tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-80094382196960518172024-02-18T17:55:38.786-08:00Elaine Stock--Author***Everyone’s Story Blog*Uplifting Stories for Readers, Writers, And All Those In-between*
"Pay as little attention to discouragements as possible. Plough ahead as a steamer does, rough or smooth—rain or shine. To carry your cargo and make your port is the point."--Maltbie D. BabcockElaine Stockhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16349776598113016833noreply@blogger.comBlogger267125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8009438219696051817.post-5778536188923252015-12-26T05:50:00.000-08:002015-12-26T12:41:03.380-08:00Everyone's Story is Moving!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Heartfelt thanks for all of your support, cheer, and especially your continual viewing of this blog since it's beginning on April 19th, 2011. While Blogger has been a wonderful venue, I'm launching a website that continues my theme of story: every person, every town, every family home has a story unique to the setting. I hope you will visit with me there as well:</span><br />
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<span style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.elainestock.com/">http://www.elainestock.com</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">As 2015 comes to an end and the new year is about to begin I have a lot to be thankful for and to celebrate. I praise God--one year ago I'd wondered if this moment of expanding into the next chapter of my life of becoming a published novelist would occur.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">He is gracious. He is good, indeed.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I'm offering a special contest to help celebrate <u style="font-weight: bold;">you,</u> my new cyber home, and the about-to-be release of my debut novel, <i>Always With You.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Check it out on my first blog post on the new site: </span><span style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.elainestock.com/blog/">http://www.elainestock.com/blog/</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">Everyone’s Story has
moved: <a href="http://www.elainestock.com/blog/">http://www.elainestock.com/blog/</a><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(<a href="http://ctt.ec/FrSMf">Tweet
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">Visit <a href="http://www.elainestock.com/blog/">http://www.elainestock.com/blog/</a>
for #BookGiveaway of Always With You plus more (<a href="http://ctt.ec/cEZb0">Tweet
This</a>)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Elaine Stockhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16349776598113016833noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8009438219696051817.post-84109305656884759662015-12-18T14:58:00.000-08:002015-12-26T09:44:50.204-08:00Sharon K. Connell: Sharing Special Stories<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #4c1130;"><b>Everyone's Story welcomes author Sharon K. Connell. Sharon is an author's friend indeed, reaching out to us writers on Facebook with her encouraging and often funny tidbits, let alone giving new </b></span><span style="color: #4c1130;"><b>writers an opportunity to introduce themselves and their writing. And these are the same reasons why she's a perfect author for readers, gripping one's heart! Please join us on this countdown to Christmas day as Sharon shares with us some special stories that made her see how God fits into her life on a daily basis and do also check out her book trailer. Both Sharon and I look forward to hearing from you!</b></span></span><br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/aRGooJjxaHU?rel=0" width="560"></iframe> </span></b><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 20.0pt;">A Few Stories</span></b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 20.0pt;"> by Sharon K. Connell<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Author, artist,
gardener, bird-watcher, moon-gazer, castle-lover, reader of period historical
romance and fantasy, grateful servant of God.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">That’s me in a nutshell.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I write Christian/Romance/Drama with a strong
emphasis on how God works in our lives. Through my own trials and tribulations,
I have learned that God is always there. He never leaves His child alone; He encourages
us, if we will only look to Him. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">In my stories, I try to bring out that truth. My
wish is to be an encouragement to my readers through the enjoyment of a
well-told story. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">A note of encouragement to all of you who would love to write: Just do it! Get the story on paper and then worry about the details later. I’ve heard this advice over and over. It works!</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Also, to those of you who are going through trials
and tribulations of your own, trust in a God who wants to help you.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Let me tell you about a day when I was feeling very
down, I’d even say depressed, more so than I had ever felt before. I had
prayed; I had pleaded. I had done everything I knew to do and still I felt
horrible. I thought God had turned His back on me. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">After dropping my daughter off at school, I headed
for work. As I drove, I came to a stoplight. It was a long one. I looked over
to the grassy area between where I sat in my car and the expressway. Suddenly
the sun came out from the clouds and shown on the wet grass. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">In that instant I saw a drop of dew on the tip of each
blade, rainbow colors, looking like a field of diamonds stretched out before
me. It made me smile, and then I laughed. The diamonds sparkled until the light
turned green and I had to drive away</span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">.</span></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimQNtKg6tV5W645QueQaeqwK-rH8GA4lcvVrudz3O6IQCeze9gEzf8HI3YY4umJAeUuxxe0D6y8Ve8KLZn7sjHdSIvFWql9GjDcn8xcnVVG3NX_8nluqCQT0vRtuPc_NGhfyK-eVVIuNAa/s1600/BookCoverImagePOR.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimQNtKg6tV5W645QueQaeqwK-rH8GA4lcvVrudz3O6IQCeze9gEzf8HI3YY4umJAeUuxxe0D6y8Ve8KLZn7sjHdSIvFWql9GjDcn8xcnVVG3NX_8nluqCQT0vRtuPc_NGhfyK-eVVIuNAa/s200/BookCoverImagePOR.jpg" width="133" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">When I arrived at work, I thought about those
“diamonds,” and how my depression had been lifted in that moment. I know that
God was telling me, “I love you and you are not alone. I have so much more to
give you.” The diamonds were a gift, especially for me, from my Lord.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Now I can’t even remember what my depression was
all about that day, I only remember how very down I felt and how uplifted I was
after seeing my field of diamonds, as I call it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">A few years later, moving to Pensacola, Florida
from Des Plaines, Illinois, I experienced another moment when I realized God
was watching over me. All my worldly possessions were packed in two vehicles
and a moving trailer, pulled behind my son, Ron’s car. All through our journey
in the rolling hills of the Smokey Mountains at night, we had been playing
leapfrog with a horse trailer. He’d pull ahead of us, and later we’d pull ahead
of him. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Just as my son had pulled in front of me and was behind
the horse trailer, climbing one of the hills, my car started to slow down. My
son did not see that I was falling behind. He also did not hear my horn. Eventually
I pulled onto the shoulder of the interstate and the car died. I thought my ten-year-old
daughter and I had been left behind, alone on the road, in the dark. I feared
we would be sitting there for a long time before Ron could find us. There were no
other cars on the road in either direction. After a few minutes, I saw the
taillights of my son’s car as he drove backward along the should</span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">er</span></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">.</span></span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieVjvczUDd-awGNPV6X_I0j9RlqtuEro2LttgbXWEL7B6WdojybVstExbnzhiVPNoiIKdyHghzZUckkeQbIeq_EAgJrYgb4bUdK1r-hkaYQlIOj_3mGfsiezb8bbPKN16n5bncukzrO3Ng/s1600/TAH+Book+Cover+CS.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieVjvczUDd-awGNPV6X_I0j9RlqtuEro2LttgbXWEL7B6WdojybVstExbnzhiVPNoiIKdyHghzZUckkeQbIeq_EAgJrYgb4bUdK1r-hkaYQlIOj_3mGfsiezb8bbPKN16n5bncukzrO3Ng/s200/TAH+Book+Cover+CS.jpg" width="133" /></a></div>
<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Ron got in my car and it started. We switched cars
and continued driving. After a while, he pulled in front of me and drove off
onto an exit. When we stopped at the end of the ramp, he told me that the car seemed
fine now. He had no idea what had caused it to stop. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-pagination: none;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-pagination: none;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">We got back onto the Interstate and a little ways down
the road we caught up to the horse trailer. It had been hauling cows and was tipped
over onto the median strip. Another car, obviously one that had entered the
road after we pulled off the interstate, had cut him off. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Upon arrival in Pensacola, I realized that God had
taken us off the road so that we would not be involved in the accident. Praise
God for His loving kindness.</span><span style="font-family: verdana;"><o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #4c1130; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><u>Sharon's Ah-hahs To Tweet</u>:</span></b></span></span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-pagination: none;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Everyone’s Story: Meet author @SharonKConnell, a
true author’s friend! (<a href="http://ctt.ec/HGiAN">Tweet This</a>)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-pagination: none;">
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">@SharonKConnell shares stories on how God surprised
her a couple of times. (<a href="http://ctt.ec/ueeRQ">Tweet This</a>)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: #4c1130; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">@SharonKConnell: This Christmas week, what can you
conclude about how God has moved in your life? (<a href="http://ctt.ec/9R45F">Tweet
This</a>)</span><span style="font-family: verdana;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: #4c1130; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></b></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: #4c1130; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></b></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: #4c1130; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b style="font-family: verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"><u>Author's Bio</u></b><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">:</span></span></span><br />
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<span class=""><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Sharon K. Connell, by birth a Wisconsin “Cheesehead,” grew up and went to school through college in Illinois. At one point in her life, she felt that God called her to be a missionary and moved to Pensacola, Florida, where she graduated from the Pensacola Bible Institute.</span></span></div>
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<span class=""><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span class=""><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">In 2005 Sharon caught the writing bug and never stopped en route to Houston, Texas. She continues to write stories about people who discover that God will only allow those things into one’s life that will help grow and or increase one’s faith. Sharon’s prayer is that God will use her writing to bring honor and glory to Him, to reach others with the Gospel, and to encourage others regardless of what they might be going through.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: #4c1130; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"><br /></span></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #4c1130; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; orphans: 2; text-align: justify; widows: 2;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><u style="text-align: start;">Places to connect with Sharon</u><span style="text-align: start;">:</span></span></b></span></span></span><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"><a href="https://sites.google.com/site/rosecastleplace">Website</a></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"><a href="https://twitter.com/SharonKConnell">Twitter</a></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"><a href="mailto:sharonk.connell@facebook.com">Facebook</a></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/author/sharonkconnell">Amazon</a></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/sharonkconnell">LinkedIn</a></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: #4c1130; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; orphans: 2; text-align: justify; widows: 2;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; text-align: start;"><br /></span></span></b></span></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: #4c1130; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; orphans: 2; text-align: justify; widows: 2;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="text-align: start;"><br /></span></span></b></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: #4c1130; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; orphans: 2; text-align: justify; widows: 2;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="text-align: start;"><br /></span></span></b></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: #4c1130; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"></span></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: red; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; orphans: 2; text-align: justify; widows: 2;"><b>*********************************************</b></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: red; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Please note:</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: red; font-family: verdana, sans-serif;"><b><i><br /></i></b></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, tahoma, helvetica, freesans, sans-serif;"></span><span style="background-color: white; color: red; font-family: verdana, sans-serif;"><b>--Just putting the finishing touches on my new website that will incorporate Eveyone's Story blog. I hope you will follow me on this new site. When it goes live, I'll make the announcement!</b></span></span></div>
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Elaine Stockhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16349776598113016833noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8009438219696051817.post-73315215189274115212015-12-11T14:56:00.000-08:002015-12-18T17:12:49.767-08:00Rosanna Huffman: When We Get to Trade for a Normal Life<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgArlFzVMWNhiHpBFSvjFQ_6E77f8gyvjbypUnhEf83qmLbbfcZFGhVqbF_EGC2mx3fOOvUbCQQSkr6z_IuVC7H_wBUQdUq_BOOBnithRbyAVCRx5Ad90U_cEowcG5TC5vJBfNVNSDVzBq7/s1600/rosanna.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgArlFzVMWNhiHpBFSvjFQ_6E77f8gyvjbypUnhEf83qmLbbfcZFGhVqbF_EGC2mx3fOOvUbCQQSkr6z_IuVC7H_wBUQdUq_BOOBnithRbyAVCRx5Ad90U_cEowcG5TC5vJBfNVNSDVzBq7/s320/rosanna.jpg" width="213" /></a></div>
<span style="color: #274e13; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Everyone's Story gives a warm welcome to author Rosanna Huffman. Not only do we share the phenomenal agent Linda S. Glaz, but Rosanna has an excellent middle name, Elaine (wink wink)! And, being candid and transparent, Rosanna and I also have shared several life circumstances and that's one of the reasons why I'm thrilled that Rosanna is my guest this week. After reading her thoughts, I hope you too are blessed and encouraged. Also, check out her lovely BookGiveaway of her novel, <i>Hand Me Down Husband</i> (don't you love that title?!), as well as the novel excerpt. Both Rosanna and I look forward to hearing from you.</b></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivsZmN5X2BI9UuteP3ULrRsdxuln8wStmFHY2T8fNK36XQ8uaAcVIY3k3i1rHiYfegNxrLXeVCnl8U8MfstYyFee0CBBLMROZIsA1VCSjCR_mrXWI8bbaysZpiKwe53XdSEs6W7a6NZmUV/s1600/Cover+jpg.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivsZmN5X2BI9UuteP3ULrRsdxuln8wStmFHY2T8fNK36XQ8uaAcVIY3k3i1rHiYfegNxrLXeVCnl8U8MfstYyFee0CBBLMROZIsA1VCSjCR_mrXWI8bbaysZpiKwe53XdSEs6W7a6NZmUV/s200/Cover+jpg.jpg" width="129" /></span></a></div>
<span style="color: #274e13; font-family: "arial" , "tahoma" , "helvetica" , "freesans" , sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"><b style="line-height: 20px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><u>BookGiveaway</u>:</span></b></span><br />
<div style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;">
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<span style="color: #274e13; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Rosanna is offering 1 copy of her novel, HAND ME DOWN HUSBAND, to 1 randomly chosen commenter.</span></b><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><b> </b></span><b><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="text-align: -webkit-auto;">The winner will be announced here on Friday, December 18th between 5-6 PM EST. <u>To be entered in the Giveaway, </u></span><span style="text-align: -webkit-auto;"><u>please leave your contact information within your comment</u> (you may choose to use the Contact Me form to privately send me your email address--the form is in the right-hand sidebar on the blog's main page, toward the bottom).</span></span></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #274e13; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b><u>Excerpt from <i>Hand Me Down Husband</i></u>:</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 12pt;"><i>Hand Me Down Husband</i> by Rosanna Huffman</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 12pt;">Mitchell
crossed the classroom. In one hand he carried a McDonald’s bag and in the other
a drink carrier with two large cups.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">“Good
afternoon, Miss Bloomer. I hope this is a good time for me to come. Gerald said
after school, but I should have checked with you to find out what would be most
convenient for you.” He waved the bag toward Suzanne and her stomach growled. “I
didn’t get around to eating lunch, so I hit the drive-thru on the way over.
Okay to set it here?” He nodded at the conference table.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">She
shrugged. “Sure.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 12pt;">Lovely.
She’d smell hot food while she trained the new principal. However, if he was
eating, surely she could too. “I’ll be right back.” She sped to the kitchen to
retrieve her leftover lunch and fill her water bottle.<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 12pt;">She
returned to find two meals set out on her table. Who else was coming? She looked
away and tried not to smell the fries.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Mitchell
was across the room studying a bulletin board. He turned around as Suzanne
reached her desk. “Uh, Miss Bloomer, I hope you like Big Macs. That’s what I
got and I brought one for you too. Didn’t want to eat here if you didn’t have
something too.” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">“I don’t
have to eat your food. I have some here.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">He
laughed. “I hope it’s something that’ll keep. I won’t eat two burgers and two
large fries.” He stopped and frowned. “I’m sorry, you don’t like them, do you?
I wondered if I should get chicken. I should have called and asked you.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 12pt;">“Oh.
Well . . . thank you.” One part of her brain wanted to split her face with a
smile and gush shamelessly. Who didn’t like Big Macs? The other part of her
brain—the dominant one—demanded caution. There’s no such thing as a free lunch.
She shook her head and formed a lips-only smile. “No, a burger’s fine, but you
didn’t have to do that.”<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span></b></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-weight: bold;">
Trading
for Normal</span></span></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=8009438219696051817" name="_GoBack"></a></span><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> by Rosanna Huffman</span><span style="font-family: verdana, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">How old
were you when you realized you were not “normal”? That, for whatever reason, you
didn’t quite measure up to typical personhood?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For me it was probably around 6.8 years old, soon after I
started first grade. That’s when I realized how much smaller I was than other
kids in my grade. How frizzy my hair was compared to other white girls. How weird
my clothes. How skinny and bony and hairy my arms. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">As a
tween my non-normalcy increased as I changed schools and was now rubbing bony
elbows with only church kids—no, neither Amish nor Mennonite, but German
Baptist Brethren. I seemed to fit into their homogenized group as well as a
green bean in a milkshake. My female classmates wore skirts and blouses bought
off a rack. I wore homemade dresses because “girl, you don’t have enough hips
to keep up a skirt.” They wore white ankle socks. I wore dark, thick knee socks
and hopefully both the same color. They had styled hair. I had frizzy hair that
refused to look combed and had certainly never been styled.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Of
course it improved in our teen years. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Not</i>.
They sometimes went to movies. I wouldn’t have dreamed of doing such a “worldly”
thing, much less have been allowed. They were asked out on dates. I wasn’t—not often
anyway, and never by the right guy. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">They entered
their 20s and 30s and 40s. In a rare trend toward normalcy, I did too. But they
fell in love, got married, had babies. I bought shower gifts and wedding gifts
and made excuses not to babysit. I went to college. I traveled twice to Israel.
They had more babies and stayed home and kept house and washed clothes. And
forgot the 12s multiplication facts and the Pythagorean theory and how to
diagram a sentence and 28 of the U.S. capitals. I taught high school. I moved
into an apartment in my parents’ barn and crocheted afghans for my 33 nieces
and nephews. Their children grew to school age and they began homeschooling and
calling me for free advice. I quit teaching and began writing school curriculum
for Christian Light Publications. </span><span style="font-family: "verdana";"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Rosanna with one of her nieces</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">They
watched their children grow into adults and date and marry. I began traveling
around the country to attend writers conferences. I wrote a novel. I watched
movies. They celebrated Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day, Sweetest Day, and
anniversaries. I won the grand prize in a national afghan design contest. Their
husbands built/bought them nice homes, and they started cuddling grandbabies. I
signed contracts with a literary agent and a publisher for my novel and two
years later held my firstborn word-baby, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Hand
Me Down Husband</i>, in my far-from-normal hands.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Do I
miss the normal life? Can a person miss something she never had? Yes, and definitely
yes. I miss the love and companionship of a good marriage. Occasionally I let
myself stop and think about all the “normal” things I have missed out on, children
and husband being the bulk of that list, and I admit—the disappointment is
heavy. Would I trade all the awesome non-normal experiences I’ve had for a
husband and family of my own? Absolutely—in a heartbeat. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">But God
is good and He is faithful. And we don’t get to make those trades in this life.
We do get to be thankful for the blessings in the good times and in the hard
times. Furthermore, someday all of us blood-bought believers in Jesus Christ <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">do</i> get to trade. We get to trade all the
sorrows and disappointments and pains of this earthly existence for eternity
with Him where all normal will be wiped away. Until then I take great comfort
in the fact that Jesus lived as a non-normal on this earth and that He knows
and cares for us all, whether we are normal or not.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
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<b style="color: #274e13; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><u>Rosanna's Ah-hahs To Tweet</u>:</span></b><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Everyone’s
Story: Meet author @RosannaEHuffman, #ChristianFiction & the single woman. 3BookGiveaway
(<a href="http://ctt.ec/52mr2">Tweet This</a>)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Author
@RosannaEHuffman: Trading for a normal life? #BookGiveaway<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(<a href="http://ctt.ec/ivaBW">Tweet
This</a>)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<b style="color: #274e13; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">
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<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Thinking
you’re not “normal” & wondering how to fit in? See what @RosannaEHuffman
shares. (<a href="http://ctt.ec/Raz9b">Tweet This</a>)</span><span style="font-family: verdana;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<b style="color: #274e13; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b style="color: #274e13; font-family: verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"><u>Author's Bio</u></b><span style="background-color: white; color: #274e13; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">:</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">As an
author, Rosanna’s goal is to write stories with single women protagonists who
do not marry in the story. From experience she knows those characters can live
happy, fulfilled lives although one of their greatest dreams—marriage—remains
unfulfilled. Rosanna was as surprised as anyone that her debut novel turned
into a romance, although she did retain strains of the single life in the
story.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #274e13; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"><br /></span></div>
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<b style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; orphans: 2; text-align: justify; widows: 2;"><span style="color: #274e13; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><u style="text-align: start;">Places to connect with Rosanna</u><span style="text-align: start;">:</span></span></b><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"><a href="http://www.rosannahuffman.com/">Website</a></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"><a href="https://twitter.com/RosannaEHuffman">Twitter</a></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/rosannahuffmanauthor/">Facebook</a></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Hand-Down-Husband-Rosanna-Huffman/dp/1426770286">Amazon</a></span></span></div>
</div>
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<b style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; orphans: 2; text-align: justify; widows: 2;"><span style="color: #274e13; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; text-align: start;"><br /></span></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: red; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; orphans: 2; text-align: justify; widows: 2;"><b>*********************************************</b></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: red; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"><b>Please note:</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: red; font-family: verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"><b><i><br /></i></b></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: arial, tahoma, helvetica, freesans, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"></span><span style="background-color: white; color: red; font-family: verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"><b>--Just putting the finishing touches on my new website that will incorporate Eveyone's Story blog. I hope you will follow me on this new site. When it goes live, I'll make the announcement!</b></span></span></div>
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<b style="color: #274e13; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></b></div>
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<br /></div>
<span style="color: #274e13; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b></b></span>Elaine Stockhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16349776598113016833noreply@blogger.com37tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8009438219696051817.post-82125915035417822842015-12-04T14:25:00.000-08:002015-12-12T06:59:09.008-08:00Sandra Barnes: The Best Way to Enjoy the Holidays<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhd_38M7YXmW8Y6ieSyPFKnRzlTlzxzTan3e_to1z71vmydXOw2SrSGxHJCm5S8kAOkOirpJWpHenxBCIcrH9Kq6pDLkIKqOj-lfGa2dXsGpZ7yFkyFIeXEGPG-tUJKF_pIdQ3GgHMmk6hW/s1600/Sandra.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhd_38M7YXmW8Y6ieSyPFKnRzlTlzxzTan3e_to1z71vmydXOw2SrSGxHJCm5S8kAOkOirpJWpHenxBCIcrH9Kq6pDLkIKqOj-lfGa2dXsGpZ7yFkyFIeXEGPG-tUJKF_pIdQ3GgHMmk6hW/s320/Sandra.jpg" width="228" /></a></div>
<span style="color: #073763; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>Everyone's Story gives a big welcome to fellow Elk Lake Publishing and YA author Sandra Barnes. I have so much respect for authors who reach out to teens and young adults who are in need of </b></span><span style="color: #073763; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>encouragement. In this fast-paced-world that glorifies change by the second, and often brushing aside faith and morals, Sandra Barnes is a strong voice to be read today. Please take the time to read her blurb, her words on the holidays, and reflect on what they all mean for you. Both Sandra and I look forward to hearing from you.</b></span><br />
<span style="color: #20124d; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="color: #20124d; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjW1BVaxZTTck5a05WySV1scWCJPu4ms0FrPxDZLdfwBxo8W6tY-5eNayYZZK9Tqghh-Qe1nsP4TGJPIhJkv7oFctM6ZkV8tkftlf-y2w5dR50dhNRLvbeUM8Pvr3Hu_JiUxJWEm2_NCU2Q/s1600/Cyn+Book+Cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjW1BVaxZTTck5a05WySV1scWCJPu4ms0FrPxDZLdfwBxo8W6tY-5eNayYZZK9Tqghh-Qe1nsP4TGJPIhJkv7oFctM6ZkV8tkftlf-y2w5dR50dhNRLvbeUM8Pvr3Hu_JiUxJWEm2_NCU2Q/s320/Cyn+Book+Cover.jpg" width="214" /></a></div>
<span style="color: #073763; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b><u>Blurb of PRESENCE OF CYN</u>:</b></span><br />
<span style="color: #073763; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span>
<br />
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<b><span style="font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 19.0pt;">How can you win the race if you’re
speeding down the wrong track?</span></b><span style="font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">CYNDRAY JOHNSON, a
wild and unruly teenager, longs to become a track star but instead races against
self-destruction. Falsely accused of a bomb threat traced to her cell phone,
she’s expelled from St. Pious Christian Academy, ruining her chances of
obtaining the one thing that really matters to her—winning a gold medal in the
State Championship.</span><span style="font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">There’s a Life-Line for the Busy Holiday
Season</span></b><span style="font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> by Sandra Barnes<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">It’s
going to be a great holiday season! <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">This
week, as I perused articles, advertisements, and even social media, the one consistent
theme seemed to be how to resist the urge of doing too much of one thing and
not doing enough of something else. Lots of advice was dished out on how to <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">not </i>over eat, over spend, over commit,
or plain ole over indulge-in-anything-whatsoever. Period. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The tips for
the holidays didn’t end there. An even greater charge was inflicted upon those whose
pendulum tends to swing to the other end of the spectrum during this season. The
advice was for the individuals who just can’t seem to get into gear to do
anything. The people like me, I suppose. The ones who get snatched into the
ferocious whirlwind of feeling the need to do so much that they end of
practically doing absolutely nothing. Just exhausted from the to-do list!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgK9e5dP5wFApPLogezgB-C_d4xuVnklFPISQVo0uH8Urh-oOBSe5P4hkwMIg48V2z0uNnhtRxYu0o6Hlhv8D3_-Zz7u-bU9THxUsn9dBpiC3v13QWqCCKl2MWZac_p0gM51akRwcjYBrSb/s1600/SandraMeme.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgK9e5dP5wFApPLogezgB-C_d4xuVnklFPISQVo0uH8Urh-oOBSe5P4hkwMIg48V2z0uNnhtRxYu0o6Hlhv8D3_-Zz7u-bU9THxUsn9dBpiC3v13QWqCCKl2MWZac_p0gM51akRwcjYBrSb/s320/SandraMeme.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I really
don’t like being in that awful place of having so much stuff that’s due that I
don’t have enough days to deliver any of it anyway. Truth be told, even the
most organized, diligent, well put-together person has been there. Like <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">shopping for people we know and love</b>
(and some of them we just <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">know … and like
… a little bit</i>)<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> </i>like the
co-worker’s name pulled during the secret Santa gift exchange that you had to
participate in to be considered a team player; <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">making crafty gifts</b> because it seemed more thoughtful at the time,
but the directions outright lied when it said it would be inexpensive and you
didn’t have to be crafty; yet you realize that you could’ve potentially saved
50 bucks and 50 hours of labor if you’d just gone to Walmart instead of giving
a homemade gift where the recipient had to ask, “what is this?”; and what about
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">scheduling Christmas photos</b>, arriving
on time and having to wait hours because the photographer has somehow gotten
behind? When it’s finally your family’s turn, you pose with a perfect smile for
each shot but have to retake every picture because somebody squinted, wasn’t
ready, or was acting goofy, and when the family votes for the picture they want
to purchase, you’re outnumbered because everybody (except you, of course)
simply adores the photo where your smile happens to be too tight as you were
warning them—between clenched teeth—that they had better behave this time.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Yes, the
list is endless. And the flood waters can rise so high between decorating, hosting/attending
parties, and gift wrapping that one could possibly drown before baking, visiting
relatives and friends, writing letters, and sending cards. But wait! There is a
life-line.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The
advent season has always been one of preparation. For me, this time of year
just naturally feels like I’m getting ready for something! When I was younger,
the season seemed to be wrapped with hope and joy, excitement and anticipation.
Seems those magical feelings that came so easily when I was a child have to be intentionally
mustered these days. And quite honestly, I’m okay with that. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">It’s a
pleasure to put everything on pause in order to reflect upon how spiritually
meaningful this season really is. I don’t mind stepping away from life’s
hurriedness to honor the birth of Jesus. There’s no guilt or shame or
disappointment or regret when overindulging in His presence. See, the joy of
Christmas lies in knowing that He came, that He is coming again. Yes, it’s
going to be a great holiday season!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: #073763;"><u>Sandra's Ah-hahs To Tweet</u>:</span></span></b><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">Like #Christian
#YA? Meet Sandra Barnes @sandra_author on Everyone’s Story. (<a href="http://ctt.ec/mAqM1">Tweet This</a>)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">Sandra Barnes
@sandra_author: How to overindulge during the Christmas season without guilt. (<a href="http://ctt.ec/UPJA5">Tweet This)</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 12pt;">Sandra Barnes
@sandra_author offers a life-line for the holidays—does it match yours? </span><a href="http://ctt.ec/5d2j6" style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12pt;">(Tweet This</a><span style="font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 12pt;">)</span></div>
</div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: #073763;"><b><u>Author's Bio</u>:</b></span> </span><br />
<div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Sandra Barnes has traveled around the world, collecting stories. She loves multiculturalism, and she honors differences in her writing to illustrate the sometimes not-so-obvious similarities of all people. Sandra lives in Southern Maryland with her husband and two teenagers. When she is not writing or traveling with family, she spends considerable time counseling teens and advocating for social justice in mental health.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<b style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; orphans: 2; text-align: justify; widows: 2;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: #073763;"><u style="text-align: start;">Places to connect with Sandra</u><span style="text-align: start;">:</span></span></span></b></div>
<div>
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "arial" , "tahoma" , "helvetica" , "freesans" , sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; orphans: 2; text-align: justify; widows: 2;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="text-align: start;"><a href="http://sandrabarnesauthor.com/">Website</a></span></span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "arial" , "tahoma" , "helvetica" , "freesans" , sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; orphans: 2; text-align: justify; widows: 2;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="text-align: start;"><a href="https://twitter.com/sandra_author">Twitter</a></span></span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "arial" , "tahoma" , "helvetica" , "freesans" , sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; orphans: 2; text-align: justify; widows: 2;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="text-align: start;"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/people/Sandra-Barnes/100001275682480">Facebook</a></span></span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "arial" , "tahoma" , "helvetica" , "freesans" , sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; orphans: 2; text-align: justify; widows: 2;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.pinterest.com/Sandra_Author/">Pinterest</a></span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "arial" , "tahoma" , "helvetica" , "freesans" , sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; orphans: 2; text-align: justify; widows: 2;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="text-align: start;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Presence-Cyn-Sandra-Barnes-ebook/dp/B00XRG3C54/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1432568299&sr=1-1&keywords=Presence+of+Cyn">Amazon</a></span></span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "arial" , "tahoma" , "helvetica" , "freesans" , sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; orphans: 2; text-align: justify; widows: 2;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="text-align: start;"><br /></span></span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="background-color: white; color: red; font-family: "arial" , "tahoma" , "helvetica" , "freesans" , sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; orphans: 2; text-align: justify; widows: 2;"><b>*********************************************************************************</b></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: red; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;"><b>Please note:</b></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: red; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;"><b><i><br /></i></b></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , "tahoma" , "helvetica" , "freesans" , sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;"></span><span style="background-color: white; color: red; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;"><b>--I will soon launch a specially designed website that will incorporate Eveyone's Story blog. I hope you will follow me on this new site. When it goes live, I'll make the announcement!</b></span></div>
<div>
<span style="background-color: white; color: red; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;"><b><br /></b></span></div>
<div>
<span style="background-color: white; color: red; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;"><b><br /></b></span></div>
Elaine Stockhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16349776598113016833noreply@blogger.com20tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8009438219696051817.post-75060702594325354972015-11-27T14:03:00.000-08:002015-11-27T14:16:55.301-08:00Karen Wingate: The True Meaning Of "I Can"<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSTbjj2vMBt_DtAbX5LUfu2H6xeCWQDjjSmWO4yp3pgnnqK_CUahJmxoFaIn_1pn6QIG7ZErejG00caw7gEzEDaFUbdwkdumF1vq7hc07E3ip9ELGWp8sqe2dcyVx_pHs7c6ykoxdI43td/s1600/117.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSTbjj2vMBt_DtAbX5LUfu2H6xeCWQDjjSmWO4yp3pgnnqK_CUahJmxoFaIn_1pn6QIG7ZErejG00caw7gEzEDaFUbdwkdumF1vq7hc07E3ip9ELGWp8sqe2dcyVx_pHs7c6ykoxdI43td/s320/117.JPG" width="240" /></a></div>
<span style="color: #073763; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>Everyone's Story warmly welcomes author Karen Wingate. Though I have yet to meet Karen face-to-face, I want to! She is someone to admire: strong despite what others may perceive as weak, courageous, optimistic, energetic, and most importantly, someone who loves her Father as much as He loves her. In this week of the American holiday of Thanksgiving, please enjoy and reflect on Karen's inspiring words--I know they've uplifted me! Both Karen and I look forward to hearing from you.</b></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8aQgkbKTjI8HB0ed4Jum-CkoDLkxogSR4v_YZD_jSQmm5l9PtN7pMoqB8SWQc6JwBgBfbZyc3CbAdL2iN3tstEhpVM_UszVjvv2WRSYMfXQtWdooPEvcafb_cn-si1sX8bwwWqdwAxUZ9/s1600/Karen%2527sStrength.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="268" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8aQgkbKTjI8HB0ed4Jum-CkoDLkxogSR4v_YZD_jSQmm5l9PtN7pMoqB8SWQc6JwBgBfbZyc3CbAdL2iN3tstEhpVM_UszVjvv2WRSYMfXQtWdooPEvcafb_cn-si1sX8bwwWqdwAxUZ9/s400/Karen%2527sStrength.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-pagination: none; text-align: center;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">LET’S
BUILD SOMETHING TOGETHER</span></b><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=8009438219696051817" name="_GoBack"></a><span style="font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">
by Karen Wingate<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-pagination: none; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="mso-pagination: none;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">As someone with a
severe visual impairment since birth, I’ve lived my life by one rule:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="mso-pagination: none;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Never say the
words, “I can’t.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="mso-pagination: none;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Any person with a
disability or a minority ethnicity has to work twice as hard to be half as
good. Get busy.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">This philosophy
worked for many years. I’ve accomplished far more than my rehabilitation
teachers thought I could. Early on, I learned to bring God into the equation.
Often I saw Him provide and use me in ways I could not explain by human
standards. In spite of what He did, I failed to call on Him enough. It was
more, “I can do this. I’ll call you if I get into trouble.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">In recent years, my
favorite verse, “I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength
(Philippians 4:13)” became my nemesis. I grew tired of the struggle, always
having to do everything everyone else did, always needing to be a step ahead so
I could prove the power of God. I became weary of the “all things.” If I wasn’t
doing it or if I didn’t think I could do it, I must not be trusting God enough,
my lifelong mantra told me. Was it ever acceptable to say, “I can’t?”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I’ve had a long
publishing career, but not the joy of a published fiction book. I’ve completed
three novels and have come so close to a contract/ No cigar. No celebration with
chocolate either. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="mso-pagination: none;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0stWgpeWWpqguJd-_pdPHYw8moJ2jyl3oWKiWWDemJDVIWfh5y-g0XoA2wBH4cPmLl0fYZgy3JkKIIQXgxDOfsJTmayIS486YbYUhFlJTpTsZdpDmijg7m-TzaFF7JfJgmwdXCapYGkbr/s1600/TCM+Session+Seven+17.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0stWgpeWWpqguJd-_pdPHYw8moJ2jyl3oWKiWWDemJDVIWfh5y-g0XoA2wBH4cPmLl0fYZgy3JkKIIQXgxDOfsJTmayIS486YbYUhFlJTpTsZdpDmijg7m-TzaFF7JfJgmwdXCapYGkbr/s320/TCM+Session+Seven+17.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Karen and two Russian students when Karen<br />served as a short-term worker at a<br />Bible training center in Southern Austria.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">A week before I
attended a writers’ conference, I was ready to give up on this writing life. Why
was I going to a conference that wouldn’t take me any further? Too much was
stacked against me and I don’t have the strength to keep fighting any longer.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">
</span>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I threw my reasons
at God. I’m visually impaired, remember? I’m a pastor’s wife. My husband, who
suffers from chronic back pain and diabetes, can hardly manage when I’m gone. Moreover,
silly me had written an edgy novel and had the audacity to sign up for
appointments with two of the largest CBA publishers in the business. Whatever
was I thinking?</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">
</span>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“This is impossible,”
I told God. “If you want me to publish a book, You’ll have to do it. I can’t.”
The Bible stories of David and Gideon came to mind. “Just call me Gideon,” I muttered
at an elevator wall when I first arrived at the conference.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">
</span>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Then I walked into
Allen Arnold’s continuing education class, “Writing On The Wild Side.” He distributed
spiral bound notebooks, saying he had penned a separate message for each of us
on the front flap, praying that God would direct each statement to the person
who needed those particular words. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">My inscription
read. “Nothing is impossible with Me. Let’s do this together.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Did the instructor have
a thing about Lowe’s Home Improvement tagline?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Unlike Lowe’s, God
provides the resources of His strength, the guidance of His wisdom, and the
partnership of His labor. “<span style="background: white; color: black;">Come to
me,<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>all you who are weary and
burdened, and I will give you rest (Matthew 11:28, NIV).” Rest. Oh, sweet rest.
It’s available if I agree to do things His way in His time.</span></span></div>
</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">That verse I had come
to dislike? Catch those words. It says, “I CAN do all things.” It doesn’t say,
“I MUST.” If I’m joining God’s partnership, He chooses what He wants me to do. I
don’t have to do it all. I do what He asks me to do. Each day, I convene with
him for His daily assignment. If He wants me to get that book published, He’ll
take care of it. If He wants me to be the only one blessed by its words, that’s
His choice. If He wants me to spend a week writing blogs and magazine articles,
or stop my editing to pray with two women from my bible study group, I do that
instead. I don’t have to get it all done. Whether I finish everything on my
to-do list is His decision, not mine. I do my best with what He has given me
and leave the outcome to Him.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I walk in God’s
strength. I must also walk in His wisdom.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Lord, help me hear
Your voice. Help me choose wisely.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: #073763;"><u>Karen's Ah-hahs To Tweet</u>:</span></span></b></span><br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="mso-pagination: none;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">Can
you relate: Writing frustration led Karen Wingate @kwingate715 to ask God what
He wants her to do? (<a href="http://ctt.ec/YbcOH">Tweet This</a>)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="mso-pagination: none;">
<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">Karen
Wingate @kwingate715: living and overcoming a #disability when it comes to
#writing. (<a href="http://ctt.ec/UQ63c">Tweet This</a>)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: #073763;">
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<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">Ever
cry that God’s asking the impossible? Visit Karen Wingate @kwingate715’s on
Everyone’s Story. (<a href="http://ctt.ec/V7cfY">Tweet This</a>)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: #073763;"><b style="font-family: verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;"><u>Author's Bio</u></b><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">:</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Karen Wingate wrote
Christian education curriculum for nearly thirty years for Standard Publishing,
the Salvation Army, and Rainbow Publishers. She has written over 300 articles
and devotions for both adults and children. Now she has turned her attention to
fiction writing and loves to write about the history of the places where she
and her husband have ministered. Karen and Jack have two grown daughters. One
serves as a U.S. Army optometrist and the other is a university TESL
instructor. Karen keeps up with her blog at </span><span style="font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Grace On Parade</span></span><span style="font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">,
writes a column for her newspaper, and as the Lord leads, is working on her
fourth novel.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<b style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; orphans: 2; text-align: justify; widows: 2;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: #073763;"><u style="text-align: start;">Places to connect with Karen</u><span style="text-align: start;">:</span></span></span></b></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "arial" , "tahoma" , "helvetica" , "freesans" , sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; orphans: 2; text-align: justify; widows: 2;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="text-align: start;"><a href="http://www.graceonparade.com/">Website/blog</a></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "arial" , "tahoma" , "helvetica" , "freesans" , sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; orphans: 2; text-align: justify; widows: 2;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="text-align: start;"><a href="https://twitter.com/kwingate715">Twitter</a></span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="mso-pagination: none;">
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "arial" , "tahoma" , "helvetica" , "freesans" , sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; orphans: 2; text-align: justify; widows: 2;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="text-align: start;"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/graceonparade/">Facebook</a></span></span></span></div>
<span style="color: #073763; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: red; font-family: "arial" , "tahoma" , "helvetica" , "freesans" , sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; orphans: 2; text-align: justify; widows: 2;"><b>*********************************************************************************</b></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: red; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;"><b>Please note:</b></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: red; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;"><b><i><br /></i></b></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , "tahoma" , "helvetica" , "freesans" , sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;"></span><span style="background-color: white; color: red; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;"><b>--I will soon launch a specially designed website that will incorporate Eveyone's Story blog. I hope you will follow me on this new site. When it goes live, I'll make the announcement!</b></span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #073763; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span>Elaine Stockhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16349776598113016833noreply@blogger.com25tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8009438219696051817.post-40031913085739038142015-11-20T14:33:00.000-08:002015-11-29T06:49:57.889-08:00Linda Yezak: Is My Work Worthy, Lord?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifCAl9DKVoXRB5jZzmEnJbwp0SK6iwtAmBK5K_4h7pH7Y4lXYm4K7eNMwbv4W_fZCy-U_2oV2O2yL0aF0QU1l4Dq9nrnzZLeccJzU2GTM7Rl5LXVpgjJvPuJLrD8anEF-CVMuCikxoo6uF/s1600/Linda+343x480+pixels.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifCAl9DKVoXRB5jZzmEnJbwp0SK6iwtAmBK5K_4h7pH7Y4lXYm4K7eNMwbv4W_fZCy-U_2oV2O2yL0aF0QU1l4Dq9nrnzZLeccJzU2GTM7Rl5LXVpgjJvPuJLrD8anEF-CVMuCikxoo6uF/s320/Linda+343x480+pixels.jpg" width="228" /></a></div>
<span style="color: #274e13; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>Everyone's Story welcomes author Linda Yezak. Linda snagged my attention with the word "cat" and I'm glad we connected. Linda joins us this week with heartfelt and candid words that's not easily spoken about from writer to writer or for that matter, from writer to reader. I applaud Linda for sharing this with us. We'll be interested in knowing whether you can relate. And do check out Linda's lovely BookGiveaway. Both Linda and I are looking forward to hearing from you!</b></span><br />
<span style="color: #274e13; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="color: #274e13; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="color: #274e13; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span><span style="color: #274e13; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgH3Bi4CwPPDENhyzhyxjEoBDQ0lqXqj81f_KGwTbQnAsEIXywMSsc_DTdY3qeHLrULu6jGTjOJ6_LdGBTT4UTHqZ8f4TAVGa3zDCwD6dE_eD_9l4Qup_j5BwUzXA_KMbD0uiEs-m3gaC6V/s1600/high+resolution.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgH3Bi4CwPPDENhyzhyxjEoBDQ0lqXqj81f_KGwTbQnAsEIXywMSsc_DTdY3qeHLrULu6jGTjOJ6_LdGBTT4UTHqZ8f4TAVGa3zDCwD6dE_eD_9l4Qup_j5BwUzXA_KMbD0uiEs-m3gaC6V/s200/high+resolution.jpg" width="122" /></a></div>
<span style="color: #274e13;"><b style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><u>BookGiveaway</u>:</span></b></span><br />
<div style="line-height: 20px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;">
<div style="background-color: white; orphans: auto; widows: auto;">
<div style="font-family: arial, tahoma, helvetica, freesans, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">
<span style="color: #274e13;"><b><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Linda is offering 1 copy of her novel, THE CAT'S LADY'S SECRET, to 1 randomly chosen commenter.</span></b><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><b> </b></span><b><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="text-align: -webkit-auto;">The winner will be announced here on Friday, November 27th between 5-6 PM EST. <u>To be entered in the Giveaway, </u></span><span style="text-align: -webkit-auto;"><u>please leave your contact information within your comment</u> (you may choose to use the Contact Me form to privately send me your email address--the form is in the right-hand sidebar on the blog's main page, toward the bottom).</span></span></b></span></div>
<div style="font-family: arial, tahoma, helvetica, freesans, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">
<span style="color: #274e13;"><b><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="text-align: -webkit-auto;"><br /></span></span></b></span></div>
<div style="font-family: arial, tahoma, helvetica, freesans, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">
<span style="color: #274e13;"><b><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="text-align: -webkit-auto;"><br /></span></span></b></span></div>
<div style="font-family: arial, tahoma, helvetica, freesans, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">
<span style="color: #274e13;"><b><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="text-align: -webkit-auto;"><br /></span></span></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>How I Learned To Like Where I’ve Been
Planted</b> by Linda Yezak</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<!--[if supportFields]><span
style='mso-element:field-begin'></span><span style="mso-spacerun:
yes"> </span>SEQ CHAPTER \h \r 1<![endif]--><!--[if supportFields]><span
style='mso-element:field-end'></span><![endif]--><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Recently, I attended a writers
conference at a Baptist university in Texas. The town may be small, the college
may be small, but the speaker and guest list included some heavy-hitters in my
field. Cecil Murphey, who ghost wrote both <i>Gifted
Hands: The Ben Carson Story</i> and <i>90
Minutes in Heaven</i> with Don Piper, the preacher who is the subject of the
story. Don Piper was there, also. James H. Pence, singer, artist, and author of
<i>Terror By Night</i>, the story of the
brutal murder that took the lives of the Caffey family in 2008, an event that
hit all the major news outlets, because it was Terry Caffey’s daughter who
masterminded the murder along with her boyfriend.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">I got to visit with these
authors and others personally, aside from attending their classes. I couldn’t
help being a tad bit star-struck and more than a tad bit jealous. I write
romance and women’s fiction, fun little stories intended more to entertain than
to deliver a deep message. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">I want to be one of the authors
who delivers a deep message.</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "tahoma" , "helvetica" , "freesans" , sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">One of the things that struck me
during the conference was the number of times someone would tell me of the
horrible things going on in their lives or awful things that had happened to
them. Some were already turning their traumatic tales into devotionals or
non-fiction books or fact-based fiction in hopes of helping someone else in
similar problems. How beautiful to be God-led to help others. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">I’ve never wanted to write of
the things in my past. I’m fine with them buried where they belong. Perhaps
that makes me selfish, I don’t know, but I’ve never felt a calling to write
about them. And for that, I am truly thankful.</span><span style="font-size: 15px;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-yQVfn_xIDTzoz-oA3Emq7Iw1lcm_OJGVfWYlm5NR9AzrtLr8xTmi5whSkcOAzbMCTTR9SERfdBmwG6h5eeKLZiR-khMOVza7dVyoW4_Jaa9eU_wNPpq-rD_2mLWFc22vOq6DRqKDARp8/s1600/Linda%2527sMeme.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="284" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-yQVfn_xIDTzoz-oA3Emq7Iw1lcm_OJGVfWYlm5NR9AzrtLr8xTmi5whSkcOAzbMCTTR9SERfdBmwG6h5eeKLZiR-khMOVza7dVyoW4_Jaa9eU_wNPpq-rD_2mLWFc22vOq6DRqKDARp8/s320/Linda%2527sMeme.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Although I enjoyed every minute
of the conference and the entire experience of spending a couple of days with
peers, talking of the one thing we all have in common, I came home under a
cloud of sadness. I want God to use me like He apparently does those other
authors. I want to be a tool for Him, to glorify Him, to help others realize
how precious He is.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">But I write romance and women’s
fiction. Fun little stories intended to entertain.</span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">I wrote about the conference on
my blog, 777 Peppermint Place, leaving
out all the specifics of my doubts and disappointments, mentioning only that I
had a lot to pray about. And I did spend quite a bit of time in
prayer–everything from <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">is my work worthy,
Lord? </i>to <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">am I being arrogant to want
more?</i> to <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">am I even doing what You
want me to do?</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Self doubt is a wicked thing. It
steals your confidence, leaves you questioning your very worth as a person
sometimes. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: none;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">But God is so amazing in His
love. He uses His children to uplift each other and to deliver His special
messages to us. How precious is He and our siblings who call themselves by His
name? </span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: none;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">The very day I posted about the
conference, one of my friends, a dear sister in Christ, typed this in the
comments: <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-pagination: none;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Feeding the
Poor<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Feeding both
body and spirit – complimenting someone, listening, caring, writing stories
that feed the heart and mind with God’s love.</span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: none;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">See that? “Writing stories that
feed the heart and mind with God’s love” is feeding the poor, both in body and
in spirit. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Authors of Christian romance pen
not just stories about love between a man and a woman. We write about a love
that is to be treasured and based on more than physical attraction. We write
about hope and forgiveness and second chances and first loves and last loves
and long-lasting, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">till death do we part </i>love.
We provide a glimpse of what the marital relationship should be according to
God’s greatest scheme and gift–a relationship that keeps God at its center,
loving and being loved in return.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: none;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">There’s far more to it than
that, of course, but really–how can you beat that?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 20px;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">So, let me introduce myself: I
am Linda Yezak, blessed to be an author of Christian Romance and Women’s
Fiction.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 20px;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #274e13; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><u>Linda's Ah-hahs To Tweet</u>:</span></b></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: none;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana";">Everyone’s
Story: Meet @LindaYezak, “blessed” to write #ChristianRomance and #WF.
#BookGiveaway. (<a href="http://ctt.ec/Y4Led">Tweet This</a>)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: none;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana";">@LindaYezak:
#Writers, can you admit your self-doubt over the stories you write? (<a href="http://ctt.ec/1DcX7">Tweet This</a>)</span></div>
<span style="color: #274e13; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">
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<span style="font-family: "verdana";">@LindaYezak:
#Writers, how is God using you and your writing? Are you content? (<a href="http://ctt.ec/fDnLI">Tweet This</a>)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #274e13; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b><u>Author's Bio</u></b>:</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Over twenty years ago, after a decade of life as a "single-again," author Linda Yezak rediscovered God's love and forgiveness when He allowed her a second chance at marital happiness. She is now living her greatest romance with her husband in a forest in East Texas. After such an amazing blessing, she chooses to trumpet God's gift of second chances in the books she writes. Linda's novels are heart-warming hallmarks of love, forgiveness, and new beginnings.</span><br />
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<b style="orphans: 2; text-align: justify; widows: 2;"><span style="color: #274e13; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><u style="text-align: start;">Places to connect with Linda</u><span style="text-align: start;">:</span></span></b></div>
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<!--StartFragment--><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><a href="http://lindayezak.com/">777 Peppermint Place/blog</a></span><!--EndFragment--></div>
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<span style="color: #274e13; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://twitter.com/LindaYezak">Twitter</a></span></div>
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<span style="color: #274e13; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/GivetheLadyaRide">Facebook</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><a href="http://dld.bz/dSPmg">Goodreads</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.pinterest.com/lyezak/">Pinterest</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><a href="http://dld.bz/LindaWYezakAmazon">Amazon</a></span></div>
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<span style="color: red; font-family: "arial" , "tahoma" , "helvetica" , "freesans" , sans-serif; font-size: 15px; orphans: 2; text-align: justify; widows: 2;"><b>*********************************************************************************</b></span><br />
<span style="color: red; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"><b>Please note:</b></span><br />
<span style="color: red; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"><b><i><br /></i></b></span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , "tahoma" , "helvetica" , "freesans" , sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"></span><span style="color: red; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"><b>--I will soon launch a specially designed website that will incorporate Eveyone's Story blog. I hope you will follow me on this new site. When it goes live, I'll make the announcement!</b></span></div>
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Elaine Stockhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16349776598113016833noreply@blogger.com27tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8009438219696051817.post-15961289541468675922015-11-13T15:00:00.001-08:002015-11-21T05:57:33.987-08:00Glenys Nellist: A Completed Story<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBDlUr0iNF1UZoevfBIiYL58ZTCYZTj6B3rmKOpxWauHHUnUreTp7geqVUAWVACx-sclw_ko9jBBgLaD-NbMaT8VcQvkhzr99CW2AaN67ggOZPyZesvZ_GDaFl9pb5ogCmnbexPsnZvoN2/s1600/Glenyis.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBDlUr0iNF1UZoevfBIiYL58ZTCYZTj6B3rmKOpxWauHHUnUreTp7geqVUAWVACx-sclw_ko9jBBgLaD-NbMaT8VcQvkhzr99CW2AaN67ggOZPyZesvZ_GDaFl9pb5ogCmnbexPsnZvoN2/s320/Glenyis.jpg" width="228" /></a></div>
<span style="color: #20124d; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>Everyone's Story gives a big welcome to children's book author, Glenys Nellist. I'm always excited when an author has a special flair in appealing to children's hearts and my guest this week, Glenys, is a marvelous gem of such talent. If her beautiful storybook doesn't alone appeal to you, please check out her uplifting words below, let alone Glenys' amazing book trailer, which I consider is a work of art! With the holidays not far off, please consider leaving a comment for Glenys to win her book LOVE LETTERS FROM GOD. Both Glenys and I look forward to hearing from you!</b></span><br />
<span style="color: #20124d; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-nHDkPrtqPgQ1DpXDpl35yaEO9OoWgOQr_gtznbGYlst1rrsQ75_NINsSCQuaZz0id-cEJc86sh9KiA0dUWfooWQTSd4d6Rz4irsiQe7aWqnNJb9ZFY8SxrfirD7ujhyphenhyphengJhby2f6MA0fp/s1600/Love+letters+Cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-nHDkPrtqPgQ1DpXDpl35yaEO9OoWgOQr_gtznbGYlst1rrsQ75_NINsSCQuaZz0id-cEJc86sh9KiA0dUWfooWQTSd4d6Rz4irsiQe7aWqnNJb9ZFY8SxrfirD7ujhyphenhyphengJhby2f6MA0fp/s200/Love+letters+Cover.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<b style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: #20124d;"><u>BookGiveaway</u>:</span></span></b><br />
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<span style="color: #20124d;"><b><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Glenys is offering 1 copy of her children's book, LOVE LETTERS FROM GOD, to 1 randomly chosen commenter.</span></b><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><b> </b></span><b><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="text-align: -webkit-auto;">The winner will be announced here on Friday, November 20th between 5-6 PM EST. <u>To be entered in the Giveaway, </u></span><span style="text-align: -webkit-auto;"><u>please leave your contact information within your comment</u> (you may choose to use the Contact Me form to privately send me your email address--the form is in the right-hand sidebar on the blog's main page, toward the bottom).</span></span></b></span></div>
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/NWN1IVhNP78?rel=0" width="560"></iframe>
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<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .25in; mso-pagination: none; text-align: center;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The
Story of Half a Book</span></b><span style="font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> by Glenys Nellist<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">It’s
summer 2010. My first children’s book manuscript sits on a shelf. Half
finished. Gathering dust. It’s been there a long time.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">And
it would have stayed there, had it not been for my husband.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Where’s
your book? </span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">He
asks one day.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Oh,
that. It’s on the shelf.</span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Why?</span></i></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Because it’s a waste of time, that’s why. Who gets to write a children’s book? Who gets to write a children’s book and have it published by Zondervan?<br /><br />I had started Love Letters from God several months before, inspired by the beautiful words of Sally Lloyd Jones, as I read her Jesus Storybook Bible.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnCIst31CRpyoVWlWIDLQmlrzn5MRjuoSWJEU4ScyoRVg9ptM0y_LMu1Hz0RQMiFFwjRq1kIuDObmY8aZZmK0BxvqbiYTFiD5iT9f_vKHzb-G2GiCx4cf4yPeUTilLKQYpYzyZs2s9R6u4/s1600/GlenysHusband.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnCIst31CRpyoVWlWIDLQmlrzn5MRjuoSWJEU4ScyoRVg9ptM0y_LMu1Hz0RQMiFFwjRq1kIuDObmY8aZZmK0BxvqbiYTFiD5iT9f_vKHzb-G2GiCx4cf4yPeUTilLKQYpYzyZs2s9R6u4/s320/GlenysHusband.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Glenys and her husband</span><br />
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</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Every
morning I would eagerly grab my pen, pour out my soul on the page, and be swept
away by the beauty and mystery of the creative process. What began as an empty,
blank sheet of white was somehow filled with life.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 12pt;">On
those mornings, I think I knew how God must have felt when, from a
desolate void of nothing, came a wonderful world of everything. It was good.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 12pt;">Then
I stopped.</span></div>
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</span>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.25in; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;"><span style="font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I
stopped because I had a visitor one day. I never saw him, but I heard his voice
whisper in my ear as he tapped me gently, but persistently, on the
shoulder.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">
</span>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.25in; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;"><span style="font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">What are you doing? he asked. You can’t write a
children’s book. You’ll never get it published. You’re wasting your time.</span><span style="font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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</span>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.25in; text-align: left;">
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listened to that voice. It was hard not to. Obediently, I put my
half-finished manuscript on the shelf, where it sat. For a long time.</span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.25in; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Enter
David, my husband, whose middle name is <i>Encourager. </i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.25in; text-align: left;">
<i><span style="font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Glenys,
do you believe that God called you to write that book?</span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.25in; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The
answer to that was easy. I had known the truth of that since the very
beginning.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.25in; text-align: left;">
<i><span style="font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Do
you believe God wants you to finish it?</span></i><span style="font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The answer
to that was easy too, even though I didn’t want to say the word.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">And
then David says something I will never forget. It’s simple, and silly, and
utterly life-changing.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.25in; text-align: left;">
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would have happened if Noah had only built half a boat?</span></i></b><span style="font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.25in; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">One
of the reasons I married David is because he could always make me laugh. I
laughed at the thought of all the animals falling off a half-constructed boat,
and the impossibility of such a vessel floating. But even though I laughed,
that silly statement was exactly what I needed.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZcazpEhyphenhyphenm90r6KJCz_DKisIxw6fueCh0G62MRN7SYfajSWtNrzLUk0dDti6oFS91m5IZkVIp8q9m3jnZuGtcsn6olVBeNnEvD_BRpHKNCJrjc6WoQ6qIY2AudyN003EpuZlxLwDvSp6ob/s1600/GlenysMeme.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="214" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZcazpEhyphenhyphenm90r6KJCz_DKisIxw6fueCh0G62MRN7SYfajSWtNrzLUk0dDti6oFS91m5IZkVIp8q9m3jnZuGtcsn6olVBeNnEvD_BRpHKNCJrjc6WoQ6qIY2AudyN003EpuZlxLwDvSp6ob/s320/GlenysMeme.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.25in; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I pulled
out that half-written manuscript, blew the dust away, picked up the pen,
and began to write. The rest, as they say, is history.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.25in; text-align: left;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Love Letters from God </span></i><span style="font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">would
be published, four years later, by Zondervan.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.25in; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">And I
think about all those abandoned manuscripts, half-written, lying on dusty
shelves, in hope-robbed rooms, and how God cannot possibly publish half a book.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.25in; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I
think about Jesus, and what might have happened if, half way through his
ministry, he had given up. But he didn’t. He completed fully the work to which
he was called, until finally, one day, he was able to say:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.25in; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><i><span style="color: windowtext;">It is finished.</span></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><i><span style="color: windowtext;"><br /></span></i></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 12pt; text-align: center;">And
wasn’t it only when Jesus had finally finished, that God could really
start?</span></div>
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.25in; text-align: left;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">**God wasn't quite done with Glenys' children's book idea… her newest book is Little Love Letters From God. This is a toddler, board book version, containing 8 rhyming Bible stories, 8 little love letters, and 1 big message--God Loves You! It's available for preorder: <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Little-Love-Letters-God-Stories/dp/0310750474/ref=tmm_other_meta_binding_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1447356140&sr=8-1">Amazon</a></span></div>
<div style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: medium; text-align: left;">
<b style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: #20124d;"><u><br /></u></span></span></b></div>
<div style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: medium; text-align: left;">
<b style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: #20124d;"><u>Glenys' Ah-hahs To Tweet</u>:</span></span></b></div>
<div style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: medium; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 12pt;">Meet
@GlenysNellist, #Children’sBook author of Love Letters from God. #BookGiveaway
(</span><a href="http://ctt.ec/c2T7E" style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12pt;">Tweet This</a><span style="font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 12pt;">)</span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.25in; text-align: left;">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .25in; mso-pagination: none;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 12pt;">#Writers:
Have you an abandoned manuscript collecting dust? See what @GlenysNellist did.
(</span><a href="http://ctt.ec/adnia" style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12pt;">Tweet This</a><span style="font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 12pt;">)</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .25in; mso-pagination: none;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 12pt;">Have
a heart for a child who’d enjoy a storybook about love letters from God? Visit @GlenysNellist.
(</span><a href="http://ctt.ec/Q4KZN" style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12pt;">Tweet This</a><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;">)</span></div>
</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br /><span style="color: #20124d;"><b><u>Author's Bio</u></b>:</span> </span>
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from England, Zondervan author Glenys Nellist is a writer with a passion for
God, her family, and children’s ministry. Love Letters from God, a
heart-warming, lift-the-flap book for 4-8 year olds, is the first<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=8009438219696051817" name="_GoBack"></a> in her Love Letters series. Glenys lives in Grand Rapids,
Michigan, with her husband, David.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
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<b style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; orphans: 2; text-align: justify; widows: 2;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: #20124d;"><u style="text-align: start;">Places to connect with Glenys</u><span style="text-align: start;">:</span></span></span></b></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "tahoma" , "helvetica" , "freesans" , sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; orphans: 2; text-align: justify; widows: 2;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="text-align: start;"><a href="http://www.glenysnellist.com/">Website</a></span></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "tahoma" , "helvetica" , "freesans" , sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; orphans: 2; text-align: justify; widows: 2;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="text-align: start;"><a href="https://twitter.com/GlenysNellist?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor">Twitter</a></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "tahoma" , "helvetica" , "freesans" , sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; orphans: 2; text-align: justify; widows: 2;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="text-align: start;"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/glenys.nellist">Facebook</a></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "tahoma" , "helvetica" , "freesans" , sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; orphans: 2; text-align: justify; widows: 2;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="text-align: start;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Love-Letters-God-Bible-Stories/dp/0310733847/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1407601495&sr=1-1&keywords=love+letters+from+god+nellist">Amazon</a></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;"><span style="color: red; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small; line-height: 20px;"><b>Please note:</b></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;"><span style="color: red; font-size: 15px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 20px;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;"><span style="font-size: 15px;"><span style="color: red; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;"><span style="font-size: 15px;"><span style="color: red; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b style="line-height: 20px; text-indent: 0in;">--I have a title change for my novel coming soon from Elk Lake Publishing: <i>Always With You.</i></b></span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">
<span style="font-size: 15px;"></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;"><span style="font-size: 15px;"><b style="line-height: 20px; text-indent: 0in;"><span style="color: red; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">--I will soon launch a specially designed website that will incorporate Eveyone's Story blog. I hope you will follow me on this new site. When it goes live, I'll make the announcement!</span></b></span></span></div>
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Elaine Stockhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16349776598113016833noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8009438219696051817.post-12658211491306960752015-11-13T14:43:00.000-08:002015-11-21T05:56:51.313-08:00Ace Collins: What Does Zacchaeus, Trevone Boykin, and Writing Have In Common?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi948mfK1ydXEiLbEFiR7RId9rnQSUXjGW0a2iLWPGUGGuziA4kEIFFAWriZj7AyJw9snu1jWJWXCcaCfq-p-kuVdo6ZBzi6YBd4XFSnFgcY14pL3SRIdOd4IhbU5emcBlbPBUV7ji4ZrfK/s1600/JukeBoxPR4s.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi948mfK1ydXEiLbEFiR7RId9rnQSUXjGW0a2iLWPGUGGuziA4kEIFFAWriZj7AyJw9snu1jWJWXCcaCfq-p-kuVdo6ZBzi6YBd4XFSnFgcY14pL3SRIdOd4IhbU5emcBlbPBUV7ji4ZrfK/s320/JukeBoxPR4s.jpg" width="213" /></a></div>
<span style="color: #0c343d; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>He's back… and Everyone's Story is happy and thrilled to again host author Ace Collins. I hope you will enjoy the many facets of Ace this week, from talented and award-winning author, collector, pro at using clever advertising, to last but not least, a heartfelt writer who always delivers a much needed message. Do check out Ace's awesome BookGiveaways. Both Ace and I look forward to hearing from you!</b></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSVgqQz8ecmoULRIGJ1maY3ydCZfn0muAbVme2T4Bwgyk3Ws1KOq1bB8WaB_1-nQ-j0SbC5y0scDmctBpIiZ-jiUym4HNbkieXWj4gY6Isuv7XaD39_uoXzrw5cIsAKP4cNfezn6zM11sV/s1600/SellYourSoul.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSVgqQz8ecmoULRIGJ1maY3ydCZfn0muAbVme2T4Bwgyk3Ws1KOq1bB8WaB_1-nQ-j0SbC5y0scDmctBpIiZ-jiUym4HNbkieXWj4gY6Isuv7XaD39_uoXzrw5cIsAKP4cNfezn6zM11sV/s320/SellYourSoul.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4_YQNz8owgLterjZz3a6tB74UAgOATbB9HF6u30AzA1qbJkmvhTG59yUzO-mCptH5LoPAQODSowWH-52z7aGz3ZPw6IGx-Gpn4zKOc6BhDiJuHKaXuAR-Ol-18vCGiz1i2ENnnApZ0NOp/s1600/Fruitcakesmall.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4_YQNz8owgLterjZz3a6tB74UAgOATbB9HF6u30AzA1qbJkmvhTG59yUzO-mCptH5LoPAQODSowWH-52z7aGz3ZPw6IGx-Gpn4zKOc6BhDiJuHKaXuAR-Ol-18vCGiz1i2ENnnApZ0NOp/s200/Fruitcakesmall.jpg" width="131" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlwHNnVsNoi8p4H6JjgoMFsFXmDtVJ1kohkksnKs8YvojpZ4pgGI7o6Zrl8LJGhSSliSPyB0voXAOAP59jewEDrVDoQDS9EfHVT-OU-5U3D5dX_fZOS0iyFX0XDEMR8vxMd1-azAlcbnHj/s1600/hollywoodlostfin.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlwHNnVsNoi8p4H6JjgoMFsFXmDtVJ1kohkksnKs8YvojpZ4pgGI7o6Zrl8LJGhSSliSPyB0voXAOAP59jewEDrVDoQDS9EfHVT-OU-5U3D5dX_fZOS0iyFX0XDEMR8vxMd1-azAlcbnHj/s200/hollywoodlostfin.jpg" width="137" /></a></div>
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<b style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: #0c343d;"> <u>BookGiveaway</u>:</span></span></b></div>
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<span style="color: #0c343d;"><b><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">Ace is offering a two-book-BookGiveaway to 2 luck winners! Each package will contain a copy of his novel THE FRUITCAKE MURDERS as well as a special hardback edition of HOLLYWOOD LOST.</span></span></b><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><b> </b></span><b style="font-family: arial, tahoma, helvetica, freesans, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="text-align: -webkit-auto;">The winners will be announced here on Friday, November 20th between 5-6 PM EST. <u>To be entered in the Giveaway, </u></span><span style="text-align: -webkit-auto;"><u>please leave your contact information within your comment</u> (you may choose to use the Contact Me form to privately send me your email address--the form is in the right-hand sidebar on the blog's main page, toward the bottom).</span></span></b></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "verdana"; mso-bidi-font-family: Tahoma; mso-bidi-font-size: 18.0pt;">Little Things Really Do Mean A
Lot </span></b><span style="font-family: "verdana"; mso-bidi-font-family: Tahoma; mso-bidi-font-size: 18.0pt;">Ace Collins</span><span style="font-family: "verdana";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana";">On
October 17, 2015, Iowa State hosted Texas Christian University in football. ISU
was struggling while TCU was ranked #3 in the nation. There was no upset on the
gridiron that day, the Cyclones fought hard but the Horn Frogs from Fort Worth
had little trouble winning the game. The story that resonated with the nation on
this afternoon was not what happened on the field, but rather an image of a
quarterback kneeling in front of a small child’s wheelchair.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana";">Trevone
Boykin is one of the best players in the nation. During his career, he has
engineered several late game comebacks and is the principle reason for his team’s
high ranking. Therefore it is not surprising that he is one of the favorites to
win the Heisman Trophy. Yet, during the moments just before kick off on October
17th, the Frog’s signal caller noted a small child sitting in a wheelchair wearing
an Iowa State jersey. During the coin toss Boykin asked the child her name and
spent a little time getting to know her. A photographer noted the moment and
took a picture of the Frog quarterback and the seven-year-old Cyclone fan. That
photo went viral. When it appeared on a Twitter feed, Boykin tweeted, “It’s
bigger than a game. I love touching young people’s lives.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana";">The
girl in the wheelchair, Abby Faber, has spastic diplegia cerebral palsy. There
is no cure. Like many who are handicapped, she often gets overlooked or
ignored. Even at her tender age, it is something she understands well.
Therefore she was just as shocked as the tens of thousands of Iowa State
partisans in the stands that one of the nation’s greatest players wanted to
know who she was and hear her story.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvc6V2E-oOxJC2Xz-6MFHfB9kpb0tbD8Ys6XkPujEFxg45vgnyyNZl243wRnBB4dbhtxmdlKlIGdNkVTR2RsA8Dzi5kvV43QB_ovYSgdwCXJhfaibTuF7ShMJw4FFUnBHRIHsKKdhfaFPB/s1600/Boyykin.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="165" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvc6V2E-oOxJC2Xz-6MFHfB9kpb0tbD8Ys6XkPujEFxg45vgnyyNZl243wRnBB4dbhtxmdlKlIGdNkVTR2RsA8Dzi5kvV43QB_ovYSgdwCXJhfaibTuF7ShMJw4FFUnBHRIHsKKdhfaFPB/s320/Boyykin.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana";">As
I look at the photo of Trevone Boykin kneeling before Abby Faber I am reminded
of the biblical story of Zacchaeus. At the time the little man climbed the tree,
Jesus was the center of the world’s focus. On that day thousands were lining
the road and demanding His attention. Yet, Jesus was not so fixated on where He
was going or the fame He was experiencing to miss seeing Zacchaeus. That
meeting changed a tax collector’s outlook and taught a lesson that is just as
relevant today.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana";">Trevone
Boykin going to a knee and getting to know a little girl, coupled with a
photographer capturing that moment, has led to more than $25,000 being raised for
Abby’s treatment and therapy. The little girl has also received messages from
all over the world. Boykin’s simple act has changed Abby’s life and brought a
spotlight to the disease that has handicapped her. It has also proven that
little things really do mean a lot.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, tahoma, helvetica, freesans, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana";">I
think vision is the most important element of being a good writer. The same
holds true for life. If we get so caught up in our schedules that we fail to
note the needs of those around us, we will never really make a lasting impact.
So each day we need to stop and look out the window to see who can use three of
the most powerful forces on this planet…a kind word, a loving touch and a warm
smile. If you don’t believe these three things have the potential to make a mighty
impact then ask Abby Faber, Trevone Boykin or Zacchaeus.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, tahoma, helvetica, freesans, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana";"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">
<span style="color: #0c343d; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b><u>Ace's Previous Appearance on Everyone's Story</u>:</b></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><a href="http://elainestock.blogspot.com/2015/05/ace-collins-when-dedication-page.html">When The Dedication Page Inscribes the Heart</a><br /><a href="http://What Wyle E. Coyote And A Muti-Award-Winning Author Have In Common">What Wyle E. Coyote And A Muti-Award-Winning Author Have In Common</a><br /><a href="http://elainestock.blogspot.com/2014/10/ace-collins-one-thing-we-dont-want.html">The One Thing We Don't Want An Editor To Say</a></span><br />
<div style="background-color: white; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: none;">
<b style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: #0c343d;"><u>Ace's Ah-hahs To Tweet</u>:</span></span></b><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana";">Like
to read whodunits? Hate fruitcake? Visit award-winning author @AceCollins for
sweet revenge. (<a href="http://ctt.ec/e73pa">Tweet This</a>)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana";">#SuspenseReaders:
Just in time for the hoidays, check out @AceCollins’ special #BookGiveaway. (<a href="http://ctt.ec/8L629">Tweet This</a>)</span></div>
<b style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: #0c343d;">
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<span style="font-family: "verdana";">@AceCollins:
What do Trevone Boykin, Zacchaeus, and #writing have in common? (<a href="http://ctt.ec/Wu5U8">Tweet This</a>)</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhoUz28Pg6r5vx17oTITmcoN68t5j2y-S7TypNBwkiQl7EaH6TWM24PvaG7Xn6IZ5q5SDtbEvJ9rfUK76o4rroMkmj3cuObyfc9ib7IGrr0k5ErBi-m-eUT8-kymorQPz9MAz2IkUrKB8K/s1600/Ace+on+Runningboard.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="133" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhoUz28Pg6r5vx17oTITmcoN68t5j2y-S7TypNBwkiQl7EaH6TWM24PvaG7Xn6IZ5q5SDtbEvJ9rfUK76o4rroMkmj3cuObyfc9ib7IGrr0k5ErBi-m-eUT8-kymorQPz9MAz2IkUrKB8K/s200/Ace+on+Runningboard.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
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<b style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: #0c343d;"><u>Author's Bio</u>:</span></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana";">Citing
his Arkansas heritage, Christy Award winning author Ace Collins defines himself
as a storyteller. In that capacity, Ace has authored more than seventy books
for 25 different publishers that have sold more than 2.5 million copies. His
catalog includes novels, biographies, children’s works as well as books on
history, culture and faith. He has also been the featured speaker at the
National Archives Distinguished Lecture Series, hosted a network television
special and does college basketball play-by-play. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana";">One
of Ace’s most talked about books was released in late 2015. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Color of Justice </i>earned the Christy
Award winner for Best Suspense Book. This novel is a courtroom drama examining
racial prejudice in 1964. Also in 2014, Abingdon released Ace’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Man’s Best Hero</i> at the Book Explo of
America. This nonfiction book earned the IndieFab Book of the Year Winner and
has generated interest well beyond the dog community. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana";">Beyond
books, Ace has penned more than 2000 magazine features, appeared on every
network morning television show, as well as CNN, MSNBC, CNBC and Fox. He also
does scores of radio interviews each year. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana";">Ace
is married to the Chair of the Department of Education at Ouachita Baptist
University, Dr. Kathy Collins. The couple lives in Arkadelphia, Arkansas and
has two sons. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; orphans: 2; text-align: justify; widows: 2;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: #0c343d;"><u style="text-align: start;">Places to connect with Ace</u><span style="text-align: start;">:</span></span></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "tahoma" , "helvetica" , "freesans" , sans-serif; orphans: 2; text-align: justify; widows: 2;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="text-align: start;"><a href="http://www.acecollins.com/">Website</a></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "tahoma" , "helvetica" , "freesans" , sans-serif; orphans: 2; text-align: justify; widows: 2;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="text-align: start;"><a href="https://twitter.com/AceCollins">Twitter</a></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "tahoma" , "helvetica" , "freesans" , sans-serif; orphans: 2; text-align: justify; widows: 2;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="text-align: start;"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/AuthorAceCollins">Facebook</a></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "tahoma" , "helvetica" , "freesans" , sans-serif; orphans: 2; text-align: justify; widows: 2;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="text-align: start;"><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/3605.Ace_Collins">Goodreads</a></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "tahoma" , "helvetica" , "freesans" , sans-serif; orphans: 2; text-align: justify; widows: 2;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="text-align: start;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Ace-Collins/e/B001IGNGBU">Amazon</a></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "tahoma" , "helvetica" , "freesans" , sans-serif; orphans: 2; text-align: justify; widows: 2;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="text-align: start;"><br /></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "tahoma" , "helvetica" , "freesans" , sans-serif; orphans: 2; text-align: justify; widows: 2;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="text-align: start;"><br /></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: red; font-family: "arial" , "tahoma" , "helvetica" , "freesans" , sans-serif; line-height: 20px; orphans: 2; text-align: justify; widows: 2;"><b>*********************************************************************************</b></span><br />
<span style="color: red; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; line-height: 20px;"><b>Please note:</b></span><br />
<span style="color: red; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; line-height: 20px;"><b><br /></b></span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "tahoma" , "helvetica" , "freesans" , sans-serif; line-height: 20px;"></span><span style="color: red; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; line-height: 20px;"><b>--I have a title change for my novel coming soon from Elk Lake Publishing: <i>Always With You.</i></b></span><br />
<span style="color: red; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; line-height: 20px;"><b><i><br /></i></b></span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "tahoma" , "helvetica" , "freesans" , sans-serif; line-height: 20px;"></span><span style="color: red; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; line-height: 20px;"><b>--I will soon launch a specially designed website that will incorporate Eveyone's Story blog. I hope you will follow me on this new site. When it goes live, I'll make the announcement!</b></span></div>
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Elaine Stockhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16349776598113016833noreply@blogger.com22tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8009438219696051817.post-67010773997506911592015-11-06T14:12:00.000-08:002015-11-14T04:17:05.128-08:00Linda S. Glaz: Our True Walk In LIfe<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<b style="color: #660000; font-family: verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Everyone's Story gives a warm welcome to Linda S. Glaz, author, literary agent, and a most lovely woman. I'm proud to say Linda's my agent and I had the privilege of meeting her a couple of weeks ago at the Maranatha Writers Conference in Michigan--one extraordinary opportunity, let alone wonderful conference. Please enjoy Linda's uplifting words below and check out her BookGiveaway offer and the blurb on her new suspense release that you won't want to miss. Both Linda and I look forward to hearing from you!</b></b></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHl5YEdhGgPSdFQrpGzprrchdz0LtAW4kee1Grne1EFRUSw2FjBrB7fXAyiJJ6lfyMU2X81m7G5LMZTV0HTh4ivwogBkzPXY9z_7k-JNy8Z-Kn6OG3cr8aPxqdx0w0lj6ZDH0X2ug3Nzw3/s1600/Louder101615.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHl5YEdhGgPSdFQrpGzprrchdz0LtAW4kee1Grne1EFRUSw2FjBrB7fXAyiJJ6lfyMU2X81m7G5LMZTV0HTh4ivwogBkzPXY9z_7k-JNy8Z-Kn6OG3cr8aPxqdx0w0lj6ZDH0X2ug3Nzw3/s200/Louder101615.jpg" width="133" /></a></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">
<b style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: #660000;"><u>BookGiveaway</u>:</span></span></b></div>
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<span style="color: #660000;"><b><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Linda is offering 1 copy of her novel, FEAR IS LOUDER THAN WORDS, to 1 randomly chosen commenter.</span></b><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><b> </b></span><b><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="text-align: -webkit-auto;">The winner will be announced here on Friday, November 13th between 5-6 PM EST. <u>To be entered in the Giveaway, </u></span><span style="text-align: -webkit-auto;"><u>please leave your contact information within your comment</u> (you may choose to use the Contact Me form to privately send me your email address--the form is in the right-hand sidebar on the blog's main page, toward the bottom).</span></span></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #660000; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b><u>Blurb of FEAR IS LOUDER THAN WORDS</u>:</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br />Rochelle Cassidy has the perfect life as a radio talk show host in the Detroit market, but her celebrity status doesn’t stop an angry listener from wanting her…dead.<br /><br />Ed McGrath’s ideal life as a pro-hockey player doesn’t include a damsel in distress until the night he discovers Rochelle being attacked in a deserted parking structure.<br /><br />Circumstances throw them together in more ways than one when Rochelle’s producer plays matchmaker. A sick boy, a corrupt politician, and questionable medical practices put more than merely Rochelle in danger, and still, her attacker shadows her every step.<br /><br />Will Ed be able to break through her trust issues in order to protect her, or will she continue to see him as Detroit’s bad boy athlete? Her life AND his depend on it.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=8009438219696051817" name="_GoBack"></a><b><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Putting In The Effort</span></b><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> by Linda S. Glaz<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Well, I’ll just be
honest here. I thought for fifteen years that my writing was the next best
thing to ice cream and hot fudge…it wasn’t. I hadn’t learned to hone my craft.
I hadn’t learned to put in the work required for the expected result.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">And we can all
relate. Whether it’s trying to lose weight, get healthier, write a book, learn
to play an instrument, or how to cook like a gourmet chef, we have to put in
the effort. None of these things happen on their own.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">So I walked the
writer’s journey for years before I got serious. And I tended to whine and
question God. Why am I not being published? You know, I’m so very glad He
didn’t answer. It would probably have included a LOT of laughing about how horrible
my writing was. So I kept plugging away until I finally got serious enough to
do it the right way. I studied. I studied my own poor writing, the writing of
others, and I got into a lot of writing classes and books on the craft.
Finally, when I though</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">t I had it all down pat, I sent a sample off to a giant
in the industry to do a short evaluation.</span><span style="font-family: "times new roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Do I hear God laughing again? Yup!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">So I studied some more. Read more.
Worked at the art of writing more. Joined writing organizations and attended
conferences.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">You see, there are no shortcuts if you
want to excel at something, or even do a fair job at it. No shortcuts
whatsoever. It doesn’t mean you need a PhD in literature to write, but you do
have to study even if you do that on your own.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Was God getting me ready to be an
author? Probably not. Although, I did, after eighteen years finally have my
first novella published. Whew! All the mistakes I had made contacting agents
and editors. All the mistakes I had made in my writing. What use would that
ever be to anyone?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">At a conference in Denver, I connected
with my agent. Well, my soon-to-be agent. And we hit it off. Long story short,
I eventually became an agent myself. And all of the hard learned lessons were
put to use helping other writers do everything right that I had done wrong. I
think God was preparing me more for that walk more than the one as a writer.
Thought things fell into place shortly thereafter, and I am now
multi-published.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Why do I bother to tell others this?
Because we don’t always know why we don’t get what we want when we want it.
First and foremost, we have to work hard at anything we desire. It won’t be
dumped into our laps. We have to let God lead us…might save us eighteen years
of struggles.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">We have to look around and see who we
might help with our abilities. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Life has a funny way of pushing us in
directions we never thought possible. Would I ever have figured I’d be an agent
today? Not on your life. I made every mistake possible as a writer when it came
to agents, but I grew because of it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">None of us are better than ice cream
and hot fudge, even when we are at the pinnacle of what we perceive as success.
Our walk in this life is to help others. Be there when others fall, stumble, or
merely need a hand up. So many folks along my path offered help. Offered
encouragement. Offered to be there when times were tough and I thought of
quitting.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">One judge from a contest actually
called me personally and told me she felt led to let me know I should <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">always
persevere</i></b> even if I wasn’t quite ready yet as a writer. I’ll never
forget that call. That was the day I wanted to stop writing!</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 20px; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><u>Linda's Ah-hahs To Tweet</u>: </span></b><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Everyone’s Story: Meet author/agent
@LindaGlaz & see why you need to persevere. (<a href="http://ctt.ec/82eku">Tweet
This</a>)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Like #InspirationalSuspense? Check out
@LindaGlaz’s #BookGiveaway for her newest release! (<a href="http://ctt.ec/D2K9B">Tweet This</a>)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">@LindaGlaz asks: Do you really think
your #writing is better than ice cream & hot fudge? (<a href="http://ctt.ec/SnNcR">Tweet This</a>)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Linda is a wife, mother, and grandmother who draws most of her stories from life experiences and lifelong fears. Nothing like fear to weasel out a great suspense idea. Many of her story ideas come from her eclectic background. Linda is also a literary agent, so she stays on top of what the industry is looking for. Join her as she runs her characters through dark alleys, hospital morgues, and maybe a funhouse or two when she brings you heart-pounding Suspense Sealed With a Kiss.</span><br />
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<b style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 20px; orphans: 2; text-align: justify; widows: 2;"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><u style="text-align: start;">Places to connect withLinda</u><span style="text-align: start;">:</span></span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "tahoma" , "helvetica" , "freesans" , sans-serif; line-height: 20px; orphans: 2; text-align: justify; widows: 2;"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="text-align: start;"><a href="http://lindaglaz.com/">Website</a></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "tahoma" , "helvetica" , "freesans" , sans-serif; line-height: 20px; orphans: 2; text-align: justify; widows: 2;"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><a href="http://lindaglaz.com/blog/">Blog</a></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "tahoma" , "helvetica" , "freesans" , sans-serif; line-height: 20px; orphans: 2; text-align: justify; widows: 2;"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="text-align: start;"><a href="https://twitter.com/LindaGlaz">Twitter</a></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "tahoma" , "helvetica" , "freesans" , sans-serif; line-height: 20px; orphans: 2; text-align: justify; widows: 2;"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="text-align: start;"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/linda.glaz?fref=ts">Facebook</a></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "tahoma" , "helvetica" , "freesans" , sans-serif; line-height: 20px; orphans: 2; text-align: justify; widows: 2;"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="text-align: start;"><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5363231.Linda_S_Glaz">Goodreads</a></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "tahoma" , "helvetica" , "freesans" , sans-serif; line-height: 20px; orphans: 2; text-align: justify; widows: 2;"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="text-align: start;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Linda-S.-Glaz/e/B006GIF3K2">Amazon</a></span></span></span></div>
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<b style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 20px; orphans: 2; text-align: justify; widows: 2;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: red;"><span style="text-align: start;"><br /></span></span></span></b></div>
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<span style="color: red; font-family: "arial" , "tahoma" , "helvetica" , "freesans" , sans-serif; line-height: 20px; orphans: 2; text-align: justify; widows: 2;"><b>*********************************************************************************</b></span><br />
<span style="color: red; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; line-height: 20px;"><b>Please note:</b></span><br />
<span style="color: red; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; line-height: 20px;"><b><br /></b></span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , "tahoma" , "helvetica" , "freesans" , sans-serif; line-height: 20px;"></span><span style="color: red; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; line-height: 20px;"><b>--I have a title change for my novel coming soon from Elk Lake Publishing: <i>Always With You.</i></b></span><br />
<span style="color: red; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; line-height: 20px;"><b><i><br /></i></b></span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , "tahoma" , "helvetica" , "freesans" , sans-serif; line-height: 20px;"></span><span style="color: red; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; line-height: 20px;"><b>--I will soon launch a specially designed website that will incorporate Eveyone's Story blog. I hope you will follow me on this new site. When it goes live, I'll make the announcement!</b></span></div>
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Elaine Stockhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16349776598113016833noreply@blogger.com36tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8009438219696051817.post-92077741592077542602015-10-30T15:05:00.001-07:002015-11-08T05:27:46.702-08:00Susan B. Mead: Moving From Grief To Dancing With Jesus<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMBrX4-CRAu71AdgiWR9nT0Kas78VCI7PtoEPYZmrhyw8qRJgMUmTo92Gc0QRcdQ8FIk59f6jhgbW4LSG6fCoQyq7xdQglKSbkpG0Bmd3-uaIKWaXeBABD7DA21Lp-WW4ML1v_mtIc1LoD/s1600/SusanMead.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMBrX4-CRAu71AdgiWR9nT0Kas78VCI7PtoEPYZmrhyw8qRJgMUmTo92Gc0QRcdQ8FIk59f6jhgbW4LSG6fCoQyq7xdQglKSbkpG0Bmd3-uaIKWaXeBABD7DA21Lp-WW4ML1v_mtIc1LoD/s320/SusanMead.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="color: #073763; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>Everyone's Story welcomes author and speaker Susan B. Mead. Susan joins us this week from Israel with the Proverbs 31 Ministries. I admire Susan for both her inner strength to move forward with her eyes on God despite life's stresses as well as her willingness to help others through tough times. It's my pleasure to host her and I hope you will enjoy her video, short interview, and her BookGiveaway offer. Both Susan and I look forward to hearing from you!</b></span><br />
<span style="color: #073763; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigyNlZRI8AnLRcyGNS9WNB8RAGwhBk7HFokSAQQNRQp9DVP2hvNg2-6ddaYUfeaRMWrjeMd6adc-TtliUHGySFca214vpxuYM0wI54m3go_uUs4YGTyYRhruiqj2X34LynGaTD2l6tXHzU/s1600/DanceWithJesus.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigyNlZRI8AnLRcyGNS9WNB8RAGwhBk7HFokSAQQNRQp9DVP2hvNg2-6ddaYUfeaRMWrjeMd6adc-TtliUHGySFca214vpxuYM0wI54m3go_uUs4YGTyYRhruiqj2X34LynGaTD2l6tXHzU/s200/DanceWithJesus.jpg" width="142" /></a></div>
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<b style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: #073763;"><u>BookGiveaway</u>:</span></span></b></div>
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<span style="color: #073763;"><b><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Susan is offering 1 copy of her non-fiction book, DANCE WITH JESUS, to 1 randomly chosen commenter.</span></b><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><b> </b></span><b><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="text-align: -webkit-auto;">The winner will be announced here on Friday, November 6th between 5-6 PM EST. <u>To be entered in the Giveaway, </u></span><span style="text-align: -webkit-auto;"><u>please leave your contact information within your comment</u> (you may choose to use the Contact Me form to privately send me your email address--the form is in the right-hand sidebar on the blog's main page, toward the bottom).</span></span></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana";"><span style="color: #073763;"><b><u>Questions for Susan Mead</u>:</b></span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "verdana";">You come from a very tender place in wanting to help others move from grief to grace: the passing of your sister by her own hand, and then the passing of your son. Has this helped in your healing process?</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana";">I
needed to see and or read about someone else who had lost and was living
again-joyfully. I found a profound need to share my path for the next
individual needing a helping hand and a guide along the healing journey. Someone
who has been there and understands without any questioning, that’s one thing I
bring to the table.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana";"><br /></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "verdana";">Does the calmness you speak about
finding in the midst of chaos change daily? How can we learn how to be so
adoptable?<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana";">Calm
in the chaos of life does change, however, I choose to recalibrate often by
renewing my mind daily. When I start my day in the Word of God, He calms the
chaos of my day and orders my steps. Does it solve everything? No way! Yet it
changes and settles the atmosphere.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana";">The
song Lord Jesus Come is playing in the background right now.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>How appropriate! To me calm is spelled
J E S U S. He calms our chaos, just like He calmed the stormy seas, saying,
“Quiet. Be still.” And the storm was quelled. So I invite Him into my storms
and ask Him to quiet them for me.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana";"><br /></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "verdana";">Do more women than men tend to deal
with guilt issues over “lightening up” after tragedy? If so, how can we
overcome this?<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana";">I’m
not an expert in this area. More women TALK than men, that we know, so the
perception may be this is so. I learned that we have to accept the differences
of individuals as they grieve.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana";">We
can offer some possible things folks may (MAY!) experience, yet people simply
grieve differently. And each person deserves respect for their needs, as long
as it is not self-destructive or destructive to others. Then that would need a
referral to someone else to guide them from a destructive to a constructive
path. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana";">So
many folks simply need to know what they are experiencing is NORMAL
feelings/behavior in an ABNORMAL situation. That brings a measure of calm into
the chaos and is where being trained as a chaplain comes in handy!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana";"><br /></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "verdana";">On a lighter note, do you have a
go-to favorite comfort food or other indulgence for one of life’s
just-plain-old-yucky days? Myself, I find comfort watching movie-musicals!<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana";">How
fun! I’ll have to try that sometime too. A great book with me curled up, tucked
in and snuggled under a soft blanket on my little red love seat or sitting on a
dock over water calms me.<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=8009438219696051817" name="_GoBack"></a> Or a massage – that always
works to dump the junky stuff!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana";">And
Nestle’s Toll House chocolate chip cookies…RARE treat that my 91 year old mom
makes for Thanksgiving each year-and we are getting close, so I’m thinking
about them already! (Why is my mouth watering?)<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana";"><br /></span>
<b style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: #073763;"><u>Susan's Ah-hahs To Tweet</u>: </span></span></b><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana";">Everyone’s
Story: Visit with author/speaker @SusanBMead to see how she went from chaos to
calm. (<a href="http://ctt.ec/Uy5LJ">Tweet This</a>)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana";">#BookGiveaway
of @SusanBMead’s DANCE WITH JESUS: From Grief to Grace. (<a href="http://ctt.ec/R7X1c">Tweet This</a>)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana";">@SusanBMead
wants to know how you spell the word “Calm” and no, this isn’t a trick
question! (<a href="http://ctt.ec/gw5e1">Tweet This</a>)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<b style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: #073763;"><br /></span></span></b><b style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: #073763;"><u>Author's Bio</u>:</span></span></b><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">Susan Burfoot Mead is blessed to be married to my
soul mate, Holt Mead, since 1979. She is the mother of two sons, Matthew,
who lives in South Louisiana and Kyle, Forever 20 and in Heaven, where he is
doing a Dance with Jesus. Kyle’s been there since March 29, 2008.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "verdana"; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">She wrote the book Dance With Jesus: From Grief
to Grace as the answer to a question posed in the <i>Experiencing God</i> Bible
Study she was in the midst of doing. The question asked was what does God want
you to do, right now?</span><span style="font-family: "verdana"; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">With the passing of her son Kyle, Susan realized
things get broken, discarded or replaced. People Matter. She HAD to create time
for the people who mattered MOST to her! Susan believes God gave her this gift
of time to do what He wants her to do. Make His name known. Hold the hand of
others as they walk a path of healing towards hope. Help others be transformed.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">In 2014, Susan was
ordained as a Sr. Chaplain with the International Fellowship of Chaplains, Inc.
(IFOC) and certified by the International Critical Incident Stress Foundation
in Critical Incidence for Stress Management (CISM) in Individual Grief, Group
Grief and Grief Following Trauma.</span><span style="font-family: "verdana";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; orphans: 2; text-align: justify; widows: 2;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: #073763;"><u style="text-align: start;">Places to connect with Susan</u><span style="text-align: start;">:</span></span></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;"><a href="http://www.susanbmead.com/">Webiste</a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;"><a href="https://twitter.com/SusanBMead">Twitter</a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/authorsusanbmead">Facebook</a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.pinterest.com/susanbmead/">Pinterest</a></span></div>
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<span style="color: red; font-family: "arial" , "tahoma" , "helvetica" , "freesans" , sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; orphans: 2; text-align: justify; widows: 2;"><b>*********************************************************************************</b></span><br />
<span style="color: red; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;"><b>Please note:</b></span><br />
<span style="color: red; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;"><b><br /></b></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , "tahoma" , "helvetica" , "freesans" , sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;"></span><span style="color: red; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;"><b>--I have a title change for my novel coming soon from Elk Lake Publishing: <i>Always With You.</i></b></span><br />
<span style="color: red; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;"><b><i><br /></i></b></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , "tahoma" , "helvetica" , "freesans" , sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;"></span><span style="color: red; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;"><b>--I will soon launch a specially designed website that will incorporate Eveyone's Story blog. I hope you will follow me on this new site. When it goes live, I'll make the announcement!</b></span></div>
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Elaine Stockhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16349776598113016833noreply@blogger.com25tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8009438219696051817.post-58651889129105136252015-10-23T14:02:00.000-07:002015-11-02T13:02:14.505-08:00Deanna Nowadnick: Buckle up! We’re going for a ride!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="color: #660000; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>Everyone's Story welcomes back author Deanna Nowadnick. I've always thought that enthusiasm is catchy, in a positive way, and that's why I'm glad to host Deanna once again because she has a lot of zest to share. And, her source of energy is the Best! Please check out her BookGiveaway, her prologue of her new book, SIGNS IN LIFE, and her special words that she's chosen to share with you this week. Deanna and I look forward to hearing from you!</b></span><br />
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<b style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: #660000;"><u>BookGiveaway</u>:</span></span></b></div>
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<span style="color: #660000;"><b><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Deanna is offering 1 copy of her non-fiction SIGNS IN LIFE to 1 randomly chosen commenter.</span></b><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><b> </b></span><b><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="text-align: -webkit-auto;">The winner will be announced here on Friday, October 30th between 5-6 PM EST. <u>To be entered in the Giveaway, </u></span><span style="text-align: -webkit-auto;"><u>please leave your contact information within your comment</u> (you may choose to use the Contact Me form to privately send me your email address--the form is in the right-hand sidebar on the blog's main page, toward the bottom).</span></span></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "papyrus"; font-size: 14.000000pt;">One day, Moses was taking care of sheep and goats for
his father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian, and Moses
decided to lead them across the desert to Sinai, the holy
mountain. There an angel of the LORD appeared to him
</span><span style="font-family: "papyrus"; font-size: 14.000000pt;">
</span><span style="font-family: "papyrus"; font-size: 14.000000pt;">but it was not burning up. “This is strange!” he said to him-
self. “I’ll go over and see why the bush isn’t burning up.”
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<span style="font-family: "papyrus"; font-size: 14.000000pt;">When the LORD saw Moses coming near the bush, he
called him by name, and Moses answered, “Here I am.”
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<span style="font-family: "papyrus"; font-size: 14.000000pt;">—Exodus 3:1-4 (CEV)
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<span style="font-family: "genialmediumregular"; font-size: 54.000000pt;"> Prologue
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<span style="font-family: "myriadpro"; font-size: 13.000000pt;"> “If you’re going to ticket me, then ticket me!”
</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "myriadpro"; font-size: 13.000000pt;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "goudyoldstylet"; font-size: 14.000000pt;">I scrambled out of the car, slammed the door, and kicked the
rear tire. Squinting into the harsh glare of a flashlight, my first
words were louder than necessary, “If you’re going to ticket me,
then ticket me! I just want to get home.” Not giving the police offi-
cer a chance to respond, I continued, still annoyed, still defiantly
frustrated, “I’m tired. Really—I just want to get home!”
</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "goudyoldstylet"; font-size: 14.000000pt;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "goudyoldstylet"; font-size: 14.000000pt;">“And I just need you to slow down, ma’am. I actually stopped
you, because I really just needed you to slow down and stop—at the
sign back there. You’re in a school zone. It’s dark. There’s traffic.”
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<span style="font-family: "goudyoldstylet"; font-size: 14.000000pt;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "goudyoldstylet"; font-size: 14.000000pt;">The officer was right. Traveling home from the gym, I’d failed
to stop at a busy corner. Distracted by a young mother’s ever
present to-do list, I’d rolled through an intersection, the middle
school on my left, a railroad crossing on my right. Fortunately a
man with a badge had cared enough to give me a much deserved
warning and an undeniable lesson: road signs are an important
part of safe travel.
</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "goudyoldstylet"; font-size: 14.000000pt;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "goudyoldstylet"; font-size: 14.000000pt;">Road signs are everywhere: SPEED LIMIT 25, SCHOOL
ZONE, STOP. Yet even with signs telling us what to do and how
best to do it, we still miss the signs, overlook and ignore them.
But signs in life surround us for a reason and I’ve gotten costly
reminders of their importance. A patrol car’s red and blue flashing
lights have refocused my attention on the speed limit—more than
once. Traffic cameras have reminded me to slow down in a school</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "goudyoldstylet"; font-size: 14.000000pt;">zone—twice. And a police officer has re-emphasized the importance
of coming to a complete stop at a busy intersection.
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<span style="font-family: "goudyoldstylet"; font-size: 14.000000pt;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "goudyoldstylet"; font-size: 14.000000pt;">In addition to traffic signs, I have also overlooked and ignored
directional signs. I live in Monroe, Washington, about an hour’s
drive from Seattle. On a trip into the city, I programmed my car’s
navigation system to get me from the freeway to a waterfront res-
taurant. After three turns, I decided I knew better than my digital
guide. I didn’t. I made wrong turn after wrong turn and silently
cursed the afternoon’s traffic. The delay cost me time and patience
and taught me a second undeniable lesson: road signs are not just
an important part of safe travel, but there are consequences when
ignored and overlooked.
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<span style="font-family: "goudyoldstylet"; font-size: 14.000000pt;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "goudyoldstylet"; font-size: 14.000000pt;">So why don’t I follow the signs, block after block, turn after
turn? Why don’t I heed the high resolution images on my car’s high
definition screen? The signs were all there: a black and white sign
alerting me to the speed limit, a red sign reminding me to stop, a
yellow sign warning of the school zone. There were signs telling me
of the exit ahead and the turn on my right. Still I ignored some,
skipped others, and overlooked many. Why did I, </span><span style="font-family: "goudyoldstylet"; font-size: 14.000000pt; font-style: italic;">why do I</span><span style="font-family: "goudyoldstylet"; font-size: 14.000000pt;">, ignore
the help?
</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "goudyoldstylet"; font-size: 14.000000pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "goudyoldstylet"; font-size: 14.000000pt;">And if I struggle to get around the block, how will I ever survive
the bigger journey? How will I navigate life? Not the quick trip to
the grocery store, but the longer journey through adulthood? Not
only the daily commute, but the more onerous trek through times
of trial? Not just the trip into the city, but the turn into tempta-
tion? What about my travels as a wife and mother, sister and friend?
What about my travels with God?
</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "goudyoldstylet"; font-size: 14.000000pt;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "goudyoldstylet"; font-size: 14.000000pt;">I really do want to follow God more closely, but I’ve repeat-
edly ignored the spiritual guidance that could’ve helped me in my
quest. Too many times I thought I knew more, knew better. At
other times I overlooked God’s directional signs and tuned out the
audible instructions coming from life’s metaphorical console. And
then there were those times I just didn’t pay attention.
</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "goudyoldstylet"; font-size: 14.000000pt;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "goudyoldstylet"; font-size: 14.000000pt;">I’m not alone. People long ago and people today, we’ve all
sought to follow God more closely. The Bible shares example
after example, stories that also remind us of our propensity to miss
the signs. We question where we’re going. We complain about our
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<span style="font-family: "goudyoldstylet"; font-size: 14.000000pt;">circumstances. In a story that spanned four decades, God led His
chosen people, the Israelites, through the wilderness with a pillar
of smoke by day and a pillar of fire by night, huge THIS WAY
signs. Their leader, Moses, even encountered personal signs when
he saw a burning bush and heard the voice of God. All these signs
were important as God directed and redirected Moses and more
than 600,000 Israelites on a journey that would take them from
Egyptian slavery to the Promised Land.
</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "goudyoldstylet"; font-size: 14.000000pt;">God’s been active in all our lives, directing and redirecting.
Through Bible stories and our own personal experiences, we see the
signs. Through Bible stories and our own travels through life, we
learn that God doesn’t just issue a citation and move on to the next
offender. He steers us toward Him and His divine purpose, toward
that promised place He has for each one of us. The man with the
badge cared enough to warn me and cite me. God cares enough to
guide me and direct me. And when I mess up? When we mess up?
He forgives and redeems, redirects and refocuses—just as He did
with Moses and the Israelites. And that’s a good thing, because I
don’t know about you, but I need help and guidance. Often.
</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "goudyoldstylet"; font-size: 14.000000pt;">So here’s what you also need to know. I battle weight issues. My
walk is a nagging reminder of past knee and hip surgeries. I place
way too much importance on mascara and hair gel. My driving
record lists way too many infractions. I get dazed and confused in
places unfamiliar to me, also in places I know well. I can obsess
over the smallest details, especially the insignificant and inconse-
quential. I make mistakes. I wander off. I overlook the signs and
miss the turn.
</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "goudyoldstylet"; font-size: 14.000000pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "goudyoldstylet"; font-size: 14.000000pt;">Moses and the Israelites made mistakes, too. On their journey to
the Promised Land, they overlooked signs and missed turns. Their
story is similar to my own in many ways, but strikingly different in
others. I’ve never known the brutality of slavery, never been forced
from my home. I’ve never had to walk through a desert, never been
nomadic. I’ve never been a camper for goodness sakes! Still God’s
traveled with all of us wherever we’ve been and wherever we’ve been
going.
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<span style="font-family: "myriadpro"; font-size: 14pt;">“Our travels with God are part of His story,
His purpose, travels that begin right now.</span><span style="font-family: "myriadpro"; font-size: 14pt;">—Robin Dugall</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "goudyoldstylet"; font-size: 14.000000pt; font-style: italic;">Signs in Life </span><span style="font-family: "goudyoldstylet"; font-size: 14.000000pt;">tells of my journey and the divine signs I’ve encoun-
tered along the way. In my travels, there have been directional signs,
mileposts, and cautionary signs. There have been exit signs and speed
limit signs. There have been signs that were seen and others that were
heard. All have helped me follow God and find His purpose for my
life. By sharing the signs in my life, I hope you’ll be able to see the
signs in yours. I might be speeding through a stop sign—again!—while
you’re navigating a busy street, but our journeys are very similar. I
think we all want to be part of a greater purpose. We all want help
and guidance in our understanding of God and His plans for us.
And when we miss the signs, real and divine, we want to know that
God will redirect and refocus us, that He will get us back on track. My
pastor, Robin Dugall says, “Life with God is not just about a heavenly
destination. Our travels with God are part of His story, His purpose,
travels that begin right now.”
</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "goudyoldstylet"; font-size: 14.000000pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "goudyoldstylet"; font-size: 14.000000pt;">Whenever we got in the car, I used to tell my boys, “Buckle up.
We’re going for a ride.” In life we’re all going for a ride. Our travels
with God are an adventure in discovery and growth, an opportunity
for each one of us to repeat the words of Moses, “Here I am.”
</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "goudyoldstylet"; font-size: 14.000000pt;">THIS WAY. This is my story, the signs in my life. So far. </span></div>
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<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=8009438219696051817" name="_GoBack"></a><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 12.0pt;">SIGNS IN LIFE: Finding Direction in Our Travels with God<br />
</span></b><span style="font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 12.0pt;">by Deanna
Nowadnick<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 12.0pt;">I
scrambled out of the car, slammed the door, and kicked the rear tire. Squinting
into the harsh glare of a flashlight, my first words were louder than
necessary, “If you’re going to ticket me, then ticket me! I just want to get
home.” Not giving the police officer a chance to respond, I continued, still
annoyed, still defiantly frustrated, “I’m tired. Really—I just want to get
home.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Yes,
I <i>was</i> tired, but the police just
needed me to slow down and stop—at a STOP sign. Sadly, it wasn’t the first time.
I’ve hurried through more than one STOP sign in life. I’ve also overlooked and
ignored other signs and mileposts. Through it all, I’ve learned the hard way (and
the expensive way!) that road signs are an important part of safe travel, particularly
the signs in my travels with God.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 12.0pt;">I’ve
always wanted to follow God more closely—when it’s convenient, when it’s easy,
when it feels good. But it’s not always convenient or easy, and too often I’ve
ignored the spiritual guidance that could help. I’ve hurried through God’s STOP
signs, overlooked and ignored His other signs. Too many times I thought I knew
more, knew better. And then there were those times I just didn’t pay attention.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 12.0pt;">In
my second book, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Signs in Life: Finding
Direction in Our Travels with God</i>, I share my own mistakes and shortcomings
both on the road <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">and </i>in my faith.
Each chapter takes its title from a specific sign and opens with a related
driving antic, some silly, some cringe-worthy. Anecdotes illustrate the spiritual
signs that have highlighted my journey. Stories of Moses are woven throughout.
God also used divine signs to help him navigate a forty-year journey in the
wilderness. Together we take a metaphorical road trip.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br />
I didn’t always recognize God’s signs in the moment, but looking back, I saw
that I was never really lost, never ever alone. God directs and redirects. God
leads us to His purpose. The signs are always there.<span style="color: red;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 12.0pt;">By
sharing the signs in my life, I hope you’ll be able to see the signs in yours.
I might be speeding through a STOP sign—yet again!—while you’re carefully
navigating a busy street, but our journeys are very similar. I think we all
want to be part of a greater purpose. We all want help and guidance in our
understanding of God and His plans for us. And when we miss the signs, real and
divine, we want to know that God will redirect and refocus us, that He will get
us back on track.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 12.0pt;">What signs has God placed in your life?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Where have you needed to YIELD in life?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Where have you found yourself in a CONSTRUCTION ZONE with God"</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 12.0pt;">As I used to say to my sons, "Buckle up! We're going for a ride!"</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
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<b style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;"><span style="color: #660000;"><u>Deanna's previous guest appearance on Everyone's Story</u>:</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana";"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;"><a href="http://elainestock.blogspot.com/2013/01/deanna-nowadnick-living-with-fruit-of.html">Living With The Fruit Of His Holy Spirit</a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana";"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana";"><br /></span></div>
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<b style="orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;"><u>Deanna's Ah-hahs To Tweet</u>: </span><span style="color: red;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">**Administrative note: Due to an absence at a writer's conference, these Tweets are NOT hyperlinked. Both Deanna and I would appreciate if you would please copy and paste these suggested Tweets onto Twitter and Tweet away. Thanks so much!</span></span></span></b></div>
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<b style="orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span style="color: red;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;"><br /></span></span></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">Meet author @DeannaNowadnick:How a speeding ticket redirected her back to God's intended journey. http://elainestock.com</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">Don't miss this one: #BookGiveaway of </span></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">@DeannaNowadnick's SIGNS IN LIFE: FINDING DIRECTION IN OUR TRAVELS WITH GOD. </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">http://elainestock.com</span></div>
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<span style="color: #660000;"><u style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 20px;">Authors' Bio</u><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 15px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 20px;">:</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana";">When not
responding to traffic citations, Deanna Nowadnick provides administrative
support for The Planner’s Edge, an investment advisory firm in Washington State.
She’s active in her church, playing the violin Sunday mornings and serving on
the leadership team. She loves Bible study and delights in meetings with various
women’s groups.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana";">Deanna’s a Pacific
Northwest native who’s been blessed with a wonderful marriage to Kurt. This is
Deanna’s second book. Her first book, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Fruit
of My Spirit: Reframing Life in God’s Grace</i> is also an inspirational
memoir. Deanna’s books are available at Amazon and Barnes & Noble. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; orphans: 2; text-align: justify; widows: 2;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: #660000;"><u style="text-align: start;">Places to connect with Deanna</u><span style="text-align: start;">:</span></span></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "tahoma" , "helvetica" , "freesans" , sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; orphans: 2; text-align: justify; widows: 2;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="text-align: start;"><a href="http://deannanowadnick.com/">Website</a></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "tahoma" , "helvetica" , "freesans" , sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; orphans: 2; text-align: justify; widows: 2;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="text-align: start;"><a href="https://twitter.com/DeannaNowadnick">Twitter</a></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , "tahoma" , "helvetica" , "freesans" , sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; orphans: 2; text-align: justify; widows: 2;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , "tahoma" , "helvetica" , "freesans" , sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;"></span><span style="color: red; font-family: "arial" , "tahoma" , "helvetica" , "freesans" , sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; orphans: 2; text-align: justify; widows: 2;"><b>*********************************************************************************</b></span><br />
<span style="color: red; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;"><b>Please note:</b></span><br />
<span style="color: red; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;"><b><br /></b></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , "tahoma" , "helvetica" , "freesans" , sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;"></span><span style="color: red; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;"><b>--I have a title change for my novel coming soon from Elk Lake Publishing: <i>Always With You.</i></b></span><br />
<span style="color: red; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;"><b><i><br /></i></b></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , "tahoma" , "helvetica" , "freesans" , sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;"></span><span style="color: red; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;"><b>--I will soon launch a specially designed website that will incorporate Eveyone's Story blog. I hope you will follow me on this new site. When it goes live, I'll make the announcement!</b></span><br />
<span style="color: red; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;"><b><br /></b></span></div>
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Elaine Stockhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16349776598113016833noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8009438219696051817.post-90288532493945215432015-10-16T15:05:00.000-07:002015-10-17T03:40:24.553-07:00Jennifer Slatttery: Listening<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="color: #274e13; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Everyone's Story welcomes back author Jennifer Slattery. I've known Jennifer for several years now, yet her words never fail to lift my spirits and help me to re-focus my heart and mind on the One who counts. I hope you too will feel encouraged this week with Jennifer's visit. Please check out her offerings of a blurb and thoughts on embracing the call, though told from the viewpoint of a writer, it truly applies to all of us. Jennifer and I look forward to your comments!</b></span><br />
<span style="color: #274e13; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b><span style="color: #274e13;"><u>Blurb for Intertwined</u>:</span></b><br />Abandoned by her husband for another woman, Tammy Kuhn, an organ procurement coordinator often finds herself in tense and bitter moments. After an altercation with a doctor, she is fighting to keep her job and her sanity when one late night she encounters her old flame Nick. She walks right into his moment of facing an unthinkable tragedy. Because they both have learned to find eternal purposes in every event and encounter, it doesn’t take long to discover that their lives are intertwined but the ICU is no place for romance….or is it? Could this be where life begins again?</span><br />
<div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><em><b>Intertwined</b></em><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12pt;">, part of New Hope Publisher’s contemporary fiction line, is a great reminder of how God can turn our greatest tragedies and failures into beautiful acts of love and grace. Readers will fall in love with the realistic characters and enjoy the combination of depth, heart-felt emotion and humor that makes Jennifer’s novels so appealing. Readers will be inspired to find God in every moment and encounter in their own lives.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana;"><b><u>Buy Links</u>:</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana;"><a href="http://www.christianbook.com/intertwined-a-contemporary-romance-novel/jennifer-slattery/9781596694439/pd/694430?event=ESRCN">CBD</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Intertwined-Jennifer-Slattery/dp/1596694432/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8">Amazon</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana;"><a href="http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/intertwined-jennifer-slattery/1121268293?ean=9781596694439">B&N</a></span><br />
<span style="color: #274e13; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Verdana;">Embracing
the Call</span></b><span style="font-family: Verdana;"> by Jennifer Slattery<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: none;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana;">When
I was young, embracing risk came easy, mainly because I felt invincible, and
thought very little about the future or the consequences for my actions. But
then adulthood came and everything felt more serious. More… consequential, and
suddenly I became risk-aversive. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: none;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana;">When
I first sensed the call to write…? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: none;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana;">I
fought it, hard, and for a long, long time. Couldn’t I do something else?
Something more lucrative—with a definite paycheck? Something more secure? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: none;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana;">I
began to listen to all the naysayers, people telling me not to take my writing
to seriously, to treat it more like a hobby, because, after all, very few
actually get published. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">So
I asked God, “Could I maybe write on the side, while pursuing a real career?”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: none;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana;">You
know, the kind with clear expectations, health insurance, and a retirement
plan?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">His
response: <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">No safety net.</i> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Verdana;">Trust. <o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">But
that was all I heard. Not, if you trust Me, then I’ll make your efforts
successful. No guarantees of publication. No guarantees at all, except that I’d
be resting fully in His will. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">That
should’ve been enough, right?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">But
my fears, oh, my fears… <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">One
of my biggest? That I’d spend a lifetime pounding away at my computer with
nothing to show for my efforts but a clogged hard drive full of files no one
had read but me. And maybe my husband. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">So
I pretended not to hear, enrolled in school, and began taking math and science
classes. Maybe if I poured myself into problem solving, busied myself with
homework and study sessions, I wouldn’t hear that still, small voice calling me
to surrender. To obey. To trust. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: none;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana;">That
was a hard, dark year. A year of inner turmoil and spiritual angst. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: none;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana;">And
eventually, of divine silence. Because that’s what happens when we begin to
ignore God’s voice; it becomes harder and harder to hear Him, until we’ve lost
all sensitivity to His Spirit.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">One
morning, an emotional mess, I grabbed my iPod, shoved my earbuds in my ears,
and went for a run. To pray, and connect with Christ.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: none;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: none;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana;">I
longed to hear from God, to feel His presence like I once had, but the distance
between us remained. About three miles out, I paused at a crosswalk, jogging in
place, and stared up at the cloudy sky. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: none;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana;">“What
do you want me to do?” I asked.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: none;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana;">His
response: <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">I already told you.</i> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: none;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana;">My
swirling thoughts stilled, and a deep and peaceful certainty came over me. I
knew what God wanted me to do, and it was time I obeyed. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: none;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana;">Regardless
of the results. Regardless of what lay ahead. Because He was worth it, and I
absolutely couldn’t go through life feeling distant from my Savior. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: none;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana;">That
was back in 2009, and I’d like to say life, and my writing, was smooth sailing
after that, but it wasn’t. The past six years have been hard, just as
uncertain, and my fears, though quieter, remain. I’ve heard this is the writer’s
plight, that insecurity is inherent to the creative brain. That may be true, or
it could be that God wants to keep us attentively listening for that next step
as we depend completely on Him.<span style="color: red;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">What
about you? When has God called you to do something uncertain or that you found
risky? How did you respond, and what was the result? Share your thoughts here
in the comments below<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=8009438219696051817" name="_GoBack"></a>, because we can all encourage and
learn from each other.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: none;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: none;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;"></span><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;"><b><u><span style="color: #274e13;">Jennifer's previous guest appearances on Everyone's Story</span></u><span style="color: #351c75;">:</span></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: none;">
<span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;"><a href="http://elainestock.blogspot.com/2012/04/jennifer-slattery-on-when-god-has-other.html"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">When God<span style="color: #351c75; font-weight: bold;"> </span>Has Other Plans</span></a></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: none;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana;"><a href="http://elainestock.blogspot.com/2014/10/jennifer-slattery-one-word-that-counts.html">The One Word That Counts</a></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: none;">
<b style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span style="color: #274e13; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><u>Jennifer's Ah-hahs To Tweet</u>:</span></b><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: none;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana;">Everyone’s
Story: meet @JenSlattery, penning stories of God in every moment of life. (<a href="http://ctt.ec/wfY87">Tweet This</a>)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: none;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana;">Author
@JenSlattery: When has God called you to do something uncertain or that you
found risky? (<a href="http://ctt.ec/a0DK2">Tweet This</a>)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<b style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">Like
#ChristianFiction? Check out @JenSlattery’s latest release of INTERTWINED. (<a href="http://ctt.ec/vjX58">Tweet This</a>)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: none;">
<b style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span style="color: #274e13;"><br /></span></b></div>
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<b style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span style="color: #274e13; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><u>Authors' Bio</u>:</span></b></div>
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<b><span style="color: #262626; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">Jennifer Slattery</span></b><span style="color: #262626; font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> writes soul-stirring fiction for New Hope Publishers, a
publishing house passionate about bringing God’s healing grace and truth to the
hopeless. She also writes for Crosswalk.com, Internet Café Devotions, and the
group blog, Faith-filled Friends. When not writing, Jennifer loves going on
mall dates with her adult daughter and coffee dates with her hilariously fun
husband.</span><o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="color: #262626; font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<span style="color: #274e13; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b><u>Places to connect with Jennifer</u>:</b></span><br />
<div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><a href="http://jenniferslatterylivesoutloud.com/">Website</a></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><a href="https://twitter.com/jenslattery">Twitter</a></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/JenSlatte">Facebook</a></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: none;">
<b style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span style="color: #274e13;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: none;">
<span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;"><b><br /></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: red; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; orphans: 2; text-align: justify; widows: 2;"><b>*********************************************************************************</b></span><br />
<span style="color: red; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;"><b>Please note:</b></span><br />
<span style="color: red; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;"><b><br /></b></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;"></span><span style="color: red; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;"><b>--I have a title change for my novel coming soon from Elk Lake Publishing: <i>Always With You.</i></b></span><br />
<span style="color: red; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;"><b><i><br /></i></b></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;"></span><span style="color: red; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;"><b>--I will soon launch a specially designed website that will incorporate Eveyone's Story blog. I hope you will follow me on this new site. When it goes live, I'll make the announcement!</b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;"><b><br /></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;"><b><br /></b></span></div>
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Elaine Stockhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16349776598113016833noreply@blogger.com18tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8009438219696051817.post-85920161603323210672015-10-09T14:43:00.000-07:002015-10-17T03:32:32.700-07:00Kathi Macias: A Way To Extend Christmas<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwMu0_KVKuONHMqgmUmLvFR6mZoVaqldssRRoJXebMcdoshCMtoxQEqd2Hklv7aZMxxmF7r5r6AySE85JhWgbog7sqa-pKpsC7TJJGuL2AT1cIxAKpW4uwhAwjyRQTEtLjVO2pzgJ34-5C/s1600/0019+Kathi+Macias+-++EDITED+emailed.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwMu0_KVKuONHMqgmUmLvFR6mZoVaqldssRRoJXebMcdoshCMtoxQEqd2Hklv7aZMxxmF7r5r6AySE85JhWgbog7sqa-pKpsC7TJJGuL2AT1cIxAKpW4uwhAwjyRQTEtLjVO2pzgJ34-5C/s320/0019+Kathi+Macias+-++EDITED+emailed.jpg" width="213" /></a></div>
<b style="color: #351c75; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Everyone's Story fondly welcomes back author Kathi Macias. Kathi is a woman and writer of passion when it comes to causes that strikes all of our hearts. I'm honored to host Kathi for the 3rd time on this blog, and hope that you're as excited as I am to have Kathi back! Please check out the excerpt of the novel that Kathi is also offering as a BookGiveaway, and her suggestions on how to help make this Christmas a good one for some very special people who deserve our thanks. Both Kathi and I look forward to hearing from you!</b><br />
<span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvhdeqHq2FHJLLeRD_025BCpMXFKjhjm07o8qu5CR5xI9I1xCu0gUixJdWdOm6xmNJQ102qznMG9e8r2Spmf-PvYDfI2Rn84MVy2iWiE6GaHZzRcZgwjG53AHMDVOM7Qukz0BagS91-b16/s1600/ReturnToChristmas_N154120.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvhdeqHq2FHJLLeRD_025BCpMXFKjhjm07o8qu5CR5xI9I1xCu0gUixJdWdOm6xmNJQ102qznMG9e8r2Spmf-PvYDfI2Rn84MVy2iWiE6GaHZzRcZgwjG53AHMDVOM7Qukz0BagS91-b16/s200/ReturnToChristmas_N154120.jpg" width="129" /></a></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">
<b style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #351c75;"><u>BookGiveaway</u>:</span></span></b></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;">
</div>
<div style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;">
<div style="background-color: white; orphans: auto; widows: auto;">
<span style="color: #351c75;"><b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Kathi is offering 1 copy of RETURN TO CHRISTMAS to 1 randomly chosen commenter.</span></b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><b> </b></span><b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="text-align: -webkit-auto;">The winner will be announced here on Friday, October 16th between 5-6 PM EST. <u>To be entered in the Giveaway, </u></span><span style="text-align: -webkit-auto;"><u>please leave your contact information within your comment</u> (you may choose to use the Contact Me form to privately send me your email address--the form is in the right-hand sidebar on the blog's main page, toward the bottom)</span></span></b></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; orphans: auto; widows: auto;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; orphans: auto; widows: auto;">
<span style="color: #351c75;"><b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="text-align: -webkit-auto;"><br /></span></span></b></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; orphans: auto; widows: auto;">
<span style="color: #351c75;"><b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="text-align: -webkit-auto;">
Prologue for RETURN TO CHRISTMAS:
</span></span></b></span><br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<div style="text-align: -webkit-auto;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<span style="color: #351c75;"><b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="text-align: -webkit-auto;">
</span></span></b></span>
<br />
<center>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="text-align: -webkit-auto;">
<div style="border: 1px solid rgb(10, 218, 10); height: 450px; overflow: scroll; padding: 5px; width: 450px;">
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<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 200%;">Prologue<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: center;">
<b><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=8009438219696051817" name="_GoBack"></a></b><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><b>Return to Christmas</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;">by</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;">Kathi Macias<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: center;">
Prologue<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: left;">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Sand.
Why did there have to be so much sand? At times Chet Mason suspected it was in
his food; other times he was certain of it.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: left;">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>He
glanced at his friend and fellow Marine, Todd Bishop, who stood less than fifty
feet away. Their guard duty would end in less than an hour. Chet knew Todd
would make a beeline for some chow; the guy was always hungry. After
considering the very real possibility of sand in their food, however, Chet
wasn’t so sure it was worth it. Besides, the lure of sleep was stronger. He’d
been up for nearly thirty-six hours, and all he wanted now was some serious
shut-eye.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: left;">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Todd
must have felt Chet’s gaze, as he turned his head and offered a smile. “Hey,
Sarge,” he teased, “don’t tell me we’ve been here so long that I’m starting to
look good to you.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: left;">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Chet
chuckled. “Never happen, Bishop. Your ugly mug’s the reason they call us
Jarheads.”</div>
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Todd
scarcely had time to shake his head and grin before a white-hot explosion
rocked their world. The next thing Chet knew, he was face-down in the dirt,
wondering if his ears had been blown off. He couldn’t hear a thing.</div>
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<br /></div>
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</span></span></center>
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</span></span></b></span>
<br />
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<span style="color: #351c75;"><b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="color: #351c75;"><b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="text-align: -webkit-auto;"><br /></span></span></b></span></span></span></b></span></div>
<span style="color: #351c75;"><b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="text-align: -webkit-auto;">
</span></span></b></span>
<br />
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<span style="color: #351c75;"><b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="text-align: -webkit-auto;">
</span></span></b></span>
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<b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">I<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">’ll Be Home for Christmas</span></span></b><span style="font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> by Kathi Macias</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana;">Home
for Christmas. Isn’t that where we all want to be at that very special time of
year? Yet there are thousands of men and women serving in our military who
would consider it Christmas <i>any</i> time
of year if they could just come back home.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana;">Over
the years, our support for our servicemen has run hot and cold, with our
Vietnam vets receiving some of the worst treatment. But even today, when active
military and veterans are applauded and appreciated, there are many who come
home in body only—and often those bodies are damaged and changed forever. But
the damage goes far beyond the physical.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana;">PTSD
(Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) has been around for as long as there have been
wars (or other extremely stressful situations). Until fairly recently, however,
it wasn’t officially recognized as a distinct disorder. Instead we referred to
vets coping with PTSD symptoms as having “shell-shock” or “battle fatigue.” We
assumed that, with time, the symptoms would disappear and the vets would move
on with their lives. We have since learned that isn’t always the case.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">Today,
when many members of our military serve multiple deployments, often in war
zones, it is highly likely that a great number of them will come home with
emotional issues. Not all those issues are severe enough to qualify as PTSD,
but these brave men and women may need resources beyond those provided for them
by the VA (Veterans’ Association).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: none;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiymiP00n_3wsooHhnnqVLXEKM6BUiYNlKNLu_T6eSUpqFZ_oSBfxbAypWe_VVQ8xS_OPAKIOmR-BZcZ8MrqpVZWcuGh0en8oc6ffIhU5gJ_OMu3tQZoFT5oIynhP1xP7BZEWP6w-yD0y4M/s1600/Kathi%2527sMeme.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="268" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiymiP00n_3wsooHhnnqVLXEKM6BUiYNlKNLu_T6eSUpqFZ_oSBfxbAypWe_VVQ8xS_OPAKIOmR-BZcZ8MrqpVZWcuGh0en8oc6ffIhU5gJ_OMu3tQZoFT5oIynhP1xP7BZEWP6w-yD0y4M/s400/Kathi%2527sMeme.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: none;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana;">One
of the simplest ways I’ve found to encourage returning military or veterans is
to make a point to thank them for their service. This is especially helpful
with Vietnam vets who, for the most part, did not receive warm welcomes or
words of gratitude when they returned.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">Another
means of helping our military is to get involved with an organization such as
the USO (United Services Organization). This long-standing group has a proven
track record of helping our military, and they offer various ways to get
involved in giving that help (</span><a href="http://www.uso.org/?_ga=1.193589284.869043754.1440018522"><span style="font-family: Verdana;">http://www.uso.org/?_ga=1.193589284.869043754.1440018522</span></a><span style="font-family: Verdana;">). Many local churches and Christian organizations
also provide numerous ways to assist our military. An excellent Christian
organization that ministers to vets and active military personnel is “Operation
Heal Our Patriots,” a part of Franklin Graham’s Samaritan’s Purse ministries (</span><a href="http://www.samaritanspurse.org/what-we-do/about-operation-heal-our-patriots/"><span style="font-family: Verdana;">http://www.samaritanspurse.org/what-we-do/about-operation-heal-our-patriots/</span></a><span style="font-family: Verdana;">). Some of these opportunities are as simple as
writing letters to lonely soldiers on the other side of the world, or packing
and sending a box of treats to let a few sailors know how much they are
appreciated.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: none;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: none;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana;">Then,
of course, there are the veterans’ homes and hospitals around the country who
would welcome a group or an individual to come and cheer up these men and women
who gave so much to protect and defend our country and its unique freedoms. If
there is a veterans’ home or hospital in your area, there will certainly be a
church or organization already visiting there on a regular basis. If not,
perhaps you’re the one God will use to initiate such a ministry.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: none;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana;">None
of these methods of helping our active military and veterans is difficult or
overly time-consuming, and they can be tailored to meet your abilities. It
could be as little as a couple of hours per month, but those few hours can mean
more to a hurting soldier or sailor than we could ever imagine.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">Christmas
is nearly upon us. Wouldn’t this be the perfect time to reach out to our
present or former military personnel and welcome them “home for Christmas”? And
because we know the Christ of Christmas, we can extend that Christmas welcome
all year long.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Verdana;"><b><u>Kathi's previous guest appearances on Everyone's Story</u>:</b></span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Verdana;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana;"><a href="http://elainestock.blogspot.com/2011/11/author-kathi-macias-helping-to-deliver.html">Helping To Deliver God's Cry Against Evil</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><a href="http://elainestock.blogspot.com/2012/09/kathi-macias-easy-writer-who-writes.html">The "Easy Writer" Who Writes Heart-Grabbing Stories</a></span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Verdana;"><b><br /></b></span>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: none;">
<b style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><u>Kathi's Ah-hahs To Tweet</u>:</span></b><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: none;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana;">Everyone’s
Story: Meet award-winning author Kathi Macias @alandkathi #BookGiveaway of new
release (<a href="http://ctt.ec/cd9mf">Tweet This</a>)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: none;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana;">Kathi
Macias @alandkathi shares tips on how to help active #military & #vets this
Christmas. (<a href="http://ctt.ec/620j9">Tweet This</a>)</span></div>
<b style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">Check
out Kathi Macias’ @alandkathi newest novel, RETURN TO CHRISTMAS. #BookGiveaway.
(<a href="http://ctt.ec/ZjK1U">Tweet This</a>)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<!--StartFragment--><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Kathi Macias </span><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">is an award-winning writer with more than 50 books to her credit. Her
newest release, <i>Return to Christmas</i>,
features a Marine who comes home from his second deployment with PTSD. The
readers<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=8009438219696051817" name="_GoBack"></a> quickly discover that his wife and child are
nearly as impacted by this disorder as is the Marine himself. Can his child’s
friend, a three-year-old with his own bad memories, break through this man’s
defensive wall to start the healing process?</span><!--EndFragment-->
</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><br /></span></div>
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<b style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; orphans: 2; text-align: justify; widows: 2;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #351c75;"><u style="text-align: start;">Places to connect with Kathi</u><span style="text-align: start;">:</span></span></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; orphans: 2; text-align: justify; widows: 2;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="text-align: start;"><a href="http://www.kathimacias.com)">Website</a></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; orphans: 2; text-align: justify; widows: 2;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="text-align: start;"><a href="https://twitter.com/alandkathi">Twitter</a></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; orphans: 2; text-align: justify; widows: 2;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="text-align: start;"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/Kathi-Macias-75996188045/timeline/">Facebook</a></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; orphans: 2; text-align: justify; widows: 2;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.pinterest.com/kathimacias/">Pinterest</a></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; orphans: 2; text-align: justify; widows: 2;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: red; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; orphans: 2; text-align: justify; widows: 2;"><b>*********************************************************************************</b></span><br />
<span style="color: red; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Please note:</b></span><br />
<span style="color: red; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="color: red; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>--I have a title change for my novel coming soon from Elk Lake Publishing: <i>Always With You.</i></b></span><br />
<span style="color: red; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b><i><br /></i></b></span>
<span style="color: red; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>--I will soon launch a specially designed website that will incorporate Eveyone's Story blog. I hope you will follow me on this new site. When it goes live, I'll make the announcement!</b></span><br />
<span style="color: red; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="color: red; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span></div>
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Elaine Stockhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16349776598113016833noreply@blogger.com32tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8009438219696051817.post-52501156108533221272015-10-02T15:13:00.000-07:002015-10-11T05:50:05.856-07:00Lillian Duncan: The Meaning Of Story<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnLplfy9LjSVT0FWe7V3eyaY3GLstGausKFCbHcirHvOlZ0zXw-ezJlKPojmUEMApnrw0rlTkAYhy8JdvkuV8FUOJIxhVG_uQOWT1kAG-JnYt-Zxiekmb5nj1OiaXnhbImCCOqFW1xOQpz/s1600/LilDuncan.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnLplfy9LjSVT0FWe7V3eyaY3GLstGausKFCbHcirHvOlZ0zXw-ezJlKPojmUEMApnrw0rlTkAYhy8JdvkuV8FUOJIxhVG_uQOWT1kAG-JnYt-Zxiekmb5nj1OiaXnhbImCCOqFW1xOQpz/s320/LilDuncan.jpg" width="267" /></a></div>
<span style="color: #274e13; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Everyone's Story warmly welcomes author Lillian Duncan this week. After following Lillian's Tweets and occasionally hopping onto her blog, Tiaras and Tennis Shoes, for a visit, I've been intrigued by Lillian and invited her to be my guest. I hope you enjoy her company as much as I do! Please check out her special BookGiveaway, the blurb of her novel, DEADLY INTENT, and see exactly why Lillian writes. Both Lillian and I look forward to hearing from you!</b></span><br />
<span style="color: #274e13; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span><span style="color: #274e13; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="color: #274e13; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="color: #274e13; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglxEt1DzX0_51ZQYqhn8j3vF8GJ7aWjwHgVU-vZJ63yhWEzm0CeufKsMJScpB0fiKDMi3iT19BCKaeWlq_wSQ9-oABvuX-aLAH7R-WSvl_dMBy-P6uAymJbbjnmnAPOALhT_FsxAJl_RHA/s1600/Duncan%2527s+Book.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglxEt1DzX0_51ZQYqhn8j3vF8GJ7aWjwHgVU-vZJ63yhWEzm0CeufKsMJScpB0fiKDMi3iT19BCKaeWlq_wSQ9-oABvuX-aLAH7R-WSvl_dMBy-P6uAymJbbjnmnAPOALhT_FsxAJl_RHA/s200/Duncan%2527s+Book.jpg" width="133" /></a></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">
<b style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #274e13;"><u>BookGiveaway</u>:</span></span></b></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;">
</div>
<div style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;">
<div style="background-color: white; orphans: auto; widows: auto;">
<span style="color: #274e13;"><b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Lillian is offering 1 e-version of DEADLY INTENT to 1 randomly chosen commenter.</span></b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><b> </b></span><b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="text-align: -webkit-auto;">The winner will be announced here on Friday, October 9th between 5-6 PM EST. <u>To be entered in the Giveaway, </u></span><span style="text-align: -webkit-auto;"><u>please leave your contact information within your comment</u> (you may choose to use the Contact Me form to privately send me your email address--the form is in the right-hand sidebar on the blog's main page, toward the bottom)</span></span></b></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; orphans: auto; widows: auto;">
<span style="color: #274e13;"><b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="text-align: -webkit-auto;"><br /></span></span></b></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; orphans: auto; widows: auto;">
<span style="color: #274e13;"><b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="text-align: -webkit-auto;"><br /></span></span></b></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; orphans: auto; widows: auto;">
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<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12.0pt;"><b><span style="color: #274e13;"><u>Back Cover Blurb of DEADLY INTENT</u>:</span></b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12.0pt;">Everyone belongs somewhere. The key to happiness is recognizing that
place when you get there. <o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12.0pt;">Maven Morris can’t seem to find
that place. A childless widow, she has no immediate family. Forced into a
medical leave, she has no career. At loose ends, she hasn’t a clue what’s next
for her. <i><o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12.0pt;">Her neighbor, Paul Jordan knows
what he wants—to move their friendship to a new level. Maven may not know
what’s next, but she does know she has no interest in romance with anyone— not
even her handsome neighbor.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12.0pt;">When a young boy is abandoned in
the city park, he touches her heart. In spite of his obvious special needs, she
agrees to provide a temporary foster home for him. She has no idea the impact
he will have on her life—or the danger he brings to her doorstep.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>WHY I
WRITE WHAT I WRITE!</b> by Lillian Duncan</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12.0pt;">Do
you know what a parable is? One definition (my favorite) is an earthly story
with a heavenly message. Wow! That’s a very close description of what I write.
My stories are action-filled stories but with a heavenly message. So does that
mean I write parables? I like to think so. How cool is that?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12.0pt;">Jesus
used parables to teach. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12.0pt;">He
knew that stories can illustrate a truth better than any lecture or sermon.
Scientists say that stories and movies activate the brain as if the events are
actually happening to the reader or movie goer. So that means we can learn from
them without having to face the consequences of the bad choices in our real
life. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12.0pt;">And
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<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12.0pt;">My
stories are first and foremost meant to entertain the reader, but they also
have a spiritual message or a life lesson.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12.0pt;">My
Deadly Communications series features Maven Morris, a speech pathologist. In
the first book, Maven struggles to overcome depression brought on by the death
of her husband as well as some significant health issues while solving a
mystery.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEje9vyGL-vlGcA2HBgMA6kAqtlLvagaYGPrUKNLABRc_pssgt8Fkz9tHJPHhvb3egGmCZX7H-GE3idPM9k2zLk-O473SYJRnANvg2kBIf8NB4E20JOqdq_kObeSRR9-FgW0orUQ-e0mT_ey/s1600/woman-571715__180.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEje9vyGL-vlGcA2HBgMA6kAqtlLvagaYGPrUKNLABRc_pssgt8Fkz9tHJPHhvb3egGmCZX7H-GE3idPM9k2zLk-O473SYJRnANvg2kBIf8NB4E20JOqdq_kObeSRR9-FgW0orUQ-e0mT_ey/s320/woman-571715__180.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12.0pt;">Now
most readers will simply enjoy the suspense part of the story, but for those
struggling with a major loss of their own, they may take away much more—like
the fact if Maven was able to overcome so can they. And perhaps even take it a
step further and see that as Maven turned back to God, her life improved. And
if they do the same, that might happen.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12.0pt;">And
that’s why I write what I write!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12.0pt;">The
second story in the series, DEADLY INTENT has just released. Maven is back with
more lessons to be learned. Of course, the one lesson Maven doesn’t seem to
learn is how NOT to get herself in dangerous situations! <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12.0pt;">When
her best friend, Lizzie comes to her about an abandoned child who refuses to
communicate with anyone, Maven can’t say no. The young boy touches her heart
and she ends up as his foster mother. That’s when things take a deadly turn.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12.0pt;">Deadly
Intent is filled with twists and turns as well as surprises and shocks. As I
said my first goal when I write is to entertain and I believe Deadly Intent
does just that!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12.0pt;">And
that’s why I write what I write!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span style="color: #274e13; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b><u>Lillian's Ah-hahs To Tweet</u>:</b></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12.0pt;">Everyone’s
Story: Meet @LillianDuncan, author of stories of faith, mingled w/ murder &
mayhem (<a href="http://ctt.ec/Lwefy">Tweet This</a>)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12.0pt;">#Writers:
does your 1<sup>st</sup> goal of writing match author @LillianDuncan’s?
#BookGiveaway (<a href="http://ctt.ec/UgrS0">Tweet This</a>)</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
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<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12.0pt;">@LillianDuncan:
Ever think about your novels as parables? #BookGiveaway (<a href="http://ctt.ec/C95e0">Tweet This</a>)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span style="color: #274e13; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><u>Authors' Bio</u>:</span></b></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Lillian Duncan: stories of faith mingled
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Lillian
is a multi-published writer with several Amazon bestsellers, including The
Christmas Stalking and Betrayed. </span><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-no-proof: yes;">Lillian </span><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">writes the types of books
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<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-no-proof: yes;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Whether as an
educator, a writer, or a speech pathologist, she believes in the power of words
to transform lives, especially God’s Word.</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-no-proof: yes;"><br /></span></div>
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<b style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; orphans: 2; text-align: justify; widows: 2;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #274e13;"><u style="text-align: start;">Places to connect with Lillian</u><span style="text-align: start;">:</span></span></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; orphans: 2; text-align: justify; widows: 2;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="text-align: start;"><a href="http://www.lillianduncan.net/">Website</a></span></span></span></div>
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<!--StartFragment--><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-no-proof: yes;"><a href="http://www.lillian-duncan.com/">Tiaras and Tennis Shoes</a> (blog)</span><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-no-proof: yes;"><a href="https://twitter.com/LillianDuncan">Twitter</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/lillian.k.duncan?fref=ts">Facebook</a></span></div>
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Elaine Stockhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16349776598113016833noreply@blogger.com20tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8009438219696051817.post-8698074843080041422015-10-02T15:11:00.000-07:002015-10-09T14:59:12.514-07:00Big News To Share!<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>I'm praising God in sharing this news: on September 30th, 2015, I've signed a publishing contract with Elk Lake Publishing for my novel, <i>Don't Tell Isabelle. </i>Look for news on a future release date!</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Plus, shortly I will be launching a website that will include my blog, Everyone's Story. I hope you will follow me on this new site.</b></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioVwWdcYyGyFKcSANkYWQGyVMck-PFFJ5d7YBIRA0AU8u9w7k0333dVozBPP7atTHotQdLo45LM0J2FCOs6RUQFWJkfbl9nUodieITQFLvSkZAOhi60jzPIiihIximZujRzRMYIRlLVQ3e/s1600/NewAnnouncementMeme.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioVwWdcYyGyFKcSANkYWQGyVMck-PFFJ5d7YBIRA0AU8u9w7k0333dVozBPP7atTHotQdLo45LM0J2FCOs6RUQFWJkfbl9nUodieITQFLvSkZAOhi60jzPIiihIximZujRzRMYIRlLVQ3e/s400/NewAnnouncementMeme.jpeg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<br />Elaine Stockhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16349776598113016833noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8009438219696051817.post-80541827440243287602015-09-25T13:41:00.000-07:002015-09-25T13:54:10.250-07:00Sarah M. Johnson: Life Is Meant To Be Beautiful!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYLLrffBoO5pB20D0DuVRCSIls1KiWVdyMLpAhid0U_KxtMbDlnWdh9EOvYzp3q454vQDQ0HWtjHIgqJVF8foD9i0Y_9F1_X5Q_BcQ6JZCBbzkmXB_wnnNxLjTsX2G_XPdLb39nRQX7lRE/s1600/Sarah+Johnson.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYLLrffBoO5pB20D0DuVRCSIls1KiWVdyMLpAhid0U_KxtMbDlnWdh9EOvYzp3q454vQDQ0HWtjHIgqJVF8foD9i0Y_9F1_X5Q_BcQ6JZCBbzkmXB_wnnNxLjTsX2G_XPdLb39nRQX7lRE/s320/Sarah+Johnson.JPG" width="213" /></a></div>
<span style="color: #4c1130; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Everyone's Story welcomes the truly inspiring Sarah M. Johnson. </b></span><span style="font-family: Verdana;"><b><span style="color: #4c1130;">Unsure of what exactly
I'd find when I opened Sarah's true-life account, LIFE IS BEAUTIFUL,
I found myself devouring this touching, candid narrative of a tragic time, smoothed out by hope in God and of a tomorrow. Tough times are not fun, nor easy. What I admire most about Sarah is that she doesn't pity-party herself. Rather, Sarah braves
the retelling of a most misfortunate time to help others take a step forward in
an otherwise shaky world. Please check out Sarah's excerpt, her BookGiveaway, and the interview. Both Sarah and I look forward to hearing from you!</span></b></span><br />
<span style="color: #4c1130; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="color: #4c1130; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJoykAk2ctTIC-DRJkum6bGEdOIV4pFRsnRZ5JKODKSP_ow5UrrUi-vko-oRVgXheTCx0IsfU51pB8GuHwja7Gs81wgcit4MP2qYFZGE1dDY1OnX4-ALaDCE60tqyqPyRgNjMPf1ofLZN8/s1600/Life+is+Beautiful.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJoykAk2ctTIC-DRJkum6bGEdOIV4pFRsnRZ5JKODKSP_ow5UrrUi-vko-oRVgXheTCx0IsfU51pB8GuHwja7Gs81wgcit4MP2qYFZGE1dDY1OnX4-ALaDCE60tqyqPyRgNjMPf1ofLZN8/s200/Life+is+Beautiful.jpg" width="129" /></a></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">
<b style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #4c1130;"><u>BookGiveaway</u>:</span></span></b></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;">
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<span style="color: #4c1130;"><b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Sarah is offering 1 PDF version of LIFE IS BEAUTIFUL to 1 randomly chosen commenter.</span></b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><b> </b></span><b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="text-align: -webkit-auto;">The winner will be announced here on Friday, October 2nd between 5-6 PM EST. <u>To be entered in the Giveaway, </u></span><span style="text-align: -webkit-auto;"><u>please leave your contact information within your comment</u> (you may choose to use the Contact Me form to privately send me your email address--the form is in the right-hand sidebar on the blog's main page, toward the bottom)</span></span></b></span><br />
<b style="color: #4c1130; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="text-align: -webkit-auto;"><u><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span></u></span></span></b>
<b style="color: #4c1130; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="text-align: -webkit-auto;"><u><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Excerpt from LIFE IS BEAUTIFUL</b></span></u></span></span></b></div>
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From <i>Life Is Beautiful</i> by Sarah M. Johnson</div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">Chapter 1 – The Crash<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">I remember all of the emotions, the trees whipping
by, everything happening so fast, dad yelling, <i>Here we go, </i>and mom
screaming, <i>Stop it</i>. I remember my brother Zachary looking back at me,
his eyes bright with fear as I prayed <i>God please... </i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">I remember the sense of something coming; you know
it’s coming and wonder: will I live?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">I remember the violence of the plane plowing into
the ground as we attempted an emergency landing in a roughhewn field...<i>Boom,
boom, boom...</i>and then nothing but an unnerving silence. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">I don’t know if I blacked out or merely paused with
my eyes closed in the stillness of those first few moments. Awareness comes
slowly. Then in a rushed breath of shock and revelation, <i>Thank God I’m alive</i>.
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">My eyes open to an eerily lit silence where
sunlight and shadow intermingle, making it difficult to see into the new
geography of the plane’s interior. My head and body buzz. My mind trips on the
dissonance of dangling upside down, held a few inches from the ceiling of the
plane’s cabin by my seatbelt. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">Taking stock of my body, I notice that I peed my
pants and there is a small cut on my left arm. Looking up, I see that one foot
is missing its shoe. My eyes squint into bright sunlight that passes through a
relatively large doorway next to me that was torn open. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">The only noise to break the silence is the erratic
popping of electricity; the final groans of a dying airplane. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">I move my arms first and then my legs, which causes
small shards of glass to fall from where they’re lodged in my clothes and
upturned seat. I tilt my head back toward the ceiling beneath me and it is
covered in broken glass. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">My hair dangles down away from my face, but the
position of my body and the way sunlight cuts through the cabin makes it
difficult to see much of the plane. In those few seconds I realize that I am
okay and begin to think that maybe we are all okay; that the crash wasn’t so
bad. <b style="color: #4c1130; text-decoration: underline;"><o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="color: #4c1130;"><b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="text-align: -webkit-auto;"><u><br /></u></span></span></b></span></span></span></div>
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<div style="color: #4c1130; font-weight: bold; text-align: center; text-decoration: underline;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="text-align: -webkit-auto;"><b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="text-align: -webkit-auto;"><u>Interview with Sarah M. Johnson</u></span></span></b></span></span></div>
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</span></span>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="text-align: -webkit-auto;"><b><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12pt;">Your
straightforward, heart-shared account of the tragedy that forever had changed
your life is titled with a most upbeat slant: why is life beautiful? Can it be
for others who also have suffered severity?<o:p></o:p></span></b></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">The phrase “life is beautiful” has two meanings to me;
first, my brother’s favorite song was “Life is Beautiful” by Sixx A.M. My
brother and I had a moment together, which I share in my book, when we were
sitting in his car at night and he told me to listen to this song. He said,
“Sarah, listen to this song, it is me…” I listened to that song, with my
brother sitting beside me, and really thought of him differently. I thought of
him more deeply, misunderstood, and it was in that moment a rush of compassion
and love fled to him. I don’t think my brother knew how to communicate his
deepest thoughts and emotions, and music was a way for him to understand
himself and allow others to understand him as well.<u style="font-family: Verdana; font-weight: bold;"><o:p></o:p></u></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Secondly, the moment I gave birth to my daughter, Lillian,
I realized life is beautiful. I gave birth to my daughter when I was 22, only
three years after the airplane crash. In those three years, I had met my future
husband, attended college, and continued to grieve the loss of my father and
brother. The moment I saw my daughter and held her for the first time, all the
feelings of depression, anxiety, grief, substance abuse had faded. It was like
my father and brother had sacrificed their lives for my little girl. She was
absolutely perfect, so beautiful.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></span></span><br />
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #4c1130; line-height: normal; margin-left: 0in; text-indent: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">I believe there is a Divine Intervention for EVERYTHING. Without
the airplane crash, without my dad’s drug use, without all the ugliness I had
faced in such a short life, I would have never met my future husband and gave
birth to my daughter, and truly saw the beauty life has to offer.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">I think to see the beauty in life; however, one must first
CHOOSE to see the beauty. I really do believe others who have suffered
severity/adversity, have the personal choice to see that life is
beautiful. But, it takes
acceptance to know one’s life is not what they want and to reach out and do
something about it. I think life is what you make it; and if you don’t do the
work, attempt to start life over; you may miss the opportunity to see that life
beautiful.</span></span></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #4c1130; margin-left: 0in; text-indent: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="text-align: -webkit-auto;"><b><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">You were
19 when the plane crashed. Looking back with the hindsight of strengthening
your walk with God, plus the professional knowledge of social work and the desire
to counsel others, what positive ways do you view that the young adult Sarah
back then handled things?<o:p></o:p></span></b></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #4c1130; margin-left: 0in; text-indent: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="text-align: -webkit-auto;"><b><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span></b></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">I think young adult Sarah really did the best she could. Young
Sarah was raised by parents who were addicted to substances. She unconsciously
learned to numb pain with either alcohol or drugs. She also learned that reaching
out for help was forbidden. As I look back, I am proud that Young Sarah accepted
help when it was offered. She got into therapy, went to outpatient treatment,
attended a youth group, and leaned on God. I am proud Young Sarah never gave
up, I am proud Young Sarah knew things would get better; because in her heart
she always knew there was something bigger for her; God had bigger plans for
her than she could even comprehend in those moments.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #4c1130; line-height: normal; margin-left: 0in; text-indent: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Today, I have a Master’s Degree in Marriage and Family
Therapy. I know we all do the best we can with what we have learned from our
parents/caregivers. I did the best I could. But I also took a risk, which is
what was different than what I was taught from my parents. I leaned on the HOPE
that God had a plan for me. This faith came to me, as I also explain in the
book, when I took hands with a young man I was dating at the time. As I took
his hands, I was sucked into a channel, a white wormhole; something I cannot
describe other than God’s Light… it was in that moment I saw God (or whatever
He was showing me) and KNEW with all my heart and soul there was something
watching over me, something I was supposed to see.</span></span></span></div>
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</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">It was me experiencing God that night that gave me faith
and HOPE for my future. I think my future would have been a lot different if I
did not experience/witness God. As I mentioned before, I believe in Divine
Interventions. I was right where I was supposed to be that night in November
2007, less than one year before the airplane crash, and that experience is
something I relied on to get better. <o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #4c1130; line-height: normal; margin-left: 0in; text-indent: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="text-align: -webkit-auto;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">In your
book you discuss the emotional themes of the missing-dad-syndrome, guilt,
betrayal by family members, and drug use by family. What’s the first step for
someone who wants to step over these troubling issues and detangle from a
dysfunctional family, or does one have to learn to live with these issues?<o:p></o:p></span></b></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="text-align: -webkit-auto;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span></b></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">The first step in detangling from a dysfunctional family
is recognizing the family is dysfunctional! Every family is dysfunctional to
some degree, but when there is drug addiction, alcoholism, abuse, neglect,
infidelity, fraud, etc., this raises the level of dysfunction. <o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #4c1130; line-height: normal; margin-left: 0in; text-indent: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">I wanted to break away from the dysfunction, but first I
needed to recognize and find who I really was and ACCEPT who and what I came
from. It is okay not to come from the “perfect family” because they don’t
exist. But what I needed to really work on was accepting my family for what it
was and becoming a better person because of it. <o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">We can detangle and learn to live with dysfunction. But I
think detaching ourselves from the dysfunction is the best thing we can do if
we want to move forward. We can be around our families and still be detached. We
can learn not to take things personally, stay out of the gossip, choosing not
to drink with the family, but also recognizing we are changing patterns,
patterns of generational dysfunction.</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="text-align: -webkit-auto;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkM1cxPrv_qIFufRM-2mUiF1yNdIJMUjryYRbkYl7CIY3YA4sYR79HjcOeitfsYDQwmU-yCqYX33IJFrx1RkmdqCRcgN1lY7_TwRkgtgAhceuf25CI4ID-MqZdLYyuDkzcMTo-xA5TDRkT/s1600/NewSarahShore.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkM1cxPrv_qIFufRM-2mUiF1yNdIJMUjryYRbkYl7CIY3YA4sYR79HjcOeitfsYDQwmU-yCqYX33IJFrx1RkmdqCRcgN1lY7_TwRkgtgAhceuf25CI4ID-MqZdLYyuDkzcMTo-xA5TDRkT/s320/NewSarahShore.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="text-align: -webkit-auto;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #4c1130; line-height: normal; margin-left: 0in; text-indent: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="text-align: -webkit-auto;"><b style="text-indent: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">One of
the nurses told you that rather than dying in the plane crash that you’d been
“saved for a reason” and that “You have a lot to accomplish in this world. You
just don’t realize it right now.” Was this a haunting pressure or the fuel to
drive you forward? How can others make this work for themselves?</span></b></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #4c1130; line-height: normal; margin-left: 0in; text-indent: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="text-align: -webkit-auto;"><b style="text-indent: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span></b></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">It was FUEL to drive me forward! I believed in my heart I
had survived for a reason and I did have a lot to accomplish in this world. The
nurse telling me this was only reassurance of what I already knew it my heart.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #4c1130; line-height: normal; margin-left: 0in; text-indent: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">As for others, I think people tell us things to reassure
us of things we already know/believe about ourselves. I believe in the Law of
Attraction, so things are said to us or people are put in our lives for a
reason. I think the reason is for us to become better individuals and to live
for our destined purpose.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">LISTEN to what others are saying to you, good or bad, they
are telling us for a reason… so we can be better individuals to move towards
our purpose.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #4c1130; line-height: normal; margin-left: 0in; text-indent: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="text-align: -webkit-auto;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Your
father had trouble with drugs. And alcohol was a problem for you both prior to
and after the accident. Yet, you wrote about how you both found redemption in
mission work. Why do you believe its human nature to seek redemption?<o:p></o:p></span></b></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #4c1130; line-height: normal; margin-left: 0in; text-indent: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="text-align: -webkit-auto;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span></b></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #4c1130; line-height: normal; margin-left: 0in; text-indent: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Dad had previously done mission work in Africa with my
brother. Guatemala was going to be
my first time experiencing missions work. <o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #4c1130; line-height: normal; margin-left: 0in; text-indent: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">I believe it is human nature to seek redemption because we
all want to be good. I think it is really easy to carry around shame and guilt about
ourselves which can ruin our lives. I believe what we believe about ourselves
is what we attract in the world. I was surrounding myself with people who also
felt the same way about themselves and shared similar behaviors.</span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #4c1130; line-height: normal; margin-left: 0in; text-indent: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #4c1130; line-height: normal; margin-left: 0in; text-indent: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">After the crash, once I started therapy with Pauline Boss,
entered outpatient treatment, and started school again; I was starting to feel
good about myself. I was dedicated to God and relied on the hope I was going to
be fine. I was starting to attract positive, healthy people in my life. I was
starting to detach from my dysfunctional family. I ended toxic relationships. I
was moving forward with my life… I was seeking redemption. And the redemption
felt GOOD.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">People seek redemption because it moves them closer toward
their destined purpose. Redemption establishes happiness and positive
self-worth. Redemption is God. I believe the closer we are to redemption, the
closer our relationship with God becomes. Which, many of us know, God is love.
Everyone wants love. And, that’s why it’s human nature to seek redemption.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #4c1130; line-height: normal; margin-left: 0in; text-indent: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="text-align: -webkit-auto;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">In your
sessions with Dr. Pauline Boss you learned about “Ambiguous loss;” that is,
loving someone who can’t give back (such as an absentee parent). Any advice for
those who may struggle with this situation?<o:p></o:p></span></b></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="text-align: -webkit-auto;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span></b></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Acceptance, acceptance, acceptance. <o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #4c1130; line-height: normal; margin-left: 0in; text-indent: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Through all
the loss I have experienced, the deaths of uncles, my aunt, and my dad and
brother, the ambiguous loss of my mother has been the most difficult loss for
me. My mother is alive and for the most part well. However, she is a distant
stranger who I have yearned for. I have yearned to have her care, love, and
accept me for me. Fortunately, my mother loves me, but is unable to provide
“motherly qualities” to me. It has taken me YEARS to accept my mother for who
she is and to let go of the feelings of needs and wanting more from her.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Working with a therapist, reading, praying and meditating,
has helped me work through this loss. I have learned to accept individuals,
especially my mother, for who she is. I cannot change her, nor do I really want
to. I cannot change people. I must accept them for who they are. Only I can
control me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">For individuals who are struggling with this situation, I
advise them to ACCEPT their situation. Stop being the victim in your own life
and take responsibility for yourself. If our parent has done something that has
hurt us, this can only make us stronger individuals. I think having compassion
for our parent(s) and recognizing they are really doing the best they know how
can bring us ease.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="text-align: -webkit-auto;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">One of
your conclusions in the book centers on the choice of doing the work, or not,
to move forward in life in an attempt to start life over. Why is this?<o:p></o:p></span></b></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #4c1130; line-height: normal; margin-left: 0in; text-indent: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="text-align: -webkit-auto;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span></b></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">I believe certain circumstances occur in our life so we
can start life over. Circumstances such as death, divorce, job loss,
illness/disease are there for us TO start life over. However, we must use the
circumstance as life lessons – and I think that is what the work is. It is
working through the circumstance, questioning it, analyzing it, learning from
it, and moving forward. I believe adversity builds hope. Bad things happen to
us, things we just don’t understand, so we can become better individuals and
move closer towards our destined purpose.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">God has given us free will. We have the choice to do the
work or not.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We have the choice to
conquer our adversity or let the adversity beat us. The first step, once again,
is accepting the adversity/circumstance and using it as a life lesson to become
the best we can be.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">If we don’t do the work, and attempt to start life over,
we may miss the opportunity to see that life is beautiful.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #4c1130; line-height: normal; margin-left: 0in; text-indent: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="text-align: -webkit-auto;"><b style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><u>Sarah's Ah-hahs To Tweet</u>:</b></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Imagine having huge stress, then surviving a plane crash?
Exclusive interview with @SarahMJohnson12 (<a href="http://ctt.ec/6txeM">Tweet
This</a>)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Everyone’s Story: @SarahMJohnson12 shares why life is
beautiful despite #adversity. #BookGiveaway (<a href="http://ctt.ec/0Mazv">Tweet
This</a>)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Drugs, alcohol, family loss, an airplane crash, yet
@SarahMJohnson12 says life’s beautiful. See why. (<a href="http://ctt.ec/bchrE">Tweet
This</a>) <o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="text-align: -webkit-auto;"><b style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><u>Authors' Bio</u>:</b></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">Sarah M. Johnson is
currently a graduate student seeking her Marriage and Family Therapy degree.
She will graduate in 2015 and plans to open up a private practice and guide
those who are seeking their own self-discoveries of love and happiness. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Life is Beautiful </i>was released on
August 25, 2015. It is available on </span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Life-Beautiful-Became-Confident-Child-ebook/dp/B00UW6DPZO"><span style="font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">Amazon</span></a><span style="font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">
and </span><a href="http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/life-is-beautiful-sarah-m-johnson/1120875688?ean=9781630474874"><span style="font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">Barnes
& Noble</span></a><span style="font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">. <o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;"><br /></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="text-align: -webkit-auto;"><b style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; orphans: 2; text-align: justify; widows: 2;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><u style="text-align: start;">Places to connect with Sarah</u><span style="text-align: start;">:</span></span></b></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; orphans: 2; text-align: justify; widows: 2;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="text-align: start;"><a href="http://lifeisbeautifulbook.com/">Website</a></span></span></span></span></span></div>
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Elaine Stockhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16349776598113016833noreply@blogger.com17tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8009438219696051817.post-57443450521371731292015-09-18T15:10:00.000-07:002015-09-25T16:19:12.122-07:00Sara Goff: The Two Keys To Success <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSYuxeEpfLRIhZq3Zqk641HBEJDpr96alJaXp1EtiTde9t0uGADcMyiUj2MRQE5c3zBXBoLJxA52sdVi7U9rIjdI9hFmD9CdHu9F22jqKMDAr7Ar8_c3oTtfuMVRR0ybswtoSyeHrvQ7RG/s1600/Sara+Goff+%2528hires%2529.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSYuxeEpfLRIhZq3Zqk641HBEJDpr96alJaXp1EtiTde9t0uGADcMyiUj2MRQE5c3zBXBoLJxA52sdVi7U9rIjdI9hFmD9CdHu9F22jqKMDAr7Ar8_c3oTtfuMVRR0ybswtoSyeHrvQ7RG/s320/Sara+Goff+%2528hires%2529.JPG" width="232" /></a></div>
<span style="color: #783f04; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Everyone's Story is excited to welcome back Sara Goff. Excited? Yes, because not only is Sara a sweet friend and a founder of a wonderful charitable organization (Lift the Lid), but please welcome her as a debut novelist!! I'm so thrilled for you, Sara. Viewers, please check out Sara's BookGiveaway offer, the excerpt of her novel, and Sara's inspiring reflections on what might make a difference in your life when it comes to success, and how to make a difference in someone else's life. Sara and I look forward to hearing from you.</b></span><br />
<span style="color: #783f04; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span><span style="color: #783f04; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="color: #783f04; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSLdxutlNkwhvOkiZum_e5F9f5uyHZPAEtES9eQQHyQ9ejKCwfRx7QKIU0KijfFV_vhsB-oIMVXgRfbHzxtXCdTM3tNAEyoCie0BEMBdRv5otrR2chTf1VkdFnHjqSe1Io9brdJN6WKb72/s1600/I+Always+Cry+at+Weddings-girl.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSLdxutlNkwhvOkiZum_e5F9f5uyHZPAEtES9eQQHyQ9ejKCwfRx7QKIU0KijfFV_vhsB-oIMVXgRfbHzxtXCdTM3tNAEyoCie0BEMBdRv5otrR2chTf1VkdFnHjqSe1Io9brdJN6WKb72/s200/I+Always+Cry+at+Weddings-girl.jpg" width="129" /></a></div>
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<span style="color: #783f04;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;"><b style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><u>BookGiveaway</u>:</span></b></span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;">
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<div style="background-color: white; orphans: auto; widows: auto;">
<span style="color: #783f04;"><b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Sara is offering 1 copy of I ALWAYS CRY AT WEDDINGS to 1 randomly chosen commenter, worldwide.</span></b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><b> </b></span><b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="text-align: -webkit-auto;">The winner will be announced here on Friday, September 25th between 5-6 PM EST. <u>To be entered in the Giveaway, </u></span><span style="text-align: -webkit-auto;"><u>please leave your contact information within your comment</u> (you may choose to use the Contact Me form to privately send me your email address--the form is in the right-hand sidebar on the blog's main page, toward the bottom)</span><span style="text-align: -webkit-auto;">.</span></span></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #783f04; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b><u><span style="font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Excerpt from <i>I
ALWAYS CRY AT WEDDINGS</i></span></u><span style="font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">:</span></b></span></div>
<span style="color: #783f04; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><br /></span></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">From I ALWAYS CRY AT WEDDINGS by Sara Goff</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpFirst" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpFirst" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana;">Ava descended the concrete steps into the seasonal smell of brewing
garbage, worn by the subway like a signature scent. Her blouse stuck to the
sweat beading down the center of her back. Waiting for the train, she dug her
cell phone out of her Prada tote. Password: josh.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">With his mother micromanaging the wedding, there
had hardly been any need for a maid of honor, until now. The line rang. “Come
on, Maggie, pick up.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">“Hello, lovely!” Maggie’s voice brought immediate
comfort, while little Melanie babbled like a hidden brook in the background.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">“You two sound happy,” Ava said.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana;">“Melanie just woke up from her nap. Listen, Ava, if
you keep postponing my dress fitting, I’ll be holding your train in my bra and
underwear. Now, unless stretch marks are the latest fad at weddings, your
guests do not need to see mine.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana;">“Sorry. I just haven’t been able to focus on it,
but that’s not why I’m calling. Maggie, I want Josh’s love spelled out. Is
there something wrong with that?”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana;">“Yes! Tattoos are way too permanent! Crochet it on
a pillow or something. A pillow you can keep forever or sell at a garage sale.
Seriously.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana;">“No, I’m talking about personal vows. Is it wrong
that I want Josh’s feelings written out? Is it wrong that I want words I can
return to…when I’m having doubts?”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">“Oh.” Silence. “Whoops!” A loud clatter came
through the phone. “Sorry about that. My darling Melanie grabbed the phone out
of Mommy’s hand, didn’t she? I no longer decide how long I talk on the phone.
Okay, so…doubts?”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>What
Do Our Role Models Have in Common?</b>
By Sara Goff</span><span style="font-family: Verdana;"><o:p></o:p></span>
</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpFirst" style="mso-pagination: none;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana;">Are you working toward a long-term goal? Is anyone showing you the
way? Our inspiration might be our own hope for change, or it might be faith
based, or sparked by another person. Whatever the inspiration, our success is
determined by how long we can hang on and the encouragement we receive.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">I had a strong desire to make a difference in this
world. Early on, it was only a daydream. In 2010, I started a charity called
Lift the Lid, which gives long-term support to underprivileged students in
order that they will achieve a meaningful education. The funds we raise go
towards the well-being of the children, meeting their educational, physical,
and spiritual needs, our primary focus being writing and self-expression. I
believe everyone has a voice and deserves to be heard.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">Lift the Lid hosts a writing competition at each of the schools we
sponsor. This year at Lenana Girls High School in Kitale, Kenya,
I asked the students to write about a special role model in their lives, someone
who inspires them to dream, to try harder when the work becomes difficult, and
to have faith when they've been deserted by family and friends. A role model, I
reminded them, helps us to keep going when the road ahead isn't clear.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAWBZylWubzPKGGKQUsJuFR0qzGyhE6aCwjWCh7lOTOj0mvhqMb1SjE62IqcBLJS-a1aRItEa_N9Nkog9B5SAiyW01yV5elfnd2oPM3j_UwrnCRK4SYuzeI-JN2fm4kIyXV2pmaxJUgLxO/s1600/Favour+Wambui-Second+Writing+Comp+photo-Lenana-Sept2014.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="335" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAWBZylWubzPKGGKQUsJuFR0qzGyhE6aCwjWCh7lOTOj0mvhqMb1SjE62IqcBLJS-a1aRItEa_N9Nkog9B5SAiyW01yV5elfnd2oPM3j_UwrnCRK4SYuzeI-JN2fm4kIyXV2pmaxJUgLxO/s400/Favour+Wambui-Second+Writing+Comp+photo-Lenana-Sept2014.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">As I read their essays, I could see the girls following the lead of
hardworking, experienced, influential women, while holding on to their own ambitions:
to pass their exams, to find a good job, to rise out of poverty, to make a name
for themselves, and to give back, helping others to achieve their dreams.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">Here are some examples of the women who inspire
them:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">Mother Teresa gave up possessions, embracing
poverty in order to serve the poor and suffering.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">Oprah Winfrey worked hard to prove she's someone
special after years of bullying in school.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">An aunt makes sacrifices and faces criticism when she takes in the
young girl writing the essay and fights for her education.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">I started to think of my own role model, my mother,
an English and drama teacher prior to her retirement, a church organist and a
fiddler in a folk band to this day. Did I mention her black belt in karate?
Still doing that, as well. While I was growing up, she clung to her love
of music and practiced her various instruments daily, but took the time to share
her creative spirit with me.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">There's a similarity between these inspiring women
that might help us to become role models to others: They hang on fiercely to
their calling, but they also let go. They let go of possessions and low
self-esteem. They let go of criticism and fear. They embrace the spirit that
moves them, and they share it with the world. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">Do you have a role model you'd like to acknowledge? Has anyone ever
told you you're a role model? One of the girls wrote about the vegetable lady
at her local market. "I admire her very much because of how she was
serving her customers in a kind and positive language." You might be
surprised to discover that while pursuing your own goals, you are also being a
role model to others. Hang in there! <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;"><br /></span></div>
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<b style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 22px;"><span style="color: #783f04;"><u>Sara's previous Everyone's Story's feature</u>:</span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="mso-pagination: none;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 22px;"><a href="http://elainestock.blogspot.com/2011/08/ill-volunteer-by-sara-goff.html">I'll Volunteer</a></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<b style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span style="color: #783f04; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><u>Sara's Ah-hahs To Tweet</u>:</span></b><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">Meet @sarajohannagoff, debut author of I ALWAYS CRY AT WEDDINGS.
#BookGiveaway (<a href="http://ctt.ec/230Jm">Tweet This</a>)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="mso-pagination: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="mso-pagination: none;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana;">Author @sarajohannagoff: Can you be a role model? (<a href="http://ctt.ec/L14ie">Tweet This</a>)</span></div>
<b style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">Everyone’s Story: Author @sarajohannagoff on The 2
Keys to Success (<a href="http://ctt.ec/3rUb_">Tweet This</a>)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
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<b style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span style="color: #783f04;"><br /></span></b></div>
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<br /></div>
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<b style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span style="color: #783f04; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><u>Authors' Bio</u>:</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Sara Goff recently moved to
Connecticut with her husband of 14 years and their two sons after living in
Sweden and then London for six-and-a-half years. I ALWAYS CRY AT WEDDINGS, her
debut novel about figuring out life and finding love in New York City, was
released September 15th by WhiteFire Publishing. A part of the proceeds from
the book will go towards her educational charity Lift the Lid, a 501(c)(3)
tax-exempt organization. Visit </span><a href="http://www.lift-the-lid.org/"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">www.lift-the-lid.org</span></a></span><span style="font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> for more
information on the charity. </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></div>
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<b style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; orphans: 2; text-align: justify; widows: 2;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #783f04;"><u style="text-align: start;">Places to connect with Sara</u><span style="text-align: start;">:</span></span></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;"><a href="http://www.saragoff.com/"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Website</span></a></span><span style="font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;"><a href="http://www.saragoff.com/pdf/Sara_Goff_Press_Kit.pdf"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Press Kit</span></a></span><span style="font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;"><a href="http://www.facebook.com/sarajgoff"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Facebook</span></a></span><span style="font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;"><a href="http://www.twitter.com/sarajohannagoff"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Twitter</span></a></span><span style="font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;"><a href="http://www.pinterest.com/sarajgoff"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Pinterest</span></a></span><span style="font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;"><a href="https://plus.google.com/+SaraGoffWriter/posts"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Google+</span></a></span><span style="font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Elaine Stockhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16349776598113016833noreply@blogger.com32tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8009438219696051817.post-64986996669148275402015-09-11T14:13:00.000-07:002015-09-19T03:50:44.386-07:00Bonnie S. Calhoun: Combatting Fear<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtjZsALHzqdmkHE7EKTwnoaIAqdgynVwCJ7IR_fFbdNa9kWcAt7c_WZbWwzxOzTtr8K1Obx7pzobfg6VaC8HBh0oIJnU3xA4ctk4zfM30goHFZvypPGELrwQB_jg-k3ca8PRS1OIZDYpWM/s1600/Dystopia+reg.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtjZsALHzqdmkHE7EKTwnoaIAqdgynVwCJ7IR_fFbdNa9kWcAt7c_WZbWwzxOzTtr8K1Obx7pzobfg6VaC8HBh0oIJnU3xA4ctk4zfM30goHFZvypPGELrwQB_jg-k3ca8PRS1OIZDYpWM/s320/Dystopia+reg.jpg" width="241" /></a></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Everyone's Story welcomes back author Bonnie S. Calhoun. I encourage my guests to write uplifting messages straight from the heart, and to feel free to tie it into their writing. Bonnie's subject this week is perfect timing, considering that her feature will begin its run on the day of remembrance, 9-11, that changed the world. Yet, Bonnie adds a ray of light here, of hope, and shares with us why we should not fear. For this reason, as well as that Bonnie is a lovely woman and wonderful author, I'm pleased that she is with us this week. Please check out her BookGiveaway (for those who haven't read it yet), and her encouraging words below. Both Bonnie and I look forward to hearing from you!</b></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1FR-1shiNQgYq7EVTmk-U4NWUPpi3BKO9Stcf6wOUVeX90XXPeFXePh73no8pVUHDlbdnuk39U19mRMipOKrRbeOvzHzQJLP4rYxAKGxukfyap4-L8FB5ve-2OQ8MQOftOlmiv70DSiAq/s1600/Thunder.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1FR-1shiNQgYq7EVTmk-U4NWUPpi3BKO9Stcf6wOUVeX90XXPeFXePh73no8pVUHDlbdnuk39U19mRMipOKrRbeOvzHzQJLP4rYxAKGxukfyap4-L8FB5ve-2OQ8MQOftOlmiv70DSiAq/s200/Thunder.png" width="128" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;"><b style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><u>BookGiveaway</u>:</span></b></span><br />
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<span style="color: #444444;"><b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Bonnie is offering 1 copy of THUNDER (Book 1 of the Stone Braide Chronicles) to 1 randomly chosen commenter.</span></b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><b> </b></span><b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="text-align: -webkit-auto;">The winner will be announced here on Friday, September 18th between 5-6 PM EST. <u>To be entered in the Giveaway, </u></span><span style="text-align: -webkit-auto;"><u>please leave your contact information within your comment</u> (you may choose to use the Contact Me form to privately send me your email address--the form is in the right-hand sidebar on the blog's main page, toward the bottom)</span><span style="text-align: -webkit-auto;">.</span></span></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">DO NOT FEAR</span></b><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;"> by Bonnie Calhoun<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Whenever
I write, or think about a new story idea, the underlying premise is always <i>do</i> <i>not
fear.</i> No matter what the character goes through, they dig down inside of
themselves and drag out the will and determination that only God can give us to
go on.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I
think that is what draws me to YA (Young Adult) characters because by nature
they have a sense of fearlessness…okay so that particular fearlessness comes
because their teenage brains don’t fully connect all the little synapses until
they’re 25. You know what I mean…the part of the brain that tells us adults to
head in the other direction, well the teen brain tells them…go on, try it!
What’s the worst that can happen? And in their minds that never includes
serious hurt. So in a way their lack of fear is foolish, but in today’s world
the foolishness comes from an overabundance of fear. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">It
is very hard in today’s world to not see news of every pestilence, disease,
weapon, or terrorist. In the mainstream media the old saying is, “If it bleeds,
it leads.” And people today have been so bombarded with it that they have
slowly slipped into a constant fearful state. But it feels justifiable because
of all the bad things on the news.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I
think this is the time when we should get in the Word more, especially Jesus
ministry here on earth. It will help to fortify us against the darts of the
enemy that are constantly trying to wear down your faith. Are you going to let
fear cancel out your faith? Or are you going to grow the kind of faith that
will cancel out the fear?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I
also know that there are traumatic and awful, sometimes life changing things
that can happen to pare away at faith and allow the fear to blossom but that is
a great time to break out the Word and read the story of Joseph. Thirteen
chapters and you wonder if it will ever end…but look what the Lord did. Or read
the book of Job. Now that is a story that will make your hair curl...or
straighten out…at one point it got so bad that his own wife told him to curse
God and die. But in the end, the Lord returned all that had been stolen. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">In
both stories the men remained true to the Lord and did not let their lives be
overtaken by fear. They trusted in the Lord.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">And
I bet you expected me to say “Fear Not is in the Bible 365 times.” Well it’s
not! With all the different do not fears, do not worry, be anxious, or any
other form of the same thought combined there’s only about 300 of them. But ya’
know what? If my God, who cannot tell a lie, says it only ONCE…it’s still good
enough for me.<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=8009438219696051817" name="_GoBack"></a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Folks,
none of what goes on in this world has caught our God by surprise. He did not
get up on this side of the world today and go “Oh geez. I didn’t see that
coming.” He’s bigger than all of it. And we’ve got to decide whether we believe
Him or not when He said: <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Isaiah
41:10 Do not fear, for I am with you; Do not anxiously look about you, for I am
your God. I will strengthen you, surely I will help you, Surely I will uphold
you with My righteous right hand. (NASB)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 22px;"><span style="color: #444444;">Bonnie's previous Everyone's Story's feature:</span></b></div>
<a href="http://elainestock.blogspot.com/2015/02/bonnie-s-calhoun-interview-with-lovable.html"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 22px;">Interview with a lovable snark and </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 22px;">suspense author</span></span></a><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><a href="http://elainestock.blogspot.com/2011/05/visit-with-author-bonnie-calhoun.html">A visit with Bonnie Calhoun</a></span></div>
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<b style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 20px; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><u>Bonnie's Ah-hahs To Tweet</u>:</span></b><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">@BonnieCalhoun:
a cool author’s thoughts on why fear is hard to escape from & what to do
about it. (<a href="http://ctt.ec/9Mxe5">Tweet This</a>)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Everyone’s
Story: The one and only @BonnieCalhoun, author of #</span>YA <span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">#dystopian</span>.
#BookGiveaway (<a href="http://ctt.ec/bN7q0">Tweet This</a>)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">@BonnieCalhoun:
living in a world that bombards you with fear. #BookGiveaway (<a href="http://ctt.ec/sy84Z">Tweet This</a>)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 20px; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><u>Authors' Bio</u>:</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Bonnie
S. Calhoun is Owner/Director of Christian Fiction Blog Alliance, owner/publisher
of Christian Fiction Online Magazine, Northeast Zone Director for American
Christian Fiction Writers (ACFW), and the ACFW ‘2011 Mentor of the Year.” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">She
love to write, but it doesn't make her happy unless there is...body count,
blood, or blowing things up. She also has mad skills at coding HTML, and
website design. And she lives in a log cabin in the woods with fifteen acres
and a pond full of bass, though she'd rather buy fish at the grocery store.
Bonnie shares her domain with a husband, a dog, and two cats, all of whom think
she’s waitstaff!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Her
latest series is a YA dystopian with Revell titled Stone Braide Chronicles. The
first book <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Thunder </i>published in 2014.
The second book <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Lightning</i> will
publish Oct 2015. There are also two FREE e-book short stories. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Tremors</i> is the prequel to <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Thunder</i>, and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Aftershock</i> (short story) comes before <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Lightning.</i></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b style="orphans: 2; text-align: justify; widows: 2;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #444444;"><u style="text-align: start;">Places to connect with Bonnie</u><span style="text-align: start;">:</span></span></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><a href="http://bonniescalhoun.com/">Website</a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><a href="https://twitter.com/BonnieCalhoun">Twitter</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/bscalhoun">Facebook</a></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/BonnieSCalhoun">Goodreads</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.pinterest.com/bonniecalhoun/">Pinterest</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/user/BonnieCalhoun">YouTube</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Bonnie-S.-Calhoun/e/B005UK0Z3C">Amazon</a></span></div>
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Elaine Stockhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16349776598113016833noreply@blogger.com28tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8009438219696051817.post-67925450017230409412015-09-04T14:58:00.000-07:002015-09-12T05:05:14.556-07:00Susan Anne Mason: The Courage To Dream<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2viw56VBOIum7nqHSJWkPQ6487h_Dl9BnEjGSieQwpCJqqfejfeZ4V4PfOz3HFu6LDkS1TEsHkoxBKuJlp7sd4qo7yk0Kr4Im9lI-70cZtSHRe2C101tfMoQQyy9LzeZwoJ_B_tZ9egsT/s1600/Susan+small+author+photo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2viw56VBOIum7nqHSJWkPQ6487h_Dl9BnEjGSieQwpCJqqfejfeZ4V4PfOz3HFu6LDkS1TEsHkoxBKuJlp7sd4qo7yk0Kr4Im9lI-70cZtSHRe2C101tfMoQQyy9LzeZwoJ_B_tZ9egsT/s320/Susan+small+author+photo.jpg" width="212" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #20124d; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Everyone's Story welcomes back author Susan Anne Mason. One of the things I've come to enjoy about hosting authors on my blog is that I get to see their writing careers blossom through the months and years since they've been on last. That's the case with Susan! It was a delight to walk into a store just last week and to see her novel on the shelf. I'm so happy for you, Susan! Yet, ever wonder about the effort it takes to accomplish what Susan has--not only the physical part about sitting down to write and committing to do so, but the emotional journey of many ups and downs? Susan shares with you insights about this journey. Also, check out her cover blurb of IRISH MEADOWS. Both Susan and I look forward to hearing from you!</b></span></div>
<span style="color: #20124d; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Just One </b>by Susan Anne Mason</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Thank
you for having me back on your blog, Elaine! Last month my first historical
romance, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">IRISH MEADOWS</i>, came out with
Bethany House Publishers. I am thrilled at the wonderful response this story is
receiving, especially since at one time, I doubted it would ever get published.
</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I wrote most of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Irish Meadows</i> during the November Novel
Writing Month in 2011. I continued working on it and finished the book by
Christmas. (Keep in mind this was a VERY rough draft!) I worked on editing the
manuscript for probably a year and then started entering it in contests. </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">At the ACFW conference in 2013, I
came prepared to pitch <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Irish Meadows </i>to
both agents and editors. I was aware that it posed some challenges, such as the
fact that it contained two distinct love stories, and the fact that one of the
heroes was in the seminary studying to become a priest! Sure enough, these
issues were huge stumbling blocks, and I got nowhere with my pitches—only lots
of advice how to change my book. </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">But I loved my story and I had no
intention of changing it. I had faith that either the right editor would come
along, or I’d eventually publish it myself. In early 2014, I learned that <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Irish Meadows</i> won a contest I’d entered
and that Dave Long from Bethany House wanted to see the whole manuscript! I was
so excited that he loved my book and couldn’t believe it when a few weeks
later, I was offered a 3-book contract!! </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;"><br /></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The
moral of the story is that it only takes one person to love your story. Keep on
trying to find the right fit and don’t give up!</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<u><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">Note</span></u><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">:
Book 2 in the Courage to Dream Series, A Worthy Heart, releases in January and
is available for pre-order on most sites!</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqhMFJCkNF1n5lxHSLW1sh8XNtWgHHBwrC-dwdxOraAy76HNI3MKwLfxfS2U1VIfFsWS-4WK2RRdQBHy79mnh42Jsb0E3pPTrkN2Fg8BWSt_-CKiZuubo0g_6PBLOvpHYw8Pb3tKoc2BOy/s1600/SusanAnnMason2Mime.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="220" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqhMFJCkNF1n5lxHSLW1sh8XNtWgHHBwrC-dwdxOraAy76HNI3MKwLfxfS2U1VIfFsWS-4WK2RRdQBHy79mnh42Jsb0E3pPTrkN2Fg8BWSt_-CKiZuubo0g_6PBLOvpHYw8Pb3tKoc2BOy/s320/SusanAnnMason2Mime.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<u><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><br /></span></u></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><u><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><b>Book
cover blurb for <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Irish Meadows</i></b></span></u><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><span style="color: #20124d;"><b>:</b></span><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Irish
immigrant, James O’Leary, has spent his life building <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Irish Meadows </i>into a thriving horse farm and is not about to let
hard economic times threaten its success. He intends for his daughters to marry
prosperous men—ones who will secure the family’s rightful place in society, and
at the same time, guarantee the future of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Irish
Meadows</i>. Both girls, however, have different visions for their futures.</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">Brianna
and Colleen O’Leary know their father expects them to marry well. Yet despite his
wishes, Brianna, the quieter sister, dreams of attending college. Vivacious
Colleen, meanwhile, is happy to marry—as long as her father’s choice meets her
exacting standards. </span><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">When stable hand Gilbert
Whelan returns from college and distant family member Rylan Montgomery stops in
on his way to the seminary in Boston, the two men quickly complicate everyone’s
plans. It will take every ounce of courage for both sisters to follow their
hearts. And even if they do, will they inevitably find their dreams too distant
to reach?</span><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Susan's previous Everyone's Story's feature: <a href="http://elainestock.blogspot.com/2015/02/susan-anne-mason-when-gods-dreams-are.html">When God's Dreams Are Bigger Than Ours</a></b></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
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<b style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><u>Susan's Ah-hahs To Tweet</u>:</span></b><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">#HistoricalRomance
author Susan Anne Mason @samason: It takes 1 person to believe in your writing!
(<a href="http://ctt.ec/Q2RcU">Tweet This</a>)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Author
@samason: When courage to dream becomes the reality for publication of your
novel. (<a href="http://ctt.ec/QcUUv">Tweet This</a>)</span></div>
<b style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">
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<span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">Everyone’s
Story: Meet Susan Anne Mason @samason, writing romances sprinkled with faith. (<a href="http://ctt.ec/jYM1J">Tweet This</a>)</span></div>
</div>
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<b style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span style="color: #20124d;"><br /></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Susan Anne Mason describes her writing style as
“romance sprinkled with faith.” She particularly enjoys exploring the themes of
forgiveness and redemption in her stories. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Irish
Meadows</i> is her first historical novel and won the Fiction from the
Heartland contest sponsored by the Mid-American Romance Author chapter of RWA</span>.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Susan lives outside of Toronto, Ontario, with her
husband, two children, and two cats. She is a member of American Christian
Fiction Writers (ACFW) and Romance Writers of America (RWA). Learn more about
Susan and her books at www.susanannemason.com. </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoBodyTextIndent" style="margin-bottom: 3.0pt; margin-left: 1.45pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-pagination: none;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoBodyTextIndent" style="margin-bottom: 3.0pt; margin-left: 1.45pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-pagination: none;">
<b style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; orphans: 2; text-align: justify; widows: 2;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #20124d;"><u style="text-align: start;">Places to connect with Susan</u><span style="text-align: start;">:</span></span></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;"><a href="http://www.susanannemason.com/">Website</a></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoBodyTextIndent" style="margin: 0in 0in 3pt 1.45pt; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;"><a href="http://www.suemasonsblog.blogspot.ca/">Blog</a></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoBodyTextIndent" style="margin: 0in 0in 3pt 1.45pt; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><a href="https://twitter.com/samason">Twitter</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/susan.anne.mason.333">Facebook</a></span></span></div>
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<b style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; orphans: 2; text-align: justify; widows: 2;"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="text-align: start;"><br /></span></span></b></div>
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<br /></div>
Elaine Stockhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16349776598113016833noreply@blogger.com18tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8009438219696051817.post-3509545648452855772015-08-28T14:16:00.000-07:002015-09-09T12:15:43.876-07:00Rick Barry: Do You Have Regrettable Elements From Your Past?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyT2etFFWego7J0yuo_6tl0T43pkOVbdO5sFy9WgaG1ZxKKfM8xNW4x3S7UzaoEXfe0kM37Kw9CbHvPPLEj3aIl9zsiZGR0a8LX7tVbVlGhe1XYaiq-faFGtvwVqqQBg_jmmt5rydda-Wm/s1600/Rick.Barry-14.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyT2etFFWego7J0yuo_6tl0T43pkOVbdO5sFy9WgaG1ZxKKfM8xNW4x3S7UzaoEXfe0kM37Kw9CbHvPPLEj3aIl9zsiZGR0a8LX7tVbVlGhe1XYaiq-faFGtvwVqqQBg_jmmt5rydda-Wm/s320/Rick.Barry-14.jpg" width="214" /></a></div>
<span style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Everyone's Story welcomes multi-published author and church-planter/missionary, Rick Barry. As a co-client of our agent, the amazing Linda S. Glaz, </b></span><b style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I've had the pleasure to get to know Rick these past few years </b><b><span style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">and I'm thrilled he agreed to be my guest. An encourager, Rick shares with us this week how to let go of the past in order to move forward and parallels this with the characters of his new release this September, THE METHUSELAH PROJECT. Please check out Rick's dynamic BookGiveaway. Both Rick and I look forward to hearing from you!</span></b><br />
<span style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span><span style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKBwXnchpqr603L1hPW19HsfpxP9QMyr_YunNsJVr8Xl3XJqjLNFcbn3jU0lgR2PP4OMbau5NHav3yyTzFlDoHTwNcmNQmeSJpe9P8ZuAQh39zF4DsHbcG4Faif_99NHjy8DioHxOYTnVR/s1600/MethuselahProject.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKBwXnchpqr603L1hPW19HsfpxP9QMyr_YunNsJVr8Xl3XJqjLNFcbn3jU0lgR2PP4OMbau5NHav3yyTzFlDoHTwNcmNQmeSJpe9P8ZuAQh39zF4DsHbcG4Faif_99NHjy8DioHxOYTnVR/s200/MethuselahProject.jpg" width="129" /></a></div>
<span style="color: #660000;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;"><b style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><u>BookGiveaway</u>:</span></b></span></span><br />
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;">
</div>
<div style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;">
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; orphans: auto; widows: auto;">
<span style="color: #660000;"><b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Rick is offering 1 printed copy of his novel THE METHUSELAH PROJECT to 1 randomly chosen commenter.</span></b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><b> </b></span><b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="text-align: -webkit-auto;">The winner will be announced here on Friday, September 4th between 5-6 PM EST. <u>To be entered in the Giveaway, </u></span><span style="text-align: -webkit-auto;"><u>please leave your contact information within your comment</u> (you may choose to use the Contact Me form to privately send me your email address--the form is in the right-hand sidebar on the blog's main page, toward the bottom)</span><span style="text-align: -webkit-auto;">.</span></span></b></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; orphans: auto; widows: auto;">
<span style="color: #660000;"><b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="text-align: -webkit-auto;"><br /></span></span></b></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; orphans: auto; widows: auto;">
<span style="color: #660000;"><b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="text-align: -webkit-auto;"><br /></span></span></b></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; orphans: auto; widows: auto;">
<span style="color: #660000;"><b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="text-align: -webkit-auto;"><u>Back Cover Copy</u>:</span></span></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">During World War II, German scientists
started many experiments. One never ended. Shot down over Nazi Germany in
1943, Roger Greene becomes both a prisoner and an unwilling guinea pig in a
bizarre experiment. Seventy years later, Roger still appears as youthful as the
day he crash-landed—and he’s still a prisoner. Nearly insane from his long
captivity, Roger finds his only hope in an old Bible.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; orphans: auto; widows: auto;">
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "MS 明朝"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast;">Not until our present time does Roger finally escape from the secret
society running the Methuselah Project. When he does, the modern world has
become a fast-paced, perplexing place. His only option is to accept the help of
Katherine Mueller—crack shot, go-getter, and attractive to boot. Can he
convince her of the truth of his crazy story? And can he continue to trust her
when he finds out she works for the very organization he’s trying to flee?</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; orphans: auto; widows: auto;">
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<div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; orphans: auto; widows: auto;">
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<b><span style="font-family: Verdana;">You’re
Not a Prisoner of Your Past</span></b><span style="font-family: Verdana;"> by
Rick Barry<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">Right
now, someone reading these words feels hindered by the past. You might be a
woman who had a child out of wedlock and gave it up for adoption. You may be a
man who fought and struggled to open his own dream business—only to see it
collapse in dismal failure. That regrettable element could be any of a thousand
things, but even if you read nothing else in this blog feature, understand
this: you don’t have to remain a failure because of your past.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">In
my new novel, <i>The Methuselah Project</i>,
my main character Roger Greene is haunted by mysteries in his own past. In
fact, he doesn’t even know exactly who or what he is because his earliest
childhood memories are of the orphanage where he grew up. Even though Roger is
intelligent, even though he’s handsome, and even though he becomes an ace
fighter pilot in World War II, as an adult he struggles with his own sense of
self-worth.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; text-align: -webkit-auto;">Why
didn’t he grow up with a regular family like other kids? Was he the unwanted
result of an illicit affair? Perhaps the unfortunate offspring of a prostitute?
Or maybe he had a mother and father who were so dirt poor that they simply
could not afford to keep him? But no matter which scenario was true, why was it
that no one at the orphanage had ever offered even the vaguest of answers to
his questions? Making matters worse, after German fighter planes shoot down his
P-47 in WW II, Roger doesn’t get sent to a regular POW camp. Instead, he
becomes an unwilling guinea pig in a secret Nazi experiment.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">Roger’s
romantic interest, Katherine, must also face questions from the past. I won’t reveal
the plot, but many of those problems exist in the person of her one living
relative, Uncle Kurt.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">Failure
to separate yourself from the past—mistakes, shortcomings, unwise decisions,
whatever—makes you a victim. That attitude is like living with an enormous
anchor shackled to one leg, and that anchor prevents you from achieving
happiness and your full potential. But your life doesn’t have to be that way.
You can learn from past mistakes. You can ask for God’s help in overcoming the
source of unhappiness and plant your feet on a new path in life. God is an
expert at redeeming lives and giving them new directions. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">At
this point, I don’t want to offer spoilers about my suspense novel and its dose
of romance. What I can say is that both Roger and Katherine must face their
past, each in his own way. <i>The Methuselah
Project </i>packs a variety of emotions. Readers will alternately laugh, cry,
share the characters’ frustrations, and fear for their lives. In the end,
though, is that satisfying conclusion that makes the journey worth it all.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">If
you decide to read <i>The Methuselah Project</i>,
I hope you’ll tell me. Better yet—tell others if you like it!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;"><br /></span></div>
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<b style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span style="color: #660000;"><u>Rick's Ah-hahs To Tweet</u>:</span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: none;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Like #ChristianSuspense novels with a twist? Meet author Rick Barry @WriterRickBarry
#BookGiveaway (<a href="http://ctt.ec/c3ebE">Tweet This</a>)</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">Everyone’s Story: @WriterRickBarry, author WW II #suspense
#BookGiveaway of The Methuselah Project (<a href="http://ctt.ec/OdyBb">Tweet
This</a>)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">Are you a prisoner of your past? See what author @WriterRickBarry
advises. (<a href="http://ctt.ec/7p8Sc">Tweet This</a>)</span><span style="font-family: Verdana;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
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<b style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span style="color: #660000;"><u>Authors' Bio</u>:</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">Rick Barry has authored three
novels (<i>Gunner's Run, Kiriath's Quest,</i> and now <i>The Methuselah Project</i>),
plus hundreds of published articles, short stories, and devotional pieces. He
speaks Russian and has visited Eastern Europe over 50 times. His experiences
have included skydiving, mountain climbing, rappelling, camping in Russia,
visiting Chernobyl, white-water rafting, and visiting World War II
battlegrounds. He believes that all experiences in life provide fuel for a writer's
imagination. </span><span style="orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;">Rick and his wife Pam live near Indianapolis.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
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<b style="orphans: 2; text-align: justify; widows: 2;"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><u style="text-align: start;">Places to connect with Rick</u><span style="text-align: start;">:</span></span></b></div>
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<span style="orphans: 2; text-align: justify; widows: 2;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="text-align: start;"><a href="http://rickbarry.blogspot.com/">Website</a></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="orphans: 2; text-align: justify; widows: 2;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="text-align: start;"><a href="https://twitter.com/WriterRickBarry">Twitter</a></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="orphans: 2; text-align: justify; widows: 2;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="text-align: start;"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/AuthorRickBarry">Facebook</a></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="orphans: 2; text-align: justify; widows: 2;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="text-align: start;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Rick-Barry/e/B001JPA39S/ref=dp_byline_cont_book_1">Amazon</a></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana; text-align: -webkit-auto;"> </span></div>
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Elaine Stockhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16349776598113016833noreply@blogger.com31tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8009438219696051817.post-8529231042130553662015-08-21T14:40:00.000-07:002015-08-29T10:23:39.433-07:00Patti Shene: God And Gunsmoke<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBOTu-5jUuBFO73IJ7z2lD-0LcWM8FBkdSCsOU0H_r6jjRr6xb6Yk1dC6o1V-ZAEIUYnO0_9V8adAbL6MxYf2YPia6P7ZwzEJ95uD1CGJ_duToyMADY_YqsIx8eGTxQJu97WJ29BEH2bAR/s1600/Patti%253ABlue+Ridge+Falls+8-15.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBOTu-5jUuBFO73IJ7z2lD-0LcWM8FBkdSCsOU0H_r6jjRr6xb6Yk1dC6o1V-ZAEIUYnO0_9V8adAbL6MxYf2YPia6P7ZwzEJ95uD1CGJ_duToyMADY_YqsIx8eGTxQJu97WJ29BEH2bAR/s320/Patti%253ABlue+Ridge+Falls+8-15.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="color: #274e13; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Everyone's Story warmly welcomes writer, blog(s) owner, and radio personality, Patti Shene. Though I've known Patti from the past years of visiting on our mutual blogs and sharing encouragement via social media, I've only come to learn that we've had several close encounters of actually meeting face-to-face. One day, Patti! Thankfully, this sweet woman will be my guest this whole week. I hope you find her as uplifting as I do. Both Patti and I look forward to hearing from you.</b></span><br />
<span style="color: #0c343d; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span>
<br />
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Verdana;">Who Would
Have Thought?</span></b><span style="font-family: Verdana;"> By Patti Shene<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana;">When I reach back
into the inner recesses of my childhood memories, the evening of September 10,
1955, rises to the top. I still recall the grainy black and white picture that
held my family and I spellbound as the television show <i>Gunsmoke</i> debuted
before the viewing public. I was all of 4 years old.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">We watched in shock
as the main character and hero of the show, Marshal Matt Dillon, fell under the
gun of a formidable adversary. The professional skill of the acerbic Doc Adams,
in conjunction with the determination of the hero, found him healthy enough by
the close of the half hour to defeat the villain in a dramatic final scene.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZ03Bu1wqCHfV9a3ZSGJJhZGsNlUrr9QW2LWYdc2BetyoMBVVAWMfSpSgp9TyDaCSBczNvOMwDu3Sej74mlv9DjhVIaQMyJPZE00JYwx5d3ifX1LCpRtrYrRLHGc_M_5vUCrLUK4OHIWHn/s1600/Gunsmoke.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZ03Bu1wqCHfV9a3ZSGJJhZGsNlUrr9QW2LWYdc2BetyoMBVVAWMfSpSgp9TyDaCSBczNvOMwDu3Sej74mlv9DjhVIaQMyJPZE00JYwx5d3ifX1LCpRtrYrRLHGc_M_5vUCrLUK4OHIWHn/s320/Gunsmoke.jpg" width="216" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">That first episode
spawned the era of the western in the world of television broadcasting. I
followed <i>Gunsmoke,</i> the first adult western, throughout its twenty year
run and many other shows in the genre as well.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">Even though <i>Gunsmoke</i>,
was set in Dodge City, Kansas, this Long Island, New York girl developed a
fascination for the state of Colorado. Hence my subscription to Colorado
magazine when I became old enough to earn my own money and spend it the way I
wanted.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">My first “real job”
as a nurse in the Hudson River Valley found me making good money, living on
station for very low rent, and a non-driver. I had plenty of money in a savings
account when I earned my first vacation.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">The ad in the back
of Colorado magazine for an eleven-day horse pack trip in the San Juan
Mountains of Colorado offered a dream come true. Over forty years later, that
trip stands out in my memory as one of the most thrilling experiences of my
entire life.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">I suppose that is
why, if I could only complete one novel in my lifetime, it would be <i>Magic
Moments in Time, </i>a fictionalized account of that trip. The dramatic events
that occurred stemmed from the interpersonal relationships that developed, and
the struggles of man against nature forced on us by terrain and weather.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">The opportunity to
view massive stone-faced peaks and lush, green, lake-dotted valleys from a
height of over fourteen thousand feet cannot be duplicated in the most rugged
vehicle manufactured. Travel on foot or horseback through densely wooded trails
leads to switchbacks that jut out over dense wilderness ten thousand feet
below. The grandeur of God’s unlimited creativity is manifested in every square
inch of ground and an infinite sky, not dotted with twinkling stars, but
highlighted by a solid path of light miles wide known as the Milky Way.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">A month from the
day I arrived home from that breathtaking excursion, I was working in Colorado.
To this day, I live in a town that sits on the Santa Fe Trail, surrounded by
ranches that comprise literally thousands of acres, wake up to the lowing of
cattle that graze in the pasture next door, and, enjoy watching the rodeo events
that highlight the summer season.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">Reminders of our
local American history, from the museum that boasts hundreds of 19<sup>th</sup>
century artifacts to the Kit Carson Chapel that memorializes the famous
American frontiersman, keep my interest in the American west alive. Frequent
encounters with friends who tend their herds, mend fences, ride horses, and
wear their cowboy boots and jeans to church feed my romantic fascination with
the lifestyle of the modern day rancher.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">If I ever publish a
novel, I can about guarantee my readers will encounter within its pages a
cowboy or two, a few horses, wide open spaces, and the black velvet sky that
burns in my memory from that long ago mountain adventure.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">Oh, and our lives
do tend to move in circles. Sixty years after watching that first <i>Gunsmoke</i>
episode, I live in the very town where one of the show’s most famous actors,
Ken Curtis, who played Deputy Festus Haggen, spent his childhood.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana;"><br /></span></div>
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<b style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span style="color: #274e13; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><u>Patti's Ah-hahs To Tweet</u>:</span></b><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">What does God, His
grandeur, and Gunsmoke have in common? Visit with @PattiShene for the answer. (<a href="http://ctt.ec/FJh0e">Tweet This</a>)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana;">@PattiShene on
Everyone’s Story: Can life move in a positive circle? (<a href="http://ctt.ec/KSjm0">Tweet This</a>)</span><span style="font-family: Verdana;"> </span></div>
<b style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">How does a Long Island
gal end up in Colorado and loving every moment? (<a href="http://ctt.ec/na0FU">Tweet
This</a>)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<b style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span style="color: #274e13; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><u>Authors' Bio</u>:</span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana;">Patti Shene hails
from Long Island, New York, but has made her home in colorful Colorado for over
forty years. She has been married to husband Manuel (lifelong nickname: Speedy)
for almost 38 years. They have one daughter one son, and one granddaughter.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana;">Like many writers, Patti
has carried stories in her head since she was a kid. She’s had a few things
published in the local newspaper, a local magazine, and edits her
church newsletter. She is published in two anthologies.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana;">Patti has three
(western!) novels in progress and writes an occasional short story, poem, or
blog post. She is a member of ACFW (American Christian Fiction Writers) and
Toastmasters International. Patti has served on faculty at the Colorado
Christian and Greater Philadelphia Christian Writers Conferences as well as the
IdahopeWriters Conference.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana;">She hosted Lit(erally)
Speak(ing), a Blog Talk Radio show currently in the process of restructure with
plans to return to live broadcasting in a few weeks. She enjoys hosting writers
on the show and on her three blogs, found at her website.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; orphans: 2; text-align: justify; widows: 2;"><span style="color: #073763; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><u style="text-align: start;">Places to connect with Patti</u><span style="text-align: start;">:</span></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;"><a href="http://www.pattishene.com/">Website</a></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;"><a href="https://twitter.com/PattiShene">Twitter</a></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/pattishene">Facebook</a></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;"><br /></span></div>
Elaine Stockhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16349776598113016833noreply@blogger.com24tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8009438219696051817.post-47860284084577931362015-08-14T14:09:00.000-07:002015-08-21T15:24:27.119-07:00Kate Breslin: What Subliminal Message Does God Put On Your Heart?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9UDt5voIn4zY3YpNMgPVad1gOytMXoSb1goksrNndd1KIlnIUR4by50jERfy1oOIHtyd2_FcJReYhcjF8oOw_7bkhaLi3SEcSwwmPB8ig1_AlIZsfkfS-yLvOS_n0ycMxGZqyN9pz2Ryk/s1600/KATE+BRESLIN+HEADSHOT+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9UDt5voIn4zY3YpNMgPVad1gOytMXoSb1goksrNndd1KIlnIUR4by50jERfy1oOIHtyd2_FcJReYhcjF8oOw_7bkhaLi3SEcSwwmPB8ig1_AlIZsfkfS-yLvOS_n0ycMxGZqyN9pz2Ryk/s320/KATE+BRESLIN+HEADSHOT+1.jpg" width="228" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b><span style="color: #073763;">Everyone's Story is thrilled to welcome author Kate Breslin as this week's guest. I've been privileged to get to know Kate these past few years and to see her blossom from debut author to multi-award finalist, and now Kate's sophomore novel is freshly released. Congratulations, Kate! What I enjoy the most about Kate's novels, that although they're fiction, they portray that how in desperate times such as war how two people can find love and forgiveness in their hearts and how God works for the good in this world. That said, please check out Kate's BookGiveaway</span><span style="color: red;">**(see note on bottom) </span><span style="color: #073763;"> offer and the commentary she's chosen to share with you this week. Both Kate and I look forward to hearing from you.</span></b></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHHZz-1-5T86aLQyadBviugatv66dEfULeOYJDI9jivPcPzxq3bLoM4dvowRJ75auY5A1FRz32bUDVVK1bMwvPVOR0WXNn1j5miDw0f8U424CcSJsaNuiD-FjiJUmHL5fL1HSZfWzZZNWC/s1600/Not+by+Sight+-+Web.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHHZz-1-5T86aLQyadBviugatv66dEfULeOYJDI9jivPcPzxq3bLoM4dvowRJ75auY5A1FRz32bUDVVK1bMwvPVOR0WXNn1j5miDw0f8U424CcSJsaNuiD-FjiJUmHL5fL1HSZfWzZZNWC/s200/Not+by+Sight+-+Web.jpg" width="129" /></a></div>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcFwlVHgj8oOB4cDGb9MVw9CutsXsJjjPTzY0OyVIRcMI0r4DLF5LlV04AvMH_ekYF64EK3cpkT8UvtqaWkKHDMFJQ9bKMBtbLDa8gWVY7x1Cg7asRSHMcPKyXUG8N7tbeZ2C8B32wVw7z/s1600/ForSuchATime.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcFwlVHgj8oOB4cDGb9MVw9CutsXsJjjPTzY0OyVIRcMI0r4DLF5LlV04AvMH_ekYF64EK3cpkT8UvtqaWkKHDMFJQ9bKMBtbLDa8gWVY7x1Cg7asRSHMcPKyXUG8N7tbeZ2C8B32wVw7z/s200/ForSuchATime.jpg" width="128" /></a><span style="color: #073763;"><b style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><u>BookGiveaway</u>:</span></b></span><br />
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;">
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<span style="color: #073763;"><b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Kate is offering 1 printed copy of either NOT BY SIGHT or FOR SUCH A TIME to 1 randomly chosen commenter, US only.</span></b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><b> </b></span><b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; text-align: -webkit-auto;">The winner will be announced here on Friday, August 21st between 5-6 PM EST. <u>To be entered in the Giveaway, </u></span><span style="text-align: -webkit-auto;"><u>please leave your contact information within your comment</u> (you may choose to use the Contact Me form to privately send me your email address--the form is in the right-hand sidebar on the blog's main page, toward the bottom)</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; text-align: -webkit-auto;">.</span></span></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #073763;"><b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><br /></span></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #073763;"><b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><u>Book Jacket Blurb for </u><i style="text-decoration: underline;">NOT BY SIGHT</i>:</span></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #212121; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">In the spring of 1917, all of Britain's attention is on the WWI
war front and the thousands of young men serving their country on the front
lines. Jack Benningham, dashing heir to the Earl of Stonebrooke, is young and
able-bodied but refuses to enlist despite the contempt of his peers.<br />
<br />
A wealthy young suffragette, Grace Mabry will do anything to assist her
country's cause. Men like Jack infuriate her when she thinks of her own brother
fighting in the trenches of France, so she has no reservations about handing
him a white feather of cowardice at a posh masquerade ball.<br />
<br />
But Grace could not anticipate the danger and betrayal set into motion by her
actions, and soon she and Jack are forced to learn the true meaning of courage
when the war raging overseas suddenly strikes much closer to home and their
fervent beliefs become a matter of life and death.</span><span style="color: #212121; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12.0pt;">God’s Takeaway Bonus For Readers and Writers</span></b><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12.0pt;"> by Kate Breslin<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12.0pt;">Elaine, thank you so much for hosting me this week on
Everyone’s Story! And I love your tagline, “Rejoice in the Good Stuff, Ignore
any Discouragement.” Words to live by!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12.0pt;">This week, I’d like to talk about the marvelous ways God
works in our lives, through the books we read<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=8009438219696051817" name="_GoBack"></a> and as
authors creating stories. Many readers I’m sure will agree they’ve read a scene
in a novel that has given them timely inspiration, or a passage from Scripture that
spoke to their hearts at just the right moment. As writers, these messages work
on a more subconscious level, but they still ring true. In my debut novel, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">For Such A Time</i>, I wrote about a woman with
the courage and faith to stand up for her people, to the point of risking death.
It was also a message about love, and how that powerful Force can conquer the
worst kind of evil. In writing the story, I found my own sense of courage, just
like my heroine, along with a deeper understanding of my faith. I strengthened my
conviction to continue writing inspirational stories regardless of whether I
published a book or not. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12pt; text-align: -webkit-auto;">In my second novel, </span><i style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12pt; text-align: -webkit-auto;">Not
By Sight</i><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12pt; text-align: -webkit-auto;">, the message was a bit different. The main recurring theme deals with
the peril of judging others. In the opening scene, my heroine, Grace Mabry, has
preconceived notions about our hero, Jack Benningham. She assumes he’s a coward
who refuses to enlist in the war, simply because he’s in London and not in
France fighting alongside her brother. She’s also heard the gossip at her
father’s London tea establishment, declaring the future earl of Stonebrooke to
be “a playboy and a gambler who stays out until dawn.” Grace’s opinion is
therefore already formed when she confronts him at a London costume ball and
hands him a white feather of cowardice. She has no idea he’s working undercover
for the Crown, or that her actions will set into motion events surrounded in danger
and betrayal. It’s only later in the story that she realizes her error, feeling
the sting of her own prejudiced blade when she finds her reputation maligned.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12.0pt;">Once again, I wrote the story, aware on a subconscious
level the lessons God was putting in my path. I became attuned to those times
when I exercised my own assumptions, making rash judgments about a person or situation
without obtaining all of the facts. (I confess, while working on <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Not By Sight</i>, I was surprised at how
often I caught myself.)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12.0pt;">Making quick judgments is easy nowadays, as a barrage of media
is thrown at us, each station, newspaper, even Internet blogposts reporting the
same incident with different slants. Oftentimes the stories get blown out of
proportion in an effort to attract new followers or viewers. With our busy
lives, it’s too much trouble to “sift through the chaff to get to the wheat” of
a story, and so we take what we’re given as fact. Thankfully, we have a bit more
control when it comes to our own circle of family and friends. If not, we might
all be lambasting one another. (grinning)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12.0pt;">A second theme that plays into the first is a Scripture
passage and part of my novel’s title: “We live by faith, and not by sight.” (2 Cor.
5:7 NIV) For our hero Jack, that means choosing to see with his heart and not things
as they appear on the surface. For Grace, it’s learning that there’s always
more than one side to a story.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12.0pt;">For me, it’s a reminder to cling to the Truth and ignore
what the world would otherwise have me believe. These are my takeaway thoughts
as a writer; those subliminal messages God puts on my heart. Yet I also know
each person can discern something different from a book or a passage in
Scripture, so it’s my hope that readers will receive from my stories the
message God wants them to hear most.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span style="color: #073763; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><u>KATE's Ah-hahs To Tweet</u>:</span></b><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12.0pt;">Everyone’s Story: @Kate_Breslin shares insights from
writing her novels #BookGiveaway (<a href="http://ctt.ec/4gpfl">Tweet This</a>)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12.0pt;">Author @Kate_Breslin asks: does God place subliminal
messages on your heart? (<a href="http://ctt.ec/SocF0">Tweet This</a>)</span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: none;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12.0pt;">@Kate_Breslin: God’s takeaway bonus for #readers and #writers
#BookGiveaway (<a href="http://ctt.ec/TB3b1">Tweet This</a>)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
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<br /></div>
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<b style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span style="color: #073763; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><u>Authors' Bio</u>:</span></b></div>
<div style="background-color: white; orphans: auto; widows: auto;">
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<!--StartFragment--><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Former bookseller-turned-author
Kate Breslin enjoys life in the Pacific Northwest with her husband and family. A
writer of travel articles and award-winning poetry, Kate received
Christian Retailing's 2015 Best Award for First Time Author and her debut
novel, For Such A Time, is a Christy award, RITA award, and Carol award
finalist. Kate's second novel, Not By Sight released in August, 2015. When
she's not writing inspirational fiction, Kate enjoys reading or taking long
walks in Washington's beautiful woodlands. She also likes traveling to new
places, </span><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">both within the U.S. and
abroad, having toured Greece, Rome, and much of Western Europe. New
destinations make for fresh story ideas.</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; orphans: auto; widows: auto;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; orphans: auto; widows: auto;">
<b style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; orphans: 2; text-align: justify; widows: 2;"><span style="color: #073763; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><u style="text-align: start;">Places to connect with Kate</u><span style="text-align: start;">:</span></span></b></div>
<div style="background-color: white; orphans: auto; widows: auto;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; orphans: 2; text-align: justify; widows: 2;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; text-align: start;"><a href="http://www.katebreslin.com/">Website</a></span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; orphans: auto; widows: auto;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; orphans: 2; text-align: justify; widows: 2;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; text-align: start;"><a href="https://twitter.com/Kate_Breslin">Twitter</a></span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; orphans: auto; widows: auto;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; orphans: 2; text-align: justify; widows: 2;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; text-align: start;"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/KateBreslinAuthor?ref=hl">Facebook</a></span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; orphans: auto; widows: auto;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; orphans: 2; text-align: justify; widows: 2;"><a href="https://www.pinterest.com/katelbreslin/">Pinterest</a></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; orphans: auto; widows: auto;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; orphans: 2; text-align: justify; widows: 2;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; orphans: auto; widows: auto;">
<b style="color: red; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 22px;">**It's summer and time to have a bit of fun. Please take this month's new Poll on the right-hand sidebar on your summer reading pleasure. You'll earn an extra BookGiveaway point for Kate's offer if you take the poll and comment about it within your blog comment (and yes, I'm going on the honor-system). And, if you've already took August's poll, let me know and I'm sure I can give you an extra point too (wink wink). Thanks!</b></div>
<div style="background-color: white; orphans: auto; widows: auto;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; orphans: 2; text-align: justify; widows: 2;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; orphans: auto; widows: auto;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; orphans: auto; widows: auto;">
</div>
</div>
Elaine Stockhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16349776598113016833noreply@blogger.com105tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8009438219696051817.post-18935190879215861962015-08-07T15:04:00.000-07:002015-08-15T16:22:49.213-07:00Christine Lindsay: A Warning To Writers<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilKKqiRHHWA5L06-Vu-TXcBoYQKoDsMY7Pj7ZTbMKTxg9wy9mhDCCAI1_95Mmdzb9wqbA0iHbEEPshJhFrDdi1lSsoQfaRjHK9r3ATSeu_W9hgN_YbV7AfO3L6egWWinlWlsBs73ZXa938/s1600/Christine+Lindsay+Author+pic.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilKKqiRHHWA5L06-Vu-TXcBoYQKoDsMY7Pj7ZTbMKTxg9wy9mhDCCAI1_95Mmdzb9wqbA0iHbEEPshJhFrDdi1lSsoQfaRjHK9r3ATSeu_W9hgN_YbV7AfO3L6egWWinlWlsBs73ZXa938/s1600/Christine+Lindsay+Author+pic.jpg" /></a></div>
<span style="color: #783f04; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Everyone's Story affectionately welcomes back author Christine Lindsay. I've known Christine for several years now and she always exudes a tranquil peace and charm about her, yet how I'll always happily remember her wild laughter at the ACFW conference meal tables. With these various characteristics it's no surprise that Christine is a special person who writes touching stories. This week Christine shares a waring to writers, which is the fuel for her stories as well. Both Christine and I look forward to hearing from you.</b></span><br />
<span style="color: #783f04; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b><span style="color: red;">**Please take a moment to do the August survey on the right-hand sidebar. Thanks!</span></b></span>
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<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b><span style="color: red;"><br /></span></b></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b><span style="color: red;"><br /></span></b></span>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b><i><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Warning</span></i></b><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"> <b>to Writers</b>. <b><i>Warning…Warning</i>!!</b> By Christine
Lindsay<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">If you
want to write fiction you have to adjust to the fact that all fiction is
autobiographical. You’re going to bleed emotionally on the pages. You will need
plenty of hankies near your computer.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">When I
first started writing 15 years ago, I understood any non-fiction I hoped to
write, especially the book on my birth-mother experience, would be
autobiographical. But later when it seemed that particular true-life account
might never be published, I felt the Lord urge me to put the spiritual and
emotional truths I’d learned into Christian Fiction.</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggqHPfjYNd7s42oR5VyCMRg4ize4ecAkiGhK6AT3Hv1zHUHCm9o5MSuT5wTB3mbfKIafh1VsP1qfJrYzYiDp1vFDTUeQ1tVl1wZDbx_st7o62n1yL-hUlP9eg4zcZBM4ANf1NvaKamYCY8/s1600/Full+Series+with+transparent+background.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="202" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggqHPfjYNd7s42oR5VyCMRg4ize4ecAkiGhK6AT3Hv1zHUHCm9o5MSuT5wTB3mbfKIafh1VsP1qfJrYzYiDp1vFDTUeQ1tVl1wZDbx_st7o62n1yL-hUlP9eg4zcZBM4ANf1NvaKamYCY8/s400/Full+Series+with+transparent+background.png" width="400" /></span></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-pagination: none;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Whew</span></i><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">! I thought. This means I don’t
have to bare my soul. I can hide behind my “untrue” historical epics with plenty
of action and romance that God-willing might help readers think about the Lord
while they’re being entertained. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Here’s the
true scoop. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">When I
wrote <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Shadowed in Silk</i> I don’t think
readers had a clue that I was plastering my heart and soul into my heroine Abby
Fraser, into my bad-guy Russian spy, and especially into Abby’s enemy the
Muslim woman Tikah who kidnaps Abby’s child. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">The title
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Shadowed in Silk</i> shows all characters
feel invisible for their own reasons. The two women feel no one sees their
heartaches or hears their cries in the night. As a woman who was hurting over
the relinquishment of my firstborn to adoption, I felt like invisible Abby. I
also felt like my Russian spy who chooses to be invisible on purpose. But I
also felt like Tikah who steals Abby’s little boy, because part of my heart
longed to turn the clock back so that I’d never relinquished my child in the
first place. I took the bare truth of my soul and painted that longing into my
character Tikah as she does the reprehensible.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Shocking,
I know. I’m not saying my emotions were right or honorable. Emotions are
emotions, but that’s what books are, a baring of the soul. Of course I didn’t
take back my true-life child, and the Lord helped me through my heartache. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Thankfully,
God didn’t leave me in my spiritual immaturity, and my second book <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Captured by Moonlight</i> shows some of that
spiritual growth.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">One of
my heroines, the beautiful Indian woman Eshana is living her Christian life,
energized as she does the work she believes God has laid out for her. But then,
her fanatical Hindu uncle pops out of the past and kidnaps her. He imprisons
her in a ruined jungle palace, has her head shaved, her lovely saris taken
away, and dressed in course white cotton like that of a Hindu widow. Though
Eshana has been abandoned, the work she loves seemingly taken from her, she
says the following, straight from my heart from my true life, </span><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">“I will sing your praises, Lord. Though
you have dressed me in funeral clothes, I will sing your praises with joy.”</span><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"> </span></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHqUP1w0MtMxa5JhHZ4EjFa_O5jjwKUC9w8kh5XG0lhgFernv26xH6NvLN_puBsS5uemsN9Yj4GwORRXbrawL0xREFQbPAk1aGetSelIV72w1P3MxyGbIM6WIRrM4aaSIbJA0WnQESSJc7/s1600/ChristineQuote.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHqUP1w0MtMxa5JhHZ4EjFa_O5jjwKUC9w8kh5XG0lhgFernv26xH6NvLN_puBsS5uemsN9Yj4GwORRXbrawL0xREFQbPAk1aGetSelIV72w1P3MxyGbIM6WIRrM4aaSIbJA0WnQESSJc7/s320/ChristineQuote.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">I could
go on and on—how <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Veiled at Midnight </i>shows
what I learned the 2 years my brother lived with my husband and me, as my
brother went through rehab for his alcoholism. This book breathes the message
that nothing, absolutely nothing, can separate us from the love of God.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">The
message of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Londonderry Dreaming</i> is to
speak the truth in love, no matter how hard it hurts. And in the
soon-to-be-released <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Sofi’s Bridge</i> is about
being true to the gifts God has placed in our souls. All deep spiritual and
emotional lessons that I have learned in my true life.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">God has
done some amazing things for me. Sure, I’ve suffered, who doesn’t, but I’ve experienced that
scintillating feeling when God makes everything new. That’s why I always write
happy endings.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">That’s also
why 15 years since I first starting writing, I’m seeing my original dream come
to pass. Remember that non-fiction book on my birth-mother experience that
started it all? Well, it too is soon-to-be-released. But in all honesty, there
is just as much of me in my fictional novels as there is in this account. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Hold
tight to God, and believe in the ultimate happy ending for you through Jesus
Christ. <a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=8009438219696051817" name="_GoBack"></a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="color: #783f04; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b><u>Christine's previous appearance on Everyone's Story</u>:</b></span></span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><a href="http://elainestock.blogspot.com/2013/04/christine-lindsay-author-capturing.html">An Author Capturing The Heart Of Life</a></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><b style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span style="color: #783f04; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><u>Christine's Ah-hahs To Tweet</u>:</span></b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Author
Christine Lindsay @CLindsayWriter has a warning for writers! (<a href="http://ctt.ec/kPU8d">Tweet This</a>)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Everyone’s
Story: Christine Lindsay @CLindsayWriter tells true scoop on her award-winning
fiction (<a href="http://ctt.ec/f1cb5">Tweet This</a>)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><b style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Christine
Lindsay @CLindsayWriter: What’s the 1 thing #writers & #readers need to
hold onto? (<a href="http://ctt.ec/aZD4n">Tweet This</a>)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
<span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span><br />
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></div>
<span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">
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<b style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span style="color: #783f04; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><u>Authors' Bio</u>:</span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Christine
Lindsay was born in Ireland, and is proud of the fact that she was once patted
on the head by Prince Philip when she was a baby. Her great grandfather, and
her grandfather—yes father and son—were both riveters on the building of the </span><i style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Titanic</i><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">.
Tongue in cheek, Christine states that as a family they accept no
responsibility for the sinking of that infamous ship.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Stories
of Christine’s ancestors who served in the British Cavalry in Colonial India
inspired her multi-award-winning, historical series Twilight of the British
Raj, Book 1 <i>Shadowed in Silk</i>, Book 2 <i>Captured by Moonlight</i>, and
newly released <i>Veiled at Midnight. </i>Christine has two new books coming out this year—<i>Sofi’s Bridge</i>,
and the non-fiction story of her birth-mother experience, title still to come.</span><b style="font-family: Verdana;"><o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12pt;"><b style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; orphans: 2; text-align: justify; widows: 2;"><span style="color: #783f04;"><u style="line-height: 20px; text-align: start;">Places to connect with Christine</u><span style="line-height: 20px; text-align: start;">:</span></span></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;"><a href="http://www.christinelindsay.com/">Website</a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;"><a href="https://twitter.com/CLindsayWriter">Twitter</a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/ChristineLindsayAuthor">Facebook</a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;"><a href="https://www.pinterest.com/clindsaywriter/">Pinterest</a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;"><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4767699.Christine_Lindsay">Goodreads</a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Christine-Lindsay/e/B0059XSTU6">Amazon</a></span></span></div>
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<b style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span style="color: #660000;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></b></div>
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Elaine Stockhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16349776598113016833noreply@blogger.com18tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8009438219696051817.post-2245298916190038362015-07-31T15:05:00.000-07:002015-07-31T15:21:49.100-07:00Writing Sisters: The Privilege Of Writing<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOJ97YxxcnX7bwHySl2Ff5DFrpAG044-2tCyCBErUN_r9MDZ5-1F45-p2w8OGmN0Q_MqKi-LLtW5Y7eM8GMq2btkvkelxtUhHIMzH3ctCls9_tPS6CHCgtqlPC2P-PE-woa_zlpgCWf_7w/s1600/Duffey%253AMyers300.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="214" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOJ97YxxcnX7bwHySl2Ff5DFrpAG044-2tCyCBErUN_r9MDZ5-1F45-p2w8OGmN0Q_MqKi-LLtW5Y7eM8GMq2btkvkelxtUhHIMzH3ctCls9_tPS6CHCgtqlPC2P-PE-woa_zlpgCWf_7w/s320/Duffey%253AMyers300.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b><span style="color: #660000;">Everyone's Story welcomes authors and sisters Betsy Duffey and Laurie Myers, who are perhaps known more commonly as the Writing Sisters. While Betsy and Laurie have touched my heart with the premise of their debut novel, of whether our lives actually matter and to whom, what I also admire is their love and respect for the power of story. I hope you enjoy the week with Betsy and Laurie. Please check out their BookGiveaway offer (and for an extra bonus point check out the special option at the end of this blog feature</span><span style="color: red;">**</span><span style="color: #660000;">) And, enjoy the gripping opening of THE SHEPHERD'S SONG. Betsy, Laurie, and I look forward to hearing from you!</span></b></span><br />
<span style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUkp_s1OhqhgEsBC6kPLOBSbM2aSKUGDL_EouI-JNluuay4hp5f9GVwWqZ8GHF3lyFMbvBiSHXGEzqmPHVmt4VXNifgwIR_lnl5e4HRNqdPpMlyq4vPkTdHqqrf-DsDURmpxMlnebkijBa/s1600/The+Shepherd%2527s+Song+-+cover+image.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUkp_s1OhqhgEsBC6kPLOBSbM2aSKUGDL_EouI-JNluuay4hp5f9GVwWqZ8GHF3lyFMbvBiSHXGEzqmPHVmt4VXNifgwIR_lnl5e4HRNqdPpMlyq4vPkTdHqqrf-DsDURmpxMlnebkijBa/s200/The+Shepherd%2527s+Song+-+cover+image.jpeg" width="125" /></a></div>
<b style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><u>BookGiveaway</u>:</span></b><br />
<div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;">
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<div style="font-weight: bold; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">From THE SHEPHERD'S SONG by Betsy Duffey and Laurie Myers</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 0.5in;">
Kate McConnell
opened her eyes. Where was she? There were bright lights above her. Movement.
The sound of a siren wailing.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 0.5in;">
She closed her
eyes and opened them again, hoping somehow this all would go away. It didn’t.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 0.5in;">
An ambulance.
She was in an ambulance.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 0.5in;">
What had
happened?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 0.5in;">
A man’s voice
called out behind her. “Female, age about forty-five, multiple injuries. BP:
ninety over sixty. Pulse: one-forty. Respirations: twenty-five, short and shallow.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 0.5in;">
Each bump and
jolt of the ambulance brought pain, crushing pain in her chest and stabs of
pain down her right leg. Kate tried to grab her chest, but her arms were strapped
down. She shivered uncontrollably. Her blue sweater and pants were covered in
something wet—gooey and wet. Blood. He was talking about her.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 0.5in;">
A brief memory
came—her car sliding on the slick road, the sound of breaking glass and
crunching metal. <i>A car accident. </i>Panic rose in her chest. She had been
in an accident.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 0.5in;">
The newspaper
would later say it was the worst traffic accident ever on that section of I-95
between Washington, D.C., and Baltimore—twenty-five cars, six semis, and one
bus. The temperature Thursday had been fifty-five degrees, a beautiful day.
Then, Friday, it fell to thirty-one, unusual for October. A sudden snowstorm dropped
more than two inches of snow in just ten minutes, creating whiteout conditions
that took everyone by surprise, including the drivers on I-95.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 0.5in;">
The voice
behind her continued its calm clinical assessment. “In and out of
consciousness. Possible head injuries.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 0.5in;">
“Help,” she
whispered. Each breath was raw. There wasn’t enough air. Dizziness swept over
her. She tried again. “Help.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 0.5in;">
“Hold on. Try
to stay awake.” A young man leaned over her, making eye contact. His voice was
calm, but she saw fear in his eyes.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 0.5in;">
She tried to
nod but couldn’t.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 0.5in;">
“Be still;
we’re on the way to the hospital.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 0.5in;">
Everything in
her wanted to fight free of the straps and the stretcher, but she couldn’t even
move her head. Pain radiated from her chest and leg.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 0.5in;">
The voice began
again. “Bleeding profusely from a gash in right leg—looks like an open
fracture. Possible internal injuries.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 0.5in;">
For a few
seconds there was silence, the only sound the hum of tires on the road.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 0.5in;">
“Will do. We’ll
be there in five to eight minutes, depending on traffic.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 0.5in;">
What had
happened? Kate remembered her morning, speeding from one activity to the next,
pushing her old station wagon to the point where it shook. An early-morning run
to the grocery store, then back home, then a twenty-mile drive to deliver
dinner to a friend who was recuperating from surgery, then a stop to drop off
the dry cleaning, then five more things on her to-do list. Then the snow had
started.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 0.5in;">
The cleaner’s.
She had been trying to get back to the dry cleaner’s, but for what?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 0.5in;">
She felt a hand
on her forehead, and she opened her eyes. The young man’s face came into view
again. His nervous eyes studied her.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 0.5in;">
“What’s your
name?”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 0.5in;">
She tried to
focus. Her name?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 0.5in;">
“Kate . . .
McConnell.” She gasped out each word.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 0.5in;">
“Your birthday?”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 0.5in;">
She tried to
come up with the answer, but it was too confusing. Tears welled up.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 0.5in;">
“It’s all
right. Just stay with me.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 0.5in;">
“What hap—?”
She wanted to finish the sentence but could not.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 0.5in;">
“You were in a
car accident on the interstate.” He held her arm, feeling for a pulse. “There
was a pile-up. It’s a mess out there.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 0.5in;">
Her mouth
opened and closed with a question unasked. She wanted to say the words, but
nothing came out.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 0.5in;">
“Matt,” she
finally gasped out the name of her son. “John.” Her husband.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 0.5in;">
“No one was
with you in the car. Just rest and stay calm. We’ve got you.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 0.5in;">
She could feel
the sway of the ambulance as it passed other cars. The voice faded in and out.
She closed her eyes. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 0.5in;">
A new thought
came. She might die. Would it be like this, the end? So fast? With so much
undone?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 0.5in;">
Kate’s mind
drifted back and forth, weaving in and out of the events of the past week.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 0.5in;">
“I don’t think
my life matters,” she had told a friend. “I’ve been a Christian for almost
twenty-five years, and I haven’t accomplished anything. I can’t point to one
single person that I’ve had an impact on, even in my own family.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 0.5in;">
“Of course you
have. You serve on the church worship committee, you deliver meals every week
to people in need, and you’re always writing down scriptures for people.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 0.5in;">
“But are those
the important things?” Kate had asked. “Do those things matter?”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 0.5in;">
John. He
mattered. And Matt.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 0.5in;">
“Oh, Mom,” she
could hear Matt say. “You don’t believe all that stuff.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 0.5in;">
Matt, who had
drifted away from faith when he’d started college, now refused to go to church
at all. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 0.5in;">
She couldn’t
get through to him.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 0.5in;">
Was she really
dying?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 0.5in;">
Someone lifted
her eyelid. It was the young man. He looked closely into her eye, as if he was
examining her soul.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 0.5in;">
“Stay with me
now.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 0.5in;">
She felt the
ambulance sway, then the jolt of a sharp turn.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 0.5in;">
“Help,” Kate
gasped again as pain stabbed through her side.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 0.5in;">
“Stay with me.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 0.5in;">
A wave of
dizziness. Then nothing.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
John McConnell hovered over the
documents on his desk, every ounce of attention focused on the case before him.
Behind him shelves and shelves of legal books reached to the ceiling.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 0.5in;">
“Mr. McConnell.
A phone call, line three.” His secretary spoke from the doorway.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 0.5in;">
“I said to hold
all calls.” He continued scanning the document.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 0.5in;">
“I know, but .
. .”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 0.5in;">
“I am well
aware that we all need to get out of here.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 0.5in;">
From his
twelfth-floor office he had been watching the snow fall. Two inches piled up on
his windowsill, and reports of accidents had begun popping up on the Internet.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 0.5in;">
“Did you finish
those edits on the Johnson case?” he asked.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 0.5in;">
He tried to refocus
his attention on the work before him. It was complicated, and now his
concentration was broken.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 0.5in;">
“It’s the
hospital.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 0.5in;">
He looked up.
Her pale face and wide eyes shattered his calm. A ripple of fear grabbed his
stomach. Something terrible had happened. He knew it. He fumbled for a moment
with the receiver, then got it to his mouth with shaking hands.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 0.5in;">
“This is John
McConnell.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 0.5in;">
“This is
Metropolitan Medical Center. We have an emergency vehicle on the way.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 0.5in;">
“Is he all
right?” John’s voice went up in pitch. His mind was filled with thoughts of
Matt. His son was an inexperienced driver, and in this snow . . .</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 0.5in;">
“Mr. McConnell,
it’s your wife.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 0.5in;">
“My wife?”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 0.5in;">
“Yes, Kate
McConnell. She’s been in an accident. She’s being transported here.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 0.5in;">
“How is she?
What happened?” A million questions flooded his mind. He could see Kate as he’d
left her that morning, loading the old station wagon with the dry cleaning,
recycling, and meals for friends.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 0.5in;">
“Hey, you’re
not taking <i>all </i>of those, are you?” he had said when he saw her carry out
the chocolate cupcakes.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 0.5in;">
Kate had
smiled, dimples showing. “I saved a few for you.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 0.5in;">
He touched the
note that he had found this morning in his briefcase. <i>Do not be anxious
about anything. </i>Her neat handwriting stood out from the crisp white of the paper.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 0.5in;">
Kate was a
bundle of energy and a bundle of life. How could she be hurt?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 0.5in;">
“Mr. McConnell?
Are you there?”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 0.5in;">
“Yes.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 0.5in;">
“We don’t have
the details, but please come as soon as you can.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 0.5in;">
“I’m on my
way.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 0.5in;">
Leaving the
file on his desk unfinished, John McConnell ran for the elevator.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
Matt was in class when he felt
his phone vibrate. He considered ignoring it. He was really engrossed in this
lecture. The only other thing that could possibly interest him would be the
weekend’s plans. It was Friday, and he was not yet sure what the next few days
looked like. Maybe Joe had gotten tickets for the Rusty Bucket concert. Matt slipped
the phone out of his pocket.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<i>Emergency.
Call me.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 0.5in;">
A
text from his dad. That was unusual. His dad hardly ever called him, much less
texted. Something must have happened. Matt was glad he’d sat in the back. He
left his books open on the desk and slipped out into the hall. Did they find
the empty beer bottles under the deck? He pressed call. Was he going to have to
listen to his father’s lecture about drinking and all the legal ramifications?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 0.5in;">
“Dad?”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 0.5in;">
Matt steeled
himself for the lecture.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 0.5in;">
“It’s your
mother, Matt. She’s been in an accident. She’s on her way to Metropolitan in an
ambulance.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 0.5in;">
Suddenly
everything dissolved away: the hall, the classroom, the lecture that he’d been
so into. They were gone, and the words coming from his phone were everything.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 0.5in;">
“Not Mom.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 0.5in;">
He couldn’t
take it in.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 0.5in;">
“Son, it’s
true. I don’t know her condition. Come to the hospital as soon as you can. I’m
on my way there now.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 0.5in;">
Matt couldn’t
speak.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 0.5in;">
“Matt? Are you
there?” He heard the concern in his father’s voice.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 0.5in;">
“Yeah.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 0.5in;">
“You okay to
drive?”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 0.5in;">
“Yeah, Dad.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 0.5in;">
The phone went
dead.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 0.5in;">
Matt stood
frozen in place. It couldn’t be his mother. She was the strongest person he
knew. He had seen her handle difficult situations with ease, and handle several
at once. “Mega-Mom,” that’s what his friends called her. One tiny blond woman,
totally in control. He couldn’t imagine Mega-Mom in an ambulance. It must be
someone else. Someone borrowed her car. Something like that.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 0.5in;">
He waited for
his phone to buzz again, for his dad to call him back and say that it was all a
big mistake. What if it wasn’t a mistake? No, he couldn’t think that. He had to
keep it together. He had to get to the hospital.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
A blast of cold air hit Kate’s
face as the ambulance doors opened, jarring her awake. She could hear voices. It
came back to her in a rush. The accident. She’d been in an accident. She opened
her eyes to movement. People were reaching into the small space around her, all
talking at once.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 0.5in;">
“Kate
McConnell, trauma patient.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 0.5in;">
“Got it. Ready.
Lift.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 0.5in;">
She felt a jar
as the stretcher was pulled forward, then lights and swirls of snow. The wheels
hit the ground, and they were inside within seconds. Masked faces in white and
green hovered over her. Gloved hands touched her.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 0.5in;">
Two
blue eyes looked down at her over a white hospital mask.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 0.5in;">
“I’m
Dr. Belding,” a calm voice said. “I’m taking care of you.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 0.5in;">
The
white lab coat was comforting. His white hair spoke of experience. He was in
control. No fear in his eyes.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 0.5in;">
“We
are going to fight together,” he said. “Stay with me.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 0.5in;">
The
face turned, and the voice changed to business.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 0.5in;">
“What
IV access do we have?”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 0.5in;">
The
paramedic was writing on a clipboard. He answered without looking up. “Eighteen
gauge in the right and left arms, both running well.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 0.5in;">
Dr.
Belding grabbed the end of the stretcher and started pushing. “Let’s get her to
the trauma room and get her intubated.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 0.5in;">
They
moved quickly down a long green hall. They rounded a corner, and the motion stopped
for a second like a turning of the tide, then all ahead again, into a spotless
room with gleaming metal machines and bins of white sterile packages.
Mechanical noises came from all directions, beeping and whirring. The gloved
hands moved over her, loosening the straps and cutting away her sweater and
pants.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 0.5in;">
“What’s
the blood pressure?”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 0.5in;">
“Seventy
over fifty. And decreased breath sounds on the left.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 0.5in;">
“Open
up those IVs.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 0.5in;">
Kate
could not seem to grasp what was happening to her.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 0.5in;">
“Can
you hear me?” Dr. Belding’s voice reached into her confusion.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 0.5in;">
“Can
you hear me?” Louder this time. “Give me a thumbs-up.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 0.5in;">
Kate
wanted to lift her thumb, but the slightest movement seemed impossible. She
concentrated. She fought with all the determination she could muster. Her thumb
went up slightly.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 0.5in;">
“Good.
Let’s get some antibiotics on board, and some morphine, too.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 0.5in;">
Kate’s
body was not her own. She felt someone open her mouth and put a tube down her
throat. <i>No. No. I’m here</i>, she wanted to say. <i>I’m still in here</i>.
She was helpless as chaos swirled around her. In the midst of it all, one
kernel of peace came to her. <i>The Lord is my shepherd</i>.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 0.5in;">
Of
course. The twenty-third psalm. That’s why she had been going back to the dry
cleaner’s. The psalm had been left in Matt’s coat pocket.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 0.5in;">
A
memory came—a vivid picture of herself sitting at the kitchen table, carefully
copying Psalm 23 onto a clean white piece of paper. She was writing as neatly
and clearly as she could, praying over each phrase. Then she was folding the
paper into a square and putting it in the pocket of Matt’s wool peacoat. She
had imagined him finding it and reading it. How could he not be moved by the
promises it held and the clear picture of God as his shepherd?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 0.5in;">
Instead,
anger.</div>
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How
long would she have to fight with him? And why didn’t John help her with the
fight? </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 0.5in;">
Now
this.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 0.5in;">
Dr.
Belding’s blue eyes came into view.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 0.5in;">
“You
can rest now,” he said. “We’ll take care of everything.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 0.5in;">
Wait.
Who was telling her to rest? She was confused. Did God want her to rest? No. No
rest. She had so much to do. She had to get up and get out of here. Her work was
not done.</div>
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<i>Not
yet, God</i>, she prayed. <i>Please, not yet.</i></div>
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<br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Verdana;">Sharing
Your Story</span></b><span style="font-family: Verdana;"> by <span style="color: #1a1a1a;">Betsy Duffey and Laurie Myers</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana;">We
love the name of Elaine’s blog, Everyone’s Story. It reminded us of the
Frederick Buechner quote "The story of any one of us is in some measure
the story of us all."<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana;">That’s
our favorite thing about writing – telling stories that inspire people to
understand their own story and their place in the bigger story of God’s love
for us. We wrote The Shepherd’s Song about the 23<sup>rd</sup> Psalm. It’s an
overarching story of one woman’s struggle for significance but also contains
twelve stories of individuals touched and changed by Psalm 23.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana;">The
best part of writing the book – better than the amazing way we found our agent
and publisher – better than writing together as sisters - has been hearing
stories from our readers. It seems that the 23<sup>rd</sup> Psalm written so
long ago by David is still relevant and still connecting people to their
Shepherd. Now that’s good writing!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjx5YMMgUk60_ORmfgHXBzmODVsXbS6nCG7EV4LGlUptEMMrQAxGfCaJUxnbYgcoMCDLDVGv6csdvSz8pKQtWSnS4VNuTezVwi_kZ0qpr9VHDSzgQ3_HHokMf0rIC-ajcCYwQh9FGi37puU/s1600/WritingSisterQuote.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjx5YMMgUk60_ORmfgHXBzmODVsXbS6nCG7EV4LGlUptEMMrQAxGfCaJUxnbYgcoMCDLDVGv6csdvSz8pKQtWSnS4VNuTezVwi_kZ0qpr9VHDSzgQ3_HHokMf0rIC-ajcCYwQh9FGi37puU/s400/WritingSisterQuote.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana;"><br /></span></div>
<!--EndFragment--></div>
<div style="background-color: white; orphans: auto; text-align: start; widows: auto;">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: none;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana;">After
the book was released we waited. Would anyone read it? Then emails began to
come in. We heard from an atheist in India who discovered that God was real and
could be trusted. We heard from women in a prison in South Carolina who found
hope in the stories of second chances. We heard stories from women overcoming
cancer, struggling with marriages, wondering if their lives mattered. We were
blessed by our readers and their stories.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: none;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana;">What
a great privilege it is to write.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Stories connect us and are universal. In the spring The Shepherd’s Song
was published in Bulgarian. Next month it will be published in German. In the
beginning of the book is a verse from Isaiah 55:11</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> “<span style="color: #010f18; font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "MS 明朝";">so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not
return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose
for which I sent it.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: none;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: none;">
<span style="color: #010f18; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "MS 明朝";"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">What
an amazing promise from God to writers.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #010f18; font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "MS 明朝";"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Thanks,
Elaine for having us on the blog today. We would love to hear stories from your
readers. Does anyone have a story to share?</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: none;">
<span style="color: #010f18; font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "MS 明朝";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: none;">
<b style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><u>Betsy and Laurie's Ah-hahs To Tweet</u>:</span></b><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: none;">
<span style="color: #262626; font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Everyone’s Story hosts
@WritingSisters</span>, </span><span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Verdana;">Betsy
Duffey & Laurie Myers. #BookGiveaway (<a href="http://ctt.ec/daw5T">Tweet
This</a>)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: none;">
<span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Verdana;">What’s the best part about writing? It’s not what you think! See
what </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #262626; font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">@WritingSisters say. (<a href="http://ctt.ec/Kbal3">Tweet This</a>)</span><span style="color: #262626;"> </span></span></div>
<b style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
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<span style="color: #262626; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Authors: Do you hope & expect to
hear from readers? @WritingSisters want to hear from you! (<a href="http://ctt.ec/K9WRP">Tweet This</a>)</span><span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Verdana;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: none;">
<b style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><u>Authors' Bio</u>:</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #1a1a1a;">The Writing Sisters, Betsy Duffey and
Laurie Myers were born into a writing family, and began critiquing manuscripts
at an early age for their mother, Newbery winner Betsy Byars. They went on to
become authors of more than thirty-five children’s novels. Their first book for
adults, </span>THE SHEPHERD’S SONG,<span style="color: #1a1a1a;"> was being released in paperback<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>April 2015. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">You can connect with Laurie and Betsy on <a href="http://eepurl.com/rKsjr">their monthly newsletter</a> where they send out
updates and their popular free devotional books.</span></div>
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<span style="color: red; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><b>**It's summer and time to have a bit of fun. Please take this month's new Poll on the right-hand sidebar on your summer reading pleasure. You'll earn an extra BookGiveaway point for the Writing Sister's offer if you take the poll and comment about it within your blog comment (and yes, I'm going on the honor-system). Thanks!</b></span><br />
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Elaine Stockhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16349776598113016833noreply@blogger.com29tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8009438219696051817.post-5011044952955212222015-07-24T13:19:00.000-07:002015-08-01T05:21:25.926-07:00Bruce Judisch: When A Novel Teaches A Lesson To Its Author<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuzY8a1NhrWv0KXH5-f_GkXMxUXtFAi4qmJJNVrTkf37Gyrbj390TfT-dgHUgHvffh_ZNKFWVBp8bh_j16xbKYPtTrXnVDJjazFLSfzhM5q6nznUu1Ok9c2rYK0-45R6pOAvFsSTHWblpF/s1600/Bruce.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuzY8a1NhrWv0KXH5-f_GkXMxUXtFAi4qmJJNVrTkf37Gyrbj390TfT-dgHUgHvffh_ZNKFWVBp8bh_j16xbKYPtTrXnVDJjazFLSfzhM5q6nznUu1Ok9c2rYK0-45R6pOAvFsSTHWblpF/s320/Bruce.JPG" width="213" /></a></div>
<span style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Everyone's Story gives a warm welcome to author Bruce Judisch. I confess that because of my own fascination of WW II, and that my author's theme centers around how people treat--or not--each other, that I have invited Bruce to guest on my blog. Yet, I also went "oooh" upon discovering Bruce because I know his novels also reflect on my viewers' interests. Bruce's contribution this week is eye-opening intriguing! Every time I read Bruce's last line of his message fresh tears of gratefulness fill my eyes. I hope you enjoy this feature. Please check out Bruce's wonderful BookGiveaway. Both Bruce and I look forward to hearing from you.</b></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMqdVXBH5SpC9QoYpPvYBWoEW0a9kUvmiMQtn7jozNVBytt2FZSbFeMF4hHnttjhd0Yw3O7-klzfbbZkDPXY-GfXx-83yVCH2Xt4PyNiF-ekNItwb9sxMnkDnfNx-mZKnYsea-ypJ8eSsD/s1600/Katia.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMqdVXBH5SpC9QoYpPvYBWoEW0a9kUvmiMQtn7jozNVBytt2FZSbFeMF4hHnttjhd0Yw3O7-klzfbbZkDPXY-GfXx-83yVCH2Xt4PyNiF-ekNItwb9sxMnkDnfNx-mZKnYsea-ypJ8eSsD/s1600/Katia.jpg" /></a></div>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2hv4vQO8A5vb3DJzTHjhzBR0VhjJ_LDvduXxffRnROnPlJ7YjTJE_OAIuz4gQHfQZ5E3sEn_v8f5b0Gol2fs1MfuysznCWojnZVG8xVqJIKiAGq_-jFUcaOsEYNkHGKmUaDoxF-vlI1KX/s1600/Maria+-+smaller.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2hv4vQO8A5vb3DJzTHjhzBR0VhjJ_LDvduXxffRnROnPlJ7YjTJE_OAIuz4gQHfQZ5E3sEn_v8f5b0Gol2fs1MfuysznCWojnZVG8xVqJIKiAGq_-jFUcaOsEYNkHGKmUaDoxF-vlI1KX/s1600/Maria+-+smaller.jpg" /></a><b style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><u>BookGiveaway</u>:</span></b><br />
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;">
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<span style="color: #660000;"><b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Bruce is generously offering a set of KATIA and FOR MARIA to 1 randomly chosen commenter.</span></b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><b> </b></span><b style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="orphans: auto; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: auto;">The winner will be announced here on Friday, July 31st between 5-6 PM EST. <u>To be entered in the Giveaway, </u></span><span style="orphans: auto; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: auto;"><u>please leave your contact information within your comment</u></span><span style="orphans: auto; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: auto;">.</span></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: red;"><b style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="orphans: auto; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: auto;"><br /></span></b></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12pt;">A Story within a Story</span></b><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12pt;"> by Bruce Judisch<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12pt;">I imagine few writers begin researching their next novel with the expectation that it will change their lives. I certainly didn’t. And yet…</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">“On
September 21<sup>st</sup>, 1941, the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Serpa
Pinto</i> sailed into New York’s harbor with 55 refugee children from
war-ravaged Europe. Together, Jews, non-Aryan Christians, and other
“undesirables” crowded the railing and gawked at the Statue of Liberty as the
ship maneuvered toward Ellis Island. Among them, Ania squatted and chattered
into the ears of Lilli-Anna and Kammbrie, two years old this day.” <o:p></o:p></span><span style="font-size: 12pt; text-align: right; text-indent: -24px;">–<span style="font-size: 7pt;"> </span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt; text-align: right; text-indent: -24px;">Excerpt from <i>For Maria</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Ania,
Lilli-Anna, and Kammbrie are fictional characters. The 55 refugee children are
not. Among them was a little boy named Oswald Kernberg</span>.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">First, let
me say that <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">For Maria</i> was both a joy
and a heartbreak to write. Research intensive and emotionally exhausting, there
were times during the one and a half years it took to produce the first draft
that I set the manuscript aside for a week or two just to regather my thoughts,
my wits, and my heart. Little did I realize where that research would lead me.</span><o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span>
<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8Af9bvCOd_D_0DnJ8z7zwkNfGC8k-Tl0YQs-lF5r4tJolgXyg0_D21-iBbBSzqFzqsPs90xm9bUOsLGAFCK4IW6nvu6jZgtbbrE9m9zZ4reGETRfv2KSEoS_sazbksDZ2QMpMrPk6lO-t/s1600/Art.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8Af9bvCOd_D_0DnJ8z7zwkNfGC8k-Tl0YQs-lF5r4tJolgXyg0_D21-iBbBSzqFzqsPs90xm9bUOsLGAFCK4IW6nvu6jZgtbbrE9m9zZ4reGETRfv2KSEoS_sazbksDZ2QMpMrPk6lO-t/s320/Art.jpg" width="206" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">During
that research, I encountered a gentleman who would become not only a friend,
but an inspiration. His name, Art Kern—his childhood name, Oswald Kernberg—now in
his 80s. He’s circled in the above photo. I soon discovered what Art and other
children of the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Kindertransport</i>
endured to be beyond imagination. At least my imagination. Yet, I have never
met a person more positive, joyful, and uplifting than Art Kern. Here’s his
story* in his own words, excerpted from an essay he wrote about his life, surprisingly
titled “Luck.”</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">
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<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">“I am 10 years old. I am sitting on the floor of our living room leafing
through my parents’ photograph album. My parents aren’t home. I am taking
photographs out of my parents’ photograph album … parents, brother, aunts,
uncles and cousins, and putting them in an envelope. I must hurry. I don’t want
my parents to see or know what I am doing … I know that I must leave my
parents’ home tomorrow evening.”</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Denied
immigration to England, the US, Paraguay, Uruguay, Cuba, China, and Palestine,
among other places, in final desperation, his parents applied through the Vienna
Jewish Community to get their two sons out of Austria. Art was chosen; his
brother was not. Over the next 2-3 years, Art lived in several children’s homes
in France run by the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Œuvre de Secours aux
Enfants</i> (French Children’s Aid Society), the OSE. His eventual journey to
the US would come in fits and starts.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">“In May of 1941, I am told that I have been chosen to go to the USA with
a children’s transport … I am overjoyed … and it somewhat compensated for the
fact that I had just found out my parents and brother had been deported from
Vienna to Poland.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">The end
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">“I arrive in the United States and a whole new world opens up for me. I
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graduate in 1952.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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alumni. They dubbed him “The Librarian,” as he maintained records of their
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">“I have had a wonderful life; however, it took more than a village to
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<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">When I
have “bad days”—difficulties at work, rush-hour traffic snarls, a favorite TV
show cancelled—and I start to gripe, I remember Art. My thoughts turn toward my
children and grandchildren, all alive and thriving. I relax in a peaceful home
that has never been ripped away from me by black-shirted men in jackboots, p<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=8009438219696051817" name="_GoBack"></a>ractice my faith without being beaten or worse. And I resolve
to live the life God saved me to live.</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinvnYPt88sZLU0dPkSiROIRx3mmoQSgYzGKly4me4s5ogj6iq53RjEzBGDhoiN7V6Gh9PGx-SBBP3IDhOGyE3XfZdhLFGo9YHr06Ylwy8ZvcVXRqiXQ4EhEJkhDdhgx5C_f160Td8wfYg9/s1600/LLWWII.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinvnYPt88sZLU0dPkSiROIRx3mmoQSgYzGKly4me4s5ogj6iq53RjEzBGDhoiN7V6Gh9PGx-SBBP3IDhOGyE3XfZdhLFGo9YHr06Ylwy8ZvcVXRqiXQ4EhEJkhDdhgx5C_f160Td8wfYg9/s200/LLWWII.jpg" width="131" /></a></div>
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<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">*Blog note: Bruce Judisch has been granted by Art Kern, and encouraged by Art Kern, to quote his personal story.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><b style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; orphans: 2; text-align: start; widows: 2;"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><u><br /></u></span></b></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><b style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; orphans: 2; text-align: start; widows: 2;"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><u>Bruce's Ah-hahs To Tweet</u>:</span></b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Why does
author @BruceJudisch make me weep #grateful tears when I read his blog feature?
(<a href="http://ctt.ec/tberz">Tweet This</a>)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Everyone’s
Story: @BruceJudisch on when a novel teaches a lesson to its author
#BookGiveaway (<a href="http://ctt.ec/V9wUi">Tweet This</a>)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">#BookGiveaway
of #WWII & post WWII novels by @BruceJudisch (<a href="http://ctt.ec/9Odd5">Tweet
This</a>)</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<br /></div>
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<b style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;"><span style="color: #660000;"><u>Author's Bio</u>:</span></b></div>
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<!--StartFragment--><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Bruce Judisch lives in Universal City,
TX, with his wife of 42.5 years (high school sweetheart), Jeannie. They have 3
children and 14 grandchildren. Bruce has published four novels (not including the
Barbour collection), and has a fifth manuscript finished (<i>Quimby Pond</i>,
a romantic mystery set in NW Maine). His website contains synopses of each book by clicking the book cover.</span></span></div>
<div style="orphans: 2; text-align: start; widows: 2;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div style="orphans: 2; text-align: start; widows: 2;">
<b style="color: #4c1130; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;"><u style="line-height: 20px; text-align: start;">Places to connect with Bruce</u><span style="line-height: 20px; text-align: start;">:</span></b></div>
<div style="orphans: 2; text-align: start; widows: 2;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;"><a href="http://www.brucejudisch.com/">Website</a></span></span></div>
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Elaine Stockhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16349776598113016833noreply@blogger.com25