A Cup of Tea for the Heart

Okay, so it is way past time for an update on the progress of Tough Times Don’t Last ~ Tough Women Do!!  Simply put, it seems that we’ve been so busy with getting it ‘to’ press date, along with all the other activities of life, that we’ve just neglected making the time to share the info.

First — a bit of an explanation of the special blessing we have via our publisher.  We were blessed to be led to a traditional publisher with a ‘team’ attitude.  Wow!  Very cool, and VERY unusual!!  So, this means that we’ve gotten to have a very ‘hands on’ experience, even though publishing with a traditional publishing house.  This has been great for 2 reasons.  1)  We’ve been blessed to be very proactive in making sure the book is truly what we’ve envisioned it to be, remaining true to the writing styles and stories of all the contributing writers, and 2) we have learned sooooooooooooooooooooo much!!  Oh my…..so much!  And that will come in very handy for the publication of book #2…..but, that is another blog post.

Back to book #1 — Tough Times Don’t Last ~ Tough Women Do.  Many of you have been asking about the release date, and we continue to anxiously await that little tidbit of info!  Another real blessing of the publisher we were lead to submit our manuscript to is that they push for a much faster publication process than do most traditional publishers — by about 18 months to 2 years!  But, because the process is a team process and moves so quickly, the specific dates of production vary more than with other traditional publishers and are dependent upon many little details between the authors and the publishing team. 

All that to say…..we still don’t know the exact date we’ll have the books available, but we can for sure tell you it is not going to be in March as we’d hoped.  It DOES look like APRIL is a great possibility, though!!  Which means it is still very, very likely that you can have copies of this book in time for Mother’s Day gifts! 

Even with the crazy fast schedule of this publishing journey, we WILL let you know just as soon as we know when the books will be available!

And……..SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT…….we are going to start sharing complete stories from the book HERE on our blog in the next couple of days!!!  We are so excited to share those with you, to bless you with the most amazing stories and life lessons learned through living with scripture!  We think you’ll find it to be ‘the best advice you’ll ever get from friends you never knew.’

Be watching!!!

           I wasn’t just sobbing, my soul was crying out. I vomited. I hung up the phone with my husband and vomited again. And then I knew without a shadow of doubt what I had to do, for really, there was nothing else to do.

            I praised and rejoiced and thanked our Creator for what was happening. I believed wholeheartedly that He was (and is) in control.  I knew that there was a spiritual war going on and that my son was caught in the middle of it. What could confuse the enemy more than praising God and thanking Him for the bad things that happen?

(An excerpt from “Glorify Him in All Things” by Susan M Quartee in Tough Times Don’t Last ~ Tough Women Do….to be released Spring 2011 ~ the first in the A Cup of Tea For The Heart series.)

I told my husband that I had been repeating to myself, “Things could be worse; things could be worse.” And his reply has given me perspective ever since: “But this is pretty bad.”  Yeah, this is pretty bad. Admitting that doesn’t diminish my faith in the God who controls things and loves me. It’s only that kind of honesty before Him that allows me to reach out to Him and receive his comfort. And I have tried to have that kind of emotional integrity before my Healer since that day.

(An excerpt from “Some Advice for the Seasons of a Woman” by Jenni Butz in Tough Times Don’t Last ~ Tough Women Do….to be released Spring 2011 ~ the first in the A Cup of Tea For The Heart series.)

            Breezy is a constant reminder to me, occasionally she’ll think she now has barrel racing mastered. I can just see it in her eyes when she’s saying “Kelci, I could win this race by myself, I don’t need your help!” Well she’s probably right, but her attitude isn’t very nice. Since we do have to work as a team, if she goes in to the arena with that attitude, we aren’t going to succeed. It’s those days that I see Breezy as a good reminder to check my attitude. I’m afraid all too often I find I have the same disrespectful attitude… “God, I can handle this situation by myself, I don’t need your help this time.” Wow. How dare I?! There is no way with that attitude I’m going to succeed in the ‘arena of life’.

           Now, when Breezy is willing, trusting, and runs her heart out for me at a race, she’s a perfect example of the complete trust and willingness I should have in and for the Lord. Her heart and determination are an inspiration to me. I pray that I run the race of life determined and with my whole heart in it for the Lord!

(An excerpt from “God’s Skill Drills” by Kelci Lavelle Goad in Tough Times Don’t Last ~ Tough Women Do….to be released Spring 2011 ~ the first in the A Cup of Tea For The Heart series.)

There were many times during our son’s illness that things would happen and if not for a silent prayer, I would not have gotten through them.  About three weeks after his first chemo treatment, he took a shower one morning, and handfuls of hair came out and were clinging around the drain in the shower and the remaining hair covered his face, chest, and back.  I was close to tears and mentally pleaded with God to please help me through this and not break down in front of my son.  After stepping out of the shower, he looked into the bathroom mirror, laughed and said, “Look! I’m a werewolf!” Lesson learned: children handle adversities much better than we grown-ups do!

(An excerpt from “Accepting The Unacceptable” by Delores Jackson in Tough Times Don’t Last ~ Tough Women Do….to be released Spring 2011 ~ the first in the A Cup of Tea For The Heart series.)

New Year’s Eve….a traditional time to take pause and focus on the blessings of the past year. What a fabulous tradition! We love to do a blessing count often, but the New Year’s Eve count is extra special this year. What a rich journey of blessing this has been!!

YOU are right at the top of the count this year! It’s true! We’ve ‘met’ so many new friends in various ways through this adventure in 2010, plus we’ve been blessed to build long-time friendships even deeper through this journey. What a joy! And it was all totally unexpected at this point last year!

We just can’t hold back, so as a little ‘thank you’ at the close of 2010, on Facebook we are sharing a couple of quotes about counting blessings from the soon-to-be released Tough Times Don’t Last ~ Tough Women Do. We generally only share these quotes through our Joy Thoughts emails, but simply have to share a couple on our Facebook page …just for today. Make sure you have signed up for and read our Joy Thoughts every week!! That is where we regularly share some great tidbits of wisdom, encouragement, and advice from our writers. And if you haven’t connected with us on Facebook yet, today is the day!!

Thanks for all the ways you’ve blessed us in 2010!!

♥ ♥ Have an AMAZING 2011!! ♥ ♥

Has life always gone as planned for you…..or have you had some major changes of plans along the way? Maybe a change or two you’d never have chosen has come your way, and perhaps even changed your life direction or dreams. Did you learn anything from the change of plans — from dealing with it, living through it, seeing the blessings in it? Do you figure you’d have some wisdom to share about the whole experience?

Now is your chance to share! Our next book is titled Plans Are Made To Be Changed, and our Editing Committee has recommended that we get a dozen or so more submissions for it. Your ‘change of plans’ story could possibly be chosen for publication, and then your life experience and wisdom gained could bless thousands of readers. Pretty cool!!

You’ll have to be quick, though — we are on a tight schedule. The absolute deadline for submission will be January 31. Earlier will be better.

Do consider sharing your story!! This is such a great way to bless others! You certainly don’t have to be a ‘writer’ to share your story!! Just tell your story in your own words, in your own style. We are simply looking for heartfelt stories with the blessing of advice, written by and for women of faith.

To submit your story:
1) Click on the guidelines tab to get details for writing and submitting.
2) Contact us at articles@teafortheheart.com to let us know you are sharing your story. This way we can keep in touch with you for updates, etc.
3) Prepare your story in simple journaling/blogging style, or whatever is comfortable to you.
4) Submit your story and bio by January 31, 2011 to articles@teafortheheart.com (check the ‘guidelines’ tab for all the details)

We can’t wait to read YOUR story!!

P.S. ~ If you know a woman of faith that might have a powerful story to share, please invite her to check out this opportunity and information!

I’ll confess….blogging is just not my forte!! I so admire those folks who do it on a regular basis, fitting blogging in to their already very busy schedule. I just haven’t mastered that yet. I’ll keep trying!

BUT — it is way past time for a book update, and we are so excited to share with you that we’ve received the Tough Times Don’t Last But Tough Women Do manuscript back from the publisher today for FINAL copy editing!! How exciting is that!?!?!?!

So, what does this mean? Well, it means that amazing progress continues and we are still ON TRACK to have this book ‘in hand’ sometime in early spring — hopefully March! That will mean just one year from ‘idea’ to ‘book’. Wow. The Lord has been working mightily in this project!

Oh me, this continues to be so incredibly exciting!!! We’ve got FORTY writers in this book, and you are going to be so blessed by each one of them!! The youngest is 19, and the oldest is 101!! Needless to say, there is going to be a lot of variety in the stories and the advice given!! We do believe you’ll love it!!

The second book in the series is already well underway, but there are many more to come! Check out the ‘guidelines’ page, and consider sharing your story through A Cup of Tea for the Heart! This is a great way to bless many with the lessons you’ve learned along the way.

Stay tuned for more news…..and tell your friends!!

Got the Tough Times Don’t Last But Tough Women Do manuscript back from the publisher today for our mid-term editing/approval! Can you imagine how exciting this is???? EEEeekkkk!! We soooooo cannot wait for you to have the opportunity to get this book into your hands!! ♥

You and all your friends are going to love it!! What an AMAZING blessing that so many faith-filled women are feeling called to share life experience wisdom in order to bless others!! Wow. This truly is amazing!! The stories are just so powerful…helpful…indescribable. ♥

When you are facing a tough time in your life, which recipe do you reach for? We are working on a collection of ‘Tough Times’ recipes to go with our newest book, “Tough Times Don’t Last But Tough Women Do.” If you will share your favorites with us we would love to to share them with others. Please send them to articles@teafortheheart.com. If you will include your name, city and state, we will let others know which special recipe is yours. And, yes, you can share more than one. Can’t wait to try them!! Thanks ever so much….