Every once in awhile something really fun takes place… like, seeing a Facebook post by a friend of mine that says, “I signed a book contract!”
Rachelle Rae and I have written for the same publication for some time, so when her news hit I scurried off (can you do that online?) to send her an email begging for information about this upcoming book. It turns out she signed a contract for a 3 book historical fiction series with WhiteFire press. Continue reading
I like things to be instant. Well, everything except pudding. Nothing beats a slow cooked custard pudding. But for the most part if I decide something, I want to go right then and get it done. I’m just like that.
Yet, I’m learning that things don’t happen this way in the Kingdom of God.
For some reason God seems incredibly concerned with persistence.
From the story of the friend who got what he needed because he wouldn’t stop knocking, to the widow who gets the justice she desires because she won’t stop bothering the King— Jesus, himself, gives us permission to pound on the gates of heaven with our requests. Continue reading
So, Lord, do you remember how I always planned to be done having babies by the time I was thirty? I’m not sure why, except that my mother had her last one while in her mid-twenties so it seemed like a good plan.
I had no idea that one day I would be facing my thirtieth birthday without a pregnancy lasting longer than 6-8 weeks.
Tonight, as I was struggling through chores with a frozen water hose and a nosy heifer and a hissing cat, I felt a little like crying. Sometimes I feel like screaming but tonight it was just tears that bit at my eyes. Continue reading
Some stories don’t turn out like we expect them to.
I’m sure Mary would agree with me. She said yes to God’s plan, despite her limited understanding. She put her hand right in His and followed the path laid down for her.
But I somehow doubt she ever expected where all it would lead her.
When my husband and I were first contacted about adopting a little unborn baby, we went right to our knees. We were Gideon with all his doubts. We weren’t strong enough, wealthy enough.
Four times I stretched out a fleece. Not just the twice that Gideon did. Four times.
Are you sure, God?
Every time He laid my fears to rest. This was His battle, His decision, His plan. Continue reading
I’ve never seen an angel (that I’m aware of, though I’ve often wondered about a few people who moved in and out of my life very swiftly—and left huge blessings in their wake). To be honest, I’m not sure what I would do if I saw one.
From Scripture it seems that perhaps they are more terrifying than we tend to think. The pretty gal with the glowing hair and fluttering wings? Not so much.
Since one of the names we are given in Scripture of the Creator is “God of Angel Armies” I would guess that an angel might look a bit more like an army general.
In the book of Luke (Luke 2:8-21) we hear about the angels who announce the Messiah’s birth to a group of shepherds. Apparently this was a surprising turn of events as the shepherds were the unlearned of the Jewish society. Continue reading
There have been a few times in my life when I have been given a direct rhema from the Lord.
Once was when I was a teenager, asking God what my calling was. That day He sent me a note.
Another was at Bible School, when I was seeking to further define my calling. He met me that night in a dream. One thing I had always wondered was what I would say to Jesus if I saw Him in person. That night I found that the first words from my mouth were, “Abba. Oh, my Abba.” In the dream He was on His way to the cross and when I cried over His wounds and what I knew was to come, He turned me gently toward a hillside. There in the shadow of the cross, dozens of children were playing—oblivious to the horror happening above them. “I am going to make all things new,” He told me. “You go and teach them to see.” Continue reading
I remember the day of our seventh anniversary. I woke up, looked around and found my husband watching me. He smiled. “Has it really been seven years?”
It had. Years that flutter away with the spinning of time. Years I pray are simply the beginning of a lifetime.
Anna, daughter of Phanuel of the tribe of Asher (a Jewish woman in the New Testament) was married for seven short years before laying her husband to rest. During a time-period when the average marrying age was fifteen, she would have become a widow about the age when I began my married life.
Only seven years. I know how short that time really is.
Translators are a bit undecided if Scripture says that she was then a widow until 84 years old or a widow for the next 84 years. (Luke 2:37 text and footnotes) Either way, she was a widow a very long time. Continue reading
I want her to know it didn’t start with a baby. Nor did it start with Joseph and Mary. They are all part of the middle, but not the beginning– nor are they the end.
The world was created in perfection, with love. All was beautiful, all was good. It was a glorious place where fellowship with God was possible. (Gen. 1)
Yet, the perfection did not stay. With the ability for true fellowship came the ability for broken fellowship. When Eve believed the lie, that all was not good, that God was hiding something from her, the relationship broke.
I want her to know the whole story. Not just about the manger, but about the creation of the world and man’s fall into sin and the God who gave up the glory of heaven for brokenness and betrayal. About His gift, the greatest gift of all. Continue reading
“Mama,” the little girl said, “should I make a list of everything I want for Christmas?”
Her mother stood still and quiet for a moment. She was carefully hanging tinsel, pulling the strands gently from the glittery pile. “I think,” she finally said to her daughter, “that you should come and sit and listen to a couple stories.”
The girl came quickly, for she loved stories of every kind, and she knew this would be a special type of story. It would be a story from when her mama was little, like her. She brought her big ball of red yarn and her crochet hook. She was making a long, long chain to wrap around the Christmas tree. Her mother continued to pull the tinsel apart, piece by piece, and tape in carefully in a dangling, sparkly row.
The two worked busily with their hands as the stories began…
Natasha Metzler 
