I am not a writer. And you can ask my friend Libby, I might have tried to convince myself numerous times that maybe I misunderstood God when he told me to write this. But time after time, He reminded me to get back to it. Sometimes through random Facebook posts or church services that were speaking just to me.

Once I finally realized that if God wants you to do something he will get you through it. I started to be prompted what to write- and the words came easy. As my pastor said recently when he was speaking about Paul I am writing with an inspired pen. God gives me the words to write, and I am just doing my best to obey him.

God first prompted me that he wanted me to write a book in October 2021. Back then what I thought the book was going to be about was what God puts together or the unbreakable bond of marriage. But it wasn’t until after my dad passed that I understood it was living with loss. He was getting me prepared by thinking about married people whom death had separated. I wasn’t prepared to know in October what January would bring to my life. That is the wonderful thing about God. God knows that we wouldn’t be able to handle the whole plan all at once.  I remember when I applied and got the Walmart store manager job. If I would have known going in that a year later (to the day) I would get the word that I was going to have to close the store, I’m not sure that I would have applied. And all the experiences that I had would have been lost. Our human minds aren’t ready to see the big picture.  We

have to learn to trust him even though we can’t see the next steps. I will say it is getting easier for me.

Sometimes when things go wrong (according to my standards) I start to look for what God is doing and how he will use the situation. Everything that I have gone through in my life has been preparing me for today- God uses our past and all our experiences for his purposes. Don’t limit what God can do because you limit what you can do. Trust, obey and do.

“The Lord is good, a refuge in times of trouble. He cares for those who trust in Him”- Nahum 1:7

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Dale Tavares is the mother of 3 amazing children: Makayla, Kalani and Leilani.  She has been happily married to her husband Danny Tavares since August 31, 1996. She is a grandmother of 4 wonderful grand kids: David, Abigail, Keoni and Kaelin. She enjoys spending all her spare time with family and friends. She resides with her family in Ozark, Missouri.