My Words to Live By

What is success? To laugh often and much; To win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children; To earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends; To appreciate beauty; To find the best in others; To leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch or a redeemed social condition; To know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived; That is to have succeeded. - Ralph Waldo Emerson


Great Night!

We had a fantastic night tonight at church (springhillbc.blogspot.com) with guest quartet Paul's Journey. If any of you in the south Alabama area would like to hear some great music this weekend, head on down to Harmony at the Gulf in Orange Beach tomorrow through Sunday. Paul's Journey, along with many other groups, will be ministering through their musical talents all weekend.

I encourage you to visit their website and check out their music: paulsjourneyonline.com. You will be blessed!

Their message tonight through music was just the energy boost I needed to rejuice my system to make it through the rest of this week. I haven't been feeling well lately, which is why I haven't been blogging much (sorry!). I'll catch up soon, I promise!!

Tonight, I want to leave you with this thought: Are you doing what God wants you to be doing?? I don't just mean overall in the big scheme of life. I'm talking about today, tomorrow, this week- are you doing what God wants you to be doing right now, in this moment, in this situation, under these circumstances??

No matter what is going on in your day to day, God has a purpose and a plan for every aspect of your life, not just the big decisions. He may lead you to go to Hardees instead of McDonalds for breakfast because the cashier there needs you to witness to her - who knows! When you surrender to Him, even the little, seemingly insignificant things can turn into ministry moments that could change someone's life... maybe even your own.

Doing the Happy Dance!!!

I'm done! I'm done! I'm really really done!!!!!

Whoo-hoo! Hip hip hooray!!! My novel is complete and ready for publication. This is a day I've been working toward my whole life but thought would never happen because I didn't believe in myself enough to go for it in the past. I thank God for putting people in my life who do believe in me and who have pushed me to see this through.

In high school, becoming a writer is all I really wanted to do (other than play in the WNBA, of course), and to have this dream come to fruition a decade later overwhelms me. To be able to walk into my ten-year class reunion as a published novelist... it's more than I thought I'd ever accomplish.

Thank you for your prayers over the last year, and especially the last few months as I've been finishing up my manuscript. My excitement is beyond what my words can express (which is kind of bad since I'm a writer). One of the most exciting aspects of being finished is that I can get back to blogging!! I have stored up so many things I want to put onto paper while I've forced tunnel-vision on myself in order to meet my deadline, and I look forward to sharing all of those thoughts with you here.

2013 is going to be the best year of my life!! I can feel it in my bones!! :-)

Thank you, Lord, for your blessings!

No write...

Today is one of those days when I feel I can't do anything right... which, in turn, means no writing gets done. You know how those days are. Fortunately, none of my problems are really even big enough to call 'problems'; they're just inconveniences, I guess.

Primary mess up at the moment - my husband is searching high and low for something he swears I've hidden from him (which is likely true since I'm usually to blame for putting things away then forgetting where they are), but I have no idea where it is. I'm sure he'll eventually give up, then I'll have to look for it and probably find it in a matter of minutes, which will then prompt him to believe I knew all along where it was (but I don't - I promise). Editing note- He did give up, and I found it in 5 minutes. To his credit, I was the one to put it away and forget where it was, just as I expected.

Frustrating time-waster number two - I spent a while this morning carefully planning a grocery list with coupons, then the cashier wouldn't accept some of them (which makes absolutely no sense since the coupons came from the same place as others she processed for me with no problem and they clearly were not out of date). So instead of saving $2, I spent an extra $6 because I didn't want to take the additional time to return the items to the shelves. Big deal, I know you're thinking, $6, whoop-dee-whoop.

Lastly, while I'm trying to concentrate on editing my novel (with my husband loudly rummaging through every nook and cranny of my house and yard), my phone keeps ringing with Avon customers looking for their products. My Avon shipment came in a few days behind schedule, so I just got it in this morning instead of last week. I guess I'll be spending this afternoon working on that job instead of writing.

Tomorrow is already booked working a temp job, and I go back to my teaching job next week, so I'm running out of time to edit my novel and, therefore, feeling so frustrated that I'm letting little bity things like $2 in coupons throw me out of my rhythm.

Lord, please help me look past these little things that often get in my way. You know how I struggle with maintaining my stress level and thrive with a steady routine, which gets complicated by even these minor mishaps. Please help me to not get caught up with worrying about these minute details of life that really don't matter at all, and help me to shake off all things - big or small - that would put me in a less than happy mood. Thank you for a house with so many closets that things get lost. Thank you that I have time to clip coupons and for the dollars I did save and that I'm able to buy groceries without pinching pennies. And thank you for my successful Avon business that keeps me busy even on what I consider my off days. Please help me finish editing my book and guide me so the finishing product will glorify You. In Jesus name, Amen.