Pencil in His Hand: A Mother's Journal of Stories, Thoughts, and Poems.

  Almost Christmas And now it's almost Christmas the year is rushing to a close, Time to wrap up all loose ends, thank the Lord for all my friends And now it's almost Christmas there is so much we must do, All the schools are closing soon, nearly time to deck the room Time to wish all readers well, end this year, slow right down, Now the time to stop and write: I wish you Jesus, our true light A.S.L News Thank you so much for stopping by today, and for all of your visits through the months. It's been a privilege to write stories for you. My blogs will be on leave for December.  I have posted a gift for you in the form of a longer story, The Gift Of The Lightlings. :) Love and prayers,  Alison *** ***

The Gift Of The Lightlings: An Inspirational Free Fantasy Story. Dear Readers,  I hope that you have a blessed Christmas time. My prayers are with you as we enter the new year. To end off the year, here is a nice long holiday read. Although there is no obvious Christian content in the story, you will find that the message shines through. *** Copyright: Alison Lawrence. 2023 All rights reserved. This is a work of fiction.  *** Dedication: To my blog family *** The Gift Of The Lightlings By Alison Lawrence Chapter One Thunk, thunk, thunk. Agri's hoe connected solidly with the soil. It wasn't naturally good, but he had worked hard to enrich it, and Leela would be pleased with the greens he was hoping to grow. Agri had labored hard to clear his small patch in the dense forest. The work was back breaking, and there was never enough sun. His heart was heavy as he worked on. He wasn't about to give up, but his hope was failing. Leela now carried their little one under her heart, a...

  Salvation Stories: Lizzie. Free Christian Story. Jesus Saves. Lizzie Lizzie walked automatically to her usual spot: a small round table in a quiet corner of the popular coffee shop. The waitress gave her a questioning smile, and Lizzie nodded and forced her lips into an upward curve. By the time her scented tea had arrived, Lizzie's laptop was already open, and a spreadsheet dominated the screen. She may have fooled the waitress, but she couldn't fool herself: the numbers on the screen were as jumbled as her thoughts. If she didn't get her act together soon, her job would be a mess just like everything else in her life. Her perfect pink gel nails tapped the keyboard. Outwardly, she appeared poised and professional. Inwardly, she was on the  point of collapse. If only she could go back: undo the sordid mess she'd made of everything. If only she could wipe the look of disgust off of Pete's face. But she couldn't. Her choices had seen to that. "Everything fi...

  To Hear Once More The silence was deafening at first. She'd known that the first day would be the hardest, here at the beach house, away from everything and everybody; the constant dinging and ringing. Where she sat on the beach, all Odette could hear was the sonorous crashing of the waves, the insistent screeching of the seagulls, and the joyful laughter of children. It was noisy in a different way: it washed over and around her. The noises did their own thing. They didn't demand her attention the way her phone did. They didn't push for an immediate answer, or require a response.  Odette relished the feeling of freedom she was experiencing. This must be the way it had been for her parents way back then. How strange. How liberating. The benefits of her self-imposed cellphone ban were numerous and came at once. She could hear her thoughts again, from somewhere deep within. She was freed from the constant fear that no one would see or like her posts: that she would be ignor...

  The Surprise Gusts of wind tugged at the clothes of shoppers and whirled autumn leaves around their feet, but from her seat on the bus, Jenna hardly noticed the worsening weather. A smile tugged at her lips as she scanned the page on her phone. So many. How will we ever choose just two? Jenna felt drawn to names beginning with an E, names like Ellie, Evie, Eben, and Eric. Joe had laughed good-naturedly at her quirkyness. "Just not Ellie," he'd said, "It reminds of a circus elephant." Jenna had pouted for  only a moment before admitting that he was right. Of course, the baby could be a boy.  At only twelve weeks pregnant, Jenna was yet to have her first scan, and it would be some weeks before she'd find out the baby's gender. She saved the page to her home screen before turning her gaze to the city streets. Her eyes honed in on the few mothers quickly pushing their blanketed prams along the chilly streets. She wondered whether they had just picked their...

  Less Is More "So, you're a minimalist now are you?" Zena glanced over at Clarissa. "I've heard of that channel you're watching. Seems to me, everyone's busy de-cluttering." The two women were on their lunchbreak, and Clarissa was watching one of her favourite You Tubers. "I'm not sure I'm a proper minimalist, or if I even like that term. I've done a lot of de-cluttering though." She chuckled. "Seems like everyone's holding de-clutter-a-thons or packing parties these days." Zena rolled her eyes. "It's just a fad. You'll see, they'll just go back to hoarding again after a couple of weeks. So, tell me, are you going to paint all your walls white and get a neutral coloured sofa?" Clarissa grimaced. "Definitely not. I don't want to live without colour, and I don't want to be the kind of minimalist who throws out everything only to splurge on a bunch of new stuff." "Yeah. Th...

    Devon's Devotion A Short Story By Alison Lawrence "White or brown bread?" Asked Devon for the second time. When he got no response, he turned back to the counter. If she didn't want brown, too bad. He'd tried. The kids were hungry, so he made a pile of sandwiches to toast. "Almost done." He smiled at four year old Lexi. Kai, who was two, sat in his high chair and drank from his sippy cup. "Daddy, don't forget 'mato sauce." Reminded Lexi.  "I won't sweetie. Daddy likes it too." Devon wished that Gina would get her act together. The kids needed more of her time and cooking. But for what seemed like forever, he'd been feeling like a single Dad. He did most of the lifting to and from daycare, put in his hours at the office and did the lion's share of the cooking and childcare. "Supper," Devon placed a plate of sandwiches on Gina's lap. She looked up from her phone for only a second. "Thanks....