Journal Jots – Blog

“Nothing great in the world

has been accomplished without passion.”

—Georg Wilhelm

WHEW … been a busy week, how ‘bout you?? Spent a good part of it staying with my sweet mother-in-law who is recovering from a fall, and talk about a labor of love! I LOVE this woman and quite frankly, there’s no “labor” involved whatsoever when it comes to spending time with her, God’s truth. But when I returned home again? Oh, yeah, lots of laundry, cleanup and writing tasks piled higher than the dust and the dishes! That said, I’m taking a free pass on writing a Journal Jot this week and revamping one of my old Seeker blogs below instead because honestly, it’s a subject near and dear to my heart and ALWAYS relevant.

PASSION. Don’t you just LOVE that word?? I have to say, it’s one of my all-time faves and apparently God thinks so too, because two years ago at an ACFW Conference, I attended a seminar of about 50-75 authors where at the end of it, the teachers — Allen Arnold from Thomas Nelson and Karen Ball from B & H Publishing — invited the authors up to the front to receive a diploma and a pretty cloth bag containing a polished stone with a word engraved on it. Each author got to select a bag, stone unseen, and you want to go ahead and guess what my stone said? Yep, you got it—PASSION!! I was so blown away, that I went up and asked Allen Arnold how many stones in the pile contained the word “passion.” “Only one or two,” he said. Coincidence? Yeah, probably … but I prefer to think of it as a smile from God. 🙂 So, without further ado, here is a blog I wrote a long time ago about my favorite word entitled “A Passion for Passion”:

Okay, yeah, big surprise—I’m writing about “Passion.” Why, you ask, other than the fact that I’m a hormonal Baby Boomer? Well, because it’s important—in our relationship with God, with our family AND in our writing.

Okay, I’ll admit it—there are times when my passion for my husband may wane a bit. Especially over his inability to sink a dirty T-shirt in the hamper when the man can swoosh a basketball through a hoop with his eyes closed. I mean, come on! What’s that all about?

But there are two areas where I unequivocally do NOT waver in my quest for passion: with God and in my writing. And, quite frankly, as Christian fiction writers or readers, that’s the way it should be. Because to me, nothing is better than the merge of passion for God with passion for romance. Kind of like hot fudge glazing vanilla-bean ice cream—God’s anointing makes our writing (or reading) all the sweeter, all the more “moan good.”

Now I wish I could claim the distinction of being the one who first pressed the limits of passion in Christian romance, but that honor belongs to God. Have you ever read “Song of Solomon”? YIKES! Keep a fan handy. That is one passionate account—of God’s love for Israel, His love for the Church, and in its pulse-pounding sensuality, a metaphor of just how crazy He is about each of us. Which got me to thinking. Why is passion so all-fire important to Him?

Good question. And one He makes no bones about in His Word. You see, I have this weird habit of writing favorite Scriptures (or ones that apply to current problems of mine) on index cards and carrying them around or tucking them as bookmarks into my Bible. And you know what I realized just the other day? Most of my index cards talk about passion and fervor for God! Check it out:

They sought God EAGERLY, and he was found by them. So the Lord gave them rest on every side. 2 Chronicles 15:15

And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe he exists and that he rewards those who EARNESTLY seek him. Hebrews ll:6

For the eyes of the Lord range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are FULLY COMMITTED to him. 2 Chronicles 16:9

The effectual FERVENT prayer of a righteous man availeth much. James 5:16

Eagerly. Earnestly. Fully committed. Fervent. Passion in all its glory. And it’s important to God, so it should be important to us. In Him … and in our lives.

So what does that mean? Well, for me, it means that before my fingers even shadow the keyboard, they need to shadow the pages of my Bible. And before one single, solitary e-mail is answered, I need to answer my God when He asks “Do you love me? Will you spend time with me?” And it means that before I lose myself in writing a love scene that will make me swoon, I need to first swoon over the Love of my life. Because without “passion” for Him, my passion is flat. So I pray—DAILY—for passion and fervor for God.

I truly believe that then—and only then—will my passion flow … for writing … for my family … and for the people in our lives who need to experience the passion of God rather than the polluted passion of the world. Because let’s face it—true passion in writing or living for Him comes, first and foremost, from passion FOR Him. It’s the hot fudge on the ice cream, the icing on the cake … and, without question, the joy in our heart! So as a lover of God, whatever you do — dig in and do it with passion!

LAST-MINUTE GIVEAWAY!!

As many of you know, come January I batten down the hatches and write, packing away all blog interviews/giveaways until the next book comes out. BUT one of my dearest reader friends AND the 2^nd place winner of my “Have a Character Named After You” review contest, Michelle Tuller, is wrapping up her 1-year blogaversary this next week, so I just couldn’t pass that up. Michelle is giving away A Passion Most Pure (with a signed book plate) and I am giving the same winner their choice of any of my other books, including Steven’s story next year, A Love Surrendered, PLUS winner’s choice of a top CBA book from my library. So if that appeals, stop by and say hey with a comment at:

http://sweettreatsandinspiration.blogspot.com/2012/01/happy-1-year-blogiversary-julie-lessman.html

Hope to see you there, and here’s to a PASSIONATE weekend in whatever you do!!

Hugs,

Julie

“Be strong and courageous. Do not fear or be in dread of them,

for it is the LORD your God who goes with you.

He will not leave you or forsake you.” 

—Deuteronomy 31:6

One of my older sisters once told me something my mom told her, but since my mom died when I was sixteen, I can’t confirm it, so I am getting this second hand. But apparently when I was a baby, my mom took me to a convent to see a friend of hers right after I was born. While Mom was holding me in the chapel area, an old nun walks up to her and peeks at the baby in her arms (me) and asks to hold me. Cradling me in her arms, she said something to the effect of: “Oh my, this child will lift up the Lord’s name one day.”

And yeah, I did. Uh … in vain, unfortunately. Most of you know that I was a wild child of the 60’s and 70’s before I came to the Lord at the age of 23, and trust me, I did my fair share of  “lifting up the Lord’s name” in a manner I am not very proud of today. But the good news is that my past is over and done and redeemed by the precious Blood of Jesus Christ, so thank God for His mercies that are new everyday.

Why am I telling you this? Because as our verse so carefully points out today, God “goes with us” and will never “leave or forsake us,” Not even when we turn away from Him or don’t acknowledge Him in our lives like I did for so many years. God has called me to write for Him—just like He called EACH of us according to our talents—to “lift up His name” in everything we say and do. The fact that He has been “hovering” over me since I was a baby and even “knew” me in my mother’s womb (“I knew you before I formed you in your mother’s womb. Jeremiah 1:5), following me through all the steps of rebellion where I didn’t even know if He existed or not, gives me goose bumps. There’s a really good reason that one of His names is “Emmanuel” or “God with us” … because He is! Always!!

So, what prompted this Journal Jot today? Well, it was one of my Scripture readings this week from Daniel 4:22-23. You know, the story about Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego being thrown into the fiery furnace because they wouldn’t bow down to the King’s God? It said in that reading that “the king’s command was SO urgent and the furnace SO hot that the flames of the fire killed the soldiers who took up Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego.” HOLY SMOKE — now that’s hot!! They were firmly tied up together and tossed in, and as you know, not a hair on their heads was scorched. But here are the lines that stopped me dead in my tracks:

 24 Then King Nebuchadnezzar leaped to his feet in amazement and asked his advisers, “Weren’t there three men that we tied up and threw into the fire?”

   They replied, “Certainly, Your Majesty.”

 25 He said, “Look! I see four men walking around in the fire, unbound and unharmed, and the fourth looks like a son of the gods.”

WOW!! Now THAT gave me cold chills because it was as if God was saying, “I am with you ALWAYS, Julie, even when you go through the fire.

The fire. Ah, yes, those awful times in our lives when we are tempted to give up, the times when our lives or our relationships hang in the balance, or when we or our loved ones are suffering with sickness, or any number of other heartbreaks bringing us down. He is THERE in the midst of it with us whether we know it or not. There whether we believe in Him or not.

Like the time when I was a rebellious and agnostic teenager walking home at 2:00 AM with my girlfriend? And a carload of guys we didn’t know squealed to a stop, hurling their car doors open to run after us? Yep, He was there with me when my girlfriend darted off in the direction of her house and I ran around the house of a widow neighbor who was hard of hearing, screaming my head off while two of the guys chased me, probably to throw me in the car for sport. Heart pounding and huffing like crazy, I sprinted for the neighbor’s front door, ramming my finger to the doorbell as the guys caught up with me on the front porch. Would you believe that deaf little old lady opened her door at that exact moment? Now I ask you—if you were a little old lady living alone, would YOU open the door at 2:00 AM in the morning?? And if you were sleeping AND hard of hearing, would you really get to the door that fast?? I rest my case. God was THERE on that porch with me, I know that now. He was there when those guys hightailed it to their car and sped away, and He was there when I cried myself to sleep that night.

Emanuel. God with us. And, oh honey, He WAS with us ten years ago during that awful time when a doctor told us he thought my son had cancer and I was having nightmares wide awake, seeing him in a coffin or myself standing by his grave. Trust me, it’s murder having a wild imagination, especially if you can’t turn to the God who will never leave you or forsake you. But HE was there, steadying me with His Word during one of the worst weeks of my life, and here’s the story and the healing Scriptures that got me through. http://www.julielessman.com/from-the-heart/

So, whatever you are going through today, whatever fire is trying to consume you or your family, know this: God is with you, always, just like that fourth guy in the furnace above with our three friends, we have an awesome God Who will get you through unscathed, so TAKE ADVANTAGE!! I know I do! 🙂

GIVEAWAYS!!

I am laying low on blog interviews these days to crank on writing books, but one of my dearest reader friends AND the 2^nd place winner of my “Have a Character Named After You” review contest, Michelle Tuller, is having her 1-year blogaversary this next week, so I just couldn’t pass that up. Michelle is giving away A Passion Most Pure (with a signed book plate) and I am giving the same winner their choice of any of my other books, including Steven’s story next year, A Love Surrendered, PLUS winner’s choice of a top CBA book from my library. So if that appeals, stop by and say hey with a comment at:

http://sweettreatsandinspiration.blogspot.com/

Hope to see you there, and HAPPY WEEKEND!!

Hugs,

Julie

^“What wilt thou that I shall do to thee?”

And he said, “Lord, that I may see.”

—Luke 18:41

Okay, let’s admit it—how many of you looked at the date today and felt the faintest of shivers travel your spine? Friday the 13^th, the high holy day in the religion of superstition—to some, not the best day to embark on anything new, apply for a job, buy a car or take a trip. And yet, it’s just another day, one whose importance is based on our perspective and how we see it. Not at all cracked up to be what it’s supposed to be.

Kinda like that seven-layer cake I used to drool over in the school cafeteria at Cor Jesu (pronounced Cory-yay-zoo), the all-girl’s high school I attended from ages 14 to 18. You know, the one that most boys back then couldn’t resist asking: “What zoo?” Well, you see, there was this incredibly amazing cake they would serve periodically, purchased from a local bakery, and it was white cake (my favorite!) ribboned with seven layers of the most scrumptious-looking chocolate icing you ever saw. I swear, one glance and my mouth was watering just to look at it, quite sure it would be the most heavenly confection that ever slid across my tongue. I remember that it cost $.50, which back then was a fortune, but I would literally ration several day’s worth of lunch money just to have that cake. I hurried back to the table where my friends sat, drool pooling in my mouth and eyes fixed on that piece of cake. No sooner had the tray hit the table and I was diving in. Ah, sheer heaven, ah ambrosia, ah … dark chocolate???

Dear Lord, how I hate dark chocolate!! One bite and my mouth would pucker and my tongue go sour, the ecstasy of white cake completely ruined by that dark, nasty stuff that may as well been liquid chaw. “Here,” I said to my table of friends, nose scrunched as I pushed the cake plate away, “anybody want this?” Sad, huh? Nope. The real sad thing here was that I purchased that same piece of cake at least four other times during the course of my high school years, quite certain that “this time” it would taste as good as it looked. What a dope, because of course it never did. Why? Because looks are deceiving and even when they aren’t, the things we strive for in this world, good or bad, cannot satisfy our hunger for more, are not capable of giving us that joy that only God can.

When asked by Jesus what he wanted him to do for him, the blind man said, “Lord, that I may see,” and that’s my prayer for each of us this week—“Lord, let us see Your goodness and love instead of our trials and burdens, let us see the glass completely full rather than half empty, let us soar to the sky instead of wallow in mud. To focus on the blessings instead of the curse and to see Friday the 13^th for what it truly is—a gift from God to live for Him and only Him with a heart overflowing with gratitude.

Speaking of gratitude, I am three quarters of the way through the VERY LAST scene of book 1 of The Cousins McClare, working title Dare to Dream. A mere one to two pages from finishing and meeting my goal to shorten the page count on this new series, coming in at about 112,000 words versus my usual 170,000 that I tallied on each of my last three books, so YAY!!

And to sweeten my week even more, I got to babysit for my sweet three-month-old granddaughter Rory, so I thought it would be fun to give you a Rory update. She’s smiling a lot more now and would you believe Keith and I actually heard her giggle—yes, giggle—not once, but twice yesterday, completely illuminating our day!! So, here are some pictures to give you a sneak peek at my little peanut.

Here’s to a FABULOUS weekend for each of us, and may we “see” our lives through spiritual eyes where God’s blessings abound in the work of our hands, the love of our family or in the sweet giggle of a little girl.

Hugs,

Julie