrender the pen in search of a filler that will fill me like words have always filled me. And I am tempted to go there, to give in, and to call it a win. To mark my previously written words as enough… completed… the end of this chapter in my story.
But they tell me it’s just a season, and mostly, I believe them—those experts who’ve paved the road with previous understanding. This is, indeed, a time in my life like no other. I am fragile and worn, tired from a year’s worth of transitioning. Most of you have walked that transition with me—a ministry move, getting settled into a new community only to soon discover that cancer would claim my days and nights and every stop in between.
And now I’m here. Stuck. Hoping for more; most days settling for less, and my prayers are endless. At least with them, my words remain. My prayers have yet to disappear. Prayer has been my lifeline, my tethering to the Divine. To let them go is to lose hope altogether, and that is one place where I refuse my participation; my hand will remain on his hem, because with that grasping I know I’ll make it safely home.
I know this is heavy stuff, maybe even depressing to some of you. To that I would say, heavy has been my portion in recent days. But God has been my portion as well. He understands about heavy. His heart weighs with understanding, and he reminds me this day of our kinship—that, in fact, I am related to the Word. That he’s made his dwelling within me, and accordingly, there dwells his truth, his many words… his infinite history of bold revelation given generously to me because of my sacred bloodlines.
So while it doesn’t seem that I have much to say in this moment (even as I have tried to say over these past three years and some four hundred posts), I imagine that in days to come, I’ll have a few extra words to add to our ponderings. Why? Because the Word living in me cannot be chained or constrained by my inability to articulate him adequately. He’s just that big. He’s just that bold. He’s just that willing to use me, most days in spite of me. And because of who he IS… my heart is humbled, grateful for the gift of his abiding presence who promises to remain, despite the fading elements that surround my days.
Thank you for joining me on the road, friends. You are why I’m still here after three years, even when my written offerings are sparse in coming. I pray, as I have always prayed, that my writing focus remains consistent and on track with the purpose of knowing God more through his Word via my corresponding words. It’s not always easy to write about the things of God, but it certainly is always worth the digging.
How I pray for myself, even as I pray for you, a holy unearthing of the Divine in the year to come! As always…
Peace for the journey,
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on writing words…

Words.
I don’t have many of them these days, at least not the written kind. If you were here in person, I’d have plenty to say, but as it pertains to my writing them, I’m struggling. I don’t know if the chemo is to blame or the busyness of the season, but safe to say, either one of those might be reason enough to warrant a dry spell as far as my pen is concerned.
I hate that; there’s nothing worse for a writer than to be void of words. Certainly, I have plenty of good thoughts that come my way—inclinations that, in seasons previous, would have easily written into worthy prose. But now, as quickly as they come, they seem to vanish. By the time I arrive at my computer screen, I get confused and messed up all over again… frustrated by this new reality.
So, rather than writing nothing, I thought I’d write about my frustration, thus allowing me a moment or two of connection with you this week. I wish I had something more profound to say, something that would leave you breathless and wanting more of your Jesus. He’s certainly worthy of the chase, and it has always been my endeavor to lead you in the pursuit. And for all the things that I could tell you this morning (that currently have vacated my thought coffers), I will remind you of this one thing that I remember most prominently…
Regardless of how you and I might be feeling in this moment, regardless of life situations and difficulties, no matter the ills and aches of the flesh or the problems that land at the doors of our faith, our God is still faithful to deliver a word of hope and comfort to us via his Word every time we’re faithful to open it up for a read. Unlike my many words, or lack therein, God’s Word is never void of purpose, never lacking in pointedness or punctuation. God’s Word wasn’t written out of frustration or from a drying ink well.
When and where God had thoughts, man had inspiration. His computer screen (a.k.a. parchment or stone tablets) was never empty. Even before man put God’s divinely inspired thoughts to paper, the Word was there from the very beginning. He hovered over the dark and the deep, contemplating the many words to come. Never was he confused or messed up or frustrated by the reality of what was to be written. There was order to his thoughts, his plans, his actions; no chemo brain or busyness to impede the flow of his thought processes. Only a sanctioned progression of thinking until an accumulation of those thoughts became words that spoke light and sky, land and sea, stars and moon, plants and animals, man and woman into creation.
We didn’t arrive here, nor do we hold the things that we hold this day, because God had writer’s block and couldn’t think of anything else about which to speak. No, we are here at his determination, and I am thankful for the daily reminder of that gift—for the various Bibles that line my bookshelf and for the one that lies open within arm’s reach. I don’t have to travel very far in order to fill my heart with perfect truth. All I have to do is to make room for it; take time for it; prefer it over other activity. In doing so, I open up my thoughts toward heaven and allow Jesus to lead me in my pursuit of all things his… all things sacred. And that, my friends, is the one thing I could write you about today that leaves me breathless and wanting for more.
Jesus Christ, the Word made flesh, dwelling amongst us for a season; living within us for always.
Truly, is there anything else I could pen that would be more pertinent, more potent for your faith journey? When we stray even a step or two away from that reality with our thinking, then our words (whether written or spoken) become vacant of great purpose, leaving recipients void of anything more lasting than a momentary fill of the temporal. Heaven knows, there’s plenty of that floating around this time of year. Accordingly, we must be all the more intentional about our pursuit of the lasting Truth, about choosing our words carefully (those we read; those we speak; those we write).
I don’t ever want you to leave my blog feeling that you hold less of Jesus than when you arrived. I don’t ever want you to come here looking just for me, alone, without Jesus. I want my words to be about the journey we walk together, Jesus and me. And when they don’t, when words fail me and I am tempted to make it all about me, then I implore my Heavenly Father for a holy hush to take up residence here. Why? Because you don’t need any more filler in your life; you certainly don’t need more of me and my endless blah, blah, blah. What you need is Jesus… the Way, the Truth, the Life. He is your pathway home; I’m only required to serve as one lamppost along the way.
Thus, I will endeavor to keep doing what I’ve been doing for nearly three years now—writing a few words of witness in keeping with my kingdom conferment. Forgive me for the times when they write less; grant me grace for the occasions when they fill you temporarily. My flesh isn’t always the best conduit for faith’s dispersion. Even so, I get to try, and with God’s pulse living inside of me, there are a few occasions when I come close to getting it right. Thus, I offer this simple prayer in accordance with the pulse of my heart…
Even so, Lord Jesus, let the further words of my mouth, the continuing meditations of my heart, be found acceptable in your sight. I want to honor you with my pen in this place. I want to honor the pulse you placed within my heart so long ago. Guard me against inerrant teaching; keep me from penning anything that would deliberately dishonor the call that you’ve placed upon my life to know you more. You’ve entrusted me with much. May I always be found willing to guard that trust with sacred reverence and to dispense it accordingly. You are the Word behind my many words. Let your truth shine forth through me and through my pen. Amen. 
~elaine
PS: My friend, Cindy @ Letters from Mid-life, is a beautiful photographer. Recently, I received some Scripture note cards, displaying her photography. You can get a peek at them by clicking on her etsy link here. I’m giving away two sets (each set contains 5 cards) this week to comments on this post. I love sending cards to others and am always in the market for original work by artists. These would make a great gift for someone’s stocking this year. Please take time to visit her work. Shalom.
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