Until Next Time

Button courtesy Split Decisionz

Announcement: On Friday, November 14 I'll be a guest blogger over at Slurping Life. This is a huge honor for me as I share my nature pictures and words, something Melody is so gifted at in her own blog. I'd love for you to check her blog out!

It was nearly a year ago God gave me a vision for a new blog, a team blog. He showed me immediately what the theme would be (deeper things of Christian faith) and who the other bloggers would be (Kim and Maria, of course!) It took a few months of prayer for the right timing and for all of us to feel the same way, but here you have it, The Narrow Gate Invites.

It's exciting to see us evolve as much as the blog has. Kim felt such a strong desire to return to Romania, and she did, with so many awesome testimonies and a refined vision. Maria is surrendering fears and stepping out of her comfort zone, sometimes on national TV (see Joel Osteen sidebar on right)!

Me, well next week I feel God is going to do a new thing with me. Physically I'll have surgery that I'm believing will put me in a new season of life. It's been a long road and I wonder if a lot of it was His preparation for the next step in the journey. I'll have a good amount of bedrest and I really look forward to that quiet time with the Lord and just reading.

With that, I'm going to be taking a break from blogging here. I want to use the time of rest to seek perspective and wisdom and have fresh, anointed ideas. Besides here, I blog at my personal blog, Sundays at the Christian Writers Forum and I have two monthly columns at Take Root and Write. The Take Root ministry is so much of my calling, and with that comes groups with the social network, Christian Women Take Root. I facilitate the groups associated with the columns, so it's a fair amount of upkeep. Women are hungry for God's love through marriage and surrender. I'm willing to be a vessel for that as long as He calls me.

So pray for the Narrow Gate Girls. My hope is that Kim and Maria will continue to blog in my absence and that I'll be back in December sometime with renewed vision and a refreshed spirit.

If you have any ideas, suggestions or comments about what you'd like to see here, please leave a comment or e mail us at jarduini@faithwriters.net. We're so thankful for you!

Julie Arduini is a surrendered writer with her own blog, The Surrendered Scribe. A graduate of the Christian Writers Guild, she also blogs for the Christian Writers Forum Sundays as the mommy blogger. She is active with FaithWriters and has several writings ready to publish in different books and anthologies in 2008-09. One of the books will be a quote in Kathy Vick's Simon and Schuster/Howard's gift book, "Run Like a Girl." Julie's surrender story is featured in the Run Like a Girl website launch.

You can also find Julie the third Wednesday of each month over at Take Root and Write with her columns, Finding Freedom through Surrender and Marriage: Striving for Oneness. She facilitates groups by the same name at the sister social networking site, Christian Women Take Root.

He Gives Me Rest

(Photo taken by Julie Arduini/Clute Park, Watkins Glen, NY)

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” (Matt. 11:28)


I have been weary and felt burdened lately, and I definitely need rest. My family and I are vacationing this week, and I am going to rest in Him, and just bask in the freshness of His presence. I have many things on my heart that He has placed there, and I’m laying them at His feet this week, and asking for direction.

So I will update you next week on what the Lord has shown me in my time of much needed rest.

Know you are Blessed,

Maria

Have you visited Christian Women Take Root? The Narrow Gate Invites girls are not only involved in the social networking site with fantastic groups to join but the main site called Take Root and Write. Regular columns are ongoing, check it all out. The best thing you could do with Take Root is sign up for the free subscription feed right to your in box. We'll see you there...and hey---if you have a blog, Take Root has a blog roll. Give your blog some exposure and be associated with a quality Christian site!

Maria and her family reside in NE Ohio. She and her husband are the parents of two. Their daughter is a person with hemipelegic cerebral palsy.
Because of her experiences, Maria provides parent-to-parent support for families involved in her local early intervention program. Her gift for writing has come directly from the Lord since her daughter’s diagnosis.
She writes a monthly column entitled, “Special Parents, Special Kids” for the Mahoning Valley Parent magazine in Ohio; and has expanded into Parent magazines in parts of Pennsylvania and West Virginia. She is also a columnist over with Kim, Julie and other writers over at http://www.takerootandwrite.com/ Maria's column is on encouraging special needs familes.
She is also a contributing author at www.mommiesmagazine.com. Maria's first published work is in Jan Ross and Jeanice McDade's Women of Passion's anthology, "Ordinary Women Serving an Extraordinary God". The book is available for purchase by clicking on the book image on the right side of this blog.
Maria is very passionate about getting the word out to special parents that they are not alone in their journey of raising their special child; and that they were chosen by God to parent their children. Maria welcomes comments and communication as well as invitations for her to speak to your group.

Jolted

This is one of those crazy days where it is running from one thing to another. It was a night where sleep didn't come easy or often, so now that I'm home, I'm winding down. I feel like what I'm going to share is cheating, by taking you to a link, but at the same time, I sense God wants this to reach some burdened readers today. Not because I wrote it and it happened to me, but because the truth God wants to impart here stopped me in my tracks. I can't shake the image, and I think I' m meant to share it with you.

So please, click on the link that will take you to my Sunday post at the Christian Writers Forum. And let God love on you.

http://christianwritersforum.com/Blog/?p=248

Julie Arduini is a surrendered writer with her own blog, http://thesurrenderedscribe.blogspot.com/. A graduate of the Christian Writers Guild, she blogs for the Christian Writers Forum Sundays as the mommy blogger and is the Forum's book club facilitator. She is active with FaithWriters and has several writings ready to publish in different books and anthologies in 2008-09. To get to know her better, read her interview by Lynda Schab at: http://www.faithreaders.com/featured-author-details.php?id=33%20To contact Julie, please use the e mail provided in our profile.