Kathy Harris - Loved, chosen, & empowered

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What happens when you are certain God is leading you in one direction only to feel as if He’s asking you to take a hard left? Or, when you find yourself on a long dirt road that appears to be leading … nowhere? If that’s where you find yourself now, I hope you’ll find my guest Kathy Harris’s post encouraging.

When God Sends a Detour, Follow Him

by Kathy Harris

Twenty years ago, I had a milestone birthday. My husband and I celebrated by including me on one of his business trips to New Orleans. While he was attending meetings the first day, I ‘celebrated’ with writing time in the hotel room. I rarely had an entire day to devote to writing or, in this case, research, and it was the beginning of a turning point in my life.

I have wanted to write books since I was a little girl and that dream continued through high school. When I went to college, I majored in communications with a minor in English. And after I graduated from Southern Illinois University, I applied for several creative jobs in diverse industries, finally taking two part-time positions. One was teaching literature and poetry for a junior college. The other was teaching music and other studies in a rural elementary school. Neither of those positions fulfilled the need I had to write, but I enjoyed the opportunity to introduce my love of the written word, as well as music, to both children and adults.

Along with writing, music captured my interest at an early age. When I was in high school, I joined the church choir. Soon after that, two friends and I started a gospel trio, which would eventually because a quartet. We spent hours rehearsing, learning new songs, and performing at local churches and ‘old folk’s homes.’ Eventually we were asked to sing in other cities, broadening our outreach and expanding our vision.

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For three years, I studied communications during the week and then returned home almost every weekend to ride the group tour bus—an old school bus my dad had converted to an over-the-road vehicle outfitted with bunks, a kitchenette, and storage for our gear and clothing. Singing gospel music across three states each weekend and becoming acquainted with exceptional men and women of God played a critical role in the development of my spiritual life, as well as helping direct my goals for the future.

One year after college graduation, after working those two part-time jobs for a year, I was offered a full-time position in the Christian music industry, and I eagerly moved to Nashville. That decision changed the course of my life. It was, as I often say, a “divine detour.” God still had plans for me to write books—and that weekend in New Orleans, when I was celebrating a milestone birthday, I started walking in that direction again.

This week, I celebrate, one more time, with the release of my third novel, and I can tell you, from personal experience, that, when God provides a detour, you should trust Him and then follow wherever He leads. He will bless you for it.

Have you ever wanted to give up on a dream because your life appears to have gone off-track?

Get to Know Kathy

Kathy Harris is an author by way of a “divine detour” into the Nashville music business where she has worked for 30 years as a marketing director. She sold her first Christian nonfiction story in 2007. Her debut novel released in 2012. She writes romantic suspense and women’s fiction. Visit Kathy’s website, read her Divine Detour blog or follow her on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram.

Her Latest Release:

Will they uncover the secrets between them before it becomes deadly?

After fending off a would-be abductor, 27-year-old singer-songwriter Hannah Cassidy hides behind a car in the half-empty parking lot behind Pancake Pantry in Nashville. From there, she watches in horror as her attacker grabs another woman and pushes her into a nearby car. Within seconds, the vehicle speeds away.

TBI Special Agent Jake Matheson may have planned a quiet day off and a date with Shannon―the only name her online profile revealed―for an introductory lunch, but after pulling into a parking space on 21st Avenue South, he hears a scream. He races to the back of the building and finds a frightened young woman bent forward and gasping for breath.

Thrown together by uncanny circumstances and driven by the whys and what-ifs of secrets yet to be revealed, Hannah and Jake set out to find the connection between them before it becomes deadly.

Buy it HERE.

Why God Might Feel Distant and How to Connect With Him More Deeply – Faith Over Fear

Have you ever wondered why God can feel distant even when you genuinely love Him and want a close relationship with Him? Past experiences of rejection, emotional distance or unmet needs can affect how we relate to others—and how we experience our relationship with God. Jennifer Slattery talks with author, speaker and Anglican priest Reverend Summer Joy Gross about attachment, anxiety and the fears that can leave us questioning whether God is truly attentive, responsive and engaged with us. Summer shares how understanding attachment helped her recognize some of the fears beneath her own people-pleasing and anxiety and how God has been leading her toward greater security in His love. Together, she and Jennifer discuss the pressure to approach God correctly, why we don't have to chase Him or earn deeper connection with Him and how healing often occurs slowly, one encounter with God at a time. Discover how you can bring your full, messy self to God, receive His compassionate presence and increasingly experience the secure, unchanging love of the One who continually draws near. Scripture discussed or referenced: Ezekiel 36:26; Psalm 46:10; Luke 15:3–7, 11–32; Psalms (David’s laments); Mark 10:13–16; Philippians 1:6; Isaiah 51:14 Resource referenced: Emmanuel Promise: Discovering the Security of a Life Held by God by Summer Joy Gross Find Summer Joy Gross: On her website On Instagram On Facebook Find Jennifer Slattery: On her website Instagram Facebook Amazon Subscribe to her free newsletter Discover more Christian podcasts at lifeaudio.com and inquire about advertising opportunities at lifeaudio.com/contact-us.