Picket Fences

"Once Upon a Christmas" is projected to be in our hands November 9, 2010. This is an exciting project with 20 short stories written by, Sharon Bernash Smith, Rosanne Croft and Linda Reinhardt. I wanted to take a moment to share something with you about one of the stories in this book. The story is very dear to my heart, "Only One Wish for Me". It was one of the first I wrote as a young believer. During a time of prayer, I asked for a Christmas story to write, to enable me to reach out to others and share, about this special love and gift I had received through Jesus. That afternoon I wrote out a short story about Grandpa Schooster who has been a delight in my imagination since that day. I was so excited about this story. I had everyone I could read it. And then, one year, I lengthened the story and it was performed as a play at our church. The following year a group of us brought the play to adult care facilities. We had an absolute blast. It has been a prayer of

December, once again, found us dealing with the repercussions of the recession. I was so discouraged I spent an entire day crying. Then a thought went through my mind. What am I crying for? What's it going to do? Who cares if I cry? Not to many days later, I was looking in the fridge. It was pretty empty. "Lord, I'm going to need to go grocery shopping." I didn't want to spend any money because I didn't know when or if money was coming in again. I had enough for rent, bills, etc. but wanted to hold on to it as long as I could. I needed to go and get my daughter from school. I had about five minutes. The doorbell rang just as I was preparing to leave. I opened it to a dear friend of mine who I saw at church or other groups. But rarely did we stop at each other's homes. I felt a bit awkward because I needed to leave. I invited her to join me. She said, "No, I have groceries." I offered for her to stay until I came back and she said, "No, I hav

It's been ages since I wrote on this blog. I wanted to share with you my fiction version of a wonderful story I witnessed years ago. I hope it encourages you and helps you to have faith through whatever may be going on in your own life. Prayer IS a powerful thing. The following is a fiction story based on the true story of one woman’s prayer vigil to reach her son the only way she knew how. A CUP OF HOT CHOCOLATE I heard the front door open. I moved quick as possible from the back room to the entry way, but just as I got there, I heard the click of my son’s door from upstairs and then the sliding of the chain lock that he had recently attached to his door. I wandered back to the kitchen, disappointed once again, a missed opportunity to speak with my son. The house that use to fill with laughter when my blond haired blue eyed boy would come home now seemed to become cold and empty. I began the preparations for dinner with the hope he may join us. Several hours later I had the cha