Friday, February 18, 2011
Opening Doors
Did I say I was living in the “manifold graces” of God in my last blog? Why, yes I did! You know, it’s a good thing that our God is omnipotent and all powerful and wonderful and stuff. I could honestly say we make Him work so hard to bless us except that I know He doesn’t work hard . . . nothing is hard for our God.
So two or three years ago before cancer had ever reared its ugly, demonic head in our family I felt as if God was inspiring me to start a publishing company. I began to research it at that time and just felt as if it was too hard to do. I had a day job that kept me quite busy and there were so many pieces to publishing that I put the idea on the shelf. Funny how we think we get to put God on a shelf until we think it’s time for His plan to work. Well, the idea came back to me during my journey through cancer and this time I had a bout with ‘chemo brain’ and I had to listen. This time around I knew it was Him talking and even my Bishop made a comment to me about doing some editing work for various people and that I should get paid for that work. Wow, that was pivotal!
For the first time I realized, rather recognized that my ability to edit is a gift from God! I mean, I’ve been correcting people’s papers and writing letters for people forever, but I just thought of it as something I had the ability to do. I was good at it. Now writing, oh yeah, I can do that…I’m a writer; I enjoy writing – that’s my gift. Who died and convinced me that I only have one gift? C’mon, tell the truth do you think you have ONLY one gift? And can you relate to being good at something, so good that people seek you out for it, but it’s not sexy enough for you so you kinda say “Oh, that’s just something that I do”.
Now, light bulbs are going off in my head and I get it. He already told me to start a publishing company and I have the skills and abilities to do it! Every story needs tension right, so that part of me that refused to budge was busy thinking up all kinds of reasons why this was just my ‘imagination’. Finally I asked God, “Lord, if this is your direction for my life, I need to visualize it, I need to have a name for it. How can I begin if I don’t even have a name for it?” And in true God fashion, the very next time I was in church Pastor Charisse was teaching mid-week service and was talking about a bookstore they had previously – Manifold Wisdom. And as she said the word ‘manifold’ a picture of the grace of God in my life flashed before me. And I knew it ~ Manifold Grace Publishing Company.
I began to vibe this name, it came alive to me and I began to envision what it would look like and how I wanted it to feel. The name changed to ‘house’ instead of ‘company’ because I’m much warmer than a company. As I began constructing these things around my company I recognized my purpose was to “help people share their testimonies with the world”.
Manifold Grace Publishing House is open for business but before I tell you more about that I want to encourage you to meditate your own life and seriously hear the things God is telling you to do. At my church, DWO, we pray for ‘destiny intersections’. It would take way too long for me to unravel the providence of God who made plans for me before the beginning of time and has established relationships in my life to help me fulfill my destiny – today. Trust me, the things I don’t know, He sends people my way to help me. That is a destiny intersection. That is the providence of God. That is the manifold grace of God.
So, listen, one of the first things I’m doing as Manifold Grace Publishing House is conducting a workshop, in conjunction with Kingdom Scribes Publishing called “So You Want To Write A Book Huh?” It’s going to be held on Saturday March 5, 2011 at the Redford Library – check out the flyer! And feel free to share it with anyone interested in the book writing process – if you’re coming – email me Darlene@manifoldgracepublishinghouse.com
Stay tuned! This is SO exciting. It’s getting GOOD!
So two or three years ago before cancer had ever reared its ugly, demonic head in our family I felt as if God was inspiring me to start a publishing company. I began to research it at that time and just felt as if it was too hard to do. I had a day job that kept me quite busy and there were so many pieces to publishing that I put the idea on the shelf. Funny how we think we get to put God on a shelf until we think it’s time for His plan to work. Well, the idea came back to me during my journey through cancer and this time I had a bout with ‘chemo brain’ and I had to listen. This time around I knew it was Him talking and even my Bishop made a comment to me about doing some editing work for various people and that I should get paid for that work. Wow, that was pivotal!
For the first time I realized, rather recognized that my ability to edit is a gift from God! I mean, I’ve been correcting people’s papers and writing letters for people forever, but I just thought of it as something I had the ability to do. I was good at it. Now writing, oh yeah, I can do that…I’m a writer; I enjoy writing – that’s my gift. Who died and convinced me that I only have one gift? C’mon, tell the truth do you think you have ONLY one gift? And can you relate to being good at something, so good that people seek you out for it, but it’s not sexy enough for you so you kinda say “Oh, that’s just something that I do”.
Now, light bulbs are going off in my head and I get it. He already told me to start a publishing company and I have the skills and abilities to do it! Every story needs tension right, so that part of me that refused to budge was busy thinking up all kinds of reasons why this was just my ‘imagination’. Finally I asked God, “Lord, if this is your direction for my life, I need to visualize it, I need to have a name for it. How can I begin if I don’t even have a name for it?” And in true God fashion, the very next time I was in church Pastor Charisse was teaching mid-week service and was talking about a bookstore they had previously – Manifold Wisdom. And as she said the word ‘manifold’ a picture of the grace of God in my life flashed before me. And I knew it ~ Manifold Grace Publishing Company.
I began to vibe this name, it came alive to me and I began to envision what it would look like and how I wanted it to feel. The name changed to ‘house’ instead of ‘company’ because I’m much warmer than a company. As I began constructing these things around my company I recognized my purpose was to “help people share their testimonies with the world”.
Manifold Grace Publishing House is open for business but before I tell you more about that I want to encourage you to meditate your own life and seriously hear the things God is telling you to do. At my church, DWO, we pray for ‘destiny intersections’. It would take way too long for me to unravel the providence of God who made plans for me before the beginning of time and has established relationships in my life to help me fulfill my destiny – today. Trust me, the things I don’t know, He sends people my way to help me. That is a destiny intersection. That is the providence of God. That is the manifold grace of God.
So, listen, one of the first things I’m doing as Manifold Grace Publishing House is conducting a workshop, in conjunction with Kingdom Scribes Publishing called “So You Want To Write A Book Huh?” It’s going to be held on Saturday March 5, 2011 at the Redford Library – check out the flyer! And feel free to share it with anyone interested in the book writing process – if you’re coming – email me Darlene@manifoldgracepublishinghouse.com
Stay tuned! This is SO exciting. It’s getting GOOD!
Closing Doors
OMG!!! Can you believe it? I actually retired from AT&T on December 30, 2010! It happened so supernaturally that I knew it was time for that door to close in my life. After my successful journey through breast cancer I was confronted with several things, changes actually, that happened in corporate AT&T that quite discouraged me. OK, they made me angry! Afterall, I had invested 35 years with the company and I surely deserved better treatment than that. I won’t go into all the gory details here because I have much more exciting things to talk about, but suffice it to say one of the catalyst was losing 20 days of vacation time simply because my disability, my disease was not resolved during the same calendar year that it started in.
I had a bad attitude … no other way to say it; I was angry. On the day I reported back to work I met with Crystal (my money girl) and asked her “Can I get out of here?” She came and looked at the numbers and we discussed my plan forward. It was a good meeting but having a bad attitude was really bothering me. I had to pray about it. “Father God, right now I have a really bad attitude and I know it is not your will that I be angry or upset – worry. I ask you Father to help me get over this feeling. I did not spend 35 years with this company performing successfully to go out on a sour note, I’ve worked too hard. God help me get my joy back.” And I knew that when I did indeed “get my joy back” it would be time for me to leave.
BTW, a critical piece – I have a wonderful boss! She ‘cared’ for me from San Diego as best she could and because of it I decided that I was going to do everything she asked of me in exemplary fashion. And I did and the projects she gave me were things I liked so I dove into them with excitement. It got to the point where she would think of things she’d like for our team to do and I would figure out how to get it going and we’d work together on it and she’d say “I love it!” I got quite used to hearing that and forgot my prayer about getting my joy back. Well, it was back! It was now October/November and I was already thinking about how we were going to accomplish her plans for next year since I always vacation out the end of the year.
It was also time for my first mammogram since the end of my treatments. It showed there was no more cancer in the left breast but there was a blip – calcifications – in the right one and I had to have a stereotactic biopsy. And as I was whining to God about it (read my last blog) I was reminded that during the cancer journey He told me to start a publishing company. I was reminded that I was supposed to leave when I got my joy back –code word for ‘got my attitude together’. So in the face of these reminders I accepted the fact that it was time for me to retire.
I had no sooner decided to leave in March than we got word that our team was going to have to reduce; we NEVER had to reduce before! And fortunately or should I say supernaturally I was allowed to opt for a severance letter. Ordinarily, severance is at the discretion of the leadership team – you don’t get to choose to go! But my boss knew I was ready to go because I had asked her if I could get a severance letter earlier but there were none at that time. Anyway she worked it out so that I would indeed get this letter! That means I got a severance – bonus – of a year’s salary AND I got to retire with full retirement status/benefits!
I thank God that I’ve grown, as a person, to the point where I can go to God and say “Father, help me get my attitude together!” I asked, He did it and I retired from AT&T in good standing, leaving a great boss and a great team with a good attitude and a fat check to subsidize the pension which was a shadow of its former greatness, LOL. In any case, I closed the door on a 36 year career with joy and excitement at living in the manifold graces of a God who is SO providential that all I had to do was trust Him and live as He says and ‘forget not its benefits’!
Bless the Lord, O my soul...
I had a bad attitude … no other way to say it; I was angry. On the day I reported back to work I met with Crystal (my money girl) and asked her “Can I get out of here?” She came and looked at the numbers and we discussed my plan forward. It was a good meeting but having a bad attitude was really bothering me. I had to pray about it. “Father God, right now I have a really bad attitude and I know it is not your will that I be angry or upset – worry. I ask you Father to help me get over this feeling. I did not spend 35 years with this company performing successfully to go out on a sour note, I’ve worked too hard. God help me get my joy back.” And I knew that when I did indeed “get my joy back” it would be time for me to leave.
BTW, a critical piece – I have a wonderful boss! She ‘cared’ for me from San Diego as best she could and because of it I decided that I was going to do everything she asked of me in exemplary fashion. And I did and the projects she gave me were things I liked so I dove into them with excitement. It got to the point where she would think of things she’d like for our team to do and I would figure out how to get it going and we’d work together on it and she’d say “I love it!” I got quite used to hearing that and forgot my prayer about getting my joy back. Well, it was back! It was now October/November and I was already thinking about how we were going to accomplish her plans for next year since I always vacation out the end of the year.
It was also time for my first mammogram since the end of my treatments. It showed there was no more cancer in the left breast but there was a blip – calcifications – in the right one and I had to have a stereotactic biopsy. And as I was whining to God about it (read my last blog) I was reminded that during the cancer journey He told me to start a publishing company. I was reminded that I was supposed to leave when I got my joy back –code word for ‘got my attitude together’. So in the face of these reminders I accepted the fact that it was time for me to retire.
I had no sooner decided to leave in March than we got word that our team was going to have to reduce; we NEVER had to reduce before! And fortunately or should I say supernaturally I was allowed to opt for a severance letter. Ordinarily, severance is at the discretion of the leadership team – you don’t get to choose to go! But my boss knew I was ready to go because I had asked her if I could get a severance letter earlier but there were none at that time. Anyway she worked it out so that I would indeed get this letter! That means I got a severance – bonus – of a year’s salary AND I got to retire with full retirement status/benefits!
I thank God that I’ve grown, as a person, to the point where I can go to God and say “Father, help me get my attitude together!” I asked, He did it and I retired from AT&T in good standing, leaving a great boss and a great team with a good attitude and a fat check to subsidize the pension which was a shadow of its former greatness, LOL. In any case, I closed the door on a 36 year career with joy and excitement at living in the manifold graces of a God who is SO providential that all I had to do was trust Him and live as He says and ‘forget not its benefits’!
Bless the Lord, O my soul...
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