Over a decade ago, I wrote this blog, thinking the hiatus was over with, but I was wrong. Still, this is a good blog, and still timely. Every word is meant – for all those yesterday's and for today.

Sometimes weeks, even a month, go by without turning my attention to LinkedIn. Nothing at all against LinkedIn. I’ve treated Google+, Facebook, Pinterest, twitter, and my website the same. Illness will do this to a person. Expectations occur prior to and after surgery. When those expectations disappear into nothingness, an array of questions attack with sharpness: What have I done wrong? What I could do better? How long is this going to go on? Will this ever end?

Over three years is a very long time. And any problem that goes on and on dulls energy.

Silence became my friend, isolation my solace. Then LinkedIn announced the 4th Anniversary of my company, Soul Care Books LLC, and two days ago, when I hooked into my account, a nice extensive flood of “congrats and hoped you’re feeling better” popped up.

Just the day before, my husband and I had discussed the year-long research I’ve been doing snail-like. Complaining again about how I was feeling, Jack surveyed the mountain of new textbooks, the thousands of filled index cards; and an office messy with scrapes of notes carefully “filed” everywhere, every which way.

“And what am I supposed to do with all of this if you die?” he asked, horrified.

“Throw it all away. No one else is going to be able to write my book!”

And that brought back a memory made while I was attending seminary. I jokingly told classmates, “My perfect death would be to die at the computer writing yet again another brilliant work!”

And that thought led me to a prayerful statement made to God: “If You want this book written, You are going to have to help.”

And that brings me to this moment as I end up writing “thank you” to so many people. For God indeed answered this desperate prayer. Today is a new time. Silence and isolation were yesterday's hidey-hole. Today is soft energy.

My message to you is: Please, never think a smile or a kind word is not worth its weight in gold. I am living proof that my LinkedIn friendly, caring “Connections” helped me understand just how much negative thinking I had fallen into and what a waste of time that was!