Wind Beneath Our Wings

Looking for Arlene Garrett & Sharon Shabinaw, we have combined our efforts and are Blogging together under the Blog Site:
www.windbeneathourwings.blogspot.com

Please be sure to check us out there!  We are excited to share our story and our first book with you. "Signs from God", is now published and available on Amazon in paperback and kindle version.  You can also find it on Barnes & Noble, as well as other e-book providers!


You can also follow us on: 

Website:  www.windbeneathourwings.net

Facebook:  www.facebook.com/sharonshabinaw

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/arlene.garrett.50

Facebook: www.facebook.com/groups/SignsfromGod

Twitter: @SharonShabinaw

Twitter: @My1980Story

Our Dream has Become a Reality!

GREAT news ........ The book is finished and has just arrived in the mail! "Signs From God", our first book, is now available on Amazon in Paperwork and Kindle version. You can always purchase through Barnes & Noble, as well as other e-book suppliers.  Please look us up and be sure to give it a review when you're finished reading it!  We'll keep you posted as to the events of our book signing and other events that will be taking place in the near future. This adventure has been truly driven by God. We have only followed His lead and the signs and nudges along the way that He has provided.

Thank you for sharing our journey with us ....It is our hope that you will be inspired by the stories we have shared.  It is true!......Everyone has a story - won't you tell us yours?  We are accepting stories now for our next book of the series, and looking forward to hearing from you of any spiritual encounters you may have had or to just share how God is working in your life.  Remember, it is also those unanswered prayers that you've experienced that may be a benefit to you today - but you couldn't see it at the time you were praying for something else.  God does have a plan for all our lives.  Just trust in Him to see you through the tough times and He will open doors in your life that you never thought possible!  With God, all things are possible.

Have a wonderful day!

Share your story:  www.facebook.com/groups/signs from God

www.facebook.com/arlenegarrett
www.facebook.com/sharonshabinaw

Getting Ready for the Big Reveal!

Research, Social Media, Book Trailers, Banners, Posters, etc.... It never ends!  Getting ready for the book signing.  The information is a little overwhelming, but so exciting!  Realized we need to keep our personal blog sites going if we want to draw a following and still attract attention to our original blog site www.windbeneathourwings1980.blogspot.com   That is where we will continue to blog about our work together and eventually include a page to buy our books and order autographed copies, etc.

Created a blog site for my mom, co-author of "Signs from God", so be sure to check it out and follow her as well at www.arlenegarrett.blogspot.com - we are on a roll and learning as we go.  This has been an awesome journey so far, and it is really just about to begin!  God is good!

All the praise goes to God, for without Him we would not have come this far.  He said, "Just Do It", and I listened and pushed forward - not knowing where it would go, or how it would happen.  It was God leading us and guiding us every step of the way, and now we are planning for our first book signing!

Making Memories

You know the saying… ‘you don’t remember days, you remember moments’……. I love making memories for my family.  Some of my best childhood memories were camping with my family.  This past week, I was given the opportunity to create some camping memories for my grandchildren.  Even though the weather didn’t cooperate, we still had a great time.  A little bit of rain doesn’t bother us any!  We told them stories of when we took their aunts and uncles camping and it rained all weekend.  It rained so bad we went to Walmart to buy tarps to hang from trees over our tents, and how they played games all day long in their tent.  When my granddaughter woke up Sunday morning and said she wanted to stay longer, it melted my heart.  Here we were worried she would be the one to get homesick, and as it turned out, she was the one who didn’t want to go home!  It’s moments like that which we will live for!  Make the memories count and cherish every moment you have together!  Make the best of everything and remember behind every cloud there are blue sky’s!

Not My Plan....But HIS!!!!

This mother and daughter team is in it for the long haul.....Funny, how things work out sometimes!  When this whole adventure of ours first began, Mom and I started out working together on our book, "A Mountain to Climb".....Then, as time and our chapters progressed, we started getting "other" signs from God which started to throw us in a whole other direction.  While mom was working on her chapters, these "signs" seemed to be haunting me more and more every day!  They seemed to consume my every thought.  That is when I came up with, or He put in my head, the idea to start another book, and call it "Signs from God"  Whew!  Our journey is taking us to places that we never dreamed possible! 

During the editing phase of what I thought was MY first book, "Signs from God", has turned out to be OUR first book together.  While this was initially a result of my direct efforts in following His lead and creating that first post in Facebook that ultimately led to the creation of Signs from God, it was He who actually prompted feedback through our editor explaining we needed to provide more details around Mom's "Miracle".  It was as if we immediately saw the light, and recognized how this makes perfect sense and will allow us to share her story now.  We feel this book is paving the way for us to do just that, and believe that was His plan all along!  Apparently, He didn't want us to wait any longer either!

Mom's testimony has been the inspiration and driving force through this entire journey, and both of our lives.  Sharing her testimony, and now co-authoring "Signs from God" is setting the stage for our second book, "A Mountain to Climb".  In Signs from God, you will get to hear her miracle story, but in A Mountain to Climb, you will relive in great detail the traumatic experience from the eyes of the patient's perspective after suffering close to five years going through this nightmare and flash-backs from her daughter's eyes witnessing this at a time when she needed her mother the most!

We are so excited for you to read how God has touched our lives and others, and believe you too will realize that Signs from God has truly been God driven!  With some alterations now complete, our first book is back in the hands of our editor and formatter.  We couldn't be any more excited for this journey and our first book signing as the mother and daughter team from Sykesville! 

You can follow this mother/daughter team also on www.windbeneathourwings1980.blogspot.com
 

Accept What It Is And Let Go Of What It Was!

As I sit here starring at this empty page, I have to wonder what God has in store for me.   Have you ever wondered, "What is His Plan?"  I know I’ve thought I had it figured out, but then something always happens when I realize it’s all in His timing.  Then when it plays itself out and I can sit back and reevaluate the circumstances, it all makes sense.  It worked out better than ever expected.   Sometimes we can be so anxious to get something done, that we do it an injustice by rushing and not completing to the best of our ability.   We need to take the time to do what’s right and listen to our instincts; these instincts, and that soft voice you hear in your head, I believe is God leading us in the right direction. 

I can’t tell you how many times I ignored His soft voice and was immediately sorry I hadn’t listened and followed.  I now recognize those were missed opportunities of greatness.  Learning to recognize those opportunities has been a work in progress, and I’m sure it will continue to be a learning process that hopefully will become natural instinct and a habit to last a lifetime.   Trying to understand the why’s of the World, and the reason behind circumstances that are out of our control, can be so detrimental to your health and well-being.  It is not up to us to understand why, but learn to accept what it is.  I ran across a saying this week, that simply said, “Accept what it is, and let go of what it was”.  This is so true!!

As I sat and starred at this empty page today, wondering what can I write about today?   It was God who answered the question and led my thoughts to putting words on paper.  For it is He who continually leads all of us!  And He who is speaking through me.   I have no doubt that this was meant for someone out there to read and I hope that it reaches the right person!    We can only change ourselves and how we respond to ‘what it is’!  Accept it as so, put your burdens to the Lord, and trust that He has a plan! 

Serenity Prayer

I think we can all agree that no one is perfect, besides God.  Everyone has a story to tell.  Everyone probably even has a deep dark secret they've been hanging onto.  Maybe you have even kept things to yourself in order to protect the people you love.  There are things in life that you may not be proud of; things you wish you had done differently.  Once a decision is made and acted on, it can't be taken back or undone.  There may even have been times in life when you may have felt like you simply had no control of a situation and no matter what you tried to do to make things better, it didn't make a difference.  It's times like this when we start to feel deflated and maybe even unworthy.  That's when the only action worth taking is turning to God.  Ask for His forgiveness, and the forgiveness of others. 

The ability to forgive can be very difficult, and unfortunately some never do.  Always remember though, that we are all human, we all make mistakes, and we all have to answer to God!  He is the one in control, not us.  We can not control what someone else thinks, feels, or does.  We may not understand why they did what they did.  We can only control our reactions. 

What can bring us peace though is when the truth is finally out in the open, acknowledged, and forgiven!   And what's even better is when they have asked YOU for forgiveness; true forgiveness and acknowledgement of what they have put you or your loved one through.  We know nothing can undo the wrong.  Yet, it's the recognition of what you felt and went through as a result that can change the future!  Until that time, know that God is by your side and He will get you through everything!  When you need His support, always remember the Serenity Prayer!

Sneak Peak

Here's a sneak peak of the draft  book cover Kelly and I are working on for my soon to-be-published book, Signs from God! This project has truly been God driven and I can't wait to share it with everyone! Currently, the book is in the proof-reading stages with a few beta readers before official editing begins.  Lots of progress is being made.  I'm learning so much, and I am so excited!

Thanks to my husband, Tom, for all his patience as I spend most of my spare time on this writing adventure.   Thanks to my mom for being the Wind Beneath My Wings, who's inspiration and strength is the backbone for all of our writing.  Thanks to God for leading us and making our dreams a reality!

My Epiphany

For those of you who have not been following me on www.windbeneathourwings1980.blogspot.com, I wanted to bring you up to date with the epiphany I experienced back in January.  After several weeks of dealing with a tragedy in the family that ended with the passing of my beloved aunt, my life seemed to be changing for the better.  The week after her death, I found a new Church.  During my very first visit to the Church, I felt like I was home.  I finally found a Church where I felt I belonged and I envisioned such great things happening with this Church.  For the rest of that week, it was as if God were speaking directly through me and has been directing my every move.  It was as if I were floating through the day in total awe.      

Before I started work one day, I was having my quiet time, when He put in my head to reach out to the Sykesville Online Community (SOC) for support in following His lead.  A while back, He gave me the idea to put together a book of 'Signs' from God.  I have been receiving signs for a while, as many of you know, and have recently been trying to gather signs from my contacts in hopes of building a compilation of stories to put into a book.  About a month prior to this day, I had the idea to put the post on the SOC, but I brushed it off since normally its my nature, believe it or not, to be more reserved.  It was January 30th when I realized, 'that idea' was His voice in my head telling me to put my post out on the SOC.   So I listened this time and took His lead, and the outcome was breathe-taking!  The outpouring of love and support I received had me so overwhelmed that it was pretty hard to concentrate on my job with the flood of pings and notifications I was receiving.  I couldn't sleep that night.  I was so excited to start gathering all of the feedback before I stood a chance of losing it.  So, I got up and back on computer at 3am and started disecting all of the messages. This was a day that I will treasure forever, and am dedicating my first book, Signs from God, to the town of Sykesville for answering my prayer and allowing me to follow His lead yet again!

I am so blessed for the new contacts I have made on this journey so far.  I owe this all to God, for it is He directing my steps.  I truly believe "Signs from God" is the start of a great future and a walk of a lifetime with my mother as we continue our dream of documenting her story sharing the 'Miracle' she experienced in 1980, in her autobiography "A Mountain to Climb" followed with a sequel ... "My Mother's Story"!  It is our time and He is making it happen!!!