Friday, December 21, 2012

12 Pearls of Christmas Day 7! Enter to win a PEARL NECKLACE! Author Julie Lessman today!

I apologize, but I am behind. I have been very ill for the last several weeks now, about 3 to be exact. I am trying to catch up, so there will be several of these posts one after the other. I want to share them ALL with you, as these are wonderful authors! So please bear with me! I'll be working on getting these all caught up! Thanks! Laurie


(Also - There are a total of "12 Posts" for the 12 Pearls of Christmas! If you would like to read ALL of the posts, there are 2 ways to do this.
1. Click the HOME button and scroll down. You will come across some posts.
2. To read "ALL" the Posts, look in the LEFT side-column under Archives. Click on December. Go down the list looking for the 12 Pearls of Christmas Posts. Some of them start off with that wording, and then some of them may start off with the Day 1, or Day 2, etc. Keep looking and you will find ALL of them!
3.  Remember, there are '12' posts in total. This post happens to be #7, so as of today, we have '7' posts - yet there will also be future posts, too! Future posts  would be posts above this, such as Day 9, Day 10, etc. It may take a little looking around, but you WILL find them! Enjoy them all! We have WONDERFUL AUTHORS who have written some WONDERFUL Posts you will enjoy VERY much!! I have thoroughly enjoyed reading these as I have posted them! I have some favorites that will stay with me forever! If you come across some you would like to share, feel free to do so!
4. ***URGENT*** Most of all, make SURE you ENTER for a chance to win that STRAND OF PEARLS!
5.  Next year, (hopefully Margaret McSweeney will do this again?!) if you want to come back and read these Posts again, click on 2012. ALL of the Months of the Year will pop up. Remember ALL these Posts are in the month of December, and in December ONLY! (Also, next year I will do the Posts differently. I will use '1' LINK and '1' LINK ONLY! I will have a button on the side, and instead of linking it to Margaret McSweeney's blog, I will link it to MY POSTS. Her blog is in every post already, so you can access it from each post already. I think it will be MUCH easier to do it that way than the way I did it this year. If YOU have any suggestions, feel free to leave them in the comments section! Thanks!

Enjoy! Good Luck, Merry Christmas, and Happy New Year to ALL my Readers and ALL of these Authors, too! Thank you, to ALL the Authors who have written these Posts! These have been wonderful stories to read, to reflect on, and to enjoy! GREAT job done by all! THANK "YOU" for adding to our wonderful season!
Remember: Jesus is the reason for the Season!
Laurie)


Welcome to the12 Pearls of Christmas blog series!

Merry Christmas from Pearl Girls™! We hope you enjoy these Christmas “Pearls of Wisdom” from the authors who were so kind to donate their time and talents! If you miss a few posts, you’ll be able go back through and read them on this blog throughout the next few days.

We’re giving away a pearl necklace in celebration of the holidays, as well as some items (books, a gift pack, music CDs) from the contributors! Enter now on Facebook or at the Pearl Girls blog. The winner will announced on January 2, 2013 at the Pearl Girls blog.

If you are unfamiliar with Pearl Girls™, please visit www.pearlgirls.info and see what we’re all about. In short, we exist to support the work of charities that help women and children in the US and around the globe. Consider purchasing a copy of Mother of Pearl, Pearl Girls: Encountering Grit, Experiencing Grace or one of the Pearl Girls products (all GREAT gifts!) to help support Pearl Girls.

***
When God Wraps a Present . . .

By Julie Lessman

We’ve all heard the adage “it’s better to give than receive,” but never have I agreed more than the year I was engaged to the love of my life.


It was truly a Christmas to remember—spiced egg nog and snickerdoodles and shimmering presents unwrapped in a circle of love. Of course, we all ooohed and ahhhed over each gift opened, one at a time, reveling in the glow of excitement for giver and recipient alike.


And then it was my turn. Everyone waited while I tore into a small box, anticipation fairly shimmering in my fiancé's eyes.


“Do you like it?” he asked, grinning like a little boy when I unearthed a very pretty silver watch.


No. “It’s beautiful,” I said with a shaky giggle, slipping it on and holding it up for everyone to admire. I quickly gave him a sweet kiss on the lips. “Thank you so much, babe—what a perfect gift!”


Perfectly awful, that is. You see, when you are a twenty-eight-year-old Type A career woman who is very set in her ways, there are just some things you have to buy for herself—books, costume jewelry, purses … a watch.


All right, yes, I’ll admit it—“high maintenance” is my middle name because heaven knows I’m one of the most particular people on the planet, especially when it comes to watches. They have to be digital, waterproof, have a day and date window, an alarm, chronograph, second hand, both silver and gold metal to wear with either silver or gold jewelry, stretch band skinny enough to fit my wrist . . . and a GPS. Okay, I’m pulling your watch chain on the last one, but you get the picture—NOT easy to find, especially with numbers big enough for someone blind as a bat.


So, yes, I faked it, of course, thanking my soon-to-be husband for the “prettiest watch I had ever owned,” because it was—I just didn’t like it. But did I “fake it” with God? Uh, no. I went straight to His throne in prayer and begged Him to help me love this watch because the man I loved gave it to me and I just flat-out didn’t want to hurt his feelings. I even went so far as to write the prayer request on a piece of paper and put it in my Bible so I could “wrap” it in prayer every single day, which I did.


Until the fateful moment years later when my husband used my Bible one day and found the note.


“You don’t like your watch??” he says, confronting me with hurt in his tone while his eyes flicked to the pretty watch on my wrist.


“What are you talking about?” I asked, somewhat confused.


He held up the note. “You told God you hated it in this note I found in your Bible.”


Uh-oh . . . BUSTED!


“Oh, babe,” I said with my brightest smile and a quick kiss on the lips. “That was then and this is now. It’s perfect for me, just like you, and I absolutely love it.


And you know what? I did!!

***
Award-winning author of “The Daughters of Boston” and “Winds of Change” series, Julie Lessman was ACFW’s 2009 Debut Author of the Year and voted #1 Romance Author of the year in Family Fiction magazine’s 2012 and 2011 Readers Choice Awards. Winner of 14 RWA awards, she also appeared on Booklist’s 2010 list for Top 10 Inspirational Fiction and has just released her 7th novel, A Light in the Window: An Irish Christmas Love Story. You can contact Julie at her website, on Facebook, on Twitter at @julielessman, or read excerpts of her favorite romantic and spiritual scenes from each of her books at http://www.julielessman.com/excerpts/.

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