Book Review: Notes to Aspiring Writers; Your Dream, God's Plan

Notes to Aspiring Writers: Your Dream, God's Plan

Author: Brooke McGlothlin

Published: Brooke McGlothlin Media (July 15, 2011) ~ 34 pages 



About The Author
Brooke McGlothlin, MA, is the author of the best-selling ebook "Warrior Prayers: Praying the Word for Boys in the Areas They Need it Most", creator of the 21 Days of Prayer for Sons Challenge and co-founder of the well-loved online community for mothers of boys, the M.O.B. Society.

What Is God's Plan For My Life?
Brooke McGlothlin dreamed of writing a book her entire life. This ebook is a collection of five life lessons she learned as she pursued her dream of being a published author.

The author told of her early blogging experiences of writing and working hard to get an audience to read and comment on her posts. She learned that it is wiser to write for an audience of one...God. She has dedicated every aspect of her writing to Him and seeks guidance in Bible study and prayer.

Would it be a huge step of faith for you to stop striving in your writing career, and consider letting God bring the right opportunities to you instead?

The bottom line is that God has lifted up some and not others. More important than asking "why" when faced with disappointment is to humbly seek God's glory. Our life plans are less about us, and more about how He receives the greatest glory.


My Thoughts
Ms. McGlothlin opened her heart and wrote about the lessons she learned during her writing journey. These lessons have drawn her nearer to God and strengthened her Christian faith.

This ebook challenged me to seek God's will and to write for an audience of ONE. There is no formula for success that will work for all writers. This book will encourage you to follow your heart and discover your true life's purpose.

My Rating:  5 Stars Out Of 5

FYI ~ I purchased this book with my own funds on Amazon.Com.

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Please share your thoughts in the Comments Section below.

Fathers Day ~ Life Lessons Learned From Dad

Wayne and Dean Fuller

I would like to share a beautiful tribute that my husband wrote to honor his father, Emmett Wayne Fuller. My husband grew up on a cattle ranch in Oklahoma and he learned the following life lessons from his dad. This tribute was read by the pastor to commemorate my father-in-law on September 6, 2008, after he lost his battle with cancer.

When we were growing up in the mid 1970's, we usually prayed for rain on the weekends, especially during the winter, because if it wasn't raining Dad would get us up early to go work outside...even if a blue northern was blowing in. Our house had a fireplace which meant we had to cut wood on the weekends to last through the coming week.

I have two memories from our early wood cutting days that had unexpected life lessons tied to them. The first was when we went into the woods with the pickup truck to get a load of wood. Dad had cut down a large tree and asked us to back the truck as close to the tree as possible so we could start loading the wood. After we filled the pickup bed to over-flowing with firewood, we got in the cab to head for the house. We traveled about six inches and the truck came to a sudden stop. We had backed the truck over the stump of the tree and with the bed loaded with wood, the back bumper was catching on the stump.

LIFE LESSON ~ Plan ahead, see the big picture, think things through before starting and cut stumps closer to the ground.

The second memory was when we went to cut wood on one of the coldest days I can remember, we had on several layers of clothes because it was so cold! It was well below freezing, the ground was frozen so we could drive across the pasture in the pickup. We worked on clearing brush and cutting fire wood until well past noon. It was getting warmer because we were removing all the extra layers of clothes we had put on earlier. When we finally cut an over-flowing load of firewood, it was time to head for the house...or so we thought. The ground was no longer frozen and we ended up getting stuck. We had to walk to the house and get the tractor to pull the pickup all the way back to the house.

LIFE LESSON ~ Expect the unexpected and don't take the easy way out. We should have taken the tractor out in the first place, but we wanted to drive the pickup because it was warmer.

There are many more life lessons like these that we learned from Dad that have helped us over the years. Most were not verbal, but if you knew Dad he lead by example and/or actions.

LIFE LESSONS ~ If you break it, you fix it. If you make a mistake, acknowledge it and learn from it. Do it right the first time and be done with it. Don't ask anyone to work harder than you do. The easy road is not always the best road.

When we were growing up we thought Dad was too rough on us at times by making us work so hard; but he was using it to instill his work ethics and values in us. These values have benefited us in our personal lives and careers many times over.

It wasn't difficult to see the last life lesson Dad wanted to teach us...it was his faith. During the most trying times he would continue to pray asking for God's will to be done, even though it would have been easier to give up hope. At the end of his life, we all knew he was ready for God to call him home.

[This is a reprint of a post that appeared on JanetteFuller.Com on June 20, 2011.]

What life lessons did you learn from your father? Please share your thoughts in the Comments Section below.

Book Review: What Really Matters; 7 Lessons for Living from the Stories of the Dying

A "perfect storm" is brewing for 79 million members of the baby boom generation, according to Colorado physician Karen Wyatt. With advancing age, these individuals must cope with the passing of their parents while also confronting the inevitability of their own death.
"What Really Matters; 7 Lessons for Living from the Stories of the Dying" by Karen M. Wyatt, M.D., is a collection of stories about dying patients and their insights on living and dying.


About The Author
Karen M. Wyatt is a family physician who has spent her 25 year medical career working with patients in challenging settings, such as hospices, nursing homes and indigent clinics. She has founded a free medical clinic in a homeless shelter, accompanied three medical mission teams to Honduras, and led a non-profit clinic for the uninsured in its growth from a 4-hour per week all-volunteer operation to a full-time, full-service medical center.

7 Lessons For Living
This book was written by a physician who has spent many years caring for hospice patients. She wrote this book to share the life lessons that she learned from her patients. The lessons are based on seven statements that Jesus Christ uttered on the cross;

• The meaning of Suffering "I thirst."
• Love and recognizing life's priorities "Woman behold your son; behold your mother."
• Forgiveness and letting go of limiting beliefs and past traumas "Father forgive them for they know not what they are doing."
• Paradise "Truly I say to you today, you will be with me in Paradise."
• The true Purpose of existence "My God, my God for this I was kept (this was the destiny for which I was born.)"
• Surrender and the key to unlocking the flow of grace "O my Father, into thy hands I commit my Spirit."
• Impermanence and transcending fear "It is fulfilled."

This book uses verses from the Bible but it's spiritual focus is not limited to any particular religious belief. The book has a strong message for readers of any faith or philosophy.

The chapters in this book include case studies of specific patients that Dr. Wyatt has worked with in the past. These stories illustrate how patients and their family members can experience profound spiritual growth during the final days of life.

My Thoughts
I read this book because of the experiences that my family had with hospice care when my father suffered from congestive heart failure and passed away in October, 2010.

I found the case studies and the teachings in this book to be very poignant and touching. I found myself in tears many times as I read this book.

I think one of the hardest lessons to learn is that we will all die and that death is not to be feared. We must stop denying death and focus on living lives that really matter. The final chapter in this book provides ideas for implementing the "7 Lessons" in daily life. I think you will find much food for thought in this book. This book will inspire and motivate you to make some changes in your life.
Highly Recommended!

My Rating: 5 Stars Out Of 5

FYI ~ I received a paperback copy of this book to read and review from the author's publicist. Thank you!

Please share your thoughts in the Comments Section below

Life Lessons Learned From Dad

I would like to share a beautiful tribute that my husband wrote to honor his father, Emmett Wayne Fuller.  My husband grew up on a cattle ranch in Oklahoma and he learned the following life lessons from his dad. This tribute was read by the pastor to commemorate my father-in-law on September 6, 2008, after he lost his battle with cancer.

When we were growing up in the mid 1970's, we usually prayed for rain on the weekends, especially during the winter, because if it wasn't raining Dad would get us up early to go work outside...even if a blue northern was blowing in. Our house had a fireplace which meant we had to cut wood on the weekends to last through the coming week.

I have two memories from our early wood cutting days that had unexpected life lessons tied to them. The first was when we went into the woods with the pickup truck to get a load of wood. Dad had cut down a large tree and asked us to back the truck as close to the tree as possible so we could start loading the wood. After we filled the pickup bed to over-flowing with firewood, we got in the cab to head for the house. We traveled about six inches and the truck came to a sudden stop. We had backed the truck over the stump of the tree and with the bed loaded with wood, the back bumper was catching on the stump.

LIFE LESSON ~ Plan ahead, see the big picture, think things through before starting and cut stumps closer to the ground.

The second memory was when we went to cut wood on one of the coldest days I can remember, we had on several layers of clothes because it was so cold! It was well below freezing, the ground was frozen so we could drive across the pasture in the pickup. We worked on clearing brush and cutting fire wood until well past noon. It was getting warmer because we were removing all the extra layers of clothes we had put on earlier. When we finally cut an over-flowing load of firewood, it was time to head for the house...or so we thought. The ground was no longer frozen and we ended up getting stuck. We had to walk to the house and get the tractor to pull the pickup all the way back to the house.

LIFE LESSON ~ Expect the unexpected and don't take the easy way out. We should have taken the tractor out in the first place, but we wanted to drive the pickup because it was warmer.

There are many more life lessons like these that we learned from Dad that have helped us over the years. Most were not verbal, but if you knew Dad he lead by example and/or actions.

LIFE LESSONS ~ If you break it, you fix it. If you make a mistake, acknowledge it and learn from it. Do it right the first time and be done with it. Don't ask anyone to work harder than you do. The easy road is not always the best road.

When we were growing up we thought Dad was too rough on us at times by making us work so hard; but he was using it to instill his work ethics and values in us. These values have benefited us in our personal lives and careers many times over.

It wasn't difficult to see the last life lesson Dad wanted to teach us...it was his faith. During the most trying times he would continue to pray asking for God's will to be done, even though it would have been easier to give up hope. At the end of his life, we all knew he was ready for God to call him home.

What life lessons did you learn from your father? Please share your thoughts in the Comments Section below.