Attending the Women in Publishing Summit

I’m attending the writer’s summit on March 1-4. It’s online which really helps those of us that are chronically ill. I’ll have access to all the workshops through September. But I want to catch as many live workshops as possible.

They are having a quick, “slush fest” at the end of the summit where they will critique the first page of your book. They will do as many as they can. I sent in the first day of my coming devotional. I’m excited to see if and what they will say. I have about 17 devotions completed. Well, let’s call them first drafts which I will be tweaking later in the year.

If you are a woman in publishing, it’s not too late to join in.

Health Issue

What might keep me from participating as much as I want is that last week, my knee gave up on me. It’s painful to put any pressure on my right knee. I went to urgent care for temporary relief. And I have an appointment with my knee doctor on Wednesday. (Unfortunately, I will miss the major part of day one of the summit because of this.)

On Tuesday, I have an appointment with my shoulder doctor. I was planning to schedule my shoulder replacement surgery, but now we’ll have to see which one is most needed. Either way, I’ll be having major surgery sometime soon. THis may slow my writing progress.

Writing Challenges

1. Write every day in February. This is a blog challenge. I chose to work ahead on my studies of Saturdays for Selah. I’m doing an e-mail-only series where I write about one Psalm that uses a Selah in it. I created images that can be seen in my Facebook Group ~ I Heart God’s Word. Check them out by clicking on the button below.

2. Faith Writer’s Critique group. I join an online group where I can submit devotions for critique. They have a weekly challenge to write on an assigned homonym. One week, the homonyms were morning/mourning.

   This is just for fun so I will share it below…

In the Morning, I am Mourning

O Lord, How Long?

In the morning, O LORD, hear my voice. In the morning, I lay my requests in front of you, and I wait expectantly. Psalm 5:3 NIV

 The wretched spams in my back spread across my back as I turned on my side. It was a daily event. I preferred to remain in bed and not meet the day. But I must rise to tend to morning constitutions. I yearned for the days when I bounced out of bed and never took thought about basic, simple needs. I used to require no help to bathe, to brush my hair, or even to wipe my butt. Now, I painstakingly made each move with a desire to come back to my bed, even if it meant lying there flat on my back looking up to the ceiling.

Every morning, I cried out to God, “How long, O Lord, must I bear this pain? I cannot bear it anymore.” But mornings turned to days; days into weeks, and weeks into months as I called out to God, “Why would You allow this?”

Surely, King David lamented the same way many times. Before his kingship, King Saul tracked David down to kill him. And now, at the end of his life, His son, Absolom, was trying to overtake the kingdom. Oh! He must have grieved over the fact that his son would turn against him. His son perished in that battle. What a bittersweet situation; to have won the battle but lost his son.

We cannot always understand the whys in our lives. But God sees the whole picture. He knows what is best for us and if we allow God to move through the trials, we come out better in the end. God is right there as we lament. He holds us with His righteous hand. God remembers all our sorrows, pains, and grief. And in our pain and mourning, He trains us to draw close to Him and trust His ways.

My pain broke through the ceiling and God’s presence transcended into my bedroom as I lay there, flat on my back. He whispered to me in His tender way. “Trust me, child. I am here holding you in my arms. Keep your eyes on Me and we will walk through this trial together.” Twelve years have passed since those intensely agonizing days. He didn’t heal me wholly, but He has never left my side. He has been with me through every wretched pain.

The apostle, Paul said, His ways are beyond our understanding. His ways are consistently right. And when we turn to consider what we have been through, we will realize that He has accomplished amazing things. Things we wouldn’t otherwise believe. And we will shout, “God was here, and I didn’t even realize it.”

New International Version (NIV)

Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Have a great March!

Mandy Farmer