Hey my peoples…I’m glad tomorrow is Friday. I trust you are too, not that I’m less busy but at least I don’t have to wake up to an alarm. Today, I have the pleasure of introducing to you Ardis A. Nelson. I met here in July at the premiere of my husband’s movie. She is the manager of the composer behind most of the movie’s soundtrack and get this an author. She did give me a copy of her book and today I want to introduce her to you. Enjoy as Ardis tells you about herself & her passion.
Like many pre-teen girls of my generation, I kept a diary. That daily activity didn’t last for long and soon I turned to writing a romance novel. Of course at that age I didn’t really know about romance or love, but it was like the fairy tale longings of my heart. It was in those early musings that I was able to escape the pain of my everyday life and dream big—not for myself but for the character that I wished I was.
In high school I got the writing bug even more when I joined the newspaper staff. When I entered college, I proudly declared ‘Journalism’ as my major. My first semester was full of speech communications classes with lots of writing assignments. My grades and the professors’ writing critiques abruptly put an end to my dreams of being any sort of writer. I made a dramatic U-turn and majored in Business Administration instead.
Throughout my years in the corporate world, my work still drifted into the writing arena and was very technical in nature. All the while I never considered myself a writer. My writing dream was buried so deep that I had forgotten all about it. That is until the day several years ago when the Lord resurrected it in a miraculous set of circumstances that only He could orchestrate.
Soon after, I wrote “Walking My Mother Home”, the story of my healing. During this new season of my life, the life of a Christian writer and speaker, I’ve come to trust God in even bigger ways. The more I stretch myself and risk following the dream He has resurrected in me, the more He is glorified.
We all have a dream and a purpose that the Lord wants to resurrect in us. Our first step of faith is to accept Him as the Author and Savior of our lives. Once we do that, it opens up a world, and an eternity, of hope and dreams that are available to us as His children.
For me, it wasn’t about getting a degree in Journalism or English. I couldn’t do the writing He called me to do until the pieces fell into place for my healing. Now He gets the Glory for it. That makes the dream worth waiting for.
What dreams are you letting Him resurrect in you?
About Ardis’ Story and the Book
In “Walking My Mother Home,” one of the stories in Journeys to Mother Love: Nine Women Tell Their Stories of Healing and Forgiveness, Ardis takes you on a journey of self-discovery as she is stretched outside of her comfort zone to minister to her mentally ill mother at the end of her life.
Along the way, Ardis finds a kindred spirit with Rosa, the mother of the Spanish exchange student that lived with her family. The two mothers encouraged and prayed for each other though 5,300 miles apart, and neither spoke the other’s native language.
In the process of letting go, Ardis faces her fears of becoming mentally ill like her mother while she also finds healing and forgiveness. Ardis finds the capacity to love her mother in a way that she never thought possible. And, ultimately she finds herself.
Other stories in Journeys to Mother Love, complied by Catherine Lawton and published by Cladach Publishing, address a multitude of mother/daughter relationship issues. Readers of this compilation will find themselves in many of these stories as the women deal with feelings of mothering inadequacy, violence and separation, having a parent with Alzheimer’s, having a stepmother/stepdaughter relationship, post-abortion guilt, and feeling forsaken.
About the Author
Ardis A. Nelson is a wife of thirty-one years and a mother of two young adult men. In addition to her published story in Journeys to Mother Love, Ardis’ writing includes e-devotionals for her church and regularly blogging at ardisanelson.com/makingmebold/ and journeystomotherlove.com.
As a follower of Christ, Ardis’ ministry passion is facilitating spiritual growth and support groups for women. She also enjoys speaking at women’s functions and sharing her testimony at recovery group meetings. This fall Ardis will take her passion for Christian 12-step recovery to Europe where she will share her testimony and teach at a Celebrate Recovery seminar in Spain.
Ardis’ hobbies and spare time are devoted to photography, scrapbooking, reading, memoir writing, and managing the international music career of Pedro González Arbona. She resides with her family, in the suburbs of Seattle, Washington.
Social Links:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ArdisNelson
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ArdisANelson?ref=hl
Email: ardis@healingtohope.com
Website: http://ardisanelson.com/
Buy Links:
Autographed copy from Ardis’ site
Unoma Nwankwor 