Today we welcome author June Foster to the blog.
June writes stories that mirror God’s goodness and reflect His love. She is the mother to two and the grandmother to ten.
Please enjoy her words of inspiration now in this poignant post about regret, self-blame, and transformation.
This is a rather personal matter, but if it can help another, it’s worth revealing what’s on my mind. (Click-to-Tweet)
I’m not sure why it seems to happen more now than ever.
Maybe because I’m older and have accumulated more of life’s experiences than ever before. Or maybe because I realize there is absolutely nothing I can do about any of these situations.
Since we’ve moved into our new house, uncomfortable notions have accumulated in my head. Condemning and creating regret. “You made a lot of mistakes raising your children.” and “Your daughter might have a better life today if you hadn’t……” “Remember the day you made that decision. It was a big mistake. You should’ve taken another route.”
And oh, yes. This one, too. “Your new house. You’re stuck in it now, but really you could’ve done better.”
Perhaps you’ve never heard these pesky little voices. I pray you haven’t and you won’t, but it’s my guess you have.
As I write these words, they don’t have the impact as they did at the time. But when the notions bombarded my brain, the thoughts convinced me to believe them, and I grieved. (Click-to-Tweet)
But here’s the good news.
In prayer today, I took the matter up with the Lord.
I sensed His response. “Are the thoughts condemning? Or do they bring life to your soul?”
The Bible says: “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus…” (Romans 8:1 NIV)
“Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ…” (Romans 5: 1 NIV)
Do you regret your past?
Paul says, “Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead. I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 3:13 NIV)
Who will you listen to? The condemning voice that I’ve come to realize is the enemy of our souls? Or the Word of God?
Take a breath, fix your eyes on Jesus, and walk bravely into the future. (Click-to-Tweet)
In book one of my Woodlyn series, the hero, Jess Colton, had to listen to God’s voice instead of the condemning thoughts that said “You can never be good enough.”
In Flawless, Jess grew up with a demanding father he could never please. No matter how hard he tried. Jess even got an advanced degree, but nothing ever seemed enough to earn his dad’s acceptance. So he turned to alcohol to numb the pain. After he gave his life to the Lord, he realized getting drunk didn’t please God so he gave up drinking to honor his Savior. But… he only traded one addiction for another. This time, gluttony.
At the beginning of the novel, Jess weighs over 300 pounds and borders upon diabetes. When he meets a beautiful young woman while trapped in an elevator at his apartment complex, he can’t imagine how she would ever consider dating a guy like him.
I can’t reveal the ending, but like me, he had to come to terms with the source of the condemnation and discover who he really was in God’s sight.
The next time you hear a condemning voice, close your mind to it and believe what God’s Word says.
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When man sees two broken lives, God sees them flawless.
Though Jess Colton gave his life to the Lord, he held onto an old habit. Fueled by alcohol, he spent a night with a girl from his past, defying his Christian principles. When he quit drinking to honor God, he discovered another addiction. Now he can’t manage his own life as his weight soars and diabetes threatens to claim him. Jess is baffled when the beautiful Holly Harrison declares her love.
Holly Harrison lived to please herself. But everything caught up with her in one moment of time when a destructive motorcycle accident altered her life forever. Nowhere else to turn, she looked to God for answers. Now, she’s convinced no Christian man would be attracted to her. She doesn’t plan on falling in love with the handsome Jess Colton seeing past his bulk to the godly, tender man within. When Jess drives a wedge between them, she loses hope of a future together.
Can Holly overcome her handicap? Can Jess find control over his eating and his life? Only God has the answers.
AUTHOR BIO
An award-winning author, June Foster is a retired teacher with a BA in education and MA in counseling. Her characters find themselves in tough situations but overcome through God’s power and the Word. She writes edgy topics wrapped in a good story. To date, she’s seen seventeen contemporary romances and several short stories published. Find June online at junefoster.com.
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PLEASE SHARE
When voices of shame and regret nag us, how can we find peace? Words of encouragement for your hurting heart.
Struggling with doubts and insecurities can cripple us. Here’s your sixty-second pick-me-up.
ENCOURAGEMENT
When You Must Go Through the Forest to See Daylight
Discouragement’s real. Crud is a given. But your forest is temporary. Here’s why.
Original Image Credit: Aaron Burden/Unsplash
Consider a past regret. How have you grown since then?
What positive steps did you take to keep moving forward?
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Thanks so much for visiting! For the next few months, awesome guests will join us here as I take a brief respite from blogging. Please check the schedule for a complete line-up and stop by next week as we uplift and encourage.
I wanted to let you know that in addition to my Facebook author page, I recently started Cynthia’s FABulous Readers and Influencers’ Group. If you enjoy Heartfelt, Homespun Fiction and want to stay up-to-date on all my current books, I hope you’ll join us at both places. My new FB group is where I’ll chat more in depth about Her Hope Discovered and additional books in my Welcome to Ruby series. This is a “closed” group for those who are interested in connecting with me on a more personal level and for those who want to spread the word about my future books. To foster a more intimate, relaxed setting, the group is easy to find, but all posts are private. Again, I really hope to see you there!
Also, just a reminder—my monthly newsletter went to subscribers’ inboxes this week, and this month I shared an exciting tidbit about my upcoming release!
To join my newsletter family, sign up here or in the top right-hand sidebar. Don’t forget to click on the confirmation links that will arrive in your inbox, as this completes the sign-up process. As a newsletter subscriber, you’ll be the first to know fun details about my book series and you’ll also be privy to additional goodies I may not share on the blog. AND—no Debby Downer content allowed. (We have the news for that.) Love, fun, and encouragement are the backbone of my newsletters. ♥ Hope you’ll join us!
Now, see you back soon!
Much Love and Many Blessings,
Comments 10
Cynthia, thank you so much for hosting me today. I pray this post will bring encouragement and hope to others. Until I realized the source of those inner voices, I felt miserable. Now the Lord offers His freedom and Joy. Blessings on you and your readers.
Author
June, so delighted you’re here! Your words touched our hearts.
I agree with Laurie (below). It’s great to see “real-life” issues tackled in an authentic way. I love the premise of Flawless.
What a blessing to have June Foster share her thoughts today! I enjoy June’s stories and the positive message she gives in each story.
Melissa, thank you so much for your support and encouragement. Today’s post was a bit personal, but if it can help one person, I’m happy.
So nice to “meet” you June! Your post reminds me of that song “Regrets, I’ve had a few, but then again, too few to mention…” was that Dean Martin or Frank Sinatra? Everyone certainly has regrets in their lives, we wouldn’t be human if we didn’t but the main thing is to learn from them and not repeat our mistakes. I’m interested in the premise of your book in tackling addictions. That’s something you don’t see often in Christian fiction. I think Christians often feel they don’t suffer from them! Or, they don’t realize they actually ARE addicted to things because they only think of the big ones like alcohol, drugs or gambling. But we can be addicted to food, as your hero is, and *work* which is a bona fide addiction now and many studies have proven it, or shopping, Facebook and social media, video games, exercise, prescription drugs which Christians may not think of as a “drug” problem because – hey – it’s given to them by their doctor, right? And it’s not a gambling problem if it’s buying hospital lottery tickets, or cashing in those $10 quick draw tickets on the back of your favourite baseball team game tickets, or Crossword lottery tickets, right? Addictions are insidious and we all need to check ourselves from time to time to see how we’re spending our time and money on things and how it’s affecting ourselves and our families. So bravo to you for tackling these issues in your book! I think it’s wonderful and having a 300 lb hero at the start of the book is brave too. Thanks so much for sharing!
Laurie, I found your reply so insightful. When I first started writing, I felt the Lord saying I needed to speak to problems and issues Christian deal with and sometimes want to sweep under the carpet. My genre is considered romance, but I’ve had more than one editor turn my story down because it didn’t follow the “romance formula.” But God put these things on my heart and it was more important to address the issues. And most if not all are issues I or family members have dealt with. In some cases close friends, most who are Christians. You may be surprised I also have a book where the hero deals with same sex attraction. Ryan’s Father and yeah, that one took courage. Thank you for your comment. June
Hi June! (my fellow FGMN Author) 🙂 Thank you for sharing your heart today, and I think it’s safe to say we all have regrets from some choices or decisions we’ve made in our past. But I love that you reminded us that in Christ we can move forward with peace and joy! He is SO good!
Congratulations on all your books so far, and I’m sure you’ll have many more to write.
Cynthia, thank you for featuring June today, and Happy Mother’s Day to you both!
Patti Jo, it’s such a pleasure to be a fellow Cynthia Hickey author. I love working with her. I so appreciate your comment and hope we can become better acquainted. if not in person, at least on line. I hope to attend the ACFW conference this year. Happy Mother’s Day to you as well.
I’m late to join in, but I’m glad to “meet” you, June, and appreciate your thoughts. Oh, yes, those condemning voices seem to add up along with our life experiences. Thank you for the reminder to put the past behind us and focus on God’s Word to enlighten the path ahead. Blessings to you and your many books!
Thank you, Sherida. I love writing about Christian characters who overcome by God’s power. The hope that’s available to all of us. Thanks for commenting.