My dear friends,

Since being disabled, I have wondered how I could serve God. At first I was in so much pain and drugged until I was loopy, enough that I was not productive.

I weaned myself off of the meds--mostly--deciding that pain was better than being a vegetable.

I don't walk well and can't sit up for long periods of time. I'm slowly walking myself back to health. with the aid of a walker and the good Lord.

I gained weight from being put on steroids for nine months and unable to move for the most part without extreme agony.

I used to run 3 miles daily and do my chin ups, sit ups and push ups at a top level for my age (with the Navy and Marine Corps)

An injury at the Marine Corps base, while I was on reserve time, set me on the spiral down. When I returned home to my church, and was working, an accident put me into major pain--five surgeries later, and I was down. Going from active to inactive, and put on steroids, I gain 100 lbs. It made my recovery worse.

I can't work a regular job. I haven't been able to be reliable for much of anything. I found this Bible study has helped me feel God at work in me and I praise his name. All good things come from him.

I hoped to find that God had another plan for my service to him.

A few years ago I joined a writer's group and began to study how to write fiction stories. I am working on several projects. I have not felt that my work has been good enough to submit to a publisher.

This past week, I was reading a forum where there was a call for speculative fiction stories about geeks and Comic Cons. I had no idea what to write, but I prayed and sat down. Plotted and wrote. I submitted the story three days later and I heard yesterday that my story has been ACCEPTED!

This will be my first time published as a fiction writer. Very exciting for me. It will be in an anthology that will come out in about six months or so.

This is a huge milestone for me. Having a published work on one's CV makes a difference when seeking a deal with many publishing houses.

I give God the praise and glory for helping me write this story.

In short I am tickled pink and wanted to share with you the successes that God blesses us with. With a career in writing, it doesn't matter that I can't get out and about or do the things that I miss.

I commit my writing to God and his glory.

Blessings,
ChapLynne