(Please keep in mind that this post was written when this was a husband/wife blog ministry as Learning to Live a Surrendered Life. My husband is no longer blogging here as he has moved on to His own blogging ministry. Unwrapping His Grace is now a blog ministry to encourage women in their journey of discovering and living grace.)
This week is a special week around our house. My family enjoys celebrating birthdays for a whole week! LOL
My birthday is Wednesday, October 26th. (I will turn 44…the same age as Will!) So my birthday week started today! My sweet, amazing husband, Will, started off my birthday week by sharing a few surprises with me!!! I had to stop in here at Learning to Live a Surrendered Life and share them with all of you…because these two surprises affect all of you!!!!
The first surprise was in the mail this morning…
Six copies of An Encouraging Word Magazine, Issue 66 from Wisdom’s Gate Ministries!!!!!
Why am I so excited about Issue 66? Great question! LOL
At the end of July, this past summer, I received a very special, encouraging email request from Skeet Savage, the founder of Wisdom’s Gate Ministries, editor of Home School Digest, An Encouraging Word, and Brush Arbor Revival Quarterly. She asked if she could reprint my article Surrendering in the Kitchen…Chicken Fajita Pasta in An Encouraging Word Magazine!
I was so surprised that I took my laptop up to Will’s home office and asked him to read it to see if I had read her request correctly. He chuckled and told me that I had. I was so humbled and surprised and blessed. We knew it was coming out in the Fall of this year but I hadn’t gotten my copy ordered yet.
As a special birthday surprise for me…Will ordered six copies, which arrived today!!! One for me to keep, four to give to our parents (his and mine) for Christmas and ONE TO GIVE AWAY TO ONE LUCKY Learning to Live a Surrendered Life reader!!!
Here’s the article in print!
This is my first time to be published in a magazine!!! It is so exciting and I am sooooo thrilled to be able to share it with all of you!!!! Be sure to come back on Thursday for my special Birthday Week Drawing!!! We are giving away a copy of Issue 66 with my article in it AND a ONE YEAR SUBSCRIPTION TO AN ENCOURAGING WORD MAGAZINE!!!!
Here’s the full list of goodies in the Birthday Week Giveaway Package…
- An autographed copy of Issue 66 of “An Encouraging Word Magazine”!
- A ONE YEAR Subscription to “An Encouraging Word Magazine”, Wisdom’s Gate Ministries!!!
- Melissa Michael’s brand new e-book…“NOT a DIY Diva!”
- Laura Booz’s brand new e-book that launches on November 1st…“Blogger Behave!”
- A great devotional book to use with your small children…“Growing and Learning Day by Day” by Betty Free
- A wonderful organizational book for Moms…“Absolutely Organize Your Family”by Debbie Lillard
- And last but not least…a book from another of my favorite authors...”Creative Correction” by Lisa Whelchel
- ***Will just added something special to the Prize Package!!! If you win and you are a blogger…he will make a blog button for you (you provide the graphic)!!! How exciting!!!
And then…He surprised me.. AGAIN!
Will has shared with me that he has studied what is happening with Learning to Live a Surrendered Life Website. We are overwhelmed with gratitude by the response to our new website. You all are amazing!!! In the month of October alone, we have already reached 18, 270 HITS on this site! After studying our traffic, he has noticed that over 70% of the readers are women. After praying about it, he came to me and shared what he believes God is leading him to do. He is blessing me by stepping back from his current role as lead writer, website director and has asked me to take on this role. He would love to write a weekly Saturday, “From a Father’s Heart…” column and continue on as my webmaster for the website. He believes that this is the direction that the Lord is leading us to take with Surrenderedlivingnow.com. And when the Lord leads us…we need to follow Him!
Will believes that the Lord is leading him to return to his passion of Christian music performance and song writing as well as teaching his music students. He feels called to put his focus in this new venture and I am honored to stand with him and help in any way that I can.
I was VERY surprised by this news…he was trying to wait until Wednesday to tell me as my big birthday gift, but he just couldn’t wait any longer. I am humbled and honored to receive this blessing/gift. I am SO thrilled that he is going to pursue his passion for music! He is SOOOO talented and is energized by it. So there is a lot of excitement around our house right now!
Sooo….Ladies…Beginning next week…I will take the lead and I will have so many special things to share with you throughout the week and then Will is planning to visit with us on Saturdays…”From a Father’s Heart”!! We will also begin sharing a very special Monthly Newsletter with our email Subscribers! We will kick off a weekly “Linky Party” in November as well! And there will be some changes around the website so be watching!!! I will announce more about this exciting new features next week!!!
Here’s what you have to look forward to this week…
Tomorrow, Tuesday… I am SO thrilled to be celebrating the launch day of a wonderful new e-book! I will be reviewing the creator of The Inspired Room, Melissa Michael’s very first E-book “NOT a DIY Diva!” I can’t wait to tell you all about it!!!
Wednesday…Will is writing a special Birthday Message to me. He is soo good to me!!! (**and a way to get extra entries into the Giveaway on Thursday!
Thursday…Is start of our special Birthday GIVEAWAY!!!
Friday…I am writing, “I’m no Expert…so Why I am Blogging?”
Saturday…Will is writing From a Father’s Heart…Radical Grace Part V.
Thank you so much for stopping for a visit here at Learning to Live a Surrendered Life, week after week! YOU are AMAZING!!!
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Dancing at the foot of the Cross,
Mrs Mary Joy Pershing
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