Speculative Fiction
Biblical Worldview
Biblical Worldview
Pressing through...
 On my shoulder, I feel… tap, tap… the prodding of the Holy Spirit, along with the words, “The time is 0400 in Davao.” Oookaaay. I’m perplexed. I also have to look up as a refresher what 0400 means, as I don’t operate on so-called military time. As a courtesy, if you’re like me, that means 4 AM, lol. Other cities and times are given to me over weeks, maybe months now, at different spots in my days. Even a waking in the middle of the night, I hear, “The time is 12:39 PM in Dubai.” Appreciating better the civilian time, I glance at the clock and had already grown accustomed to looking it up, as if I still needed confirmation. It was indeed 12:39 at that instance in Dubai. I’m an intercessor and requests of the Lord can be unusual. At first, I wondered what this was about. Then I realized these were all port cities. I asked if God wanted me to pray for these cities; did it have to do with territories, spiritual dominion, what? Then I saw in my mind’s eye distinct lines across blue. These were shipping routes. I began praying, and it led to praying for not just the shipping industry or routes themselves, more so, who works at sea. In some instances, what I was experiencing in “stepping into the shoes of another” so to speak, was rather tangible. And it wasn’t like intense spiritual warfare. This was more like prayers for edification, encouragement, a building-up of the human heart and soul. Dates are important, and for some reason here, so are clocks. Over the past year, the Lord has taken me into three-month seasonal increments with themes. They are somehow connected, although my human eyes and reasoning cannot tie it all together (yet) but I’ve been through the wilderness, mountains, stretches of desert, and now it seems the ocean. This is my “Period of Rendering” I’ve been told, until Purim, anyway. Not sure I’ll fully know what rendering means, as there are so many definitions. But currently, images, visions, dreams seem to have much to do with the seas, ships, and nautical symbolism. It’s grown strong. Even in my prayer language, maritime terms have flown out of my mouth, including crew positions. I had to refresh my mind on, for instance, what a bosun is and does. As I’m praying for others, the Lord is also working with me. Although I grew up in a fishing village where a lot of people were about boats and fishing, those in my immediate circle were not. And to say I’ve had a healthy fear of water is an understatement. It’s probably pretty unhealthy. I’ve watched movies like The Perfect Storm, All Is Lost, or Poseidon with abject horror—yet I can’t look away; it’s torture. I’m not a strong swimmer. The idea of cruising the ocean has filled me with dread. I’ve had a PTSD kayaking incident (rescue) in the Gulf Islands. And a recurring nightmare has plagued me most of my life where I’m trapped in a sinking ship. But God! He’s reminded me that there was a time when he’d asked if I was willing to go to remote places on the earth to share his love for others, and I said yes. Decades ago, I served as a missionary all over the world with an amazing group of people who strove to preserve cultural wholeness rather than changing everybody up. We presented Jesus exactly as he is, a Semite who came for all people. We did cultural exchange programs—and I loved these—where I’d learn the local dances; I’d also teach my Jewish dances, and together we danced and celebrated the glory of God. But the recent reminder here hovered over locations. And willingness. There’s a joke among missionaries, “Yes, God, I’ll go and serve you; just don’t send me THERE.” And that’s usually where God sends you, the place you fear the most. Kind of like Jonah running from his mission to Nineveh then getting swallowed by a whale. As I was thinking about that, I remember when God had asked me to go to some pretty challenging and hard-to-reach places, ministering, joining arts and hearts, planting churches, delivering commodities. So many places, opportunities, tribes, and events. So the Lord recently questioned me, “Tessa, if the ocean were a mission field and I asked you to go there… would you?” I think over much of my life, the answer would have been no. Instead, I jumped and shouted, “Yes, Lord! Hineni!” Hineni is a Hebrew term that means much more than “Here I am!” It’s a serious way of giving yourself over to complete availability and total readiness. Wildly abandoned to God’s will. In other words, if you say it; you’d better mean it. And I do. Water is often symbolic in the spiritual sense of expanding and moving, cleansing and flowing. The important thing is being ready for anything. And trusting wholeheartedly. And this is where God is working on my fear. I was surprised at my emphatic answer. But then I realized, I’m mentally at a place in life where I could give up everything, leave everything and sail, if that’s what he wanted me to do. I know he has my life in his hands and I can face anything. For if he’s beside me, behind me, before me, and beyond me and the horizon, and even below me, then I’ll be all right. Not unlike a lot of people, I’m not void of snags and complicated circumstances that hinder a mission of picking up and leaving if this were literal. I wondered about those details when the Lord gave me a vision. I was holding two pieces of a jigsaw puzzle. The outline or frame of the puzzle was already laid-out. The Lord had all the rest of the pieces in his hands and he plopped them down within the frame, and suddenly the puzzle was done, pieces put together. I snapped in my two little pieces, and the Lord said to me, his little girl, “Good job! I’m so proud of you,” making me sweetly feel as if I completed the puzzle when he did it all. I took this to mean to not worry about the process or details or how things fit together; he’s got it all, whatever “it” is. Just focus on the big-picture result, and childlike-trust him. I believe this year will be a revealing of mysteries and revelations. “He reveals deep and mysterious things and knows what lies hidden in darkness, though He is surrounded by light.” (Daniel 2:22). Things that are shifting or have been getting into position in the heavenlies will suddenly fit together in the natural. The weary will burst into rejoicing (hallelujah). And I hear the Lord say, “Thank Me. Thank Me for what I’ve already done.” I just have to interject here that I honestly don’t know why anybody would not want to pursue a Spirit-filled life. It’s spontaneous, meaningful, and exciting. As an intercessor, I sometimes get to live vicariously through someone else and what they do, someone for whom I’m praying. Speaking of that, apparently, I’m still in the metaphorical maritime phase. Yesterday, the Lord again told me to get ready for my new assignment, and that my future is going to look nothing like my past. Then he said, “Suit up.” I’m like, “Right on! It’s go-time! I’m ready—wait, did you just say ‘Suit up’?!” … to be continued “Unfathomable oceans of grace are in Christ for you. Dive and dive again, you will never come to the bottom of these depths.”—Robert Murray M'Cheyne
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They are worlds apart. It’s true, opposites attract. Yet together they’re turned upside down and cannot find a way to coexist. But God does.  Newly released, my latest novel from the Hearts in Africa series. Now available on Amazon.
"Sometimes people ask God to join them in what they are doing, rather than joining God in what He is doing. Emotional tension already high, Nick and Claire are jostled by circumstances as they struggle between human understanding, desire, and the will of God. In the end, they realize that He had their best interests in mind all along. From the wilderness of Washington State, straight to the heart of the Maasai in Tanzania, onto the spice island of Zanzibar and around again, the path of faith and the outcome of their relationship are ultimately made clear in a whirlwind of adventure, trials, and enduring love. Uniquely sweet, Carry My Heart is a memorable missionary romance." ~ CPP Have you seen the 2013 movie, All Is Lost, with a one-man cast starring Robert Redford? The silence of the film is riveting. This is a story about a man sailing solo deep in the Indian Ocean. Everything you can imagine could go wrong on this voyage does, and the man faces mortality at every turn. There are so many nuances in the movie that held such command. Emotional resilience overpowered, I bawled at the end. And then I just had to watch it again. A story about survival, and then letting go, I felt “spoken to” within the passage – along with the accompanying music by Alex Ebert which was so haunting. An extraordinary film, it’s an introspective person’s enchantment.
 I have the wonderful opportunity to extend to you a promotional offer via Amazon and my publisher, Soul Mate Publishing. Today and tomorrow, May 8-9, my latest fantasy romance, Sea God’s Siren, is FREE, that’s right—FREE! See the link below to receive a complimentary copy. Happy midweek, happy reading!
Sea God's Siren - Amazon Yesterday was the actual day for the release of my latest fantasy romance novella, #2 of The Brother’s Keep series via Soul Mate Publishing, Sea God’s Siren. However, I’d missed the launch! Ugh. Instead, I had been camped out at a hospital for several days while a loved one experienced surgery and then complications from that surgery. Ick. It’s been a loooooong week, yet the end of it holds promise, and even excitement, as those uncomfortable things in life smooth out and I can now officially introduce this new title. So without much ado, here he his, he’s arrived—the last merman who pledges his forbidden love to a blind mortal.  Now available on Amazon. How cool is that?
I wish I were, oh, I wish I were a pirate...
Blighted by perpetual sailor envy, one day I-WILL sail the seven seas. Now, if I can just get over my fear of the ocean…and swimming, storms, the deep, sharks, killer whales, that gigantic octopus, other pirates, motion sickness, canvas shoes, seaweed… Why am I drawn to that which I fear?—and guess where it’s taking me in my current WIP? Only, in the world of fiction, I can be what I want, do what I want, and shine like the very stars that guide my protagonists. P-r-e-t-t-y cool! |
TESSA STOCKTON, AUTHOR, BLOG -
Pressing through life, love, a few things that matter, and some that don't.
(I'm also a spirit-filled Messianic Jew, so you'll find a lot about that here too.)
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