"Take the first step in faith. You don't have to see the whole staircase, just the first step."
-Martin Luther King, Jr.
Salvation. Deliverance. Is it ever too late?
The world is a cold and unforgiving place and sometimes it wraps us in its clammy grasp and we are undertaken like a heavy ocean current, washed away and drowning within our mistakes and misery. We become a part of the world rather than just in it. We fix our eyes on worldly things rather than what is most important- the unseen. We lose sight of being a light unto the world and rather embrace the darkness because it is easy, it is "the usual", it is comfortable, it is what we know.
Well guys and gals, it is time to get comfortable being uncomfortable.
Now I've definitely had my murky past and I continue to make mistakes every day, but at least I know with God I'm on the right track. It is a trial each and every day to find the fine line between controlling my life and maintaining my life. The line is blurred and difficult to discern. Each and every day is a war on its own, but each and every day I get out of bed, I don my metaphorical battle armor and my sword, and I rise. There is no other way except to rise. I know this and you know this because we have all been brought to our knees, down on the ground with no lower to go. And what is next? What purpose and what reason is there to continue when the road seems deserted and dangerous? Love. Love is the reason and love is the purpose. And love is why I am here today.
In light of these things, Matthew says in 5:13-16:
“You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people's feet. You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven."
Salt. What does that even me? Well, you add salt to your food to add taste. It is a mineral, a necessity of life and a metaphor that signifies durability, purification, value, and fidelity. When you are in the ocean, the salt clings to you, adding to you. It is more than the human shell you have been given, begging you to become what others are afraid to become. It is joy and truth in the fact that we are not meant to become one with the world; we are to be in it as aliens: teaching, learning, and loving but never actually becoming what the world offers. It is hope. It is life eternal.
So, how in a sense could I convey such awesomeness into words that might come across to anyone who might pick up my book looking for adventure and a good message? In my trials (that are still too close for comfort and I find haunting me ever too frequently), I learned that no one, I repeat NO ONE, is too far gone to be redeemed, loved, or cherished. Darkness is but an illusion; it is a destructive sense of self and a loss of purpose.
Here is how the above translates for me and how I put it to paper:
When I began writing my first book, NIMBUS (meaning: a large gray cloud or a luminous halo surrounding a supernatural being/saint), it never appeared to me that I might be able to send a message out about goodness, love and truth. I'm not that clever and I like writing about magic. It didn't seem like those two things could mix with the immensely important points I wanted to convey. But the more I immersed myself in God and embraced the real me -not the shabby one I had dressed up to look like me- I discovered differently. What better way to send a message than from your own experience, hard earned wisdom, and battle wounds? … and perhaps SONG! Just kidding. I won't sing for you…just yet.
In light of these things, Matthew says in 5:13-16:
“You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people's feet. You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven."
Salt. What does that even me? Well, you add salt to your food to add taste. It is a mineral, a necessity of life and a metaphor that signifies durability, purification, value, and fidelity. When you are in the ocean, the salt clings to you, adding to you. It is more than the human shell you have been given, begging you to become what others are afraid to become. It is joy and truth in the fact that we are not meant to become one with the world; we are to be in it as aliens: teaching, learning, and loving but never actually becoming what the world offers. It is hope. It is life eternal.
So, how in a sense could I convey such awesomeness into words that might come across to anyone who might pick up my book looking for adventure and a good message? In my trials (that are still too close for comfort and I find haunting me ever too frequently), I learned that no one, I repeat NO ONE, is too far gone to be redeemed, loved, or cherished. Darkness is but an illusion; it is a destructive sense of self and a loss of purpose.
Here is how the above translates for me and how I put it to paper:
“A name is a name, Mara, not the person behind it. If I were so worried about your name, we wouldn't be here right now. You are not so far from redemption, from truth, or from freedom that you must lose faith. It takes but one step into the light and one ray of hope for the waters to cleanse you of that doubt. It’s like standing on a pier and the waves are crashing. They leap and they cover you. They wash you with salt and water, but the salt clings to you and makes you something more. Don’t lose your saltiness, Mara. For if you do, what will be left of you?
“You must fight for it, for that salt, because it won’t be easy. Nothing truly worthwhile is ever easy to obtain. Hope leads us. It leads us to perseverance and perseverance to character. We are all fallible. None of us are righteous, but we still have the capacity to love.
“In the ages of old, people died for those they loved. They do so even now. They protect them as if they were sheep. I will be your sheepdog, if you’ll only be my lamb,” he said with a wry smile.
-M. Rose, NIMBUS
"Let your conversation always be full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone." -Colossians 4:6
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