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

  Give-Away Take it all, Lord take it all: I give it up to You. And if I take it  back again, I'll return it all anew For You are best and You are all, The only One I need: And when I give it all to You, from bondage  I am freed. *** Copyright: pencil in His Hand *** Love and prayers *** Find them here:

  Photo: pencil in His Hand Invitation All that stuff entices, it calls to me: keep wanting, keep buying: come, worship me And busyness, it pressures me: keep going, keep doing: come, worship me But now, His call transcends their screams: Come, ye weary and lost: Come worship Me. *** Copyright: pencil in His Hand New gardening post

  Photo: Aaron Burden. Unsplash How Can I Become A Christian? Dearest Reader, I am very glad that you are asking this question. And If you are not, I pray that you will. I will, with God's help do my best to answer it. Becoming a Christian, or as I like to say, a Jesus' follower, is not about joining a religion, or becoming a religious person. No, it is all about relationship, about becoming a member of God's family. No one can force their way into God's family or into Heaven. Many have tried to do this by observing the Law or by doing good works. But as Romans 3:23 tells us, we have all sinned. No one is good. We are all sinners in need of a Saviour. Now for the Good News!  Jesus is God. And He is good. He offers us the free gift of salvation. He achieved this by taking on human flesh, and dying on the cross. It was there, during that agonizing death that He took all of our sin on Himself. His blood was shed at the cross as a payment for our sin. Basically, Jesus took ...

  The Graphics Card Jason thought he may as well stick his neck out a bit further. He didn't have much to lose. Ryan, along with most of his fellow students already thought he was weird anyway. "It's like this," Jason smiled as he rummaged around in his backpack. Before long he held up the object he'd found. Ryan laughed. "A computer graphics card? You really are nuts." Unperturbed, Jason handed the graphics card to Ryan. "A mother board would have been better, but this will do. Tell me, Ryan, did the graphics card come about as the result of a random explosion in a lab, or did someone design it with great care?" Ryan huffed. "It was designed of course." "And so was the earth. It was no accident. Just look around." He gestured to the trees and gardens of the campus. "There's plenty of evidence for a designer. Not to mention, you yourself." Ryan was quiet for a moment as he studied the piece of hardware in his h...

  Poems from my Heart Putting on the Brakes I'm slowing down breathing, stopping, Long enough to say Thank You I'm putting on the brakes: walking  not jogging resting not scrolling Long enough to  say Here I am: send me *** Happy Happy day! Oh Happy day! I go along, I sing, I pray Working, working, all day long It's He who makes me joyful, strong *** Message Here's a little song Just a few lines long It's only purpose is to say: My Jesus lives, He is the Way! *** Copyright: pencil in His Hand Ps: I will post episode two of The Waiting Room tomorrow, God willing. I'm aiming to post an episode on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. See you soon! :)

  Go! No Time No time, no time no time at all Only today: so give Him your all *** How Beautiful the Feet See the lost people battered, hopeless, bruised feet of beauty, go! *** Calling Help me to see Lord help me to see the bruised and the broken  waiting for me to bring them the Gospel that saves and sets free *** Copyright: pencil in His Hand

  Should Christians Only Read The Bible? I should imagine, that if you're anything like me, you would like to have a definite answer to this question.  Serious, diligent Christians who sincerely wish to serve God and to love Him with all of their hearts, souls, and minds, do in fact ask this and many other questions to do with daily Christian living. So, should Christians whose desire is to please God only read their Bibles? (Aside from recipes, messages, lists, instructions, and essential documents, that is.) Must they pass by all of the tempting covers of a myriad Christian novels and non-fiction books? My perhaps unsatisfactory answer, is "perhaps." Now, you may feel disatisfied with this, but hear me out. I say "perhaps" because I really can't tell you what to read or not to read. That is the job of the Holy Spirit. Sometimes, you may need to fast from light reading in order to spend more time in God's Word. You may even have to say no to the writin...

    A Poem for Ella A Short Story By Alison Lawrence Ella read through the poem she'd just penned. It worked; she thought. In fact, it expressed her current take on life pretty well. She closed her notebook and gazed out across the flower dotted field. How happy she was, living in her tiny home in what was virtually the countryside. The road to this little piece of tranquility had been hard and draining; but now she was at peace. She had bad days of course: days filled with sorrow and regret and loneliness, but Ella didn't stay there. Introverted and quiet, she preferred her own company, and drawing and writing kept her busy. Her sorrow had helped her draw close to God, and she was going to trust Him with her future. *** Jack forked some hay over the fence into the goat pen, whistling a tune as he worked. He stopped for a while to watch their antics. "Slow down ladies, it's not going anywhere." He chuckled to himself. His goats and his hens were the only ladies in...

    (This story was written primarily as a world building exercise. Islamondo, A Poetic Fantasy, was created using this story as a basis.) Read it  here: Islamondo: The Island World. A Short Story In Seven Parts By Alison Lawrence Part One: Unos. It was a hard climb to the top of Mount Una, but the two strong, young men barely broke a sweat on their upward journey. Once at the top, Venturer put down his pack and just stared. His grin was as wide as the valley below and he could not contain his joy as he let out a whoop. His friend, Emir clapped him on the back and laughed. "This view has stolen your tongue hasn't it? All you can do is holler. It's a wondrous creation, isn't it?" "Words truly fail." Venturer agreed. *** The people of Unos were called Adventurers. They were strong and fit with brown complexions, suited to their adventurous life. When an Adventurer became twenty, he or she would embark on a sea-faring adventure, either alone or in pairs. Ve...