Paths of Hope Illustrated Prayer Song Book

Paths of Hope Illustrated Prayer Song Book III
Copyright © 2018 by Suzanne Davis Harden, All Rights Reserved.


Paths of Hope Illustrated Prayersong Book is the third in my series of illustrated devotional prayer song books that the Lord inspired me to make as companions to the albums of the same title upon which I released and recorded their respective prayer songs.

Though the Ebook Version of Paths Of Hope has been available for over a year now, my print version has been quite a bit more of a challenge to accomplish than I ever dreamed.
So I’m excited about the new release of this soft cover print edition of my Paths of Hope Book!
How I praise and thank the Lord for this wonderful gift because, despite over a year of struggling with many setbacks and often debilitating health issues that made me wonder if I’d ever finish, He gave me the grace, strength, and ability, and HOPE to accomplish this goal.
And now at long last I can finally share it with you!
Glory be to the Lord who has kept every promise to me! The Lord is so faithful to His word.

I live with daily chronic migraines.

If you have ever had one migraine you can appreciate the challenge of living under the burden of this cross every single day.

The Apostle Paul was given a severe thorn for which he prayed fervently three times for Christ to remove his affliction, only to hear the Lord tell him, “My grace is sufficient for thee: for My strength is made perfect in weakness.”

After he knew it was God’s will for him to bear his thorn, Paul must have prayed like Jesus prayed to His Heavenly Father in the Garden, “Father, not my will, but Thy will be done.”

Paul wrote, “Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong.” 2 Corinthians 12:9-10 KJV

I often identify with Paul because of his painful affliction. I have to maintain a sense of humor about my own thorns because it helps to see them through a positive perspective. The Lord promises that all things work together for good to those who love God.

Suffering can only defeat us if we allow it to. The Proverbs say that laughter is a good medicine. If we can learn to laugh despite our pain, especially learn to laugh at ourselves, it will help us maintain a good attitude no matter what challenges we face.

Books in general ~whether Ebooks or Print editions~ are very challenging for me to create, though I love to make them.
They are especially so when writing, designing, illustrating, and creating the whole thing yourself.

Many problems arise ~but with me, one in particular that hinders me the most is my affection for making changes once I have settled on a finished design.

But when I cannot laugh at myself is when it adversely affects and provokes Mark and others which it often can and does :(
I will make a version of the book that I like. And then decide that I need to change something. And these changes can go on for months because of my migraines. I will not see things correctly. I will think I have edited it right and lo and behold...I will have missed something extremely important. And then when I go to correct it, the whole file gets messed up and I will get flustered and want to never look at it again and go into fits of despair.
That is only half of the battles.
The illustrations...you don’t even want to know how many hours I must spend on them. But when I finally get the images I want created, edited, and then designed and added according to my design, and the file is at last ready to be sent to the printer, I feel like the Lord has enabled me to reach the summit of a huge mountain by His incredible grace and I look back and am amazed that He has gotten me this far.
I’m on cloud nine and praising God~until the printer sends me back a proof and I see that the colors are ghastly on two or more of the illustrations.
Gag!!!!
I can’t bear to look at them and go into fits of despair and get a migraine.
My husband has to talk to the printer.
But he’s slightly color blind so I don’t trust him to make any color decisions for me :(
Sigh...from the printers...
Sigh...from Mark...

They submit another proof.

I look at the new one and insist that they have changed the cover paper this time. I’m just sure the other one was embossed. Do they think I can’t tell!!
!!!

The printers are astonished.
They insist that they have not changed the cover Paper.

I then look at the adjusted colors on the illustrations.
Gag!!!!
!!!!
I go back to bed...ice packs on the head...I weep and pray, “oh Lord, fix our book, sob...”

Mark talks to the printer who is by now exasperated.
I pray, Lord! He’s color blind~PLEASE don’t let Mark tell them HE sees nothing wrong with those colors!!! GRRRRR....

Sigh from the printers...
Sigh from Mark...

Finally the Printers produce a third proof.
Then the week after the worst migraines I wake up and look skeptically at their latest attempt to get my illustrations right. Grrrrr...

Mark and the printers are waiting hopefully.
I flip through all the pages to get to the “ghastly” colored pictures.
Hmmm...they look fine.... I compare them with all the other proofs.
Hmmmm....those don’t look too bad anymore...
Why on earth did I ever think they looked so dreadful?

“Mark!!! These colors don’t look like 1960’s fluorescent shag rugs!
Why ever did I think that? Oh wow, these are awesome!
Why didn’t you correct me!”

Mark rolls his eyes... “I’m slightly color blind, remember!”

I call the Printer and apologize and say they all look great and I don’t know which proof to choose.
I explain that I don’t see things properly when I have migraines and I’d had a very bad one last week.

It wasn’t the first or last time my migraines would cause issues in my work with people. :(

I was just so sorry I had provoked Mark, and then the printers to do so much extra work because of my not seeing the colors properly.

The problem was with ME, my own wrong perceptions, not with any error on their part. And unfortunately, I was not going to SEE the truth until the migraine storm went away.

I have learned something very important because of the way that migraines often distort my vision, hearing, and other senses during a flare-up.

Don’t judge anything by appearances because what I see, hear, or smell is not necessarily true. There is an issue within me during a migraine that is causing me to not discern things properly.

Jesus tells us “Judge not” in Matthew 7:1 because we all have an issue within us that distorts our ability to discern things correctly. We all have sin in our hearts. None of us are perfect. We are not God who alone is perfect and has the ability to discern everything from all sides. We do not have all the information that God has about everyone to judge things properly. We do not know everything about everyone and we are not all knowing and all loving.

Though it took forever to make The Paths of Hope Softcover Print Edition, I thank the Lord so much for all He taught me on the journey. I thank Him especially for my precious, patient, and loving husband, and wonderful, understanding, and patient printers! :)
I thank Him for never letting me give up hope that He would help me finish it at last.
May He use this book to bless you or someone you love.

The Book is 8 1/2” inches by 11” inches softcover, with sturdy saddle stitch binding like the other Paths Books in the series.
It has 57 pages, printed on glossy silk, and the cover is a sturdy heavy card stock with a semi gloss finish.
We ship the book to you in a resealable protective sleeve in a sturdy recycled mailer. We ship priority Mail.
Paths of Hope Book III along with the other two Paths Book in the series, is also available on amazon.com, and AppleBook.com and bookbaby.com in ebook format.