Sarah's Words of Wit(sdom)

I love snow. I may seem weird to you, but I always say if it’s going to be cold, it should at least snow! Snow makes the cold more enjoyable. I love the thought of God reaching into his bag of powdery white snow and sprinkling it onto the world, decorating the trees and the rooftops of houses, and dusting the ground. Sometimes God tosses snow onto the world, and sometimes he dumps the whole bag. When this happens, everything becomes white, covering any other color. Isaiah 1:18 says: “Come now, let us reason together,” says the LORD . “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool.” I attended a webinar last Thursday where the speaker talked about the significance of colors in writing. Scarlet and crimson, variations of red, symbolize anger, pain, and danger. Our sins are evil. Yet somehow I seem to think my sins are not as “red” as those people around me. “Mine are more…pink. Or puce.” I might find myself say...

I can’t tell you how relaxed I felt that I didn’t have to worry about posting for Thursday. When Monday came around I was calm and ready to post. It wasn’t easy cutting back on posting at first, but I’m glad I did it now. That made me wonder; why is it so hard to say no? Not necessarily just to bad things, but even some good things. About a month ago, I had an opportunity to write some Christmas monologues for my church. I knew I didn’t have any time (which was one of the reasons I cut back on posting), so I prayed about it and didn’t specially feel God leading either direction, so, after talking it over with many people I respect, I said “no”. It was hard, because church is a good thing, and what if God sent this opportunity my way for a reason and I turned it down? It’s so easy to say no if you know it’s wrong, but this wasn’t. A couple weeks later, one of my pastors told me that since I turned down the opportunity, things were headed in a direction that may be even better, and rem...

As you may have noticed, skit 4 is not being shown today. Because of illness in the leading actress, the skit has been postponed until next Sunday, when it will be combined with the last skit. When I got the phone call Saturday evening that Cassidy, or “Tracy” was sick, I was devastated. I so looked forward to seeing yet another piece of my writing come to life. I wondered what God was trying to accomplish in this. God does all things to bring glory to Himself. How could postponing the skit bring Him glory? Every Sunday, the skits went so well with the message, almost echoing what the pastor preached in his or her sermon. It could only be God. So what is He doing now? As a human, it frustrates me how I’ll never understand what God does and why. I may never find out what He is doing in this, but I just need to trust it’s for my own good and His Glory. Romans 8:28 says, “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his pur...

I admit, sometimes I hate writing. My twitter update said it all. If we’re all being honest, we writers all hate writing once in a while. Writing is something I love, but sometimes I just don’t want to do it. I’m plagued with deadlines, plus my last year of school, and work. Adding a blog to the mix hasn’t done me much good in that either. I hear of some people who say God is just telling them to slow down. I wish that was the case for me. Instead, God has been throwing awesome writing opportunities at me. At first, I loved the work and loved the way God has been supplying me. But lately I’ve felt, well, overwhelmed. The next morning I received an email: Sorry you’re overwhelmed… You truly have a gift, Sarah. God has kissed you with this gift of writing and to make people feel something. God has not given you a spirit of fear as the verse says. As He told Joshua, “Be STRONG and COURAGEOUS” [Joshua 1:9]. He told Joshua that multiple times. God appointed Joshua to take over for Moses (a...

Okay, I’ll admit it. I’m still not fully unpacked from a weekend at the She Speaks Conference in North Carolina. Sometimes it’s a real pain. I did unpack my clothes to wash them and put my bags of toiletries in the bathroom. But it’s the little things that litter the bottom; pencils notebooks, band-aids and chapstick. Even in my toiletry bags, cotton rounds, dental floss, and toothpaste still lay inside. That made me wonder…are there little things in my “suitcase” I don’t want to get rid of that God wants me to give up to Him? I get rid of all the big stuff that everyone can see, but it’s the little stuff no one knows about that I don’t want to unpack. I zip up my suitcase and drag it behind me so no one can see the shameful little things I’m carrying with me. In Luke 14:33, Jesus tells us, “Any of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple.” Everything . For me, it’s my dreams that are so hard to give up to God. I feel like if I give them up, I’ll never accomplis...

By the time you’re reading this, my family and I will be on the road in our mini-van cluttered with suitcases and “necessities” for living away from home. You know how that goes. I thought I should let you know that I won’t be posting Monday, since I will be on the road back to home. But to tell you the truth, I have mixed feelings about the She Speaks conference . This will be my first ever writer’s conference. I’m super excited, yet a little scared and nervous just because I’m not quite sure what to expect. When I first got the phone call from Proverbs31 Ministries , it seemed like the conference was forever away. Now it just snuck up on me and all of the sudden I’m heading down south for the experience of my life. I’m excited, and also a bit anxious. I have to find my way to many of my sessions on my own. What if I get lost? What if I don’t know anyone? I studied Experiencing God by Henry Blackaby with my Youth Group this summer. One of the things Mr. Blackaby said in his book is,...

I wrote this in January of ’09 for a Christian Writer’s Guild assignment. Go out on the streets and pray for people? That’s just not my thing. Walking up to a random person and saying, “Can I pray for you?” can prove to be, well, awkward. I made sure I teamed up with the most outgoing, people-loving person I could find. That way I wouldn’t have to do any talking. Holding a box of pop in one hand (or soda, as they call it here in Reading, Pennsylvania), and brochures that tell about who Christ is and how to accept him in the other, I roamed the sidewalks of the busy city, following my partner around. I had full intentions to be the one who handed out the pop along with the brochure and smiled, managing to escape every opportunity that involved speaking. So she prayed for a couple of people, and I did my job; and very well, I might add. Hey, it’s not easy handing out pop and brochures all day. I mean, you have to…to…okay, I’m lying, maybe it is easy. But I’d do anything not to talk to pe...

Beep, beep, beep! Kendal groaned and threw a pillow over her head. She reached out her hand and searched for her alarm clock, whacking it when she found it. Another Monday. Have you ever felt like Kendal? I know I have. Groaning as I roll out of bed, not wanting to go to school or work after a nice weekend of relaxation. Now I have to start yet another week. A couple weeks ago, I attended the Mennonite Youth Convention in Columbus, Ohio. It was an awesome opportunity for young Mennonites to worship and learn together. Worship sessions were twice every day, along with a variety of various seminars to choose from. On the last day during the worship session, a speaker by the name of Greg Boyd said something that stuck with me. He said that every morning when he reluctantly rolls out of bed, he says, “God, this day is Yours. What do You want me to do today?” I thought about that for a while. How much less would I take for granted with that kind of attitude? Taking one day at a time to ask ...