Tuesday, 21 February 2017

Just so you know...


My book has been out seven months. I may be forgiven in thinking it's been longer, because for me it has been of course, from start to finish. The hype around releasing a book is crazy! Your publisher gets you excited about launches and newspaper articles and all sort fo things. You go from radio station to radio station, meeting to meeting and if you know me, that's exciting stuff for my "experiencer" personality. I thrive in planning, organising, networking and anything that spells "new." So when my book finally got released, it was a gift that felt surreal.

There was a particular book store I had walked passed for years, with its beautiful big glass windows, showcasing a handful of books and I often paused wishing one day something I had written would be in that window. Imagine my amazement at one day walking past that store and seeing Yehudit in the window! It felt like the air was sucked out of me and I was transported in to some heavenly place. Little gifts from God were planted everywhere in those first few weeks and I was grateful for every one of them. 

Fast forward several months and it feels so long ago. Two weeks ago, a dear friend posted a picture of himself holding Yehudit in his arms. He had seen it at a bookstore in his local mall and snapped away - what a great friend! He posted this picture on social media and when he did I told him, gosh releasing that book feels so far away, like it's old and forgotten now. His reply breathed life my way, "no it's not old! People are still picking it up for the very first time and once they read it, it's new and then it starts all over again."

His words were incredibly heartfelt and true. So today when my publisher surprised me by email with the words "Yehudit is unexpectedly in one of S.A.'s most popular magazines," I was totally excited. I bought this magazine and opened it excitedly. The feelings were new, the excitement new and different, age and faithfully stewarding Yehudit has turned my excitement in to something deeper. It's all part of my journey, and part of me and it's new everytime. Yeshua is also reminding me how He has not forgotten this beautiful, heaven birthed story. I always knew it was a seed I needed to plant and walk away for others to eat from it. I always knew it was His and today, He showed me again with such love that, He is always working where no eye can see. This is encouragement for me, as I set my heart on new things both in my present and in my future. God is working where I cannot see. So faithfully, so "big" and so powerfully, in deep Love, with passion for His child. He is always working and never too early but never late. I'm taking courage today with this sure promise that He knows and always has my best interest at heart, surprising me with Love Gifts every step of the way -just so I know I am not alone and that it will be alright in the end. This goes for you too precious one, He is working hard where no eye can see, working it out for your good, never early but always on time.


 If you haven't yet grabbed Yehudit, you can over at Amazon

Friday, 17 February 2017

Is Faith Brave?

FMF - writing on the word "weak!" Unedited, free flow of writing, set the timer for 5 and let's hit it! go!

This week Abba Father has been leading me back to the yellowed pages of Narnia. I've been reading it with fresh tears, never before has the story pulled on me but now it's new. New because I'm in a different place and the revelation and truth are pouring through the lines as though God Himself were the narrator and no one can hear the words but me. I am struck by Peter's first battle. New sword, a wolf about to attack his sister and her desperate cries for help. It's a moment filled with the deepest fear and yet the presence of bravery. "Peter did not feel very brave; indeed, he felt he was going to be sick. But that made no difference to what he had to do.” 


Brave Faith. It's my journey at present, with no other Voice but God's. Peter did not feel brave, he felt something quite different from braver or even faith. He was in all regards ill - equipped to take on a wolf who led the white witch's army, but none of this mattered really. It made no difference to his purpose or his destiny. He was fearful but he still held out his sword, he still shook as the wolf lunged towards him and he still defeated the wolf, thereby saving his sisters life. He may have felt weak - ill equipped, or scared but it did not hinder what he was called to do. In many ways fear is a natural part of life. It is there when things are new, when things are scary or unknown, or questionable. It is there when we stand on the sidelines and finally God calls us to play on the centre stage of life. It is there when we lean over the edge of the boat like Peter did and say "here Yeshua (Jesus), pick me, let me walk on the water with you!" 

Fear is there, but it makes no difference. What did make a difference was the choice Peter made while standing in the forest of Narnia, to go forward instead of backward. And in so doing a part of his identity was revealed, he was knighted by Aslan himself and he became Sir Peter Wolfs-Bane. If you stop when fear or uncertainty calls, you will miss the blessing of deeper identity and intimacy with the King. To go where fear is present only means that you have gone in to a place where you feel small and weak, and thats the very place of bravery, a place of destiny, a place of calling.

Linking with Kate M

 Hey I'm a Guest Writer over at Y Am I this week, do you want to take a look? I'm getting real about the day I overlooked my marriage vows! Truly marriage is a deep blessing, but we have to share the truth especially with our children! My Marriage Vows!

Friday, 10 February 2017

Am I safe to you?

Five Minute Friday, a flash mob of bold writers writing their hearts out for five  minutes on a single prompt, this week it's safe... Here Goes....



It's a wooden dance floor, shiny and comfortable for little feet like mine. I'm gently barefoot, the way I like to be. We move and just like that the lights dim and the music is perfect. I close my eyes and He holds me close, embraced tightly and gently all at once. Shadows move across the floors, shadows of people I know, mere shadows but He is real. He holds my hand and our frame is locked. Gently, gently. 

Then He leans in right where I can feel His breath, "am I safe to you?" He asks me.

I am startled by the question I have often asked myself. Is my Saviour safe? I cannot lie about the doubt I sometimes feel. And I stand fully looking in to my heart, is God safe, does He have my best interest at heart? Am I absolutely sure I trust Him, am I absolutely able to let every guard down and be completely naked before Him, transparent, unhiding, unguarded, convinced even when the waves roar, that He is safe? My heart rests and breathes content, "I want you to be," I answer. Then He pulls me deeper in to His embrace in a gentle turn of the dance. And I pause to look at the shadows of people I know dancing around me and I wonder the same thing, is your God safe to you?

STOP Linking up with Kate M 

 Hey Guys, I'm writing over at Velvet Ashes this week on racial issues, reflecting on how the brave actions of one small child shifted fear and perception, join me to read out a Border Crossing

Friday, 3 February 2017

Breathing, Living

Five Minute Friday - Prompt Breathe, Go!


Breathe in, breathe out just to check I'm still living. The heart monitor takes no breathe before it beeps, attached to the heart that holds me here, this breathe coming from within. I'm alive.

Close my eyes and feel this heartbeat, feel this breath. It's not enough to be simply breathing, simply living. Keep my eyes closed, tears fall through my webbed eye lashes, smack the bed sheets beneath him. It's not enough to be merely living. 

Open my palms, surrender. To the sound not of this heartbeat, but to Heaven. Not enough to be simply feeling, want to be finally living. He enters this place, this medical ward for barely there people, He comes in and I'm set free. 

Open my eyes and I'm alive. Breathe out and steam fills the holy space where this Kiss of Grace has redeemed life for me. I'm free, fully alive. Get up, feet touch tender grass, open fields call to me, the road to my left glistens before me. Feel the smile of my lighter chest, the rhythm of God's breath within me, fully alive, birthed from the Wood of the Cross. Fully living, alive....

Stop!
Sharing with Kate M
 Hey Guys - all you fabulous people, my amazing hubby overhauled my author Website - since I've grown a lot, I'm so happy we could change it up! I would so love you to check it out - laurenjacobs.co.za