doesn’t get much more hopeful than that

doesn’t get much more hopeful than that

*****

*****

believing in a dormant seed

digging a six inch hole

plopping it in

poking it deep

all the paper thin layers

torn

scaly and rough

around the edges

*****

*****

doesn’t get much more hopeful than that

covering it up

patting it down

praying

for

just enough sun

just enough freeze

and

just enough thaw

*****

*****

for roots to search

and

 tops to reach

up through stale, black earth

and

bloom

*****

*****

no, it doesn’t get much more hopeful than that

*****

“I’m sure now I’ll see God’s goodness
    in the exuberant earth.
Stay with God!
    Take heart. Don’t quit.
I’ll say it again:
    Stay with God.”

~Psalm 27:14~

(Side note: My little daisies are so confused . . . I know they don’t come from bulbs, but the little stinkers are blooming right now. Quite out of season for Indiana!)

New video, from Women of Faith and WestBow Press: on writing, on survivors, and on never giving up

As a part of winning the WestBow/Women of Faith writing contest, they created this beautiful video, which features inspiration for other writers seeking publication, as well as a bit of information about my upcoming debut novel from David C. Cook.

They’ll be sharing it across the internet and at different events to promote their 2012 writing contest.

I’ll be sharing it to give survivors and aspiring writers hope.

Take a look.

And whether you’re on a healing journey or pursuing the writing life, never, never never give up!

variations on a broken heart examined

puzzling.

i don’t know why i never
stopped believing
why the knife-edged pain did not slice
through my tethered desperation
for
Jesus.

by all accounts, darkness should have
won.
some days, if i’m honest,
it wins small battles.

the twin armies of hate and unforgiveness pelt
my pretty little
safe little
bunker
with grenades.
arrows of fear shower me with
metallic
clouds of confusion.

serene and calm
i am not.

the ugly that is in me shines bright as a
blood red flare signaling
the enemy to advance.

i do not pretend this is not so.

but like a drought stays for a season and
is followed by quenching
rain
i kept after Him.

no.

wait.

that’s not it.

*****

He kept after me.

*****

after one of the most devastating droughts in Indiana history, these growing things still remain in my garden.
and i am grateful that they still chase the sun.
or
rather
that the sun still chases them.

“But blessed is the man who trusts me, God,
the woman who sticks with God.
They’re like trees replanted in Eden,
putting down roots near the rivers—
Never a worry through the hottest of summers,
never dropping a leaf,
Serene and calm through droughts,
bearing fresh fruit every season.

“The heart is hopelessly dark and deceitful,
a puzzle that no one can figure out.
But I, God, search the heart
and examine the mind.
I get to the heart of the human.
I get to the root of things.
I treat them as they really are,
not as they pretend to be.”

~Jeremiah 17:7-9 (TMV)~

*****

What about you?

What remains in your garden at the end of a drought?

How have you–or have you not–kept the faith in the midst of brokenness?