Blog – Page 8

What’s Wrong with This Picture?

February 11, 2016

At first glance, it may seem fine – coffee maker with green lights showing that the coffee is brewing. I had checked to be sure I remembered the filter, the coffee, and the water, and then pushed the brew button and walked away, unaware something was missing! I had forgotten to replace the carafe after rinsing it out.

A minute later, I walked back into the kitchen to discover a countertop covered with coffee full of loose, soggy coffee grounds. Water and coffee grounds had filled the basket and overflowed all over the inside of the coffee maker, and then onto the counter. The mess took 20 minutes to clean up. It could have been worse, of course, if I hadn’t discovered it so soon. But how nice it would have been if I’d been more focused on what I was doing before pushing the button.

A few days ago I shared how transposing two digits in my ZIP Code sent two boxes of books to North Dakota instead of Arizona, inconveniencing many people and using valuable time to correct the error. In response to that post, someone mentioned the saying, “The devil is in the details,” and I have been contemplating this. We don’t want to give the devil credit he doesn’t deserve. It could have been my own mind, racing on to the next thing before I had finished the task at hand.

On the other hand, we do have an enemy who lurks in the background, seeking opportunities to steal, kill, and destroy (John 10:10). By not focusing on the details, we give him an inroad. I’m convinced that both of my recent mistakes could have been avoided – did not need to happen – if I had been attentive to God’s voice. I’m sure he was trying to draw my attention to my mistake in both of those situations. He does it all the time, stopping me from doing dumb things. But in those two cases I wasn’t listening.

God wants our relationship with him to be so intimate that we are always aware of his still, small voice keeping us on the path and moving us forward. When we live this way, the devil will find it harder to weasel his way into those details. “Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you” (James 4:7-8).

Today Was the Day!

February 1, 2016

A Widow’s Might: The Secret of Finding Strength in God has officially been released! This book has the power to bless many people — but it can’t do a thing for them unless they read it. So please let your friends and family know about it. You can get it on Amazon in print or Kindle versions. I hope you’ll read it, too, and I would love to hear your feedback.

Little Foxes and Big Boxes

January 31, 2016

Have you ever made a dumb little mistake that ended up causing big trouble? Well, just the other day I did. Needing a new supply of Dewdrops of Grace books for some upcoming book signing events, I went online to the publisher, an Amazon company, and ordered 100 copies. Wanting them sent to Arizona and not Illinois, I called the helpline to assure that I had left no stone unturned in the change-of-address process. I double-checked again, right before clicking “Place Order,” to be sure the shipping address said Mesa, Arizona.

The day the books were supposed to arrive, they didn’t. The next morning I realized they hadn’t come, so I checked the tracking on the computer, where I was informed that my package was “not deliverable at this address.” I wasn’t sure whether to blame Amazon or UPS – surely I wasn’t at fault! A careful look at the shipping address on the UPS website revealed that instead of 85208 the ZIP Code read 58208. Well, somebody had obviously goofed!

When I checked my Amazon account, I saw that I was the guilty party. I had entered the incorrect ZIP code when I changed the shipping address. Through my carelessness, the two reversed digits had caused my two boxes of books to be sent to Fargo, North Dakota! Boy, did I feel like a dummy! I quickly corrected the information on the Amazon site. Then I called UPS, told them I had made the mistake, and asked, “Now what?” As it turned out, the boxes were about to be returned to Amazon. They said I had called just in time to rescue them, and they delivered them the next day.

There are undoubtedly lots of lessons in this little incident besides the importance of accuracy in ZIP codes. I was reminded of the scripture in Song of Solomon 2:15 where he says it’s the little foxes that spoil the vines. In the same way that two little digits could send two big boxes almost 1,800 miles away from their intended destination, even “small” sins can cause big problems in our lives if they aren’t dealt with.

The people at UPS weren’t mad at me, and God isn’t mad at us when we sin. He doesn’t even remember our sins (Hebrews 8:12). But we can’t just leave them sitting there. I had to change the ZIP Code in my Amazon account. I couldn’t leave it there, incorrect, and expect future packages to be delivered in a timely manner – if at all! Likewise, we need to go to God and admit our mistake, then we must turn and go a different way. Once we’ve dealt with it in this way, it’s over. We can walk in the freedom of knowing that we are forgiven (Hebrews 10:11-18). And now that I have fixed that little two-digit reversal thing, I can expect future shipments to arrive at the right place, and on time!

Page One Story

January 30, 2016

This is Page One of A Widow’s Might. The publisher sent it to me in October, and when I opened that e-mail I was really excited. We had settled on a cover design, and seeing that felt like real progress. But my first glimpse of what the inside was going to look like made my heart jump. Suddenly my 12-point Times New Roman double-spaced manuscript had been transformed, and I knew there really was going to be a real book! And now the whole thing – from cover to cover – is ready to meet the public. The release date is just two days away, Monday, February 1. You can see a free PREVIEW now by clicking, or PRE-ORDER at a discount price. The book is available on AMAZON, too, in Kindle and print versions. Surely you don’t want to stop at Page One! Just so you know, the real pages don’t have red borders!