February Update

There are a few topics swirling around in this head of mine, but none have had time to gel.  So I thought I'd give a monthly update because it has already been almost a month since the last one.

What I'm Pondering: 
I'm reading through the Gospel of Luke right now, and I was struck by the transition in Chapter 4.  The chapter begins with Jesus being tempted in the desert. After the devil departs in verse 13, the heading before verse 14 says, "Jesus Begins His Ministry."  I think I've glossed over the fact that Jesus began His ministry after a time of testing and temptation.  It encourages me to take my struggles and find a way to minister to others so that my struggles can be used for His glory.

What I'm Listening To:
I'm still listening to Chris Tomlin's Burning Lights quite a bit, but I also downloaded All Sons & Daughters' new EP called The Longing.  I saw a recommendation for this album on Twitter, and I'm so glad that I checked them out.  The harmonies of this worship duo are absolutely beautiful.

I also downloaded the audio of Romans to help with memorizing Chapter 1.  I need all the help I can get as I'm struggling with this much more than I did when I memorized Psalm 91.

What I'm Reading:
I've been reading in every spare moment lately, and I've finished most of the books that I had started last year.  From those I've finished, I gleaned a lot about truth, love, and grace and the interplay between those concepts from Tim & Kathy Keller's The Real Meaning of Marriage; I learned more about being the hands and feet of Jesus from Brandon Hatmaker's book Barefoot Church; I whipped through the pages of Christine Caine's book Undaunted as she told of her upbringing and her heart's desire to rescue women from sex-trafficking; and I laughed uncontrollably through the bulk of Melanie Shankle's debut memoir Sparkly Green Earrings.

Currently, I'm slowly going through Because He Loves Me: How Christ Transforms Our Daily Life by Elyse Fitzpatrick.  It's quite possible that I've never underlined this much before in a book.  Fitzpatrick writes about the Gospel for Believers, and I'm trying to soak up every word.  Everything she writes keeps pointing me back to my one-word resolution of "grace."

I told my mother earlier today that I wish I could just eat books.  I'm such a slow reader and there are so many books that I want to read that I'd love to digest one each meal!  That's probably a weird visual, but it fits.

Winners of One Thousand Gifts

Because it was my first giveaway, I decided to change the rules. I decided to "draw" the winners a day early and to reward those who entered. So both commenters will receive a book! Due to the holiday, the books should go out in the mail on Tuesday. Happy reading!

Seeing Is Believing (+ A Giveaway!)

It's the cure for ingratitude. It always precedes the miracle. It leads to joy.

IT is eucharisteo.

I hadn't heard that term before but am so grateful that Ann Voskamp's book One Thousand Gifts introduced me to it. What started out as a dare to count 1,000 of the daily gifts from God became a way of life for Ann, and in the process, she traced the roots of eucharisteo not just through her life but through the Bible.


Her book has been described as life-changing. But why? Because taking time to write down the little moments helps us to fully live instead of rush through life. When I write down thanks for pipes not freezing, for the gift of a snow day (or 5) at home, for the super soft fur on my dog's head, it's as if life slows down a bit.


I started listing gifts back at Christmas and just took the time today to number them. There were over 200 gifts that most likely would have slipped away if I hadn't started counting. And in the process, I've discovered what Ann says on page 151 to be true: "Count blessings and discover Who can be counted on." Prior to that, Ann says on page 150 in discussing fear, "Nothing has materialy changed since yesterday's fears, last week's anxiety. But I have. I'm changing."

As one prone to give in to fears, I needed the insight she provided in chapter 8. I needed to be reminded to trust the Bridge Builder and that thanks is what builds trust.

I have never underlined this much in a book that I wasn't going to be tested on. But I want to live out what Ann talks about because her life is not perfect, but it is a beautiful, pure offering - one so opposite from this world - that it draws me in. And I hope it draws you in, as well.

Because I love this book so much, I have already given away two copies, but I bought another to give away here. Just leave a comment telling about one of His special gifts to you, and leave your name so that I can contact you if your name is chosen. I'll draw one person's name at random on Jan. 21.

And as you're reading the book, don't miss the video interviews with Ann here. So far, she has discussed the first two chapters and done an intro. Her passion and excitement in sharing eucharisteo is obvious and contagious. I hope you catch her passion for eucharisteo and start your own list of 1,000+ gifts.

The Christmas Jars - Redux

A couple of you have asked for more details on The Christmas Jars that I posted on. I hesitated to post more on the story because the book is such a good read. But I don't want you to miss out on the blessing that is sure to come with filling and giving away a Christmas jar, so I'll do my best to summarize the premise behind the jars here.

The book, which appears to be a work of fiction even though it could just as easily be based on a true story, chronicles a budding writer who, after receiving a Christmas jar, decides to track down the people behind the tradition. The family who started the tradition used the jar initially to save money for their own Christmas. As newlyweds, the couple would take however much was in the jar, divide it between the two of them, and go to a local department store to buy the best gift they could buy with their half of the meager savings. This practice continued for several years until they had children.

It was then that the tradition took a different twist when their daughter gave their jar to a lady sitting on a curb as they were on their way into the bank to have the change turned into dollars so that they could go shopping. From that point on, they gave away the Christmas jar each year. Sometimes to a family who had lost a loved one, sometimes to a wealthy person who needed to learn how to receive (& possibly regift), and sometimes to a stranger who came across their path and was in obvious need.

The Christmas jar helped the family stay focused on others throughout the year and proved to be a blessing to them as they stored away their change day after day, anticipating the day when they would get to give it away. And ultimately, the tradition was carried on by the recipients, who started giving their own jars after being blessed by a Christmas jar.



As unexpected checks have come my way this month, I've cashed them and put them in the jar. As change weighs down my wallet, I empty it into the jar. And with each emptying, I am reminded of how Christ came and emptied Himself for us. So for me, the jar is already serving as a reminder to think about Christmas each and every day, instead of just in December. But there's a new anticipation about Christmas as I am looking forward to seeing who is supposed to receive my jar.

It's not too late to start a Christmas Jar. The initial ones in the book were started much later in the year. I hope you'll join me in this new tradition and that we can exchange stories this Christmas about what we learned from the tradition, how we made it our own, and how it blessed us.

Thin Places

Memoirs tell stories from a person's life, and for whatever reason, usually leave me thinking more about the particular person featured in the memoir. Mary E. DeMuth's memoir is different. As she artfully tells stories from her life, Mary takes the focus off the personal tragedies and hardships that she faced and points instead to how God's grace carried her through those times. After finishing the book, I sat thanking God for the "thin places"--"snatches of holy ground, tucked into the corners or our world"--that He has given me throughout my life for they are treasures, just like Mary's memoir.

[Disclosure: I received this book for free as part of the blog tour.]

Simplify Your Time

I'm continuing to slowly wade through my reading stack and finally made my way to a book I purchased a couple of years ago entitled Simplify Your Time by Marcia Ramsland. This lady speaks my love language: lists. And she possesses organizational skills that I had never even dreamed of.

The book is divided into thirty short chapters, allowing the reader to change one thing each day and hopefully end up more organized and efficient in a month's time. The book provides charts and over 100 time-saving tips to help the reader put into practice the suggestions in each chapter.

The focus of the book is not to run yourself ragged by filling your calendar but rather to make the best use of your time, including allowing for some downtime each day and incorporating things you wish you were doing into your weekly schedule. My favorite aspect of the book was the concept of the five-year calendar to plan goals for the four seasons over the next five years. As much of a planner as I am, I've never even considered doing this.

With the holidays quickly approaching, Ms. Ramsland has some great advice, "Being overwhelmed can be a positive opportunity to get down to the basics of what's really important and rebuild your life from there." (p.134) So if you want to get a jump-start on your time and improve your efficiency before the holidays hit, I highly recommend Simplify Your Time.

[Disclosure: I did not receive anything in exchange for reviewing or recommending this book.]

Sacrificial Acts of Love

Instead of the usual book review, I decided to participate in the writing assignment/challenge issued as part of the blog tour for Mary DeMuth's latest novel A Slow Burn, which is the second book of the Defiance, Texas trilogy. The book released this week and is available on amazon.com here. For a list of other participants in the blog tour, check out this link. I received my copy for free as part of the blog tour.

------------------------------------

In August 2003, after I had endured three months of excruciating pain, the surgeon agreed to remove my gall bladder. In his wisdom, he scheduled the surgery for August 8, exactly one week before I was slated to close on the purchase of my first house.

I wanted the surgery even more than I needed it, so postponing was not an option. Trying to reschedule a planned move and closing proved too costly. So knowing that I had to pull off all the details involved with those two big life events in the span of a week, I put out a cry for help. And my friends answered.

Tracey got up at o'dark-thirty, picked me up from my apartment that was nowhere near her house, and drove me to the hospital for my surgery.

Sallie allowed me to recuperate at her house so that I wouldn't have to climb the stairs to my third-floor apartment.

After I returned to my apartment, Melissa brought over all the cookware and ingredients to make me dinner and then engaged me in a game of Scrabble to keep my mind off the impending move.

Angela and Layne drove in from Denton and Frisco after a long day's work to pack my belongings.

And Rebecca, who had known me for only a few weeks, came and cleaned my apartment and then volunteered her son to help me move.

Together, my friends conquered my long list of needs. They gave up sleep, comfort, time, and money in order to love on me. And in my weakened state, I could not repay their acts of kindness; I could offer only a meager "thank you."

Six years have now passed since my surgery and move, but my friends' sacrificial acts of love remain fresh on my mind. They encourage me to think of ways in which I can show sacrificial love to others when they need it most.

Write Your Story

A friend once mentioned that the decline of literacy is showing up in, of all places, the jury box. The mark of a good lawyer used to be measured by the compelling story he/she could weave for the jurors. But now, this fast-paced culture has created jurors who crave bullet points because they are used to communicating in 140-character tweets and texts full of abbreviations. For lawyers facing complicated fact patterns, it would be no easy task to boil down the case to a tweet.

But I, for one, have resisted adopting this new mentality of communicating in miniature sound bytes. I still love reading the full story, not the abridged version.

Maybe that's what made Gilead by Marilynne Robinson such a pleasurable read. It was like sitting beside my grandfather and hearing various stories from his life; the stories that made him the man that he had become.

The premise is that an elderly pastor, who married late in life and has a seven-year-old son, decides to write his life's story for his son:

"For me writing has always felt like praying, even when I wasn't writing prayers, as I was often enough. You feel that you are with someone. I feel I am with you now, whatever that can mean, considering that you're only a little fellow now and when you're a man you might find these letters no interest. Or they might never reach you, for any of a number of reasons. Well, but how deeply I regret any sadness you have suffered and how grateful I am in anticipation of any good you have enjoyed. That is to say, I pray for you. And there's an intimacy in it. That's the truth." (p.19 - Gilead)

I fear that our stories, if not penned or typed out, will be lost if we, as a society, continue to text, tweet, and post status updates on Facebook that give only a momentary glimpse of a task instead of the lessons learned or the journey we've taken. Such momentary updates usually aren't tied together and often aren't capable of being read as a cohesive whole to find out who the person is, which is a loss.

I think that's why blogs have lingered and why memoirs are on the rise: deep down, we all want to leave a legacy. And though it takes time to write, the benefits are well worth it.

If I had not kept journals over the years, I might have forgotten some of the big and small moments in my life. If my ancestors had not penned letters during the Civil War, I would not have the insight that I have into their personal relationships.

There's so much that can be learned from the past, but it has to be captured first. So if you haven't been writing, start now. If you have been writing, keep it up.

Good Words from Good Books

Here are some words I've been chewing on from some recent books I've read:

Because the rewards are quiet, being dependable in common love is not always inviting. The reward of putting rock on rock isn't always visible. Sometimes the work is dirty. We get scraped and bored. We don't always see the wall of grace we're building for the Lord.

From p. 87 of Stone Crossings: Finding Grace in Hard and Hidden Places by L.L. Barkat

When you're with someone else, you share each discovery, but when you are alone, you have to carry each experience with you like a secret, something you have to write on your heart, because there's no other way to preserve it.

From p. 57 of Cold Tangerines by Shauna Niequist

What I know now is that [God's] kindness burns through even the deepest betrayals and invites life from death every chance we let him. There are things that explode into our lives and we call them curses, and then one day, a year later or ten years later, we realize that they are actually something else. They are the very most precious kind of blessings.

. . . .

When what you see in front of you is so far outside of what you dreamed, but you have the belief, the boldness, the courage to call it beautiful instead of calling it wrong, that's celebration.

. . . .

Nothing good comes easily. You have to lose things you thought you loved, give up things you thought you needed. You have to get over yourself, beyond your past, out from under the weight of your future. The good stuff never comes when things are easy. It comes when things are heavily weighted down like moving trucks. It comes just when you thing it never will, like a shimmering Las Vegas rising up out of the dry desert, sparkling and humming with energy, a blessing that rose up out of a bone-dry, dusty curse.

From pps. 177-79 of Cold Tangerines by Shauna Niequist

Summer Reading

Growing up, summer meant lots of time to read. And though I wasn't much of a reader back then, the summer reading program at my local library lured me to read with promises of a certificate and a free personal pan pizza from Pizza Hut. But more than the certificate and pizza, I think it was the competitiveness of reading lots of books over a short period of time that captured my interest.

Last fall, the stack of books I wanted to read grew as I prepared and taught class each week. All work and no reading made me one unhappy gal. I promised myself I could read for pleasure as soon as all the grading was done in January.

But then, I started the Beth Moore study on Esther (which was fantastic), a study on Psalms with my small group, and the Dave Ramsey Financial Peace class. Obviously, I had a little trouble saying "no," except when it came to my reading my stack, which sat untouched.

But now the time has come. Actually, I started a bit early. After I finished reading and reviewing Sticks and Stones, I read Words That Hurt, Words That Heal by Carole Mayhall during April and underlined a ton in that little gem. Definitely one to read.

Next up was 90 Minutes in Heaven by Don Piper with Cecil Murphey, which I mentioned in a previous post.

Then, I read Loving People by Dr. John Townsend. Another one to buy so you can underline.

My friend Krista had recommended Sacred Influence as a good book to read before marriage. I read it last week and underlined a ton in it as well. (There's a theme here: If it's nonfiction, I buy it to highlight in it.)

And most recently, I read When Crickets Cry by Charles Martin. In a word = AMAZING! Beautiful character development. Powerful story. And as I watched the pages dwindle in the span of a day, I secretly wished that the book was 2,000 pages long instead of 342 because I didn't want it to end. And now, I find myself missing the characters.

So that's what I've been doing. I hope to keep up the pace and read a book a week to put a dent in my stack. In the immediate queue are Gifted Hands by Ben Carson with Cecil Murphey, In A Pit With A Lion On A Snowy Day by Mark Batterson, the Mark of the Lion trilogy by Francine Rivers, Cold Tangerines, and hopefully many others.

But knowing my tendency to set a goal like this and then pursue it with all of my being, I have already had to set some boundaries. Those require me to make sure that I use the summer to invest in relationships with my real friends, not just characters in books. I've already planned some get-togethers with friends over the next few weeks and hope to plan more. Hopefully this outlook will help keep me balanced.

Most, if not all, of the books on my to-read list came as recommendations from friends. So what books do you want to read or do you recommend?

Mary DeMuth Hits the Mark

Meeting author Mary E. DeMuth and hearing her tell her story in person at our women's retreat was one of the highlights of 2008. If you've been following my blog, you'll remember Mary from my participation in the blog tour for one of her nonfiction books, Authentic Parenting in a Postmodern Culture, and from my review of her fiction book Watching the Tree Limbs. So it was no surprise that I jumped at the chance to participate in the blog tour for her latest fiction release, Daisy Chain.

Mary's fiction shatters any stereotypes that people might hold regarding Christian fiction. Her characters aren't always nice and sweet. Her characters don't have their lives together. And the stories she weaves won't allow you to read through only a few chapters at a time. Quite the contrary. Get ready for secrets, suspense, and the Truth when you pick up Daisy Chain.

From the start, you'll be unconscious to the rapid page-turning as you welcome Jed and Daisy into your circle of friends. You'll explore their childhood hangouts right alongside them in Defiance, Texas, and begin to work with Jed to solve the mystery of a disappearance. Or maybe several. The people that Jed knows in Defiance haven't always been the way they currently are, and that bears looking into. But just as you don't get to know a person through and through on the first meeting, don't expect to know everything about Defiance and its people right away. Daisy Chain is the first book in the Defiance, Texas trilogy.

My favorite part of Daisy Chain is the amazing prose that Mary crafts to bring her characters and stories to life. It was also fun finding bits of Mary's personal story woven into Daisy Chain. And because Mary has Jesus as part of her story, you'll find Him on the pages as well.

Click on the title to pick up your copy of Daisy Chain and get to know the good folks (and the bad) of Defiance, Texas. Also, be sure to out the book's website, which is a place for sharing secrets. And to find out what other people are saying about Daisy Chain, check out the list of participating blogs here.

[Disclosure: I received this book for free as part of the blog tour.]

A Must-Read: Parting the Waters

When my friend Tina asked me if I wanted to participate in a blog tour for Jeanne Damoff's new book Parting the Waters: Finding Beauty in Brokenness, I didn't hesitate to answer "yes." I have enjoyed reading Jeanne's postings over at The Master's Artist and had heard bits of her story through Tina, who has known Jeanne for years. So I looked forward to reading the rest of the story in her new book.

I believe that God can, and often does, use other people’s stories to change the way a person sees his/her own life. One example is Jacob Damoff’s story, which is lovingly told in Parting the Waters: Finding Beauty in Brokenness.

Jacob’s mother, Jeanne, penned his story for him. And though it's not the story she would have written for him of her own choosing, it's a story of faith and hope that glorifies God.

Towards the end of Jacob's freshman year, Jeanne packed and delivered a bag to Jacob so that he could spend the night at a friend's house. Jeanne told him that she loved him and to be careful and received an "I love you, too. I will" in return. She knew he was going canoeing as part of a school field trip the following day, but she didn't know it would be a life-changing event. That an accident would occur. That the water, which was supposed to provide pleasure for a fun outing, would rob Jacob of oxygen and part of his life. And that the Damoff family would lose the Jacob they knew.

The Jacob that was pulled from the water arrived at the hospital in a coma. The medical community opined that he would spend the rest of his life in a "permanent vegetative state." And though the family accepted those words as the medical community’s best guess as to Jacob’s future, their faith told them that Jacob’s future was ultimately in God’s hands and that He would have the final say.

I have no idea how Jeanne typed her family's story without short-circuiting the keyboard; I’m sure that tears flowed in abundance as she bravely relived the events surrounding Jacob's drowning. For although theirs is a story of hope, they faced many hurdles along the way.

Readers will appreciate that Jeanne doesn’t sugar-coat the process. She discusses the jealousy, frustration, exhaustion, and communication breakdowns that occurred while her family tried to continue their normal routine in addition to making treatment and placement decisions for Jacob and taking care of his needs. And thankfully, they had the help of their friends and the community of Marshall, Texas, surrounding them in ways that they couldn't have asked for or imagined.

Throughout Parting the Waters, the Damoff family’s example of living faith shines brightly, reflecting a God who shines even brighter.

Please check out what others are saying about Parting the Waters here. And if you want to see pictures of memorable events from the book (you know you do!) and learn more about Jeanne, check out her website here. And last, but not least, take less than two minutes out of your day to watch this amazing book trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jk1aZTJJawQ

Fleeting Freedom

Where have I been since my last post? Let's see. I started in Burl, Texas. Became a student in a writing class in New Mexico. Traveled to Rome. And have just learned about Sabbath rest.

And I haven't left my house.

I've finished at least six books over the past few weeks. To those of you who speedread, this isn't much of an accomplishment. For me, it translates to lots of bottom on chair (or bed) time.

I taste every single word from the inside jackets, to the dedications, to the forewords, to where the author is currently residing. I guess it comes from too much time in the classroom. Or more precisely, too many pop quizzes on minute details--the ones that enable the teacher to see if students actually read the material. I did, and now I know no other way of reading.

So why the sudden reading marathon? It's driven by the fear that I won't get to read much for pleasure once I start teaching next month. There'll be a mountain of drafts to peruse and mark up each week. And so the desire to devour my bookstack consumes me right now.

Before I head back to the stack, I thought I'd leave you with a few book recommendations while I'm in the blogging muse. You can always check the right margin to see what I'm reading and what I recommend, but I thought I'd add some of my favorite paragraphs here as well.

Mary E. DeMuth's Wishing on Dandelions (set in Burl, Texas) is the follow-up to her debut novel Watching the Tree Limbs. I found this second book much easier to read because the material is somewhat lighter, though there are glimpses back to Maranatha's past. There are love stories gallore in this book, and I hope that Mary will write a third book to let us know what Maranatha does next.

Anthony Doerr's Four Seasons in Rome is beautifully written. Every word choice must have been excruciating because he is not one to ramble yet he paints incredible pictures with his stream-of-consciousness prose. Here's one of my favorite paragraphs:

You find your way through a place by getting lost in it. Winter in Rome is a breath of daylight, then limestone and shadow: light glowing behind closed shutters as though stacks of gold are hoarded inside. In a window in Campo Marzio, not far from Augustus's sundial, two thousand silk neckties, each in its own cubbyhole, shine like tropical birds. In San Lorenzo, east of the train station, we drink hot chocolate thick as oil. At the Holy Staircase, a half mile from the Colosseum, where Christian pilgrims are supposed to asend twenty-eight marble steps on their knees, we see a man furtively tuck a folded newspaper behind his shins as he climbs. (p. 87)

I don't think I've underlined a nonfiction book (other than a textbook) as much as I did The Rest of God by Mark Buchanan. His examples of Sabbath rest are thoughtful and practical. Here's a glimpse of his writing:

Sabbath is the stranger you've always known. It's the place of homecoming you've rarely or never visited, but which you've been missing forever. You recognize it the moment you set eyes on it. It's the gift that surprises you, not by its novelty, but by its familiarity. It's the song you never sang but, hearing it now, know inside out, its words and melody, its harmonies, its rhythm, the way the tune quickens just before the chorus bursts. It's been asleep in you all
this time, waiting for the right kiss to wake it. (p. 104)

And now back to the books.

The Unexpected

First, the good:

1. I received an email from a friend of mine whom I hadn't heard from in a long while. We've now reconnected through our blogs, and I'll have the pleasure of keeping up with the events in her life more often. What fun to have this new connection!

2. Wishing on Dandelions arrived in the mail today even though my mom mailed it just yesterday! Who knew that the pony express could travel so quickly in this heat?

Now, the slightly bad (or simply annoying):

One of the things that I look forward to each evening is having Annie greet me at the door. She normally dances, brings me her moose baby, and is overjoyed to see me.

Yesterday, I realized that I am now second fiddle thanks to this:

This picture was taken around Easter, and apparently the little critter above has invited its friends over to party in my yard because there were two medium-size rabbits yesterday. Today there were three. Annie stands on guard at the kitchen door, pointing at them until I come in and find her.

These rabbits have been digging holes, which they use to recline in as I caught one doing today. Needless to say, I'm not a happy camper. Especially knowing that where there are two or three rabbits, many more will soon arrive.


Does anyone have any tips for getting the rabbits to move along to another yard? They appear to be immune to the bait box shown in the picture above (which was supposed to be for field mice). I live in the city, but you'd be hard-pressed to tell by the critters in my yard.

Now, I will return to the good and begin reading my new book!

Book Review: Watching the Tree Limbs

This past week I turned silent. The cause: I was completely engaged in Mary E. DeMuth's book Watching the Tree Limbs.

Thankfully, a friend had warned me that the first couple of chapters had hard material. She had given me the same warning with Redeeming Love by Francine Rivers, which turned out to be one of my favorite books. So I braced myself, made it through the tough stuff, and kept reading because I had no choice. Mary's redeptive prose painted beautiful pictures that I hope will be made into a movie some day.

Mary is also the author of the book Authentic Parenting in a Postmodern Culture, and she spoke at my church's women's retreat in April. Having heard her speak, I knew parts of her personal story and caught glimpses of it in her main character, Maranatha. The terrible things that happen to Mara, while creating a dark backdrop, somehow allowed God's grace to light up the pages all the more.

Next in my reading queue is the sequel, Wishing on Dandelions. So if I go mute again, you'll know that my nose is buried in another book and that I don't do a very good job of balancing my reading and my writing.

Book Review: Dinner With A Perfect Stranger

To prepare for author David Gregory’s upcoming visit to our church, earlier this week I read his book entitled Dinner With A Perfect Stranger. In a quick-read encompassing only 100 pages, Gregory spins a fictional tale of a businessman who accepts an invitation to have dinner with Jesus. Throughout the dinner, Jesus answers pressing questions from the businessman about how other religions fail to address some of the deepest needs and desires found in every human. And amidst those answers, the gospel is presented in a simple, direct way.

This book's creative presentation of the gospel message would be a great gift for a friend who needs a gentle nudging towards making a decision to accept Christ as his/her Savior. And for those who have already accepted Christ, this book is a reminder that Christ wants to converse with you daily.

Thankfully, we all have a personal invitation to dine with Christ. Have you accepted your invitation?

Book Review: Potter Springs

Earlier this week, I raved about Britta Coleman - the teacher. Now, I want to rave about Britta Coleman - the author.

Britta’s award-winning debut novel, entitled Potter Springs, presents a love story filled with broken characters searching for a second chance, searching for grace. Set mainly in small-town Texas, the novel’s main characters convey their desires to be known, rescued, and loved with such authenticity that they reach out to the reader in a subtle, endearing, “we could be friends” kind of way.

Great characters aren’t accidents; they come to life through great writing. And here, the writing is superb. The words pour eloquently off the pages straight into the reader's heart.

In writing this novel, Britta did not leave her deeply grounded faith at the door; instead, it is obvious on every page. The message of grace resounds, and thankfully, it resounds to a larger audience because Britta sought to publish Potter Springs with its redeeming message in the mainstream marketplace. Thus, this enjoyable page-turner will have you believing that “being lost is a good way to start getting found.”

(And for all the Aggies: Britta included a few fun Aggie references in the novel.)

Pick Up Authentic Parenting

The book I discussed on Monday, Authentic Parenting in a Post-Modern Culture, by Mary E. DeMuth is available now. You can purchase your autographed copy directly from Mary by clicking on the title in the previous sentence. I encourage you to pick it up today!

And Now I Present . . .

Mary E. DeMuth was the lady in the photo that I posted yesterday. She is a follower of Jesus and is blessed with a wonderful gift for writing. Both fiction and nonfiction.

As shown above, her most recent book is entitled Authentic Parenting in a Postmodern Culture. When Mary was asked during an interview about why she decided to write this particular book in light of the numerous parenting books that are already on the market, she said,

I always struggle when I write a parenting book because I feel so darned small and weak. I don’t parent perfectly. But, we did live through two and half years in France, the hotbed of hyper-postmodernity. We had to learn how to parent our kids in that culture. It occurred to me that the things we learned would be helpful to American parents too.

In Authentic Parenting, she explains how parents can help their children prepare for the world outside their door. Yet, she does this without falling into the trite, formulaic x-number-of-steps approach. Instead, she unpacks the stories from her family's time in France, relaying their triumphs as well as their failures. And while she is unpacking their stories, she effortlessly weaves in Scripture and its application to today's culture as she urges parents to do the following:

**Talk to your kids. Listen. Share your story.

**Dare to believe that God has much to teach you through your kids. Be humble enough to learn from them.

**Create a haven for your kids, an oasis in your home that protects, supports, and gives kids space to be themselves. Take seriously the mandate that you are responsible for the soul-nurturing of your children.

**Teach your children to joyfully engage their world, while holding tightly to Jesus’ hand. Teaching this comes primarily from modeling it in your own life. Do you engage your neighbors? Are you more interested in God’s kingdom than your own?

**Admit your failures openly with your children, showing how much you need Jesus to live your daily life.

Throughout the book, I love how Mary doesn't come across as the know-it-all who has all the answers for parenting. Her book does not aim to present the "perfect parent to-do list." Instead, as the book's title aptly states, the advice that Mary shares is that of Authentic Parenting. And yet, I was amazed at how many of the practical ways that Mary provided for parents to use with their children would benefit individuals who don't have children by allowing them to draw closer to Christ in their own spiritual walk.

At its core, Authentic Parenting in a Postmodern Culture is timely, relevant, practical, and encouraging. And because of those qualities, the book will enlighten all who read it.

If you'd like to learn more about Mary E. DeMuth and her other works, visit her crazy blog here. And for some other views on the book, check out the other blogs participating on the Authentic Parenting Tour this week. For a complete listing of the blogs participating in the six week tour, visit here.
Abundant Blessings
Actual Unretouched Photo
Bluebonnet in the Snow
child of divorce/child of god
Geaux2Girl
Good Word Editing
Halland
RappFamilyAixtremeLife
Ripples and Reflections
Spaghettipie
So Many Books...So Little Time
The Point
Tiffany Colter
Toni V. Lee