#WriterRevelations: Rely On the Source (Manna From Heaven)

Boy, it always amazes me how much God uses my life to preach and teach to my readers. After two months of very few updates, I am back with three new posts over the next month!

It's been almost a year since I got fired from Wal-mart. And ten months since I quit working seasonally for UPS. Yet, I've managed to work as a freelance writer for the span of two years. And no matter the client, I've always done my best work because that's how I am when it comes to writing, it's my best work, or I step back and wait for it.

The same goes with these blog posts. I pray, pray, and pray for a word for you guys and then magically the happenings in my life seem to mirror the overall theme I receive during my Bible study and then I sit down to write. You can bet I pray about plots and subplots for my novel as well. If I am going to write it, I always bring it to the throne room for the final anointing so God can use it to minister and encourage his children.

I used to blog about my daily occurrences but this year, God asked me to start a new series called Writer Revelations: A writer chick using the Bible to explain and challenge people to live their best life. So anything I want to be silly about or less than serious gets posted elsewhere (mostly Twitter), and here is where I present what God wants you to know.

You don't have to be a Christian to receive these messages. Whatever faith or denomination you subscribe to, as long as you believe in a higher power, these words of encouragement will work to make a difference in your life.

And if you don't believe me, that's fine. I will just preach this to myself. LOL.

Since the beginning of the year, I've been planning a short trip to Disney in order to give myself some hands-on experience in the parks so that my novel reads authentically. Plus, I figured it was a grad trip I could give myself for getting past 20,000 words in my WIP.

Come the end of August, things were looking like I may or may not go. Then, my mom happened to write to her cousin via social media and ask if she could get us $79 tickets for our trip. Yet, she asked when we were planning to come out, and it turned out she was off that day, and because she is a Disney World Castmember, she could get us in absolutely free.

God-wink #1.

Then, came the news of Hurricane Irma, and people everywhere started to panic. Prior to this news, Panera Bread notified me that I was chosen to receive a free Daily Bagel From Panera.  

 I bet you are thinking, "Ok, what does that have to do with anything?" As you may remember, I was kicked off food stamps back in May, and have struggled with that for the past four months, so God provided manna for the month of September so I would remember who the source of all things really is.

Yet, since the Hurricane was heading for my home state, Panera was closed for a week, and my trip truly looked like it wasn't going to happen. There was nothing that I could do except one: it doesn't get enough credit but it's probably the most vital thing we can do at anytime in this life.

Yet, Irma came and left without my house suffering severe damage other than our front fence falling down. We never lost power, got flooded or even evacuated because we have faith in the Source.

My faith was high and I was floating like a leaf in the blistery, hurricane force winds. Yet, the day following the aftermath, my boss of two years wrote me saying he did not know when he was going to be able to pay me. I got a little concerned. Here I was heading to Orlando, about to spend every dime I had managed to save starting with my tax refund at the beginning of the year, and my boss was making me rethink this whole trip.

To make a long story short, I ended up choosing to trust in God despite the fear of lack and poverty that besought me, and God rewarded me for it.

I went on my trip and had a killer time. For a full 25 minute video of the whole experience, please check out my #WaltLife VLOG.

This trip proved so many things to me but basically #1 is that

If God cares about the number of hairs on your head, what makes you think whether you go on vacation or not does not matter to him? So, whatever you perceive as fun, God cares about that.

God showed me that with my trip because every little detail of it was taken care of and I was able to just enjoy being in the moment for the first time in a while. Plus, he cares about the fate of my novel which boggles my mind because it's just this glorified Ryan Sheckler Disney fanfiction that I started when I was 14 but he has turned it into best-selling material that will speak to people from all walks of life which I can further praise him for.

I came back from my trip to find out that not only did I still have a job but my boss is going to pay me the full amount he owes me for 3 weeks of work, plus he even agreed to let me work two weeks in October after originally thinking he would need me to take a month off.

Thank God for his infinite love!

Sometimes I feel that ever since I started working when I was in college, it is easy to start to look at your self and your efforts and think of your job as your only source of income, provision, or prosperity but God has proven this year alone, that he still is REIGNING as the Source of all every time he rains his love, favor, and blessings on me.

My next post will go into this further but there has never been a month since being fired and prior to working at Wal-mart where I lacked for food, shelter, or a bed to sleep on. And even more amazing is when during those really hard months God will give me extra manna to buy that whatever I have my heart set on: whether it be a gift for my family member or dogs (I love to spoil my dogs in case that wasn't clear) or my favorite artists new album, or even a new athletic outfit to workout in.

MY God is so AMAZING to me because he CARES about it all.

The Lord is inviting you and I to trust Him and live in both the adventure and security of a life of faith.

Until next time remember,

In Christ Like Love and Confidence,

Chelsea

xoxo

#WriterWednesday: I'm Under Construction (So Please Give Me A Break) by @ChelseaDeVries

You're 24. Don't you think it's weird that you still live with your parents?

I mostly get this from my younger sisters when they really want to knock me down a few pegs. And sometimes I feel as though people also think its childish that I don't drive. Yet, no one really understands the reasoning behind why I'm at this place in my life. The only one who does is God. 

I really thought by 24 I'd have a car and my own place and be living the true adult life. Yet, I graduated college and instead of being handed the keys to a Porsche or the world on a silver platter, I struggled to find a job.

So, I figured God wanted me to dig deep down into my bag of talents and utilize my gift of writing to help me make money until he guided me toward my next career move. And on July 21, 2015, after a year and a half of unemployment, and many tuition bills to overcome, God blessed me with the coolest gig in the world: getting paid to write. 

Then, more and more writing jobs came and went, despite the fact that close to when I turned 24, my whole world turned black when I lost my best friend and childhood dog of 15 years, Geniveve. 

Following this, I fell for the scheme of all schemes thinking I got a full-time freelance writing job but instead I just got an empty wallet that just collected all my tears, and brought all my trust issues to a head. Like a miracle straight from my best friend's angel wings, I got a random direct message on October 1, 2015 from a guy I met from Orlando during the livestream of my favorite Christian event, Disney's Night of Joy. He wanted to know if I was still looking for work and wanted to hire me to write freelance articles for him. Following this, he asked me to write Bible commentaries for his personal website. 

Then, I started realizing that my freelance writing wasn't a steady source of income, and my internship was on a volunteer basis only so I followed my dad's advice and finally sent in applications to part-time seasonal jobs in my local area. The last place I applied to was a technology and electronics retail store more prominently known in most social circles as Best Buy. I was reluctant that they would even consider me for the job my dad advised me to apply for: merchandise specialist. I mean, a girl who wanted to work in the warehouse and unload the trucks? They would probably laugh at my application. 

Instead, God was faithful and after a year and a half of not having a steady job, my mom sent me a text one Thursday in late October saying that I got a call for a job interview with Best Buy. After two interviews that I honestly didn't put much thought toward, I was offered the job I currently have. And yes, I'm one of the only girls working with a great team of guys who unloads trucks and stocks the merchandise, and gets up at an ungodly early before sunrise hour on Sunday mornings to make sure that the price tags you find in the store match not only the product but the weekly circulatory ad in the Sunday newspaper. 

I'm sure you are wondering why I decided to tell you this. Well, I mostly had to write all that out so I could figure where I want to go with all that but I think I have a point here. No, I know I have a point here.

In Genesis 37: 5-7, the Bible tells the story of Joseph, and Joseph was a dreamer (much like myself), and most like any other person with a dream, Joseph went and told his brothers about his dream. And as per usual, Joseph's brothers hated him for having a dream. Just like my sisters hate on me for being the dreamer I am. And God being the great God that he is, put Joseph through the ringer because before you are raised, you must first be tried. God wants to see what you do with the small (somewhat unimportant) tasks before he puts you as the manager of a company. For example, I work at Best Buy now because God is shaping me with the job at Best Buy, and training me for a much heavier, more important assignment he has in the works for me. Just like with Joseph, his brothers tried to have him killed and God being with Joseph every step of the way, ended up putting him with an official of the Pharoah, Potiphar. Potiphar ended up putting Joseph in charge of his personal affairs. Joseph went from being an Egyptian slave to being in charge of a government official's personal affairs (Genesis 39:2-6). Suddenly, God can cause your dreams to come true. After all, nothing is impossible with him. 

There will be people in this life who become like ants under a magnifying glass in the sunlight when you are around simply because your bright light is just that too bright, and burns too hot for them and their small mind. Click To Tweet This. Don't ever let them fade your light into a burning ember but instead, keep on shining your light in this dark world because someone is looking for just that amount of light to wake them from their mundane life. They need the colors you bleed; they need the brightness you carry. For no other reason than because they need a reason to keep on living. They are hungry for the vividness of the ink you bleed to brighten the canvas of their daily life.

And the greatest thing about surrounding yourself with people who need your light is that you help their light get brighter and the world becomes like the most beautiful vivid double rainbow after a storm, even only for a moment. 

I basically went on a poetic tangent there but I'm serious when I say don't you dare give up on any dream you have, big or small. God knows of them all. Psalm 20:4 says, May he grant your heart's desires and make all your plans succeed. Let him take care of what you think will never happen.

And if your brothers or sisters (sibling or otherwise) are hating on you, let this verse encourage you on days when the hate overwhelms you, and threatens to blow your light out like a strong but unwanted gust of wind:

So we're not giving up! How could we! Even though on the outside it often looks like things are falling apart on us, on the inside, where God is making new life, not a day goes by without his unfolding grace. These hard times are small potatoes compared to the coming good times, the lavish celebration prepared for us. -2 Corinthians 4:16-17.

Until next time, remember: Grace is God's overwhelming desire to treat you as if you have never sinned. -Kenneth Copeland

Love Times Infinity,

Chelsea 

xoxo

God Bless!

~Just Keep Swimming~

P.S. Don't forget to share and support my campaign for a trip to visit California.

Also, you should know I'm still struggling to stay focused with my new smartphone but I know God is working with me on that every day. 

I would love to connect with you:

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/165746.Chelsea_DeVries

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Snapchat: wittywriterpoet

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Twitter: @ChelseaDeVries

#WriterWednesday: How To Truly Save Your Soul

James 1:21 says it plainly: (MSG) In simple humility, let our gardner, God, landscape you with the Word, making a salvation-garden of your life.

Another translation says it like this:So get rid of all uncleanness and the rampant outgrowth of wickedness, and in a humble (gentle, modest) spirit receive and welcome the Word which implanted and rooted [in your hearts] contains the power to save your souls. 

What I'm trying to say is that the only thing that can save your soul is not this blog.
It's a start in the right direction but even anything I write doesn't have the power to save your soul.

It's not Google.
It's not E! Entertainment Television.
It's not Keeping Up With The Kardashians.
It's not MTV.
It's not Barack Obama.
It's not whoever gets elected in 2016.
It's not Twitter.
It's not Facebook.
It's not Instagram.


Only God's word implanted in your heart has the power to save your soul.

Recently, Bruce Jenner took to the cover of Vanity Fair to announce that he is now Caitlynn Jenner. I'll admit the picture gave me mixed emotions. He looked so good as a woman. I wanted to be made up and on the cover of Vanity Fair next just so I could look that good but what he's doing is truly not heroic.

Exhibit A:

I'm not trying to hate on Bruce for his idea of happiness in any way. Being transgender is not something I will ever understand personally and I'm ok to live within that bubble of ignorance. 

Until next time, remember: I will answer them before they even call to me. While they are still talking about their needs, I will go ahead and answer their prayers! -Isaiah 65:24

Love Times Infinity,

Chelsea 

xoxo

God Bless!

~Just Keep Swimming~