New Beginnings and Established Blessings––Part I
I hope you had a very Happy New Year celebration. It’s always quiet at our house on New Year’s Eve. We do different things, watch a little television, maybe get on computer…it’s low key for my hubby and me. #newbeginnings2018 #amwriting #establishedblessings2018
I talked a bit about last year, and what a difference a year makes. I want to expand on that––especially if you are where I was emotionally a year ago. By taking a look back, I can move forward with great joy. I’ve been contemplating all this for weeks now…the difference a year makes. Click to Tweet
2016-2017
Even though the last five months of 2016 had not been the greatest for me––so many disappointments––I still didn’t want it to end. I didn’t want to enter 2017. All I could see was pain, and possibly more disappointments. I’d come to the end of myself once again (for I’ve done this numerous times over many years). All my dreams for my life were dashed yet again––as they had been before in my life.
The Fall of 2016 was a difficult time for me. I had a string of disappointments that started in August and didn’t stop until December. One thing after another. It doesn’t matter what they were anymore, but it was very difficult for me, a woman of faith, to continue to have faith when nothing was happening to my benefit. A part of me knew I was being tested, but when you’re in the middle of a test, it doesn’t always help to know that.
I cried all night of New Year’s Eve 2016. I felt like I had nothing to look forward to, and yet I knew that God could do anything. He just hadn’t. Again, all I could see for 2017 was pain. I didn’t know from what. It didn’t take long for that to start, either.
What I failed to realize was that every new year is a new beginning.
2018
A year ago, I was ready to throw my novel, Meghan’s Choice in the trash can. Unless I wanted to self-publish her, she would never be published. I didn’t want to do it myself. What a difference a year makes! On February 1st of 2017, I got the news that Meghan’s Choice, would finally be published. The literary agency I’m signed with was going to put me in a special Amazon program, and my novel would be published.
Meghan’s Choice is now out through Amazon, and I’ll be working hard this year (2018) to finish the second book, “Rose’s Redemption.”
So many wonderful things also happened on a personal level in 2017, that I know will continue this year. I found my biological family, and they have welcomed me with open arms. You’ve heard about some of that here in other blog posts. Because I write what’s going on.
I also connected again with my adoptive extended family––the family I grew up with. My amazing Aunt Donna turned ninety-five (95) last summer, and I re-connected with a cousin I hadn’t really known really well before, but we just “clicked” this time around.
So, I wish for you a very Happy New Year––full of new beginnings and established blessings, which we’ll get into more next time. The possibilities are endless. Click to Tweet #newbeginnings2018 #amwriting #establishedblessings2018
Donna L.H. Smith 