“The RoseBouquet”

I think I’ve latched onto a script for the forms on my sites that will work and be secure. I’ve got the basic configuration to work, but need to refine it now for some of the forms, and to add the lines that will block out the spammers. I’m behind today because of being in the city yesterday for a Board meeting, but hope to be caught up and have my forms all working nicely by the end of this week. Hallelujah!

I’m looking forward to getting back to my renovational work on Ruthes-SecretRoses.com

It seems I’m getting plenty of opportunities to help out in mission and charity projects. It’s almost overwhelming, but I guess I can trust the Lord to even things out again. I’ll have more to say when some things are confirmed.

(Just had a phone call here from a friend that had not been in touch for many months. What a saga she’s been through)!

For lack of a new article for this issue, I decided to offer another scene clipped out of the novel, Ruthe’s Secret Roses. This time from Chapter 8, where Ruthe goes back to the hospital to visit a young woman that she rescued from a male strangler. Perhaps you’ll recall the previous clipping was the scene where Darlene tells Ruthe about herself, and Ruthe tells her how she rescued her.

However, while getting that ready I also got Chapter 7 up there. This means the first eight full chapters are now available on my site!

Book Index

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At two-thirty the next day, Ruthe hurried off to the city once more, relieved at the ease with which she was beginning to come and go with no quizzing. Was it was true that folks think more of themselves than others?

Entering the hospital room, she found Darlene upset and pacing impatiently. “That cute guy called my ol’ lady. So Marie comes by this afternoon. Even brings a present; a pack of cigarettes.”

Ruthe bit her lip, afraid of what this new curve meant.

“Guess what happened.” Darlene sounded puzzled.

“What?” the country girl asked cautiously.

“I thought I heard Jesus whisper, inside me sort’a, Don’t. Let those dirty things be.”

“You mean you didn’t take them after all?”

“Uh uh. I told her about your visit. Y’know, Jesus forgiving me, ‘n all that.”

“What did your mother say?”

“Marie was furious. Said I hadn’t done wrong. Her feminist spiel; the world has sinned against us, an’ on and on. When I told her about the prostitute or adulter- that hooker, in the Bible, well, she blew her @#$%#$~ guts! Marie said if I was going to get religious I’d better stay out of her sight. If I dare come to the apartment she’ll kick me #$%#-less!”

Ruthe stared, dumbfounded.

“You said it was fool-proof, Ruthe. It’s got’a work! I’m not quittin’ on Jesus after He died for all my- that filthy goop of my life.” Darlene burst into tears. “I was so happy last night. I was humming and giddy, and I had a long, long chat with Jesus, an’ y’know, He doesn’t hate me, He likes me!”

This melted Ruthe’s heart. With tears she opened her arms and Darlene walked into them. “It’s okay, Darlene. Moms sometimes lose their tempers. She will get over it.”

“Oh no, she meant it. She’s beat me to a pulp before.”

Darlene blew her nose angrily. “Hah. That’s $%#%& fine with me. I’ll manage without her. I can move in with you, right?”

“You’re sure she won’t-?”

“Dead sure. Marie wants all her Johns to herself.”

“What about your Dad?” Ruthe was reaching panic-stricken for another answer. “Maybe-”

“Haven’t any, remember?” She sat back on the edge of the bed with a bounce that made the springs ping and squeak, and motioned to the guest chair. “Sit.”

[You can read the rest of Chapter 8, (and the preceding seven chapters too) from This Link]

……….
Read sample chapters of my first novel online, starting at The Book Index

Order the e-book to download and read on your computer.

You can order the softcover paperback from Booklocker.com

Jesus doesn’t say, “this is what you should pray,” but rather, “this is how you should pray.” Instead of reciting this whole model prayer as we often do, we should use it as an outline.

This is a very generic model prayer, and if we sincerely mean every line and phrase from the heart, I’m sure it doesn’t harm us to use it. But have you noticed that once we have it memorized and recite it, we tend to have momentary absences as we go over some of the lines? We end up chanting it like the Eastern religions that repeat their mantras over and over.

Sometimes I do pray through it very slowly, trying to be all present and meaning each word or phrase, but a lot of times it works better for me to use it as an outline. To that end, it is good to study and understand what each part is really saying to God. Then I end up praying the same thing in my own words.

1). address our Father in Heaven. Tell Him how holy He is - that is, worship God. 2). Ask, or agree that His reign be extended, and that His will be done on earth just as in Heaven (including in our own life). 3). Ask God for our daily needs (don’t take them for granted; here’s where we make our requests). 4). Ask to be forgiven - with the clear implication that we are also forgiving those who have wronged us. 5). Ask to be kept from trouble (temptation) and to be rescued from Satan, the evil one.

Jesus adds a comment that if we don’t forgive others when they sin against us, the Heavenly Father will not forgive us either. This is a powerfully convicting passage, and many of us stumble at it when we think we simply cannot forgive someone. Still, if we keep even a small root of bitterness in our heart for some wrong done to us, it really will keep us from a healthy relationship with our Father.

PRAYER: Oh Father in Heaven, I do want to worship You and bring earnest requests before You. First, search my heart for any hint of resentment, and help me to forgive others, and myself, so that I can ask and receive all the cleansing and healing that comes with Your greater forgiveness for my sins.

+++++Jesus is my King+++++Jesus is my King+++++

Blessings on you Today!
Ruth Marlene Friesen

P.S. I come to the garden alone, while the dew is still on the roses, and the voice I hear, falling on my ear…. Ruthe’s Secret Roses, my novel, illustrates that dear song!

That page gives me some interesting feedback. A lot of people love that song simply because a parent or grandparent used to sing it. Do you remember it too?

Isn’t it wonderful that Jesus gave us a little workshop on praying? First He covers where. We are not to be like the hypocrites who love to pray aloud in public in the synagogues (now it’s churches) and on the street corners, to be seen by others. They, like the show-off givers, have already got all the reward they will receive when people notice them.

Rather, Jesus says, we are to go off into a private space, even a closet with a door will do. There God will surely see and hear us, and will answer our prayers openly in front of the public.

For the how, Jesus says not to keep babbling or chanting like the heathen do who think they will be heard for their many words. Instead, we are to keep our prayers earnest, to the point, and conversational, for we are talking to our Heavenly Father. He promises that if we do our praying this way, our Father will bless us and provide our needs openly.

These are not terribly complicated instructions, are they? Praying in private means shy, and timid people can communicate with God. Remember, God doesn’t approve of the conceited show offs. We don’t have to learn chants or memorize mantras, or even certain sentence structures or rhymes. All we are to do, is go off by ourselves to have earnest little conversations with God.

As Jesus’ example prayer shows, we are to be reverent, and worshipful, but we may ask our Father for whatever we need, as long as we do it with trust and gratitude. That’s something you and I can handle, isn’t it?

PRAYER: Oh Lord God, You’ve made it simple enough for even one with brain-damage to do with ease. Thank You for being so very thoughtful, and for seeking pure worship rather than the showy stuff. Often when we come to You, it is as helpless and frightened children. We’re in no state to be eloquent. We need a welcoming, loving Father to gather us up close and listen to us. I’m SO glad You prepared exactly these instructions. Now I’m eager to come.

+++++Jesus is my King+++++Jesus is my King+++++

Blessings on you Today!
Ruth Marlene Friesen

P.S. God tells me I am His own - does He ever tell you that? You can find out how by reading my novel, Ruthe’s Secret Roses

First, we are not to show off our acts of righteousness, says Jesus in His sermon on the mountainside. If we aim to impress others with our good works, we have all the reward we’re going to get, for God the Father cancels the one He had in mind for us.

Jesus gives an example. If you are giving to the needy, don’t announce it to the public with trumpets. as the hypocrites do. They want to be recognized and honoured for their “giving.”

Instead, Jesus says, when we do our giving to the needy, for instance, our alternate hand should not be aware of it.

I have trouble picturing this. My hands do most things together. There are times I multi-task and have each hand doing a slightly different job, (my supervisor insisted I learn that when I was a telephone operator), but they are so close that it would be a great sleight of hand trick for one hand to do something without the other hand being aware of it. Yet Jesus says that our giving should be so private that not all parts of our lives would be aware of it.

What of anonymous gifts to others; are they always the best way to give? I’ve received some like that and it forces one to praise God alone for the gift, but the Christian fellowship of brothers and sisters in Christ helping one another and being knit closer in love is missing. There is no accountability to the giver, which may be desired by some, but wiser in certain situations.

You may not ponder these questions as often as I do with my longing to be a generous giver like God, but I do feel there must be some finer lessons to learn in this art of giving without fanfare or notice. Perhaps it should suffice us for now to be sure that God does not want us to be show-offs with our giving.

PRAYER: Lord, it sure seems clear that You want us to do our giving quietly and privately or else You see no point in rewarding us for those little (or big) kindnesses. You don’t discuss those rewards, but we can imagine they will be good and worthwhile. So help me to learn to give just for Your eyes, and with Your grace.

+++++Jesus is my King+++++Jesus is my King+++++

Blessings on you Today!
Ruth Marlene Friesen

P.S. Oh, how sweet to have a friend who’d drop everything and come when you need her. Ruthe, the heroine of this novel, dashes away from her own grad when her friend Muriel calls. Don’t you wish you had a loyal, caring friend like that? Buy and READ Ruthe’s Secret Roses!

Incidentally, you may be seeing these P.S. ads over and over, and getting tired of them, but they are finally getting me some sales of my novel, so I’d like to continue them. I’ll try to start adding something more personal and different from time to time, but I’d like to keep something that finally showing to be effective!

Here Jesus replaces another law we are used to, with a new one that is quite opposite. Whereas we’ve been loving the ones we are closest to, and hating those we consider enemies, Jesus says now we are to love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us.

The ones who give us a hard time and make life miserable? Why?

Yes, because, Jesus says, then we’ll be like our Heavenly Father, who gives sunshine and rain to both the good and the bad.

I guess that includes those who hate God, say there is no God, the ones who worship other gods, or even Satan. It occurs to me that it would certainly be in God’s power to withhold sunshine and rain from those who hate Him, but they wouldn’t last long, would they?

He doesn’t want us to withhold love and intercession from anyone either. I’ve become convinced that when someone needs extra love and prayer to bring them to the right path, God allows them to mix with us in unhappy, painful ways. All to set us up to praying harder for them, and to work at being kind and loving to them.

That doesn’t mean it’s easy when we try it in our own strength. But just let us throw ourselves upon the Lord and beg for help, and we’ll be amazed at how we can love our enemies after all.

As a teen I had to draw on the Lord’s grace to forgive a wayward brother who was an embarrassment to our family. Later it was parents who misunderstood me and were not demonstrative. There have been others too. Always, I’ve had to use the Lord’s grace, not mine, to let go of my hurt, and no longer hold it against the others.

PRAYER: Lord, I thank You that You provide the means to obey this command to forgive those that wound us. By ourselves it is quite impossible. Sometimes we even need to forgive You and ourselves for things we blame You - or ourselves for doing. Oh-but, when we let go and forgive, those same events and people turn out to be stepping stones to our greatest fulfillment!

+++++Jesus is my King+++++Jesus is my King+++++

Blessings on you Today!
Ruth Marlene Friesen

P.S. How can you be sure you would like an e-book before you pay for it? In a store you’d stand and read a couple of chapters first, right? Sit down, take your time; READ six chapters of Ruthe’s Secret Roses for free!

This is where Christian non-resistance gets its mandate. Do you ever get the sense that we have wandered from God’s intended teaching? Let’s look at the source, and see what the boundaries are.

Jesus referred to the then-current Mosaic law, as God had given it to him back in Leviticus, when He says, “You have heard that it was said, ‘Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth,’ But I tell you, Do not resist an evil person if someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other side also.”

What jumps out at me is that Jesus is talking about inter-personal relationships, not international ones. As individuals we are not to fight with those that wrong us, but rather do good to them.

If people take advantage of us, we are to let it go. If they have a need, we are to go out of our way to meet that need. If someone forces us to serve them, do some extra service out of kindness. Going the second mile comes right from this passage.

You see, Israel was occupied by the Roman army and a soldier could point at a citizen and demand he carry his army gear for one mile. After that he was suppose to commandeer someone else, I suppose. But Jesus advised going a second mile to show the soldier that you could volunteer for this despised duty.

Big tall Ben from our church once said, “If you find the way crowded, go the second mile; there’s much less traffic there.” It made me smile; people seldom volunteer to do more than asked.

But Jesus’ new law for living directs us to do just that. Not to give anger back for anger, not to resent those who take from us, to go the extra distance when someone uses us, and to give to those who beg and want to borrow from us.

PRAYER: Lord Jesus, You were never a doormat, but You willingly and deliberately, out of love, give whatever we take from You. So that’s what it means to be a “little Christ,” is it? Allow me to beg assistance. I find this hard to do sometimes.

+++++Jesus is my King+++++Jesus is my King+++++

Blessings on you Today!
Ruth Marlene Friesen

P.S. Do you eat novels like chocolates? Here’s one with both weight and excellent flavour! For a satisfying treat, read Ruthe’s Secret Roses

Yes, winter is upon us. Yesterday morning when I went to go for my pre-dawn walk (the sun rises after 8 am this time of year) I found a sheet of bumpy ice on the cement outside the door. It must have been a quarter of an inch thick!

Not one to give up so fast, I went out the back door and found the brick path coated with ice too, so I walked on the garden, and there the black dirt, although lumpy was also coated with ice so that my boots slipped and slid.

Okay, now I was ready to give up. I went back into the house.

The forecast had been for freezing rain over night, but temperatures up to 7 above freezing later in the day, so I told Dad we might still go to the city in the afternoon. At noon it was obviously not getting above -2 degrees, and still ice everywhere. I bundled up and dared to go to the post office, but it was a risky venture! The sidewalks were coated - well, the two blocks of downtown had salt scattered over them, so the ice was breaking up, but still there.

It was a great victory to get home without falling.

Guess what. This morning I found 4 to 6 inches of snow on top of all that ice! I was able to do my walk, shortened to just around three blocks, and it was work to lift my boots out of the snow and make another hole with my next step. I brought lots of snow inside with the cuffs of my pants, but hey, I certainly got good exercise!

They say it’s good to exert yourself for at least 20 minutes several times a week, so you are breathing heavily. I got that today!

However I told Dad at breakfast that we have a fridge and two freezers full of food, we have no urgent reason to go to the city and get in the way of an accident.. Our home is warm; we’re snug as bugs in a rug, so we’ll stay put.

Over the last couple of months I seem to have tried four or five different scripts for the contact and feedback forms on my sites, in an effort to find one that is secure and puts an end to spam from people who only want to send me their pharma or por no links. Each of those seem to give me problems in the set up. This week I remembered that I once had a good cgi script that worked well; what if it was updated and secure? I went to have a look. Sure enough! So now I’m working on that one, but it seems to take several days to get it all in place, and to do the testing. I’m full of hope again that this one will solve my problems.

Now a note to those who find they can’t get through to me, and are hunting all over my sites for how to reach me. I’ve changed some of my email addresses and plan to change some more, once my forms are secure. This will account for your email maybe not getting to me. But if you try the forms, generally they are working, and if you don’t include bad links, I’ll see it and be happy to respond to you with a new email address where you can continue to reach me.

Again, I recommend NOT sending forwards as they seem to be part of a plot to get our addresses on those junk mailing lists. Please protect me and yourself by resisting the urge to hit Forward. Copy and paste it into a new email if it really is worthwhile. Take into account that I have seen a LOT of forwards over the past 8 years, and rarely see one now that I haven’t seen before. I’d rather you wrote me something original, something really from your own heart. Would you do that please?

It is a great relief to know I have finally finished my renovations and the sitemaps for my BouquetofEnterprises site! it is now listed in Yahoo and MSN and if you are using an RSS feed reader, you can put it in there and be notified whenever anything new shows up on that site. The link you should bookmark into your Reader is http://bouquetofenterprises.biz/sitemaprss20.php

It is also time to start creating my Christmas card and story-gift, plus some personal gifts. I’m trying to sneak in time on the weekends for that. You know there are less than seven weeks to Christmas, right? However, I hope to avoid the commercial hype.

How are you doing in this rush?