The Last Thank You

If you have been reading my blog faithfully the last few weeks, you noticed that I have been dedicating each post to one of the people or groups who helped in any way to get my book to where it is. And where is that book? It will be released tomorrow! Yeah! And I couldn't have done it without all the support from so many of you.

Last night, I was going to write about the last person on my list. Well, that blog post didn't happen because I spent the night on the couch catching up on TV with that person.

To my husband, Himey, I wouldn't be where I am today without you, and I wouldn't even be the proud Momma of Dino the Wonder Dog. You are the wind beneath my wings.

All in God's Time

A few weeks ago, I fell into this pattern of thanking everyone who is listed in the acknowledgements section of my book. Time is running out. The book will be released very soon. Who do I have left to thank?

Last week I wrote about the Green Lake Christian Writers Conference. I arrived at the conference this past August feeling the usual excitement. Five days to rejoin old friends, delve into better writing, experience speakers bring tears to our eyes from both joy and sorrow.

Sunday afternoon, I checked in at the desk and was informed that my reservation was in order but that there wasn’t a registration folder in my name. I told the woman not worry, I knew where I was going and what I was doing (for a change). A while later, when I ran into Jan, the conference chairman, I asked if she had an extra folder for me. She said they were all out and she apologized profusely, promising she would have one made up for me. I again said, don’t worry about it.

Sometime that evening, Jan presented me with my freshly stocked folder. Being the obedient conference attendee that I always am, I scanned through the papers. Nothing new, it appeared the schedule would be the same as the one I had been emailed earlier in the week and I didn’t pay any more attention to it.

Until Tuesday.

During our evening session, Jan reminded everyone of the speaker at 1:30 the following afternoon. Jeremiah Zeiset, from LifeSentence Publishing, was going to be speaking on effectively publishing and marketing your heart’s work. She said that his bio was on a separate sheet of paper in our packets. Hmm? I thought, I hadn’t seen anything on him in my folder. I rifled through my papers again. Nothing.

I leaned over and asked the woman next to me if I could read her bio on Jeremiah. With great trepidation, I read the information on the young man and his publishing company. I looked up at the ceiling and asked, “God, why did you keep this from me until now?”

God smiled down and simply said, “In My time”. And so, even though my book was already written, that was the beginning of the journey which “A Time for Every Purpose Under Heaven” had to travel to publication.

When I met Jeremiah the next day, I was pretty sure I saw God looking through the window, nodding His head. The rest, as they say, is history.

Jeremiah has been absolutely wonderful to work with. I wish I would have met the rest of his staff. Sheila Wilkinson, my editor, did a terrific job shaping my random words into sentences. So many times when I was reading her edits, I said to myself, “duh, why didn’t I catch that mistake? I know better grammar than that. I can’t believe I wrote that sentence that way.” Ruth, who did the final proofread, must have taken out or put in a million commas. Who can keep track of all that punctuation! And all the other little things that we never notice when things are written correctly, but which jump off the page when they are wrong. And Amber, whoever you are, you took my one random picture and turned it into a beautiful cover. I have had more people remark on what an awesome cover it is. 

I hope that I got your names right. And I am sure that there are more people on the Life Sentence staff who have worked on my baby. Thank you all. Like I already said, I’m sorry that I didn’t get to meet you all. But maybe someday we will, in God’s time.  

A baby is born

 The angel said to her, “Don’t be afraid, Mary, because God is very pleased with you. Listen! You will become pregnant and have a baby boy. You will name him Jesus. He will be great. People will call him the Son of the Most High God, and the Lord God will make him king like his ancestor David. He will rule over the people of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end.” Luke 1:30-33 Easy to Read Bible

Finally after three years of writing, two months of endless revising, and a lifetime of dreaming, I can hold my book in my hands. What will the next few months bring for my baby? Will it sell? Will it receive good reviews? And in the coming years, will people still discover it on line and purchase it? Will it remain on people’s bookshelves, collecting dust, or will it be decomposing in the landfill? 

There was another baby born two thousand years and I wonder what his mother’s thoughts were. Will my baby be different from the other children? Will he make friends? Will people like him? What will his future bring? What does it mean to be the Son of God?

Within the next few weeks, my book – my baby – will be sent out into the world to be read by at least a few people. My dream would be for it to make a difference in those people’s lives. 

And Mary’s baby? Look at the difference he made in the lives of millions of people. Look at the difference he continues to make in the world all around us. Do you think Mary had any idea of what her baby would do for this world?  

Thank You, Lord, for sending us Your Son in the form of an innocent baby. Thank You for coming into our world and for saving us. All praise and glory goes to You. Amen