My Christmas Present to You!

by: Staci Stallings

If you got a Kindle for Christmas, I’ve got a special gift for you…

FREE on Amazon Dec. 27 & 28….

Click Here to get your FREE GIFT!

& Merry Christmas!

Leave it All Behind…

By:  Staci Stallings

Over the next couple of posts, I simply want to share some thoughts about the song, “The Well” by Casting Crowns.

The opening words are haunting, especially in their repetition.  “Leave it all behind… Leave it all behind…”

Those words beckon us, weary travelers on life’s path, away from the hustle and bustle of our busy, over-crowded lives.  In them Christ, through the lyrics, calls us out, away, and apart from those things that tie us down, weigh us down, and make our lives feel so very heavy and hard.

When was the last time you left it all behind?

When was the last time you took even five minutes that wasn’t filled with thoughts of bills to pay, kids to pick up, how to fix that, how to do this, who needs what tomorrow, and how am I ever going to get that done today?

If you’re like me, it’s way too easy to wake up in the morning, sit up and start processing.  Who needs to be where today?  What do I need to get written?  Who do I need to call?  What do I need to finish?  What do I need to start?

It’s like this whole long army of thoughts and to-dos that never quite seem to end.

I think that’s why those opening words are so very powerful to me.  In a way, they call me to be Mary rather than Martha, when the truth is Martha is so much easier to be.  They call me to yes, leave the cares and worries and STUFF behind, and come and sit with my Savior.  It is a call away from chaos into peace, a call away from myself into the One Who makes everything make so much more sense.

It is easy as I hear these opening words to think of leaving everything behind, if only for a moment, and going to visit Jesus at that well.  It is so enthralling to think of Him waiting there for me, a fresh drink of Him and His love waiting for me.  Not because I got everything done on my to-do list.  Not because He’s got five other jobs I need to do.  But just because He wants to spend some time with me, and I want to spend time with Him.

I don’t know how you spend time with God, or even if you do.  But in this crazy busy, often chaotic season… the one in which we work so hard to be able to celebrate peace, take a few minutes today to leave it all behind, to just go and sit with God, to listen, to slow down, to just be.

It will be an awesome gift.  I guarantee it!

*~*

Read more!  Click here!

The Well

by: Staci Stallings

Last time I had you listen to a song by Casting Crowns called The Well.  (You can go here to listen to it:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vLxdxw4Gj6g )

I hope you listened several times.  I know I have.

There are many truths woven into this beautiful song, but I want to take a moment today to elaborate on the wisdom of one word:  Come.

In the first video I watched of the song, there was one incarnation of this word that was misspelled.  However, I probably would have misspelled it as well if I would just have been transcribing based on the way you would think it would be said, rather than the profound truth of how they chose to say it.

This time happens toward the end when they sing about after you have come to the well and others begin to see the living water flowing in your life.  It says, “Soon all the world will see, living water is found in Me, ’cause you come to the well.”

In the first video, the lyric was “’cause you came to the well.”  That’s how I would have written it, but that’s not right.  See, we think, okay, you’re empty and broken, and you go to the well, and God fixes you.  Period. End of story.  You CAME to the well, and now you’re healed and can go on with life.  Ah, but that’s not what the actual lyric says!

In the video I gave you here, it says, “cause you’ve come to the well.”  And honestly that might be what the actual lyric says.  However, I think that too is a fundamental misinterpretation of the true lesson here.  “You’ve…”  you have… again past tense.

But that’s NOT what God wants.  And from deep personal experience, that’s not the way it works!

God truly working in you is not a one-and-done thing.  You don’t go to the well and get healed and you’re done.

Life will continually throw things at you–new challenges, new issues, new incarnations of old hurts.  And you have to KEEP going to the well.  Yes, your salvation is worked out in the first trip if you accept what Jesus is holding out to you, but your LIFE must be going back to the well.

I know for me, I can be going along great and then BAM!  I’m thrown off-track.  Maybe it’s an illness or a serious challenge, maybe it’s something with my kids, my friends or my husband.  And once again, I’m empty and scared.  I don’t know which way to go, where I’m going or how to get there.

The secret I’ve found is in going back to The Well–The Answer… Jesus.

I didn’t go to the well once.  I go every day, often multiple times each day.

I don’t shine because I came to the well once.  I shine because I COME to the well often.  I recognize my need for The Well.  I recognize how often I have asked the world to fill that need, and how poorly it has done.  We will talk about some of those things pointed out so beautifully in the song next time.  For now, know that you can go to the well any time you need, and Jesus will always be right there to let you simply rest for a moment in His arms.  Ahhh!

 

 

What I’m Writing… Blog Hop!

By:  Staci Stallings

Welcome, blog hoppers!  Last week I got tagged by Diana Lesire Brandmeyer *…stringing 26 letters into stories*  So this week I get to answer the questions and then send you to five of my writing friends!

Enjoy….

Introducing my soon-to-be-out ebook

“True Power & Real Peace”

Where did the idea come from?

True Power & Real Peace was written backward.  Some of you have read “A Light in the Darkness.”  In that book, the hero, Gabriel reads a book about God.  When I wrote “A Light” I realized that I couldn’t have him read something that’s already been published.  There were two problems with that.  First, I couldn’t just copy whole tracks of someone else’s work.  Second, there wasn’t one book I could find that would speak to each issue he was having throughout the book.

So the only thing TO do was write the book he was reading in the story as if it was a real book.  To do that, I had to write whole sections of a “real book” that wasn’t real.  After “A Light” was finished, I went back and read it and it struck me how easily “True Power & Real Peace” COULD be a real book.  I did a little work on putting the pieces together and filling in the in-between places, and that’s how this book was written.

After “A Light in the Darkness” came out, I had several readers write to say they had been looking for the book “True Power & Real Peace” and hadn’t had any luck finding it and could I tell them who it was by or how they could get a copy of it.  Well, it was by me, and the only copy in existence was on my computer.  That’s when I decided to publish it.

Genre: Spirituality, Inspirational, Christian Living

What actors would play your character in a movie version?

The actors for “A Light in the Darkness” are Meaghan Jette Martin and Adrien Grenier.

Short Synopsis

I’ll do the synopsis of “A Light in the Darkness”

Holly Jacobs can run from her mother’s past no longer. She is unceremoniously summoned to her mother’s new fiancé’s home in Napa Valley. The place is wonderful, but Holly can’t enjoy it because she knows that just like all the others, it can’t last. When her mother begins pushing Holly to make permanent plans with a young man Holly has no interest in, Holly takes off, never expecting to find a light in all of her darkness.

The final chapter of the Faith Series begins…

 Publisher:  Spirit Light Publishing

How long did it take to write the first draft of “True Power”?

Well, the first-first draft was written inside “A Light in the Darkness,” and that book took about four months to write.  The actual first draft of “True Power & Real Peace” was a lot harder because I had to take the pieces that were already written and put them into logical order (Gabriel reads them out of order in the book). Then I had to write the pieces around it.  Also, I was in no hurry for that one because I didn’t think it would ever really be published. So I’m honestly not sure how long it took to write.

What other books in the genre compare?

Two of the books referenced in “True Power” are John Ortberg’s “Love Beyond Reason” and Marianne Williamson’s “A Return to Love.”  So those two definitely would compare although Ortberg’s book is more mainstream Christian and Williamson’s has more New Age overtones to it.

Any  other in this genre?

I’ve never written in this genre before.  In fact, I’m in the process of asking what genre it would even fit into because I’m really not sure.

Anything to add?

“True Power & Real Peace” is BY FAR the most personal book I’ve ever written.  It gets to a depth of how I live that I don’t think I would have even attempted to write but for the crazy way it came about. My life has been rocked by some pretty intense storms during and since writing this book including–the suicides of two very close people in my life and my son’s dyslexia, not to mention the countless storms that come up each day while being married and raising three kids. 

This is honestly a book about “how I do it,” how I have and maintain a deep relationship with God through the storms and in the quiet times.  It’s also the key that kept me sane when I had everything I ever wanted and I was still miserable.

Still, how do you put all that into words?  How do you dig way beneath the surface and fashion those feelings and experiences in a way that is understandable to others?  I don’t know.  Maybe I didn’t, but this would have to be considered my attempt at doing so.

The ebook will be out very soon, and you can judge for yourself how well or poorly I did.

I sincerely hope you enjoy it as we move into the New Year!

Be sure to visit my friends’ blogs to continue the “What I’m Writing” blog hop…

Mary Campagna Findley

Naty Matos

Suzanne D. Williams

Shelley Hitz

Laura Marshall

Come

by: Staci Stallings

I’ve found a song you just HAVE to hear.  I want you to go and listen (several times if need be).  We will be discussing this song and another over the next couple of weeks.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vLxdxw4Gj6g

 

For now, just watch.  Listen.  THIS is what I’ve been trying to tell you.

Next time, we’ll talk.

*~*

Get Staci’s “Cowboy” on Kindle for only 99Cents

through Dec. 15.

Click Here!

Makes a GREAT gift for the

Christian Reader on your list!

The Next Big Thing

by:  Staci Stallings

This is so fun!

In a few seconds I’m going to share with you my Next Big Thing, but first thanks to Gail Pallotta, who’s one of my writer friends on the ‘Net for tagging me in the Next Big Thing blog hop!  This is the Next Big Thing blog hop in which you get to hop back and forth through the posts to find new and exciting authors and books.  Some authors will share upcoming books, some will share already released books, others will give you a peek into their current work in progress!  So hop around and enjoy all of the excitement!

Now, I’m here now to answer…

10 Questions about My Next Big Thing

And then stick around at the end for a great opportunity and more fantastic blogs!

Hope you have fun…

What is the working title of your next book?

My next big thing will be coming out in February.  It’s called “Eternity.”

Freddie Prinze Jr. as Aaron Foster

Where did the idea come from for the book?

Many years ago I was on a message board for a show that was very popular at the time but the series was ending. There was one actor I just LOVED on the show.  He had an emotional depth that for a young man was astounding.  Then one night I went to a movie and there was a guy in the movie that just captivated me.  Back on the message board, I was expounding on how fantastic these two guys were, and someone said, “Someone should make a movie with the two of them in it.”

Well, I had already written 7 full-length novels to that point, and I WAS inspired.  30 days later, “Eternity” was finished.

What genre does your book fall under?

Contemporary Inspirational Fiction (great story, great message, not overtly Christian)

Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition?

Well, THAT’S easy!  The lead role of Aaron Foster is played by Freddie Prinze Jr. 

Rider Strong as Drew Easton

Aaron’s best friend, Drew Easton is played by Rider Strong.

And Mena Suvari is Harmony Jordan.

Mena Suvari as Harmony Jordan

What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?

He set her up with his best friend, then fell in love with her. Now what?

Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?

It will be published through Spirit Light Books as all of mine are.

How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript?

30 days.  Fastest one I ever wrote, and you will probably read it that fast as well.  It kind of grabs hold of you and won’t let go!
What is unique about this book?

This is the love triangle that will rip your heart out and stomp on it… in a good way.  You’ve got Aaron, the nice above-average, completely clueless guy.  You’ve got Harmony, the love-struck girl next door who Aaron sees as his best friend in the world but nothing more than that.  And then you’ve got Drew who you will absolutely fall in love with and then hate everyone else for what’s about to happen.

What else about your book might pique the reader’s interest?

They say that nice guys finish last, but what happens when you’ve got TWO nice guys, and only one can win the girl’s heart?

Do you have anything to keep us entertained while we wait?

I certainly do…

You have ONE DAY LEFT to get

COWBOY for FREE on KINDLE–Click here!

“Christian fiction at it’s best!”
Don’t miss out!
Click here!

Then visit the next five outstanding blogs in the Next Big Thing blog hop!

Mary Campagna Findley

Sharon Srock

Naty Matos

Precarious Yates

Edie Mahoney Melson

Enjoy!

Chunking Down

by:  Staci Stallings

This lesson is a great one for the holidays because let’s face it, we have overcrowded lives already, and then you add this HUGE amount of baking, buying, wrapping, decorating, packing, driving/flying, celebrating, and then cleaning up on top of it.  It can get to be WAY too much.

The essence of this lesson is very simple:  Don’t try to do a whole task, especially an overwhelming one, all at once.

Chunk it down.

What does that mean?

It means instead of trying to do ALL of the Christmas cards in one sitting, do 10 of them and then go do something else.  Rotating through 3 or 4 different tasks, for me, makes things go faster and I don’t get as frazzled.

I do this with my books.  Obviously you can’t write or edit a 400-page book in one sitting.  So I chunk it down.  I set a goal of say five written pages or 10 edited pages.  When that amount is done, I then have the option of doing a few more or going to do something else.

I often do this around the house too.  Instead of saying, “I’m going to clean the kitchen” when it is an absolute mess.  I say, “I’m going to put 25 things into the dishwasher.”  Often by the time I get to 25, there are only a few things left, and I can finish it with no trouble.  If there are a lot of things left, I do something else for a few minutes and then do 25 more things.”

This one lesson has kept me from going crazy because I don’t look at the overwhelmingness of what I’m doing–I do what I CAN do and come back later to do another little chunk.

So what do you have that is overwhelming?  Maybe it’s cleaning out a closet.  Do one shelf at a time instead of all of it.

Maybe it’s a school project, chunk it down in to smaller pieces and do one or two small pieces.  As you do a few smaller pieces, the whole thing will stop looking so overwhelming until the point when you just say, “I’m going to finish this” or to the point that finishing it looks doable.

Good luck chunking things down!  And I hope your holidays are happy and filled with peace and joy!

*~*

Look what’s on Free Kindle Today and Tomorrow…

Click here to get your FREE copy of Cowboy!

Today Thinking

by:  Staci Stallings

So how do you stay in Today Thinking?  If power is found in today thinking, how does that look in a life?

I’ll give you an example:  Me!

I have a lot going on.  A lot of times I think of myself as lazy, but the truth is probably more that I have so much going on, I stay behind most of the time and often think, “If I could have just gotten that done last week…”

For a long time I drove myself absolutely NUTS with lists and timelines and schedules.  All that did was make me a stressed out mess.

Worse, I wasn’t any farther ahead than I ever was before.

With today/this minute thinking, God has shown me how to maximize what I’m doing and minimize my stress.

So what does this look like?

Let’s say I start my day with the following list of things that really need to be done:

Apply for Credit for husband’s company so we can buy materials for the next job
Decide who will get which articles for free day campaign (25 articles)
Write 100 tweets for free day
Write blog for Spirit Light for Monday
Get books ready for book signing
Edit next book
Finish For Real in print
Get oil in van
Daughter’s basketball game
Get son and take to gymnasics
Pay bills
(Yes, that really was my list last week)

First I would look at this and ask which is critical–must be done in 24 hours or we don’t eat or someone has to sleep at school.  Those are put at the top and when it’s time to do that, I quit whatever else I’m doing.

Next, what is most pressing in say next 72 hours?  That would be paying bills and oil in the van (so it doesn’t leave me on the side of the road and kids have to sleep at school).  Is there anything I can do while I wait for the van?  Yes. I can edit the next book if I bring my laptop.

So I go and wait and edit while I’m there.  When the van is done, editing more will have to wait because it’s not critical or most pressing.

Back home, I look through the list… most pressing pay bills.  So that’s next.

Next is Needs to be Done within 5 days.  That would be the blog and applying for credit.

Finally is needs to be done within 2-3 weeks.  I do SOME on that, whittling it down so in a week or two when it moves up to critical, I don’t have the WHOLE thing to worry about, just some.

Now, one thing that really tripped me up before was that in the middle of something, the phone would ring and it would be my mom or my best friend.  Before I would get frustrated, but now I consider these my Godly Scheduled assignments.  That means God Assignments take precedence 99% of the time.  Only if something is SUPER-CRITICAL do I ask to call them back.  Otherwise, I take the call knowing I’m on God’s time, not mine.

The beauty of this is that I don’t worry about the other ten things when I’m doing one.  I’m doing them in most critical order, so the things that HAVE to be done will be.

I’ve also added into this one other thing.  Every morning now at 10 a.m. I take a break to eat a power bar and drink some good-for-me stuff.  I go in, sit, and watch HGTV and during commercials, I clean.  I can get the living room, kids’ bath, son’s room, and dining room picked up and the kitchen dishes running.  And I don’t feel like I’m being punished with cleaning.
Now my system of today/right now thinking might not work for you, but if it sounds like it might, try it.  If it doesn’t, feel free to try something else.

The point is to learn to stay focuses on one task for a time, then another task for a time without feeling like everything has to be done now and you’re so overwhelmed you just want to quit.  Don’t quit.  Do one thing right now!

*~*

A Work in Progress

on Amazon Kindle

on BN Nook

The Power of Today

by:  Staci Stallings

One of the biggest issues people face is not facing issues.  And one of their most readily available ways of distracting themselves is not thinking in terms of TODAY.

We all know people who are stuck in the past.  What he should have said.  What she should have done or not done.  Wish I could go back to… when the kids were little, before the kids, before the house, before college… etc.  These people think in terms of “yesterday,” pining for a life that can never be again.

An equally destructive thought pattern is “tomorrow thinking.”  I’ll start the diet on Monday.  Next week when I get the bills paid… When we get the house paid off… When the kids get out of school… When the kids go back to school… When I get a new job…. When we retire…

I know.  You have no idea what I’m talking about, right?

The problem with both of these thought patterns is they rob you of the power of today.

You don’t have tomorrow to work with (and you might never have tomorrow to work with).  You cannot fix nor change the past.

What you have to work with is today.

Does that jar you?  Does it scare you to think in terms of today?  Is tomorrow much more hopeful or yesterday much safer?

Well, it’s time to break out of thinking that way because those are merely excuses that will keep you from making today all it needs to be.

People ask me a lot of times how I get so much done.  With a husband, three kids, two schools, two businesses, a house, teaching Sunday School, volunteering, writing the blogs, marketing the books, publishing new books, writing more new ones, etc.–how do I not go completely insane?

I honestly think my secret is maximizing today.  I do make lists of things that need to be done, but I don’t let that overwhelm me.  I focus on right here, right now and do as much as I can in any given moment.

I’m not looking back and wishing it was yesterday or five years ago (though there certainly are things I could do that with).  Nor do I look ahead much into what I want to do or be in the future.  I’m too busy doing and being right now.

So for today, look at your thought patterns.  Do you spend a lot of time not right here and now?  Do you daydream about tomorrow, or fret about (or pine for) yesterday?

Today I challenge you to harness the power of today.  Doing so can change your life!

*~*

White Knight

“Expect the Unexpected!”

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Questions that Make You Go Hmmm… #7

by:  Staci Stallings

We are, by nature, an outcome driven people.  To win the game, we will spend hours practicing.  To have a comfortable retirement, we will work and save for 65 years.  To be successful, we will go to school, then to college, then get a job and work endless hours.

Outcome is what drives us.  We want to see results.  If the prize is big enough, we will drive ourselves half crazy to get it.

So it’s no wonder that many people’s prayer life is results oriented.  We don’t pray to get closer to God, we pray to get things from God.  We pray like this:

“God, if you will just let me get that car… or that job… or that husband… or these bills paid….”

Whatever is our immediate concern is what gets prayer.  And there is always a “result” we are seeking.

Here’s the problem with that.  It doesn’t work.

I’m sorry to have to be the one to tell you that, but it doesn’t.  You don’t pray for the result to get the thing so that you can relax, be at peace, and be happy.  You are happy, at peace, and relaxed and the blessings show up.

So our final question is this:

Are your prayers too results oriented?

This is a hard one because it’s both how we’ve been taught and how we’re conditioned.  It’s not bad to have some of your prayers be results oriented.  I mean, if Grandma is sick, you should pray for her to get well again.  God wants you to take your problems to Him.  However, if that’s all you ever do, you’re misreading the kind of relationship God wants to have with you.

Do you spend time in prayer, for example, simply “being” in the presence of God?  Listening for His voice to tell you that He loves you?  Or do you rush through memorized prayers followed by a list of “how You could make my life better if You really cared” prayers and then get on with life?

If so, maybe it’s time to rethink the role of prayer in your life.

One of my favorite prayers growing up has this line:  Thy will be done today…

THY WILL.  Not mine.  Not what I want, what You want.  I want what You want, God.  Do you?  Do you really?

Or are you a little afraid of what He might put into your life if you give Him that much leeway?

If you find that your prayers are too results oriented, I challenge you today to take one minute and just BE with God.  Just sit, and listen.  See what comes up.  Then do it again tomorrow and the next day and the next.  As you do this, I believe you will start to see peace return and hope spring anew in your heart.

Want what God wants, give Him all of everything in your life.  Otherwise, you will be so focused on getting what you want that you may miss completely the blessings He has in store for you.
*~*

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