NOTE: “Christian Fiction Rocks” Winner Below AND New Contest!
Embracing what God does for you
is the best thing you can do for Him.
—Romans 12:1, Message Bible
What? Somehting I can do for God? To make Him happy, to bless Him, to express my love to Him and convey just how important He is in my life? Wow, sounds pretty simple, doesn’t it? But what exactly does it mean to “embrace”?
1 em·brace, verb \im-ˈbrās\: To accept (something or someone) readily or gladly.
Mmm … so when God gives me something or does something for me, I’m to accept readily and gladly? Still doesn’t sound too hard.
Until I think about Christmases with my daughter after she hit those dreaded teens. Trust me, the old adage “it’s better to give than to receive” did not apply here because suddenly, I couldn’t buy a Christmas present she’d like to save my soul. Of course, all she wanted were clothes, but finding something she “readily or gladly accepted” was a little bit like winning the lottery. Which, by the way, I never did.
And trust me, I tried. One year I scoured her closet and studied what she liked, then went to her favorite store and picked out similar items.
Eerrrrrrnnnnntttttt!! She took everything back.
The next year, Keith and I scoped out a young salesgirl at Amy’s favorite store who was dressed very hip or cool like young people like to dress, so we figured we couldn’t go wrong, right? We had her pick out just about everyone of Amy’s presents that year.
Eerrrrrnnnnnntttttt!! She hated everything and took it all back.
Finally, I thought I’d found the winning combination, and I must admit, it came close. I would pay her best friend to buy all of her Christmas presents each year, and I think there was a 50-75% success ratio depending on the year, which is pretty darn good. Because you see, poor Amy can’t fake liking a present to save her soul either, so on those rare occasions (and we’re talking lottery-winning rare) when her face would light up over a present we’d given, I gotta tell you—it felt like I had won the lottery.
So this morning, when I read the Scripture quote above—embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for Him—I suddenly understood in some small way just how important it is to God that we readily and gladly accept His gifts and blessings. To let Him know as His children just how much we appreciate what He has done for us. And not just appreciate it, mind you, but to “readily and gladly accept” it.
And not just the obvious blessings either, like a close parking space, good news in the mail, or losing two pounds. No, I mean accepting the life, the path, and the direction He has given each of us—readily and gladly—knowing that He “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” —Jeremiah 29:11
The rest of our Scripture quote above goes like this:
Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping,
eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—
and place it before God as an offering.
Embracing what God does for you
is the best thing you can do for Him.
Our lives. Whatever they may be. Whatever they may not be. To readily and gladly accept them as a gift from a God Whose whole plan hinges on blessing us, loving us, saving us. Kind of “Father Knows Best,” if you will.
Because He does.
Hugs and Happy Weekend!
Julie
YOU DID IT!!
Because many of you took the time to vote in my “CHRISTIAN FICTION ROCKS” CONTEST, I am beyond thrilled to tell you that Surprised by Love made FamilyFiction’s Top Ten Novels of 2014!! MEGA THANKS to each of you who voted and be sure to check out the entire list HERE.
Deep Breath!!
The winner of that contest winning FIVE TOP CBA BOOKS (including one of mine if they like) is (drum roll, please …):
NANCY McLEROY
SUPER CONGRATS to Nancy—I will be in touch with you soon.
I cannot thank you guys who voted for me enough, but you know what? I’m going to try. At least for three randomly selected winners!
If you voted in the Family Fiction Magazine contest, let me know through my website HERE, and I will enter you in a random drawing for one of three copies of a PDF of either Mitch and Charity’s Christmas novella, A Whisper of Hope from the Hope for the Holidays Historical Collection OR … ta-da! … a PDF of Blake “The Rake” McClare’s (the rogue brother and cousin in the Heart of San Francisco Series) very own novella to be released this spring, entitled Grace Like Rain.
VALENTINE’S CONTEST!
HELP!!!
This is it—my first FREE DOWNLOAD ever—for my award-winning indie novel, A Light in the Window, TUESDAY THROUGH SATURDAY, 2/10-14, so I need your help spreading the word!!
A Light in the Window is the winner of the 2013 International Digital Award, 2013 Reader’s Crown Award, and the 2013 Book Buyers Best Award and currently has 178 five-star reviews on Amazon and a 4.7 rating, so check out the video starring my daughter for a sneak peek here: ALITW VIDEO.
So … because I need your help in spreading the word (and downloading the book if you haven’t already), I am implementing another contest this week only to promote free downloads. Points will be awarded every day you promote the sale on Facebook, Twitter, your blog, with family, friends, wherever. CONTEST BEGINS FEBRUARY 10, so just check out the Rafflecopter box below at the very bottom of this post and GOOD LUCK!!
“THE PERFECT KISS”
BLOG GIVEAWAY!
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 2015:
Just in time for Valentine’s Day!! Join me in Seekerville when I give my perspective on THE PERFECT KISS with a giveaway of any of my books, including a paper copy of the Charity and Mitch novella or my upcoming Blake “The Rake” McClare novella coming this spring. Here’s the link — hope to see you there!
http://seekerville.blogspot.com/
UPCOMING SPRING RELEASE!
COMING SPRING 2015 … a novella about Blake “The Rake McClare” from the Heart of San Francisco series, so check back for when and where.
