Looking Out The Window: Kathleen Neely Introduces Her Upcoming Book, The Street Singer. Shares a Devotional.

A Warm Welcome To Kathleen Neely

Hi Kathleen, thanks for visiting and sharing your devotional about the New Year

Here it is, mid-January, two weeks into the new year. If I’d made New Year’s resolutions, this is about the time I’d be feeling the disappointment of breaking them. As 2018 stepped aside and ushered in a new year, I was reminded that time is a tool of man. Using God’s creation, we divided it into years, months, weeks, days, hours. I could go on, but you get the picture. We look at the changing of a year as a monumental event, but the Bible has something different to say.

God’s word shows time as a continuous phenomenon. He says that his mercies are new every morning (Lam.3:23). He says that the old has passed away (2Cor.5:17). And He says that He is making all things new (Rev.21:5).

There isn’t an isolated moment in time when we receive His mercies. Instead, they are bestowed on us daily. God knows how hard it is to stay the course, whatever your goals may be. He knows we fail. If His mercies were available only at the change of a new year, what trouble we’d be in!
I love that He said, “The old has passed away.” My failures, my shortcomings, my broken resolutions, He doesn’t hold them against me. Instead, He showers me with His mercies and throws in a promise. “I am making all things new.”

As people without the whole picture, without the knowledge of God’s timetable, we have a need to bring order to time. We establish a man-made date to celebrate Christ’s birth, His death and resurrection. Those days remind us of what we should celebrate every day of our lives. Jesus left the glory of heaven to take on flesh. He lived, experiencing every temptation known to man, and unlike us, He didn’t fail. He had no sin, but carried our sin on his burdened shoulders, nailed to a cross. He died and was buried, but broke free of the restraints of death, defeating it for us.

That would have been more than enough, but He didn’t stop there. His mercies are new every morning. Jeremiah used the phrase every morning. I don’t know Hebrew, but I suspect that God’s word would be more fluid—new every moment.

I didn’t make a resolution for the new year, but I won’t hesitate to make them. Even if I fail, which I will, God is making all things new.

Kathleen's new book, The Street Singer, releases on February 22nd.

About The Street Singer

Trisha Mills, a student in her final semester of law school, has fond memories of listening to the music of Adaline, a once famous recording artist. She learns that Adaline, now Adda
Marsh, is a street singer in Asheville, NC. Adda’s sole means of support in her senior years comes from the donation box. Along with her meager possessions, Adda has a box labeled, “Things to Remember.” She agrees to show Trisha the contents. With it comes her story, shared a few items at a time, beginning as a sharecropper’s daughter in Mississippi, to fame in Nashville, and to poverty in her old age.

Trisha is busy cleaning out the home of her deceased grandfather, preparing to sit for the bar exam, and planning her wedding to Grant Ramsey. However, she cannot overlook the
injustices that Adda has experienced. Aided by Rusty Bergstrom, an attorney who will work pro bono, Trisha convinces Adda to seek restitution. Will her growing friendship with Rusty Bergstrom affect her engagement to Grant?

Bio: Kathleen Neely is a former elementary teacher and an elementary principal. Kathleen earned her Bachelors of Education degree at Slippery Rock University in Pennsylvania and her Masters in Educational Leadership at Regent University in Virginia. She was a long-time member of the Association of Christian Schools International. In addition to teaching children, Kathleen taught many staff development workshops and led forums for teachers.

Among her writing accomplishments, her first novel, The Least of These, was awarded first place in the 2015 Fresh Voices contest through Almost An Author. It will be available in May, 2019. She has numerous devotions published through Christian Devotions.

Kathleen continues to speak to students about writing and publication processes. She is a member of Association of Christian Fiction Writers.

Kathleen resides in Greenville, SC with her husband, two cats, and one dog. She enjoys time with family, visiting her two grandsons, traveling, and reading.
You can visit her at her website