NovelSisters

watching, reading, and writing stories

Sep 29

A Lesson in Joy

by lydiamhill

 

Girl, Joy, Smiling, Happy, Children, Child

Image Source: https://pixabay.com/en/girl-joy-smiling-happy-children-206144/

I’ve been learning a lot about joy recently. Partly because it keeps coming up at church as we read through Philippians, but also because of what I’ve been going through lately. I tend to be a happy person, and look for the positive in each situation. But when circumstances get hard, I feel like I have a right to be angry, upset, hurt, sad, depressed, etc. In essence I can throw myself a little pity party and I want everyone to notice and try to make me feel better.

But that is not right. Even if a lot of other people do the same thing, and there is a time and place to mourn and cry and be sad. At the end of the day, it’s not about me, what I want, what I don’t have, my feelings, or anything related to me. It’s really all about God. His plan for my life is what matters, not my own. And I know if I let go of my self pity, and focus instead on what God is doing, I will have joy. It’s more of a choice than I realized at first. And it’s a hard one to make. There’s something in me, probably in my selfish will that wants attention, wants other’s love, wants to be noticed, but even when I finally do get that attention I crave, it doesn’t make anything better. I’m still stuck feeling sorry for myself. It’s only when I stop looking at me, that joy, life, and peace shine through.

Well it’s a lesson I’ve had to learn again and again, and I’m not done learning it. Each day I have to choose not to focus on me, and instead focus on Jesus. But I know it’s better. And I’d like to ask you to do the same thing with me today.

Christian Life

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Sep 23

Hunger

by lydiamhill

So, I came across this video the other day, and it really got to me. I started wondering how I would act if I was forced to feed myself and my family like these little kids. I would probably be complaining, crying, and feeling sorry for myself. Here’s a link to the video so you can see it for yourself:

Now I don’t want to make people feel guilty, but I do wonder if something stirred in you when you saw these kids picking up crumbs. I know it did for me. The world is hungry, and when we see that hunger, something in us feels compelled to help. Or at least that’s what happens to me. But this feeling isn’t restricted to just physical hunger.

When I see someone who feels lost, like their life has no meaning or purpose and they’re hungry for something, that also compels me to help. People try to fill this other hunger with all sorts of things, even actual food. I usually try to fill it with entertainment, comedy shows, and You Tube videos. But I know, it won’t go away. I can’t watch enough funny things to make me happy or satisfied. It’s like trying to pick up crumbs to satisfy a deep hunger, it will never make that hunger go away.

But there is someone who can fill it, and that’s Jesus. He says “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life. I am the bread of life.” John 6:47-48. He is the only one that will fill this other hunger; this spiritual hunger. Maybe you already believe that, but there’s someone you know who is still hungry. I’d encourage you to point that person to the One who can satisfy.

Or maybe you feel compelled to help children who don’t have anything to eat, like the ones in the video. Here’s an organization I use to help people in other countries. Feel free to check it out. The link will take you to a page where they are asking for donations to help with the crisis in Iraq.

http://donate.worldvision.org/OA_HTML/xxwv2ibeCCtpItmDspRte.jsp?et_rid=312723561&go=item&funnel=dn&lpos=fea_btn&evar50=97894333&et_cid=50532935&ppi=97894333&section=10339&item=2733782&xxwvCampaign=12071470

But whatever you do, don’t ignore the hunger in the world. Whether it’s your own, or someone else’s, it does matter. Hunger points us to where there is a real need. So be a part of the solution.

Christian Life

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Sep 15

Hinds’ Feet on High Places

by lydiamhill

Image Source: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00BZQ461C/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?ie=UTF8&btkr=1

I’ve been doing more reading recently, and one book that I finally got around to reading that I really enjoyed is Hinds’ Feet on High Places by Hannah Hurnard. I’ve heard that it was a really good book, but reading it now has made it more significant to me.

The book is an allegory, it follows the tale of Much-Afraid as she journeys to the High Places and tells of all the sacrifices and suffering she must go through to finally get what she desires and become the person she longs to be. But it also reflects what many people go through in life, including the author. I read the autobiography at the end of this book about how Hannah had her own journey to the High Places. It really resonated with me.

In my own life, times have been hard recently. There have been deaths in the family, funerals, memorials, and a lot of emotions swirling around. But as I’ve seen in my own past, and also clearly in this book, God doesn’t leave us alone in the hard times. And He ends up using them to shape us and make us more like Himself. It is still hard to go through those valleys, those lonely places, the storms, deserts, and wastelands of life. But I have a hope and I know that God is still good, still in control and still at work, even in my own heart.

So I don’t know what’s going on in your life today, if everything is running smoothly, or if it’s just been one of those days. But I want to encourage you that whatever you face, put your hope in Jesus. And if you’ve never read Hinds’ Feet on High Places, check it out.

Well that’s it for now.

Books Christian Life

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Sep 9

Classics from Childhood

by lydiamhill

So a lot of people from my generation grew up with the classic Disney movies like Pocahontas and The Lion King. But one movie I also loved growing up is not a Disney movie at all, it’s a Dreamworks movie. I hadn’t realized how much this movie really stuck with me, because until a few days ago, I had never owned it. But through renting it multiple times, I learned its plot line by heart, not to mention several awesome quotes that I still use today.

Here are a few of them:

“Well don’t blame me!”
“I blame you!”

“You’re not a god? You lied to me!”

“Both?”
“Both.”
“Both is good.”

“What trail?”
“The trail we blaze… That trail we blaze!”

“You fight like my sister.”
“Ah, I’ve fought your sister, that is a compliment.”

Can you guess which movie it is?

Well here’s a few pictures to help you out:

miguel the road to el dorado tulio rted

Image Source: http://giphy.com/gifs/miguel-the-road-to-el-dorado-tulio-2UWyCjNXy5fig

miguel the road to el dorado el dorado tulio tulio miguel

Image Source: http://giphy.com/gifs/miguel-the-road-to-el-dorado-tulio-ICMe1I6fiGX6M

 

cartoon miguel road to el dorado tulio

Image Source: http://giphy.com/gifs/cartoon-miguel-road-to-el-dorado-m9VKulbFCXkBi

 

If this stirs up some memories for you too, let me know. And maybe if you’re feeling nostalgic go re-watch the movie.

And if you’ve never seen it, it’s called The Road to El Dorado. And it’s one of my favorites. There are unforgettable characters, an awesome storyline, great music from Elton John, and it makes me laugh every time I watch it.

Life Movies

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Sep 2

Rewriting a Story

by lydiamhill

Pencil, Sharpener, Notebook, Paper, Education, Office

Image Source: https://pixabay.com/en/pencil-sharpener-notebook-paper-918449/

I have done several posts about what I’ve been reading or watching lately, but I haven’t had a post about my next big writing project. About a year ago I finally finished my first novel Finding Home: The Orphan’s Journey. It’s not like I’m a big time author, and not many people have even read my book, but it was something I really wanted to do and I actually finished it. Well, as many authors do, I started writing a sequel to my novel. I started the process during a NaNoWriMo competition. But the result has been sitting off in some lonely part of my Laptop’s hard drive for sometime. Now that school is back in session and everyone around me is headed back to the grindstone, I figured it’s time for me to do the same.

So I got out the word document and started ‘revising’ but it really is more like rewriting. You see when I started this sequel I had a very vague idea of what I wanted the story to look like. And most of what I had written for NaNoWriMo was spur of the moment inspiration. Now that I’m rereading it, there’s a lot I want to change. But I am not used to cutting out big chunks of story and throwing them away. When I wrote my first novel, everything was planned, or at least a lot more than this one was, so most of what I wrote, I kept. But with this sequel, I’ve had to add in a whole other storyline. It’s like I’m starting over, but I still have all these chunks of old storyline that I don’t want to delete.

It’s a touchy process of me trying to figure out what can stay, what can be reworded and touched up, and what just doesn’t make sense anymore in light of the changes I’ve made. It’s like I’ve entered a whole other world of writing, and it’s a lot harder than the last one. There’s always that little voice in the back of my head saying, “no I liked the old story better, why are you changing it? You’re making a mistake!”

But even though it feels more time-consuming and it is hard to let go of what I’ve already written, I think this is a growing experience for me as an author. And I do find the new direction of my story much more compelling than my initial idea.

Maybe I’ll post a sample of what I’ve been working on one of these days, but it would make more sense if you have already read my first novel. So for now, I’ll just post a link to where you can find that: http://www.amazon.com/Finding-Home-The-Orphans-Journey/dp/1490556427/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1409681857&sr=8-1&keywords=finding+home+the+orphans+journey

Books Finding Home Writing

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