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| Thank you Lord for our Dream Home |
In
May 2017, I thought it would be brilliant if I could sleep for a year, waking
up to find our house sold and the three of us settled comfortably in a new home.
And guess what! The miracle
happened—I did wake up today in my new abode. Yay! However, I must whisper in your ears that those twelve months
were not spent in sweet slumber. They involved plenty of hard work and plenty
of stress. Thankfully as we look back, my beloved and I agree that it was all
worth it. Every bit of it—the stress, the slog, the wondering if it would all
work out.
Our
gracious God has now brought us to our promised land and our cup of joy has over-flowed.
What an awesome God He is! Being a
nature lover, I’ve been delighted to see flowers of different varieties in our
new surrounds. Delicate white roses adorn our front yard. More rose bushes grow
in the little garden patch outside our kitchen window. For a long while there
were no signs of blooms on those shrubs. My husband watered our new garden
often to make sure it would remain green and lush in spite of the hot weather.
One
morning we discovered that the extra watering had woken up the sleeping rose
bushes. A gorgeous yellow rose beamed at us. Every time I looked out of my
kitchen window, I was enthralled. Before long we had the pleasure of basking in
an abundance of yellow roses. The bush in the middle though had not yielded any
flowers. Shan watered it some more.
And
then it happened. One day we spotted a little bud starting out on that middle
rose bush. Exciting! BUT … surprise, surprise. It wasn’t yellow. It’s petals were painted a bright joyful red, with streaks of perky yellow creating a beautiful contrast. Wow! A queen of roses it was and it bloomed for weeks
on end. With boldness it declared:
‘I’m different and I’m glad to be different’.
It brought joy to my heart in a way no yellow rose had done.
That
striking red rose pointed me to a God of wonder; a God of beauty; a God of
surprises. And more. It prodded me with a call to be different. God asks you
and me as Christian writers not to merge with the world—but to stand out. To be
as conspicuous as that enchanting rose in a manner that will glorify our
Creator.
But what does different mean?
Jesus
calls us not just to entertain our readers but also to help them to reflect on the
deeper issues of life. He calls us not just to thrill and enthral but also to
bless and build. We Christian writers need be different by standing up for the
downtrodden and the weak, by giving a voice to those who don’t have one. We are called to
be salt and light. To flavour the world with our writing. To point to the
Saviour.
Some
of us write only hints of the reality of God and the reality of heaven. Others
of us are more explicit. Whatever we write, we can be different to the world in
the way we approach our craft. By praying before we write. By saturating
whatever we do with His presence. By listening to the nudge of the Holy Spirit.
By giving away a free book to someone who needs it, even if it means that we
don’t make as much money.
We
are called to be different because what propels our writing is not self-ambition
and self-interest but the love of Jesus. We are called to be evangelists even
if our writing is not explicitly so. The stamp of our Creator needs to be on
each book we write—a stamp that may be invisible, true—but one that bears His
heart within.
We
are called to be different because the reward of our hard work might not always
be obvious. Instead of world’s understanding of ‘success’, it’s in the joy of
being obedient to God, the thrill of finding our writing has reached a reader’s
heart, the knowledge that our words have encouraged someone and given her hope,
the wonder of leading a stranger to Jesus. Being different might often cost us.
But oh the joy of walking close to Him and writing as he leads. After all ... we are called to be different so we can make a difference in the world.
But then ... I am preaching the choir aren't I? Celebrating each of you today knowing you have chosen to be a red rose amidst a hundred yellow roses today. Well done fellow-writers on your faithful writing. Cheering you on and joining hands with you. Let’s continue to saturate the world with books inspired by the Holy
Spirit so we will fill the earth with books stamped by the cross of Christ, and are whispers of God’s
heart to His world.
Anusha’s been on many interesting detours in life, as a lab
technician, a computer programmer, a full time Mum, a full time volunteer, a
charity director, a full time job chaser, until one golden day (or was it a
dark moonless night?) God tapped her on her shoulder and called her to write
for Him. She has never recovered from the joy it brought her. She loves to see
others enjoying life with Jesus and does her mite to hurry the process in her
world through her writing and through her life. The goodness of God is her
theme song through each season, as she dances in the rain with Jesus. Please
stop by at her website Dancing in the Rain to say G’day.
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| At the launch of Dancing in the Rain - 12th May 2018 |
Her first book Enjoying
the Journey contains 75 little God stories that will bring you closer to your
Creator.
Her second book Dancing in the Rain was released in March 2018 by Armour Books and launched recently on the 12th of May. It offers you hope and comfort for life’s rainy seasons.
Available from:
A great reminder of why we are called to write and by who. Thanks Anusha! It’s such a pleasure to write to glorify the One who gives the gift to us in the first instance. Just finished your latest book for the second time. Soooo good!!! 💜🌟🌹
ReplyDeleteThanks so much dear Lesley. Yes, it sure is a joy to write for Him who called us. And yes, it's He who gives us the gift of course. Delighted to hear you read my book twice! :) And thanks for reading an excerpt at my book launch. You chose well. I loved it how Sherreen and you had chosen 2 very different chapters - they complemented each other very well. Thank you for your encouragement on my writing journey. And wishing you every blessing on yours.
DeleteThanks Anusha for your words of encouragement and the reminder to keep our eyes on Him :)
ReplyDeleteThanks Jenny and thanks for steering the CWD ship so ably and so well despite all the challenges that life throws at you and your own busy writing schedule. God bless you.
DeleteThanks for your great blog post, Anu. I so agree with you re being called to be different, not to be part of the world system in our writing but to do as we feel He wants. And on another note, isn't it fun when you move to a new house and water the garden and get surprises springing up out of the earth! Thanks for being so true to your calling and inspiring us.
ReplyDeleteHi dear Nettie. So glad you liked it. And so glad we are on the same page about what we are called to do as Christian writers. Oh yes - love being surprised in my garden - bet you had lots of lovely surprises too. You must be well settled in your home now? I'm sure you are having lots of fun there as we are here. Thank you for your friendship encouragement and prayers in my writing journey. God bless you.
DeleteI am afraid I argued with God for months and kept reminding Him that I wrote computer manuals for beginners, not fiction. Guess who won ! LOL
ReplyDeleteWell, in a sense I did too, because in researching for the background of the historical fiction series I learnt such a lot I had not known. Spent more time in the Bible too.
You are correct about being different. But isn't it great to know we are not different alone LOL
I can well understand those kind of arguments with God Susan. So good that He welcomes our honesty. He loves it when we connect with Him even if it's with an argument. I'm glad you learnt a lot through your research. And you are so right. It's great we are different together and not alone. That makes all the difference! :)
DeleteHear hear, thanks for those encouraging words, Anusha. They also remind us that not only are we different in the world, but results of our labour may be different than the world would have us expect. And we should be okay with that 😊 Lovely to see glimpses of your new home and garden.
ReplyDeleteThank you Paula. And exactly! You've said it well. The results of our labours are often very different as the world would have us expect. As I expressed in a different way - success for us is a different yardstick compared to what the world calls 'success'. So many other joys like hearing a reader's heart has been encouraged through our writing. Gold - to a Christian writer. Blessings Paula and the best to you in this new season in a new neighbourhood and home. May it bring some unexpected writing benefits too.
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