Three Cups of Tea: The Most Inspiring Book I've Ever Read

This book has changed me on so many levels. First, it is the first book to ever take us inside Pakistan and Afghanistan to show us the people, their customs and their culture. While I've always respected Muslims, now I understand them more than I ever did.

Second, through the book, after having "met" Greg Mortenson. I feel I am a more well-rounded person knowing who he is and what he is doing. I am so impressed, amazed and awed by him I would value meeting him as much as I would value meeting President Obama. The things he has accomplished in his lifetime are Nobel Peace Prize worthy and if he doesn't win it, I will be disappointed.

At first, I really enjoyed being able to witness the way someone else lives. I live in a big city and sometimes people tend to think that everyone lives the way we do. Greg Mortenson's life could not be more different from mine. The child of American missionaries, he grew up in Tanzania and as an adult, became a successful mountain climber. The mountains of Pakistan, where some of the tallest peaks in the world are, became a second home to him, a place where he was so comfortable, he fit right in, sleeping on floors, living without running water and dressing, out of respect, in their cultural clothing.

After mountain climbing and a career as a nurse, he literally fell into a new career, building schools for girls, first in Pakistan and then in Afghanistan, through a nonprofit he cofounded called the Central Asia Institute. While all of us over here have wondered about the people on the borders where we fought and dropped missiles, he was there, among the people, seeing it all from the inside out and fighting terror through education, not war.

I now consider Greg Mortenson an influencer I want to follow. My first instinct was to look for him on LinkedIn and Twitter. He's not there. My second instinct is to make a donation to Central Asia Institute, and that is something I will definitely do.

In the meantime, I highly recommend this book for EVERYONE. You can get it at your local library or at Amazon.

Please check out my novel, In Fashion's Web on Amazon.

Say no to casinos in Long Island

Politicians in Nassau, Long Island (N.Y.) are advocating for the building of casinos to generate tax revenue. A good idea? I think not.

Let me use The Bahamas as an example. In the Bahamas, citizens are not allowed to frequent the casinos. Why? Because they would spend all their hard-earned money there. The whole point of a casino is to drive increased revenue -- notice I said "increased."

What do you think would happen if Bahamians all spent their weekly paychecks at the casino? The money would just go in a circle and there would be no growth.

That's the same thing that would happen in Long Island. We have plenty of casinos. We don't need anymore. Here's a better idea: Incentivize people to come up with their own ideas, to improve on ideas that already exist and to start businesses -- to build small factories, to build anything!

If New York approves the casinos in Long Island, we're just digging ourselves deeper in the "we don't make anything anymore" business model, and the money will just go in a circle in and out and there won't be any growth.

Instead of going in a circle, let's move the economy forward! Let's support people who come up with new ideas and stick with the casinos we've already got. We don't need anymore.

Please check out my novel, In Fashion's Web on Amazon.

A tip for effective proofreading

I like to describe proofreading in piano terms: when you read in "legato" format - that's smooth and steady - you can easily miss things. It's better to read in "staccato" - where you stop after ever word; so in your mind, that last part of my sentence would sound like: "where. you. stop. after. every. word." 

It doesn't have to be very slow. A half-second pause is enough. 

I find that's the best way to catch mistakes. Especially if you're a fast reader, you have to remember to slow down when you're proofreading, and reading staccato really helps.

Please check out my novel, In Fashion's Web on Amazon.

Happy National Customer Service Week

October 7th to 13th is National Customer Service week. On this the 21st anniversary of the event, I just want to take a moment to thank all of the customer service reps who put up with people's tempers, impatience and aggravation every day.

And for all those who have solved my problems, helped me figure things out, corrected my bills, and answered my questions, here's to you.

Thanks for all your compassion, dedication to your craft and kindness. It's a job I've never felt I could do so, your talent is greatly appreciated.

Here's to you.

Please check out my novel, In Fashion's Web on Amazon.

Deer in Your Headlights, Literally

According to the State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company, more deer-car collisions occur during the fall than any other time, so be aware, folks.

Altogether, they report that there are more than 1 million deer and car collisions a year. The state with the most deer-car collisions? Hawaii. Strange. Didn't know they had deer in Hawaii. Wonder how they got there. 

The states with the least? Montana, at 2, and Wyoming, with 13. You would think with all that land there would be more deer. There probably are, but then there are probably fewer cars running into them, I suppose.

What are your chances of having a collision with a deer? One in 174. Much much greater than your chances of winning the lottery.

For more information on deer-car collisions, check out the Insurance Information Institute.

Please check out my novel, In Fashion's Web on Amazon.

Boycott Rolling Stone Magazine

How pathetic that Rolling Stone magazine chose to put a picture of the Boston bomber on their front cover. How about all the heroes and survivors of the Boston Marathon bombings? How about putting some of them on the cover?

This is clearly a ploy to sell magazines on the newsstand. Are they that desperate? Do they have no dignity?

First of all, the magazine is an entertainment publication. They don't report the news. So why now?

They should be ashamed of themselves. I hope everyone boycotts the issue and none of them sell. It would serve them right.

Please check out my novel, In Fashion's Web on Amazon.

Fifty Shades of Wow

Well, I finally did it. I read "Fifty Shades of Grey" because I wanted to see what all the fuss and buzz were about. Now I get it. It's a hell of a book.

However, once I got over the initial shock of it, about 50 pages in, I have to say, it read much like a typical romance novel. Girl loves boy. Boy has commitment issues. Girl cries a lot. They break up and boy breaks girl's heart. Unfortunately, no happy ending in this one.

However, being a person who has read dozens of romance novels, I fully expected that typical happy ending. But once I learned that the book was the first in a trilogy, then I understood why the first book could not have a happy ending. Of course it had to leave me hanging. Or else, why would I pick up the second book?

Another interesting observation: very early on, I started to see strong similarities between the lead female character Anastasia and Bella, the lead female character in the Twilight series. They are both women who fell so toxically in love with their man that they would give up everything -- do anything -- to be with them. In both stories, the female lead characters fall in love with 'bad boys' and cross over to the dark side. The only real difference between Bella and Anastasia is that Bella wasn't afraid and she had no regrets. Anastasia was very afraid and, of course, in the end she had many regrets.

Now being fully committed to the characters and the plot, I am willing to read the second and third books because I have to find out what happens to them. Will they work out their differences? Will Christian ever tell Anastasia the deep dark secrets he's keeping hidden inside? And will telling those secrets free him from their burden forever?

The bottom line is, even with the hefty sexual overtones, it's still a romance novel. I want my romantic night-in-shining-armor happy ending, so I will be expecting it in the third book. Ideally, I anticipate Christian will fix all his problems and, in "An Officer and a Gentleman"-like style, sweep Anastasia off her feet and give her everything she wants (and nothing she doesn't want). Only time -- and a lot of reading -- will tell.

Please check out my novel, In Fashion's Web on Amazon.

My Family's Own American Soldier: My Great Uncle Charlie's Story

My grandfather James Pecoraro, my mother's father, was one of nine children. Grampa had a brother named Charlie who wanted to be a doctor. Back then, in the 1920s, there was no such thing as a student loan. And coming from a poor Italian family, my great grandparents didn't have the money.

So the entire family scraped and sacrificed for the one child. Whatever Charlie's brothers and sisters earned went into the kitty to put Charlie through pre-med and then medical school.

When he graduated, he was drafted into World War II. After basic training, he was sent to a hospital in New Guinea. On his second day, the hospital was blown up and Uncle Charlie was killed in action. All that effort for two days.

Gone but not forgotten. Rest in peace, Uncle Charlie.

Please check out my novel, In Fashion's Web on Amazon.

The Day I Visited a Mental Hospital

Many years ago, when I was a young twenty-something, I sold advertising for a now defunct radio station – WJAZ, a jazz station out of Stamford, CT. The station’s signal traveled across Long Island Sound and so we had a lot of listeners in Long Island, which meant we also had advertisers in Long Island.

One day, I was driving down the middle lane on the Long Island Expressway headed to see a client when out of nowhere there’s a full muffler in the middle of the lane. There were cars to my left and right and  so there was nothing I could do but go over it and pray for no damage. I ended up with a flat tire.

I could hear the sizzle as the air slowly leaked, but figured I could continue to coast until I came to the next exit. “There’s a gas station off practically every exit in Long Island,” I said out loud.

Along came the exit and I proceeded as planned. However, at the bottom of the exit was no gas station. There wasn’t even a town. I had coasted off an exit that led right onto the property of a mental hospital. Yup.

So I pulled up to the front door and walked into the lobby, where I found a security desk with three security guards. I explained that I had a flat tire and asked if any of them could help me. I said I would pay. Immediately they all started to mumble as to why they couldn’t help. One pointed to his back.

I was shocked. Are you kidding? These guys are supposed to serve and protect. They were strong, burly looking men. And they were too lazy to change a tire that could take 10 minutes?

I told them there was nowhere else I could go and one of them told me to follow the winding road until I got to the end and “Michael” – I don’t really remember his name anymore but that’s what we’ll call him – would fix my tire.

So I followed the winding road. It was a one-lane path that felt like I was in Little Red Riding Hood’s forest or something. At the end I found a one-bay garage. The door was up and I could see that it was a workshop. Michael came out. The security desk had called.

He said “no problem,” I can change your tire. As he pulled the spare out of my trunk, I saw the heavy scars on his wrist. He was not only a worker at this mental facility, he was a live-in patient. I was nervous and sympathetic at the same time.

He changed my tire and I gave him $10, thanked him and went on my way. It’s been more than 30 years, but I still remember it like it was yesterday. He was just one of those unforgettable people that we meet in our life. Every time I get a flat tire, I remember the day I coasted into a mental hospital.

Please check out my novel, In Fashion's Web on Amazon.

The Earth Is One Big Recycling System

Every year, the trees recycle their leaves and the flowers recycle their blooms. Even we as humans recycle when we die and new babies are born. Landfills recycle when garbage is broken down and decomposed, even though it can take up to 50 years. And, of course, there are actual recycling centers where we melt down glass and plastic and reconstruct paper into new paper products.

Unfortunately, today, however, we are using more than the earth can recycle. It horrifies me when I see people, and even entire companies, that aren't recycling. The Earth is dying. It is being smothered by garbage and pollution and won't last more than a handful of generations if we don't get serious about recycling everything we use.

I also look forward to the day when every home has solar panels and a small windmill on its roof. There is no reason for us to run out of electricity, or to be dependent on fossil fuel, when God gave us the sun. We are abusing our gifts. We need to do better.

Happy Earth Day!

Please check out my novel, In Fashion's Web on Amazon.

Please Read to Your Child

Parents, please, for the love of God, read to your children. Read every day. Let them explore the wonder of books. Kids love to turn pages and look at the bright colors. They enjoy hearing the stories. They get caught up in them and mesmerized by them. But if you don't read to them at an early age, they will never develop that love of books. And they won't read.

Read is so important and kids today do not read enough. They read texts with abbreviated words and acronyms. They read snippets of information on the Internet, and it's not enough. They need to read long-form material like Harry Potter and Nancy Drew and Jungle Book.

I remember when I was four and my sister Diane was five, my grandmother was taking Diane to the bookmobile, and I couldn't go because I was too young for a library card. You had to be five. I was insanely jealous and so angry that I swore to God and all of heaven and earth that when I was five I was getting a library card. The memory is so vivid to me even now. I remember how angry I was, but that was only because I loved to read so much. I was completely hooked on books.

As a child, for me, books were about escaping and traveling. They got me out of my world and put me in another world and I loved that. I got so caught up in them.

My sister and I always read at a higher level than our age. Length has never been a deterrent for me. Nine hundred pages? No problem. 

Another great "book" memory I have of my childhood was when I was 14. I had been asked to babysit a neighbor's kid all day on a Saturday while the mom (a single mom) worked. But the kid was 12 and didn't need watching, he only needed an adult in the house, so I picked up a book off the mother's nightstand and started reading it: It was "The Happy Hooker," and it was about 900 pages. I sat and read that thing all day. Boy did it keep my attention! I only had about 80 pages left when the mom got home. I laugh now when I think back. I asked her if I could take the book home and finish it and she said no. 

I don't have as much time to read today as I used to, but I always keep a book nearby.

Parents, if you want your children to succeed at anything, please get them hooked on reading. It doesn't cost anything, it will bond you together, and you will never regret it.

Please check out my novel, In Fashion's Web on Amazon.

Good Bye, CDs ... Hello MP3s

Once upon a time, like, 10 years ago, I swore I would never buy an MP3 download because I would miss the covers. I really enjoyed opening a CD and pulling out the cover, going through each page inside one at a time, reading line for line, and looking at all the photos. Plus, I didn't think I would be the kind of person to buy one song at a time. I liked getting "the whole CD." Even for my iPod, I used all the old music I had (when you have 450 CDs, you have a lot to choose from!).

Well, then the recession happened, and buying CDs became less of a priority. So one day, after many, many months of not buying any of the new music I wanted, I decided, well, I'll just download that one song I really, really want. So I did. It took about 1 minute and there it was -- new music on my computer! It happened so fast, and it was easy, and so cheap! Just ninety-nine cents!

So then I went, oh, I get it. I get this! A month later, I bought another song, and then another, and you can see where this is going. It's been about 5 years and now, of course, all I buy is MP3s.

Not only that, but MP3s are so easy on the budget. Even when I can't afford to go shopping for new clothes "this month," I can still afford a new song. What's a dollar? And what a lot of great enjoyment I get for that single dollar.

The interesting thing is, I'm not just buying new music. I'm also buying old music. That's one of the great beauties of MP3s. You can get any genre, any decade. Over Christmas, I was tired of the really old Christmas music we had and I was dying for a really good version of O Holy Night, so I went to Amazon.com and in about 30 seconds I bought Celene Dion's version and within a minute I was blasting it from my home office speakers. I do believe MP3s have spoiled me!

And now Amazon has the cloud, so I can save all my music to the cloud and if my computer breaks or I lose my iPod, wallah! just go up to the cloud and redownload it. If only all of life were that easy.

Now, not only do I not miss the covers of my CDs, but I look at my CDs as taking up space. I have no interest in buying a whole CD anymore.In fact, I'm thinking about converting the big bookcase of CDs that is just taking up unnecessary space to one (or two or three) of those black zipper cases with the sleeves inside. How easy to store, and less to move!

I wonder if, 10 years from now, a new technology will come along and I'll be saying, never! I'll never give up my MP3s! Only time will tell. 

Please check out my novel, In Fashion's Web on Amazon.

My Best-Ever Halloween Costumes

As Halloween approaches, I am reminded of the various costumes I've created throughout my adult life. Winnie the Poo, Raggedy Ann (my then husband was Andy), a 10 lb. sack of potatoes. The bag of potatoes was creative enough to win me an office costume prize. Then there was the Crayola Crayon.

My girlfriend Chris and I went on a Mets Fan Appreciation cruise in 1986 right after they won the world series. There were just two players -- Lenny Dykstra, my idol, and Bobby Ojeda, along with former Met Tommy Agee, managers Bill Robinson (may he rest in peace) and Mel Stottlemyer, and radio announcer Gary Thorne.

Weeks before the cruise, Chris had been saying, 'you know, they have masquerade contests on these cruises', and I must have said a dozen times, 'no way, I'm not doing it, if you have your heart set on that, then I won't go at all.' But then our first day on the ship, we met these two guys who gave us an idea for a costume. We loved the idea and were going to make four of them, to thank the guys for the idea. They disappeared and we never saw them again so it ended up being just the two of us. But the idea was brilliant.

We were Crayola Crayons. Working with really basic tools such as garbage bags, crepe paper, a black Sharpie and a butter knife because they were all out of scissors, we turned ourselves in two red and yellow crayola crayons, then found ourselves a piece of cardboard and designed it to look like a box of 64. Not only did we enter the masquerade contest, we won! It's a great memory. We won some great prizes, too. A bottle of champaigne, which we promptly opened with two guys we met, a beautiful dish with the ship's logo, a few other things.

But one of my all-time favorites is 'super editor'. A few years ago, one of my friends from work had a Halloween party at which the theme was superheros. You could make up your own, as long as you fit the theme. I was stumped. I didn't want to be any of the conventional superheros. They were too, well, conventional. So finally I said, self, who are you? What would represent you? And I said back, well, I'm an editor, so how about super editor?

I wore a red shirt with black leggings and a red cone on my head to represent the point of the editor's infamous red pen. On my tee shirt was the proofreader's mark for deletion a line with a curly cue in the middle. The caption over the symbol said, 'I delete crime'. Then I created a staff with the curly cue on it and I would aim at bad guys at the party and say, "I delete you!" I walked around all night doing that. It was so much fun!

Please check out my novel, In Fashion's Web on Amazon.

Billy Gilman Launches The Choice

Billy Gilman is one of my favorite country singers, but his appreciation from me just got kicked up a notch after discovering the video of The Choice on his website.

A person who gives his heart as much as his voice, it was Billy's idea to bring together 19 leading country music arts to sing for international shoe charity Soles4Souls. Their goal: to donate 500,000 pairs of shoes.

As noted in the video, there are more 500 million people in the world who do not own a single pair of shoes. 300 million of them are children. Billy is working Soles4Souls to put much needed shoes on the feet of people who deserve them.

God bless all of these artists who donated their time to sing the song, and it's a great song! Check it out, you'll love it. One download equals one pair of shoes. Download the song today and help a worthy cause!

Please check out my novel, In Fashion's Web on Amazon.

One More Thing ...

I actually just found out the history of the 29 day giving challenge! It originated as an African ritual. That's it! That's all I know!

Please check out my novel, In Fashion's Web on Amazon.

The 29 Day Giving Challenge

A couple of months ago, I received a book in the mail from my friend Suzanne in Virginia. The book was "29 Gifts: How a Month of Giving Can Change Your Life," by Cami Walker. The book is about the 29 day challenge. The challenge works like this: For 29 straight days, you give a gift. You give it freely, and without any desire for reward. You don't skip a day. If you do skip a day, you start over. I don't know what the significance was of exactly 29 days. I don't think Cami, the book's author, ever really found out from her meditational and spiritual guide who told her she had to do this.

Suzanne had just finished the book and took the challenge. Giving me the book was one of her 29 gifts. She said, "you have to read this book, it will definitely change your life." I took her advice and began reading it immediately.

It didn't take me long to realize that I both wanted and needed to take the 29 giving challenge. I started the next morning, and began writing down the things I freely did for others every day. I found that I had no difficulty coming up with gifts for others, as I was doing anywhere from 3 to 4 things for others every day. I  am heavily involved in volunteering in my church and, at the time, I had a lot going on, and I included all of those things I did for the church. I also included things I did for my family, such as favors for my husband or my mother-in-law. Lastly, I included things like phone calls to girlfriends I hadn't spoken to in a long time, to let them know I was thinking about them.

The 29 days ended and I felt really good about myself. I went on with my life thinking, I need to tell people about this. What happened next I need to shout from the rooftops.

I have been a freelance writer and editor for nine years. But over the past year, the market has considerably deflated in price. I have had tons of work, just not a lot of income. At the same time, I felt like nine years was enough. My mom passed away and, after dealing with her being sick for seven months and then dying, I came home from Arizona feeling like a desperately needed a change in my life.

I wanted to get out of the house. I wanted to work among people again. I wanted to wear pretty office clothes. I wanted to travel for business. I started looking for a full time job.The market was incredibly difficult. In my field, there were at least 500 people going for every job. If I wasn't among the top 10 resumes they opened, that was it. They stopped there. I was growing more disheartened by the moment.

Then I read the book and did the challenge and my professional life completely turned around. Out of nowhere, I received a call from a client I hadn't heard from in two years. The client had an assignment for me, and it wasn't a low-paying one, it was a going-market-rate project, so good money. That same week, I got a call from another client I hadn't heard from in two years. They also had an assignment for me, and it was top dollar as well. Then the icing in the cake. I got a full time job working for a client.

It hadn't dawned on me when I was giving that it was going to come back to me tenfold, even though they said it would. I am so amazed by this. I am just now finishing up the last few pages of the book and can't wait to mail it off to another friend whom I've already told about the book.

I'm so grateful for my good fortune that I've decided to do the 29 day challenge again, starting with the day I mail off the book. I want to give thanks for all that has been given to me.

If you are interested in the 29 day giving challenge, go to 29gifts.org. And by all means, treat yourself to the book at 29giftsbook.org. I am certain you will not regret it.

Please check out my novel, In Fashion's Web on Amazon.

Sign Up for Hands for Life!

Saturday, August 25 • 8:00am - 6:00pm

The City of Stamford is hoping to set a World Record by training more than 10,000 people in hands only CPR. The 15 minute free training will take place in the Field House at Chelsea Piers Connecticut. The event runs from 8:00am to 6:00pm on Saturday, August 25. Come out and become a lifesaver.
For more information go to HandsForLife.org.

I'm signed up. Will you join me?

Please check out my novel, In Fashion's Web on Amazon.

Mickey Mantle's Autograph

I'm working with the TV on in the background and the show is Everybody Loves Raymond. Ray's wife Deborah is trying to get rid of an old baseball that Mickey Mantle supposedly signed when Raymond was 10. It reminded me of when I was 5. We lived across the street from Courtland Park on Courtland Avenue in Stamford. I went across the street one day by myself to play. Back in those days you could do that. I was pushing myself on the merry-go-round, sitting on the end with one leg on and the one leg off doing the pushing when two teenage boys came by and asked if I wanted them to push. I said sure.

I don't remember how the conversation started, but one of the boys tried to tell me he was Mickey Mantle. I didn't believe him but I wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt. Plus, at that time, I was just learning the old adage, "if you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all."

I was too young to do math and had no idea that Mickey Mantle was born in 1931 and that would have made that teenage boy about 33 years old. Of course, today, if that happened, I would pull out my iPhone, go to Wikipedia, and in about 30 seconds be able to tell the boy, "you sure don't look 33!"

After a while, I was getting ready to go home and he said, "okay, well if you don't want my autograph." I really didn't believe him -- even at 5 I could see the BS meter going off the chart -- but I thought, what's the harm in taking it just in case? So I picked up a gum wrapper off the ground and turned it over to the white back side, which he signed. I don't think I could even read his handwriting but there was a part of me that was excited. There was a small possibility, right? 

I kept it for awhile, then my mother probably threw it out and I forgot all about it until I saw this episode. Meanwhile, back at the show, Ray's father breaks the news that the baseball he cherished for the last 15 years was not signed by Mickey Mantle. That he signed it himself for the fun of it. Ray was crushed and I felt a slight affinity to Raymond at that moment as I remembered my somewhat prized gum wrapper.

Well, I look at it this way. I don't have an expensive piece of Mickey Mantle memorabilia, but I do have a childhood memory. And that's good enough for me.

Please check out my novel, In Fashion's Web on Amazon.

I've been quoted in "Fabulous 15"

I just received a Google Alert telling me I've been quoted in this article on the top 15 digital influencers.
To read the article and find out who the top 15 digital influencers are, click below!

http://www.econtentmag.com/Articles/Editorial/Feature/Fabulous-15-The-Top-Digital-Media-Influencers-82375.htm

Please check out my novel, In Fashion's Web on Amazon.

You Can Do All Things Through Christ Who Strengthens You

This was originally published in the Norwalk United Methodist Church May 2012 newsletter.

I remember one day not long after Adrian and I were first married. He brought home a small handmade wooden sign he had bought in a boutique and hung it up in the bathroom. I instantly didn’t like it. The sign was green. I hate green. Also, the bathroom was purple, so the colors clashed.

I wanted to tell him that I didn’t want it there -- that I didn’t want it anywhere, but then I read the sign. It was Phillippians 4:13: “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” My first thought was, ‘hmmm.’ Maybe Adrian didn’t choose that spot, maybe God chose that spot. In fact, maybe Adrian didn’t even choose the sign. Maybe, just maybe, his bringing it home was God’s doing and it was again God who led Adrian to the exact spot on which he put it up. It was certainly in a high visibility location where both of us would read it every day, so I thought, who am I to argue with God? I left it there, not saying a word, figuring God had his reasons.

This month, Adrian and I will be celebrating our sixth anniversary, but the sign is no longer in the bathroom. For several months now, it has been sitting on my desk, just to the left of my computer. I look at it several times a day, and it has increasing significance for me now.

When I look to my right, I see a picture of my departed mom and I am reminded of the sign to my left. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. I look at how the concert team met every Tuesday night, week after week for 8 weeks working hard to pull together an awesome event and I remember the sign. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. I think about how the freelance market has slowed down and how hard I am working for much less money than I have ever made and I think of the sign. I think about how hard Adrian works on his feet all day and then comes home and volunteers his time cooking for ministries like NUMC’s Manna house, and I think about the sign. 

You would think, at this point, that I wouldn’t need to see the sign at all. That I would simply have it engrained in my mind and believe. But I am, after all, human. I need constant reassurance and nudging from God that I have inside me what it takes to achieve the things I need to achieve and to overcome the things I need to overcome. Now, I can’t imagine not seeing the sign. If it disappeared, I would feel like a piece of me is missing. I wouldn’t be able to start my day.

In tough times like these, sometimes we all need a little reminding, a little nudge, and so for all of you, I want to share our sign. Cut it out. Hang it up. And read it every day, or as often as you need to. And remember, you can do all things through Christ who strengthens you.

“I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”
Phillippians 4:13

Please check out my novel, In Fashion's Web on Amazon.