2012
Summer In-Touch from Leona
In my birthday month I usually look back and forward at my
life and then refocus on the present
moment to evaluate the course of my life. “In everything give
thanks for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.” (1
Thess. 5:18) Okay, so that assures me that I’m still in the will of God…I do thank
God for His goodness and mercy
that He promised would “follow us all the days of our lives.”
Whew! Birthday 87 coming up. Queen Elizabeth
II is celebrating her 60th
year of reign. (She and I are exactly the
same age and we were married the same year—Ha! I can empathize with her
cautious walking pace to maintain balance and not stumble. Does she have her
smart phone in that ever-present handbag? Sorry, I’m not a HAT and GLOVES
person, but I too am reigning under the Lordship of Christ in the sphere of
influence He has chosen for me in life. But I haven’t mastered the Queen’s
distinctive regal hand-wave yet! )
My late husband Ted and I were serving God at
the time of her coronation as evangelical missionaries in what was then still British
Hong Kong. I could only listen to the extravaganza events on BBC (before TV!) Significance of 60? Next month my third son
Gary joins Rick and Cliff, two of our other sons, in attaining age 60—he
was born that summer. (Gary and Cliff are grandfathers themselves already!) Son
Jeff would be born 7 years later after we returned to the U.S. to
minister on university campuses and plant a church for Chinese students and
professionals in the Nation’s capitol.
Because so
many of you ask about my physical health and faithfully pray for me, I owe you
a word. God has blessed and sustained me as a lung cancer surgery survivor for 22 years and a widow for 20. As the years increase, of course health
and energy begin to decrease and the mounting number of “no-longer-fixables” is
simply being “managed” with the help of God. “In everything give thanks!”
But my focus is not on this
temporary mortal body and its limitations because God’s promise in Christ is
for my body’s literal resurrection and move on into eternal life in a new
model. I believe it!
God’s calling on my life is for a
lifetime, so I keep pressing on while He gives me breath—which my diminished and
compromised lungs do find in ever shorter supply now, but they are still adequate
for me to keep up a brisk pace of active ministry and writing. So when will I
retire? I don’t plan to retire from the Lord’s calling—what would I retire to that would be better than continuing
to fulfill His will to the max as long as He gives me earth-time?
My 35th
published book just came off the press. Because this new book is again
spiritually autobiographical, my recent 3 titles as a book-cluster have
unexpectedly turned out to become a TRILOGY.
Full information is on my newly updated and refurbished publishing web site: www.goldenmorning.com. The 2 recent
ones are already on eBooks for ease
of purchase. Read about the potential of electronic books on one of my recent
blog posts.
I’ve also reconfigured my blog: www.leonachoy.blogspot.com and
I’m excited to be posting again when I have windows of opportunity. Since I
design and handle my own blog site, it is more “Mickey Mouse” than high tech.
On my blog you’ll find fresh writings from the new books I’m working on. Also
excerpts from some of my published books with new tweakings and personal
applications. I hope you will take a look often. Check my blog Archives for
what you may have missed. Comments and dialogue always welcome.
I’m enjoying
the privilege of collaborating on a book with a retired Baptist pastor, noted
author, and specialist in ministry to senior Christians. He is good friend from
my college days who lives in Canada
and has just written an excellent, thoughtful book titled “AGING JOYFULLY.” He
is incorporating one of my recent poems at the beginning of each of his 16
chapters to introduce the content of what follows. I’m honored to be part of
this project.
My own
work-in-progress on a similar theme on which I’ve been working for some time is
titled “FINISHING WITH A FLOURISH.” I’ve posted the Preface on my blog. In
addition, I’ve taken a few of my unfinished but still very much alive and well
book manuscripts from my writing archives to work on simultaneously. We’ll see
which book, if any, God might want to reach publication first.
I’m happy
to receive permission to independently mentor my 12 year old grandson Jeffrey to
prep him for his First Communion and eventually on to his Confirmation at our
local parish, Sacred Heart of Jesus. He
lives out of town and can’t attend the normal classes. I’ve been attempting it
through informal, plausible, imagined dialogues with him that I call “Conversations with Jeffrey.” I share-post
those and other topics related to his youthful world on my blog. I wish my
other 9 grandchildren and 7 great-grands lived nearby so we could also bond our
lives more closely.
I’m proud
of two of my teen grandchildren, Andrew and Brianna, who have just returned
from an evangelistic-help-mission trip to Haiti. Another granddaughter,
Kristen, is excitedly planning her summer wedding. What fun to see the extended
branches from the roots of our family tree, and from my late husband Ted’s and
my trunk of that tree, as they plant their own unique family trees!
Our radio
station Southern Light Gospel Music
Network is thriving in its new expanded location after 26 years and we
expect to sign a contract shortly to obtain a second frequency for a
contemporary Christian music sister station to reach to a new generation of
listeners.
Thank you for your sustaining prayers and
love and concern. I reciprocate with
my love and prayers each time God brings you to my mind. I’m living in my lovely
spacious home in the Shenandoah Valley which
my son Rick provides for me. I call it “Eagle Summit” and I invite you to visit
me.
Leona
For fun I like to sign my
letters now as “Sal” – which is an a.k.a.
for “God’s SALmon still swimming upstream” –but perhaps somewhat more
slowly these days.
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