I know what I’m doing.
I have it all planned out—
plans to take care of you, not abandon you,
plans to give you the future you hope for.
Jeremiah 29:11 MSG

A lot of planning and even more prayer goes into each year’s Colorado and Greater Philly Christian Writers Conferences. And I try, really try, to not mess up on important details – details that often overwhelm me and make me question whether I really can hold it together.

Well, truth is, I can’t. But He can and does!

At the conference the person I thought I had asked to house Edwina Perkins Saturday night told me she couldn’t. God stepped in and provided the perfect person who blessed Edwina immensely even as Edwina was able to bless her.

But that wasn’t my only goof. You can imagine my embarrassment and panic when at the faculty/staff dinner after the conference Sarah Bolme asked me where she was staying. I was certain I had her staying somewhere, but when I checked my lodging spreadsheet (that I hadn’t had time to update) Sarah didn’t have a host family. PTL my friend, Peggy, had not yet left.  So Sarah went home with Peggy. (Peggy and I, by the way, have been friends for almost 50 years and raised our children together. She is Aunt Peggy to my kids.)

But oops – again. When a couple from church came to pick up Craig von Buseck, I discovered that another couple from church were on their way to get Edwina. I had totally forgotten about them. I didn’t have their phone number, but the couple who had just arrived called the couple’s son and daughter-in-law who were on vacation to ask them to call their mom and tell her I didn’t need her after all. (Yes, this was getting complicated and, again, oh so embarrassing!)

But they had just pulled up to my house. “I’m not leaving until I’m certain we’re not needed,” Gladys said.

So she came in just when my good friends from Virginia, Tom and Sue Bailey, were on the phone trying to book a hotel. Instead, Gladys took them home with her and her husband and a “forever friendship” (their words) was formed.

The truth is God already has a plan when our plans fail. But often it’s only in retrospect that we see how God has been at work changing our plans into something far better.

About seven years ago the program I was using for the conference websites and my main website (I hope you’ve visited www.writehisanswer.com as well as the conference sites) was no longer supported. I moved the site to MS Expression and was beyond frustration trying to push through the learning curve. I even paid an “expert” who couldn’t find the answer to the problems I was having.

But God . . .

I got a call from Bruce Shank’s wife. If I remember right, Bruce had come to the Philly conference a year or two before and set up a table for SKWD, his website design and hosting service. Her routine follow-up call was the answer to my desperate prayers.

Bruce and Jonathan Shank came alongside to set up not one, but all three of my websites. What a magnificent job they did not just designing the sites but helping me learn how to make changes, add pages, and so much more. (Their EZ-CMS, Easy Content Managing System, really is EZ because it’s so similar to MS Word.)

Always, when I’ve had a question or needed something done beyond my skills, I’ve been able to pick up the phone and get the help I need. (Their goal is “to take care of all the ‘tech stuff’ so you can focus on your writing.”) In the six or seven years (we lose track) that we’ve worked together, they’ve become treasured friends and prayer partners.

Now known as Celebration Web Design by SKWD (they moved to Celebration, Florida), I send my friends to them knowing that they will be blessed with the same great help I receive. Check out the great sites they designed for:

Barb Haley – www.barbarahaleybooks.com
Facing Facts in a World of Fiction

Pam Halter – www.pamhalter.com
Writing, Editing, Serving

Karen Whiting – www.karenwhiting.com
Speaker, Author – Family, Faith, and Food

Carolyn Ruch, Rise and Shine Movement – http://riseandshinemovement.org
To protect children from sexual abuse. Carolyn is in my critique group. Her children’s picture books, Ana’s Song: A Tool for the Prevention of Childhood Sexual Abuse and Bobby Gilliam, Brave and Strong: A Tool for the Prevention of Childhood Sexual Abuse are available online to read/watch/listen to.

Lori Hynson – www.lorihynson.com
The SuperGal Syndrome – Breaking the Chains of Control, Pride & Perfectionism

Margie Vawter – www.marjorievawter.com
Speaking, Editing, Writing – Discovering Foundations of Truth

Dee Lundgren – www.deelundgren.com
Coaching and Counseling – Help, Hope, Healing After Loss

Vicki Chandler – www.hearteyes.net
Educator and author burdened for children who are ignored or bullied

I’ve been on the phone with Bruce and Jonathan several times since the conference and am absolutely THRILLED that the MP3s of the Philly conference are already available online. (You’ll find the order form at http://philadelphia.writehisanswer.com.) Talk about service that goes above and beyond . . .

I just talked to Bruce a few minutes ago to ask if the special price he offered the Philly conferees could be extended to everyone on my mailing list. He said yes! So if you do not have a website, or if you have a website that needs to be redesigned, I encourage you to view the special offer (good through August 17) that you’ll find on the home page of http://philadelphia.writehisanswer.com. And visit the sites above and the review the specifics of how Celebration Web Design helps authors expand their ministry at http://www.celebrationwebdesign.com/author.

Meanwhile, for any plans that aren’t working out quite as you had hoped, know that Father loves you and has something even better planned.

P.S. I thought you’d like to see Celebration Web Design’s

There is One true God: the God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob. God is immutable, infinite, and incomprehensible. God in His very nature is omnipotent, omnipresent and omniscient. God created and has dominion over the entire world causing it to work for His purpose. God is holy, glorious, good, kind, merciful, jealous, a righteous judge, truthful, faithful, loving, and long suffering. God is known in three persons who are the same in essence and glories, the Three Persons are The Father, The Son and The Holy Spirit.

Christ is the begotten son of God. Christ through His sacrifice became the mediator for all mankind. No man can come to God except by Christ. Christ is the agent of all creation, sustains creation and is eternal.

The Holy Spirit is a helper sent from God, enabled to testify of Christ and truth. Through the Holy Spirit mankind shares in Christ, His blessings and God’s love. The Holy Spirit resides within the believer and by Him the believer is regenerated and renewed.

The Scriptures are the Word of God, free from error in the originals and completely accurate in every way. The Old Testament and the New Testament have been inspired by the Holy Spirit and are the one and only standard of faith and practice. Creation has been given to man as general revelation of God, but the Word is God’s specific revelation.

Mankind was created in the image of God. Mankind was given the right to rule over creation. Mankind choose to rebel against God through the actions of Adam, through his headship all men have fallen. No man except Christ has lived without sin and the wage of sin is death. Man, in his nature, is a slave to sin. Each man, not only receives the penalty of death by way of Adam, but also his own sin. Man is born fallen.

The Redemption of man is the work of Christ. “For since by a man came death, by a man also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive.” Christ’s sacrifice was once for all and covers all sin. (1 Cor. 15: 20-22). By faith in Christ alone, a man is granted the gift of eternal life based upon Christ sacrifice atonement on the cross. Christ literally died, was buried, arose bodily from the dead and ascended into heaven.

The Church is the body of true believers who have taken on the qualities of Christ. The church is being prepared, by the Holy Spirit, as the bride of Christ for His second coming. The church exists as a witness to the Gospel.