Dear Reader,
When I count my blessings this
week, I will especially count you.
The things that happen here
continually surprise me―for example―a woman I’d never met, who came to me in
the past year through one of my Upper Room Devotions, decided she would read
all of my six hundred plus posts. Still
can’t believe it. When I last heard, she had made it through hundreds. (I’m
looking at you Mary). Humbling. In
addition, I can never forget the day an actor from NCIS, a show my husband
loves, commented on a blog I’d written about him. And the closest I ever got to
viral was when I wrote about a comment from a local university football coach. I have
no explanation for that.
When I look at my blog stats, I
know that in the context of the World Wide Web, they are miniscule, but God has
allowed me the opportunity to touch many, many lives through this corner of the
blogosphere that I otherwise would not have been able to reach. And I am truly
thankful.
To those of you who have read and
recommended my books, Give My Love to the
Chestnut Trees and Home to Currahee,
you are such a blessing. Because of you, I’ve been featured in magazines and
newspapers, invited to speak at numerous gatherings, and I get to do something
I really love. One of my favorite stories is about a man in his sixties, again,
that I’ve never met because if these
stories are about my relatives and close friends, well, not so much impact (Oh,
but I love you folks, too and thank you, thank you, thank you for not disowning
me through the years for my embarrassing faux pas). Anyway, this man sent me a
Facebook message that he read his first novel, and it was Give My Love to the
Chestnut Trees―a story about a fourteen-year-old girl. Go figure. “Thank you
for a great story,” he said.
No, thank you, friend, for a
great story.
That anyone would take the time
to read my scribbling is something that I do not take lightly. It is an
investment of your precious time, and I always want to mindful of that. These
peals of words that I write are intended to glorify God and bring hope to those
who read. Otherwise, I don’t know why I keep at it.
So, this Thanksgiving, I’m
especially offering gratitude for you folks who keep showing up here every
week, who read and who can believe it, reread my books. I love you and pray
that your Thanksgiving is blessed with a special sense of His presence this
year.
You are all, indeed, a blessing
to me.
“Thank God because He’s good. His
love never quits” (Psalm 118:1 The Message).
