Disappointments are as much a part of life as are joys, sorrows, laughs, and tears.  My dear mother always told me when I was young, “Barbara, if things don’t work out the way you want them, just be good and something better will come along.”  I’ve tested this in the past and found it true; lately, again, I’ve put this sage advice to good use.

With much anticipation I awaited getting my just-published copies of Patti Hummel’s book From my Heart to Yours, in which I was to have twelve stories.  Very little is more exciting than seeing your work in print.  The first disappointment came when I opened the boxes of books and found that the wrong ones had been sent.  That error was quickly solved; they sent the correct ones only to bring more disappointment.  As I thumbed through, I found my stories had been inadvertently omitted.  I tried to be Christian about the situation though.

A second biggie came when my anticipated contract from Tate Publishing arrived.  It was not what I had hoped for, so I had to decline it.  Again, I tried to maintain a positive attitude.  As I have said before, I try to abide by Prov. 16: 3 – Commit to the Lord whatever you do, and your plans will succeed.

I have found this to hold true, but they don’t always succeed just as I planned for them to.  God usually has a better plan.  I haven’t seen the end of these plans yet, but God is certainly in them.  Patti Hummel, the compiler of From My Heart to Yours, is also the agent representing my novel, A Web Too Tight, an author, a publisher and a great Christian woman.  Her disappointment of my stories being omitted superceded mine.  After profuse apologies, she wanted to make up for the error.  She immediately agreed to also represent my third devotional book, Laughing with the Lord, and agreed to publish it through her publishing company Benchmark if someone didn’t pick it up soon.  She has doubled her efforts in getting both these books before publishers.

I just can’t wait to see how God is making these plans succeed.  I believe His promise and I also believe my mother’s adage, so I try desperately to be good when disappointments come my way, and I renew my pledge to commit whatever I do to the Lord.