Do You Have a Minute?

By Casie Ballard

This book is about my life and different events that have happened in my life. More than that, I use my Christian faith and God's word to learn life lessons that come from these events. It is a Holy-Spirit filled book that is written to inspire and to change the lives of those that read it. Between these lines, you will find the vulnerable life of a small town girl with big time faith.
Through these chapters and through these pages you will find a story that was Holy Spirit inspired and written for you. These stories are about a small town girl that found that through her events, moments, and decisions that God was looking to teach her something. Chances are that He is trying to teach you something too. These words were strung together to create a ripple effect through believers. It doesn't take a storm of change to make a difference; it takes one small action, one small girl with a dream, to make one ripple. These ripples spread through each person who is touched by this book.

• Language: English
• Publisher: BookBaby
• Release date: Dec 25, 2020
• ISBN: 9781098346430

Book preview

©Casie Ballard. No part of this book shall be reproduced or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any information storage or retrieval system. The scanning, uploading, and distribution of this book via the Internet or by other means without the permission of the publisher is illegal and punishable by law. Please purchase only authorized electronic editions. Your support of the author’s rights is appreciated.

ISBN: 978-1-09834-642-3 Paperback

ISBN: 978-1-09834-643-0 eBook

Contents

Dear God,

Dear Reader,

Ask Your Questions

Under the Bridge

Searching for God

Fire Day

The Flowers and the Bees

God-Sized

Peace

Movie Rentals

The Three-Person Principle

Reassurance

The Unexpected

The Blindfold

Being Intentional

Eternal Perspective

Callings

Change

We Are Beautiful

Spoil Yourself

God Is Your Dad

Fear

Making My Bed

Date Night

He Was There

Planning… or Lack Thereof

Accounting

Perfectionism

Driving

Instant Gratification

Choose Joy

Dear God,

Hey, friend. I know I’m not always the best at starting this conversation. I know there’re areas of my life that could use some major improvement. I thank You that You have new mercies for me every day. I thank You that You love me the same no matter the day. I could thank You for all You’ve done for me, but that would take too long, and we both already know all the things. You’ve blessed me with a life I could have never imagined for myself a few years ago. I love You so much.

God, how come You make it so easy for us to talk to You? I know very important people that have to schedule people months in advance just to have a thirty-minute conversation. How come we have access to You whenever we want it, for as long as we want? How come we don’t take advantage of this? Did You know that we were going to be like this? How can we fix this? I’m just one person. I’m just one person that still falls short every single day. How can You look at me and see a world changer? How can You look at me and see someone that is going to do great work? I don’t understand. I don’t get it. I know I’m not alone in these thoughts. There are people around me that struggle with these same things every day.

I don’t know what exactly I’m looking to find or discover throughout the work of this book. I don’t know what it is going to turn into. My only prayer is that at least one person can pick it up and put it down with a deeper connection to You. God, I don’t know what You plan to do through these words, but I know that You do have a plan. I trust that. So, here I am. This is the rawest form of myself; Lord, use me. Take these hands, take this brain of mine, take it all. I can’t do any of this without You. You asked me to write this; here I am. Your humble servant. At Your service. Let Your words run through my hands. Let Your love run through these veins. Heavenly Father, refresh me every day so that I can hear what You have for me. I won’t even try to claim these words as my own. I’m simply just a part of the plan.

Lord, I pray a blessing over everyone who comes into contact with these frail pages. You brought them here for a reason. We may never understand the reason, but I know You took Your time to place this work into the hands they are in right now.

Lord, thank You for the gifts You have given me. I don’t know exactly what my future looks like, but I know that You do. I trust that these gifts from Heaven will lead me to the exact spot You want me at. I trust you.

Lastly, I want to thank You for all of the support You have poured into my life. Whether this support comes from You directly or from the people You have placed in my life, I have noticed it. I am blessed beyond measure. I thank You for that.

As my best friend, I want to tell You that I am pumped to see what You do through this little book. I am so excited to hear about the lives changed and stories to come. I pray for vision for the readers of this book. You are teaching me; You are teaching them.

I love you.

Amen.

Dear Reader,

Hello, newfound friend. How are you today? I don’t know your name and I don’t know where you’re from, but I’ve been praying for you. This is going to be an adventure for the both of us. I hope you are ready to take it on with me. I want you to know that I truly believe you found this book for a reason. It’s not an accident that you got this as a gift, or that you picked it up and just couldn’t put it down. It’s not an accident that it was recommended for you based on previous purchases. God put this in your life for some reason. Are you ready to see why?

There are a few tips I have on how to read this book. First, grab some coffee. Coffee makes everything better. Coffee (and the gracious love of God, of course) influenced the stories and lessons that can be found in this book. Also, I wrote just about every chapter with a cup of coffee next to me. So maybe it will help you to understand my caffeine-indulged words if you yourself are caffeinated. Second, and more seriously, have an open heart. I’m just a normal person like you. God asks us all to do different things; this is just one of the things He asked me to do. I’ve never done this before, and I am really just trying to please my Heavenly Father. Aren’t we all? Third, pray. Prayer puts you in a place of conversation with God. These words may have come from my hands, but they came under careful consideration from what I felt God was telling me. At the end of the day, this is just a conversation with God. If you start in a place of openness ready to hear from Him, He will honor that and give you something to learn.

I’m not going to try and tell you that I have all of this figured out. In fact, I will be the first one to tell you that I haven’t. I’m just trying to be obedient. In my stories, I heard from God in certain ways and learned certain things. I am confident that in those same stories He will occasionally teach you something completely different than what I learned. I hope He does. That’s what is so awesome about our God. He can take one idea and apply it to everyone in the specific way that they need to hear it.

We’re on a journey, you and me. I hope you enjoy it. I sure have enjoyed it so far. There’s something about asking God to share His secrets with you and then being able to share those with His people. There’s something in here for you. You wouldn’t find yourself here without reason. There is something in this book for you. Even if it is just one sentence in the middle of the whole thing. That one sentence was written for you specifically. I really believe that. I hope I can meet you exactly where you’re at and relate to you. We’re not alone.

I open my heart with you between these covers. I am authentically vulnerable with you. I trust that God will protect me with this bold step that does not come easy for me. In this book, you find the story of me. A young girl that has made several mistakes and continues to make them. A young girl with a passion and a love for spreading God’s message of love and hope. A young girl who is just trying to listen to God. It’s messy. It’s real. It’s me.

Here’s to us. We’ve got a long journey ahead of us through these pages. We will laugh together, cry together, and learn together. I can’t wait. So, what are you waiting for? Grab your coffee, and let’s start this!

Chapter Three

Ask Your Questions

Have you ever thought about Heaven? I mean, more than just hoping to go there someday, but really got down to the details and thought about it. I think about it all the time. I have all these questions about what it will be like. I’m so curious about where I’ll be spending eternity. There’s scripture that tries to tell us what it will be like, but I still have so many questions. Guess what! God loves when we have questions! It shows Him that we are trying to understand His awe and wonder. He leaves a lot up to our imagination to see how big we think God is and can be. I think that we really cannot understand how powerful and wonderful He is. It wouldn’t make any sense to us because we’ve never seen anything so holy before. We aren’t supposed to understand everything. That would make us God and I think we can all agree that we are nowhere near close to being as cool as God.

This can be a confusing topic to talk about, so I ask that you come with me on a journey to understand how to question the Maker of the Stars. I say journey, because I still don’t have all the answers myself. I still struggle with how and when to question God. This is a journey for both you and me. I hope we can find some clarity together.

You know when the teacher says, There’s no such thing as a stupid question, well, I agree with that. However, I think there is one thing missing. There is no such thing as a stupid question, BUT there is a time and a place for every question. If you are in math class, it is probably not the time to ask the teacher the boiling point of water. Once you get to science class though, ask away, and ask boldly. So, our first point is to make sure we ask God questions at the right time and place. If you are in the middle of labor, I wouldn’t suggest asking God what you need to do with your next paycheck. Know your situation, and look for a clear and relatable time to ask your questions.

Second, be bold in your asking. Don’t be shy. I know. I get it. It can be intimidating. I remember, in my early years of school, I would panic every time the teacher called on me to answer a question. You definitely wouldn’t catch me asking any questions either. There was no way I was going to volunteer to talk in front of my class to admit that I didn’t quite understand something. No way. I would rather do anything else, but the help comes in the asking. If we never ask, we will never know.

During the summer between my ninth and tenth grade years, one of my teachers was planning a trip to Europe with her daughter. Her daughter was my friend, and she looking for more people to go with her. Traveling has always been something that I have been passionate about. I want to see everything God created. I want to go everywhere. So, when I heard about this trip, I was just wishing that I could go. However, after my mother was medically retired from the United States Air Force before we thought she would be, money was a little tight. By a little tight, I mean that I remember my parents talking in the front seat about how we had to stop eating out and only eat at the house, and eat only things that came in bulk. My parents did a great job of not letting us know exactly how bad it was, but I knew that going to Europe was out of the question. I decided I would drop my dream and not ask my parents. There’s my first mistake. I gave up on a dream I never even asked about. A few days later, I had a sleepover with one of my best friends who was also interested in going to Europe, and she blabbed on and on about it. When she left, my mom stopped me with a kind smile and asked if we could talk. I thought I was in trouble because we were too loud laughing the night before; I would always get a noise complaint when I had friends