What God Wants for You

It has been said that a life watered by the tears of tragedy and suffering often becomes the most fertile soil for spiritual growth. Decades after his own brothers sold him into slavery, Joseph was able to say to them, "You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done." (Gen. 50:20)

Can you say that? If not, I encourage you to press in closer to the One who intends only good toward you, and has the power to redeem and restore and transform anything. As we pray more, immerse ourselves further in prayer, seek out others who have emerged from tragedy and disaster stronger and wiser and happier, we can grow out of feeling victimized and into triumph by His Spirit. I've been there, and I know.

So if you are not there yet, and despair of ever getting there, be encouraged. There is life, full and lovely, on the other side of whatever you've been through. Believe it!

(For more on recovering from trauma, you might want to check out Welcome to the Fresh-Squeezed Life Cafe. You can find it on Amazon. It is a guide to journal your way to wellness, both emotional and spiritual.)

Courage

"Whatever you do, you need courage. There is always someone to tell you, you are wrong. To map out a course of action, and follow it to an end, requires some of the same courage which a soldier needs." (Ralph Waldo Emerson)

What's Going On?

When some life event takes us by surprise, and we ask ourselves, What's going on?, what we answer back can say a lot about our perspective on ourselves and on life. We might interpret many things that happen to us in the same way, and feel defeated or victimized by this pattern we see. But the pattern of events in our lives might be nothing more than our seeing what we expect to see--our interpretations, and nothing more. That's one reason it's a good idea to talk about our perspective with someone we respect, someone who will tell us what they really think. Life is too short to get stuck! Let's talk.

The Book Goes to the Printer!

Today a few last-minute revisions were handled over the phone, and I faxed the galley and cover approvals to the publisher. The book should go to the printer by the end of this week, and within 2-3 weeks Welcome to the Fresh-Squeezed Life Cafe will be available.

Somehow I managed to do my part to make this happen, despite my design consultant leaving my publisher as of today, my car battery going dead, prevailing on two different neighbors to buy and use jumper cables to get me started, the office store Staples for the second time in a row being unable to successfully fax my forms to the publisher, my neighbor letting me use her home office fax machine to get the forms in today, driving around and leaving my car running while I ran into various auto parts stores to see if they would replace my battery, and a family member having emergency surgery. All this happened today: We just never know what kind of a day we're going to have, do we? (Surgery went well.)

Life has probably squeezed you, today, too, in small ways--and for some of you, in big ways. Maybe nothing was tied up and brought to a nice close, and your mind is not at ease. Maybe you're unhappy with the way you handled things. Take a deep breath. And another. Close your eyes and imagine God's hand reaching down to you, to pick you up, to stroke your hair, whatever you need. You are imagining the real, not the imaginary; He really loves you. He wants to give you beauty where you've had only ashes. There is good stuff ahead. Wait for it!

What is Fresh-Squeezed?

I want to know what you think of when you hear the term, "Fresh-Squeezed Life." Send me your definitions. Be as creative as you can. Make it funny or thoughtful, long or short, just make it yours. I'm looking forward to hearing from you. I'm going to put all the ideas posted between now and date of publication into a juice glass. When the book (same title as this blog) comes out (some time in the next month or two), the definition I pull out at random wins a free book. Come on, give it a try!