Happy New Year

A New Year is just a day away, and looking wonderful for us. Son Jerry is recovering very well from his Kidney Transplant, My new book, "Reach out, each day" is almost complete, I think, and our music calendar is beginning to fill up--Yay

Reach Out is a compilation of short stories of how God has "pushed" me out of my comfort zone of a few years back by guiding me to speak to strangers I meet along the way who are in need of a kind word, a prayer, perhaps a meal to keep them from hunger. It is a fasinating journey He has been taking me on.

So as the new year arrives I encourage you to pray for God to open doors for you to help others in thier life journey.

A Thanksgiving Miracle

Jerry’s miracle of life

It was a crisp fall day as we wondered down the main street in Branson, Missouri, looking into store windows and just enjoying a family vacation.

As my sister, Nina, peered into a little coffee shop, she said, “We have to eat here before we leave town. We all glanced back and agreed to stop in for breakfast one morning.

We were enjoying time spent together, attending various music concerts: The Oak Ridge Boys, Jim Stafford and Johnnie Mathis and time had just flown. Suddenly it was Saturday Morning and we walked into the little café to finally see what good country cooking awaited us, unaware that a miracle was the main gift of the day.

As we began to read the menu we discovered the café was owned and operated by an organization, Church Army, that provided housing and jobs for recovering drug addicts and alcoholics.

The waitresses were happy, joyful ladies who were excited to share the story behind the organization.

When we finished our breakfast and started to leave I felt an urge to step over to one of the waitresses and share with her that my son spends three days each week on dialysis. I told her we had been praying for him to receive a kidney transplant so he could return to a more normal life.

She very excitedly asked for my sons name and my phone number. She said, “As soon as I am off work I am going to start praying and find your son a kidney. I thanked her kindly and promised to keep in touch.

At about ten o’clock that same night my son called and said, “Mom, I got a call from the hospital –they said be there tomorrow morning at 7:00am. We have a kidney on its way from Texas for you”.

My husband Gary, and I were scheduled to leave Branson Sunday morning to fly back home to California and I told him we had to stop by the little café and tell Denise what had happened during the night.

Denise was not surprised! She said as soon as she was off work she went directly to her group home, gathered all the ladies into a room and they all prayed for God to give Jerry a new kidney. She said their church has a Saturday night service and she asked all the people to pray for him and that there was about two hundred people that night, earnestly praying for a new kidney for Jerry.

When Jerry arrived at the hospital Sunday morning the kidney had not yet arrived, but they began preparing him for the transplant operation with blood tests, x-rays, etc. The surgery was scheduled for the next day, Monday, November 21^st at noon.

One of my kids asked me, “Mom, did Jerry tell you about what happened to him at dialysis Saturday morning?” I replied, “No, what happened?”

She said that the mother of one of the dialysis patients walked over to Jerry-pointed and touched her finger to his chest and said, “God is giving you a blessing very soon!”

God is definitely a loving, caring father. He provided a precious gift for our son, as people all over the world were praying for this miracle. We had people from all walks of life; from America to Canada, Nigeria and Kenya all praying on that wonderful night. I believe because this was so widely shared, many will recognize this as having been the hand of God, reaching out and setting the stage for this to all come together.

As I sat in the waiting room that day, waiting for word that the surgery was finished, I kept feeling there was something special about this date, November 21, 2011. When I got home and checked, my thoughts were correct.

You will notice I have added a photo of Jerry on his cycle, which he loves to ride. He will not be able to ride it for 6 months but says he can handle the withdrawls in order to have this new lease on life. He is so thankful for the gift he was given by this person in Texas. A special thank you to the family who made this possible.

This was the 10^th Anniversary of the day my mother left us to live with our Heavenly Father.

If you have loved ones in need, ask God to help—He wants us to ask so that we will know it is a gift from Him when our prayer is answered. He has many blessings He wants to give us if we will only reach out to Him.

Thanks so much

I am so excited! My new book, The Lord still speaks to Lovers, is selling! Each time one sells on http://www.lulu.com/ I receive an email telling me about the sale!!! Thank you so much for helping me make this book a success--

And if you are considering publishing a book, I must say that I am very pleased thus far with Lulu.com. It is a print on demand publisher, meaning they print each book as they receive an order. This means I do not have to carry a large inventory as I have done in the past. I keep a few in stock for folks who live near by or to sell at our Gospel music concerts along with our CDs.

Again, thanks so much for your support!

The Lord Still speaks to Lovers-New Book

I am so excited! I have finally completed my book "The Lord still speaks to Lovers", a compilation of Christian love stories after 2-3 years of procrastinating.

Each story is written or told by the couples who lived the experiences of meeting, falling in love, becoming husband and wife--with Jesus the third (or first) party to the marriage. So wonderful to read how God has brought them together and then guides them to live for Him.

Yes, of course, my own story of finding Gary is included in the book along with some poetry that I hope you will enjoy. You find it in hardcopy, as well as a downloadable version at: www.lulu.com/spotlight/betty_overstreet

Be Available to Listen to the young!

I had the opportunity today to spend an hour with a young girl who is around 13-14 while driving home from my grandaughters home. The girl lives near us and had visiting with my grandaughters family. I believe it is the first time I have been in the position to need to discuss Jesus with a young person-one on one.

As she began to talk about her life I asked her if she attends a church and she said her step-dad has begun taking her to a church. As the conversation continued I asked her if she had her own bible and she said no, where do you find a bible (sad). I told her at a Christian bookstore and she said 'A Christian bookstore? I didn't know there was such a store'. I told her I will buy her one. I discovered she thought Noah's ark was just a little story, didn't know it is a true story and wanted to know why he built it. Then she mentioned a story someone told her about Mary, Joseph and a donkey. (sadder still)

I was amazed at the questions and so thankful God gave me what I believe were the correct answers for her. I love sharing Jesus through my music and books but have never felt compatent to speak or try to teach about him through speaking. I thank God for always being beside me when I am so in need of Him!

We must all be aware that there is a whole generation of young people who are not being guided by Christians either in or out of their homes. We must take the time to talk and listen to them whenever God gives us the opportunity.



We would love to share our love for God through music at your church! Call us at 707-478-8451 or 707-688-5812 or visit our website www.bettyoverstreet.com for music sampling"

God has your address! A note especially for singles

Good Morning,
Wow, it is a cold morning here in California, however, not frosted over like the previous days have been.

I would like to share an article today that I wrote several years ago, during my adult single days. It has been a fun thing in that, when I first wrote it I sent it to an Online Magazine that I really enjoyed and THEY ACCEPTED IT!! All you writers out there realize what a thrill that is when something we write is accepted by someone.

Well, the fun thing was, I discovered another magazine had "stolen" it and put it into their magazine and since then, it has happened over and over. Feel free to forward this to all your single friends.

Hey God! Do you have my address?

by Betty Overstreet

They are real. They are alive and well in our world. Christian singles, searching for each other. However, it seems especially hard for single women to find where the single men hang out!

Usually when we hear the term, Men of God, it is describing a minister, pastor, or priest. Those men represent a very small percentage of the men of God present in our lives or perhaps not present in our lives. A Man of God, to me, is just that. A man who loves God, puts his love for God above all things, and loves and respects his family and friends. I am learning that there are many, many Men of God out there. We just have to ask God to help us find them, when He feels the time is right.

I was a single Christian woman for a few years following my divorce, hoping to someday have a Christian man in my life. It would indeed be a new experience for me. Coming from a family in which the head of the household was an alcoholic, my two brothers began drinking from a young age. It seemed that most of the men I knew were unfaithful to their wives and finally the ultimate sadness: a husband who was unfaithful after 14 years of marriage. I’m afraid I was very doubtful there was a trustworthy man alive!

Having been married to two men, neither of whom were Christian, my life was full of distrust and unhappiness in relationships. Then my life took a drastic, wonderful turn. I was given a gift. A chance to change the direction my life had been going. My gift was a wonderful new church home where I saw relationships between husbands and wives that were different from any couples I had ever been close to. I met couples who genuinely love and respect one another. I met a couple of men in my singles group who were very serious about their faith in God, both of whom became my very special friends. I have learned through their friendships that there truly are men who believe in monogamous relationships and celibacy. This is almost too good to be true! But it is true. For those of us who have been married most of our lives this is a very hard life to live, but I was ready to follow their lead, with a lot of help from our Lord!

One weekend I had the opportunity to meet with Christian singles from all over the state at a four-day conference at Mt. Herman Conference Grounds in Santa Cruz County and discovered that there are many, many single men just like my two friends.

This conference was a truly awesome experience. I saw men and women exchanging ideas, desires, longings, hopes, dreams and heartbreaking stories of the past without embarrassment or shame. The men at this conference were not afraid to laugh and weep together or hug one another in friendship.

We had very knowledgeable speakers, wonderful music, good food and fellowship with other Christian singles. This is such a great way to meet new friends and perhaps, just perhaps, that man and woman whom God has chosen will bump into each other and a friendship will begin that will someday lead to marriage vows.

It was stressed to us at one of the meetings that we shouldn’t worry about finding the person God has chosen for us. In answer to one woman’s question about how to find a mate, the speaker, Doug Stevens, told us that we don’t have to search for the mate, “God has our address.” He will know how to get us together when the time is right. We all thought that was an interesting idea and it became the catch-phrase of the weekend. One of the speakers stressed to the men that they must wait for a woman of character. This really left an impression on my heart because it made me realize that I was not yet mature enough in my faith to be the woman who would be right for the man I wanted in my life! What an eye opener! Who me? I have always thought of myself as being quite a catch. I had to except that I had a large amount of growth to experience before God would give my address to the right man.

We need to memorize the following verse because it is very important:

Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness? 2 Corinthians 6:14 (NIV)

I believe that anytime a Christian marries or dates a non-Christian our faith or faithfulness can be weakened or totally destroyed. We must be faithful to our love for Christ and follow His teachings.

Don’t settle for less than God has planned for you. Don’t spend your time searching for the right man or woman. Spend your time growing in Christ and when the time is right HE WILL KNOW YOUR ADDRESS!

God just gave me a nudge!

I just love the way God works in our lives. Kind of like a nudge to point us in the right direction I guess...He whispers an idea in my head (of course, I just think it is my idea) , then He takes the next step to show me it must be a message from Him. Just an example of what I am muttering about:


Last night as I was sitting at the computer, Gary (my husband) emailed me an advertizement of a Gospel music retreat this spring in New Mexico. He said, " this is close to the area in Arizona that you have been wanting to visit. Why don't we make a trip to Arizona, then swing over to Santa Fe to go to the retreat. As we were looking at the map, I noticed that Santa Fe is just south of Colorado Springs, one of the towns where we did a concert in a church a couple of years ago and they said if we were ever back in the area they would love for us to come again.


I have been wanting to put together another Gospel music tour ever since, so I said, " You know we could come back home by way of Colorado Springs, schedule a concert there and then get a few more scheduled along the way home." Gary said, "That sounds like a good idea,...yeah, we could contact the Waits and see if they can arrange a date that would fit with our trip.


Tonight, I answered the phone and a man says, " Hi Betty, this is Les Wait from Colorado Springs. I was just looking through my junk email and came across one from you saying you would like to come back this way to do another concert." We would sure like to see if we can arrange it for you." I said, " Les, when was that email dated ( I had not sent one recently) and he said " Well, let me see, it is Dec 17th".


It has been more than a year since I sent that email, Dec 17, 2009 ! Not this past Dec. The email had accidently been put in junk because we don't correspond frequently, and he just now was cleaning out his junk and found it!!!


Now, you tell me if this doesn't mean God wants us to go to Colorado Springs this spring. We are going. If you happen to live between there and Vacaville Ca. and would like to schedule a Gospel concert on our way home, let me know at bettyoverstreet@hotmail.com

A new book published by my friend, Jenn Klein

I am so excited, Jennifer Klein has finally seen her dream come true! Jenn is an artist, illustrator and now an author. Her new book is available on Lulu.com and I can hardly wait to receive my first copy. I am sure I will want to order one for each of our grandchildren. Yes, it is a Christian, Childrens book and here is the link: www.lulu.com/spotlight/Jenniferklein777

Sir Bumble is the title

My Ebooks are available

Good Morning!

Just a short note today to wish you a great day and to guide you toward information on my ebooks that are available for download at http://ebooks.faithwriters.com/ go to my blog "Christian Creations for directions and descriptions of each book.

God has plans for you

A new year is just beginning...what are you planning for the coming season? Travel, working, starting a new career, etc, etc. Did you make a New Year resolution, that will probably be broken within a month or two?

Perhaps the best New Year's resolution we could possibly make is to listen for God's plan. Just stay quiet and ask for His plan for us for the New Year. I don't always remember to pray about what to do next, but I remember a time, about 10 years ago that I did just that.

Sitting in church one Sunday morning, praying please Lord, let me know what you want me to do with the rest of my life..." Write your poetry",,came a quiet, gentle voice. I was shocked! I thought someone heard me praying and answered me. Someone did. And as I realized it was not just somebody I asked again, "What do you want me to do?" and He answered, "Write inspirationally and it will be published".

God is good! He guided me each step of the way as I began writing my first book, "The Lord still speaks, are you listening". It was followed about a year later by "Water to wine, 2 fish to a feast". And then, "Mistletoe Memories" , a book of Christmas poetry.

Some people are quick to say, " God or Jesus don't speak to us" , and it breaks my heart when I hear this for He does, not always audibly but in many ways, that I will be writing about at a later time.

Thus speaketh the Lord God of Israel, saying, "Write thee all the words taht i have spoken unto thee in a book". Jeremiah 30:2 KJV