Last night was our Monday Night Bible Study. We filled up the room where it’s held, each one of us coming there from a different church denomination, different parts of the UK – and me – all the way from the US. Different accents, different backgrounds, different educational levels, different occupations and life experiences – and the same God, the same Jesus, the same Holy Spirit. We are one in the Spirit; a true family in God.

When you think about it, it proves the existence of God. How could all of us – especially me, having grown up some 3,000 miles away in another country – be one family? How could we praise God, read the Bible and share testimonies and prayers with the same belief structures and in one accord? Totally family. Totally God. Totally Jesus. Totally Holy Spirit.

There are several writers in our group, a fantastic musician, and at least one great artist. Every one of us brings special gifts and talents to the Lord. In one accord. Without God, it simply wouldn’t be possible. Even with God, it’s almost too awesome to believe. Yet, because God is, it is.

Praise Jesus!

God is in control. That gives me confidence for 2013. Not only is God in control, He is good. And He has been good to me today!

Amazingly, it was the same temperature here in Scotland today as it was in Bandera, Texas, and in Montgomery, Alabama! That made me feel so loved! Yes, it was cold – into the 30s, but other places have winter, too. The winter here is just a bit long – meaning it lasts all year.

But today was a lovely day to take Angel Joy for a ball-chasing run down the beach and back. It was a lovely day just to smile at folks and wish them Happy New Year. And that’s what I wish and pray for all the “Bridge/Miz Mike” fans: have a blessed and joyful New Year. A new Miz Mike, “Bridge Beyond Betrayal” should be out soon. I don’t have a release date yet, but I’ll keep you posted. Meanwhile, Alan has done all his preparation for next Sunday’s preaching and we’ve been out visiting folks…I think we get the next two days off! For Alan, that will probably mean finishing up book three of his time-travel, adventure “Scent” trilogy. For me, I’m hoping to get back to Miz Mike in Book Six of the “Bridge” series. I left her in a whole heap of trouble and I reckon she could do with a bit of rescuing!

God Bless, y’all! Happy, happy, joyful, blessed New Year!

Wish I could say that I’ve only had one moment of weakness. Sadly, it happens all too often. Today’s moment of weakness was one of the worst because it was a lack of faith in God. I lost one of my gloves on the beach while husband Alan and I were walking our rough collie Angel Joy. Three times I re-walked our path along the beach, unable to find the glove. Alan put his faith in God into action. He prayed. He asked Jesus to help find the glove. Me? I’m ashamed to say that I didn’t have enough faith. My attitude was, “you can pray but we won’t find the glove. We’ve already looked.”

Without faith, it is impossible to please God. I wasn’t pleasing to God today. The worst shame? He’s already answered my prayers and made all my dreams come true with the publication of “Bridge to Nowhere,” the first in a series of mystery-romance-suspense books set in Three Prongs, Texas, and featuring the lively, impulsive “Miz Mike.” And even more to my shame? About a week ago I actually stood in a parking lot in Inverness, Scotland, and prayed for Jesus to shrink my right foot so it would fit into the boot I was wearing. He did. He’s a big God, a mighty, miracle-working God. Since my right foot is bigger than my left, and since my American feet are too big for Scottish shoes, and since they don’t have half sizes here or my size…I had been greatly suffering with every pair of shoes or boots that I had bought over here. Today, I wore my Wellies for the first time since that prayer. It’s rained and snowed since I last wore the Wellies, but truthfully, I was afraid to wear them again because the hurt my right foot so dreadfully when I do. Today? Pain gone. Right foot fit…it even felt like it had a bit more room in it than the left foot! When Jesus does something, He does it right!

And yet…how did I repay the great and mighty and awesome Lord God Who had answered prayer and made my feet fit the shoes because the shoes wouldn’t fit the feet? I doubted that He could help find my glove.

Forgive me, LORD.

Now had I been on a stand in court today testifying, I would have confidently affirmed that I had written a new post on WordPress yesterday. I remember that I thought about putting a new picture on it, but decided to just write something. What? I don’t remember. That’s part of the mystery. The other part of the mystery is…where did it go? Because, it isn’t here!

Every day that God makes is a good day. He makes every day – so every day is good! Today was no exception. First we had a special “Back to Church” service in Avoch. Members of the congregation shared special hymns, songs and Scripture passages that were special to them and explained why they were so special. Then on to Rosemarkie. I know that as Alan’s wife, I might be a tad prejudiced. Still, the LORD had given him a brilliant message and he did an awesome job of preaching it. That was evidence of the LORD’s strength after all Alan’s been through the past few days with criticism of him for having written a really great time-travel, adventure book, The Scent of Time. The problem seems to be that people expect a pastor to write a dry, dusty study book that will decorate a few shelves for a few years until it gets chucked out because it’s outdated and no one wants it any more. Instead, Alan wrote an exciting, thrilling, heart-rending book that will make a great movie! So when the headlines proclaimed, “Pastor writes sexy book…” among other less tasteful headlines, Alan had a bit of a come-apart. Must say, his Amazon UK numbers are great and Amazon has sold out of paperback editions of The Scent of Time. So I guess the object here is, dare to go for your dreams. Dare to be a writer if that is your dream. Just makes sure that you can handle the pressure when your book suddenly takes off!

Now about me…not so good. It’s something that’s never happened to me before. I was supposed to do the children’s talk, which I love doing. I had my props, had my Scripture passage, had rehearsed the lesson. Then I looked out into the church and saw sparks of anger and hate flashing out of one person’s eyes – the one and only person to have launched a hate campaign against Alan over The Scent of Time, and I lost it. Yes, I gave the talk and I read from Luke, Chapter 2, but I could feel that I was trying to do it in my strength and not the LORD’s. It was like Peter when Jesus was walking on the water. Peter got out of the boat to go to Jesus and was walking on the water just fine until he took his eyes off Jesus and started looking at the storm. That was me today. I took my eyes off Jesus and looked at the storm.

So, friends, take heart. No matter what sparks of difficulty life throws at you, keep your eyes on Jesus. He will see you through. Even if you’re a writer!

Somewhere in cyber space, I have two blogs. This one and one on Blogger. Somewhere, I have Facebook, a Miz Mike Page for Facebook (Miz Mike is the main character in my Christian mystery-romance-suspense, released by Sunpenny Publishing) and Twitter. Only, I don’t think anyone reads the blogs because I think like me–they can’t find them! Someday I may get smart enough to figure out how to link everything together so folks will know the blogs are out there. But for now, I just wish I had God’s Overview. He could see the entire structure of cyber space all at one time and He would know where everything is. But it wouldn’t matter to Him. He is the first and the last, the beginning and the end…He doesn’t need computers or cyber space. But since I don’t have His overview…how I wish I could figure all this out!

We didn’t have computers when I was in school. I graduated from a high school in Georgia. We were the largest graduating class in the history of the school, 31 students, most of whom went on to college. No football team, just basketball. No track, we just ran around a dirt field jumping hurdles. After school we went home to help our parents with gardens, or farming or whatever was required of us. My family had a roadside zoo. So I went home to feed the lion.

Alan got raked over the coals by some folks in the church who thought The Scent of Time was too sexy. These were the mysterious, “some people.” No one seems to want to disclose the names of who these “some people” are. Curious, that. The Scent of Time is a brilliant, realistic story, well worth a read. It’s not too sexy, it’s too real: both exciting and moving. A great book written by a great guy! And this controversy will probably help it sell! Perhaps I need to stir up a “stooshie” to sell my book, Bridge to Nowhere!

We sometimes fear things that really can’t hurt us, or that if they do hurt us, inflict only momentary pain–not that anyone likes hurting! Some people are allergic to bee stings and have reason to be afraid of flying insects. But I’ve seen normal, healthy folks clear fences, barricade themselves behind closed doors and leap out of moving cars–to avoid getting stung by a bee. One bee. Don’t let the fear of one bee keep you out of the garden! Enjoy the gifts of life and beauty that God has given. The imagination of how much a bee sting will hurt is greater than the reality. Be like Miz Mike in Bridge to Nowhere: never let adventure pass you by unmolested–even if it means an occasional bee sting. And if that quote doesn’t make much sense now, order Bridge to Nowhere by Sunpenny Publishing and read the book! Happy gardening!