A Cup of Tea for the Heart

The electricity went out!  I so take it for granted that I forgot what a blessing it is.  I suddenly realized how little I could to without it.

I thought, well, I will just heat some water and enjoy a cup of tea.  The stove is electric.  Okay, I will get some of those pictures hung in the hall that have been waiting on me.  Hall is dark without lights.

Really grateful it is a warm, fall day as our heater requires electricity and so does our fireplace.

Can’t work on the computer – back to pen and paper.  Can’t read unless I sit by the window.  Can’t cook or clean.  (Oh! Too bad!!) Can’t watch TV or talk on the phone.  We may have to go out to lunch and sit and talk to each other face to face.  :) 

Hmmmmm.  Amazing how quickly challenges can become blessings!!

The electricity went out!  I so take it for grantedthat I forgot what a blessing it is.  I suddenly realized how little I could to without it.

I thought, well, I will just heat some water and enjoy a cup of tea.  The stove is electric.  Okay, I will get some of those pictures hung in the hall that have been waiting on me.  Hall is dark without lights.

Really grateful it is a warm, fall day as our heater requires electricity and so does our fireplace.

Can’t work on the computer – back to pen and paper.  Can’t read unless I sit by the window.  Can’t cook or clean.  (Oh! Too bad!!) Can’t watch TV or talk on the phone.  We may have to go out to lunch and sit and talk to each other face to face.  :) 

Hmmmmm.  Amazing how quickly challenges can become blessings!!

Reckless words pierce like a sword,

but the tongue of the wise brings healing.

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.)

            “When I grow up life will be so easy, I will have all the money I need for anything I want to spend it on.  I know I will because my parents do.  I will have so much time to do just want I want to.  I know I will because no one ever tells my parents what to do.  They just tell me what to do.  Marriage will be easy because there will be two of us to do everything, and raising kids will be a breeze because every time you see a baby they are always laughing.  Of course the second one will be really easy because you have already learned how to raise the first one.”

            This was the story I heard Sunday from a young speaker at the church service we have each week at The Wellington Retirement Center.  Of course, it brought on quite a laugh from all of us….retirement age or not. 

            Isn’t it interesting how our perspective changes as our age does? I can remember thinking that when our children grew up I would never have to worry about them any more.  I have never prayed for my children in their lives as much as I have since they have been grown.  We never quit learning.

            Our speaker told us about a research study that has been done over a number of years about what truly makes people happy, and it was not the good job, or the new house or the big, beautiful car, but it was being loved by someone special, having a good marriage, having an opportunity to give to others and going to church.  True happiness comes from giving to others.  What a surprise! 

I think someone very special told us that a very, very long time ago.  Let me think…wasn’t his name God?

As I was looking out at the most beautiful snow scene this morning, it occurred to me what a phenomenal thing it is that of all of those zillions of snowflakes, no two are alike.            

 Of all of the millions of people that have, are, and perhaps will live on this earth, none of us will have the same fingerprint.  

I cannot fathom no beginning and no end.  I cannot understand how there could be a God so loving that he would find someone like me – so small and so full of faults – and be willing to offer His son to die on the cross for my salvation.  

I find all of this unbelievable.  I find my enormous amount of blessings to be totally unbelievable and yet it is all true.  Amazing! 

“For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him, shall not perish but have eternal life.”  John 3:16

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.)