{"id":23173,"date":"2026-03-11T14:19:35","date_gmt":"2026-03-11T14:19:35","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2026-07-15T13:48:46","modified_gmt":"2026-07-15T17:48:46","slug":"joy-comes-in-the-morning","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/guideposts.org\/articles\/positive-living\/joy-comes-in-the-morning\/","title":{"rendered":"Joy Comes in the Morning"},"content":{"rendered":"

Every time my husband, Wayne, and I go on a trip, he grunts and groans as he lifts my heavy bag, then asks, \u201cDo you have to bring all these books with you?\u201d It\u2019s a rhetorical question. After some 40 years of marriage, he knows <\/em>the answer. Yes, I do. Those books are how I start my day. Every day.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m up at 4:00. Before I head to the office, I sit at my kitchen table, read, study, pray and seek the Lord.<\/p>\n

I have succeeded beyond my wildest dreams as a writer, with book sales topping a hundred million. There\u2019s even a TV show, Hallmark\u2019s Debbie Macomber\u2019s Cedar Cove, <\/em>based on one of my book series (I\u2019m thrilled to say that it is now going into its second season).<\/p>\n

But I couldn\u2019t have written all those books without the ones I start my day with.<\/p>\n

First, there\u2019s the Bible<\/strong>. I read it cover to cover every year, marking and underlining passages. Amazingly, I always find some verse that speaks to me in a new way or one that speaks to me for the first time. I never feel as if I am re<\/em>reading the Bible. I feel as if I am reading it anew.<\/p>\n

Last winter I underwent what should have been a routine medical procedure and ended up in the ICU for a week with complications. Then Wayne fell, breaking his arm in two places and tearing his rotator cuff. What\u2019s more, I came down with shingles.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m beginning to feel like Job,\u201d I moaned. No sooner had I uttered the words than I seemed to hear the Lord say to me, But Debbie, don\u2019t forget the great lesson of Job. <\/em><\/p>\n

I grabbed my Bible and there it was: \u201cAfter Job had prayed for his friends, the Lord restored his fortunes and gave him twice as much as he had before\u201d (Job 42:10).<\/p>\n

At the end of Job\u2019s horrific suffering, he was overwhelmed with blessings. I held on tight to that lesson and good health finally returned to Wayne and me.<\/p>\n

Then I turn to my Prayer Journal<\/strong>, the place I put my deepest wishes, the secrets of my heart. There were times in my life when I could tell only God what I yearned for.<\/p>\n

He helped me overcome the negative voices I heard in my head, like what my third-grade teacher said to my mom: \u201cDebbie is a sweet little girl, but she\u2019ll never do well in school.\u201d Or the one who exclaimed, \u201cYou can\u2019t write, Debbie. Why, you can\u2019t even spell.\u201d (Eventually the Lord blessed me with spell check.)<\/p>\n

All those years I prayed about my weight, I could hear the voice from my childhood that said, \u201cLet\u2019s go straight to the Chubby Department, Debbie. They\u2019re sure to have your size there.\u201d<\/p>\n

I keep from focusing solely on myself by picking three people to pray for every year. At some point during the year, generally around their birthdays, I give them a Bible, with a letter describing how I\u2019m praying for them.<\/p>\n

The true value of a prayer journal is that I can look back over the years and see a record of God at work in my life and in the lives of others.<\/p>\n

Every week I pick a different Bible verse to memorize and I put it down in my Journal of God\u2019s Promises<\/strong>. Impressive, right? Okay, so sometimes I forget verses as I learn new ones, but many of them are inscribed on my heart.<\/p>\n

For instance, if I\u2019ve ever signed a book for you, you\u2019ll notice that under my name I wrote, \u201c2 Tim 1:7.\u201d Whenever I feel afraid or doubtful I repeat that verse: \u201cFor God has not given us a spirit of timidity, but of power, love and discipline.\u201d I have whispered the words so many times they are a part of me.<\/p>\n

Years ago, when I was struggling to find God\u2019s purpose for my life, stymied by obstacles and my own failings, I was in the hospital to visit an ailing cousin and I got totally lost. It felt like a metaphor for my life. I muttered that verse from II Timothy.<\/p>\n

Finally I stopped a doctor and asked how to find my cousin. He pointed to a door that was marked Absolutely No Admittance <\/em>and hurried off. I was confused. Had he made some mistake? But what did I have to lose? I was already lost. I pushed open the door. It led me to just the right ward.<\/p>\n

That experience became a symbol to me of how I would choose to walk through life, not with \u201ca spirit of timidity but of power and love.\u201d I would walk boldly through the most impossible doors. Claiming and clinging to God\u2019s promises.<\/p>\n

Of course, I keep a Personal Journal<\/strong>. Always have. In my opinion, a journal or diary is indispensable for a writer. I can record a snippet of what someone said or what they wore for later use in my novels. It\u2019s a way of capturing life, of preserving its details.<\/p>\n

Not long ago I looked through the diary my mother kept during World War II. Three days after she and my dad were married, he was on a troop carrier to Europe. Mom wondered if she would ever see him again and hoped he knew he was always in her prayers.<\/p>\n

Probably through the help of his younger sister, Gerty, he had roses delivered to Mom on their first anniversary. The entry in her diary says, \u201cRoses from Ted. Oh, my heart.\u201d Six simple, unforgettable words that speak volumes.<\/p>\n

In many ways my Gratitude Journal <\/strong>may be the most important book I write in. Every day, no matter how I\u2019m feeling, I put down five things I\u2019m grateful for. My family, a friend, something in my writing, a mentor, a perfect sunrise.<\/p>\n

It might be something that happened years ago. I\u2019ll always be grateful to Sister Seraphina, my eighth-grade teacher, who saw me struggle through reading, math and just about every other subject. But she knew I was really good at one thing: knitting. So she organized a fashion show of my sweaters.<\/p>\n

My classmates were amazed. It was a terrific boost to my self-esteem, and to this day I am a devoted knitter.<\/p>\n

Gratitude sustains the soul. How can we experience grace if we don\u2019t feel grateful? How do we know we\u2019ve been blessed?<\/p>\n

Norman Vincent Peale said we should be grateful for blessings not yet received, for blessings unknown. I find that to be powerful advice. Gratitude is a practice that opens me to God\u2019s gifts every day.<\/p>\n

So now you know why poor Wayne always grunts and groans over my luggage. And I think you know that he doesn\u2019t really mind. These are the books I must write in before I start work writing my own.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Every time my husband, Wayne, and I go on a trip, he grunts and groans as he lifts my heavy bag, then asks, \u201cDo you have to bring all these books with you?\u201d It\u2019s a rhetorical question. After some 40 years of marriage, he knows the answer. Yes, I do. Those books are how I […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":30225,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"ep_exclude_from_search":false,"footnotes":"","_wpscppro_dont_share_socialmedia":false,"_wpscppro_custom_social_share_image":0,"_facebook_share_type":"","_twitter_share_type":"","_linkedin_share_type":"","_pinterest_share_type":"","_linkedin_share_type_page":"","_instagram_share_type":"","_medium_share_type":"","_threads_share_type":"","_google_business_share_type":"","_bluesky_share_type":"","_mastodon_share_type":"","_selected_social_profile":[],"_wpsp_enable_custom_social_template":false,"_wpsp_social_scheduling":{"enabled":false,"datetime":null,"platforms":[],"status":"template_only","dateOption":"today","timeOption":"now","customDays":"","customHours":"","customDate":"","customTime":"","schedulingType":"absolute"},"_wpsp_active_default_template":true},"categories":[136],"tags":[58,51,197,72],"ppma_author":[731],"class_list":["post-23173","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-positive-living","tag-guideposts","tag-inspirational-stories","tag-motivational-stories","tag-stories-of-faith"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nJoy Comes in the Morning - Guideposts Articles<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/guideposts.org\/articles\/positive-living\/joy-comes-in-the-morning\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Joy Comes in the Morning\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Every time my husband, Wayne, and I go on a trip, he grunts and groans as he lifts my heavy bag, then asks, \u201cDo you have to bring all these books with you?\u201d It\u2019s a rhetorical question. 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