Holy Week: Tuesday

At the Last Supper, Jesus tells the Twelve that one of them will betray Him. The Apostles are shocked at this revelation, and Peter is later adamant that he would die for Jesus. Here we learn two very important lessons. One, sometimes the enemy lurks among us and we have to be watchful. As in the case of Jesus, we might not be able to escape the enemy’s snare initially, but with foreknowledge and faith, we can prevail.

Two, we shouldn’t be so arrogant as to think we know how we will react in any given situation. Peter believes with his whole heart that he will not deny Christ—and he shouldn’t. After all, Peter is the first of the Apostles to profess that Jesus is the Christ. After living with Jesus, watching Him perform miracle after miracle—including raising Lazarus from the dead—and after listening to Jesus preach the truth for years, Peter should be so well-versed, so bolstered in faith that there is no way he can deny Who Jesus is. We know it now. Peter knew it then. . .and yet, he denies his Lord three times before the cock crows.

It’s easy to say we won’t—or will—do this or that. It’s even easier to condemn someone else who chooses wrongly, even though we’ve never walked in their shoes, isn’t it?

"Oh, I would never do that!"

“Oh, I would never deny Christ!”

Really? What about if it meant the difference between living or being slowly tortured or being hung on a cross? If all you had to say in order not to suffer was, “Christ is not God” or "I don't know Him" would you do it? They are just words, after all. Right?

That’s what Peter thought. . .until the rooster crowed that third time and he looked into the pained eyes of his Lord and Saviour.

Let’s pray: Lord help me never to be so arrogant that I think I know how I will react in a tough situation. Help me never to deny you. Strengthen my faith and my resolve so that I will always be able to give a reason for my hope in You. Grant me a discerning spirit so that I may always recognize the enemy. Grant me the grace to withstand the storm so that You may be glorified through my words and deeds.

Make-A-Story™ Monday - This Week's Writing Prompt

Writing to spec – you’ve heard the term. It means writing what the publisher wants. Can you do it? In our new feature - Make-A-Story™, we ask you to create a story with these elements. The story can be set in any time frame, any length, must adhere to our guidelines and have our standard Christian world view. 

A bird's nest
A candle
An envelope

Holy Week: Monday

John’s gospel, 12:1-11, points out three interesting things that help to clue us in to Who Jesus is and what is about to happen. First, the gospel tells us that six days before the Passover, Jesus was in Bethany with Lazarus, Mary and Martha. It’s interesting that just a week before His own resurrection, Jesus visits the man who had already been brought back from the dead. Perhaps Jesus was trying to give His followers a reminder that being laid in the tomb isn’t necessarily the end.

Next we see the anointing of Jesus by the woman who uses her hair to wash His feet with expensive oil—Another hint to us of His imminent fate. But the greatest lesson here is conveyed in the reaction of the others to her having “wasted” this precious commodity when the money could have been spent to help the poor. Jesus rebukes the naysayers and says, “You always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me.” On the surface this seems as though He is putting Himself above the poor, but we know this cannot be since Jesus has already preached that we are our brothers’ keeper. So what can we glean from His words?

First, we have to recognize the primacy of God. We are to put Him first—above riches (the money spent on expensive anointing oil instead of worldly wants or necessities), above the needy (not because the needy should suffer or because we should be indifferent to those in need, but because if we put God first, He will ensure the needy will be helped.) In this instance, Jesus knows that His impending Passion will ransom both the wealthy and the poor from an eternity separated from God, even though those in attendance do not know what is about to happen.

Which leads us to the second lesson: We should not be judgmental. Why? Because we don’t know everything.

But God does. (Which ties in with why we should put Him first in our lives.)

These naysayers are quick to judge this woman for her (seeming) wastefulness, but God does not condemn her. In fact, her devotion to Him outweighs all else. Ask yourself: Does your devotion to Jesus outweigh all else?

Today, let’s recall all the times we have been quick to judge outward appearance, those times when we easily condemned the actions of others without first gathering all the facts. Let’s call to mind the times we failed to put God first, even if we had good intentions (The naysayers in John’s gospel wanted to use the anointing oil money to tend to the poor—a worthy endeavor, if not misplaced at that moment.) We are to put God first at all times, regardless of how it looks to others and regardless of the cost to ourselves. When we put God first, we open a pathway to grace and salvation.

Let’s pray: Lord, help me to be discerning and not to judge too quickly or too harshly without having all the facts. Help me to put You first in my life, and all else second so that You can shine through my actions and be a light to the world.

Holy Week: Palm Sunday

Passion Sunday. The beginning of Holy Week. Today Jesus rides into Jerusalem on a borrowed donkey to shouts of hosannas. He is followed and adored just mere days before those same shouts morph into cries of, “Crucify Him!”

Have you ever pondered how quickly humans are to turn on one another? How easily it is for a person to fall from grace and into exile, even when the person is innocent and the opinion of the masses is based on rumour and speculation or misunderstanding—or outright lies?  We are quick to judge and slow to forgive. We are instantaneously riled to anger and devoid of kindness. Yet, we’re called to be the opposite, aren’t we? Doesn’t the Scripture instruct us to be slow to anger and to abound in mercy, (If we are to be Christ-like)?

This day, as we inch towards Resurrection, let’s call to mind the times we have been quick to judge or have withheld forgiveness. Let’s think on the times we have not shown mercy, and let’s call to mind the times we have been lukewarm or hypocritical— praising one moment and condemning the next, perhaps without just deliberation.

And then, let’s repent of those acts; vow to be better, kinder, more merciful; and join Jesus on the via dolorosa.

Today begins Jesus’ journey towards the cross in a way that is most profound. He will pay the price for our unforgiving behaviour, our lack of mercy, our hypocrisy and unjustness. He asks but one thing: for us to go and sin no more.

Let's pray: Lord, help me to remember and repent of those times when I have harmed others by my unjust judgement or unkindness. Make me steadfast in my faith so that I may never praise Jesus one moment and turn my back on Him the next. Help me to hand over my sin to Jesus and to help Him carry it to the Cross. Forgive me and help me never to commit these same sins again.

Make-A-Story™ Monday - This Week's Writing Prompt

Writing to spec – you’ve heard the term. It means writing what the publisher wants. Can you do it? In our new feature - Make-A-Story™, we ask you to create a story with these elements. The story can be set in any time frame, any length, must adhere to our guidelines and have our standard Christian world view. 

A spoon
A duffle bag
An acorn

Can a victim of abuse find hope?

By Kathleen Friesen

What if a young woman, new to faith in Jesus Christ, had to do the unthinkable to protect herself and/or others? What would happen to her faith? How would she cope?

These are the questions that would not leave me after writing my first novel, Melody’s Song (self-published). It introduced me to Nila Black, a young woman trapped in an abusive relationship. By the end of that story, Nila had come to faith in Jesus and, with the help of her new friends, dared to leave her abuser.

But what would happen next? Research taught me that many abused women leave their abusers and return as many as eight times. And many don’t survive their efforts. I didn’t want that to happen to Nila.

But her background of neglect and abuse did not prepare her for a life of faith. She had no basis for acceptance of the Father-love of God. Her past bound her like a strait jacket. Nila needed release.

We all need release – from our pasts, guilt, and fears. Through writing Nila’s story, I learned a great deal about the blessed freedom that comes by the grace of God. I hope that readers will experience that wonderful grace in the pages of Nila’s Hope.

Thank you, Pelican Book Group, for publishing this story.

Make-A-Story™ Monday - This Week's Writing Prompt

Writing to spec – you’ve heard the term. It means writing what the publisher wants. Can you do it? In our new feature - Make-A-Story™, we ask you to create a story with these elements. The story can be set in any time frame, any length, must adhere to our guidelines and have our standard Christian world view. 

An owl
A gift
A pair of pliers

Are You Your Own Worst Enemy?

by Cindy K. Green

When I first wrote the original draft of Andrea & the Five Day Challenge, I didn’t know it was going to be a novel or a series for that matter. I didn’t know it was going to be an inspirational. I’d intended to just write a cute, short and sweet teen story. But then the Lord stepped in and changed everything. The key verse for this book is Joshua 1:9

Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.
The reason I chose that verse is because a large majority of the conflict my heroine battles is self-inflicted. She is her own worst enemy. How many of us know what that’s like? I know my hand is raised. Part of Andrea’s problem has to do with a lack of faith or courage in herself and in God. Through the course of the book, she grows as a person and as a Christian. As teens we’ve probably all experienced that feeling of inferiority. We’ve fallen prey to thoughts of inadequacy and believed the idea that the world and everything in it was working against us, and it was more than we could battle.

Andrea tries to hide herself away from making a fool of herself and in the course of it she’s been missing out on the blessings the Lord could bring to her life. In knowing Luke and in accepting the Bible Challenge, she is forced out of that bubble and amazing things begin to happen. Some of it’s hilarious, occasionally it’s painful but always it’s rewarding.  

Growth sometimes hurts, but in the end its wonderful. Tweet: Growth sometimes hurts, but in the end its wonderful.


Cindy K. Green has worked as a middle school history & English teacher, a frozen yogurt server and a golf magazine employee. Today she's a multi-published, award-winning author, a mother, a wife, and a homeschooler too. This native Californian now resides in North Carolina with her husband, two boys, and two cats named Chloe & Kassey. Visit her website www.cindykgreen.com & her blog cindykgreen.blogspot.com. She's on Facebook (Cindy K. Green & Cindy K. Green Author) and Twitter (@cindykgreen) too.

Make-A-Story™ Monday - This Week's Writing Prompt

Writing to spec – you’ve heard the term. It means writing what the publisher wants. Can you do it? In our new feature - Make-A-Story™, we ask you to create a story with these elements. The story can be set in any time frame, any length, must adhere to our guidelines and have our standard Christian world view. 

Lace curtains
An apple
A fortune cookie

Writing "Challenges" -- Cindy K. Green on Andrea and the 5-Day Challenge

How did you Come Up with the Title

http://pelicanbookgroup.com/ec/index.php?main_page=advanced_search_result&search_in_description=1&keyword=andrea+and+the+5-dAndrea & the Five Day Challenge originally started as a short story I’d titled Homecoming Madness. It didn't take long for me to realize that this was going to be longer than a short story. In fact, before I knew it I had a novel on my hands. And then a series. So when I went to write up a final title for the book, I came up with Andrea and the Five Day Challenge because this challenge from church is what’s really the driving force of the story as she writes in her prayer journal to God each day. And that is a plotline that will continue in all the books. The girls will all be given a prayer journal and they too will write prayers to God. I like to think of the prayer journals like the pants in the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants book series except in this case it is a prayer journal. I also knew this was going to be a series so I wanted the names to be similar. So for example, book two is titled: Amy & the Trouble With Fathers.

Tell Us About Your Hero and Heroine. What makes them Likeable? 

Andrea considers herself to be the least interesting of her group of friends. She isn’t smart like Amy or artistic like Angie or beautiful and popular like Alisha. She sees herself as that girl with the plain brown hair, size nine feet, and who doesn’t participate much in school activities. She’s a lot like most kids. I think the average teen can relate to her. Except she does have this exceptional talent she likes to downplay. She’s actually a wonderful pianist and her parents have all these designs to get her into a performing arts school so she can one day end up at a place like Julliard. In addition to that, Andrea has a sweet, caring spirit and this is something that Luke, our hero, notices right away. It sets her apart from every other girl at school in his eyes.

Then we have Luke, cute transfer student from California. Luke might be an all-star varsity baseball player, but he’s not like the rest of the A-list kids. He’s very down to earth and not looking for what’s popular and cool. He’s had to mature quickly. His family life is not the greatest. They’ve experienced a personal tragedy, and that’s part of the reason why he latches on to Andrea early on. He sees something in her that every one else seems to miss. She has value and when they get together they just kind of have that spark.

How much about this book is realistic? 

I tried very hard to make this a realistic teen book. Because this is written in first person from Andrea’s perspective, I was able to let her go a little melodramatic in her thoughts. And there were times I wondered after the first draft, if she was a little over the top in her emotions. And then I went back to work teaching teenagers. And then I was like—Nope. Nailed it! In fact, the part of the book at the very beginning is actually somewhat based on one of my personal experiences in high school when my friends wanted me to ask out a certain guy to homecoming. I latched on to those embarrassed feelings and used them in those first few chapters as a similar event unfolds for my heroine.

What makes this book special to you. 

The characters make this book so special to me. I wrote the original draft of this book about 5-6 years ago and I let it just sit for years. So these characters have been ruminating inside my head for a long time. I feel like I know these girls personally. All four of them came to me very distinct and fleshed out from the beginning. Their individual stories came to me in the writing so there are little hints in this first book about each girl’s history and the issues they have going on in the present which I don’t completely address in the first book. I don't think it was done in a way that leaves open plot threads but when you go on to read the other books readers will have hopefully picked up on these things. I delve deeper into these topics as each girl gets her own novel.




Cindy K. Green has worked as a middle school history & English teacher, a frozen yogurt server and a golf magazine employee. Today she's a multi-published, award-winning author, a mother, a wife, and a homeschooler too. This native Californian now resides in North Carolina with her husband, two boys, and two cats named Chloe & Kassey. Visit her website www.cindykgreen.com & her blog cindykgreen.blogspot.com. She's on Facebook (Cindy K. Green) and Twitter (@cindykgreen) too.








Make-A-Story™ Monday - This Week's Writing Prompt

Writing to spec – you’ve heard the term. It means writing what the publisher wants. Can you do it? In our new feature - Make-A-Story™, we ask you to create a story with these elements. The story can be set in any time frame, any length, must adhere to our guidelines and have our standard Christian world view. 

A mystery book
A shotgun
A Valentine's Day card