My 17 Birthday Gifts From God

 "Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows."  ... James 1:17

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Today is my birthday. 

And in the silence of the dark morning, I checked my email here in Tom's office all bleary-eyed (as I usually do) and oh. My. Goodness.

God left me the most perfect birthday present there.

No, seriously. 

So what was it, you ask? He sent me a first-time-ever email from amazon.com with listings of many free kindle books about writing and self-publishing. 

I chose seventeen. Yes, seventeen books about writing! All free for my free Kindle Cloud Reader.

Wow. Could there be more clear confirmation that He's chosen this time for me to finally write a book? 

No, there could not. God has made Himself quite clear and any future doubting on my part will be, well, sinfully pathetic.

When God asks us to do a thing, He provides every tool in which to complete it. I've written that for years here. Choose my own plans and they either come to nothingness or hold-my-head disaster, so why go there? Why waste time and ask for the trouble which comes while pursuing (what amounts to) pride?

Well, anyway, no matter what else happens these remaining hours of my birthday, I'll have this memory of these 17 presents from God. I will hold them close and treasure ... Him, He who guides me only when I stop insisting that I guide myself, leaving me with a life I could not have imagined, alone.

"Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him, and he will act."   ... Psalm 37:5

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Here's a sampling of those presents for you who may be curious:


Write (Inspirations for Writers) ... (I began reading this one first and am crazily highlighting whole paragraphs in yellow.)

Slow Your Prose: 25 Tips On How New Authors Can Improve their Craft

Telling Details, 2nd Edition

Four Seasons of Creative Writing: 1,000 Prompts To Stop Writer's Block


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Tom and I celebrated my birthday yesterday. True perfection. I enjoyed my supermarket trip out amongst the happy people of Buffalo, came home with some free groceries (thanks to couponing + sales) and started a delightful (surprising to me) conversation on a favorite local coupon Facebook page.

I fed the wild birds, we ordered-out for Chinese and watched lots of episodes of yet one more cool suspenseful crime show we discovered this week: Crossing Lines. (Tom remarked, "Isn't it great how we keep finding tv series we both really enjoy?") I'm thankful he is a noticer of the Good rather than the Bad.

The sun shone through the dining room windows and yellow and green glowed everywhere and Naomi called to wish me a happy birthday a day before (and she sent organic snacks arrived in the mail) and -- well, trust me. I'm one happy, grateful old lady. heh. :)