Wednesday, March 2, 2011

Faith, Hope and a Milestone

I've been busy writing away. And after a little more than a year, I finally accomplished something I have yet to do in my writing career - finish a novel!
I have several half done novels in my file cabinet, so you can imagine what a milestone this was for me. And even though I didn't finish on January 31, the date I had written in red on my calendar, I finished. It was February 18 to be exact, a Friday , and  the best Friday I've had in years.

Years ago, when I was a teen, I always looked forward to Fridays. You know - TGIF and all that stuff LOL. But when my cousin passed away ten years ago on the Friday after Thanksgiving (unexpectedly I might add), Fridays changed dramatically. For the first few years I would dread Fridays, fearing that something horrible would happen again. Much of this is connected to the anxiety that I have been dealing with for the last decade. Things have improved greatly over the last two years. How?

For one thing, I began to read the Bible. When the worrying and fretting got to be too much, I found relief in the fact that I could cast all my cares on Him. It was a wonderful thing to learn that I didn't have to carry my burden alone. Pretty soon I found that the support and strength I just couldn't seem to find anywhere else I could find there in the Bible. Slowly, the anxiety began to melt away and, though I do have those 'moments', I quickly remind myself of those promises He made to me and just 'get on with it', as a popular commercial spouts.

The second thing that has helped me tremendously is also connected to the Bible and that is the inspiring weekly sermons of a Pastor named Joel Osteen. If you are reading this blog, there is a good chance you are familiar with him. In addition to a better understanding of the Bible, the good pastor has helped me change my mindset, something that has eased my anxiety and inspired me to reach further than ever before.

These uplifting sermons are filled with positive reinforcement and inspiration. Though there are those who have dismissed this pastor's ways as 'too feel good' or just an 'unrealistic pep talk', these weekly sermons remind me of how valuable I am to God, how important I am to God and that He is always there for me. I have learned how to stop the negative talk, the self defeating thoughts and, most importantly, how to replace them with positive and inspiring thoughts.Reaching this milestone of completing my novel on a Friday has helped me to change a negative mindset to a positive one, helping me to enjoy every day. In this day and age of worry, war and uncertainty, who couldn't use that?

And so this brings me back to my novel. I chose to write inspirational fiction because I wanted to give to my readers what the Bible has given to me - faith, hope, inspiration (note the title of this blog :D) and the belief that miracles happen every day. All it takes is some faith and hope....and with that I leave you with this scripture (one of my very favorites):

                           "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the
                  evidence of things not seen."  ~ Hebrews 11:1 KJV

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