Jumping for Joy

Do you know the feeling when you’re wound up because excitement after excitement has piled up on you all at once? I returned from my trip to Fredericksburg last Wednesday evening, and I was excited to be home and tell my parents all about my good time. There was another thing that happened before the trip that had my nerves a-tingle which I’ll share in my next blog post. But the third thing made me bolt from my chair and jump in the air with extravagant delight, perhaps a little more than was merited ….

I was checking my emails, thinking about the just-passed deadline for a short story contest I entered. Do you remember how I mentioned possibly entering such a thing on Katie Sabelko’s Whisperings of the Pen? The theme was “Life: From Your Point of View” and the stories had to be 500-1500 words long, in first person, about you. The first category was for chronicling a happy moment in your life; the second was for a hilarious or embarrassing moment; and the third was for a fantasy about something you really didn’t do but always dreamed of doing, like meeting your story characters. I decided on the first category, and rather quickly typed up something about my day in the Colorado mountains when the sky was gray and there was no one but my family around. I wanted to capture the exceptional solitude and contentment. It felt so good to be creative again and to try to express exactly how I felt. It was a shot of vitality when I needed it most. I titled it “The Day I Went Back in Time.” I sent the story in, not knowing what to expect.

But when I returned from my trip, the Lord used this contest to give me another shot of joy, one that had me jumping and running to my mom and dad at 9:00 at night: I’d won second place in my category. I was so thankful that all of this happened -- all I had to do was write my story, and I prayed for help there, too. So God gave me a wonderful gift. What makes it extra-fun is that I won a prize from an Etsy store:
                                                  

Thank you, Katie!

The first-place winners of each category got their stories posted on Katie’s blog. They’re excellent, so if you’re interested, here is the link. The grand prize, overall winner’s story was particularly delightful; you can tell from the title: “Dancing with Stars.”