Finding the Positives In Our Situation

It’s fair to say that 2020 hasn’t turned out quite the way any of us were expecting. It would also be fair to say that none of us have ever been in a situation quite like this before. Sure, the world has been ravaged by nasty diseases in the past, but our scientific knowledge, combined with technologies never before available, have allowed us to deal with COVID 19 in a unique way.

For some people, their lives have been completely turned upside down. Others of us are looking around going “Huh? Not much has changed.” Yes, I’m on of those extreme introverts who chose to work from home before it was cool!

But if we look, maybe we can find some positives to our situation. Maybe there are some nuggets of gold hidden in the mess that we can take advantage of. Let’s go on a treasure hunt and see if we can find some.

Time to Write

As a community of writers, this should be the obvious one. Many people around Australia, New Zealand, and the world, have tragically lost their jobs during this lock-down. This will lead to financial hardship, and the severity of that should not be downplayed. That said, the bright spark is that without having to spend 8 hours or more on the day job, there is more opportunity to spend time writing.

Around 5 years ago, I was made redundant from my job. Fortunately, this redundancy didn’t last long, through a weird twist of life that I can only put down to God. Another department of the company wanted me back to work on their project. But during that time in between, I was able to finish the first draft of what became book 1 in my Jewel of The Stars series. I still remember the satisfaction when I typed “The End” at my kitchen desk.

For those of us who have not lost our jobs, we may be working from home. That too allows us extra time for writing, when we would otherwise have been commuting. This is one of many reasons I chose to work from home before it became a necessity. Of course, it’s easy to neglect that extra time and just sleep in a little longer.

If you are still working outside of your home then I salute you. You may not have much more writing time than before, although there may have been outside activities you are no longer doing.

Time With Family

We’re sure spending a lot of extra time with our families lately. And it’s bringing tensions. Siblings and pulling out each other’s hair. Parents are screaming at kids. This is to be expected, and it’s happening to all of us. (Or is it just me?) But as challenging as it can be sometimes, this extra time together is a special blessing. Parents are helping their kids with their school work. Kids are helping with the housework (Ha ha. Yeah, sorry. That one was a joke!) Parents and kids are playing games and laughing together. This is a unique opportunity to make the most of our family time, in a way that will likely never happen again in our lifetimes.

A Different Kind of Church

Church sure is different at the moment. I showed up in my pyjamas yesterday morning with a bowl of cereal in my lap. I ducked out during one of the songs to grab some Ribena and tortillas for communion. I sought prayer from one of our leaders in a chat room. As a massive nerd, I love this. This is my kind of church. For others, it has been a big struggle.

My church has been live streaming our services for a few years now, and live video is my primary ministry area at church. I’m a little embarrassed to admit that I was quite excited at the prospect of moving to online services. I even got to do the video switching for our first lockdown service. That said, I do recognise the benefits of meeting together and face-to-face fellowship, even if I’m much more comfortable talking to a computer or a camera than a human being.

There are certainly challenges with this new way of doing church. Especially for extroverts, or those without access to, or knowledge of, technology. But there are also advantages. The internet has been filled with churches beaming out the gospel. This has given us the opportunity to show that church was never about the building. It was about the global family of Christ followers each doing their bit where they are.

Another advantage is that it has brought us together in unity. Not every church has the resources to put on a live production each weekend, but those that can are inviting others to join them. Just yesterday morning, my church in little old Launceston, Tasmania was visited by guests from New South Wales, Canada and USA. We also regularly have guests joining us from other churches that don’t have their own online programs. God’s people are forgetting the artificial lines that separate us and coming together.

It Gave Me Something to Blog About

Seriously. If we hadn’t been stuck in lock-down due to COVID-19, I’d have had to think of something else to blog about.

I hope that treasure hunt has given you something to feel good about.

What other positives can you find in our situation?

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Adam David Collins is a speculative fiction author from Tasmania, Australia. He draws inspiration for his stories from his over-active imagination, his life experiences and his faith. Adam is a great lover of stories, enjoying them in books, movies, scripted TV and computer games. Adam discusses these, along with his monthly Christian Science Fiction & Fantasy Bulletin on his youTube channel. You can find him at AdamDavidCollings.com

Investment Opportunity, May Require Some Effort

It's taken a while, but I believe that I am finally growing up. Really, I mean it! You see, I have come to realise the importance of investing. Not just financially, but in so many different areas; health, knowledge, and especially in regards to keeping my house tidy!

Why is this a sign that I am perhaps reaching some semblance of maturity? Because for many years I have thought that things other than a wholehearted investment of my own time and/or money and/or prayer would see me achieve what God has in store for me. Actually, to see that written down makes me cringe; it's such an obvious concept, and not really a hard one to 'get.'  I believe that this lack of wisdom in my own understanding has contributed to many of my "half-begun" projects, (note, they are not even half-finished! Most have barely an introduction before I have thrown my hands up in resignation).

I have so many good ideas, but none that have really come to fruition. Oh believe me, I've got a plethora of people or things to blame for that! Sadly, not once did I seriously consider that I might be my own worst enemy when it came to success.

Now, I am attempting to take a few small areas of my life and become accountable for them.

Healthwise, I have recently been given a diagnosis of Type 2 Diabetes. Rather than getting cross with God, or my hubby, or lamenting my horrible existence without chocolate . . . oh wait, scratch that last one . . . I jest, but in all honesty this has been a massive wake up call for me. It has made me want to take control of my health, to look at what I'm eating, and why. And above all it has forced me to acknowledge that, firstly I was not honouring God with my lifestyle choices, and secondly, that if I didn't invest in this area of me, then I could be taking something so very valuable away from my kids far too early. Excellent investment, Helen! Well done me! (As an aside, since learning of this I have lost about 13 kg and feel amazing, but that's another story).

As for my writing, I have really struggled in the past 6 months. I have blamed so many different things; emotional dealings, the kids, lack of inspiration, among others. But I was missing the key truth; the only thing stopping me from writing was my choice to play Candy Crush and not write! I know we all need some down time, but I was avoiding the very thing I loved because I couldn't see the benefit of the investment of my time. It's hard work pulling something together; I'm sure many reading this blog can relate to that. But the rewards are so amazing, seeing people's lives changed by something we have written is the best feeling. And this feedback provides the momentus for me to reinvest, again and again and again.

Yes, investing part of ourselves into something else can be somewhat painful, because the cost can be so high. Right now, for example, it's 1.54am and I'm just finishing my blog post which I forgot about (oh dear). It was so tempting to simply write an apology and provide a quick link to an older story or devotion I'd written; but I knew that that was a cheap way out, and that you are all worthy of a much higher investment than that, (and I really hope this has made sense; things are getting a little blurry now!).

Ultimately, I want to live my life in a way that pleases my Lord Jesus Christ, whose investment on the cross was so much more than I can ever repay. And I know that the best bit is that with every investment I make for him, he will bless my socks off at the same time! It just doesn't get any better than that!

I wonder, what do you invest yourself into? I'd love to hear your spiritual/physical/practical examples!

Blessings,

Helen

Blessings Abundant!

With the weather becoming warmer I thought I'd bless my son with a treat from his school canteen for lunch. To save him some time I had the order written out and told him, as simply as possible, "You just have to take it from this front pocket of your bag and place it in the lunch order box. That's all you need to do. Do you understand? Yes?! Okay."  This conversation has now occurred every morning for the past two weeks! It is so frustrating; I just want to bless him, to give him his most favourite chocolate milk drink as a way of saying, "Hey, kid, I love ya!" But as much as I want him to have this, there is still that one step that he needs to take to receive the blessing.

Yesterday morning, having gone through "the speech" once again, I watched him walking to his classroom and hoped that today would be the day that he finally 'got it' and received his treat.

"Get your camera out and go for a walk this morning."

I started the car and left to drop our youngest boy at daycare.

"Get your camera out and go for a walk this morning."

Leaving daycare.

"Get your camera out and go for a walk this morning."

By the time I returned home, I knew without a doubt that this was not my mind prompting me to "Get my camera out and go for a walk this morning."  I like indoors. My computer. Coffee!  But I recalled my thoughts to my son from barely one hour earlier, 

". . . as much as I want him to have this, there is still that one step that he needs to take to receive the blessing."

And so I did. I didn't even take my mobile phone with me! And it was such a sweet, calming, relaxing time of "aaaahhhhhhh-ness" that what I thought was, perhaps 45 minutes, was a solid 2 hours of standing beneath the trees that I look out upon every single day; talking to the galahs - privy to the courting ritual of one couple that was so delightful - looking at the ways the trees moved and the patterns in their bark; I even cheered on a baby bird as his mum and dad and aunts and uncles waited eagerly for him to leave the nest and fly!

On returning home I stopped; to smell the roses, to watch a spider spinning her web, and to play hide-and-seek with Sticky the Stick Insect. I marvelled at the abundance of life dancing in the sun's cascading warmth in my front garden. 

And in all of these things, I praised our awesome God for his gift to me; this time away from my usual thoughts and actions and feelings, this gentle and most excellent display of His provision and joy and love for all creation. 

And His personal, father-heart love for me - Helen - his daughter, whom he wants to bless over and over again, in ways that will draw me out of the everyday ruts and drudgeries of life, and fill me to overflowing with his beauty once again.

May you, too, be blessed by our Father God in a big way, by the small things of everyday life.

Helen

Just Pick A Cup!

It never ceases to amaze me how the Holy Spirit seeks out and uses everyday experiences to teach me lessons; profound lessons that often bring conviction and correction as well as encouragement and blessing all rolled into one neat little object lesson. 

Once such lesson came mid-2012. It was a 'normal' day; our 3 year old son was finishing his lunch and asked me for a drink of water. . . 

"Mummy, I'm very drinky." 

"Okay, I'll get you some water."

"Not that cup, mummy!"

"Why not?"

"I don't like the white cup!"

"Okay, fine; how about this cup?"

"No."

"This one?"

"No."

"This one?!"

"No."

"The green one?"

"No."

"The blue one?"

"No."

"The red one? The orange one? The one with your name on it?"

"No! No! No!"

"Well I can't give you water if you won't take a cup!"

As soon as the words were out of my mouth, I froze on the spot. Tears came as the revelation overwhelmed my soul; God wanted more than anything to bless me, but I had to choose a cup! 

You see we had just, (quite literally the previous evening), decided that after 18 months at our "new" church, it was time to move on. I say "we" but it was really me.  I earnestly plead my case to my husband, "I'm miserable, I haven't connected with anyone, there are too many 'issues,' it just isn't working." He eventually conceded, and called our connect group leaders to tell them of our decision. They strongly encouraged him to reconsider, to give it some time. He agreed, but I had made up both our minds. We were leaving.

And now, not 24 hours later, here I stood, in the presence of the Holy Spirit, vulnerable and yet expectant. Through the beautiful, gentle love of the Holy Spirit, the facade of my heart was removed, and I could see the truth behind my discontent; fear. Surprisingly, not of being disconnected, but rather the opposite, of actually reaching out and letting people see the 'real' Helen. Of putting down roots and daring to say, "Yes! We will commit to this particular church - this cup - which God is offering to us." 

It came as no surprise that my husband had been feeling uneasy about the decision all day at work; what a relief for him to find my heart so changed from the night before! He immediately rang our connect group leaders and, with great humility, let them know that we would be seeing them the following morning after all. 

We've now been at this church for a little over 2-1/2 years and are slowly growing into it. I'll admit that sometimes I feel like ditching my cup, gathering up my roots and making a break for it; but then God brings His comfort and love, and I find peace. And taking a deep breath, I drink from His beautiful, bountiful river of blessing.

Oh yes, my cup truly does run over with blessings from my Lord. 

You prepare a table before me
  in the presence of my enemies.
You anoint my head with oil;
  my cup overflows. Surely your goodness and love will follow me
  all the days of my life,
and I will dwell in the house of the Lord
  forever.  Psalm 23:5-6

Beautiful Big Blobs of Blessing

A month ago, my husband and I celebrated 26 years of married life. It was yet another milestone to celebrate. Another opportunity to pause, ponder and be grateful for God’s love and faithfulness in our lives. During that anniversary week, we had cards arrive from our extended family arrive every single day. On Monday there was one from my brother and sister in law who reside in Whyalla. On Tuesday came one from my brother and his wife in Sydney. On Wednesday, (the day of our anniversary) a card from my sister and family in Sri Lanka – perfectly timed. On Thursday, a beautiful card from my Mum graced our letter box. On Friday, a card from my sister and family in America arrived. 5 days. 5 cards. A card each day. Much better than getting them all together! Our anniversary lasted a whole week!

It felt very special to have a wish a day in our letter box all week; wishes from family who cared for us and have been part of our lives as long we have been a couple. Not just one blessing. But a week of them. So here I am today blogging about my beautiful, big blobs of blessings as they arrived that week.

We Christian writers too have many big beautiful blobs of daily blessings, don’t you think? Firstly, we have a message in our hearts to share. Even if we all don’t write about it in exactly the same way – all of us Christian writers do have something in common. We have a desire to see God’s kingdom here on earth – it’s so exciting to be part of it – no matter what we write about, be it writing fiction or non fiction; creating characters or sharing from the heart. Each of us have a different calling – but one Source of that calling. Jesus! That in itself is a great blessing, don’t you think?

We are also deeply blessed because we love books and we love reading and writing. I’m sure you will agree that Books and Reading and Writing are three big reasons to celebrate life? How grateful I am to my parents who imbibed in me a love of books and a love of words and also a love of reading and writing. We also have so much to praise God for in this modern world – computers to help us get our stories typed in double quick time – spell checkers to assist us to fix our troublesome spelling – Facebook and the Internet to keep us connected – in a world that is fast shrinking – in fact we can get help and encouragement from other writers in an instant, even if they live a world away.

Those of us who are able to use kindles and e-books can access books at the click of a finger. Even our experiences in life – be they good or bad – are all fuel for our writing and a hot-bed of ideas. Our experiences of God – add an extra spark to our writing. Yes, we all do have many beautiful blobs of blessing splashing down on us all the time. Wouldn’t you agree?

And then of course there’s more! As Christians – God lavishes many good things into our lives all the time, every single day, even if we don’t always recognise them. Bright beautiful days – supportive people in our lives - family and friends who care – fascinating books to soak up – refreshing cool weather – work that puts bread on our table – comfortable homes and a roof over our heads – the use of modern technology – medicines that treat our ailments – the freedom to worship God in this wonderful country Down Under - these are but a few blessings I can list off the top of my head – which every one of us can lay claim to, in some form or another.

Sometimes though our blessings are masked or camouflaged. Have troubles or difficulties come your way? Has a friend let you down? Has sickness been your lot? Has money been scarce? Dare I say that even the troubles in our lives are actually blessings if we but realise the truth? I’ve discovered that God has ministered to me most powerfully when my human resources have been at a minimum. When life has been difficult. When friends have let me down. When I have been forced to lean on Him.

I have to admit that yes, very special blessings have indeed been mine when I have come to Him in great need, at my lowest ebb and then found in Jesus – comfort and hope, beauty and truth, life and freedom. Yes, the troubles in my life have been much larger blessings than my moments of comfort and pleasure. They have helped me discover the rich, eternal blessings I have in God alone.

Today, dear writer friends, I would like to challenge you – and to ask you about the blessings you’d like to thank God for this Monday morning, as we begin a brand new week. How has God blessed you today? Is your book being published in the near future? I praise Him with you. That’s great news indeed! Has He blessed you with a fresh idea to write about? How very exciting! Keep writing! Has your book been a source of blessing to others? That’s wonderful. Are you enjoying your writing like never before? A big ‘Yay’ to that! Has He brought new opportunities for ministry? Always a cause for praise. Or has he blessed you with trouble – so you are forced to lean on Him in a new and more intimate way? Now that is a big blob of blessing I assure you – even if you can’t quite see it that way!

Perhaps today is a day to stop and take stock of our blessings? We have each other – a group of Christian writers – all writing to bring honour and glory to Him who called us. We have words and ideas, books and writing, songs and stories. We have the Source of all that is good with us. We have a glorious hope to cling to. We have Jesus.

I’d love to hear what blessings God has brought your way in the last few days. Perhaps it’s a good time to stop, reflect, discover and give Him thanks and praise for those big, beautiful blobs of blessings in our lives!

What do YOU think?


Anusha Atukorala has been splashing and basking in many colourful blobs of blessing all her life (sometimes in forms she did not recognise) - thanks to the goodness of her Lord and Saviour Jesus who gave her a song to sing and a message to proclaim. Her website and blog is called Dancing in the Rain and can be viewed at: http://anusha-atukorala.webnode.com/.