Looking Through Past Posts

Looking through past blogs, I smiled when I read a post at the end of 2010.  While this post may be written in a sophomoric manner, it’s amazing how some things haven’t change.

• Not only was my first book  published, I am now focusing on my fifth novel.

• I’ve also included teaching at writers conferences to my speaking schedule. And I still question my ability to tell others of God’s great mercy and grace for us.

• Months after I wrote this post in 2010, I was diagnosed with a brain tumor and given only days to live. Yep, that I brought into 2011. 

 

As 2010 comes to a close, I’ve noticed lots of Top Ten lists to commemorate the year: Top Ten Words, Top Ten Phrases, Top Ten Most Important People … the lists goes on.

Where was your focus for 2010? Were you concerned with the dark places you found yourself in? They’ve been there for me as well, but I’m choosing to dwell on what’ was good.  Here’s part of my good list:

• A book I’ve spent over five years writing has been repeatedly turned down for publication
• I’ve questioned my ability to be in the ministry Christ has led me in
• I’ve dealt with family crises regarding my children
• There have been situations with extended family members
• Health issues that have changed how I participate in life
• Finances, at times, seemed in short supply

Sounds bad, right?

You may think I gave you the wrong list. But be assured I did not.  Because of each one of the above-mentioned situations, I realized I was nothing without Christ. I realized my life during 2010 was not about my comfort … it was about obedience to my Heavenly Father.  During each disappointment and heartache, I learned to trust in the plans that Christ has for me, not what my plans were for Christ.

Was it easy? No, but it wasn’t as difficult as you might think.  Once I got beyond the initial disappointment of my not meeting my agenda, I knew I would find solace and peace with God:
For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Jeremiah 29:11 NIV

For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.
Jeremiah 29:11 NIV

How are you doing?

Are you feeling pain today due to life’s situations not meeting up with your plans? Was 2010 a disappointment? Ponder God’s powerful word: “… He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.” Matthew 5:45

It comes down to this

It’s 2026 now. Where were you in 2010 and are you disappointed in where your life is? Take those honest feelings to your Heavenly Father. He loves you more than you will ever know this side of Glory.  Think about how 2010 has given you so many opportunities to praise God. Give it a try.

That’s what I choose to do.

Looking through blog posts from years past, I see how life has continued to focus onto what's really important. Share on X

It’s now 2026 and I still strive to lean into Jesus. I’m more confident then ever that I am nothing without Christ. My comfort has nothing to do with how good my life is. Scripture still rings true. His plans are still etched in stone.

 

Ladies’ Fans … Watch for Ladies on a Mission

Full lives aren’t necessarily lives fulfilled.

Years have passed and it’s 1984. Sugar Bowersox and her family recently moved to Trotter, Kentucky, where Dungar could take the head coach of the brand new Trotter College. They were both thrilled too come back. Sugar thought once they returned to their childhood hometown, life would be smooth sailing. But those thoughts ended when a star football player is found in the weight room … stabbed and holding onto life. Dungar’s a mess. Their daughters are struggling as they try to find their way in their new lives. And Gran is feistier than ever. When Sugar calls Lily-Rose and shares the upheavals to their lives, she ached for her friendship with Lily-Rose and Fiona. “Lily-Rose, I don’t know where to start. But I need you and Weeds. I sure could use a fire.”

The Ladies’ latest adventure, Ladies on a Mission, takes them to Kentucky and a world unknown to Lily-Rose and Fiona. New and not-so-new faces participate in this newest who-done-it.