December's Focus Point

A blessed Christmas to our members and followers. May your celebration of Christ's birth be meaningful and rich. 

Since some of you requested it, I posted this morning's Focus Point below.

Blessings to you & yours,

Barbara

barbarahigbyhope.com

The Power of Story, part 2

Last month we talked about Jesus’ story telling. If anyone possessed the wisdom and knowledge to cut directly to the heart of the matter it was Him - He didn’t need to weave stories to convey His point. Could His reason for storytelling have been because it is easier for us to grasp and remember truth through a story?

Jesus’ stories were not for entertainment; they always had deeper meanings—take-aways, if you will. As His people we can present deep truths through stories as well. Last month I shared this takeaway from Cec Murphey's website: Stories convey truth, sometimes better than stated principles. 

Luke demonstrates this in his 18th chapter with these words: ¹Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up. ² He said: “In a certain town there was a judge who neither feared God nor cared what people thought. ³And there was a widow in that town who kept coming to him… We know this as the parable of the persistent widow. Jesus told the story “to show them…” He did not tell them to always pray and not give up; He told the story and the story told them, impressing hearers with a story not easily forgotten.

This season many people will read the story of the first Christmas from the Bible or a retelling or both. This beloved "story" is not about the elements that have grown precious to us. It is not about a journey, full inns and a manger bed. It’s not about glorious angels making a surprise visit to sleepy shepherds. It’s not about foreign dignitaries following a star to honor a baby King. The purpose of the story is the takeaway - eternal life for all who believe the Christmas Babe is their Messiah.

As Christian writers, our stories have the power to convey God-ordained messages that offer life.

Take away thought: Story may be our greatest show-don't-tell tool and our most powerful method to convey truth.    

Join us this Saturday

Our next meeting is Saturday, November 5 

 10 am to noon, at Cornerstone Christian Church in Wyckoff

In the Barn - red building on the right as you enter the property

Digging In 

Come prepared for a unique creative writing exercise.

Also, November is NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month), 

which calls writers to produce a 50,000 word novel during the month.

 This Saturday I'll invite you to consider a different writing challenge - 

The ShoStoWri Challenge.

Get the encouragement you need, whether you're an accomplished writer, beginner or somewhere in between.

See you Saturday,

Barbara

barbarahigbyhope.com

Story Callout - Moments

Moments

Yvonne Lehman has 5 new Moments anthologies in the works. This is a non-paying market, but royalties go to Samaritan's Purse. Please email Yvonne for any questions.

Submissions should be sent to:
Yvonne Lehman

Story callout from Yvonne Lehman:
MOMENTS BOOKS: Send your personal articles!

Take a look at previous Moments books that Grace Published has released, particularly the first one, Divine Moments, to see what we accept. The article length is anywhere from about 500-2000 words or so. I’ve even included poems and some written by children. So the guidelines aren’t strict. The main point is the context of the article. I like them sent as an attachment to an email, times new roman, 12-point type. Include on the article: name, mailing address for the one free copy, and email address. Send to me at: yvonnelehman3@gmail.com

Already published are: Divine Moments, Christmas Moments, Spoken Moments, Precious Precocious Moments, More Christmas Moments, Stupid Moments, Additional Christmas Moments. Loving Moments will be released early 2017.

We’ve just decided to release Christmas Moments Book #4 (no final title yet) in 2017. Would like to have those by end of December.

I’m also accepting for:
Romantic Moments (falling in love, puppy love, marriage, dating, second time around, weddings, flowers, mother-of-bride,
bridesmaids, anything to do with personal love or planning a wedding, etc.)
Coola-nary Moments (culinary mishaps or unusual cooking experiences, recipes. I have one about making  mud pies when a child)
Questionable Moments (Author’s response to questions asked by God/Jesus in the Bible, or implied, such as “Where are you?” “Where are you going?” “Do you love me?” “Do you believe?” "Where is your faith?” “What do you want?” etc. etc.
Personal Titanic Moments - This one still in idea stage (Highs and Lows of Life - Grandeur and Disaster)
Might as well plan another Christmas one for 2018.

No payments. Authors get one free copy, discount on orders, and all royalties go to Samaritan’s Purse, an organization that helps victims of war, poverty, natural disasters, disease, and famine with the purpose of sharing God’s love through his son, Jesus Christ. www.samaritanspurse.org

The articles are written by both multi-published, and beginning or non-published writers.
The story is the important thing.