"Do Over"

A few weeks ago, the movie "City Slickers" was on our TV. I have seen it many times, so didn't sit down to take it in again. As usual, I had other things to do. I did however, as I passed through the living room, pick up a few gleanings.

Don't we all have things in our lives which we wish we could do over? Mistakes we made? We think that if we only would have done things differently, everything would have turned out better. I feel that way about a lot of the mistakes I have made. How would my life be different had I not dropped out of college? Would my life be better if I hadn't married my first husband? Why did I move to Colorado? Why did I move back to Wisconsin?

All those episodes though pale in comparison when I think of how I raised my kids. Oh, I wasn't a horrible abusive parent. But I yelled at them a lot more than I should have. And I was gone more than I should have been. If I had to do it all over again, I would have spent more time with Nick and Val, been more patient with them, taken them more places, praised them more and criticized them less. Somehow, no doubt through the grace of God, Nick and Val turned out pretty good. Each day I am more and more proud of them. I look at our lives and think that I have more to thank them for than they have to thank me for.

In this blog, I have been thanking various people who have helped me create my memoir of my trip to Africa. That trip would have never happened without Nick and Val, and this blog would have never happened without them, thus the book certainly wouldn't have been written without them.


And my "best day"? Every day. Because at least once every day  I think of my son and daughter and I find my smile.

Why we need to bond with other writers

In the spring of 2010, my co-worker Ron told me about a writer’s conference he was going to in California that fall. He knew that I liked to write as he had been following this blog. He said that I should think about going to a writer’s conference and he shared the information on the one he was going to.

I knew that a plane ticket to California was not in my budget, but it did start me thinking. Back in the early 1990’s I had belonged to a local writers group and remembered that at one time someone there had mentioned a writers conference in Green Lake. I could drive to Green Lake. I went on line and checked it out.

Who would have ever guessed where that would lead? I’ve attended the Green Lake Christian Writers Conference for the past three years. Not only have I acquired a myriad of skills, I’ve made wonderful new friends and rediscovered the beautiful Green Lake Conference Center. GLCWC has opened so many doors for me. I’ve made so many connections, grown so much in my faith, taken way too many pictures.

Had I not attended the conference this past August, I never would have discovered my publisher, Life Sentence Publishing.

It never fails to amaze me the plans that God has in each of our lives. Who knew? Who could have imagined that one simple conversation with a co-worker would lead me to having my book published? Only God can orchestrate those kinds of things.

So, to all of my fantastic friends from GLCWC, who are too numerous to mention here, thank you so much for bringing me to where I am right (write) now. 

My first year, 2010, I was part of Mary Pierce's class. We were always serious. It was here that I wrote one of the final scenes of my book. The woman on the far right, Lisa Klarner, has just published her book.


 I was in Cynthia Ruchti's class on writing longer fiction in 2011. Cynthia is such a dear woman. She holds God so close to her heart.

This year I was back in Mary Pierce's class. Yes, and once again we stuck to business and hardly had any fun. Until the night of the banquet that is. You truly had to be there. 

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

Three Amigas

“Some days are diamonds, some days are stones.” Today was rather a stone. And on days like this only a good friend can get you through.

I’ve been writing the last week or two about the people I have thanked in the acknowledgement section of my book. Tonight I show my appreciation to three women, each very different and each offering something totally different as far as friendship and support. Looking back, I see that I have told you about two of them.

Phyllis has been a dear friend for close to twenty years. A lot of people still are friends with someone from college, but Phyllis was my sister’s friend from college. Strange how we have been drawn into each other’s lives. Especially since she lives 275 miles away. But distance can’t keep a good friendship down.

Denise also lives a few miles away and I also only see her a few times a year. But again, friendship is about so much more than minutes and miles. Denise was one of my first blog supporters and she has had no qualms about telling others about it. She believes in me, and even if we don’t always agree, we always come back for more.

Finally, let me introduce you to Doris. I referred to her in my last post; she is one of the founding members of our Tuesday morning Bible Study. I’ve worked with her for twelve years, lots of ups and downs. Lots of co-workers have come and gone in that time. Sometimes I want to cling to Doris as the only certainty at my place of employment. But then she would remind me that there is only one Person to cling to. And I would turn around and tell her the same thing. On days like today, when not much seems to make sense, Doris, turn it over to God, cling to Him as the one sure thing.

 

Believe it or not, ladies, as I write this, the book that you each inspired in your own way is sitting next to me, taunting me. Waiting for me to call up my publisher to give the all-clear to release the book. I can’t wait for you each to have your own copy.  

Tuesday Mornings with . . .

I can’t remember when it started, but it has to be five or six years ago. One of the doctors that I work with and another co-worker go to the Northwoods Vineyard Church here in our town. They asked their pastor if he could join them in starting a Bible study at the clinic where we work. Tuesday mornings at seven was the chosen time.

I maybe wake up fairly early every morning, but I really don’t like talking to anyone or even seeing anyone for at least a couple hours after crawling out of bed. I used to be quite the grouch at work when I first arrived. But I knew that God would get me through those Tuesday mornings and that I would learn to be a morning person.

I still can’t say I’m a morning person, and though I can smile and converse, I can’t honestly say that I think too deeply. But I have managed to make it to Bible Study many Tuesday mornings.

We have gone through five or six books of the Bible and studied three or four other books on living the Christian life. The group has fluctuated over the years, averaging from four to ten people. Many people have come and gone as their schedules and other outside factors have come along. It seems that when someone drops out there is always someone else who starts coming.

We open and close each week with prayer and the discussion in between often veers from the book we are supposedly studying. If anyone has a particular need, we will spend the time encouraging them and praying with them. Or we might spend an entire hour on one Bible verse or even one word. It never fails to amaze me how rich the Bible is, each verse, each word means something. Definitely a book which the writer should study for writing tips.

But that’s not the real reason I included a thank you to this group in the acknowledgements of my book. It is a rare thing in this society to be able to openly share your faith with others and even more rare to share your fears and doubts. The members of our Bible Study have supported me and strengthened my faith more than words can say. I’ve been reminded through that group, time and time again, that God is always near.

 Thank you, guys, and thank you God, for bringing us all together.

It's all part of God's Plan

“I say this because I know the plans that I have for you.” This message is from the Lord. “I have good plans for you. I don’t plan to hurt you. I plan to give you hope and a good future.” Jeremiah 29:11Easy-to-Read Version

Here it is December already. I’ve been thinking of what I was going to blog about on Sundays this month, what Christmas theme I was going to use. So I went back to last year’s December blogs and see that I really out did myself. I wrote about Christmas three times a week for a whole month. And I had a theme for not only Sundays, but for Thursdays too. I can’t keep up with that kind of stuff this year. I have had so much going on the last two months that I am completely brain-dead. I should be in a coma.

But you know, no matter what I write about, it seems that for whatever reason, God blesses it. I don’t want to sound all sure of myself or overconfident. It really is not me. When God decided over seven years ago that He wanted me to go on that mission trip to Kenya, I never imagined it would turn out this way, that He would totally guide me to write a book about my experience and that He would send this fantastic publisher to me and that so much of this book would fall into place.

It is all in His plans, not mine. Just like sending His Son to us on the first Christmas. It is beyond our control, all we can do is follow God’s plan.

Lord, God Heavenly Father, there is no way that I could ever praise You enough. I am nothing without You. You follow me, You guide me, You care for me, You love me unconditionally. You have granted me everything that my heart desires. Amen

My Baby's Feet: A Book Review

I don’t usually post on Saturdays. I also don’t usually write book reviews. No matter how much I like a book, I never know how to describe it in more than a few lines without repeating the whole story. But I am going to give this a shot, and maybe down the road, I’ll review a few more books. There are a lot of good books out there which aren’t getting much recognition. We will just have to see how this goes.

“My Baby’s Feet”, written by Shelia M. Luck, is published by Life SentencePublishing, the same place which is doing my book. The description of the book sounded pretty good and I wanted to see how the books put out by Life Sentence Publishing look, so I ordered it.

In 1975, Sheila had an abortion. At the time it seemed the only option for the seventeen- year-old. Abortion was, and still is, legal and it was, and still is, the choice many teen-age girls and young women make to deal with a difficult situation. It took Sheila many years to come to terms with what she had done. At first she had herself convinced that it was no big deal; that she hadn’t aborted a baby, that it had just been a lump of tissue. But she couldn’t erase the feelings she carried around. She couldn’t put it behind her.

(And this is where I get stuck writing a book review. How much more should I tell you and if I don’t tell you anymore, how do I wrap this thing up? Maybe I need to find an on-line book review class.)

Anyway, I do want to tell you that Sheila shares all of her emotional pain. I ached for her as I read the pages. This book would be so helpful to anyone struggling with abortion and would be just as helpful for anyone who has made any difficult decision which they now regret.  

“My Baby’s Feet” is available on the Life Sentence Publishing website as well as Amazon.com.