I first heard the spunky author and speaker Patsy Clairmont on a Focus on the Family radio broadcast shortly after we moved to our home on Pollywog Creek almost twenty years ago. The title of her message that day was "God Uses Cracked Pots" and I remember thinking that it was a message just for me. Patsy's trademark wit and wisdom was the balm I needed when I was mothering two busy little boys and a baby girl in my 40's and remains so today - as those little boys have busy little boys of their own and my baby girl stands at the edge of adulthood.
After all these years, I feel like Patsy is my friend. She has lovingly, graciously and transparently shared her joys and struggles with thousands of women who surely must feel the same way. Patsy recently sent me a copy of the lovely Sheltering Trees - The Power, Promise, and Refuge of Friendship by Donna VanLiere and Eddie Carswell. In the introduction, Donna states...
...friends are simply people who choose to open their lives to someone else, sharing joys and burdens, hardships and triumps - not because they have to, but because they want to.
Donna's book encourages us in our friendships with those where we live and work, but I think her definition perfectly describes what Patsy has done for so many of us over the years - not because she had to, but because she wanted to.
Patsy also sent me her I Love Being a Woman flip calendar published by Focus on the Family. The page for today, January 15, says this...
Our security is in Christ, not a state; a Savior, not a setting. "He who listens to me shall live securely, and shall be at ease from the dread of evil." Proverbs 1:33 (NASB).
Good and timely words for me today.
After I heard Patsy speak last summer at a Women of Faith conference in Tampa, I discovered Patsy's blog and I've been a faithful reader since. That's how I managed to snag a copy of that book and flip calendar.
Patsy announced her next amazing giveaway yesterday in 25 Random Things from Patsy Clairmont. She will choose 3 winners from those who read and comment by January 22nd and each of those winners will receive either a book, a letter, or a phone call from Patsy. Is that not cool?
I want one of y'all to win so please go read 25 Random Things from Patsy Clairmont and leave a comment. Now - before you forget.
By the way, have y'all noticed that Patsy has made a few visits to Pollywog Creek herself over recent months? I'm humbled, I tell you. Humbled.
