Thursday Thought Provoker
Thursday, January 6, 2011
23 Comments
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Romance with Humor, Hope, and Happily Ever Afters
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KayeDacus.com 
Going to ACFW changed me as a writer. My biggest learning experience was talking with editor Natalie Hanneman. She told me what she experienced from a writer. It stuck. I’m working toward being that person.
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Conferences can be life-changing, can’t they? I wouldn’t be where I am today if I hadn’t attended the Blue Ridge conference in 2001.
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I think moving was what I appreciated most! I went from a monstrous, money sucking house to a small, sweet looking home. I can clean it easily and the utilities are a 1/4 of what the other one was. Perfect!
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I always have to wonder about these people on HGTV—married or engaged couples without kids—who want to move from a two-bedroom apartment or small house into these huge 5,000-square-foot monstrosities. Have they thought through how much more this house is going to cost them—and not just in their mortgage payment?
Change is hard when we’re going through it. But it’s always nice when we can look back on it and see how it’s changed our lives for the better.
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The season where God brought me to the point of breaking so He could remove some things from life that were holding me back from going deeper with Him. Not trying to be Super Christian Guy here but that’s really the biggest moment for me.
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That’s beautiful, Jason. Those times aren’t easy, but they’re the doorways to freedom.
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And when you go through that, you find yourself longing for that experience again, don’t you? It’s a precious feeling of being closer to God than anything I can think of.
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And Jason, you’ve been so transparent and open with it, it’s been a real blessing to others.
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Morning Kaye –
At the beginning of last year a ministry partner and I traveled to Indiana for a weekend conference for continuing ed in Biblical Counseling. When we arrived that evening we called for a cab. After climbing into the vehicle I was relaxed as I anticpated arrivng at the hotel within 5 minutes. (Information given me before the trip by my traveling companion. It was a very dark night and as the clock ticked quickly by 5, then 10 then 15, then 20 minutes I began to let my mind run away with itself and began to fear for our safety. Conversations with the driver didn’t remove the fear as he just kept driving and we passed an exit for Kentucky. I was a mess..needless to say when we finally did arrive at the hotel (after fabricating a story about who would be waiting for us and when, etc) I was relieved and then felt foolish when Idiscovered that the distance from airport to hotel was 4 times longer than expected.
One of the areas in my own life that I have had to deal with has been fear and this experience revealed to me that Istill had much work to do….TRUST in God was imperative.
From that moment on nearly, my life was a series of opportunity after opportunity to face my fear..identify what the root was..which would enable me at summer’s end to make a life change in ministry confident that the Lord would walk with me every step of the way.
He’s keeping me on my knees and on my toes as I stretch to see where we go next.
Grateful today for His love……
When we
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Why does it seem like fear is one of the emotions where Satan can take the strongest foothold and keep us from becoming fully immersed in God’s will for our lives? So proud of you for recognizing it and working through it!
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What did I appreciate the most? Two things –
1. When my husband found out he was being demoted, and his salary cut by at least 20%, the first thing he told me was that he still wanted me to attend ACFW.
2. Both and agent and an editor liked the first line of my book. It made me know that coming to Indy was the God-thing I hoped it would be.
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I’m so glad you got to go, too! Of course, I’m glad I got to meet you beforehand and spend some quality time with you. We need to do that again!
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Definitely!
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Wow, in a year PACKED with experiences, that’s a tough one. Moving, deployment, making new friends, leaving old friends… I’m going to say ACFW Conference in September. It was the highlight of my year. I got to meet my crit partners face to face, got to be one of Kaye’s “minions,” solidified new friendships into lasting ones, got a bite on my first book from my dream publisher, got to know my agent better… And the loud, crazy, social side of me got to come out and play. And on the way home, God totally spoke to me about taking my tiny little life and making it into something beautiful. He confirmed some things that rocked my world. All in all, for high points and appreciated moments, that has to be it.
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You did have a year of changes and shakeups. I’m in awe of how well you adapted and jumped right in to everything as if you’d been there for years and years. (Of course, I know it’s something you’ve had to become accustomed to, being an Army wife.) And, selfishly, I’m glad y’all were transferred to Ft. C so that you could become one of my “minions.” 🙂
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Thanks, Kaye. That made my day.
Can’t wait to be a more active minion. 🙂 It’s an honor!
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Getting terrible scores from a writing contest. It helped identify some areas I need to improve and tested my resolve. Not sure I am passing that test, yet, but I’m at least giving it a try.
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It’s the trying that’s most important, and I love seeing people do that!
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Conference, without a doubt. I had a great talk with Tracie Peterson about how I can make my heroines better. That’s where I struggle the most.
Rooming with my CP was AWESOME!!!! We had so much fun.
Conference is the only good thing I have from last year. I’m still too stuck in everything else to be able to appreciate anything that doesn’t have to do with my writing.
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I’ve had private conversations with a friend and we also both had rough 2010s (though not as rough as yours). The two of us have committed to ourselves and each other that 2011 is going to be a much better year. I have faith it will be for you, too.
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Thank you. Getting to talk with you for a little while, just the two of us, was also a high point. 🙂
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Finishing that first full-length manuscript.
That topped going to Star Wars Celebration V (And what did I do there? Naturally, I attended 3 panels about writing. Even my geekdom is nerdy.)
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Nerdy geekdom is awesome!
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