Whoa. It was Friday at 5 o’clock in the morning. The sun wasn’t even blinking her droopy eyes yet.
I had spent another long night rotating like a weenie on a spit in my tousled bed (this is not a new thing) and doing what I often do in the sleepless hours of darkness before dawn: planning menus and grocery lists, reviewing the things I should have done yesterday but didn’t, hatching ideas for a future new book that may never happen, and imagining different endings for the murder mystery I just finished reading.
You know, the usual really important stuff people do when they can’t sleep.
As my restlessness hit boiling point, I got up and parked my derriere in my computer chair to check my email. I hadn’t looked at incoming messages since the previous afternoon.
To my surprise, I saw two messages in my inbox from the national writer’s conference which several months ago had named my new devo, Bless Your Heart, as a finalist for the coveted Selah Book Award. I thought the ritzy award ceremony was that night (Friday night), which is what I’d marked on my calendar. I couldn’t attend, as it was several states away, so I was planning to watch it live stream. It pretty much felt like a moot point, though, since I haven’t won a Selah Book Award in twelve years, since Fear, Faith, and a Fistful of Chocolate won in the Inspiration & Gift category. My chances this year seemed slim to none since there are LOTS of wonderful devotionals in contention.
So in the wee hours of predawn, I groggily clicked on the first message and a gold seal popped up. No, not the slippery black sea animal that barks like a dog and balances a ball on its nose; it was the kind of fancy stationery seal a queen might use to close a letter. With no accompanying explanation, the lonely seal just sat there on my computer screen, proclaiming in embossed gold letters, “2026 Selah Winner.” Confusion. Wait a second … my Nancy Drew instincts kicked in to try and solve the mystery. The email was sent at 9:35 pm on Thursday night, a good twenty-four hours before the Award Ceremony was to take place and the winners announced. So how could this be anything more than an unfortunate clerical mistake?
I was jarred a little more awake but a lot of nothingness still registered in my soggy brain. I made myself a hot cup of caffeine. Could this be someone’s idea of a cruel joke?
I scoured the rest of the email for some sort of an explanation. Nada.
Then I noticed the second email from the same organization and clicked on it, hoping that someone somewhere would make sense of this. But whadayaknow … it was another gold seal, emblazed with the simple words, “Selah Book of the Year 2026.” Nothing else. No other clarification.
WHAT???!!!??? Are you ever-lovin’ KIDDING me????!!? I was surely awake by now!
I was afraid to get too excited, figuring it had to be a mistake of mega magnitude but knowing it was too early in the morning to find anyone else awake and ready to answer my questions. So I squirmed on sharp pins and hot needles for the next three hours until a kind soul on the other end of the computer terminal finally woke up and confirmed that: 1) The award ceremony was on Thursday night instead of Friday night (I’d written it down wrong) and 2) Bless Your Heart had indeed won first place in the Devotional category, and then by a miracle from the gracious fingertips of Almighty God, been named nonfiction Book of the Year (there was also one for fiction and one for children’s books to cover all genres).
Oh. My. Goodness.
I never.
Never.
My heart felt like it would explode right out of my chest. I couldn’t stop the happy tears all day. What a sloppy emotional mess I was. Am. Someone took one look at my face at my morning exercise class and asked if I was all red and puffy from allergies. Um … something like that, I replied.
I couldn’t bring myself to say the words out loud, but I’m telling you, my dear, loyal, longsuffering BFF, because you understand all we’ve gone through together to get here – I can’t thank you enough for all your support – and I know you’ll praise Papa God right alongside me for my amazing news and HERE IT IS:
Bless Your Heart is a Selah Book Award BOOK OF THE YEAR!!!!!
WooHOOO! Can you believe it? I still can’t. But I’m giving Papa God all the glory, all the tears, and a bucketful of unsolicited snot in gratitude!
Tell me, my friend, when has your heavenly Father surprised you with a blessing so rich you felt that your heart might explode? Please do take a moment to comment below … your community of BFFs wants to hear from you and I do too!
HUGS! Love, Deb