WILDERNESS
We were here Here to gather Our first fruits together. Together we wandered in disaster, Disaster made a scatter, Plunging into our harvest and Reaping our fruits of labour. We have wandered for years Yearning, desiring and toiling in tears. In pain, sorrow, our years Grow on our tiredness And desperation plunders our hopelessness. When is God’s time? We ask as years pass in time! We know He sees and hears our prayers. But how long can we bear The wilderness of a barren womb?
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STORMS IN WRITING!
I discovered a piece of writing that I had crafted in response to Liz Carter’s post at some point in time, probably about a year ago! I believe I never posted it or did I? She wrote about the dark side of her health and its effects on her life as a writer, while holding on to God and leaning on His joy to strengthen her! Do not ask me for the date. I unfortunately don’t know and I also then did not know how to find the blog post!!! I have come a long way, I tell you! But re-reading through my response again, I realise that there is something which could serve as food for thought for us all as writers. We could experience storms in various degrees in every stage of our writing: from getting the idea, making a start, completing the chapters, arriving at the last full stop to signify finish and then moving on to publishing and marketing. So there are ‘sale storms’, ‘review storms’, etc well, welcome to EPISODE 2 of my ‘NOTHING IS WASTED’ series below! I found this really striking that your life is so carefully structured. It made me ponder about my own way of life – very opposite to yours. I asked myself, ‘if chaos ever came to my scene, would I use writing as a way of escape? Your post has given me food for thought – a storm can happen anytime in our lives and the world we live in and will we remember to call Lord Jesus in to our boat? Or to wake Him if it appears He is asleep with a rebuke – “Care Ye not we perish?” The PEACE of God
Our Lord Jesus Christ commanded His angels concerning us to guard us in all our ways. Even our toileting without stress is the blessing of peace. Talking about God’s peace reminds me of another scripture where God says His blessings enriches and add no sorrow. Proverbs 10:22. We have the peace of God when we realise that He has given us all we need, prepared us for the lives we each live and has equipped us for the challenges of life. Psalm 23 says, ‘The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not lack’. Best of us all, He has given us the armour to stand against the wiles of the enemy through His Word and so, we shall live and not die but declare the glory of God. Psalm 118:17. Even if the world around you crashes, God will give you His peace. Psalm 91. This week, remember the thoughts of Peace the Lord our God has towards you in every aspect of your life. Let this give you all hope, dear sisters in Christ. I pray that the PEACE of God that passeth all understanding shall keep our hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. AMEN. Philippians 4:7. This will be the portion of our families and loved ones too. Amen. Jeremiah 29:11 – For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says Jehovah, thoughts of peace and not of evil to give you hope in your latter end. Thank You Papa God that the thoughts and plans You have for us are for Peace and good, not evil. This season, we will choose to align ourselves with the leading of Your Holy Spirit and we will see peace and goodness in our lives. Amen. There is a song that goes: ‘Jesus started with prayer and ended with prayer…’ This tells us that whatever our focus or theme is on this forum, prayer is vital. Peace in world terms is the absence of conflict but for us as Christians, Peace is a blessing which can be experienced in many aspects of our lives, but which many of us take for granted. When you go to bed each night without the fear of not waking up, it is peace. God says he gives His beloved sleep. Or when you go out in the morning to pursue your daily labour without any fear and arrive safely home at the end of the day in one piece, it is the peace of God. God says in Psalms 91:11, that He has commanded His angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways. Olusola Sophia Anyanwu. 20.03.22 Questions from Rosemary Johnson[ACW Official 2022]
Encourage In a secular world, to what extent do you feel validated by being around Christian writers?
Have you made use of any of the following: Members’ Services (critiques on writing, available only to members)? – No. Tips, help and guidance in the Writing Craft section of the website? - No Submission opportunities in the Writing Craft section of the website? - No Can you give examples of specific leads or helpful advice given by ACW members you’ve met online or face-to-face?
Inspire is defined as ‘to make someone feel that they want to do something and can do it’ (https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/inspire) I do you feel inspired, energised, motivated, and more confident being around other ACW members whether at writers’ days, the ACW Facebook (Group), Local writing group or genre specific writing groups such as the TRELLIS Poetry, More than Writers and Biblical Christian fiction. The bible says “ Iron sharpeneth iron”. This is my experience. I am inspired by the above groups through the experiences I benefit from, enabling me not to rest on my laurels, not to get distracted by social media, motivated to keep on writing by having to attend book launches almost every month or congratulate members for new books they have published or getting to review books of members. These act as inspiration to continue writing, to continue being fruitful and produce forth. These groups make me feel like a tree planted by ‘the rivers of waters’. My only setback which I need further encouragement, equipping and inspiration is to be able to Self-publish my own books from scratch to finish successfully. I know that in time, being around other ACW members who have done this successfully will eventually rub on me as well. Thank you very much. Blessings. QUESTIONS FORM DOROTHY[ TWITTER] 2022
1.What is the name of your book/genre/ brand? Christian fantasy fiction. 2.When did you start your writing career? In 1979, when I started writing poetry as an undergraduate. 3.Did you have support from family/friends/community? Yes. I have always had support from family and friends by way of encouragement, proofreading, supporting with their suggestions, writing reviews and helping me out with book launches. The community too has been very supportive as my church community bought some of my books and many dropped reviews on Goodreads as well. Recently too, Peabody featured me in the Directory book for our local community in Thamesmead. I am on page 67! 4.What is most difficult about an author’s life? For me, it is about getting enough reviews on my books and marketing them. 5. As a woman do you feel an obligation to write on women’s issues (in some form)? No obligation but some of my books have heroines as the protagonist. 6. Do you create stereotypical female characters i.e., weak, need to be saved? No but depending on the genre or era of the story, for instance, some of the women characters exhibit subservient qualities . 7. Do you try to be politically correct or stay away from politics/controversial current event as plots? I’m not by nature interested in politics and controversial issues in my prose but in my poetry, I have poems touching on racism, inequality and the consequences of bad leadership and governing of people. 8.What makes a woman a success? When she can stand on her own , achieve, enjoy economical status and produce a successful generation as a legacy. Thank you very much. All it takes is a mustard seed!
During the half term break, last month, I had the pleasure of hosting my cousin, Angela, in our home at Thamesmead. Being teachers, we needed to enjoy a well-deserved break. I told her we were going to have a blast of a time and that is what happened. Can you guess how? Well, let’s take it bit by bit… The very morning she came, we went to my favourite cafe and she said it was the best cafe she had ever been to! While digestion was busy in our bellies, we caught up on heart to heart chats had hearty laughs and took lovely pictures. My home is a walking distance to the popular historical Lesnes Abbey Ruins and a very lively beautiful lakeside. During the days that followed, we enjoyed long walks around the area, watched movies and played indoor games. She was treated to a sumptuous meal at our favourite African restaurant - The Whitehart at Erith. For her, it was a very memorable experience! On Sunday, she worshipped with me at Emmanuel Baptist Church, Thamesmead. She was so blessed… Angela resides in a beautiful home in Dartford, where I was treated to a taste of royal experience during the half term break in February. Starting from the cosy, well decorated guestroom, to specially served tasty meals, the spa, sauna, and the pool at the Dartford Club, it was a real treat for my tired self! My experience was like being in a five star hotel. She filled my cup to overflowing with contentment, pleasure and delight! It was overwhelming!! So I was excited to give this sister of mine with a beautiful soul and personality, a lovely time. She mentioned her experience of a miracle, which has prompted the title of my post. I share it below for you to be blessed as I was. In October, her car’s MOT fell due and for the annual servicing, there was a list of things wrong with the car amounting to £1,000! Worse, this had to be sorted before the MOT could be done! Her faith was shaken. She hadn’t the fund. She went to the altar in her home and raising her face to God, she told Him, “all You are asking for is a mustard seed. I cannot see my way through this dilemma. I’m close to giving up and breaking down. My car is vital for my commuting and crucial to my work but I am willing to trust You and give You my mustard seed of faith’ [Showing God her pinkie]. As soon as she finished talking to God, something ministered in her spirit to take the car to a different equally popular garage and she did. She had felt nervous yet hopeful…The verdict came 45 minutes later! ‘Miss Angela…?’ She got up, walking to the reception with mixed emotions of, ‘it is done’ and ‘Thy will be done’. ‘…all done, it has passed the MOT.’ As she told me this miracle, I felt her joy and gratitude to God for His mercy and provision. All it took was a mustard seed of faith! The mustard seed is described in the gospels as the smallest of all seeds yet grows up to be the largest of all trees, giving shade, shelter and refuge to all. Other concepts of the mustard seed’s value includes: humility, humble beginning, size, hope, worth, faith, etc. As we enter the Christmas season, all it will take is faith as small as a mustard seed to enjoy ‘Christmas miracles’ with our family, in our writings, finance , health and our lives in general. Be blessed! The mustard seed in the Lord’s parable shared in the 4 gospels of the new testament is used to i A Catalogue of FIRSTS!
By the time you are reading this post, by God’s grace, I would be returning to UK after a week in Turkey - a gift from our children to celebrate our Ruby Anniversary! As I write this post from my Arnor De Luke Hotel in Antalya, Turkey, I remembered my first day in TRELLIS, our ACW poetry group. We were asked to compile a list of first times and firsts in our lives. I found that exercise so interesting and here are a couple of things I wrote down:
#ACW #encouragement #firsttimes #testimony Sophia recently published ‘POETRY MATTERS’.A collection of 100+ poems!
Regret, Resentment, Pride or Nostalgia? It is interesting what kind of bizarre thoughts come in to one’s mind. Such filtered through my mind, reeling through scores of years ago, the way a random kite is sometimes seen in the sky, as I watched the coronation of Charles 111. Thoughts about other countries who had deposed of their own monarchies might feel or think. Regret? Resentment? Or nostalgia. Whatever! The ceremony birthed a fable told in black communities about the dog and his mother. This is my embellished version from my creative pot. A long time ago, there was a very severe famine in the land of the animals. They decided to have a meeting to find a solution to the food scarcity. Leaving their mothers to look after their families, they gathered in a big open space pondering for hours without a solution. Then the tortoise came up with the solution… All the animals hastened back home to carry out the tortoise’s ‘brilliant’ plan but the dog thought differently. So he went home and prayed to God about his predicament. God heard his prayer and gave him a solution. The dog took his mother to a designated spot. A basket was let down from the sky, on a rope. The dog received some food from the basket and his mother was taken up to the sky. After all the animals had killed and eaten their mothers, the famine ceased and the dog’s mother returned to be reunited with her family! I can imagine the regret, pain, guilt and anger those animals felt when the famine was over because they had killed their mothers! I know how I feel when I think of my diaries ranging from 1968 to 1988 which I burned because I thought I had shared too much ‘intimate’ information in them. Do you also have regret for writings you have destroyed or do you have thoughts from long ago that fleet through your memory? It’s never too late to recapture the past in our writings. We all know the story of how Israel moaned to God about wanting to be like other nations who had kings ruling them. God told Israel the disadvantages of a monarchy through Prophet Samuel but they insisted on their wish. How did Israel feel about the monarchy under the reigns of the likes of King Ahab, Rehoboam, etc? Israel did not want God to rule over them any longer!!! Let us like the dog always turn to God in our challenges of life. The scripture says, ‘He will take your best fields and vineyards… He will take a tenth of your corn… When that time comes, you will complain bitterly… but the Lord will not listen to your complaints.’ 1 Samuel 8: 14 -18 So it was not surprising to see some people protesting against the UK’s monarchy - Fodder for historical fiction writers amongst us! I pray that God’s will for the UK continues and that Christian writers of whatever genre will continue to be inspired on Earth as it is in Heaven. AMEN. #fable #historical fiction #ACW #monarchy #amwriting #kingCharles111 #Coronation #memories #inspiration Sophia Anyanwu lives in SE London. She’s an educationist, encourager reviewer, author and poet. She is a member of the Association of Christian Writers, UK and has published 14 books which are available on her website: www.olusolasophiaanyanwuauthor.com and Amazon. You can subscribe to her YouTube channel here: https://bit.ly/3j0oPuy and follow her on all social media here: https://bit.ly/3UG36Kx SHARPEN YOUR AXE
If anyone needs to hear this, it is me. I also hope that this post will speak to your inner man and bless you.
Hebrews 12:11 – No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained in it. May this be our portion. Amen. That summarises it all! The beauty of Midrash
Eve was awake. She was just 2 weeks old in the heavenly realms but it never ceased to amaze her how each day held something new, exciting, exhilarating and even intriguing! The previous day, she had met Mr Serpent again. She had consciously fought dwelling on his appealing and magnetic personality even as she flashed back on the incidence. Was he stalking her? Adam didn’t think so. ‘Hello, beautiful’. She had ignored him but he continued speaking. ‘ I particularly like the way your breasts have been created. They are sexually attractive compared to Mrs Apes’,’ he blurted. ‘What are you talking about?’ ‘I can see what you can’t see because I have eaten that apple! ‘If you are here to try and tempt me again, go away! You are not a friend of Abba. I won’t touch it!’ Clicking her tongue, she had walked off in search of Adam. ‘But before you go away, have you never wondered why I’m still alive? Yet, I have tasted it…’ ‘Adam?’ she called quietly. ‘Are you awake?’ To her surprise he whispered back… END OF EXTRACT I got thinking. When the saints of God gathered, the devil gathered with them. We hear him talking to God about Job! Guess what? He whispers that my writing is rubbish! Dear writers, my advice is: let us continue to ‘resist the devil and he will flee from us’. [James 4:7b] From the extract above, I used Midrash. I love using it in my biblical fantasy writing. In the extract above, am I ‘showing or telling’? What is the difference? I will appreciate your feed backs below! Thanks. Blessings. |
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