Even If I Don't See It - I'm Speaking It!

It's amazing how simplistic the Word of God truly is. This dawns on me with each trial, each victory, each conquest, each tribulation, each bit of turbulence, whatever comes in and through my life, the good, the bad and the not so pretty things, that God has me covered. I don't know about you, but knowing this very thing, gives me strength to ask my Father for the desires of my heart. God reassures me that whatever things I ask when I pray, believe that I receive them, and I will have them. And whenever I stand praying, if I have anything against anyone, forgive him, that my Father in heaven may also forgive me my trespasses. But if I do not forgive, neither will my Father in heaven forgive my trespasses.

Now, answer this: How much more plain can that be? God is not a God of confusion. He does all things decently and in order. I am glad that He does. I thank Him for all that He continues to do in my life. There are times when I don't see Him at work, or feel Him at work in my life. There are so many more times that I don't realize that He is yet behind the scenes working stuff out on my behalf! Wow, isn't it amazing to know that God doesn't punch a time clock? It is for me, because I know that I fall short in so many areas of my life. I disappoint people, fail to keep appointments at times, don't always show up when I should, or perhaps could and still there are other times when I can't help someone desperately in need. I don't always remember to pray for others and I sometimes appear selfish and aloof!

Yet God, doesn't ever stop working on my behalf. Even if I don't see a way out, God has a way of escape already in place for me. Even when I don't see where my next break is coming from, God has already orchestrated divine connections. Even when I don't know how I'm going to make ends meet, God reminds me that He owns the cattle on a thousand hills and He alone is sovereign.

God always manages to come through, even if I don't see it at the time. Trust that He will come through for you too!

Shelia E. Lipsey,

NY Times bestselling Christian fiction author,
Plus Oprah's 1st Christian fiction Book Club Pick!

(See what I told you -Even If I Don't See It - I'm Speaking It!)http://www.shelialipsey.com/

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Beautiful Ugly, the novel of three friends seeking how to live when faced with the difficulties of life. Beautiful Ugly is available in bookstores and online, (Including Black Expressions, Amazon,com; Barnes 'n Noble )

Beautiful Ugly by

Multi-Award Winning Author Shelia E. Lipsey

Coming to stores nationwide and Online August 1, 2009!

Is Beauty Really in the Eyes of the Beholder?

Or the One Staring Back at You in the Mirror?

Envy Wilson, Layla Hobbs and Kacie Mayweather are three 30 year old friends who rely heavily on one another for support in troubled times.

Layla fights the battle of obesity, coupled with low self esteem, but her melodious voice can soothe the savage beast. Who can fulfill her desire for love?

Envy is Layla’s backbone, and one of the few people in her life who doesn’t beat up on her about being overweight. But Envy has her own dark and sordid secrets that she refuses to share, not even with Layla and Kacie.

Kacie, born with cerebral palsy, has always felt the need to prove that she can get a man just like any ‘normal’ woman. She has six children and five baby daddies; bug has never had a husband. When she meets an older man at church, she hopes her prayers for a perfect love will be fulfilled.

Through their trials, the three of them cling to each other. The circumstances they face will hopefully teach them how to cling to God.

Order your copy today of this new, soul-gripping novel. Go to http://www.shelialipsey.com/; Amazon.com; http://www.booksnbeauty.com/; bn.com and more online sites!

Shelia E. Lipsey
http://www.shelialipsey.com/
www.twitter.com/shelialipsey

Email: shelialipsey@yahoo.com

The Dreamer

In the words of President Obama, “Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we've been waiting for. We are the change that we seek.”

And so I dare to dream. I dare to dream of change. I am the dreamer, the author, the writer, the speaker, the path setter, the road less traveled, and the called according to His purpose. I am special, unique, divinely created to be Shelia. No one can write like me. No one can speak like me. No one can do those things God has called me to do. There is no one else like me. I am a dreamer who dares to believe in my talents, my gifts, my hopes, my aspirations and that I can have the desires of my heart.

The word, Dreamer is defined as a person who dreams. A person who lives in a world of fantasy; one who is impractical and unrealistic. A person whose ideas or projects are considered audacious or highly speculative; visionary.

That defines me exactly. It denotes who I am. I AM that audacious, impractical, highly speculative and unrealistic visionary. I am that person who dares to dream, who dares to have visions of greatness. I am that person who looks beyond the situations and circumstances that life offers me and reaches for more. I am that dreamer. My words are more than words that burst forth from an overflowing spirit of greatness given me by my Father who art in Heaven. The words that escape from my belly, that are birthed in my spirit, that saturate my mind, my thought processes and travels down my arms into my pointed scrawny fingers, yield captivating power from pen to paper. I am that dreamer that through the blood, sweat and tears of my ancestors. Through the blood, sweat and tears of my parents, my sisters, and my relatives fought for my right to be treated equally. I don’t have to look back to the great martyrs like Harriet, Rosa, Martin, Malcolm or Medgar. I only need look within my household.

I only need look at the struggles of a mother who worked long hours as a maid on bended knees scrubbing floors. I only need look at my father who lost both legs fighting a war that when it was over, he still was treated as less than the hero he was. I only need look at my sisters who marched along Martin in Memphis, next to sanitation workers who screamed I Am A Man. I come from the belly of struggles. I come from the belly of dreamers who dared to believe. I come from the bellies of faith that dared to trust in God my Father. I belong to God who chose to adopt me into His eternal kingdom. I come from the lineage of David, the man after God’s own heart. I come from the pits of cruelty, stares and glares that make me strong and keep my head raised high. I am a dreamer.

You ask me why I am a dreamer? You ask me why I tell my sons and grandsons and you and every one whose path crosses mine to live your dreams now! If we don’t dare to live what God has purposed in our hearts to live, to do, to seek, to pursue then why are we here? This world is predicated, made up of, rooted, and grounded on dreams dreamed by a dreamer and brought from dreamality to reality.

What if Malcolm had not been a dreamer? And supposed Martin had not been a dreamer? Then there’s Harriet who dared to dream about freedom. There’s Rosa who dared dream about a place to rest among those whose skin color lacked pigmentation and therefore considered themselves higher and mightier. What if? What if President Obama had not dared to be a dreamer? Then what? I am a dreamer! I write. I will succeed. I will thrive. I refuse to merely survive. And so I write. And so I speak. And so I strive. And so I move forward to that which I have embedded in my spirit, my soul, my flesh, my thoughts. I am a New York Times Bestselling Author. I am the owner of one of the world’s largest nonprofit organization that teaches people to go after, run down, and chase after their heart’s desires and their dreams. I am a most sought after speaker. I am beautiful despite the limps and the frailties that polio has ravaged on my body. I am lovely despite the hardships of life that try to keep me down. I am mighty despite that ole sly devil trying to trick and trap me. The fruit of my womb is blessed because I am the child of the most high King. My words, given to me by a God who loves himself some Shelia changes lives and prick hearts, causing people to look at themselves and see what they are really made of.

I dare to believe the words of God that say if I fully obey His commandments that I will be above and not beneath. I will be the head and not the tail. I will be blessed going in and going out. The fruit of my womb will be blessed. I am a dreamer who dares to believe that the race is not given to the swift but to him that endures to the end. I am the dreamer that writes perfect stories about imperfect people who overcome tremendous odds because they dare to believe.

My vision will happen at the appointed time. It hurries toward its goal. It won't be a lie. If it's delayed, I will wait for it. It will certainly happen. It won't be late. Yes, I am a dreamer. My vision will burst forth. It will not be kept back, it shall appear. What about you - are you a dreamer?

Can't Help But Say 'Yes God Can"

I cannot explain the thrill of victory that I'm experiencing inside. A new day has arrived and history beyond my finite comprehension has and is being made. President Barack Obama! I'm not calling him President-Elect. He is President Barack Obama. Wow, what an amazing feeling. The First African American First Family. To describe the depth of this tremendous day, election, event, and historical moment in time, there are no mere words worthy to say but, Yes God Can.

Yes God Can should ring from hear on out, over every mountaintop, and every valley low. Yes God Can should ring from the hillsides to the hood, from the ghetto to the neighborhood of MTV Cribs. Not only African American children, but all children who have felt that reaching and achieving great things in life isn't possible - now look at how the impossible just became possible!! To adults, young and old, who have all but given up on accomplishing their dreams, no matter how big or small. If it's important to you, and it brings positive value to you, then it is worth saying "Yes God Can."

For me, It's Yes God Can to our people, to my people to all of those who have dreams but have come up on rough times. Hold on and don't give up. God desires for His people to live abundant lives. He desires for us to do more than strive, God wants us to thrive.

There are times when life gets hard, the struggles get rough, the dream seems impossible, the way seems like we've reached a dead end. But if we place our trust in God, then His word does prevail. I am a living witness of that.

There is a blog I recently read by author, Iris Celeste. I didn't send her a comment on it at the time because reading it made memories of what happened to me some eleven years ago resurface. It talked about the tragic death of someone she loved. Her story, believe me, is identical to mine. I became dead, lifeless, a zombie with no hope when my fiance was brutally murdered back in 1997. In the year 1999 the words I had posted in a journal came forth and transformed into my first self published book novel titled, Always, Now and Forever, which was released in 2000. That novel, though I wasn't an experienced writer at the time, renewed me and brought me back to life again. It revealed my true purpose in life. Much like Iris, I realized that I was destined to be a writer. Two years later in 2002 I published a nonfiction book called A Christian's Perspective -Journey Through Grief which provided further healing for me. I use it now to minister to others. In 2005 I was signed by a traditional publisher and have since published three novels with several more in the works.

I never knew from all of the pain, the heartache, the tears, the downfalls, and the spiritual battles, that I would one day make my own page in history, but God ordained that it would be so. No, I may not end up on the pages of history like the wonderful, oh so eloquent, people oriented, sincere and trustworthy man like our new President Barack Obama, who I am so extremely proud of and grateful to God for. But I have my own pages in history because the words God has placed in my spirit to write in books will never die. Somewhere, after I am long gone from this earth, I know there will be someone who will pick up a novel and the author's name will be, Shelia E. Lipsey.

Are dreams possible? Yes. Is the impossible possible? Yes. Can greatness be birthed from adversity. Yes. Go forth now with the sincere belief in your dreams and your purpose in life by remembering, Yes God Can!

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My Son's Wife - At a Store Near You!

I am absolutely thrilled that my third novel, My Son's Wife is available to the world! God is so good. He loves himself some Shelia and I'm grateful and oh so humbled by His grace and mercy toward me. It's amazing, this gift God has blessed me with. Writers you know what I'm talking about, and readers so do you for that matter. To be able to take words, bring them forth from your mind, down to the tips of your fingers and on to a computer keyboard, into a word document, and a story slowly unweaves that is uniquely given to you to write! That's miraculous. Not everyone has the gift to be able to place words miraculously on paper. But we all have gifts that God has endowed within us. Maybe your gift isn't to write. Maybe you have the gift of 'helps' or 'compassion', or the gift of 'faith.' Maybe you have the gift of 'encouragement.' Whatever your gift is, please, please Use it. God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, love and a sound mind. The gifts He blesses us with, He will make room for those gifts to do what He has designed for them to do. I have great expecatations for each book God places in my heart and spirit to write. I believe they will not return void because His word is manifested in each page. I am so in awe that I've been chosen to carry out His plan and purpose through writing. I pray that you will pick up a copy of My Son's Wife and read it with as much passion as I put into writing it. I pray that something within the pages of the book will touch you, move you, make you think, and remind you of the goodness, forgiveness, mercy and grace of God.

Here's a short synopsis of My Son's Wife:
First Lady Audrey Graham adores her daughter's best friend, Rena Jackson. In Rena, Audrey finds the loving relationshp she longs to have with her own troubled daughter, Francesca. When Audrey's son, Stiles, comes home from Duke Divinity School, Audrey is overjoyed at the news that he has decided to follow in his father's clerical footsteps. But the good news doesn't stop there. Finding his sister's friend all grown up, Stiles quickly falls in love with Rena. But Rena's fairy tale life is disrupted when Frankie, her old love interest, learns about the new relationship.
In this explosive novel, the old adage of 'what's done' in the dark' turns out to be more true than anyone can imagine!
Available wherever books are sold: Including Walmart, walmart.com, amazon.com, target.com, bn.com, borders.com, blackexpressions.com and more.