The Greatest Mission Ever!

And Moses was eighty years old and Aaron eighty-three years old

when they spoke to Pharaoh (Exodus 7:7, NKJV).

We live in a youth-oriented culture, where anyone over the age of 65 is supposed to hang up their work ethic and spend whatever years they have left chasing a little white ball around a golf course. Nothing wrong with playing golf, mind you, but when it becomes our sole purpose for getting out of bed in the morning, we’ve lost our direction.

God did not create us to serve ourselves. We are made in the image of the Creator, and God has called us to partner in that pursuit, to one degree or another; that partnership doesn’t end when our hair turns gray or our step slows a bit due to arthritis.

I love reading about Moses and Aaron, don’t you? They were in their eighties when God sent them to confront the most powerful man on earth. God didn’t send young men in their prime of life so they could flex their muscles and pound their chest and intimidate Pharaoh. He didn’t send rich rulers from other countries who could threaten him with their armies or bribe him with their riches. He sent two brothers who, between them, had lived more than 160 years on this earth. Neither had experienced an easy life, since Aaron was raised as a Hebrew slave, and Moses, after growing up in a palace, had to flee for his life into the desert. And though Moses initially resisted God’s call to go to Pharaoh, he finally accepted, with his older brother at his side.

We can learn a lot through the story of Moses and Aaron and their ultimate success in leading the Israelites out of the bondage of Egypt. First, as long as we live on this earth, we are never too old to be useful to God. Second, if we continue to partner with God in whatever He has purposed for us, we can experience tremendous victories at any stage of life. And finally, though we may consider ourselves inconsequential in the scheme of things, God can use us to effect powerful changes in the lives of others.

So wherever you are today and whatever is going on in your life, listen for God’s voice. He just may call out to you from the burning bush and send you forth on the greatest mission ever.

Start Your Day Off Right!

Don't miss this wonderful new book from fellow author and dear friend Grace Fox!

Peaceful Moments to Begin Your Day: Devotions for Busy Women

Before anyone else in my household wakes, I pour a cup of coffee, open my Bible and journal, and settle into my favorite leather loveseat for quiet time with God. These precious moments set the tone for my entire day and the attitude with which I tackle my to-do list. They fill me with hope, give direction, and grant wisdom. Join me, dear reader, in this discipline of delight and let’s share spiritual aha moments at the start of each day.

Be encouraged…be refreshed…be changed.

NOTE: This book was formerly titled 10-Minute Time Outs for Busy Women. It’s been reformatted and newly released as a gorgeous little gift book. It’s 4”x6” with a padded hard cover and blue ribbon bookmark. It makes an ideal gift for birthdays, Christmas, secret sisters, anniversaries, and Mother’s Day. Give it as a thank-you gift to your pastor’s wife, a special teacher or youth worker, a missionary. Or give it to a special friend “just because.” Suitable for women from all walks of life—married or single, ages 19-90. Be blessed as you read it, my friend.

It’s available here, on online bookstores, www.gracefox.com, and at bookstores nationwide.

To read an excerpt click here: http://www.gracefox.com/books/peaceful-moments-to-begin-your-day/

Li Ying is Free!

Red Ink, my multi-award-winning novel loosely based on the life of one of my personal heroines, Li Ying, has now received its greatest honor. I found out that Li Ying has been released from prison and that she is aware of the book and grateful for it. She has expressed a desire to meet me if she is ever allowed to travel to the US. Please pray with me that it will happen. Here is the press release:

JINMEN, Hubei, China (WordNews.org) Feb. 24, 2012 – A Chinese house church leader and the editor of a newspaper editor has been released five years early, ChinaAid president Bob Fu said.

Li Ying, of the South China Church in Hubei, was released on Christmas day. She’d been sentenced to 15 years in prison in 2002 for “intentional assault.” Fu said a worldwide letter-writing campaign and other international efforts on her behalf helped lead to her release.

Li tearfully told Fu that during her decade in prison, thousands of letters for her were sent to the prison. She said the letters had also helped to significantly improve her prison conditions.

Li was one of the first prisoners featured by the international human rights group Voice of the Martyrs on its www.prisoneralert.com website, where concerned Christians could write letters of encouragement to imprisoned Christians. According to Voice of the Martyrs, more than 11,400 letters were written to Li through the site since 2004.
Li is the niece of Pastor Gong Shengliang, founder of the South China Church, one of the fastest growing house-church movements in China. She was also editor in chief of the church newspaper, South China Special Edition (Huanan Zhuankan). Before her 2002 arrest, she’d been incarcerated several times, including spending one year in prison in 1996.

As a condition of her release, Li was required to sign a guarantee to submit to “community correction,” which included the requirement that she live only in government-appointed neighborhoods and attend government-appointed churches, Fu said.

Li was one of 17 South China Church leaders convicted in December 2001 of “using a cult to undermine enforcement of the law.” Five of those leaders, including Li, were sentenced to death.

Fu said an international outcry led to those death sentences being revoked in September 2002. A retrial resulted in the five being convicted of “intentional assault.”

The other four were: Gong Shengliang, Xu, Fuming, Hu Yong and Gong Bangkun. Gong Shengliang was also convicted of rape, Fu said. Three of them — Gong Shengliang, Xu Fuming, and Hu Yong — were sentenced to life imprisonment. Gong Bangkun and Li Ying were given 15-year prison terms.

http://wordnews333.ipower.com/2012/02/24/imprisoned-chinese-christian-newspaper-editor-released-early/

A Fun but Meaningful Read!

Margot Starbuck is back with as much passion and energy as ever. In thirty brief chapters, she invites you to choose the adventure that fits who you are in authentically loving those around you. Yes, she knows: just the thought of adding something more to your life sounds exhausting. But here's the fantastic truth she's discovered in her own journey: "We don't have to add lots more overwhelming activity to what we've already got going. The regular stuff of our lives--the commute to work and the potlucks and home improvement projects and errands and play dates--are the exact places in which we express and experience God's love for a world in need." With a list of resources, a study guide and a six-week "Adventure Challenge," as well as plenty of stories and hilarity from Margot's own life, Small Things with Great Love will open your eyes to the people around you and the huge impact you can have on them through small acts of love. "Small things happen when I learn the name of my daughter's school bus driver," Margot writes. "Small things happen when I listen to the dreams of a woman who lives in a group home on my block. Small things happen when I risk crossing a language barrier even though I look really stupid doing it." And small things add up to big adventures and surprises, for you and others. The biggest surprise of all might be how powerfully God can use you, right in the midst of your walking-the-dog, paying-the-bills, doing-laundry life, when you're living out his love. Do the first small thing by opening these pages--and let the adventure begin!

Check out Margot and her books and speaking opportunities at www.margotstarbuck.com

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A Reminder About Perspective

And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God (Romans 12:2, NKJV).

Have you ever noticed how easy it is to start thinking like the world? The Scriptures warn us against it, and yet we are immersed in that mindset and culture nearly 24/7, aren’t we? As a result we find ourselves thinking and saying things that simply don’t line up with God’s Word. Our values are deeply affected as well.

Now there’s nothing wrong with material wealth IF that’s God purpose for us and we use it accordingly. But when it becomes our pursuit and purpose? Not such a good thing. We know that, but do our actions reflect it? We know too that God does not honor pride but seeks humility and selflessness. Do we honor people based on the same criteria? And oh, how we know that life isn’t about us or even what happens around us in a temporal world…but do we live in such a way as to model that truth?

It all fell into perspective for me earlier today when I got what I consider “over the moon fantastic” news. Now anyone who knows me expects me to get excited if I get a good book review, sign another contract, get a great speaking gig, etc. But this news flash blew away all the competition. I found out that a woman I’ve long admired and been praying for (even based one of my books on her life) has been released from prison after serving a 12-year sentence for printing/distributing Christian literature in a country that does not permit anyone to do so without government permission (which is nearly impossible to get).

Twelve years. Can you imagine? Twelve years away from family and home and everything comfortable or familiar. Twelve years of hard labor and harsh conditions. Yet twelve years during which she continued to serve God and remained faithful to her walk with Him.

Putting things in proper perspective? Absolutely. As Christians we simply cannot allow ourselves to be “conformed” to the world’s way of thinking, but the only way to avoid that and to “transform” our thinking is to continually dwell in the Scriptures, the only solid and reliable guidelines for maintaining proper perspective. Personally, I’m thanking a courageous woman in a faraway country for giving me this fresh reminder.

My Review of Honor Redeemed by Loree Lough

Author Loree Lough is a pro at bringing stories and characters to life. She delivers readers right smack-dab into the middle of the action and gives them no choice but to care about the outcome. If you enjoy suspenses, romance, and just plan good writing--not to mention a story that honors the courage of America's first responders--you'll love Honor Redeemed.

Visit Loree and order the book at www.loreelough.com

Why Choices Matter...and Christians Suffer

Many of you know that I write novels about people who suffer--dedicated, faithful people who love God and others, and yet still don't experience an easy pilgrimage as they make their way home to heaven. Dr. Michael J. Norman has penned a fascinating story that sheds light on this vital topic.

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Answering a two-line classified ad in the newspaper had life-changing consequences for a trustingly naive doctor fresh out of school, just starting his career and life as a new father. In a nightmarish true story that could occur to any of us, he innocently takes a part-time chiropractic job from employers who were later found to be a Russian-organized crime ring involved in money laundering, insurance fraud and other crimes. Despite his cooperation in a federal government investigation, the author soon finds himself surrounded by deception on all sides. As his cooperation is turned cruelly against him, Michael endures a federal indictment and an early-morning raid upon his home where he was arrested at gunpoint by six FBI agents in front of his five-year-old daughter. He’s left with two choices: plead guilty to crimes he didn’t commit, receive probation and avoid prison time; or fight the injustice and risk going to prison for at least 10 years. The first means cooperating with the government and lying to put people in prison who may be innocent; the second means doing the impossible and taking on the government.

Unbridled Grace is the true story of how one man rises from the forces of evil through his renewed faith in Christ and takes the reader on a journey to redemption through the bold use of our power of choice for God. Along the way, Michael meets a dynamic Catholic parish priest who gives him the courage to forge a path through this crisis and a hard-working attorney who joins him in this monumental battle. Will their efforts be enough to free the author and his family from this nightmare? It is at this time that a series of seemingly miraculous occurrences begin and the reader is shown what courage, faith and the power of heartfelt prayer can bring to all of our lives when all else appears hopeless.

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The question of suffering is an extremely difficult subject for our world today. After searching the landscape for answers, many discover that only the Christian faith has the ability to transform life’s tragedies into a beautiful new creation in union with Christ. Dr. Michael Norman would like to share a passage from his new book, Unbridled Grace: A True Story about the Power of Choice.

The Nature and Beauty of Christian Suffering

As Christian faithful, it is no accident that the symbol of our faith is a cross, a humiliating instrument of torture, rather than a triumphant flag. Christ does not save us on Palm Sunday by His triumphal ride into Jerusalem with honors. We are saved due to a much darker day on Golgotha after all the cheers and waving palm branches have fallen silent. We would never have had the saving redemptive grace of Easter Sunday, without a dark, cloudy Good Friday, two days earlier.

If we are in Christ, suffering and salvation shall always go hand in hand. To separate or avoid either of the two, removes all purpose and reason for our existence. We see frequent attempts at both of these approaches in our world today by false prophets with soft messages. The tragic approach of human suffering without salvific merit, is pain without the promise. This is not united with Christ and soon deteriorates into hopelessness and despair. Equally tragic, is the assurance of salvation through the avoidance of suffering. A reward without struggle robs our lives of meaning and leads to the self-destructive results of swollen pride, pursuit of comfort and self-absorption.

It is always important for us to distinguish between two types of suffering. With painful self-honesty, we must discern between the crosses that God has sent into our lives, and the crosses of our own making. For the answer to this, there is always a question which helps distinguish between the two: Are we working to change what can be changed and accepting what cannot be changed? If the answer is yes, we are walking God’s path.

Along with this question, we must ceaselessly pray for His holy wisdom to know the difference. Although God can work through both types of suffering, it remains up to us to take the first step regarding the crosses we have created. These man-made crosses are a result of our choices in life. Quite simply, if we are unwilling to change what can be changed, we must be content to persist in a hell of our own creation until we respond differently.

When we come to know why we suffer, anything becomes possible. At the center of God’s plan of salvation, redemptive suffering requires a supernatural faith and is part of the necessary path to our union with God. This is how God chooses to unite with us. Worldly attachments to our soul must be removed to make room for God. The kingdom of God cannot be ushered in without suffering. As we wake up to this realization, we begin to send ripples out into the sea of eternity.

Regarding suffering in this life, one question remains: Do we have what it takes to choose greatness? Christ faced His suffering head on, although the overwhelming temptation to turn away, particularly at Gethsemane, must have reached supernatural proportions. Likewise, at this very instant, millions of souls await our decision. One person in this life can make an eternal difference.

True greatness shall only be revealed at the Last Judgment, when we all stand together as the Mystical Body and our salvific work is revealed for all to see. Our time is short in this life to make an eternal difference. Soon, our ability to lift the Mystical Body of Christ with the redemptive grace of our courageous and dignified sufferings, will pass away. If we miss our opportunity, we may, quite possibly, become dependent upon the actions of others.

The paradox is striking. Our periods of trial and suffering in this life can truly be gifts if we allow them to be. Life’s lowest points can bring us our greatest freedom, happiness and fulfillment. A loving Father prunes the branches of His vines to unleash an abundance of fruit. This fruit is a supernatural love for our brothers and sisters which embraces the inevitable pain in this life for their sake. The human tears shed for this noble purpose become the wine of angels and cause for great joy in Heaven.

With each passing day, eternity is approaching and millions of souls await our decision on how we shall spend our lives. What will be revealed of our work on the last day? Did we boldly take the cup and drink from it? Did we choose greatness?

Dr. Michael J. Norman is a chiropractor in private practice in Dallas, Texas. His new book, Unbridled Grace: A True Story about the Power of Choice, is available on his website, www.UnbridledGrace.com, Amazon, Barnes & Noble or ordered through your local Catholic Christian bookstore.