You vs. the World

People go through many trials each and every day, and I am one of them. I will not gloss over, sugar coat, nor simplify the hard times my husband and I go through. Today I received a beautiful email from a lady in Australia who wants to help me. She felt led to help me and a verse stayed with her the whole time while praying.

James 2: 15-17 (KJV)

¹⁵ If a brother or sister be naked, and destitute of daily food,
¹⁶ And one of you say unto them, Depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled; notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are needful to the body; what doth it profit?
¹⁷ Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone.

This is the face of Christianity, a sister in Christ reaching beyond continental boundaries to help another sister in Christ. This world is for a short time, but our eternal destination is...well, for eternity, aka forever, aka everlasting, aka infinity and beyond.

Another face of Christianity is the willingness to stand for Christ and to never compromise or conform to the world.

Facebook and Twitter has become a battle ground for many people. Someone can stand for their beliefs, either on one side or another, or that someone can sit on the sidelines or straddle the line.

I wrote not too long ago about being not ashamed to stand for Christ. Now I think those who stand for Christ need to make sure that what they are saying is exactly what they are doing.

If I stand for Christ, I will stand for ALL that He teaches and commands. Not just the parts about love. Also the parts about Hell and sin, about the hatred of the world against those who follow Him, and the narrow path that all followers must walk.

A person cannot simply say they have deep faith in Christ AND support issues that go against His teachings. A person cannot say "I have Christ within me", and then support homosexuality, indoctrination of Muslim teaching in school children, prosecution and/or oppression of conservative Christian worship, and the list goes on.

As a Christian, we are being attack by our own people, our own government, and our own brothers and sisters.

We cannot be of this world and of Christ at the same time. We have to make a stand. In love, we should show the folly of the ways of this world, not condemning or judging those who sin and support sin, but by showing that if they don't turn from the world then Hell is their destination.

And they don't accept what you say, then do as Jesus said:

Luke 9:5 (KJV)
⁵ And whosoever will not receive you, when ye go out of that city, shake off the very dust from your feet for a testimony against them.


1 John 2:15-17 (KJV)

¹⁵ Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
¹⁶ For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.
¹⁷ And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.

Who will you stand for? Christ or the world?
I stand for Christ...no matter what may come.

I Am Not Ashamed

Not too long ago, and sometimes it seems like eons ago, our town was turned upside down and flipped over sideways. The high school became a battleground and lines were drawn.

Many people walked the line, I suppose hoping it would blur and that those on both sides would like them either way. On one side, voices screamed and yelled to be heard, to be accepted, to have others think like them, and ignored any who disagreed, going as far as to call them haters, bigots, and ignorant people. On the other side voiced cried out, loudly, that they would not be oppressed nor condemned nor would they conform to the world's thinking. Those riding the thin line in the middle straddled the fence to see, apparently, which side they would choose according to which side won.

This situation went far beyond the school forcing the students and teachers to accept a high school senior boy who decided to be a girl (transgendered was the word used, although this was a word that was coined in the 1970's during the "sexual revolution"). It didn't matter that doing this went against the teachings and beliefs of these students and teachers. What mattered was that the one person not be offended that others wouldn't accept him, no matter that his actions offended a number of other people. ACLU became involved and included that the school must allow this boy to dress in female clothing. Posters of American flags with IN GOD WE TRUST (posters that had hung in the hallways and classrooms for years) were forced to be removed. Threats of disciplinary actions were issued if teachers made any reference to religion in emails. The list could go on about what ACLU was determined to do.

The voice of the Christians was under fire from a group whose main purpose is to cause dissent in peaceful towns and businesses.

Soon though children and teachers stood up against this. Yes, homosexuality (no matter how it is veiled in semantics) is an abomination. Yes, they will still voice their belief. Yes, they will stand against what they do not believe in, no matter the labels thrown at them. Soon children broke dress codes in defiance. Parents of children filed lawsuits. Some are wearing shirts, proudly proclaiming that they are not ashamed to believe in the one true God.

 

These actions were done in quiet, mild manners while some were done in loud, forceful ways. But the true Christians never let anger or hate control them. They knelt, they shouted, they cried in prayer. They lifted their voice up to God, and they stood firm in His name.


After a while, the school was told that if they kept religious statements out of the emails, then they would have to keep non-religious statements out of emails. Of course this is impossible, so teachers are allowed to ask fellow teachers in emails that aren't read except by the recipient to keep someone in prayer or to pray for someone. Don't know about the posters, though; although, I am sure that soon those posters will be back home on the walls. Not long after the news released that Gov. Phil Bryant signed into law that student-led prayer at school functions was legal and allowed.

The ones who want to say that transgender/homosexuality are blessed by God, need to read the Bible more closely. They need prayers that their eyes will be opened to the truth. Those who want to say that God is not needed in schools or in courts need to have their eyes opened. They need prayers that they will learn the truth.

One senior class boy and his mother who thought that they could force a town to accept their actions, regardless if it's against others beliefs, have met with resistance. A resistance whom they call haters.

No, we do not hate them. We hate being forced to accept that which is wrong. We stand firm in our convictions and in our belief in God. We live and abide in His word. Our voices may not be heard as loud as those wanting to change the world into Sodom & Gomorrah, but we are the meek and we will inherit the earth.

We know that as we grow closer to God, the world will hate us, but we will reap the rewards in Heaven. I just pray that those who fight against Jesus awaken soon before they are left standing at the edge of the fiery pit of Hell with no way back.
 

Gina Holmes' & Wings of Glass

Gina Holmes is the founder of Novel Rocket and a PR professional. Her bestselling novels Crossing Oceans and Dry as Rain were both Christy finalists and won various literary awards. Her latest novel, Wings of Glass, released February 2013 and has earned a starred review from Library Journal, a Romantic Times Top Pick and a Southern Indie Bookseller's Okra Pick. She holds degrees in science and nursing and currently resides with her family in southern Virginia. She works too hard, laughs too loud, and longs to see others heal from their past and discover their God-given purpose. To learn more about her, visit www.ginaholmes.com.

Your 3^rd novel, Wings of Glass, has just released. Tell us a little about it.

I think this is my favorite book so far. Wings of Glass tells the story of Penny Taylor, a young wife who feels trapped and alone in a physically and emotionally abusive marriage. Besides her low self-esteem, she feels her Christian faith doesn’t allow for divorce. It’s not until she meets two women—one a southern socialite and the other a Sudanese cleaning woman—that her eyes are opened to the truth of her situation and she begins her journey to healing and redemption.

What made you take on the tough subject of domestic abuse?

As a little girl, I watched my mother being physically abused by her husband and then later, two of my sisters enter abusive relationship after abusive relationship and I thought that would never be me. . . until the day my boyfriend hit me for the first time and I began to make excuses for him. I know the mindset of someone who gets into and stays in an abusive relationship, because I’ve been there myself. It’s taken me years, and a lot of reading, praying, and talking to get to the heart of what brought me and kept me in toxic relationships and I want to pass on some of what I learned that helped me find boundaries and recovery from a codependent mindset and most of all healing.

What do you hope readers take away from this book?

It’s my hope and prayer that those who are in abusive relationships will begin to see that the problem lies with them as much as with the abuser. That’s something I railed against when friends suggested it. I wasn’t the one with the problem! I was no doormat who enabled abuse or addiction… or was I?

I also hope that those who have never understood the mindset of victims would better comprehend the intricacies of codependency and be better able to minister to these women and men. And of course I’d love it if young women would read this before they ever enter their first romantic relationship to have their eyes open to how abuse almost always progresses and be able to see the red flags early.

Which of the characters in the novel is most like you and why?

Each of the characters has a little of me in them or vice versa. I think years ago I was more like Penny, though tougher in many regards, at least I thought so. I’d like to think now I’m a little more Callie Mae. Because I’ve lived through what I have and have found healing, I can see in others the path that will lead to healing and the one that will lead to destruction. The difficult part once you’ve found healing is remembering that you can’t do it for others. You can offer advice, but you can’t make anyone take it. Each person has to learn in their own time, in their own way.

Who is your favorite character?

I absolutely love Fatimah. She had such a great sense of humor and didn’t care what anyone thought except those who really mattered. She was really quite self-actualized. She was so much fun to write and I actually find myself missing her presence.

What’s your favorite and least favorite part about being a writer?

Favorite: making my own schedule. I love when I’m feeling bad one day knowing that I don’t have to punch a clock. I can just take the day off and then work harder the next. Of course, there’s a lot of other things I love about writing, like allowing others to consider another point of view that may be far different from their own.

Least favorite: There’s a joke that when you work for yourself you at least get to pick which eighteen hours of the day you want. That’s true. Working from home means I’m always at work. I work from about 7:30 am until about eight at night most days. Under deadline, it’s worse. Truly understanding how much the success of a book rides on the shoulders of the author is a blessing and a curse. Because I get that no one is more invested in the success of my books than me, I put in a LOT of time on the publicity/marketing end of things. It’s tiring but an investment that I think pays off in the long run.

You had written four novels before your debut, Crossing Oceans was published. Do you think those books will ever get dusted off and reworked?

Never say never, but I doubt it. I had considered reworking some but having gone back and re-read them, I realized they weren’t published for good reason. They just didn’t work. Now, there is one story I’m resurrecting characters from for a story I should be writing next, but the plotline is completely different. I started out writing suspensel but as my reading tastes changed, so did my writing tastes. I don’t see myself doing suspense again any time soon.

You’re known for your quirky characters, what inspires you to write these types into each book?

Honestly, I’m a pretty quirky person. The older I get, the more I embrace those quirks. I think everyone is quirky really. As a student of human nature, I pick up on those and like to exaggerate them in my fiction. I also like to surround myself with quirky people. My husband is quirky, my kids are quirky and so are my friends. Often in life, especially when we’re young, we hate about ourselves what makes us different, when really those are the things we should be embracing. Different is interesting. Different is beautiful.

If you could write anything and genre, marketing and reader expectations didn’t matter, what would you write?

Speaking of quirky… I read a book a few years back that was so different that it made me want to try something like that. The book was a big-time bestseller, Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell. What turned me on about that book were the characters. They were quirky to an extreme. In contemporary women’s fiction, I can get away with a certain amount of quirk. but I’m always having to play it down because it’s so over the top. In a fantasy, you can be as over the top as you dare. I’d love to play around with something like that one day and just let my freak flag fly! Will I? Probably not unless I use a penname. I realize readers have certain expectations and I wouldn’t want anyone to feel mislead. We’ll see. There’s lots in life I want to do but since I only get a hundred or so years (if I’m lucky), time won’t allow for every rabbit hole.

What advice would you have for writers hoping to follow in your footsteps?

My advice would be not to follow too closely in anyone’s footsteps. Yes, there is a certain path all writers find themselves on. There are certain things that we must all do like learning to write well, figuring out platform, going to writers conferences to meet the gatekeepers and figure out the way things have to be formatted and submitted and all that sort of thing. But it’s okay to veer off the path too and forge your own. There are those who have self-published who have found great success.

There are those who have written about subjects that they were told no one wanted to read about and found success. It’s smart to figure out what others have done before you to make them successful, but alter the formula to suit your needs and passions. It’s okay to be different, in fact, I think great success and maybe even happiness depends upon it. And by all means, read Novel Rocket.com and leave comments. It helps not only encourage those authors who have taken the time out of their day to teach us, but it also connects you to the writing community. Community is important. 

From the best-selling author of Crossing Oceans comes a heartrending yet uplifting story of friendship and redemption. On the cusp of adulthood, eighteen-year-old Penny Carson is swept off her feet by a handsome farmhand with a confident swagger. Though Trent Taylor seems like Prince Charming and offers an escape from her one-stop-sign town, Penny's happily-ever-after lasts no longer than their breakneck courtship. Before the ink even dries on their marriage certificate, he hits her for the first time. It isn't the last, yet the bruises that can't be seen are the most painful of all.

When Trent is injured in a welding accident and his paycheck stops, he has no choice but to finally allow Penny to take a job cleaning houses. Here she meets two women from very different worlds who will teach her to live and laugh again, and lend her their backbones just long enough for her to find her own.

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-92wvKyHnHEQ/USOr2QjuMYI/AAAAAAAAD6Q/pT2_ytkxfn4/s1600/ginacolortilt.jpg 4.bp.blogspot.com

There's No Sex in Star Wars

Through an email loop there is a great deal of discussion about what we read and what we don't read and the hithertos and whetherfores and whatnots. I put in my 2c worth (actually emailed 2 replies, each worth about a penny); but, it had me thinking. Do people truly watch what they read? Do they even care? Or do they compromise or make excuses? How do I perceive reading?

I like this scripture verse to explain it: "When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things. For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known." [1 Corinthians 13:11-12]

Of course, I am not a man, but it pertains to me just the same. I may still noodle over the second half of that part, but eventually the understanding of it will come to me. I just adore the first part because it is so truly me.

When I was a child, I read as a child. As I grew older in age, I developed a more literary and complex reading pattern. Spiritually I was still a child. Now that I am more mature in my spiritual walk with Jesus, I have done away with childish things, immature things. (I wish immaturish was a word). I have a more mature palate for reading.

How so?
I use this scripture to explain:   "Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things." [Philippians 4:8]

I have a few books that use language and some of them take God's name in vain. I thought about throwing them away, but I hesitated. The overall story was wonderful, good vs. evil, and man vs. himself, and man vs. man. What every good book should have. What did I do? I took a black marker and blacked out the offending word. It's been done before, although not with a marker, but with lines. Take for example the book by Edward Everett Hale, The Man Without a Country & Other Tales. The offending word was printed as such, d--n. Without reading it, without having it blazoned onto the brain, I knew what the author was conveying. Nowadays, authors can "imply" cursing or "imply" sex. No need to write it out explicitly. We are authors for crying out loud! Be creative! Have fun with the English language without compromising virtues and values.

Going further into the debate/discussion/topic, I find myself wondering why is it that I have to also be nit-picky about the Christian book market, too.

  

I've read a Christian published book and was disappointed when it used the vulgar word for "angry" in it...it would be considered vulgar today for the word pee, too. How about the h and e with the two hockeysticks in the wrong context? Or the occasional d-word? Unless the author is talking about the damnation to Hell for sinners, then it's best to steer clear of it. What about sex scenes? Oh, boy, I better not see an explicit scene in a Christian published book. Do the Scarlet O'hara and Rhett Butler thing: kiss, swoop up the gal, close the door. Fade to black (or in book terms, next scene/chapter please). Or how about the ever so controversial rape scene....do I really need to read about that part? What if it conjures up old memories for a reader who was a victim? Thank you, author, for bringing up old, hurtful memories of an assault. Why not just elude to it, cut to the next scene and show the reaction afterwards?

Too many authors think they must push the line to be "more real", to "reach out to others". Oh, baloney!

 "But those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart; and they defile the man." [Matthew 15:18]

Good books are found in both worlds, the Christian and the Secular. Horrible books are found in both worlds, the Christian and the Secular. The key is this: What Would Jesus Read?

The closer the walk with Jesus, the more I stay away from that which is of this world. The more I love Jesus, the more the world hates me. I would rather build up my rewards in Heaven than in this world. I would rather have beautiful and praise worthy books, Christian and Secular, than trite, preachy, erotic, or lamely written books. To know the difference in what to read, what to write, discernment is the key. To gain discernment, then prayer is needed. To gain prayer, I must talk with Jesus on a daily basis.

So, why would I defile myself with words that Jesus would not like when I could read so many books that would bring honor and glory and beauty to His name? I think even Jesus would approve of the books on my shelf...time for me to go through them again to make sure. 

And I will not give them away. Why be a stumbling block to another? If a person is trying to curb his/her cursing, why give him/her a book with cursing in it? If a person is trying to put away a past memory of assault, then why give a book with a scene of such an assault? If a person is trying to break his/her bond with sexual promiscuity, then why give him/her a book with sex scenes?

"Let us not therefore judge one another any more: but judge this rather, that no man put a stumblingblock or an occasion to fall in his brother's way." [Romans 14:13] 

Oh, and yeah. I keep the Star Wars books. No sex in Star Wars, right?