Isaiah 41:13 For I, the Lord your God, hold your right hand; it is I who say to you, “Fear not, I am the one who helps you.”
Happy New Year’s Eve, friends! I’m sitting here sipping on a cup of peppermint mocha tea by the soft light of the Christmas tree with my laptop on the top of my lap. I really can’t believe I am writing tonight after the week I’ve had, but here I sit with words to share.
As y’all know, my fourth book is currently in publishing. A few weeks ago, I received an email from the publisher with quite a few edits that I needed to make. I am using a different publishing company this time around, and these people are “by the book.” The corrections seemed daunting at first glance. There was so much to do, and in fact, it was almost enough to make me want to throw my hands up in the air and quit. But…I’m NO quitter! However, although I’m not a quitter, there was much work to be done. I still work full-time as a nurse practitioner. I am a wife, mother, grandmother, farmer, and heavily involved in my church. How in the world would I find the time to make the corrections? I was overwhelmed. Not only did I have a whole lot of editing to do to my book, it was December. It was the best, but busiest time of the year! We had parties, candy making, friend gatherings, and so much more going on. When would I possibly find the time? The book is a 365 day devotional written over the span of a year. I knew the editing would take a long while. I was a little exasperated.
But God! Oh, but God! If I haven’t mentioned lately, I work for an amazing company. We received a message stating that they didn’t want us to lose any of our paid time off, and only 40 hours would roll over to the next year. I messaged the bosses explaining that I was going to lose 34 hours, but I was okay with that. It was too late to request time off, so I was just going to let the hours go. The very next day, I received a call from one of my bosses informing me that the last week of December was covered and my schedule was blocked off. I was to take the vacation time the whole week after Christmas. This was an unexpected blessing for sure!
I started working on the edits on Tuesday. I was able to make all the recommended text corrections in a day and a half. But then, I had to change all of the scripture to a different translation. I chose one translation, but I didn’t realize that the copyright laws limited my use to no more than 500 words of that particular bible translation. I had to delete and then paste over 1000 scripture verses in a different translation. That took a bit of time. I worked on the editing for 12 hours a day for 4 days straight, but I finally finished. I pretty much used my entire vacation editing my book, but I’m not upset. I’m in awe!
Yes, I’m in awe. Before I even received the email with the needed edit, my good God, the creator of the Universe, the Most High, looked down at this old redneck gal from Mississippi and said, “I’ve already worked it out!” I’ll admit, I was a little bit stressed, a little distressed, and a little hard pressed not understanding how or when I would be able to complete the task at hand, but I didn’t need to be. I was able to see God’s hand working out the little details right before my eyes. He gave me the time I needed to do what needed to be done, and did I mention I got paid to do it? I completed the work while I was on paid time off from work.
I know the devil didn’t want me to publish this upcoming devotional book. He has thrown up some serious road blocks. That makes me think that the old devil doesn’t want this book in print, but guess what? I wrote that devotional to glorify God, and God wins every time!
(I’ve re-read about 700 pages of text from my book this week. Words are spinning all around inside this kinky haired head of mine. The photo is a picture of the mug my sister got me for Christmas. It’s fitting tonight!)
Blessings,
KK
Inspirations from the Funny Farm 