Friends are Treasured Live Roses Here.
Come, walk and talk with Jesus too,
in the Beautiful Garden of Prayer!

Ruth Marlene Friesen - author and site owner of Ruthe's Secret Roses - Welcome!

Ruth Marlene Friesen: Welcome!

This site is like Ruthe, the heroine of my novel, Ruthe's Secret Roses

Ruthe is . . .
intimate with God,
prays a lot,
a bleeding heart for the hurting,
a big sister,
rescues friends,
has creative ideas,
likes to give surprise gifts,
loyal to friends,
dreams of love and marriage,
dreams of writing a book
goes the extra mile

So this site offers;
good books to read!
help to become Friends with Jesus,
The One Ideal Real Friend
a cure for loneliness
An Older Sister's Coping Secret
how to pray Panic Prayers,
& regularly/daily
devotionals,
how to grow in faith
Christian mentoring,
how to share your faith
character development
how to become a writer

Join The Customer Advantage - so I can bless you AND your friends!

Solitude - and How to Use It

Solitude is not loneliness and it brings many blessings, but in looking for help to explain or define solitude well, I found a number of interesting solitude quotes that I rather like;

Language... has created the word "loneliness" to express the pain of being alone. And it has created the word "solitude" to express the glory of being alone.
~Paul Johannes Tillich, The Eternal Now

We visit others as a matter of social obligation. How long has it been since we have visited with ourselves?
~Morris Adler

Loneliness can be conquered only by those who can bear solitude.
~Paul Tillich

Everybody needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in and pray in, where nature may heal and give strength to body and soul.
~John Muir

The happiest of all lives is a busy solitude.
~Voltaire

True silence is the rest of the mind, and is to the spirit what sleep is to the body, nourishment and refreshment.
~William Penn

My Favourites:
Inside myself is a place where I live all alone, and that's where I renew my springs that never dry up.
~Pearl Buck

A solitude is the audience-chamber of God.
~Walter Savage Landor

But the delights of solitude don't only consist of dreaming. Next in enjoyment, I think, comes planning.
~Anna Neagle

Converse with men makes sharp the glittering wit, but God to man doth speak in solitude.
~John Stuart Blackie

I too, have found that being alone is like being in the presence of God, where I can tell Him all my thoughts and ideas, and when I listen, He tells me His. If that is called solitude, I love it and look forward to it. if it should be called loneliness, even that would become a positive word for me, and I would delight in loneliness.

But if you cringe at the thought of being alone, you will not think this way. Would you like to though? You can learn to love times of solitude.

How to get good quality solitude;

Plan for times alone - get away from others

If you get bored easily plan something to read slowly, thoughtfully

Bring a prayer list – for intercession or questions for God

Remember God already knows you perfectly - you have no secrets from Him; if you are humble and open to Him, He will gladly meet with you one on one.

Use times of solitude to rest your spirit, (maybe your body too), to think things through, to learn, to reconnect with God, and to enjoy the ideas that come to you when alert but relaxed in His presence.

How solitude will benefit you;
You will come to understand yourself better, your limitations and your gifts and future

If you spend time in the Bible you'll come to know God better too

You will be surprised at the solutions and great ideas that come to you in those times of solitude and even after you return to your faster pace.

Remember, to give it time though, your whole being needs to be present, body, soul and spirit, and alert, and listening. If you are wiped out from too little sleep, or some big crises, you need to catch up on sleep first.

Also, if you are trying to block out some emotional, or spiritual pain, or avoiding people because you have broken relationships, you need to honestly work those things through first, or you are not so likely to come away brimming over with ideas I just did yesterday.

My Own Experiences with Solitude:
From about my early school days, when I discovered that not everyone else appreciated my flights of imagination, I have learned to enjoy being off by myself. What I now know as solitude.

There have been years, mostly in my teens, 20s and 30s, when I yearned for a perfect husband who would understand me, and we would be able to carry out some of the more fantastic ideas I had. Even then, I often had private prayer sessions where I let out all my thoughts and feelings to the Lord. And I would not be a sane woman today, if I had not had that relationship!

Ruthe's Secret Roses - by Ruth Marlene Friesen

My novel's heroine, Ruthe Veer, naturally received a character that enjoyed times alone too, and to read this novel, is to follow her in and out of such quick retreats into intimate minutes and hours with her precious Best Friend, who taught her how to win many other friends - simply by introducing Him to them. Ruthe uses solitude for prayer and draw inspiration for ideas to solve problems - usually a dilemma of a new friend she has just met. Should you wonder what such a life might be like, you ought to read Ruthe's Secret Roses. :)

Eventually I came around to understand that with the Lord Jesus as my very Best Friend and Confidant, anyone else would be a disappointment. It's better to spend my times of solitude with the Perfect One.

The strength, the ideas, the vitality I gain from my hours of solitude are now things I count on, when I plan my holidays of solitude away from my usual busy pace. In fact, those hours guide me and charge me up for my non-solitude days.

It seems many people around me are totally blind and deaf to this great blessing. So if you are shaking your head and turning away, - okay, Bye-bye.

If something about my kind of solitude calls to you, I urge you to try it. Choosing to be by yourself is not a quick fix. But it will grow on you, and you will find that the Lord's company, and sure, even your own, is really very comfortable and inspiring. Nor do you have to live alone 24/7 to enjoy some sweet times of solitude.

Ruthe's Secret Roses - by Ruth Marlene Friesen - now available in print at BookLocker.com!

Ruthe's Secret Roses available in softcover! Purchase it at BookLocker.com and it will be in the mail to you within 48 hours!

The novel:
Order NOW
Author
Read it Right NOW!

Available at:
BookLocker.com
Amazon.ca
Amazon.com

Or ASK at any bookstore!

Have the RoseBouquet
(my inspirational blog/RSS feed)
sent to you weekly by email: