In Awe Of God’s Plans For Me

I am a mature adult who has loved God my whole life. I know about His greatness and His love for me, yet I continue to be in awe of His plans for me.  One more time He shows me to “Let Go and Let God”.

I have been through all “the firsts” without my dear, loving husband. I thought  things would get easier, but in fact, this Christmas season has been rough for me. It’s been even harder this year than last year. I think maybe it was because it was so new last year. I was still in the early stages of my grief. I didn’t know how to feel. My daughter was also getting married soon after Christmas so I was preoccupied with all that being a mother of the bride entails. I have felt the emptiness in my heart this season and the longing to wrap my arms around him one more time and tell him how much I love him. I know his presence is around me and for that I am grateful, but it just isn’t the same. So I have had my pity party on more than one occasion lately, concentrating on what I missed in my life. No one else was invited. It was a private party.

Monday morning I received an email from my editor telling me she finished reading the manuscript I submitted back in September. She loved it. In fact she said I owed her a box of Kleenex. She is going to be sending me a contract on it very soon.  I checked my email daily since early October, hoping to hear word from her. Nothing came. Instead, during the week of Christmas, when I needed something to cheer me up, the email arrived. Once again, God knew exactly the time I needed to receive this. It has added joy to my heart because this book is very special to me. This is also the last manuscript Randy knew I was working on. He cried also when I read him parts of it. I know he would be doing the “happy dance” with me in celebration. In fact, maybe he is.

So my Christmas will be a little brighter than I anticipated this year. Although it will still be tough to go on, at least I know the book Randy wanted to see get published so badly is going to happen. I feel like it’s a Christmas gift to both of us.

Merry Christmas!

          

My Name in Print!!!

I believe it’s finally happening. I just received the proofs for my first published children’s chapter book! I am so excited. I can’t wait to share it with family, friends, and hopefully many others. It’s a great feeling knowing I am indeed going to be a published author.  It’s something I have wanted for so long. 

My last post was about not being motivated to write this summer. I wondered what could inspire me to get going again. It’s funny how  hearing from your publisher will do the trick. How I wish Randy were here to share in the excitement! He would have called  all of our family and friends already to tell them the news. He was such a huge supporter of my writing. I know he is smiling down on me and will be with me throughout this endeavor.

 I am proofreading the manuscript and will get it back to them in a day or so.  After that I am told it is off to the printer. I’ll keep you posted on its status. Stay tuned.

Worth The Risk

I was talking to a friend today. She was asking me about my writing and how my book was coming along. I told her about the plot content  being  foreign to me and  was having trouble with it. We continued to talk and she told me that maybe I am not supposed to know at this point why this book laid so heavily on my heart.  She said maybe if I would know I would not want to write it. We talked about how that is true in life as well. If we knew ahead of time what we would have to go through to get to the other side  would we do it?  If we knew the outcome would we try it? I think some risks are worth taking because even though we may not get the outcome we are looking for, we can come out stronger in the end.  So I continue to trudge through the words and pages until the day I can call this work a completed manuscript.