What Calms You Most? by Zoe M. McCarthy

My dear friend’s hip was in bad shape. She experienced much pain, especially at night. She could no longer sit on the floor with her great-grandchildren, and this devastated her. It determined her to schedule surgery for the love of her little ones. While she waited months for surgery, she didn’t let her pain keep her from coming to Bible Study. During the study, she told us that when she was with us deep in God’s word, her pain left her. The surgery went so well the doctor sent her home the following night. She has left me two phone messages. Praising God often, she said she no longer has pain, only soreness.

Zoe M. McCarthy

The bolded sentence above touched me and made me think of others in great physical or emotional pain.

Are you anxious, fearful, in pain, and sleepless?

Perhaps you have a

• book releasing in a few days,
• speaking engagement,
• pitch scheduled with an editor or agent,
• test results pending,
• surgery tomorrow,
• court appearance looming,
• appointment to face a foe,
• a child in the hospital,
• house inspection, or
• a trip on a rickety jeep in a foreign country.

Have you ever thought the following activities might calm you?

In God’s presence,

• shop for toys and school materials for four six-year-olds with a friend and together fill the children’s Operation Christmas Child boxes,
• gather with close friends, ask them to lay hands on you, and then tell humorous stories about each other,
• attend a Bible study that goes through a book of the Bible line by line,
• read Billy Graham’s and Corrie Ten Boom’s autobiographies or the biographies of George Müller, Oswald Chambers, or Eric Liddell.
• knit or crochet a shawl for someone that’s in a similar situation as you while watching inspirational movies,
• pray for the needs of a hundred people, then write notes to fifteen of the ones you prayed for,
• read through and pray the psalms, or
• memorize the twenty-third psalm and ten verses to recite in bed at night.

Pick one activity now and do it. If you’re concentrating hard enough, you won’t have room to host pain, fear, or anxiousness. May God bless you.

About the Author

A full-time writer and speaker, Zoe M. McCarthy, author of The Invisible Woman in a Red Dress, Gift of the Magpie, and Calculated Risk, writes contemporary Christian romances involving tenderness and humor. Believing opposites distract, Zoe creates heroes and heroines who learn to embrace their differences. When she’s not writing, Zoe enjoys her five grandchildren, teaching Bible studies, leading workshops on writing, knitting and crocheting shawls for a prayer shawl ministry, gardening, and canoeing. She lives with her husband in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia. Zoe blogs regularly at www.zoemmccarthy.com.


Cooking Up Kisses (Five Sweetly Scrumptious Novellas)

Cooking Up Kisses (Five Sweetly Scrumptious Novellas)

LOVE ON A DARE BY MARY MANNERS
Alana Mulvaney’s life is in a holding pattern. Consumed by day-to-day operations of the family business, Alana has no time for fun or romance. But a little fun and a whole lot of romance is just what Alana’s sisters have in mind when they learn childhood friend Donovan O’Reilly has returned to town.

HUMMINGBIRD KISSES BY DELIA LATHAM
Toni Littlebird believes that when she meets the man God created for her, she’ll know—and she’ll love him in that very moment.
But then Dax Hendrick roars into Hummingbird Hollow on a noisy, crippled Harley, stinking up the air and chasing away her beloved hummingbirds. One look into the intruder’s eyes and her heart sinks. He’s “The One.” She’d been right about knowing, but wrong about something far more important: She will never love this man!

HEARTS ON THE HARBOR BY ROBIN BAYNE
Cara Peyton is content with her life, her trendy Baltimore bookshop is perfect for her. But when her ex turns up to remodel the store, asking for a second chance, she’s torn and unsure about risking her heart again. Can he convince her to trust him, and God, before the job is finished?

HIS VALENTINE PROMISE BY DORA HIERS
Another Valentine’s Day and Quinn Randolph prefers to spend it with her sweet rescue lab. Who needs men and their broken promises? Especially Pierce Karson’s! Years ago, his desertion shattered her. Now he’s trying to steal the property she targeted to expand her florist shop! Pierce only wants to belong…and for Quinn to choose him. His Valentine Promise…

THE INVISIBLE WOMAN IN A RED DRESS BY ZOE M. MCCARTHY
Candace Parks lives a passionless life in Richmond. The computer programmer returns to the empty family home in the Blue Ridge Mountains solely to evaluate her job, faith, and boyfriend. Her high school crush, Trigg Alderman, who barely remembers her, visits his Gram next door. Sorting her life out? How about nothing of the sort!É

The Pain! Characters and Sensory

Peter Leavell

My daughter helped me add depth to my characters.

Each person perceives pain differently, a lesson learned when I heard a sizzling sound and saw my daughter’s hand on the hot stove burner.

She didn’t cry.

We rushed her to emergency, and the doctor said the burn wasn’t horrific, but the poor child needed a therapist. (Her parents did too, but that blog comes later—after we see how things turn out). So we took her to a specialist, and doggone if she wasn’t more scared of a session with the therapist than when she smashed her finger in the door, ripped her nail off, had to get x-rays—and didn’t cry.

Peter, his wife Tonya, and kids!

Each person, the therapist explained, feels pain at different levels. My daughter, for example, falls out of chairs, climbs trees, breaks her arm—and barely feels it. Understand, the therapist explained, that she’s simply trying to feel something. Anything. She may seem like a thrill seeker, but instead, she’s desperate for sensory input.

Desperate wasn’t the word. All encompassing sums it up. My six-year-old’s unwitting search to feel anything was the basis for many, well, rather poor decisions. After months of therapy, through specific exercises, her brain was able to recognize pain.

Characters in our work should have specific pain thresholds. Each day, people make decisions based on pain or pleasure. It’s a great way for our readers to connect to a character.

Everyone enjoys the soft touch of a rose petal, but the thorn we avoid. When our favorite rubber ball bounces in the bush, how long do we hesitate before braving the thorns and grabbing it? Where that line is drawn for each person is different. Tad, the main character in Gideon’s Call, is like my daughter and longs to feel, so he is forever full of bumps and bruises (climbing trees) and searching for hot or cold (fire or swimming). His girlfriend, on the other hand, feels pain easily, and likes only the softest touch. It makes her shy.

Pain thresholds aren't at the forefront of every novel, but it does add an extra element to your character’s makeup.

My daughter is eleven now, and dances ballet. She likes the pounding, the spinning, and most of all, the leaps. And she has a happier set of parents.

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Peter Leavell is an award winning historical fiction author. He and his family research together, creating magnificent adventures. Catch up with him on his website at www.peterleavell.com, or friend him on Facebook: Peter R. Leavell. 

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Multi-Award Winning Gideon's Call

Based on true events from the Civil War, Tad longs to better himself, but is hindered by his skin color. When his plantation owners evacuate, they leave their slaves without any money, education, or leadership. Can Tad overcome unimaginable prejudice and family secrets to become the deliverer of thousands? Gideon's Call is winner of Operation First Novel 2011 and Christian Retailing's Best First Novel 2013.