BIG Goldeneyes Contest

It's official, and live on my website. Come on over and check out this awesome contest!

Mini Interview

My friend and fellow writer Shirley Kiger Connolly - author of Flame from Within - just posted a mini-interview with me on her blog. Come on over and check it out!

http://apenforyourthoughts.blogspot.com/

Tribute to Dottie Rambo

Dottie Rambo, Southern Gospel music legend, was killed in a tour bus accident on Mother’s Day.

I can’t even think “Dottie Rambo” and “dead” on the same brainwave. The horrible news of Dottie’s death delivered the same shock, the same almost physically “sucker-punched” reaction that I felt when Elvis died. It’s almost impossible to take in.

Talk about an instantly recognizable name and a well-loved personality! Even more than that…think of the enormous legacy this remarkable woman left behind. What an anointing she possessed…what a gift for music, which she used solely and completely to praise and worship God!

Dottie left a legacy of over 2,500 published songs! Even folks who aren’t a fan of Southern Gospel music have heard of “He Looked Beyond My Fault and Saw My Need.” It makes me glad that our God doesn’t compare His children amongst each other. Think about it…2,500 published songs. How many did she write that weren’t published? How many hours of every day must she have spent thinking about one more way to say, “I love you, Lord”? One more way to tell other Christians, “Don’t give up. You can make it. God is good—all the time, and He loves you.”

Oh, to be able to leave behind such a gift! To know, when your time comes to finally be with Jesus, that while you were on this earth you accomplished something worthwhile for the kingdom of God.

This woman did. She was only human, and I don’t put her on any superhuman pedestal. I’m sure she made mistakes, just like everyone else. She was bound to have had her moments of weakness and even doubt. But she kept on keeping on. She kept on singing God’s praises. She never stopped believing that God is God, and that ultimately, that’s all that matters.

A few of my favorites include:

He Looked Beyond My Fault
Sheltered in the Arms of God
Tears will Never Stain the Streets of that City
Courage to Try Once Again
If That Isn't Love
Come Spring

With a list of over 2,500 to choose from, I could obviously go on and on...and on.

She will never be forgotten! Her legacy lives on, and we will continue to sing her songs. We will worship God with her words, and we will remember the wonderful, talented, anointed woman who penned them.

It’s your turn to “behold Him,” Dottie! Fly away home…

Upcoming GOLDENEYES Contest Series

Stay tuned for an upcoming contest series - one truly great giveaway package per month, June through September - to be announced on my website on June 1. If you haven’t read Goldeneyes, now’s the time to do it! Knowing the characters and events in the storyline will greatly increase your chances of being entered into each month’s drawing.

A Fallen Woman

Hosea 14:1—O Israel, return unto the LORD thy God; for thou hast fallen by thine iniquity.

Deuteronomy 33:27—The eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms:


“I don’t how she can hold her head up. She’s a fallen woman, you know!”

A fallen woman. The term bears a certain shameful stigma. Spoken in whispers and behind closed door, it was once used to describe a girl who’d become pregnant out of wedlock—the ultimate disgrace for an erstwhile respectable young lady. Pride destroyed, spirit crushed, she was indeed a fallen woman. A pariah. An object of ridicule, to whom no respect was owed.

Oddly enough, reaching that level of disgrace often became the pivotal turning point in a young lady’s life—sometimes for the better, occasionally for the worse. With her shame revealed for the world to see, life changed drastically. Maybe she decided to clean up her act and never repeat the mistake that brought her to dishonor. Or perhaps the cruelty of high-minded human beings pushed her in the other direction, and she became a true woman of dishonor, laughing in the face of society, rushing headlong toward destruction.

When you stop to think about it, each of us in her own way has, at some point, reached that pivotal place in our lives, haven’t we?

As willful human beings, we often have to reach the lowest point possible before God can touch us. We have to fall so hard that we cannot get up on our own. I know I’ve been there, and since hindsight’s a perfect 20/20, it’s easy to see who picked me up when I fell that far.

I can’t deny it. Spiritually, I’ve been a fallen woman…but neither is there any doubt that when I fell, I fell into a grace so amazing it cannot be described! When I reached my lowest point, I landed in the arms of a loving, caring God. When I didn’t know which way to go, and hadn’t the strength to get there anyway, He picked me up and carried me until I could stand up on my own again.

What a joy to know that no matter how badly we’ve messed up, our heavenly Father still loves us! How reassuring that—even when we’ve shamed Him and disgraced ourselves—His care for us never wavers. When we’ve made mistakes too big and too embarrassing to share with any earthly friend, God already knows, and He forgives. When we’ve nowhere to turn but to Jesus…then we’ve fallen into His amazing grace, and found it sufficient.

Amazing grace. It’s all we need, now or ever.

Sweet heavenly Father, You are my safety net. Thank you for hiding my shame beneath Your blood. Help me to remember that Your arms bear me up when my own strength fails. Keep me humble, never forgetting that when I fell to my knees, when my shame drove me down, Your love bore me up, Your arms carried me. Your grace is sufficient for me , Lord. Thank you for Your unending forgiveness. Thank you for Your covering blood, which hides my sins and makes this fallen woman white as snow!

Win a HOUSE!

Write Essay - Win Alabama Home!

What do you think of small-town life? You have 500 words or less to tell the world...

Pix-N-Pens is pleased to announce a one-time only special ESSAY contest with the theme: “Small Town, U.S.A.” Deadline for entries is May 30, 2008.

Scoot on over to Pix-N-Pens for full information on how to win the Selma, Alabama house - and to see pictures of the prize.

How fun is THIS?????

GOOD LUCK!!!