Is Your Life Like a One-Ingredient Cake? by Zoe M. McCarthy

Zoe M. McCarthy

Do you feel like flour or baking powder—sifted?
Do you taste like vanilla or cocoa–bitter?
Do you act like pure sugar—sickly sweet?
Do you come across like oil—too slick?
Do you bear up like salt—preserved?
Do you feel like udder milk—squeezed?
Do you feel like an egg—born yesterday?

When my sister gives her testimony, she brings a story basket with all the above ingredients. She quotes Romans 8:28. And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. Then based on Randy Alcorn’s article “There Is No Pointless Suffering,” she says:

“Almost everything that goes into a cake tastes terrible. But a delicious metamorphosis takes place when these ingredients are skillfully measured and mixed then baked at the perfect temperature. The final product is good!

“Our trials and apparent tragedies taste bitter to us. However, no translation of Romans 8:28 says ‘each thing by itself is good,’ but ‘all things work together for good,’ and not on their own, but under God’s sovereign hand. Every experience God gives us is the perfect preparation for the future only He can see.”

Then my sister relates how God orchestrated her life from abuse to the other side where God gave her a new name. From victim to survivor.

Ultimately, the big question for my sister was Jesus’ question to the invalid of 38 years that He approached beside the pool at Bethesda, “Do you want to get well?” (NIV) Or, “Wilt thou be made whole?” (KJV)

Was my sister’s journey under God’s orchestration easy? No.

At three and a half, she was abused. She felt abandoned, she screamed inside, and she “exploded.” Then she felt God say, “You’ll always have a Father in heaven.”

Undergoing the abuse by a different perpetrator much of her young life, she stuffed the memories. In her twenties, she slogged through a period of depression.

Later, she began to realize the life she had lived was not the life she had believed it to be. “Denial. Self-brainwashing.”

She was in therapy for ten years. The betrayal of her perpetrator was the hardest to deal with. “One minute I’d want to explode and shatter every piece of glass to communicate what I felt, and the next I’d want to implode until there was not one cell left of me.”

God never let go of her, even when she didn’t like Him, obeyed Him only because He was more powerful than she was, and struggled to study the Bible when she didn’t want to because it brought horrifying flashbacks. God stayed with her. He spoke to her in dreams and once appeared in a powerful show of light when she was awake.

Besides the abuse, my sister had three miscarriages, and her youngest daughter is a special-needs child. In spite of her trials, she has enjoyed much success in her life, before and after therapy. She has also served in a long-term children’s ministry and ministered to other women.

My sister ends her testimony, relating her ability to forgive and making these statements:

“God didn’t just make the best of a bad situation. Rather, he intended all along to use evil for ultimate good.”

“God has a plan, the ability to carry it out, and the loving kindness to do it not only for His glory but our good.”

If you are feeling like a one-ingredient cake, listen to Jesus’ question to you. “Do you want to get well?” If yes, let Him make you whole.

Is Your Life Like a One-Ingredient Cake? Click to Tweet.

About the Author

Zoe M. McCarthy believes the little-known fact that opposites distract. Thus, she spins Christian contemporary romances entangling extreme opposites. Her tagline is: Distraction to Attraction, Magnetic Romances Between Opposites. Her first novel is Calculated Risk. She has two more contemporary romances and a nonfiction book to help writers ready their manuscripts coming out soon. She’s a member of American Christian Fiction Writers. She enjoys leading workshops on the craft of writing; speaking about her faith; planning fun events for her 5 grandchildren; and exploring the Blue Ridge Mountains, where she lives with her husband, John.
Learn more about Zoe M. McCarthy at her website: http://zoemmccarthy.com

Calculated Risk

What happens when an analytical numbers man meets a mercurial marketing Rep? Romance is a calculated risk…

Jilted by the latest of her father’s choices of “real men,” Cisney Baldwin rashly accepts an invitation to spend Thanksgiving weekend with a sympathetic colleague and his family. Nick LeCrone is a man too much her opposite to interest her and too mild-mannered to make her overbearing father’s “list.” Now, Cisney fears Nick wants to take advantage of her vulnerable state over the holiday. Boy, is she wrong.

Nick wants little to do with Cisney. She drives him crazy with all her sticky notes and quirks. He extended an invitation because he felt sorry for her. Now he’s stuck, and to make matters worse, his family thinks she’s his perfect match. He’ll do what he can to keep his distance, but there’s just one problem—he’s starting to believe Cisney’s magnetism is stronger than he can resist.

Purchase links for Calculated Risk: http://zoemmccarthy.com/books

Writing from Your Pressure Cooker Life by Zoe M. McCarthy

Zoe M. McCarthy

I read Stephanie Rische’s interview “Beth Moore’s Novel Approach to Loving People” published in Today’s Christian Living (November 2016).

In the article, Moore talked about how she’d like to write like Jan Karon, but nothing in her life was like Karon’s books. She had to be true to being someone who’d been victimized.

Many of us have come from what I call pressure cookers. That’s a home or family like a pressure cooker. People inside are abusers and victims. Abusers pressure the victims with verbal, physical, or sexual abuse. Depending on how high the pressure setting is, victims have their gumption and identity cooked to some level of vulnerability.

Moore gave an encouraging statement about victims who feel like they’re up against something that can’t be fixed: “The truth is, sometimes there isn’t a way back. But with Jesus, there is a way forward.” After her pressure cooker past, Moore wants her writing to let others know how wonderful the Lord is.

One stride forward for Bible study writer Beth Moore is a novel she has written. She believes God prompted her to step out of her comfort zone, but even in writing fiction, she had to be true to her vulnerability.

This made me think about how my past has affected my writing.

I enjoy romantic suspense, so it seemed natural to write it. In the three inspirational romantic suspense novels I wrote, I couldn’t seem to get the balance right. In one, the romance and the suspense were good, but the inspiration was lacking. In another the suspense and inspiration were good, but the romance was bland. In the third … You get my drift.

Also, in those novels, my writer’s voice never showed up.

Writing from the Pressure Cooker’s Steam

I think often writers are called to write with God from the vulnerabilities in our lives—either from how we learned to manage the pressure or how we traveled through it and came out of the cooker.

Besides other pressures I grew up under, we moved about every two years, inside and outside of the US. I let out the steam from my pressure cooker by being witty and funny around others. (I had to make friends fast before we moved again!) I used humor to entice people to accept me.

In writing my fifth book, which was published, I let go of my preconceived notions about what I was to write. The words poured out in my writer’s voice. The book was an inspirational contemporary romance full of humor, sass, and tenderness.

In hindsight, I believe God first wanted me to learn about Him, then He wanted me to learn to write through the four rejected novels, and finally He wanted me to write with Him from what my pressure cooker past gave me.

Maybe you have been called to write from how you handled what was inside your pressure cooker. Maybe you write comedy, fairytales, or fantasy.

Writing from the Pressure Cooker’s Process

I think some writers are guided to write with God directly from their tumbled lives. Through non-fiction or fiction, they stay true and show others how to find hope.

Perhaps God has called you to write from your vulnerable state like Moore, because that’s what will help your readers most. You may write women’s fiction or devotionals giving hope.

How has God directed you to use your pressure cooker life in your writing?

God can release the lid on your pressure cooker so, through writing, you can help others. Click to tweet.


<<>>

About the Author

Zoe M. McCarthy believes the little-known fact that opposites distract. Thus, she spins Christian contemporary romances entangling extreme opposites. Her tagline is Distraction to Attraction, Magnetic Romances Between Opposites. Christian Fiction Online Magazine published two of her short stories. Zoe self-published two books of contemporary Christian short stories. She’s a member of American Christian Fiction Writers. She enjoys leading workshops on the craft of writing; speaking about her faith; planning fun events for her 5 grandchildren; and exploring the Blue Ridge Mountains, where she lives with her husband, John. 

Learn more about Zoe M. McCarthy at her website: http://zoemmccarthy.com

Calculated Risk

Calculated Risk
by Zoe M. McCarthy

What happens when an analytical numbers man meets a mercurial marketing Rep? Romance is a calculated risk…

Jilted by the latest of her father’s choices of “real men,” Cisney Baldwin rashly accepts an invitation to spend Thanksgiving weekend with a sympathetic colleague and his family. Nick LeCrone is a man too much her opposite to interest her and too mild-mannered to make her overbearing father’s “list.” Now, Cisney fears Nick wants to take advantage of her vulnerable state over the holiday. Boy, is she wrong.

Nick wants little to do with Cisney. She drives him crazy with all her sticky notes and quirks. He extended an invitation because he felt sorry for her. Now he’s stuck, and to make matters worse, his family thinks she’s his perfect match. He’ll do what he can to keep his distance, but there’s just one problem—he’s starting to believe Cisney’s magnetism is stronger than he can resist.

Purchase links for Calculated Risk: http://zoemmccarthy.com/books

If the world ends tomorrow…what memories have I made? by Michele Chynoweth

This is a time of year famous for reflecting back on the year(s) past. Perhaps, it is more poignant today with tomorrow’s predicted “End of the World” according to the Mayan calendar. Now I don’t really believe that’s going to happen. Of course, I have no idea – only God knows for sure. But if it did…

I would be grateful for the following:

- Having my two novels, The Faithful One and The Peace Maker, published by a Christian publisher. More than that, for having found my true purpose in life, in being led by my Creator to write inspirational fiction;

- Marrying my best friend Bill Chynoweth in October, 2010 and raising our “blended” family –my children Will (22), Mike (20) and Kendra (16) and his children Morgan (16) and Bobby (14). Now four of the five live with us (!) Stressful and challenging? Yes. Rewarding? Definitely, when I allow myself to see it;

- My wonderful readers – and all of the new friends I’ve made on my writing journey;

- And I would even be grateful for all of the hardships and painful times in my life: a childhood abuse by my Catholic school teacher, depression and the effects of the family disease of alcoholism, a failed marriage and divorce, a miscarriage, a business I had to close after 20 years due to the recession…because all of these have given me something to write about, something to share with readers to give them some hope and extend how faith really works if you believe.

This past weekend I watched the Connecticut school tragedy on the news and the movie, “Seeking a Friend for the End of the World,” with Steve Carrell and Keira Knightley. They both made me think that the world and what happens in it often don’t make sense. Like Job (and Seth Jacobs in my novel, The Faithful One, we can often find ourselves questioning God: “Why me?” or “Why do bad things happen to good people?” And, as God answers, most often it is beyond our mere human comprehension, and we can only comfort ourselves by realizing we have to turn our will and lives over to His care and just have faith in His plan.

Both shows made me also realize that we have to count each day as precious and really be present to those around us, because it is these special times – often unexpected, when you’re open to them – that become fond memories. (For example, when two of my teenage kids actually had fun for a few hours finding and decorating the Christmas tree two weeks ago.)

This past weekend, however, I found myself so busy in the “trappings” of Christmas (cards, shopping, wrapping), that I couldn’t concentrate on what was really important (God, family, friends). That made me wake up sad Monday morning. I realized I had spent hardly any time with my husband and children. So I think I’ll go home tonight and hug them all and tell them I love them – and hopefully spend some quality time with them – because you just never know how much time we have left.

Chessa's husband, Darren Richards, is a behind-the-scenes narcissistic abusive alcoholic. None of that changes when he becomes the leading candidate for President of the United States. Chessa’s worries about her husband reach a fevered pitch as he closes in on winning the nation’s highest office. How can she support his candidacy, even if it will mean becoming First Lady?

Meanwhile, Darren’s opponent, Leif Mitchell, is selected from his humble life as a stable hand and country rock singer to run for political office. His charm and leadership pave the way for him to become a national hero and a real threat as the leading Republican presidential candidate. A powerful Darren will stop at nothing to bring Leif down, causing Leif to reconsider his “high road” approach to politics.

When Chessa finds out Leif is preparing to seek revenge on Darren in an attack that will not only destroy her husband’s candidacy, but will probably cost other innocent lives as well, she is suddenly faced with a decision: Should she preserve peace at all costs, protecting those who would become collateral damage as a result of the ensuing battle – and in default, her husband—in turn sacrificing her freedom and risking her own life? Should she try to stop Leif, which may ruin his chances but save his soul?

Purchase Link for The Peace Maker 

Meet Michele Chynoweth

Michele Chynoweth has worked in journalism, advertising and marketing prior to becoming a published author. She has won several awards for her work including first place in the drama category of the Maryland Writers Association Fiction Contest.  She is a graduate of the University of Notre Dame, is recently remarried, has five children and lives in her native Maryland.

Michele believes that the stories in the Bible - and more importantly, the people captured in them - are compelling, but because they were written so long ago, readers today have difficulty relating to or comprehending them. She therefore would like to continue writing novels that "re-imagine" them through modern-day versions that grip today's readers and still get God's messages across.

http://www.facebook.com/#!/michelechynoweth

http://michelechynoweth1.wordpress.com