#writerslife and the Power of Words

Last night was great fun. I attended the library fundraiser, A Novel Affair, as a guest of my friend, Sadie Buchanan. The table of people she had assembled was a perfect mix of long-time friends and new. We talked non-stop, catching up on each other's lives.

From the time I entered the room, people I hadn't seen in ages asked what I'm doing now. 

"Writing," was my answer every time. 

"I'd heard that," several people said, a dubious expression on their faces.

I tried hard not to laugh. Many years ago, I considered trying to be a writer. The only writer I could imagine was Ernest Hemingway. His didn't seem like a life I wanted to emulate. 

I wondered how they envisioned my life.

"I couldn't come up with the first sentence? Do you like writing?" 

"For sure. I get up at 4:00 in the morning to be sure I can write uninterrupted. It's my favorite." 

My questioner just shook her head.

There's a verse that sums up how I feel about being a writer.

My heart overflows with a good theme;

I address my verses to the King;

My tongue is the pen of a ready writer.

Psalm 45:1 nasb

The next verse says "Grace is poured through Thy lips..." That's what I want my writing to be. Grace from God, poured through His lips to my heart, spilling out my pen and onto the page.

If I don't achieve that every time, the fault is mine alone.

When it happens, though, it's pure ecstasy, and the joy of it sustains me until the next time.

Some people take delight in a well-hammered nail. Some in an accurate diagnosis or an A1c under perfect control. I like those, too, but I take delight in a well-turned phrase.

Earlier this week, one character talked to another about the peace he'd found when he'd given God his grief and guilt. 

"You can’t measure it or see it, but when peace fills your heart, you know it’s there."

Yesterday, another character told about the last time she was arrested and the peace she'd found in an unlikely place. 

"For the first time, I understood the price of my sin and I wanted to be free of it. I wept a river of tears in that jail cell, but the most profound peace I’d ever known enveloped me and, sitting on a rough cot in a dark, lonely jail cell, I was forgiven and redeemed." 

Broken people find wholeness in Christ. Tormented people find the peace that passes all understanding.

It's the story of my life. It's the story of my characters. 

One day, I hope, these stories will make as much of a difference as the perfectly controlled blood pressure and the elegantly lowered glucose that used to be my goal. 

If grace spills onto the pages, the difference they make might even be more. 

Words matter, whether we're full-time writers or not. Let's be sure our words spill grace onto all we meet.

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Be sure to check the updated Prayer List 

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In case you missed one of the past week's posts, here are the links:  You are Greatly Loved, A Little Taste of Heaven: Body of Christ, Friday Night with Friends: Food and Faith, The Priest Job, Telling the Good News,  When Good People Run Things: Considering the Presidential Candidates and Deciding How to Vote, Sharing the Blessings of God, Grumbling with the Rabble and Getting What We Want, Honoring Our Heroes

#writerslife #powerofwords#peace #JesusChrist #linesfromleanna #LeannaHollis 

Forgiven Failure: Speaking against Jesus

And everyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man, it will be forgiven him; but he who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven him. When they bring you before the synagogues and the rulers and the authorities, do not worry about how or what you are to speak in your defense, or what you are to say; for the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say." (Luke 12:10-12 NASB)

Peter's three-fold denial of Christ was only a few hours away, but it was no secret to Jesus. We see here how tenderly He prepares the way for Peter's repentance and restoration. "Everyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man (which Peter was soon to do), it will be forgiven him." Jesus intended to hold those who were His own until the very end. 

I wonder if Peter remembered these words after the cock crowed. Did he consider whether or not he could be forgiven? Peter's failure was so devastating to him that he avoided his fellow disciples. His shame isolated him and robbed him of the forgiveness and love he so desperately needed. It was Jesus who sought him out, who brought him back. Peter had spoken against Jesus, but forgiveness was available from the very One he had wronged. 

That's good news for me, because I, too, will fail Jesus with both my life and my words, and do so far too often. Forgiveness was bought at a terrible price. I should not take it casually, as if it were of no consequence, but I should not avoid forgiveness because of its great price.


We've all failed our Lord and will do so again because of the battle between sin and righteousness that wages within us. We may lose a skirmish in the war against sin, but we do not have to stay defeated. Forgiveness is available.

The remainder of this passage contains some hard words, and we will deal with them tomorrow. For today, let's praise God that our failures can be forgiven and our sin-fractured relationship with Christ can be restored.

The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law; but thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your toil is not in vain in the Lord. (1 Corinthians 15:56-58 NASB)

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Thank you, Lord, for the promise of forgiveness. I admit my failure and the words that I have used to deny You. Forgive me and restore me to relationship with You. In Jesus name, Amen.

Think Before You Speak

plotting against Him to catch Him in something He might say. (Luke 11:54 NASB)

After nearly 160 blog posts on Luke 11, I expected to begin Luke 12 today. It's probably no surprise that, as I was reading Luke 11 one more time this morning to be sure we had gathered all the good, I found one more little nugget.

I read this last verse and could hear my mama saying, "Young lady, you need to watch what you say," and "Not everything that comes in your head needs to come out your mouth." Exactly. It's a shame that she had to tell me that so many times, but she did. If you've spent much time with me, you may think I haven't improved much. The sad thing is that, as blunt and opinionated as I am, I'm less vocal than I used to be. I am, however, like you, still a work in progress.  

The scribes/lawyers and Pharisees knew that the easiest way to discredit someone was to take something they said out of context and expose them to public ridicule. Since Jesus spoke daily to crowds of people, he said many words. Already, the scribes and Pharisees were unhappy (to put it mildly) about the words He had just said to them. (Admittedly, I might not have been happy if Jesus had told me that I carried the stench of death in my actions, either.) When anger became action, the scribes and Pharisees' first scheme was to catch Him in something He said. They were sure that they could destroy Him with His own words. 

The Pharisees and scribes understood something that I seem to forget sometimes. My words have great power. I can bless with them and I can curse with them. (James 3) Since I have a choice about the words I use and the way I say them, I need to choose wisely. Do I "speak curses" against others? I'd like to say that I never do that, but if I say negative things about others that cause people to adopt my same negative attitude, I have, in a way, spoken a curse against them. I have harmed them with my words.

If I spread the latest tidbit of news about someone or share a secret best kept, I have harmed them with my words. James wrote that the same tongue that blessed God in worship should not be used to curse (or harm) others in public, and I need to remember that.

My grandmother used to say, "If you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all." I would do well to remember her words, and so would we all. The Pharisees were right. The quickest way to discredit a man or woman of God is to catch them saying something intemperate and use those words against them. Let's be sure we think before we speak, temper our words with kindness, and say only those words we would be happy for Jesus, who knows every word we speak, to hear.

This you know, my beloved brethren. But everyone must be quick to hear, slow to speak and slow to anger; for the anger of man does not achieve the righteousness of God.

If anyone thinks himself to be religious, and yet does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this man's religion is worthless. (James 1:19-20, 26 NASB)