Melted then Molded

I'm welcoming Linda Rondeau back to my blog today. She's the award-winning author of The Other Side of Darkness and the recently released America II. Check out her bio below. Now her post:




“But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name” (John 1:12 KJV).

The popular church chorus asks God to descend and set the hearts of His children on fire, to spread a blaze across the nations.

I wonder sometimes if we truly understand for what we ask. Too often we pray for the result but are not willing to endure the process to obtain it.

Fire consumes. I remember driving through an area in the Adirondacks hit by a wildfire. Not a green speck left. All the charred remains stood naked and seemingly beyond hope. But, fire also purifies through the melting process.

Unlike a wild, untamed forest fire, God’s fire has purpose.

Lisa went into the hospital for what she thought would be a simple appendectomy only to discover she had a rare form of invasive abdominal cancer. Her husband said, “After the shock wore off, I was pretty angry. She is so young, healthy and takes good care of herself, why did this happen? What would I do without her? How do I deal with our kids? 　There was a calmness that came to me while in the middle of this storm. It was clarity and can be attributed to the Holy Spirit as it certainly didn't come from me. 　I never thought to question God as to why he'd bless me with a beautiful wife, wonderful children and a wonderful and supportive family. 　How could I be mad at the loss when God had blessed me with so much?”

As a result of Shawn and Lisa’s obedience within this trial, God’s glory is seen through their lives as they post their struggle on a cancer-care website for the world to see. Their posts continue to extol the magnificence of God’s grace, blessings within the firestorm. Shawn writes that God’s grace is shown to them every day through the outpouring of love. Most of all, God’s Holy Spirit is revealed through their children’s strength, their big family their mission field.

I believe that through God’s melting and molding process he reveals Himself to us in ways we would never know if we did not submit to His all-consuming fire.

In Daniel 3, we read the familiar story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, the captive Israelites who refused to bow down before the image of the King, even though they knew the punishment would be death by fire. “If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to save us from it, and he will rescue us from your hand, O king. But even if he does not, we want you to know, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up.”

When the king looked into the furnace, he saw a fourth figure, that of a son of God. Through the Glory revealed by the obedience of three Israelite slaves, King Nebuchadnezzar extolled the God of Shadrach, Meschach, and Abednego.

Are you experiencing firestorms in your family? Are you angry and feel that these difficulties are undeserved? Perhaps God has not sent you punishment, but rather wants to walk with you in the furnace, to show you His Glory. And through this melting and molding process, equip you to be His blessing, the flame that ignites a dry and barren land.

“This third I will put into the fire;　I will refine them like silver and test them like gold.　
They will call on my name　and I will answer them; I will say, ‘They are my people,’　and they will say, ‘The LORD is our God’” (Zechariah 13:9 NIV).

BIO:
A graduate of Houghton College, Rondeau has spent a previous career in the field of human services, often engaged with families in crisis. She credits these experiences in human drama as the edge in creating unforgettable characters. Furthermore, her prior work has shaped her vision of a future world should current sociological issues remain unchecked over the next several decades.
After more than thirty years in the Adirondack region of Northern New York, Rondeau now resides in Jacksonville, Florida with her husband Steve and their cat Duffer. When not writing, she enjoys theater, golf, and hiking.

She is a member of the Florida Writers Association, American Christian Fiction Writers, and several on-line writing groups. She is the owner and founder of Pentalk, a community of writers that features networking pages and a blog. Rondeau contributes a monthly column to her former community newspaper entitled, This Daily Grind and maintains a blog of the same name. Other blogs include Back in the Daze.

Also writing under the name of Linda Wood Rondeau, other books by this author include The Other Side of Darkness.

You may contact the author on Facebook, Linked In, Goodreads, or Twitter or visit her on the web.

The Amazon Kindle for the novel is : http://www.amazon.com/America-II-The-Reformation-ebook/dp/B008CGFVUI/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1340191492&sr=1-1&keywords=l.w.+rondeau


　

The Fifty-Fifty Conundrum

Award winning author Linda Rondeau is here today with an interesting guest post. Read and enjoy!

"But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name” (John 1:12 KJV).

As reported by Phil Rizzuto in a radio broadcast: When Ralph Houk was manager of the New York Yankees, baseball schedules were even more exacting than they are now, with double-headers almost every week. Occasionally a player would get sick of the grind and approach Houk, asking for permission to sit out a game. "I know how you feel," the manager would say genially. "Sure, take the day off, but do me a favor. You're in the starting lineup. Just play one inning. Then skip the rest of the game." The player would honor Houk's request--and almost invariably get caught up in the spirit of the game and play it out to the end.

An interesting solution, one that put the game ahead of all else and benefited both the manager and the player.

Marriage, like baseball, takes the full commitment of each partner to harvest good results. When one partner tires of the grind and folds, the consequences can be devastating. It takes both partners committed to the joy of the game to make a marriage work, a 100-100 proposition.

According to Dr. Phil, fifty-fifty unions are at risk for failure. The mindset denotes an expectation of a reward for enduring a period of sacrifice. The fifty-fifty principle results in score-keeping, certain to spark controversy, a heated, “Okay, it’s my turn now.”

The dictionary defines compromise, the basic premise of a fifty-fifty relationship, as a settlement of differences by mutual concessions; something intermediate between different things. This is the reason, according to Dr. Phil, that a fifty-fifty philosophy in marriage simply doesn’t work. But where decisions are based upon a 100-100 plan, i.e. what is best for the marriage rather than the individual, the marriage wins. And when the marriage wins, everyone benefits.

Is this true of our relationship to God?

In many wedding ceremonies, theologians remind the celebrants that marriage as God ordained, most resembles the union between God and the believer. I wonder if we fail to experience full joy in the Lord, because we approach our Faith with a fifty-fifty mentality. We serve God, read the Bible, pray, do our good deeds and all with the expectation that eventually God will reward us. When we believe God is slow on His part, we remind Him, “Okay, God, it’s my turn now.”

But, God in His wisdom encourages us not to tire of doing good things. He tells us, “I understand, you’re tired and want to sit one out. Tell you what, just get out there and bat a few times.” When we get back into the game, without expectation, our joy returns, a joy based on our relationship rather than service.

Oswald Chambers writes “The joy of Jesus was the absolute self-surrender and self-sacrifice of Himself to His Father, the joy of doing that which the Father sent Him to do.” Christ service emanated from his joy rather than service being a method to discover joy.

This is the unity God has planned for the believer from the beginning, the purpose for which Christ came, to reconcile the imperfect to the Perfect, the temporal with the Eternal. Our joy springs not from what we do for God, but from being one with God, a 100-100 experience.

“Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:
Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: (Philippians 2:5-6 KJV).



A graduate of Houghton College, Rondeau has spent a previous career in the field of human services, often engaged with families in crisis. She credits these experiences in human drama as the edge in creating unforgettable characters. Furthermore, her prior work has shaped her vision of a future world should current sociological issues remain unchecked over the next several decades.

After more than thirty years in the Adirondack region of Northern New York, Rondeau now resides in Jacksonville, Florida with her husband Steve and their cat Duffer. When not writing, she enjoys theater, golf, and hiking.

She is a member of the Florida Writers Association, American Christian Fiction Writers, and several on-line writing groups. She is the owner and founder of Pentalk, a community of writers that features networking pages and a blog. Rondeau contributes a monthly column to her former community newspaper entitled, This Daily Grind and maintains a blog of the same name. Other blogs include Back in the Daze.

Also writing under the name of Linda Wood Rondeau, other books by this author include The Other Side of Darkness.

You may contact the author on Facebook, Linked In, Goodreads, or Twitter or visit her on the web.

The Amazon Kindle for the novel is : http://www.amazon.com/America-II-The-Reformation-ebook/dp/B008CGFVUI/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1340191492&sr=1-1&keywords=l.w.+rondeau


Check out Linda's websites and her books!
Blessings

Guest Blogger, Linda Rondeau, writes on Floundering

Life is hard . . . sometimes. Living the life of a writer is too . . . sometimes. Read on for a take on being too busy from my dear friend, Linda Rondeau, author of America II, just released, and her suspense book, The Other Side of Darkness.



Do You Ever Feel Like You're Floundering?

I have come into the deep waters; the
floods engulf me...Psalm 69:2b

Ever feel as though you are drowning in a to-do list that keeps getting longer and the time left to complete the tasks, shorter?

I am currently going through one of those times. When the waters close around my neck, I’m well aware I’ve gone too deep; and I panic, making error upon error.

Mistakes have babies. In my case, they often have litters. And I ask the Lord, how
can I get all these things done (and it takes longer when I have to keep undoing those
oops) without looking like an idiot from all the mistakes I’m making?

He gently reminds me that it’s not about the to-do list. It’s about a surrendered life
to Him. He will prioritize my days according to His knowledge of what is best
for me.

It may be the waters continue to deepen so I have to swim for awhile before they
abate. That is when I remember, God is my life jacket.



A graduate of Houghton College, Rondeau has spent a previous career in the field of human services, often engaged with families in crisis. She credits these experiences in human drama as the edge in creating unforgettable characters. Furthermore, her prior work has shaped her vision of a future world should current sociological issues remain unchecked over the next several decades.

After more than thirty years in the Adirondack region of Northern New York, Rondeau now resides in Jacksonville, Florida with her husband Steve and their cat Duffer. When not writing, she enjoys theater, golf, and hiking.

She is a member of the Florida Writers Association, American Christian Fiction Writers, and several on-line writing groups. She is the owner and founder of Pentalk, a community of writers that features networking pages and a blog. Rondeau contributes a monthly column to her former community newspaper entitled, This Daily Grind and maintains a blog of the same name. Other blogs include Back in the Daze.

Also writing under the name of Linda Wood Rondeau, other books by this author include The Other Side of Darkness.

You may contact the author on Facebook, Linked In, Goodreads, or Twitter or visit her on the web.

The Amazon Kindle for the novel is : http://www.amazon.com/America-II-The-Reformation-ebook/dp/B008CGFVUI/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1340191492&sr=1-1&keywords=l.w.+rondeau