Quote of the Day

Sometimes only a change of viewpoint is needed to convert a tiresome duty into an interesting opportunity.
~ Alberta Flanders ~

Dreaming A Dream

        When I was in high school, my English teacher asked us to make a list of thirty goals we wanted to achieve in our lifetime. She asked us to put it in a time line as to when we wanted to achieve each goal. I don't have the list any more, but I remember most of the top ten goals. I wanted to earn a BS in education. God allowed me to do that, but it certainly wasn't on my timeline! I planned to finish in four years as most students do, but He had other plans. I needed to sit out of class for a while to earn money to return, so it took six years to finish. Going through it, I didn't understand why God wouldn't allow me to finish on my timeline. I'm still not sure of an answer to that, but I accept that He allowed me to finish.

        The next thing on my list was to earn an MS in education. Nine years after graduating with my BS, I returned to school while teaching full-time and earned my second degree. Why God allowed the time span, I don't know, but He allowed me to achieve my dream once again. The third item was a Doctorate in education. Once again it all worked out in His time and in His planning and I earned my doctorate.

        Something else that was on the top of my list was writing books. I've always loved writing. My classmates knew me as the crazy girl who loved writing research papers. I didn't start working seriously on achieving that goal until about eight years ago. I spent six years writing a Christian novel. In between writing and teaching, I read everything I could get my hands on regarding writing and publishing. When I finished writing my first novel, I was ecstatic! I thought "Here it is! I'm a writer!"

        For two years, I submitted to various literary agents and received either polite "no thank you" or no response. I continued writing. I joined an online group and learned to write precise short stories. I read more books and researched. In November, 2010, I joined National Novel Writing Month, a challenge to write 50,000 words in 30 days. God blessed and I finished the challenge. In January, 2011, I finished writing the 102,000 word book. I cried. I praised God, and I started querying agents again. I also started looking for freelance opportunities. God blessed and in just a few days I have five opportunities to become published. It is all in God's timing and in His plan. Though this is a lesson I have learned before, I obviously need to learn it repeatedly. Thank you, Lord, for teaching it to me again!

In His Service,

Christine


Member of ACFW


2/27/2011

Yesterday’s mistakes are not an excuse to continue damaging behavior, but rather reinforcement as to why you need to change.