Giving Thanks This Thanksgiving

In observance of this being Thanksgiving week, and in light of our nation’s current chaotic state, this post will be about things I’m thankful for.

·         I am thankful for the United States of America and our founding forefathers who sought to honor God. God, help our nation to recognize your sovereignty and draw close to you again.

·         I am thankful to be alive, that abortion was never an option, even had I been considered unwanted or an inconvenience. God, how can we expect You to bless a nation that murders its innocent babies? Break our hearts for this travesty and open our eyes and hearts to the horror of this.

·         I am thankful to be a wife and mother. God, touch the hearts of the lonely who long for love, and for the parentless who yearn for children. Hear the cries of their hearts.

·         I am thankful for family. In a world where the traditional family is redefined and ridiculed, help us to value what your Word says. Let us not judge, or treat others with contempt. Help us to understand that showing kindness and compassion does not mean we approve or condone. Hatred never shows others the heart of the Father.

·         I am thankful that I am a Christian and have a relationship with Jesus Christ. It is not a religion, it’s a relationship. If it had not been for God, I would be dead. Dead! But that’s another topic for another day.

·         I am thankful for needs met. Face it, most of us are spoiled to material things. God never promised our wants; He did promise our needs. God, help us to understand the difference, and to be content in all things like the Apostle Paul. “Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therein to be content.” Philippians 4:11 ASV   

In conclusion, I wish you all a very blessed and happy Thanksgiving. May your day be filled with family and friends, love and laughter. May you recognize and count your blessings!

Yikes! It's NaNoWriMo Time!

NaNoWriMo, how I love thee – how I hate thee! For those who don’t know, NaNoWriMo stands for National Novel Writing Month. It happens every November and thousands of writers, want-to-be writers, and up and coming writers join in the agony…er, I mean fun!  It’s 30 days to write a 50,000 word novel – no revising or editing, just frantic writing. Of course, your final novel can exceed 50,000 words, most do, but that’s the goal for 30 days.

 

At first I was feeling kind of blah about the whole thing. My heart wasn’t in it, although I did have a gist of what I wanted to write. When I reluctantly started on November 1^st, I thought bah-humbug! But then, the creative juices started flowing and I fell in love with my novel and the characters.

 

It centers around two sisters, Abigail (Abby) and Lola. They were eight and ten when their mother left. It wasn’t just that she left – the night she disappeared, the girls found their father cleaning up a bloody bathroom. The girls, especially Lola, are plagued for years with, “Did their mom really leave or did their dad kill her?”

 

Their harsh, unaffectionate dad uses the Bible and religion to control them leaving the sisters to deal with their home life in different ways. Abby becomes promiscuous in high school, while Lola turns to food for comfort. Although she’s bullied and tormented by her classmates, she developed a crush on the popular, Jonathan, the only one who ever stands up for her.

 

The sisters’ journeys take them on a path to find the real God – not the cruel God of their father – and that special someone to love them. They also embark on a quest to find out the truth about their mother’s disappearance. There’s plenty of intrigue and conflict, especially when Jonathan, recently widowed, enters Lola’s life. Lola is now a poised, beautiful, successful business woman with twin daughters when Jonathan appears again.

 

Things get complicated because Lola is positive Jonathan fathered Abby’s son, Dylan. Oh, and a major part of Lola’s story is that after high school, Lola’s dad pays a friend of his – also old enough to be her father – to marry his awkward, homely daughter. “Who else will want you?” he tells her. The marriage only lasted weeks but resulted in the birth of Lola’s twin daughters. Oh, and what really did happen to their mother will surprise you!

 

Lola and Abby are survivors! A must read. I mean, I MUST finish their story. And as far as finding the time for NaNoWriMo, because it is time consuming -- we all know that we make time for the thing we love.