Welcome to JOYFUL REFLECTIONS. Also welcome to MARCH!!!! My header picture this month is a photo I took of the pretty Crocus blooms in our yard... The Crocuses and Daffodils are the first signs of spring here in Tennessee. I am definitely ready for SPRING...

Monday, May 7, 2018

A Must-Read Book for YOU

Dear Friends,   I have been reading an awesome book,  written by a  blog and Facebook friend of mine.   DEE READY has been a blog friend since about 2012...    Do you have certain blogs that you ALWAYS go to --no matter what????   WELL---Dee's blog has been one of my favorites.   If you'd like to check out her blog,   click HERE.    Dee is a writer and no matter what she says,  I can relate in some way to her situation....

She has written a new book  (her memoir) entitled  "PRAYER WASN'T ENOUGH"....  Even though I have read her blog for several years,  I found out that the book goes more into detail about her decision to enter a convent and become a nun, how life was on the inside,  and then how she survived once she she made the decision to leave. We sometimes think that we are following God's plan for us, but later find out that we took the wrong road.  Taking that wrong road is sometimes not as hard as starting over anew..  






I don't want to spoil this book for you,  but  I will say that Dee's 8.5 years in the convent in the late '50's and '60's  weren't easy for her.   Her ideas of finding peace there through prayer and 'solitude' weren't what she expected for sure.   I was interested in reading about 'community' in the convent, and how that affected her... You will find out about her teaching experience while in the convent when you read the book....  You also won't believe how long it took her to actually leave the convent after she made the decision to do so.

Life after leaving the convent wasn't much easier for Dee for many years... How does one go back into the crazy world we live in --after spending so long without knowing what was going on in the outside world?   In some ways,  leaving the convent may have been harder than staying there.   But  Dee did it --and I, for one, am SO proud of her.

I hope I have said enough to make you want to READ her book...  I will say that no matter what Dee went through,  she doesn't blame or express any bitterness toward anyone at the convent or elsewhere.   She is a gracious Christian Lady,  full of faith and love and hope, who knows that being in the convent was part of her 'growing' experience.   She knows her weaknesses --and has worked her way through them, one step at a time.  We all have those growing experiences ---and going down that 'dark road of life'  makes us stronger.

Please read the book!  To me,  it was an entertaining read filled not only with harsh realities,  but also some humor.  You will enjoy reading about her  'hard-boiled-egg' experience!!!!!!! Ha!



My Friend,   Dee Ready

You can order the book from Amazon.  Click HERE  for a paperback copy OR a Kindle copy.  You can also check out Dee's Facebook Page.   Click HERE.

If you have questions or thoughts,  I'm sure that Dee Ready can help you!!!!   I'll bet that you,  like me,  can relate to much of what Dee has endured in life.   The one thing which Dee has done that many of us don't do is that she has come to terms with her weaknesses and has made the necessary changes in order to find that  joy, love, acceptance, and peace in her own life...  Oh --how I wish we could ALL do that!

I'll close with one of Dee's comments  I read (and copied) from one of her Blog Posts a few years ago:
"Do or say one helpful,  compassionate good thing to someone each day."

Hugs,