All in His Time

Hello everyone.

Sorry I haven't written anything in a couple of weeks. I received an email from someone who didn't know who I was. It came as a shock to me, because being not well known yet, although my readership is growing by leaps and bounds, I only send my blog to people I meet and request it and of course to the people I've known over the years of my life. The ones I hear back from have enjoyed my blog, saying how much its made them smile, or gives them hope, or just loves hearing the positive attitude in my voice.

Well y'all. Everyone who's known me for any length of time, knows I'm a happy person and almost always looking for the good in everything and everyone. I've been blessed by God my whole life and have said so for fifty plus years. (that's as close as I'll come to speaking my age :-) ). Anyway, as God continues to bless me spiritually, emotionally, and physically...I continue to praise Him and thank Him, and share my blessings with others.

BUT when I started to write my blog last week, my husband said you're not going to tell them about your new car are you? Well that made me stop and look at him strangely. Of course I was going to tell you all, because I love ALL the blessings God is pouring down on me. And some of them are earthly things. So I told him so. He said it sounds like I'm bragging. I told him I am--ON GOD NOT ME. I reminded him that I always give God the glory.

Only that conversation, along with the one person of over 100 people I send this to, made me second guess myself and what I was doing. So I stayed away from the blogging and talked to my Lord about this, asking Him to show me what to do, tell me what to say and when to say it.

He reminded me of His Scripture...Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. THAT'S a promise from Him. And I have seeked Him and the Kingdom of God and His righteousness. I have made Him my #1 priority. I share Him with every opportunity I'm given, which I find grows more and more every day. I'm proud to be His blessed daughter and be an heir to His righteousness and His kingdom. All these things, peace, joy, love, everything I need and some things I desire, are added to me. Praise God! Thank You, Lord.

So I'm writing another blog.

God is still showering down the blessings.

My editor is speaking at a conference in Florida...and I'm going!!! It's right around the corner. I can't wait to meet her face-to-face and sit in on several classes being taught on improving my writing. As a writer I want to always be open for improvement. I want my books to get better with each one. I want you the readers to say...Oh I can't wait till the next Deborah Lynne novel hits the book-shelves.

This weekend we (Scott & I) are going to a wedding. My brother-in-law, the widower of my sister, is getting married. Since God brought this new woman in his life, Robert hasn't stopped smiling. He grieved deeply for Sharon, but knowing she was in heaven and no longer in pain and suffering, he finely left her in God's hands and moved forward in his own life. We are so happy for him and pray many blessings on Robert and Barbara's marriage.

The deck I've talked about has been built out back and it's beautiful. 3 tier deck. Unfortunately the rain has kept it from being stained (but the wood was pretreated so it will be okay for the time being). The rain was needed but now I hope it slows down so the stain can be added to that light wood and the trim around the bottom can be completed. In the meantime, its wonderful to step out the back door and walk out or sit outside enjoying the lake. Our neighbors seem to like the addition too, which we were glad to hear.

Kali and Kole (our cats) get along well now. They are such a joy to watch when they are in the playful mode. Unfortunately, sometimes its REALLY late at night. Then I'm not in the mood. I'm in sleep mode and ready for them to settle down. But they are still cute together.

As of this past weigh-in I've lost 31 pounds. What a joy its been fitting into my blue jeans and now some of them are starting to bag. Of course I have the next 2 sizes down of jeans and I will make my way down through them. Finally something that works for me. I'm no dieter. I can never stick to anything longer than 3 weeks. But by "My Fitness Pal" on my iPhone and keeping tabs on the calories of the food I do eat, enjoy eating, I've learned to eat smaller portions. I have my limit set on 1200 calories and if I go over a little or don't remember to put my Crystal light peach tea in there, I'm still okay. And guess what? If I exercise it removes some of the calorie points I've taken in, so I can eat a little more and still lose. It's great. The main thing is, I get to eat what I want, not only celery and carrots which are at the bottom of my to eat list. Trust me. Yes!! I even enjoyed King Cake here and there for the past 3 weeks. A strawberry and cream cheese filled one. The next one was just cream cheese filled. Tuesday is was pecans and cream cheese. Last night I had a very small sliver of a Zulu King Cake. Thats cream cheese filled, covered with chocolate. Then sprinkled on top is coconut. It was very good. Now who can say I'm dieting. No ONE. I'm counting calories and trying to make good choices. But when that desire for the sweet hits, I cut back on my calorie count somewhere else. It works people.

I'm not going to put a writing tip on this today, but I will say to all you writers, don't quit writing. Even when you sit down to write and nothing comes (which that was yesterday and the day before for me), just doodle or write what comes to you, or reread what you've written, so your creative juices will start to flow again. Don't give up. Don't put yourself down, or think I've lost it. It does come back. It's happened to me plenty of times over the years, but as long as I keep trying eventually the story starts taking shape. The words start to flow. And it all comes together. It's the rewrite that sharpens it. So go for it. Keep writing.

God bless you all. I'll talk to you soon.