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Could you imagine losing the Son of God?
I cannot imagine what Mary and Joseph were feeling, especially if they knew that Jesus was the Son of God. I mean, they must have been going out of their minds.
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Your Story Matters
We have a special Monday Meditation today, much longer than our normal writing devotional intended to encourage your faith-walk and writing. This is the Keynote Speech from our 2023 ICW Fall Gathering delivered by IDAhope Writers* founder, Angela Ruth Strong. This morning I paid a dollar to anyone who would tell me a story. Whether that was the first time you’ve ever been paid to tell a story or not, that dollar symbolizes that your story has value. I got to hear a story about the mysterious evacuation of a Goodwill store. And one about a woman whose namesake from the last century shares common similarities that sound like a…
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I Want Their Career
Who wants to spend their days daydreaming at coffee shops and talking about their ideas with fans? (Especially when the misnomer of a writer’s life also includes unexpected lump sums.) Have you ever wanted the wage of a CEO but the responsibility of a middle-schooler? It’s easy to wish you had someone’s house, but not their mortgage. And it’s tempting to desire someone’s career without having to spend the years it took them to get there. Do I want their career? Sometimes I think I deserve success/pleasure/ease without sacrifice because I received salvation freely. I forget that someone else paid for it. We forget that the free cost of salvation…
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The Small Things
“If you are faithful in little things, you will be faithful in large ones. But if you are dishonest in little things, you won’t be honest with greater responsibilities.” Luke 16:10 NLT I remember the first big party we hosted. I spent so much energy preparing, and it was a financial impact we could feel. Almost no one came. I would have done twice the work and spent twice as much if people came, ate, and enjoyed themselves. But, we wrapped up food that wasn’t designed to keep and sat down in an awkwardly clean house feeling superfluous. Some people feel destined for greatness, it’s a deep longing. But even…
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Write It Down
When you write it down to share with the Lord, he does not judge you or sever relationship. You do not need to fear his audience. It may surprise you to hear his voice gently expose what is false.
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A Modern-Day Parable
A certain man had two children, and the younger of the two said, “Father, give me my inheritance. And the man divided his property between the two children. Not many days later, the younger child gathered all she had and took a journey into a far country, where she squandered what she had on riotous living. And when she had spent everything, there arose in the land pestilence and rioting and looting in the streets. And she joined with them, turning her back on all she knew of the Father’s ways. Every day, her father watched at the door for her return. But in the back room, kneeling in supplication…
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The Huckleberry Patch
Aunt Dodie—Dorothy Mae Collins to those outside our extended family—was an original. God broke the mold after making her, and that’s for certain. For her entire adult life, Aunt Dodie had lived in the central Idaho mountains in a cabin overlooking Payette Lake. She never married, never had kids of her own. But there wasn’t a one of us—in any Collins generation—who didn’t know where to turn when we needed help or advice or a bit of loving concern. I suppose if she’d been born a Southerner, they’d have called Aunt Dodie a “steel magnolia,” for she was as strong as she was beautiful. However, we don’t have a comparable…
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Only You Can Write Your Story
New writers can feel scared to share their stories. But ideas are not worth as much as the work. And the spirit a writer imbues is more valuable than you realize.
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Put Yourself Out There
“Then I said, “Put a clean turban on his head.” So they put a clean turban on his head and clothed him, while the angel of the LORD stood by.” Zechariah 3:5 Part of the creative nature of an artist or writer is the sensitivity. Unfortunately, sensitive people can bruise easily. Something bubbles within your soul and you cannot contain it. You release it from your fingertips, it flows into words. OK, now what do I do with it? There is an earnest desire to share it, to share this piece of your heart. The problem is: it would be like exposing yourself naked, for all to view. Who wants…
