I'm Different

Rom. 3:22 “Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference:”

I’m Different

It didn’t take me long to realize in life that I’m different. I’m not like everyone else and to me, that’s a good thing. I was relentlessly bullied as a kid because I was different. I was prettier, thinner, dumber, poorer, you name it, I was a walking target. From my brothers and sister to the kids at school I had a big L on my forehead and kids were more than willing to just smack the back of my head in hopes it would fall off, but no, it remained.

This is where reading and writing became my only friend. The long days and nights of reading in my bedroom while hearing kids in the courtyard playing became my safe haven. I had to isolate myself because the neighbors all thought I was a bad influence on their kids so they kept them away from me and shrouded them in their own clique where to this day they still remain friends. I was different; I became a defiant rebel and lived up to my bad influence of a name just to spite my neighbors. I wanted to hang with my sister and brother’s friends but I was just Bony Joni to them.

To be one of them, I did things I shouldn’t have done like drugs and alcohol. I had no one to tell me right from wrong as alcoholism was prevalent way back in the genealogy of my family. From who I knew of, my great grandparents all the way to my brothers and sister, and even me,  were all products of the poisonous alcohol and it was detrimental to our lives as a whole.

Something drastically changed for me at fourteen-years-old when I became a born-again Christian giving my life over to God. My family was Catholic, in name only, and I defiantly went against all of my years in Catholic school and became a born-again Christian. Once again I separated myself from my family and the majority of society that didn’t then and doesn’t now accept anything Christ-like except Christmas and Easter holidays.

By twenty-one, I was so transformed I gave up drugs and alcohol, not by any program mind you, all on my rebellious own with the hand of the Lord guiding me in the right direction. Then one by one what little friends my ex-husband and me had were peeling away and once again I became an isolated young woman with only God, writing and books to carry me through.

As I look back over my many years on Earth I see what might have gone wrong, I was/am different. Even now as I’m faced with the disease of a lifetime I’m the defiant rebel handling this leg of the journey different than many others would have chosen. Granted there are other rebel soldiers out here defying the odds like me and wouldn’t you know it, in some fantastical magnetic way we are drawn to one another.

My friend said something to me yesterday that made me realize how different I am, he said:
“We may not be changing as thoroughly as you, but you are providing a continuing example.”

When I woke this morning all I could think of after my morning bible reading was how different I really am and that that comment had lingered with me. I thought back to the days when my niece was a big part of my life daily and the influence I obviously had on her. I don’t feel it was a bad influence because she went on to college to become a Reiki specialist to understand the natural part of Holistic healing and what it meant to her in her life and her developing family. 

I don’t ask to influence people. I don’t judge you for not changing your lifestyle. I don’t force, bully and browbeat you into doing things my way or else. No, just like me, you’re on your own and what you choose to do in your life is your decision, which will eventually carry you to your afterlife or grave, whatever you believe. What I can say is that I’m ‘providing a continuing example’ for men, women, children everywhere.

As I’m writing this I can almost feel your heads shaking in agreement, ‘she’s different alright’, and I’m okay with that. I’ve accepted my weirdness, strangeness, difference and today I defend myself against the bullies of the world that try to knock me down a few rungs.

As I stand here today, I am a living testimony of all that my God has done carrying me through the many tragedies of my short life. I could’ve buckled, I could’ve gone along with everyone else and become something of a robot but I chose nature over technology. I chose Spirit instead of a materialistic life and again, I’m okay with who I’ve become. I am poor, I am humble, I am grateful for being allowed to know and see the difference that someone different can bring to the cornucopia of life. 

Lev. 10:10 “And that ye may put difference between holy and unholy, and between unclean and clean;”

Ever Changing

Heb. 13:8 “Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever.”

Nothing Stays the Same

As time passes by we see change whether it be in our physical or spiritual growth, our hair, our lifestyle, or our habits, nothing stays the same, it all advances over time. One thing I can assure you is that God does not change, He stays the same for you and me, I believe so we don’t get lost in confusion like every wind of doctrine that flows down the pike or every headline that grabs our attention.

Even the machine that runs our body like our organs, immune system, and DNA has remained the same since the very first man walked the earth. Sure they change with the abusive or neglectful treatment we give them. The more we try to destroy our organs the harder they fight to live for us. I wonder why when someone kills themselves we call it a suicide but when people slowly kill themselves over the years, we call it bad life choices? Is there a difference? Sure, shock value. That has to be it.

There was a day when the word cancer never graced the lips of even the elite doctors. It really didn’t become a problem until the advent of technology. The Industrial Revolution took its toll on our health and well-being with car emissions, processed food, and so much more. We embraced this new age of speed like a kid to candy, we took harmful pathogens at face value never caring if they were damaging parts of our bodies that might not ever be able to recover.

In countries where food is scarce, the Big C is minimal. Why, because those people have to eat off of the land. Here in the Western Civilization, we’ve been given toxins in abundance. It’s as if our government is TRYING to slowly kill us and from the zombie's I see walking around, Americans are all okay with being the cows led to slaughter. And we wonder why people just snap, eh?

Kristi Funk, a breast surgeon to Joanna Kerns, is noted on record as saying this about BC, “It (BC) is under our control and has to do with lifestyle choices, which we can absolutely control,” she says. “If all women would control these things to her best ability, we could absolutely eradicate 50 to 90 percent of all breast cancer.”

If you read from the link, you’ll see that I didn’t pull this dietary change out of my hat and I’m crazy insane (okay, that’s a given) but seriously this is REAL. I’ve done an immense amount of research, and have come up with the best method of saving myself, with the hand of God of course. Maybe it is time for people to wake up and see their surroundings and understand what is REALLY killing them. If you have ills and pains the cause 99.9% of the time is all found in your dietary habits. I know some people are stronger than others in curtailing the abusive behavior to their body but it is not too late to change.

We live in a fast-paced, hurry up, me-first world. We wander from one fast food restaurant to the next looking for the better tasting-deal to feed our faces. We sometimes buy a salad because we’re trying to falsely tell our minds and bodies that we’re eating well. We go to higher-end restaurants because we think they will sell better-for-us food when in a nutshell, they are feeding you contaminated toxic beef/chicken/turkey/fish all GMO modified at some point and your veggies were all treated with round-up. Just short of adding round-up as a condiment with the salt-n-pepper shakers, that you’d NEVER use, but the glyphosate toxin is okay if it is hidden in your food. There’s something wrong with that.

You may reason with yourself that glyphosate is only toxic when taken in at high amounts, you’d probably more than likely be right. Allow me to say, the crops of this western world have been chemically treated FOR YEARS, so yeah, taken in small doses there is no rise in you becoming a cancer statistic, but eaten daily over say ten-fifty years? You’ll SEE why there is a rise in cancer/illness rates. You don't just easily excrete the toxins, like an oil spill in the Pacific, there is always damage left behind.

Funny (not really) how the news media is quick to report (falsely or otherwise) of someone’s death but report about ways to prevent or CURE an illness? Yeah, healthy speak is taboo in this demented nation.

We’re supposed to follow along like kids being led by a rope to all stay together. We’re being herded into a corral of overweight, slowly withering human beings. We’re addicted to food and we ‘try’ our best to overcome our food addiction. As we feed our faces, dripping with gravy, washing our meal down with a KNOWN toxic ‘diet’ cola, we don’t feel good about our choices but we do nothing to change. or stop the poison from entering your mouth. 

Change is for the warriors, change is for leaders, and change is for other people. You know, even God changed His mind. Do you remember the story in Genesis about the tree of good and evil? Adam and Eve were told to NOT eat of the tree or surely they would die!

Gen. 3:3-4 “But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die:”

Gen. 1:29 “And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat.”

She ate of the tree; while they didn’t physically die, on the day that Eve devoured the forbidden food, a part of our souls perished that we fight like warriors to regain. That is all I’m courageously doing in this healing phase of my life, regaining what was lost.

The most I’ve learned since this illness is that God wants us, yes US, to be disciplined. To learn discipline we must endure pain. We must become warriors of not only the physical world but also the spiritual world, which in the end basically, is where we wind up.

My challenge for you today is this - Don’t just vocalize the words of the bible actually LIVE the Word! Become disciplined. Change your world, become the warrior God created you to be.

Job 36:10 “He openeth also their ear to discipline, and commandeth that they return from iniquity.”

Nurturing The Seed Within

Pss. 72:7 "In his days shall the righteous flourish; and abundance of peace so long as the moon endureth."

People are going to ask, how do I nurture the seed within?

Well, I can only tell you what works for me. I think every individual is different and will react to His blessings differently as they begin to nurture, continue to feed, and discipline themselves to receiving all of the knowledge the Lord has to offer. Through good and bad, the seed is within you just waiting for the water so it can blossom.

If you think God handpicks the perfect in society, boy are you ever wrong. He doesn’t choose the most beautiful to guide, He doesn’t ask the strong to come to Him, He doesn’t want the saint that man appoints, nope, he wants the ugly, downtrodden, dirty muddy sinner. Why? Because He sees what is deep inside. If he knows every hair on your head, you can bet your bottom dollar he can see the mud built up on your feet from going barefoot for long walks at a time.

1 Sam. 16:7 (KJV) “But the LORD said unto Samuel, Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature; because I have refused him: for the LORD seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart.”

Going barefoot is like a man who never knew or wanted to know the likes of Christ. He’s washed his hands of everything to do with God and is living the life that he has planned for himself. You know what? That is the kind of man or woman that God has set His sights on even when you think there is nothing, there is something calling you to Him. You might not acknowledge the pull, but you know, deep in the night as you try and fall asleep, the stars are out there twinkling and you wonder.

You might think He’s washed His hands of you but I can assure you, God did not create us to dispose of us because we don’t fit His bill. No siree, God has his eyes on you when you think you’ve ridden yourself of Him. Even when you shun Him and don’t seek him he has landed his eye on you and is deep within you pulling you toward him, to an eternity with Him. 

Samuel chose David over all of Jesse’s sons, the ones who were taller, smarter and better looking for small little David who was out in the fields tending the sheep. Did God overlook David? No, he saw in him a King and that is what David would later become. 

If you read the book of Samuel you’ll see, David, the one who would one day be king, is the same boy who fought Goliath. Was it an easy task? Did he just walk up to him and say Boo, be gone? No, I do believe David struggled all of his life to be accepted by his family, fought to want to be included as a warrior but was overlooked by man and was tread upon and ground into the dirt but overcame a giant! HE was the one chosen by God.

This is the God I love and praise, One who sees me in all my tattered clothing, broken body, dry crinkly skin, He sees in me a King, so to speak. As I realize this, I begin ACTING like a king, in character and dignity and carrying myself for the entire world to see God IN me!

He sees something in each and every one of us no matter how small we think of ourselves, He’s choosing us to come to Him. That is how we nurture our Spirits. We fill our lives with everything God. From animals to plants, from flowers to trees, from the clouds to the moon, He is all, living in all and once you start seeing Him in everything you begin to want to know more and more about this God.

Does this mean He’ll heal you of your pains and illnesses? No, they’ll become bearable. Will He pay your high electric bill for you? No, but you’ll have the means to do it. You have to be willing to SEE the blessing instead of seeing a coincidence. Sometimes we have to sacrifice our WANTS for our NEEDS to be fulfilled. That right there is God working in you. You are important to Him. As with anything that is important to you, you take care of it, you nurture it until the seed becomes you, the you God intended. 

When you finally accept that science will never find Him or ‘prove’ Him and live with the faith that KNOWING Him is well enough for your soul, blessings and miracles fall like sparkling confetti and you see them and know they are from Him, the Him you didn’t even believe existed. May the Spiritual seed that God planted in you be nurtured until you bond together, grow, and flourish.

Praise be to God!

1 Samuel

Abandoning The Seed Within

Jer. 2:21 “Yet I had planted thee a noble vine, wholly a right seed: how then art thou turned into the degenerate plant of a strange vine unto me?”

Have you ever felt like just giving up on God, tossing your faith and all that you’ve built with your faith right out the door? You know, because of all the pain he allows you to go through doesn’t seem worth the trials that you have to endure on a daily basis? Yeah, me neither.

I accepted Jesus as my Lord and Savior when I was a young teen and life has never been the same, it’s been a roller coaster ride, going up and down ever since. There have been times when I thought (briefly) that this fight just wasn’t worth the suffering. The time, the dedication, the daily nurturing; accepting the Lord felt more like having a full-time job, twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, just like having a child.

What? Accepting the Lord felt like having a child? Yes! What, do you think, you just get to utter words like ‘I accept you Lord’ and everything goes smoothly from there on out? I’m sorry friends, but if you think that then no wonder your life is all fun and games, no worries, no commitment, just playtime all the time. Be honest, that isn’t your life at all is it?

If you want Jesus in your life there is a commitment just like having a child, which you don’t get to toss away whenever you feel like. Just like when you find out your pregnant (or your wife), you make a commitment to taking on the responsibility of that child, raising him or her in an upright manner, feeding his soul and nurturing his spirit or just toss the life away via an abortion. With free will, the CHOICE is yours. If you’ve never married or know what having a child is like, the seed of God is in you also. He doesn’t abandon anyone for anything just because He feels like it and doesn’t have the time for you.

Many parents take on the responsibility of keeping the child, whether planned or unplanned but many are not seriously ready for the time and commitment that it takes to raise a child. That’s why so many births are met with abandonment after the baby is born, left in dumpsters, thrown off bridges, just disposed of because they were too hard to take care of and didn’t realize that this one time of lustful pleasure was going to turn out to be a lifetime commitment. Note: Pleasures cost.

John 15:5 “I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.”

The God cell is inside you at birth, a seed that you dispose of or tend and allow to grow through nurturing. Some people feel the seed and know it is there, others don’t know what the origin festering inside is and don’t want to know so they try and abort the kernel by putting chemicals in their body that will destroy the tiny bud or they ignore the seed completely allowing the weeds to smother the grain as it grows. We all know what happens when a weed grows, right? It takes a long time people to annihilate the seed that God planted in you at birth. You can try to rid yourself of the essence burning inside but the root is never dead.

When you accept God, it is like having a child, an embryo within you. You recognize the spirit that God planted as a blooming cluster of flowers not the false covering of weeds. You nurture the seedling with the Word of God until the foundation, with time, endurance, patience and love has become rooted, and slowly painstakingly allowed to climb the vine to flourish into a blossoming stem that grows along the Vine of the Lord. We were all meant to be flowers in the garden of life. Some allowed the weeds (satan) to strangle our beautiful bud but know this, the flower is still inside of you waiting to grow and become the beauty you see in a botanical garden. You can never abandon the seed within.

Luke 22:18 “For I say unto you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine, until the kingdom of God shall come.”

Testimony

Pss. 19:7 The law of the LORD is perfect, converting the soul: the testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple.

Why all the testimonies lately? I guess because it is what God is calling His people to do. My friend Debbie gives a testimony as she has fought and is winning the battle with breast cancer. Tom had a testimony about his heater and had it happened just two days later, he’d be sitting in the cold unable to fix what was broken. (he’s having surgery immobilizing him for days.)  My friend Steve is also battling and winning the fight with cancer, and I myself have given testimony to the many blessings the Lord has put in my life. And the list goes on.

A testimony of Christ is a Christian, baring his/her soul of their struggles and showing you, possibly a non-believer, how He has worked victoriously in our lives.

Take for instance Sunday. We made it to church on Sunday (read previous posts.) What I left out of the already 800 word post was this:

We went to a beautiful service but when we walked out to the car, there under the car was a puddle.

“Is that supposed to be there? Or is it from another car?” I so blondely asked.

“Yes honey.” Is the smart response I got.

I could SEE it was from our car, but we got in, it started right up and off we drove. Church is about 20 –25 miles from home and as we pulled into our driveway, went to park, it just conked right out. It started right back up to be put in its place, but I was amazed that God had gotten us to our front door before the car conked out.

What a blessing, what a testimony.

I’m in a Prayer Partner group on facebook and while many are in need of prayer, it is always later related by a testimony of just HOW those prayers were answered. I’m sensing a thread that ties the two together. Prayer request ---> Prayers go out ---> Prayers answered ---> testimony. Prayer for a struggling soul ---> Prayers go out --- > Prayers answered --- > Testimony. It goes on and on.

It’s as if God is calling His people to prayer. I know quite a few people of different religions and the one thing that bonds those religions together is prayer. And through prayer healing occurs.

Now back to the car. Steven called his brother, the mechanic and asked him if he could look at it. Well that meant a trip, in the car, to Axtel. His brother, always ready to help his lil bro out said, “Sure bring it out.”

His brother was off on Thursday so that is when Steven loaded up the car with water and anti-freeze, bright and early because Steven had to be into work at 11. I loaded up on the prayer because I knew it was a good 20-25 miles from where we are.

Steven called at ten o'clock from Kearney and asked me to come take him to work. I had the truck, so off in the nasty wind I road. The car had made it to Axtel AND into Kearney where it now sits, I say ‘hospitalized’ (at a garage.)

Okay, so I haven’t got my miracle car fixed and who knows where the money will come from, but I do know, the radiator had a hole in it, needs to be replaced and it won’t be home from the ‘hospital’ until Tuesday. It’s okay, my car will be fine and the Lord will provide as He always does. My full testimony will come when I receive the message as to why and what reason the car got sick at this time.

The point of my story is this, God calls us to give testimony to all the glory and blessings in our life so that maybe just one person might be touched and also want to plant a seed. That’s what God’s gift to us is all about; it isn’t just about the cross and what was done to save us, it is about what is in the here and now and what we can DO to save others and possibly give them hope in their tomorrow. Get it?

The cross is OURS to bear. We either take it on or just walk, no seeds, no testimony, just walk. Maybe that is what your faith is all about to you, just walking and waiting for heaven. Me, I like to think of my faith as a seed that I plant; I carry the cross to watch those around me bloom!

He did it for me, it’s the LEAST and I do mean LEAST I can do for Him.

Pss. 119: 88 Quicken me after thy lovingkindness; so shall I keep the testimony of thy mouth.

Poetry Sunday ~ The Voice of a Child

Rev. 3: 5 He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before my Father, and before his angels.

The Voice of a Child

Written many years ago~Joni

A little seed, gently placed, into the hands of time.
Her soul was left amid the blooms in the garden of life sublime.
No one understood her quest and often nor did she.
There she dwelt in a cryptic world where eyes could never see.

Reaching out she uttered words, in hopes someone would hear.
But all alone the resounding truth whispered only to her ear.
She followed the path of righteousness the stones of suffering were lain.
Scattered among the rubble she bravely took the pain.

A force of light it beckoned her; the eden in her mind.
Surrounded by tranquility’s base, with souls so warm and kind.
Firmly standing in the pool of faith while others scoffed and scorned.
No one could see this young girl’s light or the wings that she adorned.

Cutting through, slashing her strength; all thought that she would fall.
Instead she rose above the realm to the place of duties call.
Sheltered within securities cage; no cry was she to mumble.
Awaiting the grace of a healing shield while always remaining humble.

The blessed healing swiftly came; her thirst did not subside.
Spreading her wings, surely to soar; one light her only guide.
Quenching her faithful desire, her pining never to cease.
Freedom stands at her doorstep...she now has gained release!!!

Luke 20: 36 Neither can they die any more: for they are equal unto the angels; and are the children of God, being the children of the resurrection.

* one definition of an angel: a person having qualities generally attributed to an angel, as beauty, purity, or kindliness.

The Seed

Matt. 13: 23 But he that received seed into the good ground is he that heareth the word, and understandeth it; which also beareth fruit, and bringeth forth, some an hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.

The Seed

Word has come that I am missed

I sense the wonders rising.

Where did you go, what’s happening?

Are questions not surprising.

I need a break from all the chaos;

the crazy thoughts in my head.

I turn to Him the One who counts

My Lord, my living Bread.

I’m still here and searching

for all my soul might need.

He answers me in whispers;

my spirit’s a living seed.

I’m told that I’m a beacon

that people look to see.

The Word flowing from my lips;

the Light shining forth from me.

He’s cleansing me from inside

strengthening my ways.

Allowing me to filter

fallacy through the haze.

The Lord has lightened my burden;

for those all wanting to know.

He’s laid on my heart what to say

The message that I must show.

Job 4:4 Thy words have upholden him that was falling, and thou hast strengthened the feeble knees.

Poetry Sunday ~ The Weed the Seed

The Weed the Seed

The swift wind blows the summer seeds

Some will say they are but weeds

But I see beauty in every hour,

bursting color in each new flower.

All the little remnants float

to shield the green in a coat.

Yellow here, orange over there;

they come to life with little care.

The wildflower is in its own mind

a thoughtful gem for you to find.

It plants itself with little toil,

a shortened life because you foil.

You bite the dandelions beauty

as if God gave you this earthly duty!

The reason they keep coming back

to haunt the lawn with truth you lack!

See the yellow, the blazing gold

embrace the beauty that will unfold

Allow the drizzle of God to rain

upon your lawn in a blooming chain.

1 Cor. 15: 38 But God giveth it a body as it hath pleased him, and to every seed his own body.

Poetry Sunday ~ Fruition

Some things have to be believed to be seen. ~Ralph Hodgson
***
Fruition
***

Winds of time have swept the fields
in stardust frivolous play.
Green and amber sweep the lot
where crops of corn display.

Tossing in the fearless wind
I watch the tassels shiver.
Rain slices down the sky
From God’s own hand deliver.

Thirsting for the satiable drink
they each stretch forth their arm
Rows upon rows gallantly march
upon the fruitful farm.

All heads seem to bow in prayer
as the rain seeps in the soil,
quenching all things desired
through various days of toil.

The ground was tilled
the seeds have been sown;
Hard labor now rewarded
by what is fully grown.

Never look at an empty field
as if it’s fertilized dirt.
try to see the wondrous beauty
of the corn rows fanning skirt!

Writing Effects...

“And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God." Romans 12:2

***

Did you know that writing has an affect on people? You didn’t? Well come on, you’re reading this, you’re going to gather all the info that I put in my post and use it or lose it. Either way you walk away affected by what was said here.

I recently had the pleasure of encountering yet another online hoax. It seems face book is always being pounded on with one hit after another for these hoax’s. Those spam/ forwarding emails are old news; now that nobody opens them or reads them and believes that they’re going to get millions from Bill Gates, or die because they didn’t send it to 13 of their friends. Or that their friend is stuck in England needing money FAST!

The recent uproar in hoax’s was the cartoon pic change as an avatar on FB. My blind friends are fortunate enough to be spared these childish antics, but many, and I mean many, jumped on the bandwagon of following what the words told them, all to support child abuse. Sure people have the best intentions when following these things but really, can an avatar STOP child abuse, or fight the cause, or even HELP the cause? How silly! 

The hoax debunked!

If people are so willing to end child abuse, why not support actual charities that ASSIST in aiding children of child abuse? Oh, because it might take money away from you? Are you so greedy that the thought of giving even one dollar to assist in the cause scares you? But you’ll change your avatar and think that this is helping?

Eph. 2:8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:[9] Not of works, lest any man should boast.
 
The hoax bubble burst when people started posting that the group responsible for this uproar in cartoon characters was really pedophile’s wanting a chance to get in on the friendships that so many have come to enjoy on facebook, especially unsupervised children. So here we have someone wanting you to support a cause, then something turning it into a dark and evil cause that you’re actually supporting. When in actuality, you are just being a follower. Then the snopes site says even the pedophile post was a hoax! Even the local news reported the pedi- post as ‘truth’!!!
 
Come on, this world is just getting too crazy. I like the internet, but people,not just writers, real human beings, want to ruin it for us, and it is all through the written word!

What it all boils down to is writing affects the reader, in one way, shape or form, the reader is walking away with a feeling of either despair, fear, paranoia, or embarrassment. I like them to walk away with joy, but we writer’s can’t always hit our mark.  There will always be ten naysayers and snakes lurking where one positive seed is planted. 

Remember this next time you forward an email, or follow along because EVERYONE else is doing it.

Stand up and be a leader for a change!

Poetry Sunday~ It is Time...

Job 7: 1 Is there not an appointed time to man upon earth? are not his days also like the days of an hireling?
***
It is time..

All in Gods time
is what I believe.
A time to love
a time to grieve.

When all at once
I begin to wonder.
whether I’ve gone
and put all asunder.

I care for those
without any hope.
My compassion extends
a welcoming rope.

My heart it bleeds
for the man without
the woman who needs
to get it all out.

Now is the time
for you to reap
is what He says
His promise he’ll keep.

When all at once
where one does not flee.
The veil is lifted
again he will see.

All in Gods time
this much I know.
A wondrous season
for all to grow!

Sticks and Stones

Sticks and Stones...

I’m always telling my writing students that if they can’t handle harsh feedback then they are in the wrong business.

As new writer’s you need to develop a thick skin towards criticism so that you can learn and grow. When someone says, “Oh this is perfect.” They are lying. You read it right, they are lying. No one is perfect and only when we realize we’re not perfect will we learn that we always have room for more growth and understanding.

Newer students to the writing world are the hardest people to critique. You need to put on kid gloves and pamper them so they don’t break and run for the hills crying, “I’ll never write again!” Why? Because you were told that you need work?

The new writer knows that he needs work that is why he is taking so many writing courses, buying every writing book on the market, and plowing away at writing, because he knows he needs writing techniques that he hasn’t acquired yet.

I like to think myself an old shoe at writing but I am always looking for a new technique. I’m always digging for a new way to tell a story, a refined way in displaying my work. BUT if someone says, this didn’t work for me, well BRAVO! You caught something in my writing that I didn’t see and I thank them kindly for heading me in the right direction.

I try to be tough in my feedback of new writer’s. Why? Because they need to be guided in the right direction and if I don’t tell them, someone else will and they will become the better writer because of the critique.

When I say ‘tough’ I don’t mean that I am verbally mean to them. I point out what didn’t work for me, I tell them what I saw wrong and head them into the right direction by pointing out what would work better.

I notice more in new writers that they like to ‘tell’ a story. Every sentence tells a story. And you may ask, “Isn’t that what writer’s do? Tell a story?” No, we don’t. We never merely tell a story, we show sentence by sentence the accumulation of words that convey a story. Through descriptive words, we are going to show you a story.

A librarian reading a book might be telling you a story but the author that wrote the book is SHOWING you a story. Believe me, the author behind every story has taken harsh and brutal criticism about his work before it ever made it to print.

Allow me to say this too, editor’s are not going to be sweet and cajoling in their response to your work. They are going to take a knife and slice into your work like a side of beef. It is best for the both of you, author/editor that you form a bond, so that both are willing to compromise.

You may post your work to a hundred critique sites and each and every one will say something different. Not always what you like to hear, but with each critique it will be revised and perfected and ready for the editor. Then his/her knife will come down.

It’s the writer’s life and one that I love!

As Christmas Day Draws Near...

I will return to my writing blog in three weeks. If you wish to continue with me for the next three weeks, I'll be sharing the Season of Christmas JOY! ~Joni

As Christmas Day draws near…

As the Christmas holidays draw near everyone’s trimming the tree; mistletoe and holly adorn the doorways; the scent of pine lingers throughout. The Holidays have officially arrived.

I’m associated with a writing site and by all accounts my friends see me with a happy-go-lucky attitude and an air of peace and tranquility. It’s amazing what a screen can keep away from even your closest of friends.

Would they know that on the other side of the screen sits a woman, who in the past three months has stood in line at the overflowing food pantry? Would they even suspect that my fiance has lost his job due to some technical ‘rule’ that was broken giving his company the opportunity to deny him all unemployment and insurance benefits? Does the company know they fired a blind man?

Do my friends know that the welfare lines are as long as the pantry lines? Are they so involved with their daily lives that they never get a glimpse of the reality that hangs in the balance before them?

I know when I turned to my family (except for my parents and my fiancés mother) I was turned out cold. No one could help or even lend a twenty-dollar bill to get milk. No communication, no nothing.

I turned to my church and the pastor stole my hope. He said that Social Security was more than likely (except for a miracle) going to be denied my fiance. The man is blind and he’s going to be denied? “Get a lawyer,” he tells us.” He sent me to the Pantry, said that the church would help with whatever they didn’t, and it turned out the Christian Community group was only willing to help with 200 dollars of an eight hundred dollar rent payment. The church paid the rest but when asked for help with the telephone, Internet, electric, necessities to make it another month, we were denied, PARENTS helped!

I pleaded with the Church and the C.C. to understand my predicament. I’m a writer. Not a Stephen King- I- make millions writer, but a WRITER who has worked five years on this dream.(Twenty years if you count the years I couldn’t ‘pursue’ it.) I was told to get a ‘real’ job. A real job in an economy where there are NO JOBS.

By November, I was ready to be scared and fearful for what the holidays would bring, but I had my faith clutched in my hand and held close to my heart. I wore a shield of armor, and as many sit there thinking the same thing everyone else thinks, “That faith of yours isn’t going to buy you food and keep a roof over your head.”

I’m here to tell you that my faith has done THAT and MORE! My November & December rent is paid, I have food in abundance, my Internet (and writing) is still moving forward, my bills are paid and my son, my fiance, and I might just have a Christmas after all!

You might ask what Christmas day will hold for me? Is my January rent paid, bills etc. and I will tell you that only the Lord knows what Christmas day will hold. Should I tremble in fear at the empty tree? Should I quiver wondering where any funds are going to come from? I will boldly tell you that believing in God is more than mere lip service you pay. FAITH is walking with God, trusting in Him completely. I will hold my head high in the Glory of Faith!

When you can be broken to shards and put yourself back together, that is Faith carrying you. If you remain broken, it is because your lips move but God can’t hear what you’re saying. Talking the talk and walking the walk are two totally different things.

May God Bless you as you walk beside Him. May you find the season wrought with joy and harmony. May you find happiness in the miracles. He has faith in you, why not have FAITH in him? If you are blind, may the miracle of Christmas allow you to SEE!

continued tomorrow...

Poetry Sunday ~ What is Love, Comfortably Me

What Is Love?

All rights reserved: copyright © Joni Zipp
There's more to love than meets the eye.

Give it wings and it will fly.

Sow it in the richest soil,

a tree burst forth with little toil.

Hold it in the palm of your hand,
mold it, shape it so it will stand.
Drop it in the widest sea;
it will flow through you and me.

Make it an instrument and it creates song,
carry you gently your whole life long.
Release it to the fragrant air;
surely it finds a heart to snare.

Give it freely, if for no reason.
It takes the form of the changing season.
Breathe it in and it will seep,
into your soul for you to keep.

Plant it firmly within your heart,
the seed of love will never part.




Comfortably Me
All rights reserved: copyright © Joni ZippAmber beauty or so I am told.
Brazen brilliance; blatantly bold.
Winsome and witty, cautiously carefree.
An astounding vessel for none to see.

Embedded in the embryo of time.
Richly rooted in rhythm and rhyme.
Often listed as strangely weird.
Life’s complexity creatively seared.

Whisked into a whimsical tomb.
Daunting spirits frequently loom.
Captured in a subtle seed.
Lost amid humility’s deed.

Scattered along the ocean floor,
There I lay an unopened door.
Gracefully flowing in the rhapsody of sea;
my shell is my own, I'm comfortably me.


Copyright ©Joni Zipp