So, Spring is technically here.  Shouldn't that be more of a question than a statement for most people?  The weather just doesn't know what it wants.  And many people are looking forward to warmer weather because the calendar says it should be so.  I am a hopeless optimist, and I say that spring IS here - even if it is just in my soul!  Because isn't spring a time of rebirth and hope?  Why does the weather have to be warmer in order for us, as children of the Lord, to be in a season of rebirth and hope?

Here's the way I see it.  I can change my habits and thought patterns and the weather can stay just the way it is.  I liken it to when I get all dressed up on a regular day just so I will 'feel' better.  It works!  So change starts on the outside sometimes, like dressing to affect attitude.  And sometimes it starts on the inside, like changing thought patterns .  Either way, "change" is here and it is inevitable.

So, how is that going to manifest itself in my life? Well, first I am going to shift some priorities around.  For a while now I have been putting writing on the back burner so that I could do other things that I THOUGHT needed to get done.  Well, I have come to realize that those other things really weren't important to the Lord, so I am back to writing.  It's coming along slowly, but it is moving forward.   I also am working on changing my lifestyle - or should I say my eating habits.  I am praying that this is not temporary, but a permanent change.  I have a heritage of some health issues that I am determined to avoid, if at all possible.

I would like to challenge you, as well, to possibly facilitate your own "spring" this year and determine what you might need to give rebirth to or what you may have lost hope in and you need to not defer any longer. Because what does the scriptures say about deferred hope? "Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life." Proverbs 13:12.  

Along with this challenge comes a favor, though.  And I am praying that you will be up for it.  I was wondering if any of you might partner with me in these steps I am taking.  I am needing accountability in my health progress.  Facebook messaging, texting (if you have my number), emailing, or responding to this blog post are all great methods.  Also, I am really excited about my writing and I am needing all the prayers I can get in determining how to most effectively share the things the Lord lays on my heart, whether it be via a novel, a website, this blog, a non-fiction work, or Facebook.  It is imperative that I do what He calls me to do and my desire is to please Him in all things.  So, if you have suggestions, thoughts, or complaints, please "voice" them.  There will come a day (hopefully in the next year) when I will have my book completed and I will need all the support I can get.  

So, HAPPY SPRING EVERYONE!  May your hopes be not delayed and may this be a time of rebirth for you! 

Blessings,
Petra