Wednesday Book Giveaway & Guest blogger, Caryl McAdoo

I love Wednesdays! It's my book giveaway day and the day I set aside for guest bloggers. Today please welcome the prolific and delightful author Caryl McAdoo.

Simon & Schuster, Christian hybrid author, Caryl McAdoo is currently writing three series: her historical Christian ‘Texas Romance’; the contemporary ‘Red River Romance’; and ‘The Generations’, her Biblical fiction.

Caryl loves singing new songs the Lord gives her, and she paints. In 2008, she and her high school sweetheart-husband
Ron moved from the DFW area—home for fifty-five years—to the woods of Red River County.

Caryl counts four children and fourteen grandsugars life’s biggest blessings believing all good things come from God. Praying her story gives God glory, she hopes each one will also minister His love, mercy, and grace to its readers.

Caryl and Ron live in Clarksville, the county
seat, in the far northeast corner of the Lone Star State.

Caryl is available across the internet. You can find her and her books at these links:
http://tinyurl.com/CarylsAmazonPage
Sing A New Song http://tinyurl.com/NewSong
Website  - http://www.CarylMcAdoo.com
   (All First Chapters are offered here)
Newsletter - http://carylmcadoo.com/sign-up-to-the-caryler/
  (Get FREE books for subscribing!)
Reviewer? - http://carylmcadoo.com/christian-evaluaters/
 (Join Caryl’s Street Team!)
Facebook - http://www.facebook.com/CarylMcAdoo.author
Puzzle - http://tinyurl.com/SingPuzzle
Blog  - http://www.CarylMcAdoo.blogspot.com
GoodReads - http://tinyurl.com/GoodReadsCaryl
Google+  -  http://tinyurl.com/CarylsGooglePlus
Twitter - http://www.twitter.com/CarylMcAdoo
Pinterest - http://www.pinterest.com/CarylMcAdoo

Wow! Caryl, you are a busy woman.

BLESSED and HIGHLY FAVORED

Many years ago—I’m unsure exactly when—someone I came upon asked innocently as we all do at one time or another, “How you doing?” It’s a casual question, and you’d probably agree
ninety-eight percent of the time, the most often response is ‘good’ or ‘fine.’ But I wasn’t, my heart hurt over something that happened earlier. But what did I answer? “I’m fine, just fine.”

Now I profess to be a guardian of the Truth, have for decades. I hate lies. Holy Spirit said to nmy heart, YOU JUST TOLD A LIE. I couldn’t argue. I had, an out and out, bold faced lie. I repented and from that day forward, made a conscientious effort never to do that again. 

I prayed and the Spirit and I came up with blessed and highly favored. That is always the Truth. No matter the circumstances, I am always blessed and highly favored. If we belong to Christ, then we all are, no matter what happens.

Highly favored I am among women to be the wife of my wonderful wise and Godly husband; I’m mama to four healthy children; and fourteen grandsugars call me Grami. Forget new cars and houses and food and electric bills. Forget the opened doors and His favor that goes ahead of me. Just to be His, just to be called according to His purpose, I am so blessed.

I’ve made it a habit, for nigh on to thirty years now, ninety-eight percent of the time, I answer I am blessed and highly favored. This response offers many advantages in glorifying God, which is my goal in life—to bring glory to His name. Answering “I’m blessed and highly favored!” brings a myriad of reactions.

Christians will say, “Well, Praise the Lord, I am, too! I like that answer, we are blessed!”

So it gives them the opportunity to speak up and praise the Lord. Others might give a weak smile and say, “Uh, that’s good.” So I give them the short version of my testimony how that’s ALWAYS true where saying good or fine is often a lie. How I’m a guardian of the truth. Some think about it and say, “You know, that’s right!” Others repeat, “Uh, that’s good.”

Another benefit of this positive confession is that Almighty God creates the fruit of my lips (Isaiah 57:19). Think about it. He spoke everything into existence—light, the world, all the fish in the seas, the birds in the air, and all the animals; everything that creeps and crawls, too. All except man who formed and fashioned in His own image, made us to be like Him.

Why wouldn’t we expect the things we say to come into being?

I am here to testify. For all these years, I’ve confessed I am blessed and highly favored—thousands of times, maybe tens of thousands. God Himself has created my words and I AM. BLESSED. And HIGHLY FAVORED.  

You can be, too. Get into the habit. May be hard at first, but try it, you’ll like it!

Let me give a few recent examples.

In 2012, a brand new house – we got to choose the floor plan and paint color and most every detail down to the sinks and light fixtures, but didn’t have to pay one invoice. Our house, The
Peaceable, sits back in the woods on 34 acres a few miles south of Clarksville, Texas.

Also that year in April, I met Mary Sue Seymour, a New York agent who liked my writing and told me if I’d write a historical Christian romance, she’d sell it. I wrote VOW UNBROKEN
in nine weeks, sent it to her, and she sold it to Simon and Schuster’s Howard Books in barely five months after we met.

We moved into The Peaceable in July 2013. VOW UNBROKEN debuted in March 2014 to wonderful reviews that continue to make me cry. Publishers Weekly favorably reviewed it. God opened the doors—and gave me the strength—to twenty-six events, parties and in store book signings in twenty-two cities, over thirty blog interviews and articles, and five magazines, two of which had me on the cover.

Just before that busy month, my car’s transmission died, and I didn’t know how in the world I would make all those events, but I knew God did. My sister let me borrow her car the first week
while she was in Colorado. That next Tuesday I was told to find what kind of car I wanted. I visited different dealerships all over the DFW Metroplex and chose a Green Toyota Corolla.

Then I was told to find the particular Toyota dealer with the best out the door price. When I had, and called God’s chosen servant, she came and wrote a check for the brand new vehicle – paid in
full – and put it in mine and Ron’s name. Isn’t He amazing?

And I already could share awesome 2015 examples, but this is probably too long already! Just anyone try and convince me that I am not blessed and highly favored!

Oh let me tell you, the devil and his minions hate it and try over and again to steal my peace and my joy, try to make me believe I am not blessed and highly favored. People listening to him plot and scheme to bring me down. But when God is for me, who can stand against me? In the midst of their lies and unfounded meanness, I can still say, “I am blessed and highly favored.”

And it is true! It is always true!

Try it. I encourage you to take up answering that you are blessed and highly favored. It takes some getting used to but soon enough, it’s so much fun, and it becomes your normal response.

It’s a testament to our God just to tell others that you are blessed and highly favored. It pleases Him. I think He smiles every time I say it.

So how about it? Are you blessed and highly favored?

Then start telling everyone who asks!


Thank you, Caryl. I'm going to give this a try and so I begin now - I am blessed and highly favored.

Now Available! 

SING A NEW SONG

The untimely death of her father shatters Mary Esther Robbins’ heart and separates her from her grade school best friend, Samuel Levi Baylor. During their twenty years apart, she fulfills her life’s dream of penning new songs and singing God’s praise with a Christian band, while he tends his growing cattle herd and shares the Good News at every opportunity.

The Lord brings her home then throws them back together when Samuel agrees to help Mary Esther move and remodel her childhood home. The two decades lost vanish, and their time together convinces both the other is the true soul mate. But misunderstanding and fear keeps them from expressing their true love. Though jealousy rears its ugly head, can love and commitment hold the two together? And while they’re both committed to ministering the Gospel together, can they do it as husband and wife?


Caryl will be giving away a FREE copy of her book. To have a chance to win just leave a comment and make sure to include your email address so she can contact you.

We have a winner from last week. Congratulations to Janelle. You have won a copy of Cynthia Hickey's The Ranchers Dilemma! Way to go!

Grace and peace to you from God,

Bonnie