Yes, it has been a while I know. I had the misconception that I needed to iron out all of the issues with my website before continuing to write. Many times, I had thoughts or events that inspired me to write but I held back. I thought I might hit enough keys or watch enough tutorials to fix the glitches. Or better yet, get help!

So, here I am after another session with my friend Pati. She is who I fondly call my Hummingbird Friend. She is tiny, energetic, and all over the keyboard and mouse like a hummingbird zipping from flower to flower for nectar. Now here I am trying my hand at duplicating her steps to enjoy the nectar. Therefore, the title Pressing On.

Pressing on when you know it is what the Lord has for you to do is always right. I think of many times I’ve wanted to just give up when things got really hard. What if our Lord had done that when facing His crucifixion? This question should help us get things into their proper perspective, right? When we are faced with hardships, typically frustration, discouragement, doubt, fear, or confusion sets in.

A prime example of this in my life is a recent event, publishing my new book Blue Skies, Butterflies, and Battlegrounds. With the guidance and assistance of a newfound friend, I self-published my first book Inspire Me. Several others pitched in and made it easy.  

Therefore, my plan was to self-publish Blue Skies, Butterflies, and Battlegrounds. But God had other plans! I told how I came to publish with TBN/Trilogy in my acknowledgments. I made the comment that it was more like doing a cannonball out of the boat, rather than stepping out! Lol! But what I didn’t tell was how I was tested throughout that process. I must have thought that you hire a publisher and they do it all. I can tell you that I quickly found out that is wrong, and why they say publishing a book is like birthing a baby. Interestingly enough it took nine months from submitting my manuscript to my release date.  

God’s plans are always better than mine I can assure you.

Jeremiah 29:11 For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.

He had numerous lessons to teach me through this experience and I wouldn’t trade them for anything. Let me make it clear, if I could have learned those same lessons an easier way, I would have chosen the easy way.

But I thank God He knows me better than I know myself. He knows how to get the job done!

My number one lesson has been through the testing.

Question number one in the test… would I be obedient to complete what God had given me to do even when was it harder than I had imagined?

Question number two…would I let frustration and confusion cause me to say I can’t do this? Or let doubt overcome me and say I must have misunderstood God’s direction? I admit those thoughts did come. But the Holy Spirit reminded me that, David (my husband), and I were in full agreement this was the direction the Lord was taking me.

Another important lesson I learned is that if God brings you to it, He will bring you through it. You know we have many clever little sayings like this one, but God makes it real to us as we “press on” with Him.

As I reached the other side of my unexpectedly difficult tasks, I knew without a doubt who would get the glory! I hold my books and remember that without His gifting, His guidance, and His faithfulness to see it to completion, I would have never written a word of poetry or published any of the eighty that I have written. Nor could I share them with you.

Therefore, even with this website http://rebabailes.com, I press on because I know it is the right thing to do. May it encourage you to do the same. Always for His glory!

Philippians 3:13-14 NKJV Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, v14 I press forward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.