Thanks Be To God

Happy Thanksgiving everyone. Have a blessed weekend!

Broken Trust

Broken Trust is an inquiry to God about what to do when someone hurts us. I had a real rough period where I grappled with that question.

We have added a very exciting feature to the website! You can now sign up to receive newsletters from me about new poems, new features on the website, or any other exciting news about the poetry. And no worries about spam. You'll only get the periodic newsletters I send out.

My pastor sent me an e-mail the other day about a writing contest through our church's affiliated denomination. I have to tell you I am absolutely terrified about the thought of any of my poetry being "judged" for anything. Prayer would be appreciated while I consider what to submit. The deadline is December 31st.

Finally, I've been very pleased with the response to the new posting schedule via Twitter and Facebook. Thank you all for your support!

God bless and have a GREAT weekend!

Lost (John 14:6)

I don't really know how to introduce this poem. My husband told me it was the best thing I had ever written when I showed it to him. I can't even tell you how I wrote it, because honestly, I didn't. God took ahold of my pencil that night and guided my hand through every word. I've had a feeling of His presence when I was writing before, but never like this. God had His way with me. Mark Hall from Casting Crowns said once that he was writing songs he wasn't good enough to write, and now I know what he meant. These words aren't mine. They are His.

Speaking of Casting Crowns, their new album, Until the Whole World Hears, comes out in about a week. I won't push products here very often, but this album ... it is amazing. You can preview the whole thing at Yahoo Music right now and I would highly recommend that. I can tell you that this album will inspire many poems in the future, particularly 'At Your Feet' and 'Blessed Redeemer'.

Have a wonderful rest of your week and may God bless you all.

The Time Has Come

It is time to get back on track!

I am back and (hopefully) better than ever with clarity and a simple plan. I am going to be posting to my Twitter account every weekday. At least one of those will be for a brand new poem. The rest will be archived poems that you may or may not have seen before.

I won't be perfect. I'll miss a day here and there. But I will do my best. And that is all that counts.

So, without waiting another second, here we go! Cursed is up on the website for you to read.

Also, coming soon will be an e-mail list you can sign up for to receive notification when new poems go up, and a monthly review of blog posts and poems in case you missed something. Making prints of poems available to buy as well as a year-end anthology are in the planning stages.

I hope that you enjoy the poetry, and as always, God bless everyone!

Long Time, No See

It's been two weeks since I posted a new poem and a week and a half since I posted to the Twitter account. I've been sick the past few days, but that's not the reason I've been absent. I could blame it on being busy or any number of others things, but I won't. It's not a lack of poems or ideas for poems. No, it's simpler than that.

God told me to slow down.

I had been getting the feeling I was simply going through the motions with my poetry. Write, post, blog, write, post, blog, and so on. God confirmed this for me during one of the recent meditation sessions my husband and I have been doing. I needed to regain my focus and passion for what I was doing. I was no longer doing it for Him, but just to be doing it. There was no longer any grace on it and it was not succeeding.

So, I'm rethinking all the planning I've done (and frankly I should have known better than to plan months ahead) to see what exactly He wants for this ministry. And in His time I will return to it. That maybe tomorrow. That maybe six months from now. I suspect it will be sooner than later, but only He knows.

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Psalm 5:3 (NIV)

³ In the morning, O LORD, you hear my voice;
in the morning I lay my requests before you
and wait in expectation.

Angels on Earth

New poem up on the website called Angels on Earth.

Have you ever had a week where you just feel one step behind? That's me this week. I didn't get curriculum done until Monday morning. I woke up this morning with tasks to finish, but could not get organized for anything. I have not been able to write in a couple weeks now just because of my schedule and how tired I've been.

I pray that your week is going better than mine! God bless everyone!

Back in the Saddle

Well, here I am! I'm hoping that you missed me.

Last week was absolutely crazy as I prepared to sponsor my brother for an Emmaus Walk, and my husband got ready to work at the same. Anyone who has been to a Walk knows how fun it must be to juggle three kids and the responsibility of being a sponsor. I don't know what I would have done without my mother-in-law and my pastor and his wife.

Anyway, I am back and this time with two new poems to make up for the lack of one last week. The first is called Let Go and is about releasing your hold on anger and frustrations that come up in life.

The second is called The Gray, and was inspired by a message our pastor gave recently. The poem talks about those areas of life that aren't black and white.

I'm hoping the normal schedule will resume now, so keep checking back for new stuff. Have a great week and God bless!