By DiAnn Mills @DiAnnMills
We all are on a sacred adventure called life. From the day we are born until God calls us home, we are given special interests that define our purpose and mold our personalities.
We all have unique gifts and talents that thrill us, things we love to invest our time in, effort, and often money. The list is endless from those skills needed that pay the bills to those things that fill our free time. Whatever your strength, it’s sacred to you.
As a writer, I’m no different than you. Just as you push aside the outside world to dive into your gifts and talents, so do I.
I treasure all the components of writing and the publishing world: learning, editing, listening, observing, attending conferences, teaching enthusiastic writers, trying new techniques, accepting the challenge of social media and managing time. How amazing to wake each new day and look forward to what it presents. Satisfaction fuels me to try harder, be a better writer, entertain readers with an unusual and memorable story. My life focuses on Expect an Adventure.
I wish the same contentment, gratification, and pride for you.
Some of you are fortunate to use your gifts or talents everyday. Some of you have to carve out time. Some of you are multi-talented and have much to share with the world.
What is your sacred adventure? Will you tell us about it?
DiAnn’s Library Corner
Bring in the New Year by challenging your patrons of all ages to read. Encourage them to commit to reading a certain number of books in 2017. Offer incentives to reach their goals.
I took awhile to think about this one. My journey has been as a helpmeet and a mother. It has changed but remains the same as I grow and as the ( four) children have grown and moved on. The circumstances change but the roles remain the same. As long as The Lord is guiding me through it all! My word for this year is Encourage.
My sacred journey continues, and has taken many twists and turns, and it is a comfort to know that God knows all about them. Part of my sacred journey is nursing. I am presently unemployed again, as my patient graduated to glory. Where do I go from here?
At one of our recent assemblies, our pastor spoke on “the dash”, that time between birth and death. I have no control over my birth, or my death, but God has provided all I need, to live the dash; in obedience, and glory to His name. As I continue my sacred journey, I want to be like Abraham’s servant on a duty run: “I was in the way where God could lead me.” I want this too!
My Sacred Journey has been and continues to be working with youth. God placed His call on my life when I was 15 & I have continued to follow His lead in that area. God opened doors early for me & I have been involved in some type of Youth Ministry for 40 years – Interim Youth Minister, Missions Leader, Sunday School Teacher, Conference Leader & Substitute Teacher in our local County Schools for 17 years. I prepared myself academically – B.S. Ed., M.Ed., M.A.R.E. & have done my best to be available to Him where He’s called me to serve. I do continually seek God’s guidance to see if this still the area in which He wants me to serve. My word for the year is: ANAKAINOSIS (Gr. an-ak-ah’-ee-no-sis) a renewal, renovation, complete change for the better. I’ve had some serious health issues this year (undiagnosed GI bleed that required 3 units of blood & 2 iron transfusions, adult onset asthma & 8 weeks of bronchitis & sinusitis that caused me to miss my extended family’s Christmas Eve Dinner at our home )& I need a renewal, renovation and complete change for the better in both body & soul. I’m weary.
Lisa, I prayed for a renewal of health and spiritual vitality for you. Be blessed in the New Year.
My sacred journey has always been to help and teach others. I started out wanting to be a teacher and got my degree in education in three years but by then I wanted to be a lawyer. Five years later I was appointed an assistant attorney general for Ohio and worked in the field of Medicaid with those with mental retardation. It was towards the end of my eleven years in that position I was introduced to mediation, sitting down with others to help them resolve their issues. That is pretty much what I do part time now since I have had some pretty serious health issues and I love it. The satisfaction of seeing the lightbulb go off when people talk things out and come to their own solution with my help is great!
Hi Shirley, how wonderful that you’ve been able to follow your sacred adventure. May God bless you!
Being able to call myself a daughter of God, walking out life with my Savior is the only sacred adventure that matters in the end. The rabbit holes He takes us through as we round a new bend in the road are exciting, frightening, lesson-learning adventures where I am forced to learn new skills, make new friends, and grow with Him. Otherwise I would grow stale, bore others and be bored. I cherish the changes that have stimulated new interests and skills. I spent thirty-eight years working as a nurse and fully expected to work until I was sixty-six and then retire. A badly damaged spine changed that plan and now I am learning to write and it is a daunting and stimulating new job. I touched hearts when I tended to people physically and emotionally as a nurse and I know I can do the same as a writer. He also gave us a new granddaughter this last year and she is a sacred adventure. Along with many others, I will tell her about Jesus.
Hi Cathy, You are so right. Without being adopted into the family of God, we have no life and no adventure. Be blessed!
My sacred journey has changed over the years. At times it’s one direction then it’s a different direction. I have to remain open to where God wants to lead me. There have been many times God has carried me through that sacred journey because I could not complete it.
I also have to remember that sometimes the journey is not about ME, it’s about someone else. I am being God’s vessel. My world does not revolve around me. It revolves around Him. My family, friends and I are included in that world but He is the focus.
May our eyes remain fixed on Him regardless of what occurs in our lives.
2017 is here! May this year be filled with God’s blessings to us all. God bless us, everyone!
Jann, thank you so much for your words of wisdom. Like you, I believe our sacred adventure has to be more about others than ourselves.
My sacred journey is to be a published author/screenwriter. But I’ve only just begun to understand I am to write what breaks my heart, breaks God’s heart. This is a new direction for me.
Hi Desiree, passionate writing begins when we first open the scars of our hearts to revisit pain. Sounds rough, but transparency is a requirement for all writers.
Father gave me a good idea this past Sunday at Mass. He said he went on a retreat and before bed they were to think of three things they were thankful for that day. One of his was a walk in the woods. It can be 2 or 5 thanks and can be very simple. I want to try and do this.
Hi Leona, What a beautiful idea – thanking God for small things that always lead to big ones. Thank you!
One of my most favorite sacred adventure is to Bible Journal. It’s an adventure for me to pull one verse out of the Bible and delve into what it is saying to me. What God wants me to see and then to share it with others. I journal with my very best friends. Which makes it even more special.
Hi Debbie, I really like your idea. Too often I think I have to read multiple verses, when only one may be God’s message for me that day. Thanks!