Saturday, January 1, 2011

I'm Baaaack!

I can't promise that I'll be updating this blog regularly - in fact I should've made this post yeaterday and took care of all the "catching up" that needs to be done - but I missed more than anything else, sharing prayer requests with you. So in this post, I'll update this list as much as I can, give you an update on The Heart's Lullaby, and then share with you what I want to do to strengthen my relationship with the Lord and the most important people in my life in 2011.

The first update is that my sister, Karen, is expecting again! A baby boy they're naming Nolan and he's due in April. Praise the Lord for that! Please continue to pray for a safe and healthy pregnancy and a healthy, happy baby.

Krista Phillips, my writer friend, had Baby Annabelle about 5 months ago, I guess and she does have heart problems. She has not left the hospital in the 5 months. They were hoping to take her home for Christmas, but Annabelle started running a fever and she couldn't leave. They spent Christmas in the hospital. Please pray for healing for Annabelle and for strength and peace for Krista, her husband, Scott, and their three daughters. For more information, and an incredible testimony to REAL faith, click on Krista's Reflections under My Favorite Blog/Site List.

Patty Smith, my best friend is still fighting ovarian cancer. In fact, she just had surgery for and issue caused by cancer. It seemed to go well, but please continue to pray for her for healing and for her family. I'll tell you more about Patty in the days to come.

Unfortunately, Richard "Jim" McDonald and Robin Baughman, a 40-year-old mother of 4, both lost their battles with cancer withing the past few months. Please pray for their families as they face their first year without them.

Lastly, for now, the unsaved husband of my Christian friend . . . WAS SAVED!!! Just before Christmas, he accepted Jesus Christ as his personal Lord and Savior.

Now for a brand new prayer request: Karen and Eric Phillips (no relation to Krista). This is just terrible, unimaginable even. Karen was discovered to have cervical cancer while she was in that las stages of her second pregnancy. The baby was born with a minor medical problem. It is "fixed" now, but while Karen awaits treatment for her cervical cancer, her husband Eric was discovered to have cancer. A few weeks ago, a tumor the size of a grapefruit was removed from his colon but now his liver has 5 very large spots of cancer. Usually the bad section is cut out and you just live with part of a liver. That can't be done because they are on all sides. Chemo will be the next step. Spots were seen on his lungs also. Please pray mightily for this whole family! This is a desperate situation.

Now for a brief update on The Heart's Lullaby. I have a cover! Have you seen it? If not, here it is. Pretty, isn't it? It's coming along well - slowly but surely. My deadline for the rough draft is March 1st. I'll spend the rest of the spring and probably part of the summer editing it (which is my favorite part of the writing process) and it is scheduled to release October 3rd, 2011. It is turning out to be much more intense - bigger, harder issues and emotions - than The Heart's Journey Home. I didn't plan it that way. It could be a good thing or a not-so-good thing, but I'm trying not to worry about it. I'm just trying to write it the best I can and leave the rest up to God. Stay tuned for further developments.

Speaking of The Heart's Journey Home, it has recently been converted to Kindle format so if you got a Kindle for Christmas and haven't read The Heart's Journey Home yet, you can pick it up on Amazon.com for $2.99!

Well, it's a new year. For me, 2011 is a year of renewed hope. I intend to refocus, set my priorities right, and strengthen the things that REALLY matter on this earth - relationships between family and friends and, most of all, our Lord. In addition to trying to be the best wife, mama, teacher, and writer I can be in 2011, I'm focusing on my body and spirit this year. I'm committing to exercise and healthy eating this year AND spending time in the Word and in prayer EVERYDAY. I may not be perfect, but even a small improvement will be better than the past few years. My biggest hurdle to conqure: TIME. I never have enough of it. None of us do. A friend of mine bought me a prayer journal, I'm about halfway through Experiencing God - a Bible study I HIGHLY recommend to anyone seeking the Lord, and I'm reading a chapter in Proverbs everyday this month. A good friend of mine is exercising and reading Proverbs with me so at least I know I have an accountability partner. That helps. I encourage you to read a chapter in Proverbs a day for a month and see how the Lord moves in your life. To make it easy for you, I'm even going to post it right here everyday. So, if you want to start with me on Proverbs 1, keep reading. If not, I pray you have a remarkable new year. This is YOUR year!

Proverbs 1

The Beginning of Knowledge
1 The proverbs of Solomon the son of David, king of Israel: 2 To know wisdom and instruction, To perceive the words of understanding, 3 To receive the instruction of wisdom, Justice, judgment, and equity; 4 To give prudence to the simple, To the young man knowledge and discretion— 5 A wise man will hear and increase learning, And a man of understanding will attain wise counsel, 6 To understand a proverb and an enigma, The words of the wise and their riddles.
7 The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge, But fools despise wisdom and instruction.

Shun Evil Counsel
8 My son, hear the instruction of your father, And do not forsake the law of your mother; 9 For they will be a graceful ornament on your head, And chains about your neck. 10 My son, if sinners entice you, Do not consent. 11 If they say, “Come with us, Let us lie in wait to shed blood; Let us lurk secretly for the innocent without cause; 12 Let us swallow them alive like Sheol, And whole, like those who go down to the Pit; 13 We shall find all kinds of precious possessions, We shall fill our houses with spoil; 14 Cast in your lot among us, Let us all have one purse”— 15 My son, do not walk in the way with them, Keep your foot from their path; 16 For their feet run to evil, And they make haste to shed blood. 17 Surely, in vain the net is spread
In the sight of any bird; 18 But they lie in wait for their own blood, They lurk secretly for their own lives. 19 So are the ways of everyone who is greedy for gain; It takes away the life of its owners.

The Call of Wisdom
20 Wisdom calls aloud outside; She raises her voice in the open squares. 21 She cries out in the chief concourses, At the openings of the gates in the city She speaks her words: 22 “ How long, you simple ones, will you love simplicity? For scorners delight in their scorning, And fools hate knowledge. 23 Turn at my rebuke; Surely I will pour out my spirit on you; I will make my words known to you. 24 Because I have called and you refused, I have stretched out my hand and no one regarded, 25 Because you disdained all my counsel, And would have none of my rebuke, 26 I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your terror comes, 27 When your terror comes like a storm, And your destruction comes like a whirlwind, When distress and anguish come upon you. 28 “ Then they will call on me, but I will not answer; They will seek me diligently, but they will not find me. 29 Because they hated knowledge And did not choose the fear of the LORD, 30 They would have none of my counsel And despised my every rebuke. 31 Therefore they shall eat the fruit of their own way, And be filled to the full with their own fancies.
32 For the turning away of the simple will slay them, And the complacency of fools will destroy them; 33 But whoever listens to me will dwell safely, And will be secure, without fear of evil.”

AMEN!

1 comment:

Michele Clark said...

Can't wait until October! Here's praying for an amazing year with miracles all around! Thanks for the update! You can do it!