I am a promise...I am a possibility

I am a promise with a capital P. I am a great big bundle of (no comments please) potentiality!!!! Remember this song? Every child of every christian recording star had one song on their parents' album and this was always the song. As a child, God used this song to increase my level of hope. I didn't know about Jeremiah 29:11, where God spoke about a future and a hope. But my five year old heart soaked in this promise that I had potential. That I wasn't the sum of other people's expectations or lack of them. I always knew that God could take a seed of a dream and make it grow. He's done that in me over and over. I know I am nothing without Him. I know if I walk away from Him, the bubble of favor pops. :) But then, His favor is what I seek the most. All this to say...YOU are a promise...You are a possibility. You are are a promise with a capital P. You are a great big bundle of potentiality. You have a hope and a future. Love Lots!

I'm outta here!!

A week from tomorrow we are closing on our first house.
A wonderful home with four bedrooms, a gorgeous fireplace, 12 acres and a three stall horse barn where we will house the new Morgan horse we're buying my daughter.
Growing up, we never owned a house. I didn't realize how important it is to have a place of your own. I feel differently about this place when I drive past it (and we drive past it a LOT just to thank God for giving it to us!!!).

It's been a whirlwind of activity as we prepare to leave the house we've lived in for the past nine years. My youngest son turned 8 years old this year and I was pregnant when we moved in here. My kids barely remember living anywhere else.
We ordered one of those HUMONGOUS trash bins and have cleaned out our shed. Practually threw out everything in that shed. Found some precious things . Memories pictures. Those things of course I'm keeping. :) The kids have mixed feelings about things. They're happy to be moving, but sad too. So that's my news for this week. Writing during the day, packing at night.

New things

This year's conference will be all about New Beginnings. ACFW has gone through quite the changes this past year and we are showcasing many of those things. we're even doing some new things AT the conference that we've never done, including a semiformal awards banquet. Time to change things up a bit so people don't get too comfortable.

New beginnings seems to be the theme in my own life this year too. Surgery, weight loss, new experiences with publicity and releasing the CLAIRE series. I have a couple of other "new" things in the works too. And on the home front we're buying a house. Big scary change that I've been talking about for over a year. We just took the plunge recently.
Today I started getting really overwhelmed with all the those things. So much to accomplish. So many people depending on me. I started panicking and questioning God if I am really capable of handling everything on my plate. But I realized that I am constantly LOOKING for something new. You see, you have not because you ask not. God knows I am a mover and I get bored REALLY easily. Sometimes he makes me sit back, but usually He'll put as much on my plate as I can handle.

How about you? What are you doing to shake things up in your world?

Behold I do a NEW thing. Now it Shall Spring forth.
Is. 43

A new book

Today I knuckle down and start writing THE FREEDOM OF THE SOUL in earnest. I've been working on it in snatches over the last few weeks as I can, but not just to sit down and concentrate on it. I know these characters so well, it's been a frustrating thing not to be able to dive in. I will explore true freedom in this book. Paul said, (and I paraphrase) You might be able to lock me up, but you can't chain up the Word of God" A life in Christ is freedom no matter what the circumstances of life, nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus. For those of you who loved The Color of the Soul, I hope you'll love this one too. It will release in November.

Starbucks and Karen Kingsbury

I had a moment today in Starbucks. Spent three hours editing Claire 3. When I was about done I overheard this sweet little old lady a couple of tables away say, "Now, Where can I find the Karen Kingsbury books?"
I wanted to go to her and say, "Oh, I know her. I'm a writer too. have you read my books?"
But of course I didn't. But it made me think: How important is it for me to make a name for myself. I don't have the answer yet. Because quite frankly, I did end up going back to the Christian fiction section a few minutes later to see if she was there (under the guise of looking for Kristin Billerbeck's new Spa Girls) and if I could worm my way into a conversation.... Yes, I'm prideful and want to push myself forward so many times. I am not who I will become.

A work in progress...
Jesus, the author of every page of my life. I've been rewriting Claire 3. Changing Claire, making her not so rough around the edges. Rewriting her the way God is rewriting me.
Ahhh I hope we both turn out well and bring Him glory

Love lots
T

Okay...I'll confess

I've kept you in the dark long enough. remember the surgery I mentioned having? Well, it was Gastric bypass as I'm sure some of you have figured out.
So ACFWers, you'll see a lot less of me at this year's conference!!!

Sometimes in order to fix a problem, you have to do something drastic. For me that was surgery. I'm forced to take matters in hand. It's not always easy, but God is walking me through each step and I'm loving the journey.

In writing news, I'm editing away on my third Claire book. I'm working with the reknown Anne Goldsmith for the very first time. Many of you already know she moved from Tyndale to Warner Faith. My gain in so many ways. Although I think the jury's still out for her as to whether or not to hug me or strangle me. :) If you hear gurgling sounds from me, you know I pushed her too far. seriously. She's stretching me to be a better writer. While that isn't always comfortable, it will pay off in the long run. If she doesn't give me the boot first.

I'm working away on publicity for the CLAIRE series. Warner got me the greatest publicist known to mankind (although she's a bit naggy when I don't blog for a month--hee hee). I'm doing radio interviews and learning to be more natural, I hope. I'm always afraid I sound insincere. Don't you hate the sound of your own recorded voice? UGH. But it's part of the job that praise God, He has allowed me. Claire is touching lives through humor and plain honesty and I'm blessed every time someone sends me a letter conveying how God has touched them. This is what's it's all about.

This week my pastor spoke about Rebounding. He's a huge basketball nut so he had a goal brought in and sank a few before talking about how people in the Bible bounced back from adversity. Moses was a murderer, and yet God used him to save His people, Ruth lost her husband, but God gave her a kinsman redeemer, and the all time rebounding champion (no, not Dennis Rodman) JOB!
Do you feel like you've failed? There are always second and third and fourth and however many you need changes in God.

Claire was a divorcee with a crummy relationship with her kids...for those of you who haven't read it...pick up a copy too see how she rebounded! :) Oooh shameless plug.

Until my publicist can shame me into blogging again,
God BLESS you!!
Tracey