Hale and Hearty Words

March 5, 2012 · 6:00 am

Lifesaving 101- How To Save a Child

I swallowed against the tears that burned my throat while I listened to the children sing.

Children from all over the world– Uganda, Nepal, the Philippines– representing the faces of the millions who are suffering every day from the most basic of situations– food to eat, preventable diseases, proper places to sleep, clean water.

I know about these problems–I’m pretty up to date on current events and global crises. I know that children all over the world, even here in our own country, suffer from situations that are preventable.

And in recent months God has been nudging me, pushing me, speaking to me. Do something.

Putting a face in front of me–a smiling child raising a little voice to God in grateful praise– well, there was no way I could win the war against the tears.

I looked over my 5 year-old’s head to my husband. Tears were streaming down his face, too.

This was God’s message to me in that moment–the time is now.

The children who performed at our church were from The Children of the World International Children’s Choir on their Overflow Tour, sponsored by WorldHelp. Perhaps you’ve heard of them. Perhaps you’ve seen them perform at a church or school near you.

If you have, I’m sure you have had the same stirrings in your heart– to see their faces and hear their voices– the ones who have been rescued. To know that there are thousands, millions more who need help.

But how can I help? I thought. I’m just one person. I can’t leave my kids and go on a mission trip to Africa or India. I know that I’m called to someday, but not right now. And as much as I’d love to open my home to every single kid in the world who needs love, it’s not possible. What can I do?

And God spoke. You don’t have to do everything–just do something.

I’m so blessed to be married to a man who has a heart for children. He works with them everyday as a middle school teacher, and when the leader of the choir group began speaking about child sponsorship to our congregation and what it could mean to the life of one child, I looked to my husband. He didn’t even take a breath before whispering a resolute, “Yes!”

Our family is now the proud sponsor of Carlos, a two year-old little boy from Guatemala. For $30 a month, we’ll be allowing him to receive three meals a day, clean water, medical care, an education, and most importantly, the message of Jesus Christ. Once our paperwork is processed, we want to sponsor more.

I don’t tell you this to brag about what we’re doing. I tell you this so that you’ll realize that $30 a month is all it takes to save a life and introduce a soul to the saving power of Christ. And there are millions of lives and souls who need to be saved.

We’ve made this sponsorship a family affair. Our oldest son was instrumental in helping to choose our sponsor child. Carlos was our choice because he’s the same age as our two year-old. As a family we pray for Carlos, we talk about how his life is different from ours, and what we can do as a family to help those in need. We want our children to be spiritually civic minded, aware of needs in the local community and internationally.

One of the major problems facing millions of children today is the lack of clean water. One of the little girls who sang with the choir, Brenda from Uganda, shared her story. She’s nine years old. She’s experienced hardships in her nine years that I will never, ever have to face. I’ve posted her story here to share with you.

Providing wells for the people who need clean water not only helps their community, it gives the workers means to share the Gospel with people who so desperately need to hear the saving words of Christ.

Not all of us are called to missions. Not all of us are called to be the hands and feet on the ground, but every single one of us are called to help.

He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation.” Mark 6:15

I urge you to consider sponsoring a child through WorldHelp, making a donation toward the water project, or even donating toward Operation Baby Rescue.

What is Operation Baby Rescue? Check this out:

If you are interested in helping in any capacity, I encourage you to research the WorldHelp organization and read about their partnerships and work throughout the world. Not only are they saving lives, they’re saving souls. Use the link or click on the WorldHelp button on the right of this page.

If you aren’t called into the mission field, you can be an arm-chair missionary and save lives through your compassion, your love, your finances and your prayers.

Closer to home there are plenty of American children who need help. Our church has created a program called Backpack Blessings in which we’ve partnered with one elementary school and every Friday we send children home with backpacks full of enough food to last them the weekend. We are trying to directly impact the lives of physically, emotionally and spiritually hungry kids.

I encourage you to be resourceful–how can you provide the things that children in your community and the world so desperately need?

Share with me: In what ways do you and your family help in your community, your state, even internationally? Share your ideas–I might want to implement some of them into my own family and community!

7 Comments

Filed under Cool Stuff I Recommend, The Christian Walk

Tagged as missions, sponsorship, WorldHelp

March 2, 2012 · 6:00 am

How Do You Raise a Disciple?

This is not the post I had planned for today, but something really wonderful happened in our family this week and it changed the direction of my thinking.

Earlier in the week, our oldest son who is nearly six, prayed to ask Christ into his heart.

We are celebrating!

We’re celebrating because we know that he’ll spend eternity in the presence of God and celebrating that he’s chosen this path.

But now what?

The focus moves from leading him to Christ to helping him become a disciple. But just exactly how do we do that? I’m assuming with a lot of prayer, because that’s how we’ve been doing it all along.

Although my husband and I aren’t necessarily surprised by our son’s decision to follow Christ as his Lord and Savior, we were somewhat surprised by the timing. We thought it would take longer for him to make this decision.

You see, our son is incredibly logical. Logical to a fault, most times.

When we first started mentioning the idea of “accepting Christ” or “asking Christ into your heart” or “following Jesus”, our son saw no need for such things.

In his young mind there was no other option but to follow Jesus. As he reasoned to us, Jesus has always been in his heart. His five year-old self saw no other possibilities in life but to love, honor, and follow Christ.

This is a wonderful, enviable view on life.

So it took us awhile to help him understand that the choice to follow Christ is just that–a choice. Yet again he reasoned that for him there is and was no other option. For awhile he even argued that there was no reason for him to accept Christ into his heart–He was already there.

This has been an ongoing, on again-off again discussion for several months in our house. My husband and I have prayed since the moment we found out we were expecting a child (both times) that we’d raise our children to love the Lord. So, when the right moments presented themselves, we discussed it and our son reasoned.

Last Sunday morning as we were driving to church he suddenly piped up from the back seat, “Hey Mom, Dad. I’m ready to be baptized.”

We spoke about it for a few minutes and asked if he was ready to pray to ask Jesus into his heart. In his unique style he said, “I am. But I’m going to do it on Saturday.”

My husband and I smiled at each other– he’s not ready, we thought.

But the very next night at bedtime, once we’d settled in to say prayers, unprompted our son says, “I’m ready to say a special prayer now.” And he did.

Although I couldn’t help but get a little weepy, my son was very logical about it. (No shocker.) He approached the whole thing from the attitude that “I’ve always loved and followed Jesus, and now I’m just confirming that this is what I want to do with my life.”

And now that he’s made this decision, we’re looking forward to his baptism (not sure when that’s going to happen yet) and our focus shifts just a little bit.

Now we must raise him to become a disciple of Christ. I’d love your feedback in the comments about any books, ideas, etc, that have helped you do this with your own kids.

One of the things that has really stimulated conversations about Jesus is this Bible. It was given to our boys by their aunt and each and every story in it ties back to the sacrifice and redeeming salvation of Christ, but on a kid’s level.

Click here for the link to Amazon.com

We love it because it’s easy to read, it’s interesting, and for me, it’s made me consider new perspectives on stories I’ve known since I was my son’s age.

Even though we’ve had other picture Bibles, this one, by far, has offered the opportunity to discuss the idea of sin, redemption and grace more than any of the others. If you’re looking for a good kid’s Bible, I recommend that you check this one out.

As my husband and I continue to pray that we’ll raise our sons to love and serve the Lord, we’re celebrating this special blessing. And we pray that our two year-old will follow in his big brother’s footsteps.

I know there are other parents out there wanting encouragement as to how to lead your child to Christ, and then after set them on a road of life-long discipleship, so…

Share with me: When it comes to teaching your kids about following Christ, what worked for you? What books and other things do you recommend? When teaching your children about discipleship and the life-long adventure of Christianity, what do you recommend?

Don’t forget about my giveaway going on until 3/6/12. Have you entered yet? If not, do that here.

16 Comments

Filed under Parenting, The Christian Walk

Tagged as Christ, discipleship, parenting, salvation

February 29, 2012 · 6:00 am

How To Find And Be a Better Critique Partner

A good critique partner can change you as a writer. But a good critique partner can be hard to find.

If you’re an introvert, it’s hard to know where to meet the kind of people who could potentially be critique partners. If you’re an extrovert, it’s possible that you’ll jump right into the writer pool and end up making friends–with most everybody.

What’s so wrong with making friends? Nothing, of course. But friendship isn’t the first quality to look for in a critique partner.

Is it possible for two people to be critique partners and friends? Absolutely. I know that to be true in my own partner/friendships. But it requires that the person receiving the critique realize the intentions of the giver–it’s not personal. And it requires that the person giving the critique do it with the right intentions.

There will be a day when you won’t need a critique partner. Instead, you’ll answer to an editor who will expect excellence. Until then, a good critique partner can provide invaluable insight, help improve your writing, and help you learn to thicken your skin.

What should you look for in a critique partner?

1. First and most importantly, find someone who is ahead of you on the writing path. You don’t necessarily need someone who’s multi-published, you just need someone who is at least one step ahead of you; at least one rung up on the ladder. Why? Because they have wisdom and insight to offer. Someone who has an agent obviously writes well enough to be signed. Someone who’s contracted for a couple of novels clearly has the chops to offer advice. Someone who is multi-published obviously has the wisdom you need. Look for someone who’s ahead of you who’s also willing to help. I promise–they are out there.

2. Look for someone who shares your interests. If you write paranormal sci-fi futuristic suspense about martians who rule the galaxy, it might not be a great idea to ask someone who writes sweet romance to critique your work. If you’ve followed #1, that person may have something to offer on the writing technique, but they may have a difficult time getting into the meat and intentions of your story. Someone who shares your interests in genre will better know the elements of what your story needs and how it fits into the market. And they’ll enjoy your type of work which makes it easier to offer a good critique.

3. ASK. You’ll never get someone to evaluate your work if you don’t ask. The worst they could say is no. Social media outlets (Facebook, Twitter, Google+) are a great place to connect with like-minded writers who might be willing to help.

4. Ask someone who has the time. Don’t ask a multi-published author who’s currently balancing a year full of book releases and radio interviews. He or she probably won’t have time (and will probably say no). Also, be understanding to your partner’s life. Even if he or she does have the time–they don’t. What? Everyone has a life. Things happen. Life never slows down. And sometimes critiquing your work is not #1 on their to-do list. Be understanding. Be patient.

5. Toughen up. Realize that you are going to get what you asked for– a critique. If you can’t handle criticism, don’t ask for it. When you get the comments back, they won’t all be glowing. Prepare yourself. And realize that this is what you need–this is what will help you grow as a writer. Take the comments in stride. Being defensive about your work isn’t going to make a critique any better. Consider that your partner is trying to help you improve. Take those comments and suggestions seriously.

6. Don’t expect to get to read some of your partner’s work. Not always. The word partnership implies that it goes both ways, but maybe not. You can kindly offer to read their work, but if the person is ahead of you on the publication path, realize that they don’t really need your opinion. This isn’t rudeness, it’s simply fact. They have people giving them valued opinions already–agents, editors, other published writers. Let those people handle it and be thankful that this person is willing to help you.

7. Don’t seek out dozens of critique partners. One, maybe two is all you need. If you have a critique group and that works for you, great. But realize that too many opinions is just like the old cliche “too many chefs in the kitchen.” Too many opinions can destroy your story.

8. Realize that you don’t have to make all the changes your partner suggests. It’s your story, stay true to it. But if your partner is offering wisdom that can help you become a better writer, heed it. Otherwise there’s no point in asking for a critique.

9. If you’re asking a friend to critique you, separate your friendship from your partnership. It might be difficult, but you cannot take the comments and critiques personally. If you do, it can destroy the friendship you have. Value that if the person critiquing your work is truly your friend, he or she only desires to help you.

How can you be a better critique partner?

1. Be honest. You don’t have to be rude with your comments, but be honest about the work you are critiquing. Remember your goal–to help someone else grow and improve.

2. Evaluate why you’ve chosen to critique the work. Are you doing it because you genuinely want to help the author become a better writer, or are you doing it because you’re validating yourself by tearing someone else down? If you are critiquing just to boost your own ego–DON’T. That’s not good for anyone involved.

3. Make sure you have the time. If you’re going to critique someone’s work, take some time to do so. Don’t blow through it, dropping a few comments here and there because you feel obligated to look at it. If you’re going to help, do it with the dedication you put into your own work. If you don’t have the time, be honest with yourself and the author.

4. Don’t re-write. Remember, it’s their story. You’re there to offer general insight into better writing techniques and ways to improve the story, not re-write it yourself. Make suggestions, not changes.

5. Don’t judge the person based on their work. Every person who is devoted to the writing life is going to improve and grow. The fact that they’ve asked for critique shows that they are interested in getting feedback. So don’t judge someone’s writing ability on one piece of work. Instead, look foward to seeing how much they’ve grown from one manuscript to another as they continue to learn.

6. If the author is your friend, separate your friendship from your critique partnership so that you have the ability to offer unbiased opinions and suggestions. As long as you are professional, it’s up to the author to decide how to digest your comments. Remember that you can’t control someone else’s feelings.

Finding a good critique partner, as I know from experience, is a valuable tool that helps you grow as a writer. A good critique partner will encourage you, help you, and celebrate with you as your writing develops. To all the good critique partners out there (especially mine)– I salute you!

Share with me: What was the best piece of advice you’ve ever gotten from a critique? What can you add to the list of “how to be a better critique partner”?