Look for my “That Thing We Do” feature in Marriage Partnership, due out early December in the Winter, 2006 issue. Published by Christianity Today International, this is a magazine to help us all have more intimate, fun, and powerful relationships with our spouses. The editor, Ginger Kolbaba, is a sharp, warm woman whose recent book, Happily Even After, is about success in second marriages.
I first met Ginger at the Writing for the Soul conference, the last time it was held in Ashville. Sitting at her table at lunch, I was excited when she used me as an example of what to do right as a beginning writer. She said, “You need to keep a notebook with you at all times, like this woman over here, has,” pointing at me as I was pulling out a small notebook, preparing to write down her answers to our questions at this working lunch. Her encouragement that I was doing something right kept me—a rank beginner—on the path, which is now resulting in publication!
Encouragement. We all need it. Often, it doesn’t take very much to be an encourager—a smile, a kind word, a small gift. But it keeps us going!
Father, thank you for past encouragement. Please give us what we need today.