5Q4 Interviews

Pearls and Dreams

Well, Wilsonian, over at Biscotti Brain clued me into a blog interview going around and sent me over to Garth at http://emergingblurb.blogspot.com/

The idea, is someone asks you 5 questions on their own blog, but you answer them on yours. Then, the first 5 people who leave comments, get 'interviewed' by the blogger. Garth has given me the following questions, and I get to participate again in a day or two when Wilsonian asks me a set of 5, with a twist of an added question!!

So, here's the questions Garth asked me and my answers! Any takers on me interviewing you?

5Q4 Dreaming Again
Your profile says you are a freelance writer in religion. Where do your writings appear and what sorts of things do you write about?
I have had a couple of articles in Focus on the Family's newsletter "Focus on Your Child's Early Stages" I have had one in the local magazine Tulsa Kids, and one in our local Community Spirit (a Christian Magazine), both are local, but nationally award winning magazines. I have also had 2 articles, accepted, but yet to be published in The Gem, a Church of God, Cleavland Tennessee, publication. And then several other smaller publications, that no one outside of Tulsa area would probably ever see. I have another one for Focus on the Family, but one Editor said to send it to another one, and my computer crashed, and I haven't re entered it and sent it ... need to do that, it's a good 'start of school' article ... need to get it so they'll use it this August!
The Focus on the Family articles were on my youngest son's learning disabilities and how God used those to strengthen MY relationship with HIM(God). The Tulsa Kids was a longer version of one of the Focus on the Family article (1600 words in TK, 400 in FoF), Community Spirit was on my spiritual growth through my eating disorder recovery process. The other's have been about God healing my broken heart.
I have also written a devotional book using poetry & essays, I don't have it published yet.

2. Can you do the how we see truth test (which is in green font) and tell us which characters you would choose as most honest/moral and why?
Wow, expected a different type of test there!
Honestly, hmmm ... ok ... how do I answer this, given the options, I'd have to pick Little John, Marion, Robin, Sheriff. However ...they were ALL wrong, they all did things that were out of bounds and they all did things that would cross the lines of God's plan for ultimate best for us. Would God forgive them? YES, absolutely!!!!! Would it block them from heaven? Nope, not if they repented, but motivation for sin isn''t what God measures what is or is not sin. Obedience is.
I picked Little John first because he seemed to be along for the ride and did less of his own individual sin, however, sinning to go along with the crowd is no less sin.
Marion next, because ...well, while what she did was WRONG, She didn't compound her robbery of others with sexual sin, she just had the one sin. Her heart was in the right place even if her body wasn't.
Robin Hood next, The guy really has issues in this ya know? First he thinks it's ok to break God's law about stealing and taking from others and expects to NOT get punished, and then when someone he loves does soemthing (although definitely WRONG) instead of taking her in his arms and forgiving her and saying "We need to go to God and repent together" he blasts her ...when had he not been robbing from the rich to begin with, she'd never have been put in the situation of being made to make that choice to begin with!
Sherrif ... Had he not been a crooked sherrif, Robin & Little John wouldn't have had to steal, so they never would have NEEDED to be arrested, he never should have put Maid Marion in that position ... and he's just plain the root of the problem and his heart isn't right regardless. While the other three all had motivations that led them to do the wrong things for the right reasons, he did the wrong things for the wrong reasons and he just has no excuse whatsoever. Period.


3.Your site is called Pearls and Dreams...what important thing do you want to achieve with your life, what is your 'Dream' ?
I want to be able to share with others that they don't have to live with a broken, wounded heart. That regardless of how they see themselves, that God loves them, created them for a purpose and that He planned for them to be just like they are. I want people, especially women, young women and girls to see that they are created in God's image and they are special to God, if they have chosen Christ, they are not in God's kingdom by default, but by God's design ... he wants EVERYONE, every human to choose, and he didn't just let me, or them or anyone in because when he created the earth, he didn't plan on that one person being created, but because of his soveriegnty has to allow them into His Kingdom.
I want to share the joy of developing a relationship with God even through struggles and strains of life, and how even when God seems far away, that when you get two steps away from the pain, you can see that he really has been the closest ever.
My dream is to see little girls and teens grow into adults with a passion for God without the heartbreak of an eating disorder or poor self esteem because they understand that God thinks about them more often than they can imagine. My dream is to see women who've made it to adulthood with wounded hearts, see those hearts healed ...
4.What got you started blogging? My friend Deneice (now spelled correctly!!!!!) at The Journey. She kept suggesting that I'd like doing it. As much as I've always liked writing, I've never been a good diary keeper or journal keeper, so I wasn't at all sure I could do it. When my computer crashed last year, and I got a new (used) one last October and got back on line, I decided to give it a go, and I'm hopelessly hooked.


5.What do you see as real indicators of the spiritual health of a church community

My church has a purpose statement : To give Support to people to become fully devoted followers of Jesus Christ.
The emphasis in on the giving support, and that I think is the real indicator ... are people getting supported ... in Bible study, growth, spiritual matters.
Are they having physical needs met? Do they have poor people in the church as well as wealthy? Do the poor in the church feel as much a part of the church as the wealthy do?
I think the MOST important measure is ... where are the people today compared to a year ago? Not financially, not where they live ..but spiritually? Have they grown? Doesn't matter where they start individually or where they are today individually, but have they EACH made some kind of progression in the past year? Have they made progress? Do they know more than they knew on this date last year? Is there a temptation that they can now withstand that a year ago they'd never have been able to withstand? Is there knowlege that they have now that they can act on, that a year ago, they didn't understand how to act on? Do they have more wisdom than they had a year ago? Are they praying more than they did a year ago? Are they spending more time in the prescence of God than a year ago.
Some of those people will have taken just a few steps in that year, some will have taken leaps and bounds ... most will be in the middle. Some will have started at the beginning and some will already be toward the end, but in a health growing church, no one should be static, everyone should be progressing forward.





this was interesting, harder than I thought. Thank you for the opportunity!