Here is a video made for Alive Ministries. Pam Kanaly and Shelley Pulliam serve as co-founders.
This video tells a bit of my life’s story about being a single mom. Among many things, I learned to not give up. God’s goodness guides us through every trial and difficulty!
I wrote a guest blog explaining how to find the backstory of a character. You can see it here:
http://seriouslywrite.blogspot.com/2017/01/whats-in-your-characters-past-by.html
Another year has come and gone, leaving many memories to cherish. Our family is all one year older, which means our twelve grand kids have grown taller, more beautiful and handsome, and smarter. They are now between the ages of four and twenty – hard to believe! We are proud of all of them and our amazing six children and awesome in-laws! At Thanksgiving, we got a picture of the whole family – the first time in many years we were all together.
The international students have been a joy! We still meet every Wednesday night. We have had students from China, Korea, Nepal, Saudi, Japan, Cameroon, Taiwan Malaysia, and Sierre Leone. I’m sure I forgot a country or two. I cook and Bill teaches. I am looking for new easy recipes if you have any. It has been an awesome semester. Here are some pictures of students.
We had a few cookouts on our “ranch” in Guthrie. Bill started building a barn on it and hopes to get it finished in 2017.
I published my first historical novel! Yeah for A Promise to Break and have great reviews! Book signings were so fun! I hope to have the second book ready to publish in the spring. I also published a book of poetry, Anna Lee. Also, I am four years without cancer and do not need more tests for another year!
God has blessed Bill and I so much that, as he would say, “We’re better than we deserve!” May the Lord bless you through this coming year! You are loved!
Memory House Publishing LLC will release a new book, Anna Lee, a story poem by Kathryn Spurgeon. She will be at the Living Word Bookstore in the Shawnee Mall for a book signing on Saturday, December 3, 2016, from 1 pm to 3 pm.
Anna Lee is a selection of poems arranged into a story. It is about a young woman’s feelings through love, loss, and God’s healing. Follow Anna Lee as she struggles for value through a difficult time in her life.
Spurgeon, a poet, believes everyone writes from the heart, which means anyone with a heart can write a poem. It may not be smooth, conventional, or understandable, but if meaningful to the writer, it works.
Spurgeon should know. She just wrote her five thousandth poem.
Spurgeon recently released a historical novel about Shawnee in the 1930’s. The novel was been selected as October Reviewer’s Choice by the Midwest Book Review! “Exceptionally well written, making it a consistently compelling read from beginning to end.” Small Press Bookwatch: October 2016, James Cox, Editor-in-Chief, Midwest Book Review
To pre-order Anna Lee, go to http://memoryhousepublishing.net/anna-lee/
See the author’s website at www.kathrynspurgeon.com
Every time we learn some new little nugget about Christ, it is like opening a seashell and finding a pearl, or similar to digging for diamonds at the Crater of Diamonds State Park in Arkansas. How awesome to find a precious truth meant just for us at just the right time!
Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls. When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought it. Matthew 13: 45-46
I finished teaching a Bible study in Shawnee about encounters with Jesus. We studied insight from Bible stories many church-goers have heard over and over through life, but we dug a little deeper to find something new. Some fresh, thoughtful little treasures. We wore pearls (and hats) the last day to remember that God gives us precious nuggets of truth to help us through life.
Example: Remember the story about the Mother-in-Law? Jesus and his disciples dropped in on Peter’s mother-in-law for dinner, just like college kids converge for food. (Matthew 8:14-17) Usually, she would jump up and happily pull out food from her pantry, slap burgers on the grill, but no, not this time. She lay sick in bed with a fever. Okay, she could just send them down the street for cheese pizza, right? Wrong. She couldn’t. So Jesus took care of the problem. He healed her so she could serve to her heart’s desire.
What treasures can we find in this story? Everyone is important in God’s work, no matter how small the task may seem. Nothing is too tiny for Jesus to address, no person too insignificant, and nothing too trivial. Remember, no matter what is going on, Jesus can touch your life.
As we discussed this story, these sweet ladies in Shawnee brought me joy with their input and enthusiasm. Thank you all! Our greatest treasure came when one lady accepted Jesus as Lord and her spirit was renewed!
With the Lord’s blessing, soon I hope to offer pearls of wisdom in a new book, a forty day devotional of individual encounters with Jesus.
You can find my Christian historical novel at http://amzn.to/2cHLrRe
New Bible study class starting in Shawnee