Verse of the Day

Jesus said, "Come off by yourselves; let's take a break and get a little rest." For there was constant coming and going. They didn't even have time to eat. (Mark 6:31 MSG)

True to your word, you let me catch my breath and send me in the right direction. (Psalm 23:3 MSG)

This past year has been one of the most difficult years we've experienced, individually and as a couple. We celebrated 36 years of marriage last month, so we're talking about a long time. The difficulties seemed to come from all directions and on several levels of intensity, many times burying us under the vast weight of them coming all at once. However, this past year has also brought us many huge blessings—a much nicer house to rent; a beautiful granddaughter, Peyton; the release of the book of my heart—assuring us that the Lord has everything under control. 

The last three months have been particularly intense, with two conferences, my annual writers' retreat, vacation to meet our new granddaughter, and a family reunion—all of which required travel. After this last trip, coming on the heels of 15 days in Pennsylvania, I literally am at my breaking point physically, emotionally, and mentally. But I keep hearing the Lord speak the words to me that He spoke so long ago to His disciples after a particularly intense time of ministry: "Come off by yourselves; let's take a break and get a little rest." 

Notice that He included Himself in this invitation. He doesn't intend for me—for any of His followers—to take a rest break without Him. Nor is He saying it will take a long time—though I do think if I don't take Him up on this short break, I may end up taking a much longer time and not so pleasant physically or emotionally. As I said to my wonderfully patient and loving hubby the other night, I feel as though I'm going to break. I'm as fragile as glass. 

The timing is a little ironic in that my book, Calming the Storm Within: God's Peace for Depression and Anxiety, released two weeks ago. As I was working through the final proof copy, I kept thinking I needed to take my own advice! No, I'm not clinically depressed, but the defeated enemy would like me to think I am. However, for my own physical and emotional mental health I need to rest a while. My body, plagued with fibromyalgia and osteoarthritis (both chronic conditions with lots of pain and fatigue), is telling me I'm nearing a major collapse. My mind is fuzzy with fibro-fog and fatigue, and emotionally even I don't know what to expect. 

So after much prayer and counseling and advice, I'm taking a short break in order to rest in my Lord, to regain some physical strength and emotional stability. It's not a total break from my responsibilities, but it is a granting myself permission to take life much slower, spend much time with my Lord and less time with all the work piling up on all sides. I'll still do some of that, but only as I have the mental acuity I need for writing, editing, and yes, even marketing Calming the Storm Within. I'm taking the next two weeks, through Labor Day, and then we'll assess where I am. If I need more time, I'll take it, but I'm hoping that by then I'll be restored and ready to take on again the many responsibilities of my calling in the Lord's strength. 

Pray for me, too, as I look at everything I'm doing and seek the Lord's direction to prioritize or drop the many responsibilities I seem to collect. I sense I am at the threshold of new ministry opportunities, but I want to be sure these are truly of His leading and not of my own devising. The Lord is truly my Shepherd, and I believe He will do as He promised in The Message paraphrase of Psalm 23: He will "let me catch my breath and send me in the right direction."  

Sky Zone by Creston Mapes

This week, the

Christian Fiction Blog Alliance

is introducing

Sky Zone

David C. Cook (June 1, 2014)

by

Creston Mapes

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Creston has fond memories of his boyhood in Bath, Ohio, where he became enchanted with his future wife, way back in the fourth grade. His father, Bernie, owned and operated The Weathervane Furniture Shop in town. The whole family lived right upstairs in the century-old house known as "The Shop."

Creston studied journalism at Bowling Green State University, then began his writing career. During the past 30 years, he has worked as a reporter, corporate copywriter, creative director, freelance writer, and author.


ABOUT THE BOOK


A rally for a controversial presidential candidate.
A terrorist threat.
A nightmare of cataclysmic proportions.

Jack and Pamela Crittendon have hit the breaking point. After months out of work as a reporter, Jack is playing Mr. Mom and working part-time at Festival Arena with his survivalist friend Brian Shakespeare. Meanwhile, Pamela has gone back to work full-time while eight months pregnant. Having her recently widowed mother on hand isn't making matters any easier.

With financial pressures boiling, Jack reports for duty at a rally for controversial presidential candidate Martin Sterling where he expects a mindless night on the job. But when Homeland Security picks up intel about a potential terrorist threat, Jack and Shakespeare are thrust into a life-or-death battle to save their own lives--and the lives of thousands of innocent people.


If you would like to read the first chapter of Sky Zone, go HERE.


Review to come later.

Verse of the Day

I am overwhelmed with joy in the LORD my God! For he has dressed me with the clothing of salvation and draped me in a robe of righteousness. (Isaiah 61:10 NLT)

Dress in the wardrobe God picked out for you: compassion, kindness, humility, quiet strength, discipline. . . . And regardless of what else you put on, wear love. It's your basic, all-purpose garment. Never be without it. (Colossians 3:12–14 MSG)

Verse of the Day

God deliberately chose things the world considers foolish in order to shame those who think they are wise. And he chose those who are powerless to shame those who are powerful. (1 Corinthians 1:27 NLT)

"`Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,' says the LORD of hosts."  (Zechariah 4:6 NASB)

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might. (Ephesians 6:10 NASB)

Verse of the Day

And this is the confidence (the assurance, the privilege of boldness) which we have in Him: [we are sure] that if we ask anything (make any request) according to His will (in agreement with His own plan), He listens to and hears us. And if (since) we [positively] know that He listens to us in whatever we ask, we also know [with settled and absolute knowledge] that we have [granted us as our present possessions] the requests made of Him. (1 John 5:14–15 AMP)

Verse of the Day

Oh, that we might know the LORD! Let us press on to know him!" (Hosea 6:3 NLT)

As a result, I can really know Christ and experience the mighty power that raised him from the dead. I can learn what it means to suffer with him, sharing in his death, so that, somehow, I can experience the resurrection from the dead! I don't mean to say that I have already achieved these things or that I have already reached perfection! But I keep working toward that day when I will finally be all that Christ Jesus saved me for and wants me to be. No, dear brothers and sisters, I am still not all I should be, but I am focusing all my energies on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I strain to reach the end of the race and receive the prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us up to heaven. (Philippians 3:10–14 NLT)

Verse of the Day

"Be strong and courageous. . . . Only be strong and very courageous; be careful to do according to all the law which Moses My servant commanded you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, so that you may have success wherever you go. This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it; for then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have success. Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous! Do not tremble or be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go." (Joshua 1:6–9)

Verse of the Day

We do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. . . . The Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. Romans 8:26–27

I want you to be free from anxieties. 1 Corinthians 7:32

You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in you. Isaiah 26:3

Verse of the Day

Didn't he set us on the road to life? Didn't he keep us out of the ditch? He trained us first, passed us like silver through refining fires, brought us into hardscrabble country, pushed us to our very limit, road-tested us inside and out, took us to hell and back; finally he brought us to this well-watered place. (Psalm 66:9–12 MSG)

I waited patiently for the LORD; and He inclined to me and heard my cry. He brought me up out of the pit of destruction, out of the miry clay, and He set my feet upon a rock making my footsteps firm. He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God; many will see and fear And will trust in the LORD. How blessed is the man who has made the LORD his trust. (Psalm 40:4)