Dare to Dream

               Are dreams worth pursuing?  Can they be pursued? One of my favorite poems as a teenager had the line “Don’t be distracted by less worthy deeds.”

               Okay, maybe you’ve guessed by now that I love to write. Writing to me is like painting was to someone like Norman Rockwell. It gives the mundane, the obscure a new shot of life. Writing can and should give new insight and vitality to commonly held conceptions.

               And so I write. The problem is there is a whole tidal wave of other aspiring writers struggling to the top, seeking to be noticed. We have challenges that weren’t faced back in the 1950’s. When To Kill A Mocking Bird was written the editor ended up having more faith in Harper Lee’s book than she had herself. Apparently, in frustration, she threw the manuscript out the open window, but the editor encouraged her to gather up those fluttering pages and try, try again.

Who helps us? Self-Publishing has gotten a bad rap from people, ya, like me, who read their manuscripts a ‘thousand’ times and become blind to the ‘million’ little typos that glare at them after the book is off the press. UHH! Who wants to read that? Not even me.

BUT we put a tremendous amount of work into it. BUT we are sure are ideas are great: if the reader can see past those awful typos: if there was a way to struggle against the human tide of other writers who are also flooding the market. Ever feel that way? Unless you are smugly holding the key to success that I haven’t found yet, of course, you do.

And so fellow writers what are we going to do?  I know for a fact I will continue to write because I love to, and those earlier disgraces haven’t thrown me into despair. Fact is I redid Mary’s Diary, Jesus through His Mother’s Eyes because I believe in it, and now the present copy is far better than the first.

I’m doing the same with Two Mothers and Twin Daughters. I can’t believe how enriching an experience it is to rewrite a favorite story after the earlier (humiliating) publication several years ago.

Okay, I admit I’m just a little old oyster polishing, polishing that pearl inside me, but maybe someday you and I can, like Anna Pavlova, the famous dancer, learn the true meaning of success. Do you know what she said? Here is my paraphrase:

Success is having people loving what you do.

Just so you don’t forget my name, I’ll sign it. : )

Marilyn Friesen

P.S. I’ve started a new series called Grace’s Dilemma. The first book is Two Mothers, Twin Daughters. It should be out soon.

Have you read any of my other books yet? Check them out on my website. www.marilynshistoricalnovels.com

Don't Come into my heart, Lord Jesus

Faced a difficult situation last night. You know what that's like.Someone we love dearly had gotten offended at us and I felt helpless to heal the breach. What, oh what could be done to remedy the situation? With tears and a breaking heart I told my husband it felt like love just wasn't enough when you're raising children. Then they asked us over. It was a tentative step forward on their part, and oh I hated the thought of messing things up by saying or doing the wrong thing. That's when it came to me that I didn't want Jesus in my heart because it was so scrawny and mean and narrow but I wanted to be in His heart so that His love could flow uninhibited right through me.

Please pray for me, for us. 

www.marilynshistoricalnovels.com

Surely He Escaped Such Treatment!

Surely Not!

“He’s such a no-it-all!”

“He’s always thought he was better than us.”

As Jesus walked towards His childhood home he had been hungry, enthused to lay aside his tools for the day and enjoy a good supper. The aromas had assailed him as he strode towards the house. Now his appetite left Him. Jesus instinctively knew they were talking about him again.

Jesus thought briefly of turning back and not eating, but no, that would be cowardly, and His mother would get upset.

With a barely suppressed sigh, he entered the cottage.

James glowered at Him. “Well, you took long enough. The lentils are getting cold, why do we always have to wait for you?”

               “Ya,” Simon chimed in, “You think you are so important that we all can wait.”

               Jesus could have told them that wizened, old Aaron ben Yosef, who was getting forgetful, had wandered away from his home and was frightened. Jesus had taken him back to his son’s place even though it was across town.  It had taken much longer than expected because Aaron was distracted so easily.

Why tell them? They weren’t interested anyway.

               Even Mary looked unhappy as she thumped His bowl of lentil soup on the table in front of Him.

It was his duty as the eldest Son to lead n prayer now that their father had passed on.

He paused, trying to corral his troubled thoughts.

               Simon's head jerked up. “Well?”

               Jesus smiled gently at his brothers then turned to the next in age.

               “James, why don’t you pray today?”

               James’ eyes widened then he quickly mumbled a, a something, they assumed it was a prayer before reaching across the table for the bread.

               Only his little sister, Lydia, looked at him with loving concern. Jesus knew she still adored him, but when the meal was over, he didn’t have the heart to play with her when the others were so unhappy with him.

               Instead of sitting in the house after the meal and reading the Torah as Jesus had originally planned, Jesus took a long walk through the arid countryside and poured out his heart to His Heavenly Father.

biblehub.com/john/7-5.htm

biblehub.com/hebrews/4-15.htm

www.ebooks.com

 Marilyn Friesen

Have You Been to Jericho Lately?

The crowds were immense, but then when weren’t they? In seemed like everywhere that Jesus went the people followed. One man couldn’t though, he was too little. I don’t know if he was a pygmy, exactly, but he was having a hard time getting close to Jesus or even spotting him so what did he do? He hurried ahead of the mob entering into Jericho and scrambled up into a sycamore tree. Possibly, in order to keep his dignity intact, he concealed himself among the leaves. Most of the crowd wouldn’t have paid much attention to him, if they noticed him at all, but not Jesus, He is keenly aware of those that are seeking Him.

Are we? When we as Christians hurry down the streets of life, do we notice those up a tree, possibly in more ways than one, who are observing us, wondering if we can help?

Do we have a warm word of encouragement for them, an invitation to come down because we want to be their friend?

Jesus’ words: “love thy neighbour as thyself” is full of deep meaning.

Luke 19:1-10

www.marilynshistoricalnovels.com

Do You Want to Ride a Cheetah?

Have you ever wondered why God planted a tree in the Garden of Eden and then told Adam and Eve not to eat of it? Did He really expect them to obey Him, and if not why did He test them like that? 

Let's picture that garden for a moment. It must have been vast, really huge to hold all the vegetation and animals known to man and many others that have since gone extinct. We come across pictures from time to time of some artist's lovely concept of what Eden may have been like but at the best, they are such a tiny glimpse. 

Hey, all those majestic animals and happy-go-lucky creatures needed plenty of room to roam, for example, they certainly weren't fenced in. If someone would have been wandering around for a week, or a month even making a movie of all the splendid sights and showing us how marvelously, intelligently and yes, playfully the various creatures got along then we would begin to understand what an incredible gift that first earthly home was.  

So why did He plant one tree with forbidden fruit? I wonder how long it took them to find it, or if they would have even bothered if that Serpent hadn't whispered the suggestion to them. I don't think we can begin to imagine how interesting, and yes fun it could have been in that garden, then at the end of the day they would run to their Father-God and tell Him about another new discovery they had made while He smiled benevolently at them and explain, oh this that and the other thing, or maybe they would just chat. 

So why did He plant that tree? Well, why shouldn't He have? He delighted to see them make choices: "What shall we do today, Adam, race across the meadow on the back of a cheetah or see if any more of those striped eggs have hatched?" Have you ever noticed how good it feels to make the right choices? For example 'I'm glad I took the time to listen, really listen to the children today and read an extra story or two when they asked.'  

  He did not make it easy for them to eat of the ‘apple’ by starving them or plunking them in a dry and barren environment. He gave them plenty of alternatives to chose from but He loved them too much to just create them as robots so after a warning not to do one, and only one forbidden thing, He let them loose to enjoy His beautiful gift which included happiness, beauty, fun, fellowship and an opportunity to bond with Him forever.

It was their choice. We all suffer the consequences of our decisions but He still tries to draw us back into that beautiful fellowship with Himself.

There's a cool deal going on right now. The twenty-fifth person to purchase any one of my books gets to stay at Hollyhock Haven Bed and Breakfast free for one night. Hollyhock Haven is in a serene country setting in northern Alberta and can be found on Air BnB. 

There is one hitch though: the offer closes in December and that's coming up faster than you may think. www.marilynshistoricalnovels.com

Shaking, Slipping or Cursing?

Some of us are safe, but sure don’t feel like it at times. The night is dark and the storm rages all around, white, frothing waves are lashing against the rock where we have found shelter and some of the spray hits me, causing me to tremble. I am afraid; the storm is terrible will it sweep me off the rock? I hope not, but I see others clinging onto little jutting out areas and wonder how they will ever manage to hang on.

               Those up higher have found a sheltering cleft. No, it doesn’t keep us completely dry and although the wind reaches us, we needn’t fear being swept off the rock, but what about the others lower down? Why didn’t they get as close to the top of the rock and find a hiding place?

               The answer is sad: they found it too boring, it had been exciting, before the storm came, to be as close to the waves as possible, some even leaped in and swam around for a short while. But what about now? They are hanging on for dear life.  Someone is calling to them but the voice faint, tossed around by the mighty gale. Some of them looked up and reached for the rope offered and found safety, but I knew once the storm died down they would be soon dabbling in the ripples once again.

               As a shout came across the waves, I braced myself and leaned forward: was it a shout for help? No, someone, no, a whole boatful of passengers were cursing and shaking their fist at the rock. They were blaming the rock for the trouble they were in!

               The rock is Jesus, the sea is the world; there are many storms all around us. Where are you?

www.marilynshistoricalnovels.com

Did Jesus Play Catch?

Can you picture the scene: a sunny day, perhaps very early in the morning because there doesn’t seem to be too many people around.  The sun is gleaming off the white washed stone dwelling nearby and on the rocks at our feet. We are observers, onlookers and unwilling to get too involved. Jesus is walking on Solomon’s porch and we can hear Him well enough.

Hecklers who want to pick a quarrel with Jesus show up and we back up a little, sensing that trouble is fermenting.

Just a moment before you were getting this warm cozy feeling because the Master had said: “I give them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.”

A picture popped into your mind of the great, big, cupped hands of God. As long as you wanted to stay there, you were perfectly safe even if you were restless and easily distracted, He wouldn’t dump you.

Wait, those religious leaders were objecting---to that? Yup, they didn’t like the implication of power, of being one with God that Jesus is declaring.  They don’t want to listen, let alone obey him, and so what do they do? ‘Then the Jews rushed over to where you were standing and picked up stones again to stone Him. John 10:13.’

I got this warm, little image in my mind of Jesus catching the stones hurled at him and casually dropping them while He continued talking. “Many good works have I showed you from my Father: for which of those works do you me?”

He didn’t let the stones hurt Him, and He didn’t take credit for His ministry of healing in love.

When insults are hurled our way whether real or imagined, let’s just catch the stones and toss them aside (NOT BACK!) and continue going about our Father’s business.

www.marilynshistoricalnovels.com

A Letter to My Younger Self

Dear Child,

I know what happened; I was there. Your innocent heart was like a rosebud, a pure white flower in a crystal vase. Then an evil hand came and smudged one of the petals. In your innocence, you were soon able to forget and go on with your play.  

You didn’t know this wasn’t normal, you didn’t know this was wrong but you kept it to yourself, why?

Maybe because it made you feel uncomfortable, maybe because you were afraid he would find out and get upset.  But it continued, one petal after another was smudged then crushed until one day the flower withered and died and the water of joy that had been feeding it had also drained away.

As a young child, you soon learned to be afraid of—him. By nature, you would have been carefree, but a shell that some called shyness was developing around you.

Time passed and you gradually became more aware of right and wrong. You saw younger children still carrying the beautiful bud of innocence but yours was gone, faded and dying. It was then you began to realise that the delicate vase that was in your heart had also been crushed and the broken pieces were piercing you, causing much pain.

Is that the end: a broken heart, a dying flower?

It seemed like. In fact, the cuts festered over the years as you learned this was not normal and many were going through life happy because no evil monster had snatched away the flower of innocence and left a broken heart.

By now, those pieces have embedded deep into your heart but you observed others were acting ‘normally’ so pretended to do the same. How can a person be ‘normal’ when the slightest memory brings pain and bad experiences would cause the old wounds to start bleeding away?

How can you go on like this? But you did, year after year, you raised a family, had a caring husband …and prayed…

I keep ‘seeing’ the Great Physician hovering over me while I write; He wants me to remind you how He removed those crushed shards one by one and poured in the healing balm of love.

I know and am grateful for what He has done, but there are

others who are still suffering. Give your heart to Jesus let Him remove the broken pieces. It will not be easy but will sure be a lot easier than having them remain there.
I may have lost that flower of innocence at too young an age but it’s okay, now, because the Great Physician gave me what feels like a Garden of Eden in return

Why Did He Weep?

On a hill far away, stood an old rugged cross: have you ever heard that song? Do you know what it is referring to? I picture a dark scene with three raw-hewn crosses and a crowd, some mocking others weeping below. It’s not a very pretty scene and it is sad, very sad. 

Crucifixion was the cruellest form of death known to man, so painful in fact that the word excruciating is related to it. On the centre cross was an innocent man. Not only was He guiltless but He didn’t curse and swear and say all kinds of blasphemous words against the people that put Him there.

Why was He like that? Would you have been that forgiving? I sure wouldn’t! But He, God’s Son, came to earth for that very purpose. First, He went about doing all the good He could so that people would sit up and take notice that GOD IS LOVE.

There is a lot of things that God is not, even though people seem to think He is, but the one thing He is, is LOVE, and love covers so many areas…

Back to the cross on the hill, what do you think He was thinking? Among other things, I suspect He was heartbroken, not because He was being treated unjustly but because so few would accept His gift of salvation.

What? Salvation? What do we need to be saved from? We were born in sin, and because God is so perfect and full of love He could not have His beautiful Home in Heaven spoiled by bad attitudes, BUT He really, really wants us there!  He wants to save us from sin, which is what keeps us from having peace in our hearts.He wants us to be happy while here on earth, so Jesus, His Son offered to take our punishment so that we could live a life of freedom, peace, and joy.

Do you get what I mean? Have I explained it clear enough? Admit that you do wrong things and have bad attitudes; that you have sins ask Jesus to take them all away, and pray to Him every day so that He helps you to do what is right and not keep falling back into sin.

If you have any questions or desire prayer, meet me on Hang Outs. 
P.S. I thought of writing this post when it came to me that He must have been heartbroken that so very few people of all the millions ever born would ever truly love and serve Him. 

I guess God gave me that reminder because I try to write books that will bring honour and glory to Him and yet so few sell. He understands when we feel like we are failing.  

Journey 2017

May your spiritual journey bring you joy and fulfillment through Christ.