Month: July 2019

Goodbye July Thoughts

On By Betty OwensIn Betty Thomason Owens

Can you believe it? This is my final post for July! It seems summer only just arrived. In two or three weeks, depending on where you’re from, school will open and summer will officially end for families with children. I need to get busy having fun!

Hello, Thursday Morning readers! Thanks so much for stopping by.

I’m getting ready for a book launch! Amid all the work and excitement, I tend to turn retrospective. It’s not always a bad thing. I’ve read a lot of posts lately about self-esteem and self-image. Writers releasing books often have to put on their “happy in my skin” masks so they can market themselves with a positive image. After all, who wants to buy a book written by a depressed hermit? Not me.

Not that I’m depressed, or a hermit. My teen years were spent trying to hide the fact that an emotional trainwreck lived in my body. I had such low self-esteem, I wouldn’t even attend my senior prom. The real reason for that? All my friends would show up looking gorgeous, and I would look dowdy and ridiculous. You see, my opinion of myself did not match the image in the mirror.

I look back at photos taken of me in those days, and I wonder why I thought I was fat. Why could I not enjoy those years? What blocked my joy? Self image. Low self esteem.

I can’t blame my parents. I now know my mother’s lot was not much better. To this day, she tends to pick at herself. Too-big ears, ugly feet, unattractive legs, and unruly hair. Looking at her, I see none of those things. She is only twenty years my senior. In grade school, my teachers assumed she was my sister.

She was slender and beautiful and attracted attention everywhere we went, mostly because of her smile. Okay, maybe she IS the reason I felt so dowdy. I did not inherit her body type. I was not slender. I have normal ears and straight hair that was never difficult to arrange, but that wasn’t really enough to make me feel beautiful. I realize this is normal among teens in general and in teen girls especially. Over the years, I’ve come to accept those parts of myself that I can’t change. Even so, there are still times when I look in the mirror and cringe.

How do we overcome a negative self-image?

Maybe by moving our attention to others. Be a friend/wife/mother/etc., who loves at all times. Shoulder their burdens, be in the present with them. Laugh with them, cry with them. Maybe by not caring so much what others think about things like clothing choices or our ability with the comb and makeup brush. Or, how high that little needle points on the bathroom scale.

I mentioned above that I need to accept the things I can’t change but I do need to change the things I can.

I need to make good decisions when it comes to my health and what I take into my body.

I need to make sure I drink plenty of water and get the exercise I need.

Another thing I can change is my stress level. Sometimes I just need to breathe. I need to back away from things and take my hands off the steering wheel (but only when I’m not the driver!). Laugh and enjoy life in the moment (as in the above photo!).

I know I’m not alone in this, and things that work for me may not work for others. So, how do you cope with self image? What are your favorite scriptures to bolster those low times?

Sometimes I just need to breathe. I need to back away from things and take my hands off the steering wheel (but only when I’m not the driver!). Laugh and enjoy life in the moment–Click to Tweet

The official release date for Annabelle’s Joy is August 7, 2019. Meanwhile, join me on Facebook for the pre-release fun, activities and giveaways!

– AND –

You still have a few more days to enter to win a free year of reading from Kindle Unlimited. You can enter here: https://www.writeintegrity.com/sweepstakes

Beautiful Hands – A Devotion

On By Betty OwensIn Betty Thomason Owens

Welcome to Hello Thursday Morning‘s devotion. As promised, every third Thursday will feature a devotional writing by one of my friends.

Beautiful Hands

By Harriet E. Michael 

Read: Isaiah 52:6-9

“How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation, who say to Zion, ‘Your God reigns!’” Isaiah 52:7(NIV)

“You have beautiful hands. Are you a hand model or something?” The question came from a lady working at Wal-Mart’s Money Center. I was there to wire money to a pastor friend in Africa.

The recipient of the money is a native pastor who lives and works amid adversity the likes of which I have never experienced. The money I was wiring was a gift from my mother’s women’s mission group. My role was nothing more than errand boy. I wired the money simply to help my mother. But as I handed the money across the counter, this woman paid me a compliment.

I looked down at my hands. They used to be pretty – long slender fingers with strong nails. But that was many years ago. In the past few years, I have developed arthritis in my fingers. And though I still try to make my hands attractive by painting the nails, my joints are swollen and two of the fingers bend quite noticeably.

I held my hands up and commented on my arthritis as I thanked the lady just the same. She said she had not even noticed until I pointed it out to her. I remembered God’s word, “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news.” I smiled as I left Wal-Mart, because I knew the reason my hands looked pretty today.

Prayer: Oh Lord, make our hands and feet beautiful in your sight. Make them to eagerly work to bring the good news of your salvation to the nations. In Your Son’s name, Amen.

Thought for the day: God makes everything beautiful in its time.

A Day in the Life

On By Betty OwensIn Betty Thomason Owens

Hello, Thursday Morning! I usually say a word about the weather here. Like many of my readers, we’ve had an abnormally wet beginning to summer. This week has been a bit drier, but all this sunshine after all that dampness, creates humidity. I’m not complaining but I am staying inside (mostly).

My day begins early, since hubby leaves the house before six a.m. I have two part-time bookkeeping jobs, so a couple of days a week, I’m away from home. The rest of the week, I’m home, but working. And summer brings grandkids, at least once a week. So, the days seem to fly by at the speed of sound. I’m so amazed that we’re already halfway through July.

I spend about eight hours a day at least three days a week, working on the bookkeeping chores for two companies. Factor in my position as treasurer of a good-sized writers conference, and you have another few hours a week. I feel a little like a juggler at times. I confess, sometimes I worry, lest I fumble and drop everything.

Oh, and by the way, I write in my “spare” time. Such is the life of a writer. Sometimes I envy those who have entire days to dedicate to their craft, especially when a story is bubbling in my imagination and my fingers itch to write it. But I’m being real here. If I had that entire day to write, I’d be dawdling. I’d be chasing my thoughts amid myriad distractions, kind of like the flitting path of a butterfly.

Those who have an artistic bent can definitely identify. If you’re highly disciplined, you can take a day like that and create a masterpiece. I’m not saying I’m undisciplined, but I am sometimes unfocused. That’s putting it nicely. When I finally get a day “off” I have so many things I want to accomplish, I end up finishing—nothing.

So, you may be surprised that I’m ever able to finish a book at all. I continue to surprise myself by doing just that. I’ve finished two different series in the last five or six years, and I’m as amazed as anyone.

I’m sponsoring a contest with some of my fellow Write-Integrity authors:

Click the Meme to enter (ends July 27, 2019)

 

Closing the Book

On By Betty OwensIn Betty Thomason Owens

The moment comes when I know it’s time. With a lump in my throat and tears threatening, I draw a deep breath and write the words: “The End.”

It’s time to say goodbye.

Hello, Thursday Morning friends (yes, I know it’s Friday). It’s been an emotional and very busy week for me. I’m getting ready for another book launch. With this book, I am saying goodbye to some dear characters who have filled my thoughts for so long: Annabelle Cross and her daughter-in-law, Connie, Alton Wade, Lillian Wade, Tom Franklin, Riley and Thelma Franklin, Miss Lucy, and all the other supporting characters in the Kinsman Redeemer series.

I won’t have to say goodbye to the town of Trenton, Tennessee, the setting for this series. I love to visit Trenton because so many of my family live there. I look forward to seeing them later this summer.

If you knocked on Annabelle’s door, you can be sure she’d welcome you warmly. She’d offer you a glass of sweet tea and a generous helping of freshly baked cookies. Whether you sat on her front porch, or inside her home, you’d feel the grace and warmth of southern hospitality. Her slow, polite drawl would sound like music to your ears.

And, speaking of music, while you’re there, ask her to sing one of her favorite hymns. She has a lovely voice.

In just a few weeks, the final book in the Kinsman Redeemer series will be available. You are invited to visit with the Wades and the Franklins and enjoy a story that comes straight from my heart. Will Annabelle find love? I can’t tell you that, but I can tell you, she’ll find joy.

Annabelle’s Joy

Unofficial blurb:

On Wednesdays, the soda counter at the Trenton Pharmacy brimmed with customers. Ham sandwiches, the daily special, was the main attraction. Tom Franklin, the pharmacy’s owner, was a close second. The town folk kept a close eye on Tom, hoping to be the first to hear the good news. It was no secret he’d been courting the widow Cross for nigh on two years now. Rumor had it she’d been holding him at arm’s length.

The consensus around the counter? Miz Annabelle Cross better wake up and put her dancing shoes on. Mr. Tom is prime real estate. Maybe a little competition is exactly what Annabelle needs. With help from her friends, family, and a new single lady in town, she makes up her mind to let go of the past and trust God for the outcome. Everything seems to be going her way until life delivers another blow.

In a matter of moments, his elation turns to devastation as Tom fears he’s lost Annabelle forever. This small taste of what Annabelle has suffered in the last three years sends him searching for the peace she’s found. Can the seasoned couple make a go of life together? Move beyond the sorrows of the past to win a second chance at love?

valentine, valentine's dayLet’s talk! Do you have a real life second-chance love story? I’d love to hear about it.