Both sides of the coin
Posted by: leighd on: May 4, 2009
I’m teaching junior high Sunday school this quarter, and we’re getting into all sorts of relationship issues (and I mean All Sorts of issues, but we won’t get into that here!). We’ve already talked about friendship and how your friends (and anyone else you’re around, really) have a powerful influence on you. Today we took the topic of friendship one step further and talked about how important friendship is to God — and how important it is that we treat everyone the way God would want us to, even if we don’t consider them our “friend.”
One of our Scripture verses was 1 John 4: 20:
If anyone says, “I love God,” yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen.
Can’t get much more blunt than “If you claim to love God but don’t love the people around you, you’re a big fat liar.” Youch.
We also talked about how the way we treat other people is a direct reflection of our relationship with God. If we love God and are truly trying to do His will, that love comes out in how we act toward others. If we claim to love God but keep being bad friends or keep treating people badly, then we don’t really have much of a relationship with God. Double youch. The two things (or relationship with God and our relationship with other people) are connected, like the two sides of a coin.
We’re a mirror, reflecting back to the world what we’ve let God do to us on the inside. Maybe I need to add Windex to my morning arsenal of make-up and hairspray and help make sure my internal mirror is clean as I start the day. What about you?
Catching on fire
Posted by: leighd on: April 29, 2009
Do you ever read the signatures that people include with their emails? I do. If you include a quote or Scripture verse, I’ll read it. If you include a Scripture reference but don’t write out the verse, I’ll probably look it up. If you list a blog or website, I just might pop by to see what it’s like.
I saw a new quote in another writer’s signature line this week that I loved. It’s a quote from John Wesley, the man who’s basically credited with founding the Methodist Church movement:
Catch on fire and people will come for miles to see you burn.
Isn’t that the truth?! Many of us are nosy and want to know what’s happening around us. If we see people getting all excited about something, we want to know what the big deal is. If everyone seems to be talking about a particular movie or book or TV show, we want to check it out ourselves. We want to be in the middle of — or at least on the fringes of — the attention.
But here’s the deal — as Christians, we want to be so on fire for God that people can’t help but see Him in us. We shouldn’t want them to see us, but to see God through us. It’s easy to say, but hard to do. We want to be different like God wants us to be, but we want to be different in the cool way that makes people want to get to know us better, not the weird way that drives them in the other direction.
Is our fire for God big enough to catch people’s attention and make them come see what’s happening with us? Is it flickering flame that dances and almost goes out with every little change around us? Or is it just the smoldering embers of the torch we used to carry in our hearts for God but that got doused along the way?
Some days I’m discouraged and feel burned out. Some days I’m OK, but know I’m not as strong and faithful as I should be. But on other days — the best days – I’m on fire for God, loving Him and feeling Him whichever way I seem to turn. Eager to get to my Bible study time and to talk with Him. Not afraid to stand up for Him or share Him with others. Those are the days I want to have more of! And the best part is, I CAN if I only ask Him to help me with it. He wants us to spend time with Him, to talk with Him, to see Him everywhere in our day. We just need to ask Him for the desire to be that way, and the more we ask, the more we’ll see it coming true in us. What a gift!
So how about you? Are you burning bright enough for others to want to see what’s going on? And — more importantly — once they come near, what will they find you burning for?
Easter and Psalm 139
Posted by: leighd on: April 6, 2009
Easter has hopped around again, with bunnies and candy and fluffy little chicks. It’s also spring break for lots of schools, but don’t let the week of fun overshadow what makes this week special: it’s Holy Week, the week between Palm Sunday and Easter.
One of my favorite chapters in all the Bible is Psalm 139, that wonderful Pslam of David praising God for knowing us so intimately before we were even born. No matter how many times I read or study it, certain verses always jump off the page:
O Lord, you have searched me and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. … You are familiar with all my ways (vs. 1-3).
For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. … All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be (vs. 13-16).
Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting (vs. 23-24).
This might not seem like it ties in with Easter, but it actually does.
You see, God knows us better than we know ourselves. He knows the sins we hide from others, the countless times we fall short, the insecurities and fears and impatience. And yet He loves us anyway — so much that He sent His Son Jesus to be our Savior and take our place on the cross.
Thank you, Father, for sending your Son, and thank you, Jesus, for coming to earth and dying for us. May we never forget that love and sacrifice, and may a new awareness of it make this Holy Week and Easter one of our most precious.
Like to read?
Posted by: leighd on: March 13, 2009
If you like to read and are looking for a way to learn about books you’ll enjoy but won’t have to hide from your mom, check out www.novelteen.wordpress.com. The folks there post reviews and video trailers for clean fiction appropriate for teens. If you like the things you read about there, they also have a long list of links to young adult authors you might want to check out.
Go pay them a visit and enjoy!
Specially Made
Posted by: leighd on: January 27, 2009
Psalm 139 is one of my favorite chapters in the Bible, with its description of how intimately God knows each and every one of us before we’re even born. I don’t know about you, but that just helps prove to me exactly how smart and powerful God really is and how much He really cares.
Our church recognized Sanctity of Life Sunday this week and our youth praise band sang a song that ties in with the theme of God knowing everything about us and loving us anyway. It’s called “He Knows My Name” and is by Tommy Walker. You might have heard it before, but even so, it’s good to read the words and let their meaning sink in.
He Knows My Name, by Tommy Walker
I have a Maker
He formed my heart
Before even time began
My life was in his hands
He knows my name
He knows my every thought
He sees each tear that falls
And He hears me when I call
I have a Father
He calls me His own
He’ll never leave me
No matter where I go
He knows my name
He knows my every thought
He sees each tear that falls
And He hears me when I call
Be blessed as you remember that God really does know your name!
Starting the New Year Right
Posted by: leighd on: January 2, 2009
I got an email earlier this week that I thought was a good way to look at things as we start a new year. I hope 2009 is a great year for you full of Faith, Friends, and Fun!
IT DEPENDS ON WHOSE HANDS IT IS IN
A basketball in my hands is worth about $19.
A basketball in Michael Jordan’s hands is worth about $33 million.
It depends whose hands it’s in.
A baseball in my hands is worth about $6.
A baseball in Roger Clemens’ hands is worth $475 million.
It depends on whose hands it’s in.
A tennis racket is useless in my hands.
A tennis racket in Andre Agassi’s hands is worth millions.
It depends whose hands it’s in.
A rod in my hands will keep away an angry dog.
A rod in Moses’ hands will part the mighty sea.
It depends whose hands i t’s in.
A slingshot in my hands is a kid’s toy.
A slingshot in David’s hand is a mighty weapon.
It depends whose hands it’s in.
Two fish and 5 loaves of bread in my hands is a couple of fish sandwiches.
Two fish and 5 loaves of bread in Jesus’ hands will feed thousands.
It depends whose hands it’s in.
Nails in my hands might produce a birdhouse.
Nails in Jesus Christ’s hands will produce salvation for the entire world.
It depends whose hands it’s in.
As you see now, it depends whose hands it’s in.
So put your concerns, your worries, your fears, your hopes, your dreams,
your families and your relationships in God’s hands because…
It depends whose hands it’s in.
Faith and Psalm 139
Posted by: leighd on: December 2, 2008
Psalm 139 is one of my absolute favorite passages in the Bible. Parts of this Psalm were our memory verses for each day during one of my first years helping teach Vacation Bible School. A boy in the class I helped with had a couple of friends with him that week who were new to church and reading the Bible. I’ll never forget helping them learn the verses and seeing one boy get so excited when he picked up a Bible, found Psalm 139 and zeroed in on the verses all on his own. He was so proud of himself and was blown away that he found the words he’d memorized in real, true print in the Bible.
Isn’t that how you think God wants us to be? So excited to pick up the Bible and discover things written there just for us? How can we not be when we read how well He knows us:
“O Lord, you have searched me and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways. Before a word is on my tongue, you know it completely, O Lord.
For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.
My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.”
All praise to God, our wonderful Creator who knows you better than anyone, loves you more than anyone, and has special plans in mind only for you. Have a wonderful week and remember that the One who knew you before you were born is the same One who can be your very best friend every day. 
Check out the interview
Posted by: leighd on: November 13, 2008
My first promo interview about Divas in Disguise is on author Margaret Daley’s blog this week — woo hoo! The crazy thing is, Margaret promotes authors on her blog every week and we scheduled this time to promote Divas in Disguise months ago. At that time I thought DID would be available in the summer or early fall, so the interview would work as a second push to help get the word out. Little did I know that my books would arrive only one week before the interview and Margaret’s blog would actually be my first chance to promote it. God’s timing — as always — is perfect once again!
Margaret actually posts the interview and info over a couple of days — one tells about my background and the other tells about my writing. Hop over to www.margaretdaley.blogspot.com to check it out and leave a comment.
And check out Margaret’s own books while you’re there! She’s written quite a few Christian romance and romantic suspense titles for the “Love Inspired” division of Steeple Hill Press. I’ve read a couple of her books and have taken an online writing class from her. She’s a neat lady and is always ready to help writers learn something new.
Enjoy!
Faith with Psalm 46
Posted by: leighd on: November 11, 2008
God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging (Psalm 46:1-3)
Have you ever seen a mountain crumble and fall into the sea? Not too likely. Do you think you ever will see such a thing happen? That’s not too likely either.
So why should we worry about God being our refuge and strength when we’ll probably never see these things happen? Because the mountains and seas in this Psalm symbolize things in our real-world lives (I just learned to read it from this perspective when our pastor preached on Psalm 46 this week – that’s why it’s always good to pay attention to the sermon ).
The mountains and earth symbolize the things we expect to be stable in life – family, best friends, the church or school you’re used to, jobs and marriage when you get older.
The sea symbolizes chaos – crazy or conflicting schedules, fights with friends, problems with parents, thinking things aren’t fair, all those things that go wrong or overlap and drive you batty.
Sometimes the mountains and seas of life stay in place and things are fine. But at other times, the mountains fall apart and the seas nearly drown us.
When that happens to you, remember that God is in control of the real mountains and seas on earth – after all, He’s the One who created them and put them in place! But He’s also in control of the mountains and seas of your life. When something gives way, God can be your strength to stand up and keep going. When you’re confused and don’t know which way to turn, God can be your refuge and give you peace. All you have to do is ask – turn to God, talk to Him, tell Him what’s going on. Ask for His help – repeatedly, if you need to! – and listen for His response. He can rebuild mountains and bring order out of chaos if you’ll only hold on and trust Him to take over.
It’s here!!! :-)
Posted by: leighd on: November 6, 2008
The big day has finally arrived, when my newest ”baby” was delivered to my front door. Yes, I now have copies of Divas in Disguise: Finding the True Diva in You! And it’s so cute! It’s small, so it’s just the right size for throwing in your purse or bag without getting in the way.
So what will you find in this cute little book? Stories of 30 women from the Bible and the kinds of things we can still learn from them today. Think peer pressure, jealousy or selfishness are new? Not a chance — they’ve been around for thousands of years, even in the Bible. Think you have nothing in common with Eve in the Garden or Eden or the Queen of Sheba traveling to meet King Solomon? You might be more alike than you realize!
Each day looks at a different woman, what happened to her, and how she fits in with our life today. You’ll also see where you can find her whole story in the Bible and will have a journaling-type question to think about. The week ends with 4 questions that tie back to the women you’ve just read about — how they were alike, how they were different, what they wanted vs. what they got, that sort of thing. It’s the kind of book you can read alone or go through with friends and use the questions to jumpstart group discussion.
Ready for more? Hop over to www.leighdelozier.com to read a sample devotional on the Books page. And if you want your own copy, check it out through Amazon or Target online (Barnes and Noble did have it online, but it was gone when I checked earlier today; not sure what’s up with that, but maybe they’re changing the status from ‘pre-order’ to ‘available’ …) .
If you read it, I would love to hear what you think and whether you plan to use it with friends. I hope you’ll see that the women from the Bible aren’t always as far away and out of touch with the 21st century as you might think!
About Leigh
I'm a freelance writer/editor, Christian writer, and speaker for women's and girls' groups. I also teach upper elementary and middle school Sunday school classes and like finding ways to help girls realize how special they are in God's eyes.
One of my favorite Scriptures for girls is Psalm 45:11 -- "The king is enthralled by your beauty. Honor him, for he is your Lord." That's something we all need to learn: that we're beautiful inside and out, just because God made us!
Get Away Any Day
