Steadfast - Guest Blogger, Teresa Pollard

Another Wednesday and another guest. It is my pleasure to welcome, Teresa Pollard.

Teresa Pollard is from Richmond, Virginia, and was saved at a young age.  She has a Masters degree in English and Creative Writing from Hollins College, and has served as a Sunday School teacher and children’s worker for most of the last forty years.

Married for forty years, she was devastated by divorce and the death of her youngest daughter, but God has blessed her with a new home and another grandson, and she now resides in Dacula, Georgia.  Her website is http://www.TeresaPollardWrites.com.
http://www.Teresatalkstaboo.Wordpress.com




The Breaks

Yet those who wait for the Lord will gain new strength; they will mount up with wings like eagles, they will run and not get tired, they will walk and not become weary.  Isaiah 40:31

“Give me a break.”  People have been using that expression all my life (long before they made Kit Kat bars).  But what does it mean? “Have mercy?” Or, “Forgive me?” Or, maybe  ... On the other hand, I’ve also heard all my life, “That’s the breaks,” meaning “Tough luck, you fool.”  

So which is it?  What is a “break”?

I suppose it’s both.  It’s a fork in the road where we have to make a choice.  Do we keep going along the same path we have been traveling or do we turn in a different direction?  Maybe the “big break” is straight ahead, waiting just around the bend where it can’t be seen yet.  But maybe it’s in that turn if we take the risk of making it.  

Sometimes we make the right choice. We find the “big break.”  Or maybe, what we found wasn’t what we were looking for at all, but for us, it’s even better.  

But what if we made the wrong choice?  What if we were supposed to make that turn a few miles back, and we missed it entirely. Are we just supposed to keep trudging on, putting one foot if front of the other? 

I don’t think so.  I think that’s exactly when we’re supposed to cry out to our Heavenly Father, “Abba, Daddy, please give me a break. I’ve lost my way, and I can’t find the path. 

Getting lost is always easy.  Until recently, I thought I was the most directionally challenged person on Earth.  Now I know better.  That “honor” belongs to my roommate!  Finding our way back to the right road is usually much more difficult. But God is good.  He’s merciful, and He has given us His Holy Spirit to help, comfort, and guide us.  

The only problem is we don’t always listen. It’s like we’re little children who babble, “I can do it myself” when we know, deep down, that we really can’t.  

But, maybe sometimes, the problem is that we aren’t lost at all. We’re actually right where He wants us to be, but we’re in a holding pattern (yes, I know I’m mixing my metaphors!) and 
we’re getting frustrated at the wait. We don’t know what lies ahead, and the temptation is to settle for something less than God’s best.  

My prayer is, “Lord, please help me to never again settle for less than Your best.”  

Not Guilty

It's 1974 and Carrie Shepherd, daughter of the minister at Windspree Community Church, is a college senior with plans to be a missionary in Africa. Raped by a masked assailant, Carrie is so traumatized she tells no one until she realizes  she's pregnant. Refusing to have an abortion, she must find the courage to face her family, her fiance, her friends, and a gossiping, angry congregation which m may include her attacker.

This book sounds great and Teresa is offering a free copy of Not Guilty or a copy of her soon to release, Not Ashamed. All you have to do for a chance to win is leave a comment. Make sure to include your email address so Teresa can contact you.

Grace and peace to you from God,

Bonnie