About Assertion, a Both/And America, and God Active in Science

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by Rosemary B. Althoff

Three topics come together in Rosemary B. Althoff’s Soul’s Warfare series, They are all taught in the Bible by the Lord of Words, that is, Jesus. And, as far as my limited education and experience goes, the concepts are the theme of all my endeavors.

Here are the conflicts in the stories:

  • Assertive communication.     In Book 1, The Hot Marble, of the Soul’s Warfare series, lack of assertion gets characters in trouble. The main character, young physicist Lewis’s best friend Fred betrays him because of jealousy and low self-esteem.
  • A unified, both/and America.      In Book 3, The Horned Edge, and the in-progress Book 4 (From Silence to Singing), a sinister political and spiritual movement that fosters divisive thinking threatens to conquer two worlds—including Earth and Lanthra.
  • God active in the physical universe.      In Book 2, Lewis learns the hard way that human endeavor alone cannot conquer the enemy.

How can people interact without fighting? Through respectful assertion. How can a nation in conflict heal? With confirming communication, which is dropping the all-or-nothing thinking and replacing it with (informed) both/and thinking. How can people who love God bring Him into the world’s conversation? By realizing that the omnipresent, omnipotent, omniscient loving One who made all universes (if there are more than one!) is active in our physical reality—in the past, in the future, and right now.

Making peace

with healthy communication

NEW YEAR’S RESOLUTIONS … IN DECEMBER

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My theme for the end of 2023 going into 2024 is Rest.

Rest means choosing to take care of myself while loving others. So, I have challenged myself to moderate eating, increase exercise by inches rather than miles, and schedule days off. I love my work of writing, and I choose to reward myself for getting writing done with things that help me rest. I may be active when I’m resting—for instance, riding my bike in the park and then going out for ice cream. I may sit and read. I may hang out with friends and family.

A book I heartily recommend to help people make their New Year’s decisions is The Next Right Thing by Emily P. Freeman.

Photo by Johannes Plenio on Pexels.com

For the Sci-Fi Soul’s Warfare series: New Book Covers in the Works

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by Rosemary B. Althoff

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Resting on a Truth

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I thirst for God’s peace because I feel the strong compulsion to rush, rush, do my part to save the world. Truly Eve drank the devil’s lie, “ You shall be like God.” I’m tempted to believe that lie, too.


But what I really want is my soul’s rest. Perhaps I can rest in the truth that Jesus “rules the world with truth and grace, and makes the nations prove the glory of his righteousness and wonders of his love.”

AI Scammers Targeting Authors

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Dear Writer Friends,

I recently received an email from “Alyce Brielle Frick,” a name of a supposed book reviewer. The email raved about my book. It also included a short but compelling sob-story that grabbed my heart. After a few email exchanges, “Alyce” offered me stellar long-term book marketing services. I was enticed. I asked to see the person’s fees and services sheet.

I was quickly being pulled in to sign up for Alyce’s services.

Before I made a commitment, I prayed and slept on the offer before taking any action. (Thank you, Lord Jesus!)

The next day I thought, “Better check out this person before I take any further action.” (Thank you again, Lord Jesus!)

My Google search found comment links from Tik-Tok and Facebook, all positive. But one link that came up carried a big warning: 

Alyce Brielle Frick is a fake. The sender is using AI information about you and your book to sound like “she” knows you, is a committed Christian, and “she” is also using AI to generate a nice photo of herself and to craft emotion-rich messages to engage your sympathy and trust.

I have safely pulled away from dealings with the sender of those emails.

Since AI-using scammers are now abundant, please be very cautious about offers and praises you receive in emails and messages. Some scammers will even impersonate a close friend or relative to convince you to act on their behalf. (For instance, give money or personal information.)

A suggestion from a real Christian podcaster (Thomas Umstattd,Jr.) exhorts you and me to talk with our friends and relatives about verifying identity by choosing a private word or phrase that you only share between yourselves, what I call a “relationship authenticator.”

Finally, pray with me:

“Dear heavenly Father, please thwart scammers by enforcing tighter security on users of phone numbers, emails, messages, websites, and the like. In Jesus’s holy name, Amen.”

God bless you.

Rosemary B. Althoff

Steps to Excellence in What I Do.

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A question to consider:

What steps can you take to commit to getting better at what you do?

As of now, I feel like I’m floundering with the use of my time to create. But perhaps that feeling is a misperception. “Give yourself grace, Rose.”

I have travelled about 2,000 miles driving and now I’m home. Today I have plenty to do, yet at noon I am still in my pajamas. After sleeping late, I’ve made and eaten a nice breakfast with Skip, had a good Lutheran Hour devotion with him, and sat to check email and this devotion. Here’s what I focus on today:

“What steps can you take to commit to getting better at what you do?”

Here goes:

  1. Work on my June 2026 newsletter for one-half hour.
  2. Get out and look at the landscape painting how-to book I bought.
  3. Prayer time (15 min.) for next week’s creative tasks and scheduling those.

Now to get up from my easy chair. I will “start by starting,” as Meryl Streep said.

What do you do that you’d like to do excellently?

A God-sized Goal, or BiHaG (Big Hairy Goal).

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Tell me: What is your Big Hairy Goal?

I want to show a whole lot of people worldwide that God is real and lovingly active in the broken physical world for those who seek Him.

To do this BiHaG, I plan to finish and market my sci-fi books (published via the Jurnee division of Winged Publications), and also begin a series of Church Sci-Fi Thrillers and market them, too.

Tell me: What is your Big Hairy Goal?

My BiHaG has already started with the Sci-fi Soul’s Warfare series.