Of Faith and Friends

For a great part of my life I have been misunderstood. I do not know if it was the writer in me that made me "weird" and "shy" or the things I went through in my childhood. But I always had trouble communicating and forging relationships with people. Still do to a degree. But I am managing to overcome that little by little. It does require a measure of faith, though.

People have asked me, "How can you put your life out there online for the world to see?" How can you trust that the weirdos aren't going to come knocking on your door or steal your identity? And the answer is, I don't know that. But I do know that it can happen just as easily offline. People are not always what they seem to be offline either. Some find it just as easily to lie and deceive to your face. You really can't know another until you have been around them for a long time. You have to choose to put yourself out there where people are. You have to be willing to be a friend to have friends. And just as there are goofballs online...there are goofballs off. You have to be smart. You have to use a little common sense. And sometimes you have to take a chance. Otherwise, you spend your entire life in your own little cocoon and miss out on some really special people.

I would be lying to you if I said that I never get intimidated or worried about these things. But the truth is, I worry just as much about walking down the streets of my own hometown. It's the world we live in. And so we make the best of it. It helps to know that I have a few connections higher up. And that He watches out for me when I may be stepping off into the unknown. Sometimes He gently nudges me back into line. And sometimes He lets me walk down a path because I have a free will. How many times, I wonder, has He sent angels my way to keep me from harm? How many times have I come face to face with evil and His light blinded them from attacking? I may never know. I do know that walking through this life requires faith.

As Christians we are taught to walk by faith and not by sight. And so at times we find ourselves facing the unknown and yet believing that someday, somehow, the puzzle will all come together into one giant, glorious landscape--and that we will have come through it all with everything in place and intact. Without this hope, we might as well give up. If Christ is not who He says He is, and does not live and reign on the throne, then what is left? If ever there were a person that you could trust and put your faith in, it would be Him, the only perfect one to have walked the earth.

And you know what He said about life, He said: "In this world, you will have trouble. But be of good cheer. I have overcome the world." That's good enough for me. I just need to be reminded from time to time. Thanks for being here friends. You know who you are.

Award Day

Drumroll please.............and the award goes to---

I'm passing my Nice Matters award on to Laurel Wreath,Lisa and Kisses of Sunshine. If you have already received this award, then consider yourself doubly blessed and pass it on. Thanks for the great reads girls!

A Writerly Post

Thanks to the marvel of modern technology, my USB flash drive, and Office Depot, I now have a spiral bound hard copy of From Pharaoh's Hand to moon over, drool over, and bleed in red ink over. I had them print it on one side of the page only, so that I would have plenty of room to make edits and notes. It's about 3 inches thick and reminds me of a Nashville phone book. And every time I look at it I smile. It may never be a bestseller; first novels rarely ever are. But it's mine. First thing Chase said was, "Mom, how come you didn't publish it right after we wrote it?" Indeed, we did write it, didn't we son. After all, who gave me the idea for the backpack floating in the river?


I had to fight the urge to do a celebratory dance right there in the Office Depot of Murray, Kentucky. Oh, I've missed my constant companions, Elizabeth and Catfish. I had forgotten how they had kept me up nights and entertained me with their misery. I read back through several chapters. One night this week, I'm going to do a complete read through start to finish to make sure it flows and that I have all the chapters in the right places. I have so many things I want to get done. And that's just with the novel.

Lisa Bergren sent me her two latest novels to review for her blog tour, The Begotten and and The Betrayed. I am about 100 pages in on the first one, but the late night vigil I'm keeping to get it and my work done is wearing me down. Somewhere around 2 this morning I marked my page and placed the tome on the nightstand--not really wanting to quit, but needing to. Torn between working, reading, writing, and sleeping. The sleep won out. But I will get back to you on those. Be looking for those reviews coming up in early September.

Perhaps when the weather turns and the days begin to shorten you will return. I have missed you dear friends. Yet I know all our lives are busy. We all have our day to day dramas to play out. And our own life's work to write. But whenever you can, slip those glasses off, lay the pen aside, grab your coffee mug and join me here. I'm always glad to see you, and we really have a lot of catching up to do. Feel free to drop by anytime. If it's 2 in the morning, we'll make pancakes and have a pajama party. You bring the 80's music, and I'll dance!

Tagged Again

Delia tagged me to do the 8 Random Things meme. (WooHoo! I ♥ getting tagged for memes!)

Here are the rules:
1. Each player starts with 8 random facts/habits about themselves.
2. People who are tagged write a blog post about their own 8 random things and post these rules.
3. At the end of your blog you need to tag 8 people and post their names.
4. Don't forget to leave them a comment and tell them they're tagged, and to read your blog.
c
Well, here goes nothin'! 8 Random Things about Cindy:

1. I talk in my sleep when overly tired.
2. I sometimes have nightmares and wake up beating the tar out of my husband.
4. My favorite color is blue.
5. I work from home and love it.
6. I hate hate hate loading/unloading the dishwasher.
7. I hate Pepsi.
8. I like to fish, but don't get to that much, even though I live near the Tn River.

Now for the tag...
1. grandma Dawn
2. Code Yellow Mama
3. Granny B4.
5. Godzheart
6. Mom Tu-Tu
7. alot have already done this meme....i'm always a day late
8. Or a dollar short..sometimes both. LOL.

Request

When we don't know how to pray the Spirit prays through us. Please pray today for my blogging friend, Diane.

Choose Wisely

****Worship Wednesday is brought to you by fellow-blogger and beloved sister, PT2006. Be sure to visit her over at her place today.

There is a children's song about the wise man and the foolish man. The wise man built upon the rock and the storms could not destroy his house. The foolish man built his house on the sand and the floods swept it away. This little tune comes directly from Matthew 7: 24- 29. A very simple illustration of a spiritual truth. Our lives must be built on the Rock Christ Jesus if we are going to stand the tests of this life.

While we weather the storms it is helpful to have faithful friends to lean on. We need to choose our companions wisely. We need to choose those who have built their houses upon the Rock. The New Living Translation of Proverbs 17:17 says;" a friend is always loyal and a brother is born to help in time of need." Surely the scriptures speak of godly friends and brothers.

One example of an extraordinary friendship is that of Jonathan and David. Tradition dictated Jonathan as Saul's successor, but God chose David to take the throne. Jonathan was reared in the palace, David in the countryside. The Prince had all that life could offer including servants of every sort. The shepherd boy knew only the life of a servant. So many differences, yet they were bound by an unshakable love. I Samuel 18:1 speaks of them being knit together. Again in chapter 20 of I Samuel, Jonathan vowed to do whatever David asked of him, and David declared his loyalty to all of the descendants of his friend.

Their bond was not without tests. King Saul's jealousy of David lead to attempted murder on more than one occasion. It was Jonathan that thwarted at least one of those attempts. He had chosen in David, a friend that was upright, true, and one that honored God. His love for his friend outweighed his loyalty to his father.

The test of David's loyalty came at a time when he was being chased by Saul and his army. It was in a cave encampment that Saul lay sleeping. David had opportunity to kill Saul, yet he chose instead to cut off the corner of Saul's robe. In sparing Saul's life, David not only honored his vow to Jonathan, he honored God. Much later, he spared the life of Jonathan's son, Mephibosheth. On top of that, King David allowed him to live in the palace and cared for him for the rest of his days.

Though extremely abbreviated, this account of soul-mates shows the importance of choosing our friends wisely. There can be no better friend than Jesus Himself. We will not be disappointed when we lean on friends who have built their lives upon the Rock.

Friendship, Fidelity, Faithfulness

In earlier blogging days, I explained my choice of title for this blog. Sometimes I think that maybe it's a bit long and cumbersome and hard to find. I was thinking of changing it. But then I decided to do a search on it and found that lots of you have linked to it already. And so I did another search on the symbolism of the ivy. And this is what I came up with: According to one website, ivy symbolizes memory, immortality, friendship, fidelity, faithfulness, undying affection, and eternal life. If any of you have ever tried to kill or remove Ivy from your garden, you know the tenacity with which it struggles to survive. You know that it clings to whatever it is growing with. Ivy is also used as a symbol on ancient gravestones to represent immortality.

According to this site:
Because it thrives in the shade, ivy represents debauchery, carousing, merrymaking, sensuality, the flourishing of hidden desires, and the enjoyment of secret or forbidden pleasures. Some even believed this plant to have demonic associations. Dionysus (a.k.a. Bacchus) the Greco-Roman god of wine, satyrs, and Sileni are often wreathed in ivy. Crowns of ivy were believed to prevent intoxication and thought to aid inspirational thinking. Therefore, the Greeks crowned their poets with wreaths of this plant. Although generally considered poisonous, the ivy's black berries were used to treat plague.

Hm. "Flourishing hidden desires?" "Forbidden pleasures." How can the symbolism be so dichotomous? Perhaps it is like everything else that God created for good. The world got a hold of it and turned it into something crude and evil. Whoever came up with that second explanation did not stop to consider that the shade the ivy thrives in is the shadow of the Almighty. And as long as you stay put where you were planted and cling to your committment to Him, you will break the yoke of bondage and sin in your life. And those hidden desires for forbidden pleasures become hidden under the blood of Christ.

Some hate ivy because it damages the walls or houses it climbs. Consider that maybe it was not meant to climb walls. Walls were introduced into its natural habitat. But trees... when Ivy climbs trees, it becomes a part of them. The ivy uses the tree for support, but it is not meant to be allowed to grow to the point that it overshadows the tree and kills it. Together they grow toward God. This site says: As long as it stay on the trunk of the tree it will not damage the tree. If it gets into the crown and the foliage it will kill the foliage and cause growth loss and could cause death. We need to learn our place under God. And I will go as far to say our place under our husband, to keep our marriages alive and thriving. That's a biggie for me, trying to stay where I'm supposed to stay and not tell God and my husband what I think they're supposed to be doing. Which poses a new question: Should my blog really be titled, "Under His Wings?" I'll have to roll that around in my brain a bit more.