Showing posts with label inspirational. Show all posts
Showing posts with label inspirational. Show all posts

Tuesday, December 26, 2017

WHAT IF I HAD TRIED HARDER: Devotional by Lorilyn Roberts


"......My husband divorced me two years into his medical residency and married the radiation therapy tech who carried his child. She gave birth two weeks following the signing of the divorce papers at the courthouse. October 15, 1985, until recently, was etched in my memory as the worst day of my life. It was the day that my dreams of motherhood ended and the day that doomed me to court reporting forever. Depression was my comforter back then......"

Deborah Malone, an author friend of mine, has a blog Where Hope Blooms. She featured me for Christmas on how I've dealt with some of the hard places in my life. I share the link here to the whole article. I hope you find Christmas Ornaments from Christmas Past uplifting and inspirational.







Wednesday, October 11, 2017

MEMOIR AUTHOR LORILYN ROBERTS BEARS HER HEART IN CHILDREN OF DREAMS



When I took the introductory class for my Master’s in Creative Writing, one of the books I had to read was Writing for Story by Jon Franklin. The fourth chapter in the book, “Stalking the True Short Story,” was based on two famous stories he wrote, one of which was his Pulitzer Prize-winning entry, “Mrs. Kelly’s Monster.”

Because everybody would love to win a Pulitzer Prize, his comments are worth noting. To quote Jon Franklin on page 81: “One of the best ways to teach positive lessons while entertaining at the same time is to write stories about how people successfully cope with the world, endure, and even sometimes win.” 


I have thought a lot about that. Much of what I report as a television captioner is mundane news to a world that hardly blinks an eye at the everyday, run-of-the-mill, shoot ‘em up, rob-him blind, dope-addicted, shoddy moral, or over-spending bureaucratic figure news story which people scoff and ignore if it doesn’t affect them directly.

In contrast, Jon Franklin dug deep for the motivations, the conflicts, the resolutions, and the redemptive endings in his books and articles. In the same vein, when I wrote Children of Dreams, I wanted to share a part of me that no one else knew. I risked being venerable, revealing traits and values that I knew some would not understand. I am not perfect, and did I really want to reveal my failures, confess my doubts, and admit my flaws?

Our lives, particularly if we are memoir authors, must be real or we will come across every bit like the superficial news stories that I alluded to above—irrelevant to the reader. Too much of our time is lived at a frenzied pace with quick posts on Facebook and Twitter, or text messages written in code, risking little, and only recognizable enough to make us feel we have value in the world of cyberspace.

If you have been forsaken by your family, hurt by others, stuck in a job you hate, gone through a divorce, experienced major health issues, sacrificed your own lost dreams, or struggled in your Christian walk, I share unabashedly with profound honesty how God helped me through these tragedies. This is the “true story” within the story in Children of Dreams. There is no superficiality—only raw emotion and truth. I had to get permission from my kids and family. There are still open wounds that God will have to heal. There was a price to pay and I am still dealing with it now. Do I regret it? No. I know God will eventually redeem all which is broken.

The typical reader, much like a typical reporter, will see Children of Dreams as another adoption story; give it a cursory glance, and move on. The sensate reader, who reads for deeper meaning, will experience God’s profound love and redemptive hope, knowing without any doubt, God is the fulfiller of dreams.

My desire is that the reader will be stirred—emotionally renewed and batteries charged, believing if God can do the impossible for me, he can do the same for him. God can heal infected wounds, redeem broken dreams, and convince the skeptic to believe in miracles. None of us should live as though we have no hope, and Children of Dreams is a testimony to God’s grace, reassuring the reader that where there is God, there is always hope.


Children of Dreams won bronze in the 2016 Readers Favorite Book Awards for Memoir. To purchase from Amazon in Kindle, print, or audio format, click here.





Monday, December 5, 2016

INSPIRATIONAL REFLECTIONS ON GOD: Devotional by Lorilyn Roberts






I wonder if God looks back to His creation when it was untarnished by pollution, unblemished by famine and disease, and not scarred by the ravages of war.



When unpolluted oceans bristled with life as He walked in the garden with Adam; when He created strange-looking creatures just for the sheer enjoyment of creating; when sunsets danced to colors our eyes cannot see and waterfalls beat to the pulse of His heart before we broke it; when rocks proclaimed His glory and flowers sang His praises; when life was found in everything and death did not exist; a world we have never known, at least not yet.

A world that was and a world to come, joined by a tiny thread of love woven through the fabric of time. A remnant of His perfection is hidden in our DNA. The crust of earth beneath our feet gives hint to His creations from ages past. The stars that shine as angels in the night sky proclaim His lordship over every living creature. The winds that mount on eagles’ wings fill the earth with His spirit of redemption. Even the animals know.




“Ask the animals and they will teach you, or the birds of the air, and they will tell you, or speak to the earth, and it will teach you, or let the fish of the sea inform you. Which of all these does not know that the hand of the Lord has done this? In His hand is the life of every creature and the breath of all mankind” (Job 12:7).





God longs to live within our heart.  He shouts to us in our suffering.  At the crossroads of who we are and who God desires for us to become, we are either consumed by evil or we are conquered by love. If our sinful thoughts lose their grip, evil will lose its power. 




Someday God will fill in all of those cracks. But during our time here, He wants to prepare us for a better place; a place where we will be perfect, even as He is perfect.

God delights in the process of molding us. I take comfort in the fact that God wastes nothing and uses everything. Truly, no eye has seen or ear has heard what God has prepared for us. Our deepest hurts and failures will become God’s fertile soil for something far greater than we could ever have imagined.

“...we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out His love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom He has given us” (Romans 5:3-5).




Monday, March 17, 2014

BLESSED BE THE NAME OF THE LORD: Devotional from "Am I Okay, God?" by Lorilyn Roberts

May his name endure forever; may his name increase as long as the sun shines; and let men bless themselves by him; let all nations call him blessed. Blessed be the Lord God, the God of Israel, who alone works wonders.
—Psalm 72:17-18


God has existed since before the beginning of time. He created time. He created the universe. He created you, but he is not a created being.





From Seventh Dimension – the Door, a Young Adult Christian Fantasy:

Rachel stood and recited a Jewish prayer. “Blessed is the name of his glorious kingdom forever and ever.”
—Rachel Franco, chapter one


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In Revelation 1:8, God says, “I am the Alpha and the Omega, who is and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty.”

The God of the Bible goes by many names that describe his character. The Jews and the Christians share the same God—the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Christians believe God is three in one—God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. God is not Mohammad, Buddha, or Karma.

God is all-powerful and all-knowing. Cling to that when life seems out of control, before chaos takes over and leads to frayed nerves, discouragement, and even depression.

God has promised to give you a special name that only he knows when you get to heaven. Think about what name God might give you. Who are you when no one is looking?

God wants to bless you. He knows how to turn hardships into “blessings.” These “blessings” will help you to grow in your dependency on him and make you mature.

If everything were easy, you wouldn’t need God and you would remain untested. Then when hard times come—and hard times always come—you would fall.

Satan will call you all sorts of names. Don’t listen to him. Remember how much God loves you and the name he will someday give you. Honor God above all else and put him first. Experience his presence throughout the day. Read the Bible and pray unceasingly.


Thank you, Jesus, that through you I am blessed. If you were all I had, you would be sufficient. There is no one else like you. Thank you for loving me even when I am unlovable.



For beautiful music and photographs witnessing the glory of God, go to: http://bit.ly/names_Kadosh

To purchase "Am I Okay, God" on Kindle at Amazon, go to: http://bit.ly/Am_I_Olay

Saturday, November 16, 2013

GUILT: Devotional from "Am I Okay, God?" by Lorilyn Roberts



 GUILT


Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.
—Romans 12:2


Guilt is feeling responsible for a wrong, real or imagined. If we have committed an offense against someone, the Bible tells us we need to go to that person and ask forgiveness.

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From Seventh Dimension – The Door, a Young Adult Christian Fantasy:
After the accident, the closet became my friend. I wanted to avoid Judd, who came over to visit Chumana. She was not my sister but we lived together.
Guilt overwhelmed me.
—Shale Snyder, chapter one

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Guilt will keep us from experiencing a close relationship with God. Sometimes it’s difficult to know if our feeling of guilt is justified. Satan wants us to feel guilty—all the time. As long as we feel guilty, we’re self-absorbed.



First, determine if the feelings are from God. Ask God, did I commit an offense against you or another person? Ask God to forgive you and/or help you to go to the person you offended and seek forgiveness.
 
In Shale’s case, she did something wrong. While she made a partial confession to Rachel, she never apologized to Judd.
 
The guilt grew and became like a cancer, allowing hate to fester until God miraculously healed her—when she confessed.
But suppose you are stricken with false guilt? Someone or something is making you feel guilty when you shouldn’t feel that way.
 
Guilt can draw you towards a loving God or drive you away. How does guilt affect you? If it’s making you feel distant, go to God.

 
Sometimes our pain is so great we can’t get past it without counseling. Find someone you can trust and talk to him or her. Have someone pray with you. God never intended for you to walk the Christian life alone. You have a whole body of believers who are the discerning eyes, the patient ears, the loving arms, and the caring souls who want to help you.
 
Remember, you have an enemy who wants to destroy. He is real and powerful, but God is more powerful than he is. Allow Jesus to take control of your life. Don’t give the devil a foothold, lest the small foothold on the side of the mountain becomes the whole mountain. Allow God to set you free from guilt. No sin is so great that God can’t heal you from its effects—and even use your story of redemption to glorify him.



Only you, God, can set me free from guilt. Please help me to accept your freedom, and to let go of those things that are not from you.
Help me to let go of false guilt and be set free to accept your forgiveness. Help me to be renewed and filled with your perfect peace.




Use a free QR code AP to watch on your iphone.









Tuesday, October 22, 2013

DARK SECRETS: Devotional "Am I Okay, God?" by Lorilyn Roberts













DARK SECRETS

Would not God have discovered it since he knows the secret of the heart?


—Psalm 44:21

Do you have a secret hidden in your heart—something that is so horrid you wouldn’t share it with anyone?


*~*~*~*~*~*

From Seventh Dimension – The Door, a Young Adult Christian Fantasy:

“I hid in the closet underneath the stairs—my safe house. Nobody would find me in here.”

—Shale Snyder, chapter one

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God knows everything about you. Every thought and every deed you’ve ever done or will do is not hidden from his watchful eyes.
Including secrets. Satan will use anything he can to prevent you from experiencing God’s grace. Secrets are among his favorite weapons. The devil derives great pleasure using blackmail. You will never win playing his game. All he has to do is threaten to expose your secret sin—pornography, abortion, cheating, thievery—you name it.

My worst fears from the time I was young involved secret sins. I would convince myself if anyone knew “this or that” about me, I would be on the front page of the New York Times.

Seriously, in the past, when I was plagued with guilt, I would lie in bed at night and ponder what would happen if someone told something about me that was slanderous. Many poor souls have committed suicide to escape the judgment of others. Secrets of the heart can imprison you in a living hell. Is that how you want to live your life?


God doesn’t want you to live in fear. Bring your hidden sin to your heavenly father, confess it, and receive God’s unconditional forgiveness. Remember:  God died on the cross to heal you from all your sins—past, present, and future. 


Thank you, Jesus, that I no longer want to hide in a closet—or behind a façade. I will seek you in the morning, noon, and night so you can set me free from secret sins. 



Am I Okay, God? Devotionals from the Seventh Dimension

includes 26 more devotionals like this one and is a companion book

to Seventh Dimension - The Door, a Young Adult Fantasy




 

Tuesday, December 20, 2011

GUEST POST BY CJ HITZ: Building Faith Pedaling Across Florida







During my 4 ½ years at Anderson University (Anderson, IN) I had the opportunity to participate in three spring break bicycle trips organized by Jim & Louise Pickens.  This dear couple called these trips the “Recyclers” in the spirit of 2 Corinthians 5:17 which says, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here.”   Each year, they would send a simple flyer to AU students in hopes of filling forty spots to trek across a different 400-mile route in Florida.  Upon receiving this flyer my freshman year, I was immediately intrigued and set out to find a way to come up with the $170 fee.


Little did I know what kind of impact Jim & “Lulu” would have on me over the course of my time at Anderson.  They practically became my grandparents away from home since I was literally 2500 miles from my family in Oregon.  It became a tradition to come over to their house (merely a block from campus) on many a Sunday where they fed me a hearty meal and allowed me to do my laundry.  Along the way, I think Louise took me through every Recyclers photo album she ever put together and Jim was quite possibly filled with more stories than any man I ever met.  It was nothing to come over to their house at noon and leave at 7pm.

In one of their across the country (3000+ miles) summer bicycle trips, Jim recalled spotting a set of “brand new looking” tire chains on the side of the highway in Arizona where temps were over 100 degrees.  “I couldn’t pass on a perfectly good set of chains”, Jim said.  So he put all four tire chains (over 60 lbs) around his neck and pedaled the remaining forty miles to their destination!  I kid you not, the man had tree trunks for thighs well into his 70s and THE most powerful handshake I ever encountered.  He was a legend.

The spring break trips certainly attracted students of varying backgrounds and skill levels.  From foreign students with virtually no cycling experience to guys who could give Lance Armstrong a run for his money, we had quite the mix and match.  Jim & Louise had a gift of meshing everyone together as a team…Team Recyclers.

Not About the Bike

One of the most vivid things I experienced on these adventures is the power of prayer.  If you were uncomfortable praying in public coming into the trip, you were comfortable doing it by the end.  Each morning began with a short devotion led by someone different each time.  Following the devotion, everyone picked a name out of an envelope and this was the person you prayed for all day during the 40-80 mile ride.  If someone wrecked, we would jokingly ask if their prayer partner was sleeping on the job.  At the end of each cycling break which came about every 10-15 miles, the whole group of forty riders would gather in a large circle while holding hands to pray.  This had to be an interesting site for drivers who saw us along busy highways.  We attracted our fair share of honks.

And what were we praying for?  I forgot to mention that Jim & Louise built a faith component into these trips.  Each day, we had no idea where we were going to sleep that night.  Most of the time it was churches but we rarely knew exactly which ones when we began each day.  There were many days when our place of lodging didn’t materialize until the last minute and in the last moments of daylight.  But the Lord always came through.  This spoke volumes to people of all faith levels.

Another example of seeing the Lord come through came in the form of his protection.  We always made an effort to ride on roads and highways that had ample shoulder space or specific bike paths available but this wasn’t always possible.  One day we found ourselves on a fairly busy road with almost no shoulder and traffic buzzing by at 50mph. 

I happened to be riding behind a Lebanese girl named Michelle who was one of the more inexperienced riders when her bike went off the road and onto the gravel alongside.  Unfortunately, she overcompensated as she tried returning to the paved road too quickly.  In a split second her Schwinn Voyager crashed and she went spilling into the busy highway.  Not having any time to react, those of us behind her rode over her bike before coming to a stop.

Amazingly, she avoided being hit by any cars and sustained mere scrapes and bruises.  The closest car that would have hit her pulled over a little further ahead and a man got out to make sure she was ok.  “I felt a strong urge to slow down shortly before the girl wrecked”, the man said.  “I just felt like something was going to happen.”  After realizing we were a Christian-based group, the man was thrilled and said he’d given his life to the Lord only a month before.  Quite shaken by the experience, Michelle decided to ride in the Recyclers van for the remainder of the trip but she was thanking God that she was still alive.

Imagine having thirty years’ worth of stories from these trips.  All the chances to see God provide and show Himself to so many.  All the friendships and bonds (and marriages) formed along the way.  Never realizing you could eat so much oatmeal in one week.  Praying like you never had before.  Experiencing Jesus in ways you never dreamed.

Thanks for that flyer Jim & Louise.  I’ll never forget you







Saturday, September 3, 2011

GUEST POST BY DEBORAH MALONE: Book Review of ”Children of Dreams“ by Lorilyn Roberts









I really liked Deborah Malone's review of my book Children of Dreams. My hope is that, as she says, Christians will have a greater appreciation of what it means to be adopted by our heavenly Father, who loves us so much.

Review by Debbie Malone


When I received my copy of Children of Dreams in the mail I thought I would just open it and take a look. Before I knew it, I was on Chapter Eight and looking forward to reading the rest of Lorilyn's story. 

Even though this is a non-fiction book it reads like fiction. Lorilyn has put so much detail into her story you feel like you've been transported to the far regions of Nepal and Vietnam along with her. She tells of the trials and hardships she endured to adopt her children Manisha and Joy. Throughout the book, she relates the process of adoption with our adoption by our heavenly Father. You will not look at adoption the same after you read Lorilyn's book. You will not be sorry you read Children of Dreams whether you are adoptive parents or not.

For order your copy of Children of Dreams, click here.

Saturday, August 27, 2011

I ALWAYS WANTED TO BE A WRITER: Devotional by Lorilyn Roberts





The teacher tossed my report on her desk. "I'm not going to read that,” she announced. “It's just copied work."

Thirty sets of eyes stared at me. What had been an engaging history review, reading class reports, was replaced with utter disdain. Whispers filled the silence and I sensed my face turning a crimson red.

The instructor shook her head in disbelief and proceeded to the next one.

I was devastated. My paper was not copied. I had used one source, the textbook, to verify a date. All the information came from my brain; I wrote it in an hour effortlessly while seated at my desk.

I was too upset to say anything—and for someone like me, who is outspoken to a fault, that didn’t happen very often.

When the school bell rang, I grabbed my books and ran home, replaying the humiliating scene over and over. I wondered how she could accuse me of such an injustice.

Later that evening, I told my parents what happened.

"Honey," Mom said to Dad, "You need to talk to that teacher. That's not right, to accuse Lori of plagiarizing in front of the class."

"Are you sure you didn't copy anything?" Dad asked.

"No,” I said. “I have never copied anything. I don't need to."

Besides that, I was a straight-A student. I wouldn’t want to receive a failing grade for cheating. My fragile self-worth was wrapped up in a perfect report card. To receive a “B” meant I had no value. My distorted self-image tainted my view of God, others, and myself.

 To be a high achiever was my way of dealing with the emotional baggage that I carried around for years until God freed me. My birthfather “left” my mother and me when I was little. I failed the first grade because I couldn't read. I was bullied for being a failure and ostracized for the first three years of school until we moved to a different district. I had no friends and felt out of place in a world that made no sense. I had all sorts of behavioral problems and was considered at-risk for juvenile delinquency. I was unhappy and lonely.

A psychologist tried to “straighten me out.”  He threw up his hands: “She's either a genius or retarded, I'm not sure which,” he told my mom, “though one thing I can say for sure, she has an undiscovered talent."

My mother told me that story when my love for writing became evident. I wrote short stories when I was eight, poems when I was ten, and nonfiction with gusto by the time I was in fifth grade. I wrote two fiction books by the end of middle school.

In high school, my writing took a back seat to music when I studied classical guitar, wrote songs, and was frequently asked to perform at major events, like the Georgia Honor Society, Kiwanis Club, and beauty pageants, after I was First Runner-Up in the Cobb County Junior Miss Pageant. 

Though insecurity kept me from becoming the person God created me to be, my passion to write took me to worlds where I could find hope and meaning, something my parents could not understand. In fact, they just didn’t understand me at all. They tried sending me to ”finishing” school, but I was bored. They would comment on my writing, "That's nice. Now go clean off the table."

Although my parents always stood up for me in important matters, when it came to choosing a career, they were practical.  They represented the American dream—entrepreneurial and hard-working. They started a map business that became the lifeblood of the family. Anyone raised in such a circumstance will understand how powerful the impact is on family dynamics.

But I took after my talented birthfather, a well-known photographer. My mother would point out his works in Life, Look, Southern Living, and National Geographic magazines. She always recognized his photographs before even checking the credits. But the compliments ended there. Her pain ran deep, and it prompted me to want to meet my birthfather many years later. I found Bruce Roberts to be much like me—creative, reflective, impulsive, unstructured, emotional, sensual, moody, and introverted. Most surprising was he understood me.

But because I valued my parents’ approval (I was adopted by my stepfather) I gave up what I wanted to do to become who they wanted me to be. Though part of me wilted on a vine, feeling cut off from the Great Gardener, it did mean I would be able to support myself later. Lest I sound ungrateful or angry, I am not.  Life is what it is, and as a parent, today I know they did the best they could. I didn’t turn into a drug addict, get pregnant out of wedlock, or make choices that society deems as “unacceptable.” I also now have a greater appreciation for how hard it is to parent, having raised my first one and still working on my second.

To this day, my mother's words still haunt me: "You never know what the future holds. You need to be able to put food on the table. Your father walked out on you and left me penniless."

While I was too young to remember much, I have one vivid memory that I shall never forget. I stood in front of the window and watched for hours for dad to come home (it was my second birthday). He never did.

Becoming a business major, a physical therapist or something that would meet my parents’ approval had no appeal to me. Following one year of college and a summer I would just as soon forget—I’ll spare the emotional details for brevity’s sake—I started court reporting college, and twenty months later, embarked on a court reporting career that spanned 20 years.

Did I like court reporting? No. I hated it. There were days I lashed out in uncontrollable rage over depositions that kept me up all night for an impending trial. The lack of control over my personal life was overwhelming. There were too many broken engagements to finish transcripts that wreaked havoc on an already strained marriage, which later ended in divorce. Frayed nerves dealing with irate attorneys who didn’t care a hoot about me caused me sleepless nights. Attorneys blew smoke in my face from cigars and cigarettes that made me sick. I took allergy shots for years to combat the health effects. The whole world of court reporting left me an angry woman. Even a once-caring doctor/husband couldn’t put me back together.

But court reporting did one thing: It made me self-supporting. After my husband “left” me, although devastated and broken, I had the freedom to choose my future. I recommitted by life to Jesus Christ in hopes of becoming the person He wanted me to be. God used those court reporting skills to prepare me for another career that would take me down a path toward dreams I had long forgotten.

Fast forward a few years—through heartbreak, counseling, and forgiveness. God redeemed much. I can now appreciate even more the life He has given me, and how He answered my prayers with two precious daughters from Nepal and Vietnam.

A profession that didn’t even exist when I was in court reporting school has allowed me to work fulltime from home—in a job I wouldn’t have if my parents had not been so adamant about being able to support myself.

Court reporting paved the way for closed captioning, and the journalistic nature of broadcast captioning gave me the self‑confidence to pursue my dream of writing.





I look back on the years that have passed since that day in fifth grade when I was accused of plagiarizing. What if life’s circumstances had been different? What if my parents had let me major in English? What if my husband had not left me?

We all have moments when we question monumental choices and outcomes that send us down one road rather than another. If God had made everything easy for me, I don’t believe I could have become who He wanted me to be. Those sought‑after accolades, striving for perfection, fear of failure, and overwhelming insecurity, made me too dependent on man and not on God. I needed to be independent of the world and others to find my security in the Creator.

In Jesus Christ, we live, breathe, and have our being—love unshackled, poured out, and overflowing. His love supersedes the injustices and the wrongs others have done to us and what we have done to them. We can embrace our passions and pursuits in the name of our heavenly Father who is never short on affirmation or long on remembering mistakes. No longer am I bound up in pleasing others or enslaved in co-dependent, unhealthy relationships, seeking approval to make me feel like I am “okay.” 

I also remind myself that we were created for heaven to be our home. The gifts God gives us, the temperaments we are born with, our strengths, and our eternal soul, were all intricately designed by the Creator for one purpose—to glorify Him.  That is the chief aim of man for our short time here, but more importantly, for all eternity. We are simply passing through on a journey, hopefully growing up in a way that will bring us closer to Him. 





Hebrews 11:13-14 states: All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance, admitting that they were foreigners and strangers on earth. People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own.”

God never promised that we will “arrive” here on earth to fame or fortune. We might sell thousands of books; we might not. Most of us will be like those saints who went to heaven without ever accomplishing everything that God set before them. Many were martyred, but they died living out their passion and serving God in a world that was not worthy of them.

According to library.thinkquest.org, each year fifteen million children die from hunger. In sub-Saharan Africa alone, every year eight million children die from aids and malaria. In quieter moments, I wonder what those children could have become if they had been given a chance.

Or what about, since 1973, the almost fifty million children who have been aborted? Or the 150 million orphans in the world who long to be loved? We can rest assured that God is in control. He has counted the costs and given everything He has on the cross. He knows each of us better than we know ourselves. He is mindful of the suffering and has not forgotten even the sparrow that falls from a tree. It’s just that He’s more patient than us for justice to have its perfect way.

If we trust in Him, God will give us everything we need to become all that He intends for us to be—but it may not be here. It may be in the world to come, an eternity that awaits us, where love reigns supreme and no tears are shed. I take comfort that the perfection of the gifts He has given us will be completed when we arrive. I am reminded of Timothy 6:6:  “...godliness with contentment is great gain.”

I am thankful for my parents’ human wisdom, for the stumbling blocks and untoward circumstances that made at times pursuing my dreams difficult. It’s in the struggle that we learn faith, faith that will grow us up if we don’t grow weary. The fires of this world humble us if we are strong in Him and prompt us to ask: Who am I when no one is looking? Is the stuff I am made of, in this jar of clay, just stubble, or is it precious and chiseled by the Creator’s hands?

Love is God’s choice to allow us to be free. Have we used our freedom to die to our wants to receive a heavenly reward that earth can’t take away? Will we still have our gifts to lay before the throne (the gifts He’s given us), or will we have squandered them and lost the blessing? Do we fight the good fight, or do we give in to sin and temptation? Do we refuse to forgive that hurt? What are we holding onto that is more precious than God Himself? Are we even worthy to receive the gifts God gives us, or will we selfishly use them to buttress our own ego?

It's never too late to dream big and it's always too soon to give up. As I continue to work on my Master’s in Creative Writing, scrambling for a few minutes here and there to finish this book or write that review or commentary, I remind myself that things that matter are never easy. The details are in the process.

If we keep our eyes focused beyond this world on our heavenly home, God will accomplish His perfect will in every nook and cranny of our lives. The years the locusts have eaten will be redeemed, if not here, in heaven. The what if’s and if only’s will be replaced with acceptance of the things we can’t change and the wisdom to know the difference. Jesus holds the deed to earth in His scarred hands, and with thankfulness, I write, from a healed heart, remembering from whence I came, and hopefully touching the lives of others. The outcome is always in God’s loving hands.
                                  
To read more of Lorilyn Roberts’ blog posts, visit her website at LorilynRoberts.com                     



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Lorilyn grew up in Atlanta, Georgia, and currently lives in Gainesville, Florida, with her two daughters, her dogs Sirius and Molly, and four cats. Lorilyn is a media professional and provides broadcast captioning for television. She makes time to pursue her passion for writing and will earn her Masters in Creative Writing from Perelandra College next year.
Lorilyn has homeschooled her daughters for the past fifteen years. She has published many books, including The Donkey and the King, Children of Dreams; and How to Launch a Best Selling Christian Book. Lorilyn is president of the Gainesville, Florida, Word Weavers Chapter; and the founder of the John 3:16 Marketing Network.