Blog Archives

Fixing or Faulting?

8/31/2017

I have a question: why is it that Joel Olsteen and President Trump are the only people who can help the victims in Texas? From the kvetching I see on social media, you’d think these two individuals are the only ones who can do anything about it. There’s plenty of blame, finger pointing, and “they outta be doing more!” and “their excuses are lame and their leadership is a lie!” all over the place. But what are the people making these accusations doing to help? Are they doing anything? Or are they fault finding and spreading more anger all over the Internet to get attention?

I believe this is a relevant question, because I’ve seen a lot of this in my personal life lately. I hear a lot of talk about what should happen, but they want other people to make it happen. I’ve been in prayer and had several conversations with people about this, and it came to me that it boils down to laziness: they want others to act on their fear or expectations, but they don’t want to do anything to promote their vision. In fact, the people I talked to complained of experiencing the same thing. I even overhead somebody talking on the phone, and they hit at the heart of the matter when they said “If you know how to fix it, why don’t you fix it instead of complaining about it?”
That conversation ended quickly, and it’s time for many others to end too. Especially online!
You have no idea what the Lord has put on other peoples’ hearts. You may be talking about helping the victims in Texas, when the Lord is telling the person you’re talking to that they really need to help their co-worker in the next cubicle who’s struggling. And that’s the point: we’re too quick to assume that what I feel should be done isn’t what everybody needs to be doing. Remember that popular adage that we’ve found the center of the universe, and it isn’t you (or me, or anybody). It’s a big world out there full of need, and it’s impossible for one person to be responsible to do everything. My job is to be obedient to the prompting on my heart, and to trust others to do the same – and this is the same for everybody under the sun. When we get into telling others what to do, we’re stepping outside of our domain and trying to play God in somebody elses’ life.

I think this is the reason why there’s so much anger and frustration all over the place. People don’t feel respected, and sadly, not everybody has the same capacity to brush it off and realize that it’s not really about them, and that other peoples’ missions aren’t their problem. If somebody is in your face to do something in contradiction to what you feel is your purpose, then it’s their problem to demonstrate how it’s in alignment with your purpose and you don’t need to take it personally or worry about it. If they can’t do that, perhaps they’re talking when they should be acting instead of depending on you to do what they should be doing.

Here’s a truth: when you get bossy, then you’re shirking your responsibility, and handing the power to them. That person now holds the keys to the kingdom. If they decide it isn’t their purpose, they can simply ignore it, and if other people are too lazy to more than nag, then it goes away. Simple as that. It’s not a smart thing to do. How can you take control of your life when you relinquish it to others?

We all have things on our heart, and should be obedient to act on them. Perhaps we are prompted to give a word in season to others, but it’s critical to use the gift of discernment to make sure you’re planting seeds instead of handing them to others and telling them to tend to the planting and harvest. We do this by exploring our motives, to make sure they’re pure and right. This will keep us from getting out of our business and pushing our fear and desires on others when we shouldn’t. Remember, actions speak louder than words, and people are always watching so be unique and act your conviction. Words are everywhere folks, but action is much more rare.

And before you say “Sherri, you’re a hypocrite for giving advice on not giving advice!” well – you read this blog, didn’t you? You have a choice whether to take this as the word in season I mean it to be, or to take offence and get mad. And that’s the great thing about advice that this all boils down to: you can take it, or leave it.

That’s all today. Take care. Have a Happy Friday tomorrow and a wonderful weekend.

Bye!

Expecting the Best (or, I've Upped My Standards So --)

8/24/2017

One thing that’s pretty clear to me with mine and Rick’s birthdays this week is that a lot of people are fearful of aging. Or at least, I assume that they are, because it seems that from comments made that they want us to either feel bad, or to be scared of getting older. Well, speak for yourself, because I’m proud to have made it this long, and I feel better than I ever have.

I’d say speak for yourself, but what people say is a 100% reflection on them, so truly they are speaking for themselves, because I don’t accept this fear of aging. I choose to celebrate fullness of life, and to be happy about what I’ve accomplished and excited about what lies ahead.

Here’s a question I’d like to pose: why do people have a problem with expecting the best? Why is everything about being afraid of what might happen, or of loss? Why don’t we hold on to our youthful enthusiasm of hope for the future, instead of growing to fear it? I know we’ve all heard that at least 90% of what we worry about never comes to pass, which means all of that fear and fretting are wasted mental energy over a lie. I don’t have time for that, and neither do you.

I’ve heard the “be realistic” speeches. Here’s reality: I’m in better health now than I was in my teens through 30’s, because I finally learned the importance of taking care of myself. I don’t get sick nearly as much (knock on wood), and I feel better than I ever have physically and mentally – so phooey on falling apart in your 40’s. It doesn’t have to be that way. We are prepared for future possibilities, but as Dad says, anything can happen, and worrying won’t change that. And that anything has as much capacity for good as it does for bad. You can wear yourself out with worry, or plan and then move forward hoping for the best. I choose expecting the best. It feels better, and it seems that life is easier and flows better that way.

Believe me, I know reality. Life kicked my butt up one way and down the other in my mid to late 30’s, and I truly learned the meaning of “all I fear has come to pass.” But you know what else I learned during those years? That a bad attitude made it worse. My anger and worry did nothing but make the problems bigger, which meant they lasted longer. In short, I sabotaged myself, and that was a complete waste. I could have handled things better and come out of that season faster if I realized sooner that fixing the world around me was directly connected to fixing myself. People kept telling me to get my crap together, and eventually I got disgusted enough that I did it – much to their surprise (and offense to some). I upped my standards so, as the saying goes, up yours.

I had to get that out. It’s been building up over years of working hard to get myself in order while clearly seeing that those who criticized me demonstrated that they don’t have the ability to follow their own advice. Sometimes, you have to get those frustrations out so you can move on. Ok, that one’s out, so here we go back on the sunny side --

My life isn’t perfect. There are still nasty surprises, unforeseen circumstances, and jerks around. But I have chosen to focus more on blessing and harvest than on anxiety and despair. My great aunt’s favorite Bible verse was Romans 8:28 that we know that all things work together for good to those who love the Lord. Well, I do love the Lord, and I choose to believe that even the unpleasant things can work out for good in the end. And here’s the catch: the end isn’t here yet. While I breathe, I hope, and I still have more good years ahead with many exciting people and adventures. So no, I won’t live in fear of getting older. I'm filled with hope and excitement for the future. Heck, I’ve always been a late bloomer. I’m just getting good and started! Lasting things take time for preparation before manifestation, and I believe a breakthrough is here!

You can’t prove happiness; you can only reflect it through words and actions. And what I see around me is a lot of fear. I’m sorry, folks, but I do understand because I’ve been on a 10 year journey to overcome the worry demon myself. I just couldn’t live like that anymore. Joy on the Journey, the sequel to Battleground Earth that I’m working on, addresses many of these issues that drag people down, and how I’ve learned to handle them through prayer, Biblical study, wisdom through life experience, and therapy. I see now that the world desperately needs this book, and I’m going to bring it to completion after I publish the last book of The Earthside Trilogy, in 2018 or 2019, if the Lord wills. In the meantime, if you need a guide on how to improve your mind, I highly recommend The Secret, The Power, and Own Best Friend. These books changed my perspective, and are in line with many other titles I’ve read (Christian and secular) on the power of positive thinking.

That’s all today. Take care. Have a Happy Friday tomorrow and a wonderful weekend.

Bye!

What You Don't Know

8/21/2017

Timing is a funny thing. It’s ironic that my devotional today, the day after probably the two biggest Game of Thrones shockers ever, was on how preparation are done in secret, but manifestation is often a big surprise to the people around you.

This is true. How many times have you had the oh sh** moment when you learned that the person or thing you took for granted – or let go of – was the one thing you needed the most? It happens. And while Littlefinger’s advice to Sansa Stark a few episodes back that “everybody is your friend; everybody is your enemy” seemed like paranoia in excess, there was some wisdom at least in acknowledging that you may not know as much as you think you know, and to expect anything.

We thought nothing could kill a dragon, until a well thrown magical ice-sphere by the Knight King took Viscerion down (it looked like the green dragon, which would be him). And while I at least suspected that the Knight King had or would have an ice dragon, I never imagined he would take one from Daenerys. We knew the Knight King was bad, but not THAT BAD. Oops. Then again, plenty of foreshadowing was there, but just as in real life, sometimes we’re so set in our mindsets that we don’t see the signs that perhaps we’re wrong, and are shocked to find out we are. It just goes to show that nothing is impossible, and this can work for good or ill. We’d be wise to remember that we don’t know it all, and to not be too sure of things.

The other shocker wasn’t as obvious to us, because we saw it developing through the series. We knew Arya was training to become an assassin – but Sansa didn’t. To her (and everybody else in Winterfell), Arya was the insignificant baby sister who wouldn’t fall in line. When she returned, they figured nothing had changed and she was still a minor nuisance to be managed, but we knew that was no longer the case (if it ever really was). We know Arya worked long and hard to become what she was, and had used her skills to avenge her family by wiping out House Frey. We know Arya’s powerful, and now that realization is horrifying those who assumed that she was doing nothing more than taking up space. What’s more, is what Sansa and Littlefinger discovered is just the tip of the iceberg. Oops. And how many times have we been surprised to find out that somebody wasn’t who we thought they were? Or that we needed them, but they didn’t need us because we’ve dismissed them until they learned they’re better off without us? That can be scarier than the unexpected. To find out that somebody who you dismissed as nothing is significant in ways you didn’t realize can be more terrifying than a dragon incinerating your army. Relationship shockers are more devastating than circumstances. And this is a more likely threat in our “I’m so busy!” world that’s quick to dismiss anything that isn’t immediately relevant, and where everything comes down to WIIFM (“What’s in it for me?”).

My devotional hit the nail on the head this morning. Most things do develop in the little things of the humdrum of everyday, and we’re surprised in the BOOM of manifestation, when in reality it’s been building up for a long time and we’ve been too busy to notice the signs. We’d be wise to be more like Brandon Stark who, as the Three Eyed Raven, knows all of this, but only reveals what’s relevant to dealing with the “big picture” so people will act toward the greater good instead of getting bogged down in petty things that they don’t know how to decipher.

You never know if what you know is true. This means anything is possible, which can be good, or bad. It’s up to us to keep our minds and eyes open for potential, especially in places where it might not be expected.

Use it for good, folks.

That’s all today. Take care, and have a great week.

Bye!

2.5 Minutes

8/20/2017

For 2.5 minutes tomorrow, I pray that we can forget our rage, fear, and hate. I pray that worldly chaos will fall behind it's own shadow while we observe a miracle of the universe that we live in. I pray that the light that emerges after this 2.5 minutes of darkness will bring the perspective of the unfathomable reaches of creation, and the light of what a blessing it is to be a part of this magnificent creation. Sure, we'll go back to our sufferings, complaints, and protests. That's human nature, and it's impossible to overcome without Divine intervention while we live in this world. But for at least 2.5 minutes, I pray that we can overcome it to realize that we are a part of something much bigger than we can imagine, and that love and kindness will reach across that picture a lot more than the selfish fear that we so often see on the ground around us. For 2.5 minutes, we'll look up, not down or around - and perhaps we should take that as a lesson on how to live from here through eternity.

Happy viewing, folks, and have a great week.

What the Eclipse Is - And Isn't

8/19/2017

Eclipse mania is running wild in Columbia, SC! Tomorrow, millions of people will know why we're referred to as "famously hot" as they flock here to view a once-in-a-lifetime astronomical event. Today, I'd like to talk a bit about what the eclipse is, and isn't:

The eclipse is an exciting astronomical event. Truth is, they happen all the time, but it's rare for a full eclipse to pass over so many populated areas. The swath it's cutting across the United States really is amazing. So I see why all the excitement.

The eclipse is not the wrath of God or the end of the world. It's a shadow, folks. They happen all the time - this one is just bigger and more rare than most. If anything, the eclipse is an example of the wonderful universe that God created, and the amazing things that happen in it all the time that we don't see. If this is happening here, can you imagine the wonders out there? Too bad NASA isn't better funded --

The eclipse is a once in a lifetime event - and it happens to fall on Rick's (my husband's) birthday! Happy birthday, Rick! All of this excitement on your big day! Yay!

The eclipse is not the harbinger of the strange or paranormal. I do have one favor to ask of my South Carolina readers on Monday. IF YOU SEE THE LIZARD MAN, KEEP IT TO YOURSELF. Please, no. People go there every time they have a chance, and it makes us look like stupid rednecks. Let's not do that. I know Monday is some kind of anniversary of his first sighting but please, let that crap go. This is something amazing and different. Be classy, folks.

One more note to those of you coming to South Carolina to view this amazing event: fall is coming to some places already. This isn't one of them. We do have four seasons: November, December, January, and summer. We're in the "bowl" between the Atlantic Ocean and the Smoky Mountains, meaning humidity gets all too real and summer lasts a LONG time (which is alright by me; I don't like the cold). It's been in the high 90's with heat index in the 100's. If it really cools down 20 degrees when the eclipse happens, then we may quit sweating for two and a half minutes! Otherwise, it'll be more like the video below.

I just wish people were always this excited over space. If they were, then perhaps we'd have made it to Mars by now. Then again, Mars is on the opposite side of the sun right now in case you're wondering, which you probably weren't because nobody's paying attention to that right now - or the Cassini space craft going into degrading orbit at Saturn. I wish there were more interest in space outside of scifi but alas, it is what it is, and we're focused on our problems right here on this rock. If it doesn't come to us, we don't see it. Aliens could land and we wouldn't know it until they were here - oh wait, I wrote that story and Book 3 is coming out next winter!

That's all today. Take care, have a great weekend, stay cool, be careful out there, and enjoy this historical event - and Rick's birthday!

Bye!

Why I Don't Discuss Currents Events

8/14/2017

Because, as a friend at church so eloquently put it recently, opinions are like buttholes: they stink.

That’s what it really boils down to. It’s not that I don’t care; it’s that I took to heart the advice that my high school psychology teacher gave me before graduation. That advice is that are two issues you can’t discuss without eventually getting into an argument, so it’s best to stay away from them until you really know people: religion and politics. I’ve found that this is true, and you’ve seen the evidence all over social media after last year’s Presidential campaign. People are firm in their beliefs when it comes to their faith and political leanings, and will staunchly defend their opinions. The problem is that opinions are subjective, which means that to somebody, somewhere, yours will fall into the butthole category. Sorry, but you aren’t the center of the universe, and who can say whose right? It’s a big world out there and remember the lessons we learn from fiction: everybody has justification for their beliefs and actions. The villains don’t believe they’re the villains because in their mind, their intentions are as noble as anybody else’s’. And, as I pose in so much of my writing, who’s to say who’s the bad guy?

That’s just it: both sides believe they’re right and you aren’t going to talk anybody out of what they want or how they think. We’re all entitled to our opinions, no matter how good or bad they smell to others. The key is using discernment in when, if, and how to share them. And frankly, there are enough people talking on Twitter and Facebook that there’s no point wasting my voice in the conundrum of noise there anyway. As an evangelical Lutheran, a political moderate, and a writer, my opinion is sure to piss off people on both sides of the issue. In fact, the only place my opinion seems to be valued is in my fiction writing, on Goodreads, and in my Reader’s Favorite book reviews, once again proving my theory that drama is better placed in fiction, which makes it more entertaining than reality. Because nobody wants drama in real life. It makes for good entertainment in books, TV, and movies, but it sucks in reality. Better to see the reflection than the real thing. When crap gets real, that’s when it truly starts to stink up your whole life. No thanks. Keep the stink on the TV or Kindle screen, and freshen up reality with the sweetness of health, prosperity, joy, blessing, and favor.

So there you have it. Do I have an opinion on the threats of nuclear and race war? Absolutely, and I’ve discussed it with those closest to me who can handle it with appropriate discernment. But I’m not interested in adding to the stink out there. There isn’t enough Lysol in the world for the funk of opinions littering the airways, anyway.

That’s all today. Take care, and have a great week.

Bye!

Dear Universe - Declaring My Desires

8/9/2017

They say you should boldly declare your desires to the universe to move toward manifestation. I'm more a "Will of God" type myself, but I don't think it hurts to make what's on your heart known, especially if you do it in a unique and creative way. Today has been filled with so much hectic, chaotic energy, that writing a journal story about just that seems like a good idea. So I'll do this in my own style. Here, I share with you my journal story for the day. It's titled $1.40, and I hope you enjoy it.

$1.40
“You can’t be serious,” I glared at the soft drink machine in the office kitchen blinking VEND. “I use you once every three or four months, and you fail me now?”

I pressed the coin return plunger. No response.

“Great, I barely had enough change for that!” I said, kicking the machine. It had been a hell of a day, and of course the vending machines decided to act more like slot machines today – and obviously, I lost!

Smoke swirled around the machine. A small man in a robe and turban appeared.

“Hi Sherri, I’m the genie of the overworked and underappreciated. I’m here to grant you three wishes.”

"What?" I asked.

“Three wishes, before someone shows up. It’s your lucky day.” He glanced at the clock ticking loudly against the wall.
“And – go!”

“Ok! Bless and grant favor on my family, birds, and friends. Bless our homes and hearts.”

“An outstanding wish. Done. Second wish?”

“I want a breakthrough with my writing. Help it to succeed and for me to make a full time living off of it as a respected author with a trusted readership whose blessed and inspired by my books and stories.”

“You’ve worked hard on your writing for many years and are very talented. The world needs to see it and your breakthrough is granted. Third wish?”

I smiled. “A robot maid to clean the house, tend the yard, and cook our meals!”

“That’s an interesting wish. Done.”

“Wait, how do I know all of this is done?”

“Wait for it –“ he said.

My phone chimed with messages. I tapped my watch.

Credit Union Alert – Deposit alert! High balance deposited in your account.

Text – Sherri, this is Rick. Have you seen our bank account? I forgot all about this virus I’m getting over when I saw it. I feel great! I’m ordering pizza for supper. With this balance, I think we can afford breadsticks! By the way, there’s a robot cleaning the house. Zack and Chloe are screaming at it, and Bubbles is chasing it.

Email – Sherri, this is Netflix. We got your email from Amazon, where we saw your high book sales. We’re interested in making an original Netflix series out of The Earthside Trilogy. Reply if you agree and we’ll draw up a contract.

“Wow!” I hugged the genie. “Thanks, office genie!”

“No problem,” he mumbled against my squeeze. “You’ve worked hard for a long time and deserve to enjoy the fruits of your labor. Congratulations, Sherri. You haven’t been forgotten. You do have hope and a future. Everybody does.”
Smoke swirled as the genie drifted back into the machine.

“What about my drink?” I asked.

“You can’t have it all,” his voices wafted through the kitchen. “Enjoy your blessings.”

I shrugged as the kitchen descended into the hum of the lights and the ticking of the wall clock. Oh well, I couldn’t complain about the drink. I got a lot for $1.40 today!

What to Do With Failed Novels - Writer Advice

8/4/2017

I saw an interesting Goodreads post recently asking what to do with the fragment of story ideas that can’t be developed into a full blown novel. It’s an interesting question that writer’s have, because we often get a burst of a great idea, only to have it fall flat in the developmental stage. In pondering this question, I came up with a few ideas for what to do with those scraps of ideas that won’t leave you alone, and won’t develop either. Writer’s take note: novels aren’t your only publication option. Here are a few ideas to dust off those unfinished stories and put them to good use:

Keep a writing journal. This was the suggestion I posted on Goodreads, because I got the impression that it was a new writer posting the question and wanted to share this brilliant idea that I picked up from Pinterest earlier this year. The idea was to keep a journal, but instead of a traditional one, fictionalize an indecent that’s in your mind, and create a flash fiction or short story around it. I created a file on my computer for my writing journal with folders for each genre, because the idea really took off with me. I absolutely love it, because writers have so many flashes of inspiration, but not all of them are good enough for a story on their own, and this gives them an outlet. I save my short pieces by genre with a title and date, so I can go back to them if I get more ideas to develop them in the future which, incidentally has already happened, as I used a journal story from February for the prologue for The Tenth Dimension. Just because it doesn’t stand on it’s own doesn’t mean that you won’t find a purpose for it later, either to develop it more or to insert it as a scene in a bigger work.

Rewrite it as a novella, novelette, or a long story. This was another popular suggestion on that thread, with good reason. Quarantine and Resonance are fiction projects that are close to my heart, but I just couldn’t squeeze 50,000 words out of them. In time, I came to realize that not all stories are meant to go no. Some are compact and fit well in a shorter space all their own, and there’s a pretty good market especially on Kindle for these shorter works. Case in point: Hugh Howey’s Wool was a huge hit, and it logs in at around 10,000 words, so don’t discount the shorter stuff. See if you can simplify it into something more concise (eliminate rarely seen characters and flat secondary plots) and self publish it as a $0.99 tale to entice readers to check out your longer works (or to get a start in publishing and building an audience, if you’re just starting out). And FYI when new readers check me out, they often go for one of these shorter tales before investing in my full length novels.

Break it up into shorter pieces. If you’ve made significant progress and got stuck in the muddled middle, consider breaking the story into several different tales and posting them separately. A fiction tale can be divided into a series of related short stories, and a non-fiction tale can be broken down into shorter pieces as articles. I did this with my first failed attempt at writing a sequel to Battleground Earth – Living by Faith in a Pagan World back in 2005-2006. I had a draft of a full novel, but further reading and reflection made it clear that this was not a viable project and would need too much work to be publishable. Instead of scrapping it, I pulled the better parts from it into shorter devotionals that I submitted to magazines and websites, and many of those pieces were published. If it isn’t viable on it’s own, it may have a life as something different across several shorter works.

Not all ideas are great ones, but that doesn’t mean that something may not have a life of it’s own in a different incarnation. Don’t be too quick to give up when you get stuck. It may be that the idea that you started with has a life different from what you expected.

That’s all today. Have a fabulous Friday and a wonderful weekend.

Bye!

The Article That EzineArticles Rejected

8/2/2017

It's ironic - I submitted an article to Ezine Articles titled "Nice Girls Don't Write Scifi." It's about my experiences in publishing, and how Christian and fiction differ in surprising ways. I thought my unique perspective to be bold and courageous would be welcome.

They rejected it. The official reason was that it was "too much promotion," but I've dealt with these traditionalists enough to read between the lines to see what they really were telling me: tone it down.

Excuse me, but I think you missed the fundamental point of the article. It's supposed to be bold. It's supposed to expose uncomfortable truths. It's supposed to make you think, and perhaps even make you squirm a little.

This is why I'm a fiction writer, folks.

I guess they missed the final paragraph when I said that ebooks mean that writers don't have to beg for acceptance anymore. I certainly told them when I deleted it today that I was doing so because I intended to publish it, as is, in my blog. Yea, I have one of those, and nobody has a right to tell me to tone it down here. I'm nearly 42 years old, folks. If you haven't figured out by now that I'm laughing at your admonishments to settle down, then I'm not drawing you a picture.

And so, without further ado, here's the article that Ezine Articles wasn't comfortable with. I hope you enjoy it.

Nice Girls Don’t Write Sci-Fi

I started out as a Christian/inspirational writer, but switched to fiction in 2007. At first, it was an experiment to see if I’d like writing mystery and science fiction. I love reading these genres, and wanted to try my hand at writing them. Imagine my surprise when I found that people in the fiction were more gracious and supportive with one another than they were in the Christian field. In ten years of writing fiction, my fiction titles sold better, and I haven’t been criticized as harshly as I was during the three years that I wrote inspirational work. Editors, publishers, and readers were less judgmental and rude than they were in the field of Christian writing. It was ironic that I crossed paths with more of what people preached against inside the genre than outside of it!

I also have a tendency to express opinions that aren’t popular, which probably didn’t help. “Nice” is a word that has never been used to describe me. People tend to drift more toward words like “interesting” and “different.” That’s alright with me. I’m in my 40’s and have come to accept that I am who I am by the grace of God, and I don’t have to justify it or prove anything to anybody. People don’t realize that there are lions in the Kingdom along with the lambs. They don’t seem to know that dealing with the ugly people, situations, and emotions in life require action in addition to the prayer and supplication that they endorse. It seems the wider world has more patience with the shades of grey that permeate life than nonfiction does. What’s more, people take these messages indirectly a lot better than they do in a straight-forward matter. I’ve had more reactions, better sales, and better reviews from paranormal mystery and scifi than I ever enjoyed with Battleground Earth or the devotionals I published. It seems that people would rather read truth from a murder-mystery of the tragic consequences of a young woman fearing change (as in Move and Obsidian), or an alien invasion (as in The Earthside Trilogy) than in straight-forward advice on how to deal with fear, frustration, depression, anger, and grief in a way that leads to inspired action and getting your proverbial crap together.

There I go with those unpopular observations again. Then again, nice girls don’t write scifi. We live in a tough world, and sometimes the best way forward is to do something about the things that are causing problems in life. Sure, there are times for prayer and reflection. Timing is important, as is obedience to the Holy Spirit. But this isn’t a once-size-fits-all world, and different things call for different action. Sometimes, you have to set boundaries and stand by them. Sometimes, you have to be bold. Sometimes, you have to kick over convention and do something amazing and new to shock people out of the complacency of what they think they know to inspire new thinking and action. Sometimes, you have to be bold and courageous in ways that aren’t smiled on by tradition.

What’s right isn’t always what looks or feels right, and it takes a tremendous amount of discernment to know the difference. Our emotions can get us in trouble if we grant them more power than a measure of our thinking and reasoning. There are times when the Lord calls us to do a new thing, and it can be confusing. It can seem completely contradictory to what you know, because it isn’t comfortable. But sometimes, that’s exactly what we need: to get out of our comfort zone and shake up the world.

When life hurts, you can only take so much patting on the back and “the Lord has a purpose.” You have to move on to reflection and wisdom, and this takes action on your part. It’s alright to feel what you feel, but it isn’t alright to be held in bondage to it. You can’t be a lamb about all things. What you allow continues, and sometimes you need to breathe a little fire to burn off the chaff trying to take over your harvest of blessing. It’s alright. You can be bold and still be right. It’s a matter of motive and purity of heart.

I think this is where the lions have an advantage. Our higher energy and more direct approach to life are scary to some, but our contentment is undeniable. Still, we need advice on how to channel this energy correctly to make sure we don’t fall into dark territory. Mischief and silliness can be fun for a while, but it’s also close to a line that we don’t want to cross. Perhaps it would help if we were allowed a more gracious voice amongst the lambs so we can all find a balance.

Recently, I was inspired to write a sequel to Battleground Earth. I resisted it for a while because I was hesitant to return to a field that chastised me so harshly, and then I came to a realization: it doesn’t matter. I’m not a nice girl anyway; and if I can bring the supernatural forces, the apocalypse, and aliens to Earth, then the harsher scrutiny of the Christian/inspirational genre won’t be a problem. Fiction has helped me grow, and one thing I’ve learned is that this lion isn’t afraid to use her voice. That’s the good thing about the writing industry: it’s getting bigger everyday. I have to submit it to the publisher for Battleground Earth due to contractual issues, but if they reject it then I’ll be happy to self publish it, like I do everything else these days. Ebooks have removed the need to grovel for approval, which is a good thing because it increases options for readers. There’s room for everybody, and options for readers who want to hear what we have to share.