reading

Christmas is for the poor… Christmas is for the weak… Christmas is for the refugee… It’s for the lonely…and the meek. It’s the magic of Christmas that captures us. Christmas movies often portray beautiful families and almost always have a happy ending.

Christmas is not only about gifts under the tree, though. It’s about something greater. It’s not about what you get, but what you’ve already got–a Savior. Christ entered, and as a man He changed the course of history. A human sacrifice.

He came for you and for me. Sent by God, the Holy Father, He performed miracles, signs, and wonders. Fully human and fully divine, He died and rose to redeem us. Christmas is about hope and peace.

It’s about a dark-skinned baby born among animals because no one would welcome him. How can we celebrate Christmas this season? Can we welcome Him into our hearts, or into our homes?

About Zina

Zina Hermez authored the book Not Without God: A Story of Survival and created a Spinal Cord Injuries website. Zina has worked as an English as a Second Language Instructor and has been an educator for many years. Her thousands of students have been from many parts of the world, and she’s worked with all ages.

Zina writes articles on faith and overcoming challenges. Her stories have been featured in Christianity Today, the Breathe Conference blog, the Southern Writers magazine, medical journals and various other publications. Her upcoming book, Hope After the Storm, will be the second in her II part Not Without God series and will be out sometime next year.

I went to the Breathe Conference yesterday, and I got back earlier today. I always like going to Writers conferences because they are a nice short getaway. You also get to meet other writers, and spend a little time bonding with others who have the same interests that you do. Writing can be a lonely experience. Instead of being at a desk behind your computer, you can get out there and share!

You can pick and choose which workshops you would like to go to. Breathe had four or five seminars going at one time so there were options. Some of the workshops I went to were on how to start and maintain a writing career, how to create good dialogue in your writing, and how to add cool graphics to your website/blogs.

All of them had great information, and were very interesting. One of my favorites was the one about adding graphics to your blog. I gained a lot of new information. Some of the tips and suggestions in the other workshops I’d already heard before, although I did learn some new things.

Have you ever thought about becoming a writer?

Here are a few simple things you can do:

Connect with other writers: join a writers’ group, attend a writers’ conference, share your writing with your friends or family, find an accountability partner (that was a new piece of advice I learned at the conference). I really like that one!

Start a blog. I know it sounds intimidating. If you’re really worried about your grammar and spelling, or unsure about what to write. Let me know maybe I can help you. Your blog should have a focus. Who would be your ideal audience?

Reading others writing can really help, and it is a great way to write well. Reading and writing go hand in hand. The best writers are the best readers. I have shared this with my students before. Make reading a priority.

I’m looking into starting a writers group. Let me know if you’re interested! I would like to meet at least once a month…

About Zina

Zina Hermez has authored the book Not Without God: A Story of Survival and has created the Spinal Cord Injury Solutions! on line website. Zina works as an English Language Instructor, and has been an educator for nearly fifteen years her thousands of students have been from many parts of the world and she’s worked with all ages.

Zina writes articles on faith and overcoming disability and her stories have been featured in Christianity Today, Spinal Cord Injury Zone, SCI Access, newsletters, and medical journals among many other various publications. To learn more about Zina visit http://zinahermez.com.