Story of the Tablecloth- Miracles Can Happen at Christmas Time!

Story of the tablecloth:“Miracles Can Happen at Christmas Time” 

(copied and shared with joy!)

A few days before Christmas a number of years ago a terrible storm hit a suburb in Brooklyn, NY.   A driving rain hit the area and lasted for two days.

On Dec. 21 a pastor went over to his church which was an old building and his heart sank when he saw that the roof had leaked, causing a large area of plaster to fall off the wall just behind the pulpit.  The whole front of the church looked terrible. 

After cleaning up the mess as best he could, he thought about postponing the Christmas Eve service.  On the way home he noticed a local business having a flea market sale for charity and he stopped in.

One of the items for sale was a lovely ivory colored hand crocheted table cloth with exquisite work, fine colors and a Cross embroidered right in the center.   It was just the right size to cover up the hole in the plaster, so the minister bought it and headed back to the church.    By this time it had started to snow and he noticed an older woman standing on the corner who had missed the bus.   He invited her to wait in the warm church for the next bus forty-five minutes later.

She sat in the pew and paid no attention to him as he got a ladder and hung the table cloth up on the wall behind the pulpit.   The minister couldn’t believe how lovely it looked.  It covered up the whole problem area.

Then he noticed the woman walking down the center aisle, her face white as snow.

“Sir,” she asked, “where did you get that tablecloth?”

The minister explained.  Then the woman asked him to check the lower right corner and see if the initials EBG were crocheted into it.   They were.   They were the initials of the woman who had made that tablecloth thirty-five years earlier in Austria.

Then she explained that before WWII she and her husband were well-to-do people in Austria.  When the Nazis came she was forced to leave.  Her husband was going to follow her the next week.  But she was captured, sent to prison and never saw her husband or home again and was able to get to America after the war.

The minister wanted to give her the tablecloth but, she made him keep it for the church

The minister insisted on driving her home which was on the other side of Staten Island

She had only been in Brooklyn for the day for a housecleaning job.

 On Christmas Eve the church had a wonderful service.  The building was almost filled.

At the end of the service, an older man continued to sit in the pew after others had left.

He asked the minister where he’d gotten the tablecloth on the front wall because it was identical to one his wife had made in Austria before the war.   He told the minister how he forced his wife to flee for safety and he was supposed to follow her but he got arrested and put in prison.  He never saw her or his home again, but finally made it to America.

The minister asked him if he would allow him to take him for a little ride.  They drove to Staten Island and a certain apartment the minister had visited earlier.  There the minister witnessed the greatest Christmas reunion he could ever imagine.

                                                              ***

Have a blessed Christmas and EXPECT a miracle in your life and family!

Elva Cobb Martin

Elva Cobb Martin is 2020 President of the SC Chapter of American Christian Fiction Writers. She is a former school teacher and a graduate of Anderson University and Erskine College. She has three inspirational novels published, Summer of Deception, a contemporary romantic suspense, and two historical romances, In a Pirate’s Debt, and Marisol. All three have spent time on Amazon’s 100 Best Sellers List for Women’s Religious Fiction. She has indie published a Bible study on Amazon, Power Over Satan, on the  believer's authority in Christ. Decision, Charisma, and Home Life have carried Elva's articles. She and her husband Dwayne are retired ministers. A mother and grandmother, Elva lives in South Carolina. Connect with her on her web site http://www.elvamartin.com, Twitter www.twitter.com/ElvaCobbMartin; Facebook http://www.facebook.com/elvacobbmartin;  and Pinterest https://www.pinterest.com/elvacobbmartin  
 Link to her romance novels and non-fiction works on Amazon: http://amzn.to/2pOgVHI  

Easter and the First Spring

by Elva Cobb Martin

This week I want to share again an Easter article I wrote some years ago.  Here it goes.

"For God so loved the world, He gave his only son." John 3:16

WHEN SPRING CAME

There is no shouting in the grave. The raging oceans and the world's clamor are silenced. Spring never comes. Seeds do not sprout. No fruit is harvested.

Except for one grave, dug before that first Spring in stony ground for a bruised and broken Seed.

The three women who came to that grave that morning knew about death and preparation of the body. They knew nothing about Spring (not that Spring).

They brought embalming spices, and their main concern was how to move the heavy stone from the the door. Perhaps they wept as they walked along, if they had any tears left.

Perhaps relief had settled on their hearts. Relief that the agony of the Crucifixion was over. Relief that the Sabbath was over, and they could anoint the body of their Friend. Relief--even peace--from the knowledge that they had served their friend in life as they now intended to do in death. They had not saved their flowers for the grave, as some do.

But there was no joy in their hearts. In that day before Spring, only an enemy or a fool would have felt joy at a grave.

So they came, with their dearly purchased spices, prepared to do all they knew how for the dead. To slow the rot and curb the odor with the embalming spices.

Last at the cross, now first at the tomb, the three women, with their womanly thoughts, concerns, and fears, trudged along that garden path oblivious that Spring had come and that the first fruit of that stony ground was within their touch.

"I am the way the truth and the life. No man comes to the Father, but by me."John 14:6

 Mary Magdalene, the Bible tells us, was the first to know. Her joyful shout, "Rabboni!" shattered the silent, dark shroud that had lain over mankind through the ages.

The jars of embalming spices fell to the ground as useless as the structures man had built to reach God since the beginning of time. God had reached down to man! Spring had come at last!

After 2,000 years it is still news. It is still news because men still build useless structures, try embalming spices, or climb into trees, as Zaccheus did, to see God.

And most amazing of all, God is still passing by!

                                                           ***

Note: The above is the very first article I attempted to write and it sold to a magazine! Whoever dreamed a novice writer could make an Easter issue? Just goes to show, you and the Lord can accomplish great things! So keep writing.

What does Easter mean to you? Besides the wonderful spiritual meaning, I love the beautiful season of spring. Below are some photos that inspire Spring in my heart. Hope they do the same for you.

Be blessed,
Elva Cobb Martin

Cherry Blossoms

Brookgreen Gardens Old Gate , Myrtle Beach, SC

Savannah, Georgia, azalea garden square

Brittany, France coast

New Orleans garden

Georgetown, SC 

The Sunset Mystery -How Did Jesus Rise the THIRD Day?

by Elva Cobb Martin

I've ministered quite a few Easter messages and articles but Jonathan Cahn's Book of Mysteries devotional has given me a new insight. He has a devotional he entitles "The Sunset Mystery."

It's always been a bit of snag for me to understand Jesus rose the THIRD day when the Bible plainly states he was put in the tomb on Friday afternoon and, to the Western way of thinking, Sunday is two days later, not three.

But this is not true in the Hebrew and Biblical thinking. Jonathan says that when the sun goes down, that is the end of the day and the beginning of new day. Everything that happened that day is now in the past, and a new day has begun at sundown or 6 PM.

This helps explain several things:
1) Why the Jews begin their Sabbath at 6 pm on Friday and it ends at 6 PM on Saturday.
2) So do all their holidays. They begin the day before at 6 PM.
3) It began in Genesis 1. God established this when he said "and the evening and the morning were the second day" and so on.

Jonathan relates this sunset mystery to Jesus. Jesus was the Light of the World. When he died on Calvary, the "light of the world" went down. All that happened that day was in the past, including payment for all mankind's sin. When we repent and accept Christ ALL our mistakes and sorrows now become PAST. A new day begins dawning as the SON rises in our hearts.

Back to Jesus rising the THIRD day. Here's how it is actually accounted:

Day 1 began at 6 PM on Thursday when Christ agonized in prayer in the garden during the night. This day ended at 6 PM on Friday as Jesus was laid in the tomb before sunset. They had to get His body in the tomb before sunset or it would have been on the Sabbath which began at 6 PM Friday.

Day 2 began at 6 PM on Friday and ended at 6 PM on Saturday (like the Jewish sabbath).

Day 3 began at 6 PM Saturday and ended at 6 PM Sunday --so Jesus indeed arose the THIRD day.

Finally "getting this" impacted my prayer life (and my writing time) in a special way. My first calling is as an intercessor. For many years I've spent quite some time in my prayer closet in early mornings to hopefully get my prayer lists and spiritual warfare in at the start of each new day. This meant I usually got very little writing done in the fresh morning time.

But now I understand the "new day" begins at sunset the day before. I have started doing my long intercession lists and spiritual warfare in the evenings before going to bed, about 9 PM. It's like something has fallen into place in my life that wasn't there before. I get much better writing done in the fresh morning time.  And I believe the people on my intercession list are probably getting better sleep, and hopefully awaken the next morning all prayed for and ready to go.

Have a blessed Easter Season,
Elva Martin

Elva Cobb Martin is vice-president of the South Carolina Chapter of American Christian Fiction Writers. She is a former school teacher and a graduate of Anderson University and Erskine College. She has two inspirational novels published with Lighthouse Publishers of the Carolinas. Summer of Deception, a contemporary romantic suspense, and an historical romance, In a Pirate’s Debt. Both have spent time on Amazon’s 100 Best Sellers List for Women’s Religious Fiction. She has indie published a Bible study on Amazon, Power Over Satan, on the  believer's authority in Christ. Decision, Charisma, and Home Life have carried Elva's articles. She and her husband Dwayne are semi-retired ministers. A mother and grandmother, Elva lives in South Carolina. Connect with her on her web site http://www.elvamartin.com,on Twitter www.twitter.com/ElvaCobbMartin; Facebook http://www.facebook.com/elvacobbmartin;  and Pinterest https://www.pinterest.com/elvacobbmartin    

 Link to her romance novels and non-fiction works on Amazon: http://amzn.to/2pOgVHI

When Spring First Came

Remembering Resurrection!   by Elva Cobb Martin

Allston Family Cemetery, Brookgreen Gardens, Myrtle Beach  SC

There is no shouting in the grave. The raging oceans and the world's clamor are silenced. Spring never comes. Seeds do not sprout. No fruit is harvested.

Except for one grave, dug before that first Spring in stony ground for a bruised and broken Seed.

The three women who came to that grave that morning knew about death and preparation of the body. They knew nothing about Spring (not that Spring).

They brought embalming spices, and their main concern was how to move the heavy stone from the the door. Perhaps they wept as they walked along, if they had any tears left.

Perhaps relief had settled on their hearts. Relief that the agony of the Crucifixion was over. Relief that the Sabbath was over, and they could anoint the body of their Friend. Relief--even peace--from the knowledge that they had served their friend in life as they now intended to do in death. They had not saved their flowers for the grave, as some do.

But there was no joy in their hearts. In that day before Spring, only an enemy or a fool would have felt joy at a grave.

"For God so loved the world, He gave his only son." John 3:16

So they came, with their dearly purchased spices, prepared to do all they knew how for the dead. To slow the rot and curb the odor with the embalming spices.

Last at the cross, now first at the tomb, the three women, with their womanly thoughts, concerns, and fears, trudged along that garden path oblivious that Spring had come and that the first fruit of that stony ground was within their touch.

"I am the way the truth and the life. No man comes to the Father, but by me."John 14:6

 

Mary Magdalene, the Bible tells us, was the first to know. Her joyful shout, "Rabboni!" shattered the silent, dark shroud that had lain over mankind through the ages.

The jars of embalming spices fell to the ground as useless as the structures man had built to reach God since the beginning of time. God had reached down to man! Spring had come at last!

After 2,000 years it is still news. It is still news because men still build useless structures, try embalming spices, or climb into trees, as Zaccheus did, to see God.

And most amazing of all, God is still passing by!

                                                           ***

Note: The above is the very first article I sold to a magazine some years ago.
Whoever dreamed a novice writer could make an Easter issue? Just goes to show, you and the Lord can accomplish great things! So keep writing.

What does Easter mean to you? Besides the wonderful spiritual meaning, I love the beautiful season of spring. Below are some photos that inspire Spring in my heart. Hope they do the same for you.

Be blessed,
Elva Cobb Martin

Cherry Blossoms

Brookgreen Gardens Old Gate , Myrtle Beach, SC

Savannah, Georgia, azalea garden square

Brittany, France coast

New Orleans garden

Georgetown, SC 

Questions Interviewers Ask Me (and might ask YOU)

by Elva Cobb Martin

Today I would like to share some questions I am being asked in author interviews for the March 24th release of my debut novel, Summer of Deception. This might help you know me better, and also help prepare you for requested interviews. ( :

How long have you been writing?

 I have been writing stories and poems since seventh grade. I recall writing a story about a race horse winning a race, even with a broken leg. Only in fiction, my sweet teacher informed me! My writing grew naturally out of my great love of reading. As a child I was a voracious reader first of childhood fairy tales, then other fiction, like Black Beauty, Flicka, and Nancy Drew Mysteries. Later, I loved Charles Dickens, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Emily Dickinson, and Poe. I’ve actually written dozens of poems myself, some of which were published in college anthologies. My most beloved book today, however, better than any fiction or poetry, is the Bible. I love studying it, teaching it, and confessing its great promises.

What was your most embarrassing moment as a writer?

Some years ago Charisma Magazine sent me to Virginia Beach to interview the Revs. John and Anne Gimenez for the magazine’s Most Outstanding Churches in America series. I invited a sweet elderly church lady to drive up with me. She turned out to be a nervous talker, and I overshot an exit to Virginia Beach, and ended up 60 miles out of the way. When we finally arrived at the church member’s house late, where we were to spend the night, I had a black headache and nausea. I barely said hello to the family and went straight to their bathroom and threw up. Wonder what they thought of the wonder woman Charisma sent to interview their pastors?

What spurred you to write this novel?

 I fell in love with an historic, romantic, southern plantation I toured in Charleston, South Carolina--Boone Hall. I also discovered some old newspaper clippings about a famous coastal drug investigation in the 1980’s organized by a U.S. Attorney, Henry McMaster. Those clippings led to the suspense plot in Summer of Deception. Henry McMaster, by the way, is the new Governor of South Carolina. Do I plan to send him copy of the book? In good southern vernacular: Yessirree.

What has been your most difficult challenge as an author?

Learning to write constantly in deep POV and showing, not telling. The two are definitely connected. 

How do you process the rejections and/or negative reviews?

Summer of Deception was rejected 26 times by editors and agents before I received a contract offer.  I learned from each rejection, kept polishing my craft, and refused TO GIVE UP!  Pastor Steven Furtick says it best: “Rejection is just a sign of a new direction.” I call myself a rewriter.

What do you feel is the best success so far in your writing career?

Receiving a contract on my first inspirational novel, Summer of Deception, and justifying to my wonderful husband all this time I spend at the computer and paying for writers’ conferences. ( :

What would be your top three pieces of advice to newer, up and coming authors?

1) Determine you will never give up or quit writing, revising, polishing, submitting, and praying over your writing.

2) Network with other writers, groups, and attend writing conferences. Writer friends and critiques are so important.

3) Learn how to choose and submit well to editors and agents by studying their sites and submission guidelines.

As a Christian author, what would you like your legacy to be?

I am not writing inspirational novels just to give someone  an exciting, satisfactory read, although that is certainly a goal. Never would I go through all this toil and effort for great sales either, although that is definitely a goal. My greatest desire is to impart some nugget of God’s truth that might help someone come to know Christ as Lord and Savior, or find a closer walk with Him, or a deeper faith in God’s blessing and power available to us, and do it through story, rather than preaching.

What is your current work in progress?

I am currently working on Book 2 in an historical series set in the 1700’s. Book 1, In a Pirate’s Debt, will be released by Lighthouse Publishers of the Carolinas (LPC) in May, 2017. (The photo is one of my sample covers I sent to the publisher.)

I also have a cozy mystery simmering on the back burner. (Hope it doesn’t boil dry before I get to it.)

So glad you dropped by. Have you another question for me?  Do leave a comment and it will be so appreciated if you click on the social media buttons below to share this blog. 

Blessings on your day,

Elva

 Elva Cobb Martin is president of the South Carolina Chapter of American Christian Fiction Writers (2014-2017). She is a former school teacher and a graduate of Anderson University and Erskine College. Decision, Charisma, and Home Life have carried her articles. She has published a Bible study, Power Over Satan, available on Amazon.com. Summer of Deception, a release by Pelican Book Group, is her debut novel. She has also completed an historical romance, In a Pirate’s Debt, slated for release by Lighthouse Publishing of the Carolinas in May, 2017. Elva is represented by Jim Hart of Hartline Literary. A mother and grandmother, Elva lives with her husband Dwayne and a mini-dachshund writing helper, Lucy, in upstate South Carolina. She also leads an internet prayer task force praying for a Great Awakening. She would love for  you to connect with her and/or sign up for her newsletter. Email: elvacmartin@gmail.com; web site www.elvamartin.com, her blog http://carolinaromancewithelvamartin.blogspot.com;  Twitter http://twitter.com/ElvaCobbMartin;   Facebook http://www.facebook.com/elvacobbmartin, and Pinterest https://www.pinterest.com/elvacobbmartin/

When Spring Came

Remembering Resurrection!   by Elva Cobb Martin

Allston Family Cemetery, Brook Green Gardens  SC

There is no shouting in the grave. The raging oceans and the world's clamor are silenced. Spring never comes. Seeds do not sprout. No fruit is harvested.

Except for one grave, dug before that first Spring in stony ground for a bruised and broken Seed.

The three women who came to that grave that morning knew about death and preparation of the body. They knew nothing about Spring (not that Spring).

They brought embalming spices, and their main concern was how to move the heavy stone from the the door. Perhaps they wept as they walked along, if they had any tears left.

Perhaps relief had settled on their hearts. Relief that the agony of the Crucifixion was over. Relief that the Sabbath was over, and they could anoint the body of their Friend. Relief--even peace--from the knowledge that they had served their friend in life as they now intended to do in death. They had not saved their flowers for the grave, as some do.

But there was no joy in their hearts. In that day before Spring, only an enemy or a fool would have felt joy at a grave.

"For God so loved the world, He gave his only son." John 3:16

So they came, with their dearly purchased spices, prepared to do all they knew how for the dead. To slow the rot and curb the odor with the embalming spices.

Last at the cross, now first at the tomb, the three women, with their womanly thoughts, concerns, and fears, trudged along that garden path oblivious that Spring had come and that the first fruit of that stony ground was within their touch.

"I am the way the truth and the life. No man comes to the Father, but by me."

Mary Magdalene, the Bible tells us was the first to know. Her joyful shout, "Rabboni!" shattered the silent, dark shroud that had lain over mankind through the ages.

The jars of embalming spices fell to the ground as useless as the structures man had built to reach God since the beginning of time. God had reached down to man! Spring had come at last!

After 2,000 years it is still news. It is still news because men still build useless structures, try embalming spices, or climb into trees, as Zaccheus did, to see God.

And most amazing of all, God is still passing by!

                                                           ***

Note: The above is the very first article I sold to a magazine some years ago.
Whoever dreamed a novice writer could make an Easter issue? Just goes to show, you and the Lord can accomplish great things! So keep writing.

What does Easter mean to you? Besides the wonderful spiritual meaning, I love the beautiful season of spring. Below are some photos that inspire Spring in my heart. Hope they do the same for you.

Be blessed,
Elva Cobb Martin

Cherry Blossoms

Brookgreen Gardens Old Gate , Myrtle Beach, SC

Savannah, Georgia, azalea garden square

Brittany, France coast

New Orleans garden

Georgetown, SC 

New Life