Well, here I am writing my Newsletter that is NOT long overdue!  Yeah!!!  I had hoped to write a Christmas one in December, but before I knew it Christmas was over and it’s mid January already!  2008 is off to a great start and we are looking forward to what God has in store for us!  We just returned from Marble Falls, TX (near Austin) where I spoke for a 3 day Ladies Retreat.  It was wonderful to start the year off with an early retreat.  My speaking schedule is starting out lighter this year.  At first this concerned me a little, until I remembered that My Donnie and some very close friends had been praying “hard” that this would be the year that I quit talking about writing a book and actually DO IT!  Last night I got a call from my dear friend Adrienne Belmont (photo below).  Her husband is the Pastor of Calvary Baptist Church in Concord, CA and I have spoken for their ladies retreat a couple of times.  It took Donnie and me only a short time after meeting this couple to realize that God had brought some amazing mentors into our life! True to fashion, Adrienne’s call was to check on us, encourage us, and find out what was happening with the ministry.  As I was filling her in, I mentioned getting serious about writing the book this year and to quit putting it off.  Adrienne gently said “You mean quit putting God off?”  Ouch, that one cut straight to the heart! But then Truth always does! Doesn’t it?  Thank you Adrienne, I love you!

Another thing that God has put on my heart for this year is to pay closer attention to those closest around me.  This is what I mean by that.  One day I was talking with Jesus about my desire to make my life all about making a difference for Him.  As I thought about all the speaking opportunities I have had and the thousands of people I have ministered to, I still felt an inadequacy in my spirit.  I asked the Lord, why with the platform You have given me, do I not feel adequate in my desire in leaving a legacy of sharing You?  Immediately what came to mind was my nephews and then my nieces and then my neighbors and etc.  God ministered to me to be careful not to lose sight of those right in front of me, as I go out to minister to others.  WOW, did that ever speak to me!  I think this is a good word for all of us who are in ministry, but also to those who might be out of balance in the other direction.  Some of you might be so focused on your inner circle of influence that you lose sight of those further out. Therefore in closing, I pray over you the prayer Paul prayed over the Colossians, “I ask the Lord to fill you with the knowledge of His will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding. And I pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please Him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to His glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and joy.”

Donnie and I had a wonderful white Christmas with my family as we all gathered at my nephew Everett’s house in Elizabeth, CO.  It snowed all day long, but not enough to keep my sister and brother-n-law’s plane from landing, PRAISE GOD!  We too encountered snow on our travels to Colorado, and that’s putting it mildly!!!  I know I have written about our dear friends the Golata’s.  They are a small family of six (ha!). There’s Paul & Dianna and their 4 adorable girls, Jordan, Jessie, Jaime and Joey.  Can you believe they did the “J” thing, I am always getting tongue tied or calling one the other’s name!  Anyway, the Golata’s are from Longmont, CO, so we decided to all pile in our suburban and make the trek to Colorado together.  We had the best time considering our encounter with snow was and a blizzard with whiteout conditions!  But with my professional driving instructor husband at the wheel, we had no worries.  Cars and trucks were sliding all over the place, running into each other and getting stuck, but not us!  We never stopped going and after everyone else bailed off the interstate to weather the storm out, we had the road to ourselves - just the way My Donnie likes it!  Fortunately the storm was traveling south and we going north, so within a few hours it was blue skies ahead!

After the first of the year we traveled to California to see Donnie’s family and the rest of mine that didn’t make it to Colorado.  This trip turned out to be one of our best trips back to California ever!  We were all over the place staying with different family members and friends and the best part was reuniting with our dear friends the Whipple’s and the Hale’s.  You know my heart is always to be very real with all of you even when it can be very humbling to do so.  But, it would be an injustice to not share the valuable lesson we learned from God about letting too much time go by without reaching out to those you once were so close to (photo left). God showed us that time in these situations is not on your side, it only makes it more and more difficult to reconcile.  Ohhh, but when you do reach out your hand to a sister or a brother in the Lord and it is received, the tears flow and, well, there’s an old song I learned many years ago that says it best:

In the Presence of Jehovah, God Almighty Prince of Peace, “Troubles vanish and hearts are mended in the presence of the King”  AMEN!