Our winner this month is Sharon Coughlin, of WA.  Sharon sent me the following email about how 30 Day Gourmet has helped her out recently. 

This year has kind of been a tough one for me health wise. The end of April, I had a minor heart attack and I required a stent. The doctor said that I was very lucky because there was no damage to my heart muscle but I said...God is very good!

I have been feeling so much better that I was able to help with VBS this year (300 kids!) and recently volunteered to help out with Jail Ministries and even helping out in Missionettes again when it starts up this fall - something that I have not been able to be a part of in about 17 years. Again I just said...God is very good!

My usual schedule is often hectic but I have even felt like doing it for a change! My 17 year old daughter is a competitive swimmer and striving to one day go to the Olympics. We are poolside by 6:00 AM every morning during the summer months. While she swims me and my oldest daughter walk laps around the park then we go home and start our chores. Even my house is looking better than ever. I decided that I would set myself a goal to cook and freeze a total of 60 meals for my freezer. That would allow me to have enough meals stored up for about two months and still have food available for church functions and helping a family or two if necessary. As of today, I now have 77 meals in my freezer...God is very good!

A couple of weeks ago I had to take a break from my busy schedule to go to visit my doctor. The news wasn't so great...a rather large mass in my right breast that is going to need to be surgically removed. Well, you know how that makes us feel <smile> There were some other troublesome things too that also are going to require some treatment. I hadn't been prepared for that particular news so I was alone. I wasn't so worried about me as much as I was worried about trying to tell my family. Our families are so very dependent upon us. I prayed quietly and began to reflect upon how good God is and that "aloneness" just kind of went away. God is very good!

But my house is clean and beautiful. Everything is in it's proper place. I have personally prepared all the meals for my family for the next two months, I even scheduled meals on my calendar listing what food is for what day - obviously God is the one who prompted me to get busy. I know that I am truly ready for whatever lies ahead. After all, it is He who is in control and it is He who helped me prepare for this all this - although certainly unexpected nothing goes unplanned or unknown by God...God is very good!

Please be encouraged today in your own life and be encouraged in your own work that God has called you to do because after all is said and done...God is very good!

Many thanks and blessings,
Sharon Coughlin

 

Thanks for sharing with us, Sharon!  Since I got this initial email, I checked back with Sharon to see how she was doing.  She had her surgery, and it went very well.  On September 1, she went to her Dr. for a follow-up visit, and was given a clean bill of health!  Sharon and her family know they are blessed, and are very thankful for those blessings!  Sharon chose to receive the Freezer Cooking Manual as her prize, and said others in her town will be glad to get a turn looking at the library's copy of the manual.  I'm glad Sharon had 30 Day Gourmet to help her and her family out, and that meal time is one less thing for her to worry about!