Rejection and Then Again…

It came. The e-mail. The one I have been waiting over seven months for. The e-mail from the publisher.

You know the publisher who accepted my book proposal last July at the SheSpeaks (writing/speaking) conference. Yes that e-mail. The one in the first few weeks that I waited with bated breath to come. I would open my e-mail ten, twenty times a day praying for an answer. Then I began to relax a bit. I only looked for it about five times a day. Slowly I stopped really looking for it. I short of hoped it would come, but doubted it would. Seriously just this week I began to wonder if I accidentally deleted it.

But it did come, today. After writing and blogging about dreams and God’s direction and plan for them. After writing about wrestling with God. God prepared me for receiving that e-mail.

The editor who wrote said e-mail is a precious woman of God and I could not imagine a more gracious response. Bottom line, they are not looking for new authors. So no book deal.

Surprisingly I didn’t cry or tear up. I felt disappointed, but I felt peace. I remembered a quote (I have no idea who said this so sorry I can’t give credit), “Man’s rejection is God’s protection.” So begins my counting again.

276. God’s plans are better than mine.
277. Daffodils blooming in my yard.
278. My husband’s beautiful heart.
279. My little man’s laugh.
280. Chubby hands doing it “myself.”
281. Lots of windows in my kitchen when I broil steak and send plums of smoke into the house.
282. The steak was not burned.
283. My girls packed their own lunches for school tonight.
284. Sweet offerings of wild flowers from my girls when I was feeling under the weather today.
285. My little man brought me a blanket when I wasn’t feeling well.
286. God’s word easily accessible.
287. Scotch tape solves lots of issues for my kids.
289. Spring breezes through open windows.
290. March Madness…Rock Chalk Jayhawk KU! I LOVE basketball!
291. Cheese.
292. Three little voices raised in excitement.
293. My husband’s deep voice that reassures me, my kids, and his patients.
294. Hearing my husband being praised.
295. God is there in Japan, He is comforting, loving, and working in that country.
296. Friends who understand I do not have the organizing gene and don’t try to change me.
297. All you who read my blogs. You all bless me!
298. Learning to enjoy the process.
299. The smell of my washer after I use that washer cleaner in it.
300. Long distance friends…The kind that no matter how long it has been it seems like just yesterday.

What are you thankful for?