I hope you’re all having a FANTABULOUS Valentine’s Day. I know I am! In fact, I’ve been way too busy to get this Carnival ready to post — so guess what? That means you’ve still got several more hours to “Send Me the Recipes.” The deadline is usually 3 pm — but if you’ve been as swamped as I am in chocolate Valentines and heart-shaped lollipops — and kids bouncing off the ceiling — then don’t despair. Just send me something by 8 pm. That’s when things should settle back down over here.

May God bless you with a day filled with love and refreshment. Thanks for stopping in!
🙂

P.S. We really need some vegetables to go with this potluck!

My table is empty … and I’m ready for a feast! A buffet of beautiful food writing. Recipes. Delicious ideas.

If you’ve never entered the Carnival before, this is your week! It’s sponsored by Sallie of Two Talent Living, but I’m the hostess for this week’s topic of Comfort Food.

Don’t be bashful. Remember the post I wrote about food writing? You can do this. I especially want your recipes if you don’t live in the U.S. Let’s make this an international potluck!

If you have a blog, post your recipe today or tomorrow, then send me the link in an email by 3 pm on Valentine’s Day, including a brief one- or two-sentence description. If you don’t have a blog, just email me your recipe, and I’ll post it with mine.
heatherivester at bellsouth dot net.

Let’s have a feast of great food and great writing!

This week’s Carnival topic is “The Beauty of Contentment,” hosted by Bethany, and I must say this has been the most difficult one for me. I’ve wrestled with the Voice in my conscience, wondering if maybe this is the week I should skip. Lord, I don’t know what to say. You know I’m struggling with the whole idea of contentment! And He responded, Write what you know.

OK. So this is what I know.

This may not sound nice, but God doesn’t always want us to be content. At times, we’re not supposed to feel comfortable because He has something better for us. As God is moving us toward the next step in our life journey, we’re going to feel pressure and dissatisfaction — and we’ll keep feeling that way until we follow Him in obedience.

I finally read an analogy the other day that made sense to me. It’s from that inspiring book I picked up at CBA last month, Happiness Matters, by Dennis Leonard. He says, “Runners use the expression ‘hitting the wall’ when they are so physically exhausted that everything within them says to quit. They feel like they’ll die if they take one more step. But they know if they press through the pain they’ll get a second wind and the pain will be overwhelmed by the sheer pleasure of running” (p. 178-179).

I’m up against a wall right now, and I’m learning that I won’t be content and at peace unless I press through. I’m not called to sit down next to the wall and enjoy the warm sunshine and daisies; I’m called to move on, to press through, to climb over this wall I’ve never encountered before.

Those of you who read my blog regularly know the two things I’m working through now are my physical health and my home management. I’m not content with where I am in these two areas, so I’m “studying to show myself approved.” You can read about my new discoveries every week on FlyLady Fridays.

I’m not content to be in this postpartum slump either — I’ve finally reached the age where my body can’t deal with the junk I put in it as a teen or 20-something. I’ve got to purify my diet, increase my water intake, and exercise regularly or I’m on a high-speed locomotive heading toward diabetes and slothfulness. I’ve got to get off this train and board the one going in the right direction. And it ain’t easy.

I’ve also hit a wall with my writing — I’m getting to the hard part where I’m realizing the discipline and thick skin that are required to endure publication. If you’re a blogger, then you’re publishing your thoughts for all the world to see — people who might agree with you and others who won’t. Sometimes, I want to go back to that cozy safe place in my journal. When it’s just me writing a letter to God, I can let my emotions go in complete privacy, and nobody knows what I’m writing.

But this is a wall for me, and I’ve got to press through. Last weekend, I had some predators come into my blog and leave me hateful comments (cursing at me, calling me names). Since I moderate, they weren’t published, but I almost came in here Monday and wrote, “Well, this is not fun anymore. Sorry, but I quit.”

Yet God sent me to the right people — fellow writers and bloggers — who reminded me of the bullies in the blogosphere. They encouraged me to keep going, to keep being salt and light in this dark world. And so I don’t feel content to go back to my journal scribblings that nobody reads. In fact, it would be a sin for me to go back, the same way the Israelites wanted to go back to Egypt. My Promised Land comes from the connections I’m hoping to make with you, my readers. If I can encourage just one person (only one!), to have a better day, then that’s more than I would have accomplished if I’d written in my journal.

So I run. I persevere. Despite my struggles and the bullies, I’m going to keep going. I won’t feel a peace if I don’t. I’m going to drink water when I don’t want to. I’m going to walk my dog when it’s cold outside and I don’t feel like it. I’m going to eat an apple when I want to pile up a plate with cookies. I’m going to keep following FlyLady’s routines when I don’t feel like turning on my timer to do a room rescue. And I’m going to keep writing here — for as long as the Spirit compels me.

Are any of you encountering a wall in your life? Do you feel a spirit of unrest about something you’re doing or not doing? Then don’t pray for God to help you feel content; instead, pray that He’ll help you press on and break through. He has something even greater in store for you. Don’t sit down next to the wall and dream and sigh! Where do you see yourself a year from now? What will it take to get there? If you need to make a phone call or set up an appointment, then do it today. Get off the computer and do it now.

P.S. I’m going to be hosting next week’s Carnival — here! So send me your favorite recipes — the topic is “Comfort Food.” Gather your fellow blogging friends, stop by Two Talent Living for the rules, and come on in for a Valentine’s potluck. Send posts by next Tuesday at 3 pm to heatherivester at bellsouth dot net. Pull up a chair and let’s eat!

Iris is hostessing the Carnival of Beauty on her site today. The topic, The Beauty of Gentleness, brought in quite an eclectic gathering of thoughts — and it’s like visiting old friends now when I amble into these women’s blogs. (I feel like I need to wipe my feet on a doormat or something — or bring some flowers!)

Here’s a quote I found today from Daily Christian Quote. I think Billy Graham and I seem to be on the same wavelength with what I wrote about yesterday:

Too many women have too much leisure time for their own good. They have time for criticism, gossip, faultfinding, and complaining. They have time for idle games and lay too much attention to things of the flesh. There are other women who have too little time for the enduring things of life. They are too busy flitting about doing this and that. They have great activity and much doing, but they lack time for building Christian characters. Both kinds of women — the too-idle and the too-busy need to take time for meditation and quiet repose in prayer to God. They need time to cultivate their souls that in turn they may cultivate their children’s lives.

Billy Graham
Billy Graham Organization

I love that phrase, “cultivate their souls.” That will give me something good to think about today.

It’s time for the Carnival again, and I’ve been going over a million ideas in my mind for “The Beauty of Gentleness.” Iris is hosting this week, and she already has an awesome post up. What can I say that’s different?

I keep going back to my one of my favorite Old Testament heroes — Elijah. I love Elijah! I can relate to his emotions so well. He had a hard time with the things I struggle with. When his body was run down physically, his spirit got weighed down with heaviness too — and he just wanted to give up.

Yet God met his every need and spoke to him in a gentle whisper.

Oh, how I love that whole story. You can read it in 1 Kings 17-19. The heartless queen Jezebel reminds me of the evil queens and stepmoms who show up in fairy tales I read with my kids. She and her rotten husband Ahab were out to get Elijah. Do you remember the big showdown on Mount Carmel? The phony god Baal versus the one true God.

After a whole day of watching hundreds of Baal priests beg their false god for fire (to no avail), it was Elijah’s turn to show everyone the truth. He built an altar and surrounded it with water — and when he prayed, our real God sent fire from heaven and completely burned up everything! It was a MIRACLE.

The very power that sent fire from heaven is the God who is available to YOU. He still works miracles today — no matter what you’re going through. If you’re a mom, you know what miracle took place when God formed your baby within you. All you did was crave pickles and ice cream! (or Arby’s roast beef sandwiches, in my case). And according to Psalm 139, He knit the baby in your womb.

Yet in this story, Elijah got scared of Ahab and Jezebel — and he ran away as far as he could! He was so tormented by his fears, he didn’t eat or drink anything until he was completely famished. Then he stopped running, worn out, and wanted to die. An angel brought him food and water. Later the story continues in 1 Kings 19:11-14:

Then the Lord said, “Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by.” Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the Lord … [But the Lord wasn’t in the wind, earthquake or fire.] … And after the fire came a gentle whisper.

This is how God spoke to Elijah — in a whisper. And that’s the way He speaks to you and me. Yet we get so busy, the noise of our hectic lives blocks out the gentle sound of God’s voice. But He’s there, always waiting for us.

When we meet Him through reading the Bible, He speaks to us loudly — in a roar sometimes, like Aslan’s. But throughout the day, I can hear Him whisper, as my conscience reminds me to do what’s right. Don’t look at that. Tell him you’re sorry. Stay on track. Give her a call. Go beyond yourself.

That’s the gentle voice I seek — and I’ll spend the rest of my life trying to listen and discern what He’s saying to me. But isn’t that what our faith is? It’s an adventure in getting to know God, to trust His voice. The Christian walk is a continual journey, one not unlike Elijah’s. We’re always moving toward finding that place in our hearts where God’s whisper can best be heard.

It rained all day yesterday, and it was just one of those “regular” Mondays. Yet I chose to dwell on happy, positive thoughts. I didn’t let anything get me down. I chose to be joyful!

So this made me think about this essay topic: “The Beauty of Service.” What if I kept this attitude every day? My attitude is a way to serve Christ — when I choose to dwell on my blessings instead of negative things, this brings God glory.

A recent column in HomeLife Magazine quoted author Sidlow Baxter, who says, “What’s the difference between an obstacle and an opportunity? Our attitude toward it. Every opportunity has a difficulty and every difficulty has an opportunity.” (Feb. 2006, p. 16).

A few years ago, I was in a women’s Bible study, and I was having a hard time dealing with something going on in my life. I talked to the leader privately one night afterward, expecting her to have pity on (poor ol’ self-righteous) me and say, “Well, I’ll pray for you. God will work things out.”

Instead she said, “Heather, I can see that you’re holding on to this instead of giving it to God. You need to let it go or you’re going to become a very bitter person.”

Bitter? Who, me? I think of bitter people as being older people who have a permanent sour look on their faces, like they’ve just tasted a lemon. Bitter, indeed!

But that was an epiphany for me — and it’s now years later that I’m finally able to realize how right she was and to say that God is teaching me how to let things go that used to bother me. This leader also taught us the whole point of Christian living is to know Christ and to make Him more fully known by being radiant with joy — no lemony looks allowed.

So, in this coming year, I want to serve Christ by deliberately replacing my negative thoughts with positive. As Paul writes in Philippians 4:8: “Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable — if anything is excellent or praiseworthy — think about such things.”

Max Lucado says it this way:

I will invite my God to be the God of circumstance. I will refuse the temptation to be cynical… the tool of the lazy thinker. I will refuse to see people as anything less than human beings, created by God. I will refuse to see any problem as anything less than an opportunity to see God.

How about you? Is there an area in your life where you could serve Christ by choosing joy over bitterness? Let’s pray for one another — and give Him the glory.

This week’s Carnival of Beauty will be hosted by Amanda of following an unknown path, who is currently living in Taiwan. How interesting! I decided to look up Taiwan on a map because I’m a little rusty on my geography. I’ve never been there before, and so I’m sure I’ll enjoy exploring Amanda’s blog to learn more about why she’s there and where exactly she makes her home.

Seeing that map of Taiwan brought back memories of something I haven’t thought of in over a decade. When I was living in Japan, I rode my bike every Saturday morning to a little community center to study Japanese. My class was only three people: me, a businessman from Malaysia, and a college student from Taiwan. We had a wonderful volunteer teacher who truly loved teaching us her language and enjoyed taking us on “field trips” all over Osaka and Kobe. She also cooked us dinner in her home — where we all had to practice the language lessons she’d been teaching us!

My Taiwanese friend was named Ryu — I’m not sure if that’s spelled correctly in English! He was really proud of his tea ceremony technique. I remember my friends gave me a little birthday party when I turned 25, and Ryu had an elaborate tea ceremony for me — showing us how his family has made tea for centuries.

I’ve lost touch with those friends, and I hope they’re all doing well. Amanda’s blog looks so refreshing! I can’t imagine how different my life might have been in Japan if I’d kept a blog. Instead, I spent every night in my room writing letters — by hand. I searched the stationery shops for interesting Japanese writing paper, and I made several trips to the post office every week. I always looked forward to checking my mail!

The topic for this week’s Carnival is “The Beauty of Serving.” Amanda says to send our post link by 3 pm on Tuesday, which will be 6 am on Wednesday in Taiwan. I can’t wait to see what everyone comes up with. Would you like to submit something?

Don’t forget to stop by Sallie’s site at Two Talent Living — she’s the official sponsor of the Carnival, but she’s taking a break. I certainly enjoyed her recent post about why she’s pulling back from “gadding about” in the blogosphere — since I’ve only been blogging four months, she gave me plenty of food for thought!

P.S. I just discovered Amanda is also a FlyLady fan — she’ll have to come visit me on Fridays here in my blog so we can encourage each other. I liked her post on how FlyLady helped her change the way she sees time.

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about the schedule for the upcoming Franklin Graham Festivals, and I got a note back from a friend in the Philippines who’s planning on attending the one in Manila next month. I can’t wait to hear how it goes!

So, I was thinking today that maybe there are some of you in the U.S. who may be interested in attending another one of my favorite conferences. I’ve been to two American Christian Writers’ conferences, and they’re fantastic. I love going to a meeting where I can be around other like-minded people.

These conferences are shorter than many and are also relatively inexpensive. If you enjoy books and writing, there are so many fascinating people out there who share your same interests. It doesn’t matter what level you are, you can always learn from the experiences of someone else — and have a great time doing it.

Here’s what happened to me. I went to my first ACW conference a couple of years ago and heard author Carmen Leal speak. She makes her living as a full-time writer and told our group this: if you want to write a book, you need to start writing smaller pieces, like magazine articles. If you want to break into national magazines, you need to start with smaller, local markets. She told us how she broke into publishing by writing a funny story about her dog for a single parent magazine.

I took her advice by sending a query to a women’s magazine in my hometown and started a new column, “Mom 2 Mom Connection.” Sound familiar? I discovered that I love writing specifically to women, and from that I started this blog — which has given me a voice I never had. This all came as a result of God prompting my heart after attending four of Carmen Leal’s writing workshops.

The second ACW conference I went to, I didn’t go alone. I invited one of my high school friends, who is a great writer. If I compiled all of her letters to me (in the days we handwrote things before email!), I’d have a bestselling book. She came to the conference and was so inspired that now she’s sold several articles to parenting publications and is working for a newspaper! And we can encourage each other.

The speakers are great, and one thing I like about this conference is that Reg Forder and his wife Eleonore bring a bookstore with them. They pick and choose from thousands of the very best writing books and tools — and offer them to you at the lowest prices. I bought a new dictionary last summer — is it possible for me to say I’m in love with a dictionary? My other one was almost 20 years old. I also discovered several of my favorite writing books there — the ones that I loan out and then bug people about returning them.

Unlike workshops and retreats that are located in quiet, off-the-beaten-path locations, these are held right in a big city. So you can save the cost of the hotel and commute if you need to. That’s what I’ve done. They also allow you to attend only one day and pay significantly less. I’ve seen my tuition from this conference paid back many times over in the professional help I’ve received. And I can’t wait to go back this year and hear a new round of speakers.

Also, if there are editors in attendance, this is a great chance to meet with one and share your book proposal or article query. The editors who come to conferences are actively seeking good writing. For example, Len Goss of Broadman & Holman publishers came to one conference — and he told us what types of books he prefers. At another conference, Diedre Knight of The Knight Agency came. She explained to us that her agency only accepts one-page email queries — so you’d be wasting your time and money to ship off your entire manuscript. (Hey, I just discovered Diedre has a blog — how interesting!)

Here’s the 2006 ACW Schedule. Go to their website for more details and to see who the speakers and editors are. There’s also an annual ACW cruise held at the end of the year. Now wouldn’t that be a fun excuse to take a “working vacation?” (We’d all sit around reading books and getting sunburned together — and talk about how we’re having withdrawal symptoms from being offline.)

February 17-18, 2006 Dallas, TX Dallas Plaza Hotel

February 24-25, 2006 Oklahoma City, OK La Quinta Inn

March 10-11, 2006 Richmond, VA Wyndham Richmond Airport

March 17-18, 2006 Charlotte, NC Marriott Executive Park

March 25, 2006 (Saturday only) Pittsburgh, PA Holiday Inn Pittsburgh Airport

March 31-April 1, 2006 South Bend, IN Holiday Inn City Center

April 7-8, 2006 Fort Wayne, IN Holiday Inn Downtown

April 29, 2006 Memphis, TN First Baptist Church, Collierville

May 19-20, 2006 Atlanta, GA Comfort Inn Airport

June 2-3, 2006 Nashville, TN, Mentoring Opryland Radisson

June 9-10, 2006 Columbus, OH Midwest Hotel

June 23-24, 2006 Grand Rapids, MI Crowne Plaza Airport Hotel

July 22, 2006 (Saturday only) Louisville, KY Executive West Airport

July 29, 2006 (Saturday only) Indianapolis, IN Holiday Inn on Victory Drive

August 4-5, 2006 Minneapolis, MN Best Western Kelly Inn in St. Paul

August 12, 2006 (Saturday only) Springfield, MO Marriott Courtyard

September 8-9, 2006 Colorado Springs, CO Clarion Downtown

September 15-16, 2006 Spokane, WA Hampton Inn Airport

October 13-14, 2006 Anaheim, CA Desert Palms Hotel

October 20-21, 2006 Phoenix, AZ Best Western Grace Inn

November 18, 2005 (Saturday only) Orlando, FL Ramada Maingate

November 25-December 3, 2005 Caribbean Cruise Carnival South Caribbean

P.S. You know it would thrill me to find out that someone reading this post goes to one of these conferences — so don’t forget to let me know!
😉

Don’t forget that Tuesday at 3 pm is your deadline if you want to write up something on the topic of “The Beauty of Hope” for The Carnival of Beauty next week. If you’re new to my site and you don’t know what I’m talking about, this is a weekly gathering of posts from Christian women bloggers. You can read the guidelines here. It was started by Sallie of Two Talent Living, but she’s taking a break right now, so different people have stepped in to host it. This week, Ellen of MzEllen & Co. is the hostess. So, go to her site, get her email address, then send her your link and a brief description.

Here’s a great excuse to write something you’ll want to keep. Most of the time I blog, I just link around to other interesting things — but this Carnival gives me an excuse to really think about something, and write it. I tell my kids it’s like I have homework too.

Now the topic of hope — this is very important! How can we go through a day of life without hope? There’s nothing dearer to our faith. What brings you hope? What memories do you have that are full of hope — or what future dreams can you share with us? What are your favorite verses that offer you hope?

It would be great if Ellen gets 50 submissions this week — if you’re busy, write something short. One paragraph even! Let’s make this a true Garden of Hope that we can all capture the link to and return to visit when we need a dose of hope.

Ellen writes of this week’s Carnival:

Here are a couple of suggestions that we’re finding make things a little easier for the hostesses:
– send links to both your blog and the individual post.
– send a short description of your post (to have it in third person really helps!)

I’m discovering a lot of new blogs to read daily – I’m having to weed out my bookmarks. I’m also very glad I have firefox with the “open in tabs” feature!

Thank you all for participating!

Set your timer and write something!

Carol introduced this week’s Carnival of Beauty on her site with these words:

From snowflakes to fires, from the young to the old, from depression to joy, from warm to cold, from serious to hilarious, winter’s beauty threads its way through this week’s carnival.

I am so blessed to host this week during Sallie’s hiatus. Blessed because of not only the wonderful posts I have the honor of showcasing for you, but because of those post’s writers. God’s women are the true beauty you are about to encounter here…

I encourage you to bookmark this on your computer and browse through these 13 entries throughout your day when you’d like a pick-me-up. I appreciate the time Carol took in compiling them and even putting a cute wintery photo next to each submission. Fun! Her essay is about the dry winter Texas is experiencing. Let’s all pray for the heavens to open up and water the earth where she lives.

Other news: Sally at Children’s Publishing News has posted an excellent interview with Buzz Dixon, creator of the new inspirational manga for teen girls. I reviewed it here in my blog, and I noticed it’s climbing up the CBA Bestseller list. I liked it and am glad to see it doing well — I mentioned in my review that I thought it would be a great tool to have if you’re leading a group of teen girls — they can all relate to the characters in this comic, and it’s a quick, fun read — that glorifies the Gospel.

A couple of months ago, I reviewed another book, The World According to Narnia, by Jonathan Rogers. Since The Lion, the Witch, and The Wardrobe has brought so much publicity to the books of C.S. Lewis, I wondered if Blogcritics might be interested in my review. So, I applied to become a reviewer — which means I can write reviews in my blog and send them to Blogcritics. This site gets over 50,000 hits a day! I’m not crazy about some of the ads on there — but I do want to introduce my favorite Christian books to as many people as possible.

Well, I was accepted as a reviewer on Monday — and they posted my first review yesterday — of The World According to Narnia. If you’ve read this book or any of the author’s Wilderking books, I’d love a comment or two on Blogcritics! It will stay on the front page for a few days, then make its way into the book review archives — but you can comment at any time.