The Beginning, by Sally Pickard

Brenda Dulmage and I were friends in our local church in Lima, Ohio, and were in a Bible study together. We each taught it at different times. It seemed that Brenda usually taught about our personalities, our temperaments, while I was usually interested in how we were motivated and how we function. Some time later my husband and I had moved to Coshocton, Ohio and I invited several friends to a ladies getaway. We had rented a lovely large, four bedroom house. There was plenty of room for us all. During the weekend we ladies were around our dining room table discussing these subjects of temperament and function. Brenda and I were again chatting about our view of how these two parts of who we are were important. And then one of our friends spoke up and said, "This is so interesting, you two should write a book about it." I sat up straight and rolled my eyes. Brenda exclaimed, "Sally, when do we start!"

Brenda and I had seen the two important parts of who we were differently then other authors and speakers. There are several good books about our temperaments. Most see the two different parts of who we are as having two temperament types. However, Brenda and I could see that we each have ONE temperament type, but there is another part of us that really is the way we function. Those are the two parts, temperament and function.

Shortly after this I attended a ladies retreat that changed my life. The speaker was a well known author and a good speaker. I am in no way putting her down, but I noticed that this retreat ended up like most retreats that I had attended over the years. Everyone thought that she was Wonderful! However, there was no meat to the event that you took away that made you better or closer to the Lord. When I got home I called Brenda and told her about my experience and we decided that we had information that was beneficial and would change women's lives.

We could see that our temperament was like our base of who we are. The way we function was like an object that is set inside of that base. We talked and prayed and both agreed that the best format was to choose four vessels that would be the base. And then to choose seven flowers that would be the seven ways in which we function. We could see that when you put that flower in that vessel it is a beautiful picture of who you are.

And Hooray! Vessels and Flowers was born.

After that came wonderful times via email, letters, get-togethers of planning it all. We had wonderful times of prayer and God helped us to choose just the right vessels and flowers to portray these subjects. Once we had it all together, our dear friend, Harriet Gallaway, invited us to present our material at a ladies retreat at her church. I still have dear love and appreciation of those good women who sat through our very first presentation. God bless them.

However, we had a problem. All information on temperaments list four of them. The problem was I didn't fit in any of those categories. Of course, I wanted to be the one that was fun-loving and happy. Who wouldn't ? But that was not really me. I am more complicated than that. And once again I realized I didn't fit anywhere. Brenda and I knew that there is another temperament. We knew what that temperament was like, however we could not come up with a vessel that fit that category. Then one day it happened. I got a call from Brenda, and she told me that she had just found me on a bargain table at T J Max. She found the appropriate vessel that completely explained just who I am. What an event. That particular vessel will be discussed in later blogs.

Vessels and Flowers seminars were then off and running. We wrote our material and published a lovely workbook that we used at our seminars. However, at every seminar, women encouraged us to get this into a book. There is so much material that at the end of them, our tongues would hurt from talking so fast and trying to say so much. We realized we did need to write a book. It took us about a year and a half. It was the most fun I have ever had doing anything. Brenda and I would meet at each others home, at my sister's home while she and her husband were wintering in Alabama, and at a friends cabin in Tennessee. It was such a wonderful experience. Days and nights of discussing this subject. Finally the manuscript was complete.

We submitted our manuscript to an organization that puts it into the hands of Christian publications. We have several good responses. For a year or so we tried to get it published with no good results. There were a couple of known publishers that almost took it, but in the end would bow out. It ended up that we had so many women that wanted the book, that we self-published.

So this is my story of how Brenda Dulmage and I wrote Vessels and Flowers. We love the subject. We love giving seminars. We love helping women see how wonderfully God has created them and was so personally involved in deciding just how they would be knit together for His glory.