#TuesdayTreasure: Special Guest Post by Beth K Vogt!

Good Morning from Nacogdoches, TX!

I drove up yesterday to spend a few days with my son who is the Spirit Coordinator/Dance Coach for Stephen F Austin State University. He's busier than I am, LOL!

But never too busy for a special guest to share with us something she treasures....

The Treasure of Home

“There’s no place like home…”

In the movie The Wizard of Oz, Dorothy whispers this phrase to herself as she taps together three times the heels of those magical ruby slippers. She repeats the phrase when she returns from the Land of Oz saying, “Oh, Auntie Em – there’s no place like home!”

That fictional Kansas farm girl was right. There is no place like home.

And yet, home – returning home, being home, finding home – can be a complicated process.

You’ve probably also heard the phrase, “You can’t go home again.” It comes from the title of a novel by Thomas Wolfe, and in part, the book deals with how the passing of time prevents the author from going home again.

Not being able to go home again – that struggle is true for a lot of people. Sometimes they’ve been uprooted so many times – like the heroine in my novel, Crazy Little Thing Called Love – there is no “home” to point to. Maybe home disintegrated because of divorce or death. Or maybe their childhood home was a place of pain. Why would they want to go back?

Right now, I have to accept that I can’t go home again. Unforeseen circumstances have separated me from my family of origin. I never imagined this heart-pummeling heartache. I have to trust that God knows what’s going on right this moment – and that He also knows how things might change for the better in the future.

I am thankful that, even as I face the unwanted reality barring me from that one sense of home, He has provided me home here and now – with my husband and our family.

This home is where I belong. There’s no need for pretense or defense. This is where the comfy clothes go on and masks are to be left outside. 

I bought this wooden sign a couple of years ago. It hangs on a wall in my home in the midst of family photos. It describes home best:

In this home …

We do second chances.

We do grace.

We do fun.

We do mistakes.

We do I’m sorrys.

We do loud really well.

We do hugs.

We do family.

WE DO LOVE.

There is no other place like this home in my life. No matter where I go, coming home is the best part of any trip. Walking through the front door, I whisper, “I’m home.”

And all is well.

Beth K. Vogt is a non-fiction author who said she’d never write fiction, the wife of an Air Force physician who said she’d never marry anyone in the military and a mom of four who said she’d never have kids. Vogt believes God’s best often waits behind the doors marked “never.” A 2015 RITA® Finalist and a 2015 and 2014 Carol Award finalist, her 2014 novel, Somebody Like You, was one of Publisher’s Weekly’s Best Books of 2014. She lives in Colorado with her husband, Rob, and their youngest daughter.

For more information about Beth, visit her website, become a fan on Facebook or follow her on Twitter and Pinterest.

Crazy Little Thing Called Love can be purchased at Amazon for Kindle, in Hardcover and Paperback.

Sounds like the perfect read and so appropriate since I am not at home right now LOL!

Here's wishing YOU a Blessed day!

Check back often for Thursday Thoughts, Saturday Spotlights and more Tuesday Treasures.

PamT

#ThursdayThoughts: Special Guest Post by Lynne Gentry!

Good Morning Friends,

It is my pleasure to bring you this special guest post by Lynne Gentry & Litfuse Publicity Group....

Enjoy!

“The Story Within the Story”

Writing the words “The End” to an epic series is always tough for an author. We wonder, Will this conclusion satisfy readers? Reader concerns aside, for me, wrapping up this tale was especially bittersweet. I felt like I’d been on a long, hard personal journey of exploration and growth. The trip had challenged me at every hair-raising turn. I was exhausted.
For you see, my story is the story within this story.

Dr. Lisbeth Hastings’ determination to change the past had its roots in my own regrets. I’d been struggling with the desire to go back twenty years and make a couple of different decisions. Knowing that I couldn’t, I wondered why God would ask such an imperfect person to write a story about his perfect, unfailing love. The assignment was almost more than I could bear. I lifted prayers of deliverance from this task. All I heard in response was: WRITE.

So I did.

Word by word, Lisbeth’s story began to unfold. With each line I felt the burden I’d carried for so long lighten. But it wasn’t until I wrote the last page of this young doctor’s tale that I realized how changing anything in my past would be like pulling a thread in the tapestry of my own life. Removing even a single decision (my children, for example) would make me into a totally different person.

Like Lisbeth, I decided each of my decisions was a different colored thread. Woven together, they created shadows and light, added dimension and depth to the whole picture of who I am. I took a good, long look at myself and decided the consequences of my decisions had shaped me into a generous, loving, and kind person. I’m braver than I think, tenacious, and for the first time in years, very happy. I was surprised to discover that I liked who I’d become. I’m comfortable with who I am--an imperfect person who loves God and knows, without a doubt, that God loves me, even when I fail. Grasping this concept was so liberating.

I don’t believe I’m the first Christian to struggle with this truth. The early church was full of people just like us. Even my hero, Cyprianus Thascius, struggled with perfection and his intense desire to hold others to the high standard he had set.

We are so tempted to believe God loves only those who are perfect; that once we have everything together, THEN God can love us.

But the story within the story of Christ’s journey to this earth is this: We can never be good enough on our own – and we don’t have to.

Now that’s a happy ending I can live with.

“I waited patiently for the Lord; he turned to me and heard my cry.  He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; he set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand.  He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God.” –Psalm 40:1-3

Lynne Gentry has written for numerous publications and is a professional acting coach, theater director and playwright with several full-length musicals and a Chicago children’s theater curriculum to her credit. She likes to write stories that launch modern women into ancient adventures, such as The Carthage Chronicles series (Healer of Carthage, Return to Exile and Valley of Decision).

Gentry is also an inspirational speaker and dramatic performer who loves spending time with her family and medical therapy dog.

To keep up with Lynne Gentry, visit www.lynnegentry.com, become a fan on Facebook (Author-Lynne-Gentry) or follow her on Twitter (@Lynne_Gentry) and Pinterest (lynnegentry7).


Valley of Decision is available at Amazon in Print and on Kindle!

Hope you enjoyed today's Thursday Thoughts!

Have a Blessed and Prosperous day.
PamT