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January 3, 2016

A Marketing we will go

About three days ago, as I was reading in Isaiah, I came to this verse, “Lord, you establish peace for us; all that we have accomplished you have done for us” (Isaiah 26:12, NIV).

I had to stop and ponder it. In light of my current whirl of anxious thoughts and activity, I bowed my head and thanked God for what he has done in this one area of my life this past year: my book Brokenness to Beauty: Transforming Your Brokenness into a Beautiful Life, was completed and edited; the cover designed; all reviewed for any errors and changes; and just before the end of 2015, sent off by the publisher to the printer! Brokenness to Beauty will be ready for purchase very soon!

Happy days, right? Well, yes and no.

How to market my book has consumed my thoughts and activities online for several weeks. Hand-wringing new territory. Again. Another whole field of endeavor to master! Will my learning curve never level off?

For weeks I’ve been reading theories about and strategies for how best to market a book, especially as a new, unknown author. Which way to turn? What advice to follow? How do I maximize my little budget?

All this time, lots of prayer to God for him to lead me. I don’t know the “how,” but he does.

The other day, after weeks of this, I realized I was withdrawing in my spirit, pulling back from the conflict in my soul. All the unknowns, the “which way to turn” as I view before me so many paths in my “yellow wood” of book marketing. Instead of joyful anticipation of the release of my book, Brokenness to Beauty, I wanted to run away from it!

So I took myself by the scruff of the neck, figuratively speaking, of course, and turning my head upward to my Father I said, “Lord, I don’t want to be this way, it is crazy after all you’ve done! I choose now to hitch up my britches and plow ahead into the fray, to take on a positive rather than fearful and negative attitude. I will move ahead.”

I know God led me to write Brokenness to Beauty; it wasn’t my idea. I believe he wants me to get this book out there because the message I have is for others, to strengthen them in their times of struggles and trials in life. So he is helping me market it, I just can’t see it yet.

I know God has been with me and taught me all along the way as I wrote this book, which was done over the course of several years. I’ve learned so much through this experience of writing a book!

And I know that what God starts, he finishes, as my good friend, Claudia Cooley (http://claudiacooley.com/), herself a published author, reminded me yesterday as we talked on the phone. She was there in the early days when I was only talking about writing this book!

And above all, I know God is with me in all these pursuits. He is going to answer my prayers. He is the one working within all my efforts to accomplish his work, as Isaiah said.

And he is the one who gives me peace in the midst of it all.

I am moving ahead!

If you’d like to be part of my marketing scheme for Brokenness to Beauty, if you have an idea of what you could do to promote Brokenness to Beauty among people you know, or if you have successfully marketed a book and so have experience you could share with me, leave me a comment and let’s talk!

It’s only January 3rd in this New Year of 2016, but I’m beginning to look forward to January 3, 2017, to look back over the year and say, “all that we have accomplished you, Oh God, have done for us”!

Yellow wood is a reference to Robert Frost’s poem, “The Road Not Taken.”

New International Version (NIV)

December 19, 2015

Keeping Christmas

“Jesus is the Reason for the Season.” “Keep Christ in Christmas.”

Who of us has not heard, or as believers, even spoken, these pithy sayings meant to be statements of our belief in what Christmas is all about? Hey, in the face of the world’s co-opting of our most celebrated holy-day, we need to speak up and say what is right! Right?

The rub comes not in our willingness to speak up but in our actual living out those words at Christmas. Here is where our actions truly do speak louder than our words.

Our beliefs do shape our actions. However, even when we say we believe something, it can take a long time to filter down from our heads into our hands and feet, you know, to what we do and where we go.

So when we say “Jesus is the Reason for the Season” and “Keep Christ in Christmas,” how are we doing that in actual practice?

Since gift giving is an integral part of Christmas, and Christmas is Jesus’ birthday, do we consider giving a gift to him?

When our boys were small, my husband began a tradition for our family that he called “Christmas for Christ.” Though we bought a few gifts for our kids (and now grandkids) and a few other loved ones, we made it a point to “buy” something for Jesus comparable in price to the gifts we buy for others.

How do you buy Jesus a birthday present? Well, what does Jesus love? Where is his heart?

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him” (John 3:16-17, ESV)[1].

Jesus came into the world (at Christmas!) to do the Father’s will: become the Savior the world needs, that you and I need.

Now Jesus sends us, his people, into the world to love others and tell them about the Savior. Based on things Jesus said, we believe our lives and the resources he’s placed in our hands should be focused on what he wants to do in his world, all year round as well as at Christmas time.

So, in our family we pray about which mission or ministry to send a special monetary gift to at Christmas time. That becomes our birthday gift to Jesus. Then we try to be sure our lifestyle and use of his resources line up with his purposes the rest of the year too. So the struggle to focus on Jesus is not just at Christmas time but all the time.

Sending monetary gifts is only one way to give Jesus a birthday present and keep Christ in Christmas. We can also do it by giving our time and efforts in ministry to others. There are opportunities all around us. We can check out our community’s local ministries to the needy or homeless, to the sick or shut-in, orphans and widows; or look into missions through our church.

What are your traditions for keeping Christmas about Christ? I’d love to hear how you give to Jesus for his birthday.

Share your traditions with me in the comment box. We can learn from each other about how to Keep Christ in Christmas, because truly, Jesus is the Reason for the Season.

Image by Coffee from https://pixabay.com

December 10, 2015

Are We There Yet? Almost!

How do you handle traumatic news? How do you move through each day when it feels like your old familiar world is crumbling around you? Is it possible, and if so how, to live joyfully and confidently while assailed by pain, fear, or devastating loss?

As I contemplated and prayed about what I would say in a book about going through suffering—and getting through it whole and better than when one started the journey—it became clear to me that several principles are of vital importance, both for those who are going through trials and for those who walk alongside them. These principles became the framework upon which I sculpted the body of this book.

So begins the Introduction to Brokenness to Beauty: Transforming Your Brokenness into a Beautiful Life. The book that came out of the blog Jacque’s Journey (www.jacquesjourney.blogspot.com), is now only weeks away from going public. I feel I should type an exclamation mark behind that sentence!

Whereas, I once was beginning this journey of writing–

Now I am in the “Almost” there phase. I can see the Finish line–

Photo from SIS 5K run 2015 — Photo from Bakersfield SIS Advocacy Group 5K Run 2015

My book going public: This is exciting and scary news all at the same time! For me anyway. Are you ready for this book? Am I ready for this book?

For years I heard and read comments from my blog readers that I needed to write a book, that I should tell my story. Maybe this is the book you expected, maybe not. But this is the book that grew out of writing it, praying as I wrote.

Brokenness to Beauty is a five Part, twenty-three chapter book designed with you in mind because, as the end of the Introduction states: Most of our days are filled with activities that pull us in many directions at once; therefore, this book is structured so that it may be read in short sections, easily adapted to a busy lifestyle. It is my hope that I have written these few chapters simply and clearly enough so that those who read it may, as with the vision given to Habakkuk, “read it fluently,” or with understanding, so that they may go on in their life journey stronger for it and in turn share it with others (Habakkuk 2:2).

Are we there yet? Almost! Stay tuned—or keep following this blog—to be among the first to know when Brokenness to Beauty hits the stores!

(And yes, there will be an e-book version as well!)

November 23, 2015

Stones, slings and … a yard sale?

The last few pieces I posted here dealt with “lions and bears” and “Goliath.” As I read the passage (1 Samuel 17) for our women’s Bible study, I saw a metaphor for realities in our own lives.

I likened lions and bears to enemies that attack us personally: illness, disease, losses of all kinds–from jobs to death of loved ones–and more. Whatever can come into our lives and turn them upside down and inside out, I consider a lion or bear type of enemy.

We are all subject to lions and bears. In my book, Brokenness to Beauty[1], I deal with these enemies and share how we can successfully fight them, becoming stronger and better for having gone through the attack. Like David, we can learn to wield our weapons—prayer and praise and the Word of God—gaining spiritual strength, growing in faith and in the knowledge of God. We can bring glory to the Lord by our lives as we go through our personal struggles.

But who or what is Goliath? The more I read the 1 Samuel 17 passage, the more clear it became to me that Goliath is anything that directly attacks and defies the Living God on a larger scale, not just a personal one. I imagined the evils in this world as Goliath, evils that challenge us, God’s people, to stand and fight in and for his Name.

Fighting Goliath definitely will take us out of our comfort zone. It certainly challenged Saul and his entire army. Goliath’s challenge scared them spitless. So they didn’t answer it. They didn’t stand up to Goliath; they quaked in their sandals and ran backwards.

There are Goliath’s in our world to fight and based on Jesus’ words, he expects us to fight them (John 14:12-17).

A small group of women here in Bakersfield are taking up the challenge. They are one example of standing up to Goliath in the name of the Lord of Hosts. Since I am part of that group, I’ll speak of them as “we.”

We have taken up a big challenge to fight against poverty, abuse and neglect of girls and women, ignorance, slavery of all kinds including sex slavery, illiteracy, and oppression. We are doing this on behalf of women in India whom we have not met, yet because other believers are on the front lines of this war, and we have heard the challenge, we have declared we would join the fight. The Bakersfield SIS Advocacy Group are the supply troops, if you will.

So we prayed about our next plan. And we had a yard sale.

The mighty weapon of a yard sale!

Well, no. Our weapon is prayer. And hard work. The yard sale is a strategy.

And God blessed it.

We in turn blessed 11 women in India to become part of a Transformation Group where they will learn skills, work as a group, gain confidence and the ability to become self-sufficient, be given a voice to stand up for themselves… and learn about the gospel of Jesus Christ. Now that’s life transforming.

We only have 151 more women to bless at $10 a month for one year.[2] Ten dollars a month. Two cups of Starbucks coffee. For one year. Imagine that.

We few, we band of sisters in the Bakersfield She Is Safe Advocacy Group,[3] are learning to stand and fight Goliath–with prayer, hard work, and yard sales and bring glory to the Name of the Lord of Hosts.

Do you hear the challenge? Want to join us?

[1] Brokenness to Beauty: Transforming Your Brokenness into a Beautiful Life is almost out! Expect it early next year! More on that later.

[2] Want to join us? Contact me at jacquelinegwallace@gmail for info on how to bless one or more Indian women … for life and eternity.

[3] Learn more about She Is Safe and their opportunity to fight Goliath through an Advocacy Group at SheIsSafe.org

November 3, 2015

Goliaths and Greater Things

Picking up with the topic I started before my last post, Interlude of Fun in the Twilight Zone: David was faithful in his everyday, ordinary life as a shepherd, guiding and guarding the sheep, sometimes at great personal risk fighting lions and bears. It was there, in his everyday life that he grew strong wielding the weapons of his trade–the staff and sling and stones–and he grew strong in faith in God. He knew God and could confidently say, “the LORD who delivered me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear …” (see I Samuel 17).

We too live ordinary, everyday lives. We too face our lions and bears, those trials and difficulties that come into our lives, perhaps threatening our livelihood, our families or even our very lives with health problems. These are the enemies that come to defeat us, enemies that threaten to destroy us.

Are we being faithful to fight them with the weapons given us—prayer and praise and the Word of God? Are we becoming adept in their use and growing in strength, growing in our trust in God? Can we say as David did, “the LORD who delivered me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear …”

It is only in our ordinary, everyday lives faithfully facing the enemies that would destroy us—our lions and bears—that we learn to fight, becoming skilled and strong.

Ordinary life is where we learn to know and trust the LORD, bringing him glory as we fight our personal enemies. This, too, is where we learn to recognize another kind of enemy: Goliath.

Goliath wasn’t David’s personal enemy and he isn’t ours, though most of us have heard the story in those terms. Goliath is not our personal lion or bear. Oh no. He is a different enemy. Goliath, to be consistent with the text, in I Samuel 17, comes against and defies the armies of the living God; he defies the LORD of Hosts, the Lord Almighty.

Goliath is anything that is contrary to the person and purposes of God and he must be fought with weapons, not of this world, but weapons that have “divine power to demolish strongholds … and everything that sets itself up against the knowledge of God …” (2 Corinthians 10:4-5).

Prayer and praise and the Word of God. These are the powerful weapons that we only become skilled at using in our ordinary, everyday lives fighting our lions and bears. The power of these weapons is spiritual, not of our flesh or the world, not originating with us but with God’s Spirit who lives in us.

When Jesus was on earth he fought many Goliaths. When he was about to leave and return to his Father in heaven he said to his disciples, “Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. … And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever—the Spirit of truth. … for he lives with you and will be in you” (John 14:12-17, NIV, emphasis added).

Jesus obviously expected that we too would fight Goliaths, all over the world. Else what did he mean by saying, “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8, NIV)? (Notice the triple “and,” not “or.”)

Or this, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age” (Matthew 28:18-20, NIV)?

The Spirit was given for specific purposes, as we read from the above verses.

The questions we must ask ourselves are:

Do I recognize Goliath when I see him?
When I do see him, do I have the spirit of David that says, “Who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should defy the armies of the living God?”
And do I have the chuztpah to reply to the naysayers as David did, drawing on his experience of trusting God and and finding him faithful to deliver, “Your servant has been keeping his father’s sheep. When a lion or a bear came and carried off a sheep from the flock, I went after it, struck it and rescued the sheep from its mouth. When it turned on me, I seized it by its hair, struck it and killed it. Your servant has killed both the lion and the bear; this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, because he has defied the armies of the living God. The Lord who rescued me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will rescue me from the hand of this Philistine (1 Samuel 17:34-37, NIV, emphasis added).”
Do I have the jealousy for God’s Name that makes me willing to put “skin” in the game, my skin, for his Name and glory?

The greater works we are to do, that Jesus expects us to do, are waiting to be done. They are there waiting for us to step forward, as David did, in the name of the Lord Almighty, that the Father may be glorified in the Son—through us.

“David said to the Philistine, ‘You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the Lord Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. This day the Lord will deliver you into my hands, … and the whole world will know that there is a God in Israel. All those gathered here will know that it is not by sword or spear that the Lord saves; for the battle is the Lord’s, and he will give all of you into our hands’”(1 Samuel 17:45-47).

Let us get stronger every day wielding the weapons of our warfare—prayer and praise and the Word of God—fighting our everyday lions and bears so that we may be strong in the Spirit and fit to recognize and fight Goliath–doing those greater things–for the sake of his Name, for the glory of the Father.

Let us fear God more than men.

How have you fared with your lions and bears? Have you discerned the Goliath that you should be challenging for his Name sake? How is it going? Send me your questions and comments about this post. I’d love to hear your thoughts.

New International Version (NIV)

October 31, 2015

Interlude for fun: There is a Twilight Zone and I know how to get there.

Several weeks ago Randy and I tackled the next painting project in our house. Having finished the kitchen and family room cabinets we started on the seven foot long built-in china cabinet in the dining room. All the cabinets in our house, which was built in 1979, are the original dark stained wood: kitchen and family room cabinets, china cabinet and the wall of cabinets in the hallway. We have so many cabinets we could rent storage space for extra cash. But they aren’t pretty anymore, hence the painting projects.

Anyway, back to the china cabinet. On the top there are four glass-fronted doors on cupboards which reach to the ceiling. The lower cabinet has two vertical rows of four drawers each (total 8 drawers) in the center, flanked by a door on the left and one on the right, with a generous seven foot countertop. We may fancy up the countertop later but for now it will be painted to match the rest of the built in cabinet.

First task was to remove all doors and drawers (and sand; thank you, Randy). That’s when the spooky part happened. Pulling out the top drawers wasn’t a big deal, just another empty drawer beneath each one. But the bottom two, oh my. Dust bunny graveyard. Fuzzy grossness personified.

And, what’s this? All this stuff coated with dead dust bunnies. Yuk. I pulled them out gingerly, vacuuming as I went, hoping for no scurrying eight-legged monsters (there were none). Papers and little round cd’s and an instruction manual for … something or other. And kids’ drawings that should have been magnetized to the fridge door. So much detritus.

But the jackpot prize of the denizens of the under-the-drawers-world was an 8 X 10 picture, in its cardboard stand-up frame, of a happy, smiling young man in his Mustangs Baseball uniform.

My heart sank. I felt so bad for the boy who loved baseball and was so proud of being on the team and who held his bat as he smiled for the camera, and who proudly gave that picture to his mom and dad.

And I felt so bad for that mom who must have looked all over her house for that picture of her son! The picture of the son she was so proud of, the picture she wanted to show to his grandparents, and in fact to anyone who, unsuspecting, happened by for a visit.

Where in the world had it gone?

I know where. Into the Twilight Zone.

It is those dark, hidden, unseen, never thought about places in our houses that are The Portals to the Twilight Zone, the place things go to disappear.

Until someone decides to paint the built-in china cabinet.

October 27, 2015

Lions and Tigers and Bears, oh my!

Well, maybe not tigers, but definitely lions and bears. That’s what he said, “When a lion or a bear came and carried off a sheep from the flock, I went after it, struck it and rescued the sheep from its mouth.” He went on to declare, “When it turned on me, I seized it by its hair, struck it and killed it.”[1]

Now, I’ve seen a bear close up. Sure, it was at night and all I could see was a big round, furry looking thing lumbering swiftly away from me (thank goodness it was going in the opposite direction!), but I knew it was a bear. We saw its tracks in the snowy yard the next morning and followed the trail of garbage up the hill into our neighbor’s yard. No sheep, just garbage. Hungry bears apparently are not fussy about their meals. From the size of that behind and the paw tracks it left, I’m glad it hadn’t run toward me!

A lion and a bear. Running after it. Grabbing the sheep from its jaws and then grabbing the beast by the hair and killing it. That is an amazing feat. Done not once but twice. All in the line of duty. Just part of the ordinary life of a shepherd.

David was responsible and dependable. He could be trusted to take care of business, in this case, sheep keeping: guarding and guiding.

David was faithful to fight and do what he had to do; he did the right thing, even at great cost to himself. He may have had the scars to prove it. He used the weapons of his profession—the sling and stones and staff—becoming adept at their use. In the process of fighting the lion and bear he grew skilled and strong. His faith in God grew as well, for David knew he didn’t do his fighting alone. “The LORD who delivered me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear ….”

David was faithful in his everyday, ordinary life.

We all live ordinary lives. We all face our lions and bears, those trials and difficulties that come into our lives, perhaps threatening our livelihood or even our life. These are the enemies that come to snatch away our lives, enemies that threaten to destroy us. Are we being faithful to fight them with the weapons given us—prayer and praise and the Word of God? Are we becoming adept in their use and growing in strength, growing in our trust in God? Can we say as David did, “the LORD who delivered me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear …”

It is only in our ordinary, everyday lives, faithfully facing the enemies that would destroy us—our lions and bears—that we learn to fight, becoming skilled and strong in spirit. Ordinary life is where we learn to trust the LORD.

What bears or lions are you facing today: Health issues, fearful job or financial challenges, death or disease of a loved one, divorce, addiction? So many beasts about that would tear us apart and destroy us. Only by wielding the weapons of prayer, praise (yes, praise) and the Word of God, in the power of God’s Spirit, can we successfully defeat such enemies.

But that’s not the end of the story. Fighting lions and bears has another vastly important function in our everyday, ordinary lives. For only in being faithful in ordinary life will we, like David, recognize and be fit to face the giant Goliath, who defies the Living God.

Hidden creativity to light

Tomorrow Maria comes to continue work on her first ever mosaic. She saw some of my mosaics and wanted to learn how to make them and I said come on over! I get to work on my own mosaic project while she is working on hers. I’m looking forward to that creative time making a mosaic. Though there is always a struggle in the creative process, making the mosaic satisfies a deep need in me to express myself artistically.[1]

Wallace Shield mosaic on Tray by Jacqueline Wallace

Though I’ve downplayed my own creativity, I find ideas rising to the surface, breaking through to my conscious mind like air bubbles breaking the surface of a pond. I have ideas for making a mosaic house number plaque or a mosaic headboard, but then I don’t follow through on those ideas because, well, you know, I have to do this other thing I promised, or I’m too busy because of this responsibility, or the house needs cleaning (when does it not?). Ordinary life gets in the way.

Just as with writing, though, I have to make time to create mosaics.

I read a blog post by another Christian woman writer who, for years didn’t answer her inner desire to write, didn’t even realize it was there because it was buried beneath all the layers of the “I have to do” of her life (boy, can I relate). They were good things, but things that pushed aside her inner “voice,” as she put it. I made a copy of this one paragraph from her post to tape onto my desk so I will see it every time I sit here:

“We’ve been made creative beings, to help bring order out of chaos. When I give myself the time and space to create, even in little slivers of time stolen from sleep or “productivity,” I’m fueled for the ordinary. Then, all of (a) sudden, the ordinary has a sheen around the edges. The ordinary becomes part of a narrative of creativity.”[2]

Her words resonate within me! It took me a long time to learn and accept that I am an artist at heart, that I am creative and that I have a need to express that creativity visually. That was an important discovery.

And so it is for each of us; it is part of learning the way God made us as individuals. We are creative beings, made in God’s image, each capable of manifesting God’s creativity in different ways.

I’m not talking about spiritual gifts here. If God had chosen to never give gifts of his Spirit to Jesus’ followers, we’d still have within us the creativity given us by God because he made us in his image. He is the creative, Creator God.

It reminds me of the quote I use in my email salutation: “To be human is to become visible while carrying what is hidden as a gift to others.”[3] I think he is saying the same thing as I’m trying to say. We need to express the creativity God gave us as his human creation. We have the capacity to bring glory to God through our creative expressions, especially when we give ourselves back to God to live for his purposes and glory. [4]

Have you made the discovery of the creative spirit God put into you, and the ways you can express that creativity, bringing it out as a gift to others and to God?

[1] My mosaics website: http://www.expressionsofthelight.com/

[2] By Ashley Hales, from “Don’t Give Your Voice Away,” posted on Redbud Writers Guild http://www.redbudwritersguild.com/dont-give-your-voice-away/

[3] David Whyte, “What to Remember When Waking”

[4] “I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. 2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.” Romans 12:1-2, (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. https://www.biblegateway.com/

October 1, 2015

The In Between Place

This post from one of the blogs I follow, said what I have often said myself. She is saying things I’ve written into my own book, Brokenness to Beauty. The trials I’ve learned from were not just for me, as hers were not just for her; they are to be shared with others, as Amy Carmichael said long ago. I hope we can learn from each other.

September 20, 2015

God, Jeremiah, Saeed and Us

A friend emailed me these scriptures and they got me thinking:

The word of the Lord came to Jeremiah a second time, while he was still shut up in the court of the guard: “Thus says the Lord who made the earth, the Lord who formed it to establish it—the Lord is his name: ‘Call to me and I will answer you, and will tell you great and hidden things that you have not known.’”(Jeremiah 33:1-3, ESV)[1]

The euphemistic sounding “court of the guard” was not a nice courtyard. It was a jail. Jeremiah was “shut up” in it. Dungeoned away.

Phot by kconnors DSC_0471.JPG — Photo by kconnors DSC_0471.JPG

God had called Jeremiah, the son of a priest, to a prophetic ministry early in life. Jeremiah’s perceived inability and youthfulness did not keep God from ordaining him to be his “prophet to the nations,” regardless of how inadequate Jeremiah felt. It would be a difficult and dangerous calling but God pledged himself to “be with you to deliver you,” therefore Jeremiah was not to be afraid of his enemies (Jeremiah 1:6-8).

As I read the first quoted verses about God showing Jeremiah great and mighty things he knew nothing about when he called on God in prayer, I thought of Pastor Saeed Abedini, and many other men and women similarly persecuted and imprisoned for their faith in Jesus.

They are not Jeremiah, but like Jeremiah, God has called them to a hard task: faithfully speaking forth the truth of God’s Word and the Gospel of Jesus Christ to a resistant, even hostile audience. But God has also promised to be with them wherever they go, even to the end of the world (Matthew 28:18-20).

We must not consider persecution and imprisonment for Jesus’s sake an anomaly. Suffering for Christ is not a strange phenomenon. It is part of being a follower of the true God and his son Jesus Christ. So it is not just the pastor Abedinis who are called to suffer: it is you and me. As a western Christian I have been trying to get my mind around that reality.

This lack of understanding about persecution for our faith being a part of the Christian life, is similar to my experience growing up in church and for the first 20 years of my life not recalling hearing about and nor giving thought to God’s care of and concern for the poor. Until I met someone who plainly understood it and could point it out to me in Scripture. It was everywhere in God’s Word! How had I missed it?!

When was the last time you heard a sermon or lesson on standing firm and fearless in the midst of persecution, as applied to ourselves and not a Bible character who lived thousands of years ago? Or even expecting persecution to come? In fact, when was the last time you were persecuted for your faith in Jesus?

I’ve asked myself these questions so don’t be offended at my asking you the same things. I’ll bet we’ve all made comments about it and had fears as to the coming persecution. I have. In Scripture, however, it is taken for granted that persecution will be part of our lives when we “live godly in Christ Jesus,” and we are told straight up not to fear. Jesus’s words to go into all the world and make disciples is for all his followers, not a select few.

I pray for deliverance for my brothers and sisters who are being persecuted and imprisoned for their faith.

But I also pray for grace, and their daily strength to stand strong, and to forgive their enemies. I pray that Jesus will be more real to them, that they draw closer to him each day. And I pray that Jesus draw very close to them. I pray that they know his presence with them as surely as they know they inhale and exhale.

I also pray God use them powerfully in those neighborhoods and prisons to live out and speak the gospel to those who haven’t heard it. To those who are their mortal enemies. To those who are so very lost.

“Call to me and I will answer you, and will tell you great and hidden things that you have not known.” Many of us have claimed for ourselves God’s promise to Jeremiah, I know I have. I don’t see a problem with that.

As long as we are also willing to wear Jeremiah’s mantle of suffering.

Or as Paul stated it: to fill up the sufferings of Christ.

He’s the same God today as he was then. And the way through dark times of persecution is the same as through any other difficulty in life: cling to and stand firm in the Word of God, live a life of prayer to the God of the Word, encourage and help one another, remembering our reason for being here: to honor, love and serve our King and Savior Jesus Christ, carrying his good news to the world.

God, help us to honor You.

It’s all there in the Book. Here are a few samples:

(Matthew 5:10-12;43-48; 10:14-39; 24:9-14; Romans 5:1-5; 8:16-18;31-39; 12:14, 17-21;15:30-33; 16:20; 1 Corinthians 16:13; 2 Cor. 1:5;8-11;4:1-18;7:5,6;11:23-28;Ephesians 5:8-21;6:10-20;Philippians 1:12-14;19-21;27-30; 3:10-11;4:1; Colossians 1:22-24;4:2-6, 10; 1 Thessalonians 1:6; 2:1,2; 3:1-4, 7; 2 Thess. 1:4; 2: 1315; 3:1-3; 2 Timothy 1:8, 11-12 2:1-3, 8-13; 3:10-12; 4:1-8, 14-18; Hebrews 11; 12:1-7, 11; 13:3, 12-15, 18-19, 23; James 1:2-4, 12; 1 Peter 2:12, 21-23; 3:8-12, 13-16, 17; 4:1, 12-19; 5:6-11; 1 John 2:18; jude 17-25; Revelation 1:9; 2:7, 9-11, 13, 26; 3:8, 11; 22:12-21)

[1] English Standard Version (ESV)