Sunday, April 17, 2011

Sunday by the Sea: Robin Jones Gunn

"And he [Jesus] saith unto them, Why are ye fearful, O ye of little faith? Then he arose, and rebuked the winds and the sea; and there was a great calm. But the men marvelled, saying, What manner of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey him!"
~ Matthew 8:26-27

Back in February I had the pleasure of meeting author Robin Jones Gunn at the Woman to Woman Conference hosted at my school (Corban University). I began a post series on what I learned at the conference, but I never finished it. However, I simply had to come back to it and at least share a few words of encouragement from Robin, as well as the picture (above) of me and her! It was super exciting getting to meet her, and she's very sweet!

Anyway, the title of the conference was What if God has dreams for your life? Robin talked to us about her own dreams and how God has worked in her life. (Her first talk of the two made me cry!) One verse she mentioned a couple of times was Ephesians 3:20 (The Message)--

"God can do anything, you know—far more than you could ever imagine or guess or request in your wildest dreams! He does it not by pushing us around but by working within us, his Spirit deeply and gently within us."

God is all powerful! He is in control of all the seas, of all creation, of all period! And yet how often do we put limits on what we think He can do in our lives?

Here are a few inspiring quotes from Robin:
  • "Shame off you!" (Robin noted that she and her sister used to say this to each other instead of "Shame on you" in order to remind each other of God's grace.)
  • "When God fulfills our dreams, it's not how we think it's going to be." (We've heard it said that God works in mysterious ways. Well, I think that's true in that we often don't understand how He's working in our lives until we can look back after the fact, and even then we don't have the complete big picture that He does. Robin noted that God plants the dreams in our hearts, but the way He fulfills them is often quite different from our expectations.)
  • "You are a victim of grace, honey." (With all the trials of life, sometimes we look at ourselves as victims. But I love Robin's reminder that the only thing we are victims of is God's grace, which is far, far beyond what we could ever deserve!)
I loved getting to meet Robin, and as I've not yet read one of her books, I'm looking forward to diving into the one I bought (and had autographed!) at the conference called Under a Maui Moon--hopefully soon!

Have you had the opportunity to meet any authors? Have you read any books by Robin?

I'd love to hear your stories! And as you begin this week, please remember that the God we serve is omnipotent--all-powerful--and He has a dream/purpose for your life!

10 comments:

Beth said...

Hi Amber,
Robin is currently one of my favourite authors! I've read nearly every book of hers that I can get my hands on.
If you get a chance, I recommend getting a copy of her devotional - Take Flight! It will add to some of those things that you've shared here.

Kav said...

Alas, here's yet another author I have not read yet!!!! But I'll change that as soon as I can. Love this recap of your conference. It must have made a real impact since it is still so clear in your mind. Thanks for sharing.

Renee (BlacknGoldGirlsBookSpot) said...

Wow it sounds like the conference was very inspiring and uplifting for you! That's great!

Unfortunately I have to answer no to both of your questions. I've never been blessed enough to meet an author and I don't think I've ever read a book by Robin! Yikes! I must remedy that huh?

Have a happy Sunday! :-)

XOXO~ Renee

Vince said...

Hi Amber:

I would not limit God to just one plan. God is infinite. I believe He has an infinite number of plans for each of us.

Each time we exercise our ‘free will’, a new plan takes center stage. God did not grant us ‘free will’ only to provide a single predetermined plan to follow.

To God, who is outside of time, all the infinite possible plans eventually meld into the one plan God provided us in response to our lifetime of free choices.

God ‘sees’ these many possible plans as one plan. But to us, who are in time, the future offers an infinity of opportunities to follw God's plan.

Vince

Amanda Stanley said...

Oh, I just love the quotes you shared from Robin! A victim of grace – I like that :) And I love that verse in Matthew, especially the part you highlighted! Imagine what it must have been like to be in that boat. Wow. Our Saviour, Jesus Christ, is more powerful than we could ever imagine and loves us more than we could ever know! And He is still calming our winds and seas today, whatever they may be. Gosh, Amber, you always share such beautiful Scriptures – of course ALL the Scriptures are beautiful , but you know what I mean ;)

Sadly I have never met any authors :( I remember Ruth telling me she met Tamera Alexander, LUCKY!! I’m so happy you got to meet Robin :) Have you ever met any other authors? You know what’s so funny, I’ve told my friends and family that I talk to authors a few times a week on their blogs and emails, and they’re either shocked or don’t believe me, LOL! So even though we haven’t met all these wonderful, talented people (some of whom becoming our dear friends :) ) in person, we DO get to talk to them fairly regularly and that is such a blessing in and of itself!! But, it would be super awesome to meet them in person ;)

Thanks for this uplifting post, my friend! Perfect ending for my Sunday :)

Blessings,
Amanda

Amber Holcomb said...

Beth,

Wow--that's awesome! I'm excited to read some of her work, and I bought the first volume of her "Christy Miller" series for my younger sister. :)

Thank you for the recommendation, too!

~Amber

Amber Holcomb said...

Kav,

You and me both--we'll have to read some of her work soon! :)

I'm so glad you enjoyed this post! And as for it being so clear in mind...it helped that I took notes. ;) LOL But yes, it did make an impact, and I really loved it!

~Amber

Amber Holcomb said...

Renee,

The conference was wonderful, and I'm glad I was able to do another post on it. :)

And hey, at least we get to meet a lot of authors online, right? ;)

Thanks for stopping by, and I hope you have a great rest of the week!

~Amber

Amber Holcomb said...

Vince,

Thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts. :) You always give me a lot to think about!

I agree that God is infinite and that He has a perspective far above our own. I also agree that God interacts with us, showing us His love through guidance, as well as discipline and letting us taste the fruit of our own choices. I'll confess, though, that I'm still trying to understand just how much I believe about either side of the Calvinist/Arminian "debate." :) Either way, though, God is definitely infinite and sovereign. He is Lord of all!

Thank you for stopping by!

~Amber

Amber Holcomb said...

Amanda,

I'm glad you enjoyed the quotes--aren't they great? I love the idea about being a "victim of grace"--definitely something to keep in mind when I start complaining about how "difficult" I think my life is!

Thank you for your beautiful words, my friend--you always put things so eloquently! It certainly would have been amazing to be in that boat! :) I'm so glad God reminds us today, too, just how powerful He is!

I haven't met any other authors like Robin, but it was a pleasure getting to meet her, and perhaps we'll get the chance to meet each other and some of our author friends together someday! :) And I agree that it is such a blessing to get to meet all these wonderful authors through blogging!

~Amber