Hey Reader! Sorry to bother you, but my last email titled, "Of Written Words and Burning Flames" didn't register my finalized, edited version due to technical reasons from my email server which is beyond my control. My apologies! Below is the updated, edited version. Enjoy!
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Hello again, Reader!! I'm so glad to see you here!!
Today, I thought I'd talk about something different than usual. But first, a bit of a note on my writing...
If you've been with Ignited Pennings for any length of time, you probably know that I am a writer! What you may or may not know right now is that I can be highly protective of my written works. In fact, the only ones who really know about my work, (in order of how much they know), are,
1.my family
2. maybe one or two close friends and
3. you, Reader!!
So, I really meant it when I said you would be getting inside peeks on my writing ๐
Recently, I've made book covers for the two books in The Unitien Rising, and I plan on sending them in my next email! I also made the back covers, but the blurb is still a work in progress; so we'll see! Also, my next email will be ENTIRELY about Unitien, which will include (but not limited to) a writing snippet from the first draft, along with the book covers!
But today...I have not much of a writing update, other than, I've been working like crazy on The Unitien Rising, with a goal of reaching my 70,000+ word count goal before winter. I started writing it this month, and I'm already at over 19,000 words, which is my record for writing the most words in a short period of time. Yay! Thank you, Jesus! I would probably already be at around 22,000 right now, but I had teen camp with my church from June 23rd-27th.
Speaking of teen camp, that's exactly what I wanted to talk to you about today...
"On Fire for the Lord"; what it means to be a Christian on fire for Jesus...
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Okie Reader, so by now, you obviously know that Ignited Pennings' secondary name is "On FIRE for the Lord".
But what does that actually mean? What does it mean to be "on fire" for Jesus? Well, my friend, that is what I'm going to dig deeper today.
At Teen Camp, a pastor put it this way; that the Christian life is more than a one moment decision. It does start with one decision โโ the decision to accept Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior, but it's much more than that. It's about building a consistent pattern of following Jesus in your daily life.
You see, sometimes, when we hear a stirring message from a preacher, or read a revelation from the Bible, we feel convicted, and we make a decision to change our lives for the better. That decision, for the unsaved could be deciding to accept and follow Jesus, or to learn more about Him. For the ones who are saved, this could be something like re-dedicating their life to Jesus, or deciding to read the Bible and go to church more consistently.
But usually, after only a few weeks or even days after having made this decision, we start to waver, and get weighed down by the cares of this world. Eventually, we are back where we started before we made that decision, or are in an even worse place. The pastor at camp described this kind of decision as the moment or blip. It comes for a time, then passes away, leaving us right where we started.
In order to live a truly godly life that's on fire for the Lord and always walking in our relationship with Him, we must not just make a good decision. Through the help of the Holy Spirit, we must build a consistent pattern of good choices and decisions that will help us consistently grow in our walk with the Lord. Once we decide to surrender our lives to the Lord and let Him work in our lives with the plan He has for us, if we as Christians submit to that consistently, then we will be steadily walking on the path to spiritual maturity.
So friend, I encourage you, don't let your Christian walk with the Lord be just a series of highs and lows, moments, and downfalls. Let it be a steadily growing relationship with the Lord. Determine it to be a pattern, not a moment. And remember, that we will fall sometimes โ we're not perfect. The principle is; to keep getting back up and asking the Lord to help us next time we stumble. When we decide to do that, my friend, then we will be a Christian who's truly on fire for Jesus.
Also remember, that its not about earning your way to salvation โโ you don't have to work to be saved โ if you did, then the cross would be all for naught. The point of doing good works and building a consistent pattern of good living is not to keep or earn our salvation, but to grow in our relationship with the Lord!
If you have questions about anything here, feel free to email me! I'll get back to you with answers as soon as possible!
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Honora Reese - a God-sent friend and mentor who helped me launch Ignited Pennings
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Now, this is far overdue, but a HUGE shout-out to my platform mentor, Honora Reese! She was the one who gave me invaluable advice and help while I was just starting up Ignited Pennings back in February 2025, which, in turn, I was able to use that advice and those tips to help launch a friend's email list, Words of LIGHT. Honora is also a writer like me, and she has a true gift for writing both speculative fiction and poetry for the Lord!
You can sign up for her email list below to receive monthly emails about writing, and receive her free, amazing short story, From the Depths of Despair
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Anyway, that's it for now, Reader!! I'm so grateful of your precious time reading my thoughts in this email! It means a lot! May God bless you and keep you, my friend!
On FIRE for the Lord,
Victoria
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P.S. looking for some encouragement? Check out one of my favorite verses in the Bible, 2 Timothy 1:7 (KJV) and Matthew West's song, Power Love Sound Mind
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