Devotionals for the Heart: How to survive loneliness and thrive

Gaining a new perspective by tapping into innocence
A devotional by Jessica Brodie

Do you ever get lonely? I used to struggle with loneliness a lot, especially in my teens and twenties. It still rears its ugly head on occasion.

When God created the first man, He knew right away Adam needed a companion. As it says in Genesis 2:18 (NIV), “The Lord God said, ‘It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.’” From Adam, God made Eve—a suitable companion, a woman to join with him as “one flesh” (Genesis 2:24).

I imagine God knew Adam would get lonely with no “kindred spirit,” no fellow human to talk with and share life with. Sometimes, when we’re lonely, upset, or grumpy, a companion is exactly what we need too. Sometimes it takes spending quality time with another person to reset. Often, that’s a spouse or close friend, and it works great.

But we humans can all too quickly lure each other into our own negative mindsets. The “grumpies” can spread like a virus—even worse than COVID. Think about the times you’ve been in a cranky mood and spent time with a friend who loves to gossip. Maybe it’s a laugh at first, but soon you start to feel worse. Crankiness begets crankiness.

That’s when I’ve found spending time with those seemingly “immune” to the grumpies—little kids, cute baby animals, or super-positive ray-of-sunshine friends—can be a big help. The innocence of children can be a balm to many a soul. Perhaps that’s why Jesus was indignant when his disciples rebuked parents for bringing Jesus little children for a prayer.

“He said to them, ‘Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. Truly I tell you, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.’ And He took the children in His arms, placed His hands on them and blessed them” (Mark 10:14b-16).

Animals, too, can be the same kind of balm. They can sense pain, sickness, and sadness, certainly. But they have a beautiful way of coping with it: they seem to rest in it, accepting the moment with peace.

We can often learn a lot from animals. They were created prior to and independently of humans, given the blessing of God, and instructed to “be fruitful and increase in number” (Genesis 1:22). Clearly they are of value to God—He enjoys them! He made them!

Other people are great. But there’s a unique and treasured beauty to the time we spend with those whose hearts are not tarnished by the world. Spending time with children or animals helps refresh our souls and bring a new perspective on life. Their innocence, authenticity, and simple appreciation of life can be infectious in a very good way.

If you’re struggling in life right now—whether it’s a bad day or a rotten season in your life, whether it’s mental illness or just a temporary period of “the blues”—think about ways you can cultivate that perspective of sunshine and innocence in your life.

Even in COVID, there might be volunteer opportunities at shelters or ways you can serve in your church with young kids. And if not, consider a FaceTime session with a relative or friend with littles, or funny animal videos on YouTube.

Today’s topic, gaining a new perspective by tapping into innocence, is one of 10 included in the free eBook I created to help people shrug off their worries and center themselves in the Lord. Called A God-Centered Life: 10 Faith-Based Practices When You’re Feeling Anxious, Grumpy, or Stressed, the book is FREE for anyone who signs up for my weekly blog. Learn more and get your copy here. (If you are already a blog subscriber but haven’t gotten your copy, just email meand I’ll send it to you.)

Let’s Pray: Dear Heavenly Father, thank you so much for the fresh perspective you enable us to enjoy through children, animals, nature, and others who can so quickly brighten any cloudy day. Help us remember that joy is not an emotion but the hope we find in Christ, but also help us understand that choosing happiness—choosing to banish negativity and learning to be content in all circumstances—is a step each of us can make each day. Thank you for walking with us in all things. Help us shine Your light in the world. In Jesus’s Name I pray. Amen.

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Author Bio:

Jessica Brodie is an award-winning Christian journalist, author, blogger, editor, and devotional writer. For the last decade, she’s been the editor of the South Carolina United Methodist Advocate, the oldest newspaper in Methodism, which has won 118 journalism awards during her tenure.

She is the author of Feed My Sheep: A 40-Day Devotional to Develop a Heart for Hunger Ministry (2019) and More Like Jesus: A Devotional Journey (2018) and editor of Stories of Racial Awakening: Narratives on Changed Hearts and Lives of South Carolina United Methodists (2018), all from her newspaper’s Advocate Press.

She is a seasoned speaker and contributor to Crosswalk, Christianity.com, and the United Methodist News Service, among many others. She has a weekly faith blog at JessicaBrodie.com and is part of the team at Wholly Loved Ministries.

Represented by Bob Hostetler of The Steve Laube Agency, she is seeking a publishing contract for her two contemporary women’s fiction novels, The Memory Garden and Tangled Roots. The Memory Garden won the 2018 Genesis Award for Contemporary Fiction from American Christian Fiction Writers, and Tangled Roots placed in Contemporary Romance at the Blue Ridge Mountains Christian Writers Conference in 2019.

Married, Brodie has four children and stepchildren and lives in Lexington, South Carolina.

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Connect with Jessica:
Website: https://www.jessicabrodie.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/JessicaJBrodie
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/authorjessicajbrodie
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jessicajbrodie/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jessicajbrodie/
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/shiningthelightjessicabrodie/

A Prelude to Christmas: Memories and Southerner Spanish Moss "Snowmen"

Welcome Sarah Monzon to the blog. She has a unique treat for you today! Sarah's here to share memories of how she celebrated Christmas a child in Florida, and it involves making "snowmen" out of Spanish moss. She's included a "how-to" guide toward the end of her personal essay. 

There will be no Rafflecopter widget book giveaway today because Sarah's offering her Christmas novella 12 Days of Snowmen for FREE when you sign-up for her newsletter by following this link,

http://www.sarahmonzonwrites.com/subscribe.html

Enjoy!

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If You Give a Southerner Spanish Moss...She Might Make a Snowman
A personal essay written by Sarah Monzon

Snuggling up on the couch with a fuzzy blanket, hot cocoa in hand, fire crackling in the hearth, glittering snow weighting evergreen boughs outside...it's an image we conjure when we think about Christmas. Insert the "I'm Dreaming of A White Christmas" song. This was not the Christmases of my growing up years. No, those Christmases looked like tank tops and flip flops and air conditioning. I grew up in Florida folks! More palm trees than fir there!

But don't let the tropical weather melt your holiday spirit. We may not have had the traditional ingredients to make Snowmen, but that never stopped us. 

Here’s the blurb for my book, 12 Days of Snowmen: Lucy Nel is determined to make her foster daughter's Christmas special by creating for her a 12 Day Snowman Extravaganza in the heart of Florida. Her good plans end up in a messy puddle, however, and she finds herself grudgingly accepting the help of a complete—although quite handsome—stranger.

While writing this sweet story, it was fun discovering all the different ways you can make snowmen without any actual snow, although I admit I may have used one or two of my own family traditions. Here's one for you (in case you find yourself in the South in December): The Mossman. That's right. A snowman made of Spanish moss. My grandfather started this tradition and my mother, who still lives in Florida, makes one every year.

Here are the step-by-step instructions for you to make your own Mossman:

Step 1: Gather a massive amount of moss, either from the ground or the branches. Careful with those ladders!

Step 2: Take some boards and make a small X. Hammer that into a 4x4. That's your stand.

Step 3: Get a roll of chicken wire and make three cylinder shapes of varying widths.

Step 4: Place the largest chicken wire cylinder around the base and stack the other two on top to get a basic snowman shape.

Step 5: Stuff the moss through the chicken wire holes. 

Step 6: Accessorize Frosty.

Step 7: Grab a glass of ice water because even though it's December, you're sweating buckets.

It may not be traditional, but it is funky and you wouldn't believe the number of people who stop by my mom’s house just to take pictures of her Florida snowman.

How about you? Do you and your family share any fun and unusual Christmas traditions or decorations?

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Author bio: 

Sarah Monzon is a Navy chaplain's wife and a stay at home mom to the two cutest littles in the world. 

Playing pretend all day with them isn't enough, she spends the evenings after their heads hit the pillow to create her own imaginary characters. 

When she isn't in the world of make believe, she can be found in a small desert town in central Washington taking care of her family, fostering friendships, and enjoying all the adventures each day brings.

Book Spotlight: Peach Blossom Rancher by Ada Brownell

Welcome Ada Brownell to the blog today! She's a familiar face who wants to share news about her new novel, Peach Blossom Rancher.

Ada's novel is an inspirational historical romance and it will be FREE from Nov. 20 to Nov. 24 on Amazon! Read Ada's post below about why she wrote this book. 

Book blurb for Peach Blossom Rancher: A handsome young man inherits a ranch in ruin and hopes to bring it back to its former glory and also marry a beautiful young widow who is an attorney. But she takes up the case of a brilliant doctor committed to an asylum because of one seizure. Will the rancher, the attorney, and the asylum patient achieve their dreams?

Suspense, romance, humor, murder, insanity, hope, fun, wrapped in a Western you won’t forget.

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Why I Wrote Peach Blossom Rancher
A guest post written by Ada Brownell

When you've written a novel and there’s unfinished business for some of the characters, you write a sequel.

Tall and handsome John Lincoln Parks is Jenny Louise Parks’ brother. Jenny is the leading lady of The Lady Fugitive. John set the example for Jennifer for running from abuse, actually his Uncle Danforth Shuster’s whip. John ran off in the night when he and the uncle had an argument over whipping horses and John’s back became the target.

Their parents were dead. The uncle, a judge, took over the ranch since he’d gambled away his home. John grabbed his half of the money their mother hid for them and hopped on a train for Minneapolis, where their mother’s sister lived.

He thought his twin sister would be safe. John barely noticed how she’d grown into a young woman and the judge kept looking her over. Sick because of his father’s death and the uncle’s maneuvering to get the ranch, John didn’t see it and fled to safety.

Jenny had more trouble escaping and didn’t dare share her fears with her aunt because of her friend Bellea’s experience when she was compromised by her employer’s son. No one, including Jenny’s aunt, would believe the girl’s story. Her employer threw Bellea out, even though her whole family had died in an epidemic. She had nowhere to go.

So in Peach Blossom Rancher Bellea shows up in John’s barn about to give birth. The judge is dead (murdered), and John has inherited the ranch. Jenny fell in love with a young Christian peddler and at her wedding John walked one of Jenny’s friends, Valerie MacDougal, a homesteader who had a law degree, down the aisle. John was best man. She was matron of honor.

John never forgot Valerie and since they exchanged addresses, they correspond, waiting until her mourning period if over before a courtship.

But Valerie being an attorney causes complications. An attorney working in Valerie’s father’s legal practice wants her to join him in helping to defend Dr. Dillon Haskill, a young physician, in court. Their goal is to help him be released from the asylum. He was committed because one seizure.

All these dangling stories beg to be told, so I told them in Peach Blossom Rancher.

I worked on a peach/horse ranch in my youth, and I covered a former asylum on my beat as a medical reporter for The Pueblo Chieftain in Colorado. I was given information and told much about the early years of asylums and the treatment of mental illness, interviewed mental patients, psychiatrists, psychologists, psych techs, and even the psychiatrist who determined whether a patient, usually a murderer from the forensic division, was insane at the time of the crime.

It was quite disturbing to learn some of the problems and conditions that could get you committed to an asylum in the early 1900s, the era of this historical romance.

But they’ve learned much about mental illness since. Yes, they still occasionally do shock treatments, but they are computerized to prevent bad side effects. Medications adjust chemicals in the brain that cause thought disorders, etc., and counseling and other treatments sometime help.

This book, however, is not about mental health treatments or how to raise peaches, but about some interesting characters you’ll love meeting. You’ll enjoy sharing their lives for a time. Not everyone has a serious problem, but all are fascinating.

Here’s what one my editors said: “I want Polly to live near me. Not just for the food, which made my mouth water, but she made my spirit sing too. I feel my absolute faith a little stronger after living with her and Abe this week.” – Deidre Lockhart.

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Author bio: 

Ada Brownell, a devoted Bible student, has written for Christian publications since age 15 and spent much of her life as a reporter for The Pueblo Chieftain in Colorado. 

She also is a veteran youth Christian education teacher. After moving to Missouri in her retirement, she continues to write books, free lance for Sunday school papers, Christian magazines, write op-ed pieces for newspapers, and blogs with stick-to-your-soul encouragement. 

She is the author of seven books and more than 350 articles and stories published in Christian magazines. She is a member of American Christian Fiction Writers and Ozarks Chapter of American Christian Writers. She and her husband have five children alive, one who died, eight grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.

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Connect with Ada:

Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/AdaBrownellWritingMinistries/

Twitter handle: @adabrownell

Amazon Author Page - http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B001KJ2C06

Google+:  https://plus.google.com/u/0/+AdaBrownell/posts

Goodreads - https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/1654534.Ada_Brownell

Blog "Stick-to-Your-Soul Encouragement", http://inkfromanearthenvessel.blogspot.com 

25 Days of Christmas Stories: Interview with Valerie Comer, author of Merry Kisses

Merry Kisses is A Riverbend Romance Novella written by Valerie Comer. 

Merry Kisses will be available to you, my dear readers, for free on Amazon.com from December 19-23, 2015! So there's no book giveaway contest today because you can order it for free during those dates. Here's what the cover of Valerie's book looks like:

Valerie is here today for an interview about her lovely Christmas story. I hope you will enjoy learning about Valerie as an author and you may find out why she calls this book "Merry Kisses" instead of "Merry Christmas"! 

*Words by Alexis are in bold, words from Valerie are not in bold...

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Alexis: Hi Valerie! Thanks for agreeing to another author interview. I am delighted to feature your Christmas story Merry Kisses on my blog today! Let’s jump right in with those interview questions…Merry Kisses is such a wonderful and unique story! Tell us the “story behind the story.” How did you imagine that title?

Valerie: I'll credit my daughter with coming up with the title and opening premise several months before I began writing the story. "Merry Kisses" sounded fun and definitely Christmassy! I love starting with a title then working it into the narrative. Almost all of the Riverbend romance novellas were written with the title as inspiration.

Let’s talk about your leading lady, Sonya Simmons. What does she look like? Why does her boss not want her saying “Merry Christmas” to customers?

In the opening scene, we find Sonya wearing a bright green uniform with a screen printed giraffe peering over her shoulder. She works at a toy store, after all! Her boss is very anti-Christmas and anti-religion and is doing the socially correct thing of not allowing the traditional greeting in her store. It's somewhat ironic that she's in a business where Christmas purchases keep things afloat for the rest of the year.

Early on in your story, Sonya gets fired when she tells a good-looking man, “Merry Kisses” as a holiday greeting while she is at work in the store. I found it interesting how that man (Heath Collins) is the hero of your story. Tell us about him. What does he do for fun? What were his first thoughts and reaction when Sonya told him “Merry Kisses”?

Heath is a fun-loving and hard-working guy who owns his own landscaping and snow-removal business. Add the mall Santa gig to his life, and December is a busy time, but he sticks with it because he loves making a difference in kids' lives. When he heard Sonya's words, they made him laugh and take a second look. It pleased him that he'd flustered her so much…at least until it became apparent that her boss believed she'd said the forbidden words.

What is it about Heath that causes Sonya to fluster and blush?

The direct, warm look in his eyes. His compassion for her and others. And the fact that he's perfectly willing to gently tease her.

What is it about Sonya that makes Heath want to kiss her?

She's so endearing when she gets flustered, yet she seems to carry a heavy load. He wants her to keep her chin up, but when she does, her lips are right there.

Why do Sonya’s parents disdain Santa Claus? Did you have a particular audience in mind when you wrote that part of the storyline?

I didn't have an audience in mind, actually. I don't plan much of a story out in advance, so much of what happened — even this type of backstory — didn't become clear to me until I was writing it.

What did you love the most about telling Sonya and Heath’s story? 

Is it shallow to say the kisses? How about watching Sonya blossom? How about the fun of letting readers catch another glimpse of Elena and Sophie, the two little girls who "matchmaked" their parents in Pinky Promise?

What was the most challenging part of writing Merry Kisses?

Getting into Sonya's head and figuring out what lines she drew over Christmas, and why. And writing about snowstorms on hot summer days!

What’s the moral of the story? 

Hmm. Don't make a snap judgment about cultural things without examining them and their history.

Complete this sentence: If someone told me “Merry Kisses” instead of “Merry Christmas” this year, I would _____________________.

If someone told me “Merry Kisses” instead of “Merry Christmas” this year, I would pretend not to notice because I'm shy like that! 

Thanks for the interview, Valerie! God bless you and Merry Christmas!

~*~
Author bio: 

Valerie Comer’s life on a small farm in western Canada provides the seed for stories of contemporary inspirational romance. 

Like many of her characters, Valerie and her family grow much of their own food and are active in the local foods movement as well as their creation-care-centric church. 

She only hopes her creations enjoy their happily ever afters as much as she does hers, shared with her husband, adult kids, and adorable granddaughters.

Valerie writes Farm Lit where food meets faith, injecting experience laced with humor into her award-winning Farm Fresh Romance stories. 

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Book blurb for Merry Kisses: Fired from her retail position for saying Merry Christmas to a customer, Sonya Simmons chafes at the over-commercialization of the season and the difficulties of finding a new job. If only she’d actually SAID Merry Christmas instead of Merry Kisses to the tall, good-looking man buying enough toys for at least a dozen children. How embarrassing!

It was fun to fluster the pretty toy store clerk, but Heath Collins, the mall’s volunteer Santa Claus, hadn’t meant to get her fired. When his elf assistant comes down with a bad cold, Heath offers Sonya a few days’ work, only to discover she believes Santa is nothing but a liar and a fraud instead of an opportunity to make a difference in children’s lives.

Can Sonya and Heath embrace each other — opinions, traditions, and all — in time to share merry kisses for Christmas?

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Buy Valerie's book:
Amazon.com - http://amzn.to/1QmZlEP
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Connect with Valerie:
Website - http://valeriecomer.com
Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/valeriecomer.author
Pinterest - https://www.pinterest.com/valeriecomer/
Twitter - https://twitter.com/valeriecomer
YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/user/valerierco