WHAT'S YOUR PEACE SYMBOL?

by Janet Chester Bly

Copyright 2008

In that day the wolf and the lamb will lie down together, and the leopard and goats will be at peace. Calves and fat cattle will be safe among lions, and a little child shall lead them all. Isaiah 11:6

That's a startling, true picture of what heaven will be like. The New Earth that God has planned for all His children. I can hardly wait.

PRISON BREAK by Janet Chester Bly

When you want peace from the stress of life, if you can play your own instrument. . .or sing a power song. . .or create your own surround sound, that's a bonus.

I enjoy pleasurable memories of my mother playing "Moonlight Sonata" or one of many other classics she mostly played by ear on her antique upright piano.

Singer Pam Thum

Pam Thum told interviewer Camerin J. Courtney in Today's Christian Woman that she was raised by traveling evangelist parents. They produced dramas for the road.

"But moving around every month or so was really hard. We'd pull into a new town and I'd go up to the kids and say, 'Hi, my name's Pam. Want to be my best friend for four weeks?"

She'd find some pals, then cry when they left town.

"I was a happy, bubbly kid on the outside, but deep inside I was lonely. With friends constantly ripped from me, I became fearful of goodbyes."

She found peace in her music, in helping her fans not to feel so lonely through her songs.

Paul and Silas in prison

Charged with disturbing the peace, the magistrates ordered Paul and Silas to be stripped, beaten, flogged and tossed in jail (Acts 16). Talk about a very bad, no good day.

But instead of griping or cursing or wailing, Paul and Silas sang hymns. That got the ground to quake so hard, the prison rumbled, the doors flew open, and chains broke loose. Tossed like dirty, bloody mops into a moldy cellar, this pair praised God. Then, they refused to escape when they had a chance, on account of maybe saving some soul. In this case, the jailer's and all his household.

Their peace when they got an unfair shaft changed a whole family's eternal destiny.

How about trying to create music during your next torment that seems like a prison and see what happens? For you. For your circumstance. For those around you. You never know. You might walk out healed and free. And take some others with you.

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Find free downloads of articles by Janet Chester Bly, including "31 Ways To Win The Fight For Personal Peace" at http://www.BlyBooks.com 

 

Find out more about Pam Thum at http://www.PamThum.com 

Pam Thum CD, DVD & Devo Book

NEED SPIRITUAL SURROUND SOUND?

Janet Chester Bly at Oregon Beach

by Janet Chester Bly

Copyright 2008

When I need peace, I face the music. I pull out the CDs that pulsate with gentle wind, waves and seagull sounds, such as "Ocean Tides Interludes" by Steven Gruskin. I almost feel a crackling in my spine and spirit as my very sinews soothe.

Or I pluck up the full range of offerings by John Denver.

Or any Bill & Gloria Gaither recording will do.

Or I download a full orchestra without voices.

In that one way, I can call upon the healing benefits of peace any time I want. And so can you. What are your peace tunes?

If you were assaulted by noisy neighbors in a hotel room what songs would you play on your iPod or Walkman that would mask the intrusive clamor and help you fall asleep? What would bring quiet? Rest? Sweet relief? Once you've isolate your trove of tunes, record them back-to-back, so you can enjoy the best ones straight through for your peace break. I like to pull a couple here and there from each singer or group I enjoy.

Play them when pouring over your tax returns. Or dealing with your ex. Or trying to figure out a new computer. Or answering the phone for the umpteenth ring. Listen to them while doing housework or homework, commuting to your job, or raking leaves (pine needles in my neck of the woods). Orchestrate your own placid isle at the peak of your storms. The world in all its fury may remain, but the sharp points can be softened.

If you have means, hire your own live music. That's how King Saul tamed his inner beast. "Some of Saul's servants suggested a remedy. 'Let us find a good musician to play the harp for you whenever the tormenting spirit is bothering you. The harp music will quiet you, and you will soon be well again'" (1 Samuel 16:16 NIV).

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What's the music that washes peace over you every time you hear it?

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Get free article downloads, such as "31 Days To Win The Fight For Personal Peace," for yourself or your study group at the Bly Books website: http://www.BlyBooks.com

COWBOY HONDAS

                                          By Stephen Bly

    Copyright©1993,2010

Long before Japanese car imports…in fact, decades before they invented automobiles…hondas existed in the U.S.A. To an old-time cowboy, a honda is a knotted or spliced eyelet at the business end of a rope used for making or building a loop.

 

Sometimes a metal honda or ring was used, but many a cattleman figured the metal could gouge out an eye and wouldn’t set tight as well. So, most hondas are tied into the rope itself, whether it’s hemp or nylon, with a piece of slick leather, called a burner, sewn about the upper end of the loop. The rope won’t easily wear through it. A rawhide reata consists of a honda braided into the rope.

The honda is a tiny loop that allows the main part of the rope to thread like string through the eye of a needle. The honda and the burner provide places to check out an old rope to see how much it’s been abused. No matter what the size of the catch, the pressure mounts on the honda.

 Ever feel like a honda? Got the main stress for a program? A group? A problem? A relationship?

St. Paul endured that kind of tension: “Besides everything else, I face daily the pressure of my concern for all the churches. Who is weak, and I do not feel weak? Who is led into sin, and I do not inwardly burn?” (2 Corinthians 11:28,29).

Everyone who's serious about leadership relates to Paul. That’s part of the calling, the divine duty to bear.

Here’s some simple helps if you’re feeling honda heavy.

1) Get out. Breathe a moment of pure air. Jiggle some joy.

2) Take some time off—get away from the strain, if only an hour or two.

2) Plan a mini-vacation—one you’ve put off for a long time.

3) Save change in a get-away jar—fun money that saves your sanity.

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Stuart Brannon's Final Shot

 Stuart Brannon's Final Shot by Stephen Bly
(with Janet, Russell, Michael & Aaron Bly)
now available in hardback. . .ebook. . .paperback.

Finishing Dad's novel was a family affair. Can a committee create fiction? We had the passion and four months to find out.

Two orphans flee Oregon's Tillamook Head. One of them is branded a hero. Dare they tell the truth and risk the wrath of a dangerous man? Meanwhile, a retired lawman searches for his missing U.S. Marshal friend while he grapples with the game of golf on behalf of a celebrity tournament.


www.Amazon.com
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www.BlyBooks.com

LET THE GOOD TIMES ROLL!

Jan & Janet

A counselor once told a friend of mine, "You've never really had a childhood. You need to play more."

So the two of us pulled shoes and socks off and tiptoed barefoot in a park fountain. We did an over-nighter in sleeping bags in my yard. We painted pictures with our fingers. We caught butterflies in jars. We threw popcorn at critters. Then, for a finale, we rolled down the slight slant of a hill on my front lawn. . .which brought the neighbor out to ask us, "What's going on?"

A mini-break doesn't take much time or expense. It can be a dance in a meadow. Or a walk in dawn's light. Or drawing forms in the sand. Planting a flower or herb garden on the window sill. Getting out the old instrument you used to play. Watching the different ways flocks of birds fly. Creating a new recipe from ingredients in your cupboard. Looking out your window long enough to notice something you've missed before. Writing a song. Hopping on a horse. It's like giving a shout-out of praise to God.

Child's play is serious stuff. No matter your age or stage, you've got to make time for fun. Do something that guarantees laughter. Go watch a comedy. Get close to a funny person. Find humor in your mistakes and stresses. Chuckles are good. A big belly laugh or two is better.

Norman Cousins, former editor of Saturday Review and author of Anatomy of an Illness, wrote that "laughter is jogging on the inside." It's inside-out aerobics. Every system in your body gets a workout. Muscles relax. Neurochemicals called endorphins release into the blood stream. 

"Good people, cheer God! Right-living people sound best when praising. Use guitars to reinforce your Hallelujahs! Play his praise on a grand piano! Invent your own new song to him; give him a trumpet fanfare." (Psalm 33:1-2 The Message)

Can you take a moment to celebrate life and praise your Maker today? How will you do that?

Janet Chester Bly

Copyright©2008

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Got turmoil? Can’t get a grip? Want some tips to cope? Click this link to find free download for "31 Days To Win The Fight For Personal Peace." http://blybooks.com/wordpress/free-stuff/articles/

DELIVER ME

View from hospital window

Janet Chester Bly

Copyright©2008

Days at the hospital melt into a blur.

Every day stirs a hope, then ends in fatigue.

Then the doctor says, “There’s nothing more we can do.”

God thrives in a tense waiting room or crisis clinic. Or when you’re on the run.

Prayer’s the main weapon you possess when you’re fighting for personal peace.

At the moment you say, “There’s a limit to what I can endure,” that’s when God’s power shines best.

Sometimes you need a buddy, a partner who can come alongside and help you stretch your limits, to hang in there until something that makes sense prevails.

But there’s situations when you must crash alone. Hole up in a closet. Curl up in a cocoon.

“Find a quiet, secluded place so you won’t be tempted to role-play before God. Just be there as simply and honestly as you can manage. The focus will shift from you to God, and you will begin to sense his grace” (Matthew 6:6 THE MESSAGE).

Whether with a friend or in a group. Or alone. You can press on. You can steady your determination with total focus on divine help. When you’re faced with pure grim, keep a grip until peace enlightens the dungeon of depression. Or the guillotine of guilt. Or the bastion of bitter gall.

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When was your last tense waiting room or crisis clinic experience? How long did it take for the power of prayer to kick in?

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Stuart Brannon: The Final Shot

COMING MARCH 2012:

Stuart Brannon: The Final Shot

by Stephen Bly (1944-2011)

Finishing Dad’s novel was a family affair.

Book blurb: 
It's 1905. Two orphans flee Oregon's Tillamook Head. One of them is branded a hero. Do they tell what really happened & risk a dangerous man's wrath? Meanwhile, Brannon searches for his missing U.S. Marshal friend & grapples with the game of golf on behalf of a charity celebrity tournament.

Available in hardback & ebook. 
Paperback edition release August 2012.

CREATIVE PLAY FOR ADULTS

Jan & Janet

by Janet Chester Bly

Copyright 2008

A counselor once told a friend of mine, “You’ve never really had a childhood. You need to play more.”

So the two of us pulled off our shoes and tiptoed barefoot in a park fountain.

We did an overnighter in sleeping bags on an outdoor deck.

We painted pictures with our fingers.

We caught butterflies in a jar. We threw popcorn at critters.

Then, for a finale, we rolled down a gentle hill in my front yard.

A neighbor asked us what was going on. When we explained, she said, “I’ve got a friend who needs that too. I think I'll go help her.”

When is the last time you’ve done something playful?

It doesn’t take much time or expense to dance in a meadow. To walk in dawn’s light. Or make forms in mud or sand.

Plant a flower or herb garden in a window sill.

Get out the old instrument you used to play.

Watch the different ways flocks of birds fly.

Create a new recipe from ingredients in your cupboard.

Look out your window long enough to see something new.

Find humor in your mistakes and stresses.

Get close to a funny person.

“A cheerful heart does good like medicine” Proverbs 17:22 TLB

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What sorts of activities do you enjoy that could be considered ‘playtime?’

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Download the full article: “31 Ways To Win The Fight For Personal Peace” at

http://BlyBooks.com/article.htm/

CROSSING THE SLOUGH OF DESPOND

by Janet Chester Bly

Discouragement. Depression.

There’s many causes ... emotional or mental, chemical or biological, hereditary or  spiritual. Each origin requires a separate remedy.

-- A trained, compatible counselor.

-- Truth to replace a false thought system.

-- Proper diet.

-- Helpful meds.

-- The right kind and length of exercise.

-- Correcting family fault patterns.

-- Right relationship with God.

-- Practicing spiritual disciplines.

-- Following spiritual principles.

-- Confession. Repentance. Deliverance from evil.

When you’re miserable and can’t cope in your fight for peace ... consider King David and his seasons of despair. Read all the Psalms. Or like I’ve been doing, listen to them on CDs, especially Psalm 42. Dig into this diary of distress over and over, until God’s love turns the light on again.

Pour out all your thoughts on paper or a computer screen.

Fill up a journal of where you are right now. Where you’ve been. And where you hope to be.

What to do if you’ve tried everything and there’s no other fix in sight? When the heaviness settles in and claims you as home? Persevere until relief comes. Call out to God for as long as he takes.

Perhaps he will send a buddy, a partner, a friend.

“Then God who cheers those who are discouraged refreshed us by the arrival of Titus” (2 Corinthians 7:6)

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 What's been your best depression fighter?

 

 

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Download "31 Ways To Win The Fight For Personal Peace" at http://BlyBooks.com/articles.htm/

STANDING ON THE PROMISES

by Janet Chester Bly

Copyright 2008

When do you get personal peace when you feel like you've gone into free fall after a bungy jump?

Peace comes when you know...

what to do next

when to speak

what to say

where to go

why you’re here

but especially...

whom to trust to land you in a safe place.

The kind of trust of really deep down in your gut kind of certainty that this one will pull you through.

It’s called faith.

Have you discovered your own promises from God...for comfort? For help? For peace? The sort of assurances that penetrate past your doubts? Every bit of unbelief? 

He’s got words meant straight from His heart to yours. Find them. Listen to them. Allow them to permeate deep within until you know He will not withhold any good thing from you.

When’s the last time you’ve claimed promise verses for yourself and those you love? Below you’ll find a few samples to examine.

Note the context.

Detect what comes before and after too.

Pay attention to any pre-conditions to be met.

Memorize the key ones.

Every good thing the Lord had promised them came true. (Joshua 21:45 TLB)

Psalm 4:8 - promise of sleep and safety.

Psalm 29:11 - promise of strength and peace.

Psalm 55:16-19 - assurance of deliverance from threats of harm.

Psalm 119:165 - promise of great peace.

Psalm 121 - promise of help, protection and watchful care.

Isaiah 26:3 - promise of perfect peace.

Isaiah 32:17 - promise of peace, quietness and confidence.

Isaiah 33:6 - promise of salvation, wisdom and knowledge.

Isaiah 54:10 - promise of peace, no matter what.

Proverbs 16:7 - promise of peace with enemies.

Matthew 6:33,34 - promise of provision of every need on this day.

Matthew 7:7-11 - promise of answered prayer and good gifts.

Matthew 11:28-30 - promise of rest for the weary.

John 16:33 - promise of peace and coping with world’s troubles.

Romans 5:1,2 - promise of peace with God through faith in Jesus.

What particular promise do you trust in today?

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Free download of “31 Ways To Win The Fight For Personal Peace” at www.BlyBooks.com/articles.htm/

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Check out: Words To Live By For Women

THE 3 M'S OF PEACE: MUSE, MULL, MEDITATE

By Janet Chester Bly

Are you a stroke waiting to happen?

Do you need to calm down?

Here’s some good news:

If you know how to worry,

you already know how to meditate.

Rick Warren, The Purpose Driven Life

The challenge is to replace all the dire news, the dreaded fears, and debilitating remorse with solid positive alternatives. Think about God’s truth over and over. Focus all your attention on freeing promises that apply to you. At a gut-level, believe God.

To meditate on spiritual truth slows down your frantic. 

I no longer rush through the Bible to meet some reading quota. I hone in on a passage, a scene, a few vital words.

I think of Jesus in the boat with his disciples in the storm. I imagine myself with them. Feel the wind whip around me, the chill sting of the waves. The anxiety builds. The irritation the disciples felt I take on. . .because Jesus sleeps through it all. 

Then, Jesus wakes up, looks at me with gentle reproach, then turns to the storm to say, “Peace! Be still!” And the storm dies. (Matthew 8:23-27)

Meditation is focused thought. Concentration. Zeroed in one a single theme. One concept at a time. If some duty or problem fritters around the edges, I jot that down to take care of later.

Your mind can only hold one thought at a time. Make it a positive and constructive one.

taken from Life’s Little Instructions from the Bible

Adapted from “31 Ways To Win The Fight For Personal Peace.” Download the whole article at http://BlyBooks.com/articles.htm/

When is the last time you focused only on a wonderful, heavenly truth that brought you nothing but positive reinforcement?

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Find the book Hope Lives Here at http://BlyBooks.com/store.htm/

HOPE LIVES HERE

WHEN LIFE GETS DERAILED

By Janet Chester Bly

Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away.

Anonymous

Jan Grueter and I were on our way to a womens’ retreat in Washington and stopped to get our hair done. The stylist croaked out his greetings as he clipped a wrap around my friend’s neck.

“You don’t sound so good,” Jan said. “Are you sick?”

“I sure am. I think I have the flue.”

“We stole a look at each other, then she offered, “Maybe we should come another time.”

“Oh, that would be great. I just want to go home and collapse.”

Road To Palouse Falls by Brian Forrest

We were glad to get away from his germs. However, we had dippy hairdos and headed to an event where I would speak and my friend would assist me at our book table. We drove on down the highway. . .until we came to the Palouse Falls sign.

“Hey, I’ve always wanted to go there,” Jan remarked.

“So have I, but we never have time.”

Palouse Falls from the top

Since we had several extra hours that day, we turned off for this side trip. Over a high bridge. Past some donkeys in the tiny village of Starbuck. And we didn’t mind a bit when it began to drizzle. Wouldn’t hurt our coiffures as we overlooked the canyon and falls.

Palouse Falls by Cindy Kassab

When we arrived at the conference grounds, we fussed with each other’s hair and pronounced that we looked fine. Just fine. But we’ve never forgotten that serendipity. . .our detour of delight. And we realized we really can ‘make do’ when we have to.

“I will praise you, O Lord, with all my heart; I will tell of all your wonders” (Psalm 9:1).

When has life derailed you and it turned out to be a blessing in disguise?

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taken from "31 Ways To Win The Fight For Personal Peace" available as a free download at http://BlyBooks.com/articles.htm/

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Awakening Your Sense of Wonder

 AWAKENING YOUR SENSE OF WONDER 

by Janet Chester Bly 

available at http://BlyBooks.com/store.htm/

3 WAYS TO ENDURE AN EARTHQUAKE

Janet Chester Bly

Copyright©2008,2011

We used to live in California near the San Andreas Fault. We know what it's like to endure the rolling, surging, rumbling of terra firma. 

My world’s been shaking for a long time now. It’s like I’m treading an earthquake fault and the big blow’s going to happen any day. That’s what it feels like to come alongside someone you love dearly who is critically ill.

Old comfortable routines get blown away. Familiar road signs blur. Safe standards like security and settled in your place with your people get reassigned.  Nothing’s sure. The ground rocks as I fight for balance, sanity, some way to regain some small part of all that’s being taken away from us.

But some anchors stay the same.

1.) I still walk with God. 

I know him. Well, not everything about him. I don’t grasp every insight about his character, every nuance of his wisdom, each facet of his personality. I look forward to all eternity for that closer up and more personal study. But it starts now.

He continues to speak to me through his words. For any specific situation. Like when I wondered where the guardian angels were when my hubby who has suffered so much took a nasty fall … he reminded me of Job who said, “Though he slay me, yet will I praise him” or those three guys tossed in the fiery furnace who stated, “Our God can deliver us. But if he doesn’t, we will still honor and obey him.”

2) I’m keeping on the journey to understand spiritual truth. 

All that information that’s been tucked away after years of church attendance and Bible studies and devotional readings of my own. It’s all there in the brain files. Even so, I don’t always recall the particular principle, the relevant law, one of those divine commands … upon demand. I have to keep processing the accumulated body of facts, the growing vision, until certain soul sparks glow with the Father’s Word of the Day: “Here it is. Pay attention. Live this out right here and now.”

3) I continue to meditate.

Reading and ruminating brings the power of peace to me. My old, tattered Bible’s alive with God’s Spirit. It’s sturdy. Well used. Full of scratches and notes. Pages wrinkled and worn. But then, on occasion I pull out a fresh, new copy and start over … for a cleaner, clearer perspective. I love it when precepts and promises jump out like they’re made just for me. The delight of discovery’s in sifting through ancient verses to filter into present crises and encounters. I’d rather walk by the awesome glow of massive eternal light than rush around by the puny flicker of my own self-made fire.

What have I been reading lately? Psalm 23 … as we walk through a personal  valley of the shadow of death. Psalm 91 … as I need gut-level trust in him more than ever. John 14 … to search the heart and hope of Jesus.

When was the last time you felt you were experiencing a personal earthquake?

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Adapted from “31 Ways To Win The Fight For Personal Peace.” The full article’s available for free dowload at http://BlyBooks.com/articles.htm

God Is Good All The Time

Hope Lives Here

Books such as  

God Is Good All The Time 

and

Hope Lives Here

available through our bookstore at

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