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

  Flash Fiction, A Poem, Garden Glimpses, & an Update In this post: a mini inspirational story, a poem, plus what's up in my garden, and a blog and writing update . A sparrow, yet loved and counted. Photo: Ratanjot Singh.Unsplash. Little One The little one watches from her spot in the old apple tree. She peeks through the canopy of bright green leaves and ruby globes. She watches while resting in shady, cool, calm. She stares at the rushing, busy, blurry people. Where are they going? Why so rushed? People of all sizes and styles, yet all with the same harried, frazzled, furrowed frowns. She cocks her head, then fluffs her feathers: just a little sparrow, yet loved, fed, and counted. While people rush and worry, she lives, and breathes, and feeds, and flies; before she falls, and softly dies.  In Him. *** End of Self Now at end of self, decided: Give my all to You. Lay down each rock, and burden, sin: and start each day anew. *** Garden Glimpses January here in the southern...

  Free Stories & Chat, Plus A Writing Update. Jesus Saves Free stories, plus more! :) *In this post: 3 free micro stories with salvation and sanctification themes, plus chat and a writing update.* Welcome! A blessed 2024 to all of my readers. :) Welcome back to my blog: a little place of hope and encouragement. Here you will find a shelf full of free reads as well as links to all of my books. (I have self published a selection of inspirational stories as well as poetry and a couple of small devotionals on Amazon.) You can find all of the links here:  My books Please consider leaving a review on Amazon, or on the blog for those which are available here. Reviews really help by giving readers more confidence to purchase a book from an unknown author. Thanks so much. :) Feel free to browse the blog for some encouragement today. I have had a break from blogging, but not from creative writing this past month. If a new story impresses itself on my heart and mind, well, it has to ...

  Dear Readers, I hope you are having a very blessed an joyful week. :) Just a little note to say, thank you for reading my stories. I enjoy writing them for you. I've enjoyed my little break from any major writing, and am ready to continue writing the stories which God gives to me. While I enjoy writing, I am not so keen on the promotional side of things, which means using social media. I have been struggling with it, and praying too. I hope to have reached a more peaceful trusting place. I am reminded that Christians can use social media to share the Gospel and to bring Jesus into a dark world. The platforms we now have are one way to do this. Just as long as we use them with God's wisdom. With this in mind, I have made a new FB page, the purpose of which will be to share posts from the blogs. I am also on Instagram and Pinterest. (Update: I am no longer on Facebook or Instagram.) Please consider sharing the stories with friends and family. Lots of love and prayers, Alison Ps...

  Update Dear Reader, Ahead of a short break from blogging, I have posted a backlog of content, including the rest of Beth's Story. Now you can read them all at your leisure. :) I felt my own heart stir as I wrote Beth's Story. Even though it is a piece of fiction, I was reminded of God's great love for people and how He cares deeply about our pain. Also, I remembered, that God is truly able to work the most incredible miracles which we, in our unbelief, deem impossible. The Salvation Stories series comes from God's heart. It is His desire that all people be saved. I can say this with confidence. Even though the stories are short, the characters came alive and felt like real, searching, feeling, and hurting individuals. Please share these stories with people you know who may be blessed by them. I enjoy my calling as a wife and homemaker, and have certainly been kept busy these past years with the addition of the youngest girls to our family. I find time to write in betw...

  Dear Readers, As you may know, I was forced to take down my Word Press author website because of the advertisements. I prefer an ad-free environment in which to share stories, poems and writing updates.  Which is why I have made this site on Blogger. On Blogger, you get to choose whether you want ads or not. A Basket of Hope and 'n Bekertjie Vol Hoop are still up and running in case you missed out on any free reads. (You can find their links on my About Page.) I am still writing a few shorter pieces here and there, but my main project at the moment is The Mocha Mermaid. I am not sure what the final word count is going to be. With God's help, I am planning to just enjoy the writing process and not worry too much about how long it's going to be. I believe it will be as long as it needs to be in the end. Along with that, I also have an inspirational fantasy story on the back burner. Please pray for me, that I will write words which honour and glorify God, and that each story...