Easter

How To Help A Writer, and an Easter Devotional

April 14, 2025April 14, 2025marcialeelaycockLeave a comment

Hello everyone! It’s a lovely spring day here in Southern Alberta. After a short dip back into snow, it’s warming up again, which makes the dog walking a lot easier! 🙂 I hope you’re enjoying fine weather wherever you are.

Cover of Pond'rings by Marcia Lee Laycock

As you saw in my last post, Pond’rings, my writer’s memoir, was well launched on March 15th. If you have already purchased a copy, I thank you! If you enjoyed it, I have a favour to ask. Please post a review. 🙂

Posting a review on Amazon and Goodreads is a wonderful way to support your favourite writers. The Reviews draw Amazon’s attention and then they begin to recommend the book. Without reviews, the book goes unnoticed. It takes at least 25 reviews, or more (some say at least 50), before this happens. So as you see, I have a ways to go!

To make it a bit easier, I’ve attached a link to the cover image. Just click on it and it should take you directly to the form to fill out a review. If that doesn’t work, simply scroll down to where the reviews are listed and you’ll see a link or button that says, Write a Review.

Here are a couple of reviews that have already been posted on Amazon –

5.0 out of 5 stars Encouragement for Christian Writers

Reviewed in Canada on April 11, 2025

Laycock writes beautifully. In this writers’ memoir, she chronicles her journey as a Christian who has struggled with self-doubt and discouragement in her calling to write. Rather than providing pat answers or perscriptions, she shows how God lead her and accomplished His purposes for her work, ultimately allowing God to touch many lives with her work. Her memoir serves well as a devlotional for writers who sense God call to write Christian fiction and non-fiction.

5.0 out of 5 stars An encouraging read when struggling with self-doubt

Reviewed in Canada on March 28, 2025

“Pond’rings” details the author’s writing journey from childhood when she chronicled her thoughts in a journal to becoming a multi-published author whose books bless readers far and wide. Her story is a beautiful tapestry that shows how God has shaped and refined her message over time and through life experiences and how He has led her and opened doors for her work. It’s a testimony, really, to His faithfulness and to the importance of following His lead and sovereignty. As a published author myself, I found this book inspirational and filled with wisdom not just for writers, but for all believers who struggle with self-doubt when God calls them to a task that seems too big. A must-read.

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Thanks SO much for helping me spread the word about this little book. Please pray that God will use my words to encourge those who read it to draw closer to Him.

IN OTHER NEWS:

I tried to run my 5 Day Easter Devotional Writing Challenge, scheduled at the beginning of the month, but sadly I came down with a flu virus and could not continue the teaching. My wonderful publisher, Colleen McCubbin, filled in for me and the replays showed it was a wonderful time for all. I was able to jump back in for those who purchased the next level, the Devotional Cohort, and we had some wonderful discussion through the week, then shared what we had written during the final session. I love hearing from these writers. Their comments are always full of rich insight.

I’m looking forward to the next two teaching events coming up in May and June –

5 Day Fiction Camp – May 19 – 23, windup 24th

5 Day Poetry Camp – June 2 – 6, windup 7th

I’ll be sending out the links for those sessions soon. If you’d like to receive a personal notification just email me – vinemarc@telus.net

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I so appreciate your interest in my work. As Easter approaches I wish you many epiphanies. Here’s a short devotional to ponder.

Two Essential “E” Words

“I think I’m having an apostrophe!” The character, Smee, in the movie Hook, had his words a little mixed up. He meant to say he was having an epiphany. My old Webster’s Dictionary defines the word Epiphany as a religious feast, celebrated January 6, to commemorate the manifestation of Christ to the Gentiles, through the visitation of the Magi. A more modern dictionary goes on to say it is a “sudden manifestation or perception of the essential meaning of something.”

I think I’ve had an epiphany. In fact, I think I’ve had several in my life. No doubt you have too. They have happened to me at the most unusual of times, and at the most ordinary of times, but they always leave me with a sense that there is something beyond the surface of things, something eternal. They have been sparked by a manifestation of love, the touch of a husband’s hand on his disabled wife’s cheek, and by beauty, a moment when I saw something so exquisite it took my breath away. They have happened in times of unutterable sadness, at the deathbed of a loved one, and at times of intense joy, at the births of our children. They have happened in times of quiet contemplation at home as I’ve read the Word of God, and in a canoe, drifting alone on the Yukon River. These moments stop time. They cause our whirling world to come screeching to a halt. They are gifts from the hand of God. He cracks a window into the spiritual realm and allows us to peek through.

In these moments of deep understanding, God reveals something of Himself. We have a choice at that moment, to open our eyes and see, or to shrug and return to our everyday lives without being touched. If we choose the former, each epiphany is like a re-birth. It is a new start, a new day and each one can lead to a greater understanding of the ultimate in epiphanies – the resurrection.

There has never been, nor will there ever be, a day that caused time to stop and humankind to stand in awe, as the day Jesus stepped out of his own grave, reborn, renewed, and resurrected. There was no cracking of a window on that day. The door was flung wide and all were invited, not just to have a peek, but to enter in. Jesus was the manifestation of God and proved it on that first Easter day.

Epiphanies lead us to Easter. We all have a choice, to pause and be captivated by the enormity of that true epiphany, or shrug our shoulders and go on with life as we know it. Christ resurrected is the manifestation of the essential meaning of life, not as we know it, but as it truly is. Will you step through the door He has opened, or turn away?

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May God bless you abundantly this Easter!

:)Marcia

An Easter Perspective on a Good Friday

March 29, 2024March 15, 2024marcialeelaycock5 Comments

Mark 15:16-20

Photo by Wim van ‘t Einde on Unsplash

I moved slowly along the path laid out through the sanctuary, lit by tiny candles. Soft, rather mournful music set the tone. The stations of the cross were positioned along that path, each containing a passage of scripture and a piece of artwork. We had been encouraged to take our time, to let the visual depictions move our minds, our hearts and our souls as we focused on Jesus.

The very first image almost undid me. It was an impressionistic sketch of Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane. Our Saviour, bowed to the ground, mourning. Each successive depiction was powerful in its own right but, it wasn’t until I came to one of the largest displays that I caught my breath.

A high bower held a stylized crown of thorns, its spears facing out toward me, seeming to stab the air. You had to look through them to read the scripture, (Mark 15:16-20, ESV): “And the soldiers led him away inside the palace (that is, the governor’s headquarters) and they called together the whole battalion. And they clothed him in a purple cloak, and twisting together a crown of thorns, they put it on him. And they began to salute him, “Hail, King of the Jews!””

There was something powerful about that perspective, looking through that crown of thorns. The immensity of His humiliation left me stunned, my heart hurt by it, my mind trying to fathom it and my soul crying out because of it. The creator of the universe, enduring, indeed, allowing, such degradation, on my behalf. On your behalf.

I have seen many Easters over the 42 years since I became a believer. Many of them, to my shame, slipped by with barely any stirring in my heart, mind or soul. I pray it may not be so over the next span of however many years God allows me to sojourn on this earth. I pray I will always remember this perspective, peering through the crown of thorns, letting the words of scripture stab my soul. I pray I will never fail to take time to ponder the Via Dolorosa, the way of sorrow He endured willingly, in order to open the door to reconciliation with His Father.

I pray my face will always be wet with the tears I wept that day, in awe and thankfulness for so mighty, so merciful a Saviour.

In The Midst of His Agony

April 1, 2023marcialeelaycock2 Comments

Photo by Hennie Stander on Unsplash

“When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to his mother, “Woman, behold, your son!” John 19:26

When I was diagnosed with cancer in 2011, the thing that crushed me most was having to tell my children. Knowing they would grieve with me was almost more than I could bear. I wanted to spare them the pain I knew they would suffer. But I was helpless to prevent it.

I suspect it was the same for Jesus, as he suffered the agony of the cross, watching those he loved in anguish below him. Especially his mother.

But he did what he could. He appointed one he knew he could trust to protect and care for her. No doubt he was thinking not just of his mother, but of his friend, John, as well. he knew this “disciple whom he loved” would be blessed in the caring for his mother.

In a way, Jesus’ words might be surprising. Perhaps we would expect him to say something like, “Put your trust in God and you’ll be fine.” Or “Why are you weeping? Where is your faith?”

But Jesus is compassionate. What a beautiful testimony to the character of our Saviour, that even in his agony, he was other-centred.

And he was practical. There’s an old Irish saying – ‘Trust in God but don’t dance in a small boat.’ Jesus knew the world in which he was leaving his mother, a world that was not often kind to women not protected and cared for by a husband or son. So he did what he could to ensure her well-being.

It brings to mind the words written by James, the most practical of the apostles – “Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to him, “Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it?” (James 2:15,16).

Jesus is, as always, the example for us to follow, even in this. We too are to give practical aid where and when we can, with compassion and love, as Christ did, no matter our own circumstances. We too are to be other-centred, for when we do, we exhibit the true nature of Jesus and when that is revealed the world stands in awe. God is glorified.

I saw a beautiful example of this some time ago, at a Christian writers’ conference. I’d been suffering with what is called, ‘frozen shoulder,’ an extremely painful condition, but I had agreed to teach at the conference and felt I could not back out of that commitment. A woman I barely knew approached me just before my workshop began. “You’re in pain, aren’t you?” I was surprised, since I hadn’t told anyone about my condition. I asked her how she knew. She smiled. “I’m quite familiar with pain. I can tell by the way you’re moving. Just wanted to let you know I’m praying for you.” Then she walked away. It wasn’t until later that I learned that woman had a medical condition that gave her pain so severe she was required to wear a morphine patch to manage it.

That left me in awe, that someone, in such agony herself, would recognize my pain and petition the Lord on my behalf. She exhibited the compassion of Christ. God was glorified through her, and I’ve never forgotten it.

(RIP, Lizzy!)

Easter – Joy upon Joy

March 30, 2021March 29, 2021marcialeelaycockLeave a comment

Easter Stories and More marks the eighteenth anthology in which my work has been published. It’s always such a joy to be part of a group effort, especially when you respect the work of the other authors in the collection. It’s always such an honour to be counted with them in a collection that you know will inspire and strengthen faith.

This one is especially dear to my heart because Easter is dear to my heart. What could be more exhilarating than celebrating the triumph of good over evil, the restoration of mankind to its God and, on a more personal level, the joy of resting in the assurance of one’s own salvation?

I thoroughly enjoyed writing the two monologues written in first person: The End of a Pilgrimage, which was written for Inscribe’s blog and Torn, written in response to the call for submissions for this anthology. Putting yourself in the place of a Biblical character brings the story of the life of Christ into a sharp perspective and causes you to dig deeper into the scriptures to discover more of the truths lying buried there.

The poem I submitted to Easter Stories and More, Easter Walk, was inspired by a stone I picked up as I was walking one spring day a few years ago. The stone was scored with two dark lines – one vertical, one horizontal. I wondered what had made the marks and as I walked my thumb traced the lines, my mind pondering again the mystery of the death and resurrection of our Lord and all that it meant to me.

It left me with a renewed sense of peace and thankfulness for His sacrifice and for the sacrifice His father made, in sending His only son to rescue such a ‘motley crew’ of humanity. It also left me rejoicing that Easter is my victory too, because He included me in it, called me into His family and secured my life with His death.

I hope you too are able to rejoice in that victory.

“O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” (1 Corinthians 15:55, NASB).

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March 24 – Ruth L. Snyder https://ruthlsnyder.com/blog/

March 25 – Sally Meadows https://sallymeadows.com/blog

March 26 – Eunice Matchett https://albertastoryteller.com/

March 27 – Lynn Dove https://lynndove.com/

March 28 – Pat Gerbrandt https://patgwriter.wordpress.com/

March 29 – Denise Ford https://walkingwithdustyanddee.com/

March 30 – Marcia Laycock https://marcialeelaycock.com/thespur/

March 31 – Bob Jones revwords.com https://revwords.com/

April 1 – Valerie Ronald https://scriptordeus.wordpress.com