My Annual 40 Days

This is my fourth year to "celebrate" the 40 days before my birthday. To be honest, I almost didn't even try this year, but when talking with my sister, we talked about 40 days--the fun of celebrating for that long, the benefits, and many different things. After talking with her, I just couldn't miss this.

If you've spent any time with me here at Patterings, you've heard this before, but I need this reminder...

When we see 40 days in the Bible, it is a time when God made major changes and transformations. It's a journey that leads to growth and change. Preparation.

Think about the changes God made in these times...

Noah—40 days and 40 nights of rain.

Moses—his whole life went by 40 year increments--starting with being 40 when he fled from Pharaoh and started a new life, 40 years on the backside of the desert, and 40 years leading Israel, then also 40 days on Mount Sinai.

Israel—ate manna for 40 years while wandering in the desert.

Spies that Moses sent out—in Canaan for 40 days.

Elijah—in the wilderness for 40 days.

Jonah—warned Nineveh they had 40 days to repent.

I want changes in my life.
I want to be susceptible to God.
I want to catch His drift for my life.

So these next 40 days will be a time of seeking God. I wish I could withdraw from life for this time, but I can't. In fact, it could be busier than usual, which means I'll have to be intentional in this...which just might be the key to all this. =)

So tell me, have you done 40 days for something or is there something you might consider a special 40 day period for?

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40 Days of...

Numbers are important in the Bible, and one number we see repeatedly is the number 40. It's a number that often shows us a time of testing. Testing and waiting.

Many times when we see 40 days in the Bible, it is a time when God made major changes and transformations. It's a journey that leads to growth and change. Preparation.

Think about the changes God made in these times...

Noah—40 days and 40 nights of rain.

Moses—his whole life went by 40 year increments--starting with being 40 when he fled from Pharaoh and started a new life, 40 years on the backside of the desert, and 40 years leading Israel, then also 40 days on Mount Sinai.

Israel—ate manna for 40 years while wandering in the desert.

Spies that Moses sent out—in Canaan for 40 days.

Elijah—in the wilderness for 40 days.

Jonah—warned Nineveh they had 40 days to repent.

Jesus—fasted and was tempted for 40 days in the wilderness, appeared for 40 days after His resurrection.

Three years ago I committed to spending 40 days 'celebrating' my birthday and it was a life changing decision. Each year I've done this (three times now) I've noticed and experienced great growth and change in my life. And I'm doing it again this year.

Today starts a 40 day journey of preparation and I expect more growth and change to be the results. I'm really very excited about it. It's a time of spiritual renewal as I immerse myself in God's Word and hide His Word in my heart.

So tell me, how do you go about seeking God and preparing for what's ahead?

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Choosing to Celebrate

Have you ever felt like you fell short? Miserably short?
That's how I'm feeling.

I set out to celebrate the 40 days before my birthday, and life was so dog-gone busy that I didn't do near as much celebrating and seeking as I wanted to. I was hoping to make it through the book of 1 Samuel in my studying, but I'm only in chapter 11 of 31 chapters. I planned on staying up-to-date in my Esther study posts, but I missed several weeks and barely kept my nose above water in the Tuesday night study, never mind writing a weekly post.

But the fact is that I'm still standing and not down and out and that, in itself, is cause for celebration. So I'm choosing to celebrate in spite of falling short of my goals.

One night at Bible study a prayer was answered in a way that I had no doubt it was the direction from God that I'd been seeking. I don't remember ever receiving an answer like I did that night, and if another lady hadn't been sharing a neat answer to prayer I might've done a happy dance right there in someone else's living room.

One of the things I was seeking direction on was concerning a domain name I purchased a couple months ago. I've been thinking of moving my blog to a different domain, but I didn't want to jump first and think later, as I'm prone to do, so I had been talking with God about it. That night at Bible study God directed me to move to the new domain.

I was really hoping that I'd be able to move on my birthday, but other things have been going on and I wasn't able to get the site up and going, let along move. But that's okay, it will come in time. There are still lots of details to work out, but just experiencing God's direction like that was fantastic!

Other things have happened in ways that points to God's hand working and it's been so cool to see and realize that God is working behind the scenes even when I don't see any obvious evidence. The timing of the Esther study is a perfect example. I learned so much in this study—things that I've been able to apply immediately to where I'm at right now. Things that have made a difference in my life and changed how I see my current events and how I approach those events. Only God, who loves me enough to be intimately involved in the details of my life, would work things as He has. What a great an awesome God!!

Life has been in a pattern of change recently, and you've seen a little of it here at Patterings with the author spotlights, but things here will be settling down now. I'll be returning to what I love blogging about most: Finding the extraordinary God in our ordinary lives.

I hope you'll continue to join me. =]
Oh! I almost forgot! Today is my first post at The Barn Door. I'd LOVE it if you stopped by and said hi! Check out why I have No LadyBug Love.

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The Barn Door

The Barn Door is now open!
Come visit us and see what we're all about.

Tomorrow's author spotlights will be posted at The Barn Door and I'll be using those days here for other things. =] =] This is one of the fine details that I've been seeking God over--and how He directed and arranged all this amazes me. God's timing is incredible! I'm so thankful for His sovereignty.

This week is the last of my 40 day birthday celebration and I'm curious to see how things come together. (I've already been surprised several times.) It's so cool to see and experience God working in my life.

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40 Days and Counting

Today marks the beginning of my yearly 40 day birthday celebration, and I have to tell you—I'm really looking forward to it this year. It's a special time for me. A time of seeking God's face for the upcoming year.

This year I'm studying the book of 1 Samuel, and because I'm so anxious for this time, and because the study I'm using (Kay Arthur's Desiring God's Own Heart) is longer than 40 days, I began a few days early. =] I just could not wait, and I am sooo glad! I needed Hannah's story this weekend. As I read it and studied it, these verses kept running through my mind:

My soul, wait in silence for God only, for my hope is from Him. He only is my rock and my salvation, my stronghold: I shall not be shaken. On God my salvation and my glory rest; the rock of my strength, my refuge is in God. Trust in Him at all times, O peoples; pour out your heart before Him; God is a refuge for us. ~Psalm 64:5-8 NAS

Hannah expressed this and lived this in such detail for us in the first two chapters of 1 Samuel. She poured out her heart to God, and when she left the house of the Lord, “her face was no longer sad.” (1 Samuel 1:18) She trusted God to take care of her brokenness, and just look at all He did in and through her life. And look at the beauty of her life—even after all these years.

I cannot wait to see what these 40 days hold for me. ...for my hope is from Him.

Curious about why I celebrate like this for 40 days? Here's why. This is something I cannot recommend highly enough. It's changed my life.

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40 Days 'til 2010

In my birthday post I told you about the 'results' I had seen in my life since last year's 40 Day Celebration, where I spent the 40 days before my birthday preparing for the upcoming year. I also challenged you to think about what you could do to prepare for the upcoming year.

Tomorrow, Sunday, November 22nd, starts the 40 day countdown to 2010. Here's a couple of ideas for how you can make those days special...

The LORD is good to those who wait for Him,
to the person who seeks Him.
It is good that that he waits silently
for the salvation of the LORD.
~Lamentations 3:25-26

Let's look at this...
The LORD is good to those who wait for Him...

The first thing we need to do is to wait. To be still. Jesus reminded Martha that only one thing is really necessary, and Mary had chosen it. (Luke 10:41-42) What did Mary do that Martha didn't? She sat at Jesus' feet.

Think about it.
How often do we see Mary at the feet of Jesus? Not running around, but listening to Jesus.

Wait means to linger for, expect and to bind together. We're to wait on God.
Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for Him;
~Psalm 37:5
When we expectantly linger at the feet of Jesus we are bound to Him. When we wait on God He renews our strength (Isaiah 41:10).

...to the person who seeks Him.

Have your priorities right. When we seek for God with all our heart He lets us find Him! He loves for us to seek and pursue Him.

Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me,
and I will listen to you.
You will seek me and find me
when you seek me with all your heart.
~Jeremiah 29:12-13

Seek means to tread or to frequent, to worship.
Do you frequent the path of worship? Do you frequently sit at His feet?

It is good that that he waits silently...

Look at Job (Job 40:1-4), Isaiah (Isaiah 6:5) and John (Revelation 1:17). Those who were in the very presence of God were silent before Him. Too often we barge into the throne room with words when we should be silent. Listening. At His feet.

I encourage you to take time in these next 40 days to silently be still before God, seeking Him. I am still amazed at the difference 40 days has made in my life.

So tell me, are you up to preparing for 40 days for 2010?

Don't forget the books in the spotlight this week! We have Wild West Christmas by Vickie McDonough and The House is Quiet, Now What? by Janice Thompson. Leave a comment on those posts to be entered in the book drawings!

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Another Surprising Twist

My birthday was quite a day. An amazing day. First thing in the morning I went to one of my favorite sites, The Seekers, to make sure I didn't miss the fun they had planned for the day. They had Tina James, senior editor from Steeple Hill Love Inspired—my target publisher and a book giveaway every hour. That adds up to a must read early status! =]

As I read the interview I came to a sentence that I had to read about 4 times before I was sure I wasn't seeing things. Here's what it said: “We are also interested in stories featuring missionaries abroad in exotic locations during various historical periods.” Now, for those of you that know me really well, know that I went on high alert right then. But I pressed on with the article, determined to read it all and leave my comment to get my name in the hat for the book drawings. (Yanno, important things first. *eye roll*)

When I left my comment, I copied and pasted that sentence and mentioned how it had caught my attention because I'm an MK who happens to love history. And writing. But then I sat and stared at the computer screen as my brain went into overdrive with ideas, possibilities and what I would need to do so I could write a historical missionary novel.

Since then I've begun some preliminary research online and I have plans for contacting people I know who might be able to point me in the right direction for more information, as well as contacting mission agencies that I know were in Ecuador in the early days. I'm centering my research on missionary life between the years of 1900-1960, with an emphasis on prior to 1950. I'm also focusing my research on missions in South America, especially Ecuador, but I'll be researching and studying much more than just Ecuador and South America because I'd like to write more than one missionary novel.

I have reasons for doing this. It's not just a whim.
~God has called me to write.

~Missions has had a huge influence on my life. I am who I am today because of missions and missionaries who invested in me.

~That sentence that caught my attention has been sitting on the Love Inspired Historical website for who knows how long and I never saw it until my birthday.

~For 40 days before my birthday I celebrated and prepared for the upcoming year. I was seeking (and still am) God's will for my year. I want His best and I want to follow Him. God is a God of infinite detail and I believe His hand was in the timing of me seeing that sentence.

~For 20 years I've been wanting to do something to increase missions awareness so more will pray for them and be involved in their outreach. Last year, part of my 40 day birthday celebration was a missions spotlight for that purpose. (It's archived under the Missions Matter tab above.) Writing missionary novels—fictional missionary stories—will get missions and missionaries in front of readers.

~I want to help people see and understand that missionaries are real people. They aren't super-spiritual people who speak in thee's and thou's and have no fun! Missionaries are approachable and need prayer and support, but so often we seldom hear about them as we sit here in the States. They're off our radar screens—to our detriment.

In the few days since that sentence wrapped itself around my neck, I've thought of nothing else. I've been doing preliminary research and a lot of thinking and soul searching. When I shared this with some of my friends, they didn't laugh. They encouraged me and started praying. My family and those that know me best (warts and all) see this as a good fit. I'll be diving into research, knowing it will be more than just research—it will be challenging on every level, especially spiritually. I'm looking forward to it. I love reading missionary stories. I find them interesting and I always grow as I read them. The other research I was looking at having to do was a drudgery. This is a joy.

You'll be in on the highlights of my research. As I come across thoughts and quotes that challenge me I'll post about them here. I've already found one and I'm anxious to share it with you.

I wanted to share all this with you here because I truly believe this is one of the results of my 40 day celebration and preparation. Have you been thinking about what you can do in the last 40 days of this year to help prepare you for the upcoming year? The 40 day countdown starts on Sunday, November 22 –a week from today.

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Wowzers! What a Year!

What a year this has been for me!
As I look back over the year I'm amazed at all God has done in my life. There's been twists and turns that I never, ever would have guessed. Last year around this time my heart's cry was 'Pick me, Lord! Pick me!' I wanted to be used by God so I spent 40 days before my birthday 'celebrating' and preparing for the year, and I'm astounded by God's answer to my prayer. Totally blown away by it!

Here's a quick recap of this past year:
250 posts here at Patterings (!!)
30+ devotionals at Exemplify and At the Well
25 posts at Adding Zest
(and I've been whining to God that I haven't been doing much writing. What was I thinking?? That adds up to a lot of writing, even if it wasn't in the area that I planned. LoL)

I entered 4 fiction writing contests and received confirmation that my writing is in the ball park and some great feedback from the judges!

I did preliminary edits on my husband's book and learned so much through the process.

God dropped a huge blessing on me in the form of the Author Spotlights and the Book Bonanza. Interacting with all these great people has been a tremendous learning experience and blessing for me!

This summer I ran from God's leading, wised up, turned around, and teamed up with Heidi to start Adding Zest where we've seen God working in soooo many ways. What an awesome God we serve! This one is a huge thing for me. H.U.G.E. I wish I had journaled more throughout those weeks before, and as Zest was formed. God showed Himself in countless minute details, details that would've hung me up and stalled me out. He took care of those things in ways that left no question in my mind Who was working them out.

Another blessing came in the form of my tagline, which I'm carrying with me into this coming year, confident it will provide clarity and guidance as I write.

This is just what's been going on in one area of my life—an area that's easily measured. The other areas, well, even though I can't really measure what's been going on and the changes that have come about, I know they're there. I can feel them and I can feel the result of them all through my life. God's goodness and grace has been overflowing in every area of my life.

I have to tell you,though, there have been days during this celebration that were bleak. Days when all I wanted to do was to crawl into my cave and hide. But God didn't let me. I've struggled with doubt and fear and worthlessness even as I continually turned back to Scripture and read about grace and boldness and courage and persistence. If I had not been celebrating as I were, by focusing on God's Word, I'd be up to my earlobes in quicksand and sinking fast.

My birthday celebration this year was to spend more time in God's Word and finish my cover-to-cover read through of the Bible, and I did. I finished Revelation yesterday and started Genesis today. I am awed by God's power, holiness, grace and mercy. These things have jumped out at me time and time again over the last 46 weeks, which is how long it took me to do my read through. And now as I look forward to my next year, I honestly have no idea what to expect. I'm excited even as I tremble, because after all, I'm a scaredy cat. But what I do know is that I want to be used by God. I want my life to glorify Him.

What about you?
What do you want for the next year?

Sunday, November 22, is the 40 day mark to New Year's and I'd like to challenge you to take those 40 days and spend them preparing and celebrating. Like Moses did when he spent 40 days on Mt. Sinai. Like the spies did when they spent 40 days spying out the Land of Promise. Like Jesus did before starting His public ministry. Think through and decide on something you can do during those 40 days to prepare your heart for next year.

I realize we're entering one of the busiest seasons of the year with Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's, but dedicating some time every day to celebrating and preparing for the upcoming year is an investment you'll never regret. I really believe it's an investment that will change your life.

So how 'bout it?
Are you up to 40 days of investing and preparing?

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40 Days of Celebration

Last year I started something and I liked it so much that I'm doing it again this year. My birthday is in November and to celebrate, I'm taking these 40 days before it and spending extra time in God's Word. Last year that was part of my intention, along with reading some of my special, favorite nonfiction books and revisiting my past with some missions posts (which are archived in the Missions tab above). This year I'm not doing any special posting here on Patterings—as much as I enjoyed it, I found it too distracting and I don't want to be any more distracted than I am on a normal basis. :^)

Throughout the Bible we see that 40 is a significant number. A quick walk through the Bible shows us:

Noah—40 days and 40 nights of rain.

Moses—his whole life went by 40 year increments--starting with being 40 when he fled from Pharaoh and started a new life, 40 years on the backside of the desert, and 40 years leading Israel, then also 40 days on Mount Sinai.

Israel—ate manna for 40 years while wandering in the desert.

Spies that Moses sent out—in Canaan for 40 days.

Elijah—in the wilderness for 40 days.

Jonah—warned Nineveh they had 40 days to repent.

Jesus—fasted and was tempted for 40 days in the wilderness, appeared for 40 days after His resurrection.


During this 40 day celebration my goal is to finish this year's cover-to-cover read through of the Bible, to immerse myself as much as possible in God's Word in preparation for this upcoming year of my life.

So tell me, how's your Bible reading coming?
I know many people lose momentum through the summer months, if that happened to you, have you gotten back into the routine of Bible reading? Are you doing a cover-to-cover read through? Where are you in your Bible reading?


Don't forget to check out and leave a comment Amber Stockton's and Christina Berry's book giveaways. Also, I'm extending Nikki Arana's and Debbie Fuller Thomas' book giveaways until tomorrow, Sunday, October 4th in celebration of the Book Bonanza finale. :-) I don't want you to miss them! :-)

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It's Today!

The past 40 days have been truly wonderful for me! (Busy but wonderful. LoL) When I started this giveaway I had NO idea if anyone would even show up, and to say that I've been blessed by it, is an understatement! I've gotten to meet new friends and reconnected with old ones. Thank you so much for helping me celebrate. God is so incredibly good!

Today is the wrap-up of my blog giveaway—but first I want to link to those that have come in since November 2nd, when I did a Linky post. I don't want you to miss out on them.

Gery wrote in about The Children of Timor.

Heidi, in Asia, told us how a verse posted at her door changed lives—and not just hers—in One Day to Give—A Recipient's Perspective. (You really don't want to miss this one!!)


Rich Brown told us about going to jail for Crossing the Double Yellow Line, and how it changed his view of things.


Allan Jackson sent lots of pictures and wrote about their ministry in Manta, Ecuador, For Love.


And my dear friend Laury slid in this morning with God's Smuggler. (I'm gonna hafta find that book and read it again now!)


While Laury slid in, Katy Lin squeaked in by telling us about the Hoyt family in Uganda in her post Missions Matter. (hehe, I love the title, Katy Lin!)


Some of you may have noticed that I set up another site for this project called Missions Matter! The site will still be around, and I'm deciding what I should do with it now that these 40 days are over. I feel there's more that can be done with it, but at the moment, I'm clueless as to what. SO, if any of you have any ideas, please let me know!! Missions is in my blood, and if there's a way that site can be used for good, I want to do it. The whole purpose of this giveaway was to boost awareness of missions, and I do NOT want to stop doing that. So, let me know your ideas! If you don't want to put it in a comment, you can always email me at patterly [at] gmail [dot] com. I'd love to hear from you!

NOW, what you've been waiting for! I asked my girls and my 'little boys' to help with this...
Drum roll, please!

The winner of Green Leaf in Drought is: Kim Roof, who is a missionary in Peru. She sent an email about the Lasting Impact of her parents, who were also missionaries. I thought this was wonderful because she caught THREE typos in her post--which I posted for her. THREE! (and no, you do NOT get bonus points for finding my screw ups, so don't even ask! LoL)



The winner of By Searching is: Tracy, who told us about her missions trip to Mexico

And since I just happened to win a book that I had recently purchased, I drew an extra name! Laury is the winner of Courting Miss Adelaide by Janet Dean.

Send me your snail mail addies and I'll get them in the mail to you.

Since the giveaway is over, Patterings will be getting back to normal—whatever that is. Oh wait, Patterings has normal, Patty does not. LoL—I've totally given up on normal. Totally. Truly.

What's normal at Patterings?
Patterings is about how God uses everyday happenings to draw my attention to Himself and to teach me spiritual lessons.

Patterings is also the home of Fiction Fridays, so every Friday I post a short story that I've written. This is a meme that anyone and everyone can participate in, whether they write fiction, or simply enjoy a good story. There's a great diversity in our 'regulars', so there should be something for just about everyone.

Come back and join us!
And thank you, again, for helping me celebrate! It's been wonderful!
Hugs to each of you!

Missions Matter! ~Blog Giveaway coming November 12th!

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40 till 40

Forty is a special number in the Bible, although its exact meaning isn't ever made perfectly clear. A quick walk through the Bible shows us:

Noah—40 days and 40 nights of rain.

Moses—his whole life went by 40 year increments--starting with being 40 when he fled from Pharaoh and started a new life, then also on Mount Sinai.

Israel—ate manna for 40 years while wandering in the desert.

Spies that Moses sent out—in Canaan for 40 days.

Elijah—in the wilderness for 40 days.

Jonah—warned Nineveh they had 40 days to repent.

Jesus—fasted and was tempted for 40 days in the wilderness, appeared for 40 days after His resurrection.

In 40 days is my 40th birthday, and I plan on taking these days between now and then to prepare. One of my dear friends, (who shall remain nameless so as not to incriminate her!) turned 19 this year (see what I mean? 19!! Sheesh!) and she did something special each day to celebrate--one day for each year, giving her 19 days of celebration. Boy, have I got it good! According to my young, imaginative friend, I have 40 days to celebrate and I plan on celebrating by preparing so God can use me as He wants. I want to be available and ready for whatever this 40th year holds for me, and I'm willing to put in some extra preparation.

Patterings will be celebrating by putting a spotlight on missions and then giving away birthday gifts on my birthday, which is November 12th. So, stay tuned because Missions Matter! I'll post updates of my celebration as the days go by.

Okay, so here's the details of my 40th birthday giveaway. Because missions has played such a big role in my life, and especially because missions is so incredibly important, I want to spend time in these next 40 days thinking about that ministry. I've been wanting to reread a few of my favorite missions stories, and this is the perfect time to do that. I'll be reading and posting about those books. Also, I have a few surprises up my sleeve, but you'll have to stay tuned for those (because they're not 'finalized' yet). *wink*

To help me celebrate, and to enter your name into the hat, simply blog about a missions book you've read, or even missionaries you know or have heard speak about their ministry. If you haven't read a missions book—hey, there's plenty of time to read one and blog about it before November 12th!

If you do not have a blog but would like to join in, use the 'Email Me' button on the right and send me your post and I will post it—either here or on another site especially for Missions Matter! So now, everyone can join in! And please do—missions is such an important aspect of the body of God, and there are so many personal stories out there, let's pull them out and tell others about them!

Gifts! For each blog you post (or send for me to post), come here and leave the url in a comment and I'll stick your name in the hat once for each blog post. And yes, multiple submissions are more than welcome! IF you tell someone about this giveaway, and they blog about missions and leave their url, your name gets thrown in an extra time—just make sure they tell me who referred them here! ;)

So, what are the gifts? So far, two of the books that have had a big impact on my life: By Searching and Green Leaf in Drought both by Isobel Kuhn. They are diamonds! Like diamonds, they're small, but they pack a punch. There may be more gifts, I'm not sure yet, but those two at least—and I'll be blogging about those in the next 40 days.

I love hearing about how missionaries have impacted other's lives, and I truly believe they should get more hugs than they do. We may not be able to get our arms around them physically at this moment, but we can send them cyber hugs and pray for them. Let's do it!

Don't forget:

Blog giveaway on November 12th!
Missions Matter!

To enter the giveaway, blog about a missions book, missionaries, a missions trip, or how missions has impacted your life. Then come here and leave your name and the url to that specific post. Multiple entries are possible (and welcome) that way! I'm looking forward to these posts! Thanks for helping me celebrate!

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