Gratitude Blog Hop - Free books!

I bet you didn't know that today is a super special day. A few amazing authors are getting together with bloggers and talking about what they are grateful for. The best part? Free books on most of the links. I don't mean you can win free books (although there is that as well) but I mean a bunch of amazing books for free.

I get the honor of hosting Staci Stallings, a Christan mother and author who has written 30 full length novels (I know, that number blew me away too.) Anyway she is giving away a copy of her book Cowboy to one lucky commenter! Here are the details:

The WoMen's Literary Cafe is very thankful for all of the support from bloggers, reviewers, and readers during the Come Back To Me book launch and 99 cent event. As a thank you, we are giving away COWBOY either as an ebook or in print for free today only. Enter to win your copy by leaving a comment on this post on this blog. Please include your email in the post so we can get in touch with you.

Now we get the chance to learn from Staci about being yourself. The post is super touching and I encourage everyone to read it and take a good look at themselves. Take it away Staci!

Finally able to be me

For many, many, many years I tried to be someone else. It wasn't a specific someone else. I simply had the impression that something was wrong with me, so being someone else made more sense. The weird thing was, I was desperately trying to be successful and get the approval of others while simultaneously hiding the parts of me I thought they wouldn't approve of.

It was as if I was saying, "I want you to love me, but I'm not going to let you know who the real me is."

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So I lived my life in fear that someone who loved me would figure out that wasn't really who I was and they would decide not to love me anymore. Which of course is ridiculous because they weren't loving
the real me in the first place, they were loving the made-up me, which wasn't me at all. What a mess,
right?

Well, this year as we go into the Thanksgiving season, the thing I am most grateful for is that God finally broke me out of that miserable, rotten prison I was holding myself captive in. Little-by-little through life and writing, I have learned that being me is really okay, that using my gifts and letting others see them is all right as well.

In fact, it's better than all right... it's amazing!

You see, when I was trying to hide, I spent all my time radaring everyone else to see who they wanted me to be. I scanned my family and my friends. I scanned others in writing groups and you, my readers. I scanned everybody. And I spent so much time scanning trying to figure out who everyone else wanted me to be, I forgot to live!

When God finally convinced me (and it really did take some convincing) that He loved me just as I am and that He knew all about my weaknesses and all about those things I didn't want to admit to anyone, and that He loved me anyway... It blew me away! I realized that all that hiding wasn't doing anyone any good. God wanted me to come out of my little cave, bravely if possible or using His bravery if mine was shaky, and live.

Amazingly, upon finally accepting that, life has opened up to possibilities and opportunities I never

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would have even tried when I was wallowing in my self-cave of doubt and fear. This year I stepped out on God's bravery when He asked me to put my books on Kindle and then on Nook. It took more of His bravery to get on Facebook and Twitter. And it took everything He could give me to start a new author connection group.

Best of all, I didn't panic and run when things got tough. Instead, I stood on God's promise that HE could do it even if I couldn't. And miracles started happening.

So this Thanksgiving when I look back on this year, I will be very thankful that finally, finally I listened to what God's been trying to tell me all these years in a thousand ways: "I love you. It's about Me being faithful to show you how awesome I am not about anything you can do. I want to help you all the time, in every situation, especially when you don't think you can do it. I want to be Your partner and Your best friend in everything. All you have to do is accept what I'm holding out to you."

Understanding, believing, and accepting that has literally changed my life. So this year, I am thankful that God didn't give up on this headstrong, confused, but good-intentioned girl. He is my Hero!

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A stay-at-home mom with a husband, three kids and a writing addiction on the side, Staci Stallings has numerous titles for readers to choose from. Not content to stay in one genre and write it to death, Staci’s stories run the gamut from young adult to adult, from motivational and inspirational to full-out Christian and back again. Every title is a new adventure! That’s what keeps Staci writing and you reading. Staci touches the lives of people across the globe every week with her various Internet endeavors including:

Spirit Light Books--The Blog
http://spiritlightbooks.wordpress.com/

Facebook Author Page at:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Spirit-Light-Author-Staci-Stallings/266593276699576

Staci's Bookshelf:
http://stacistallings.wordpress.com/
Or...

Follow Staci on Twitter @StaciStallings

Come on over for a visit…

You’ll feel better for the experience!

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Just one last reminder about my short story being released on e-book tomorrow! I found out that it will only be $.99 so you'll want to jump on it while you can :)