Category Archives: book special

Books for the Journey – Christmas Special

If you or someone you love could use a little “peace” for the Christmas journey, use the links below to take advantage of this special offer. I’m offering both of my books for $10 each (includes shipping for USA orders). Order one or two or ten – I’ll happily fulfill your order ASAP. Please note that all orders will ship at media mail rates. If you’d rather order with a check, please contact me here.

PS: The winner of a set of Melanie’s note cards is Leah! I’ll e-mail you for your choice, friend. Congrats!

Blessings and peace to you all this Advent season!

Into the Cloud

I came across a verse this Sabbath afternoon while working my way through HeBrews: a Better Blend. I don’t think my author-friend, Leah, meant for me to park my thoughts at this particular verse for any length of time; nevertheless it parked alongside me, keeping company with my soul for the last several hours.

“The people remained at a distance, while Moses approached the thick darkness where God was.” –Exodus 20:21

Where God was.

Where was God? In the cloud – shrouded by thick darkness. Moses knew it; the Israelites knew it. Still and yet, they allowed their fear to overrule any measure of faith. Moses? Well, he’d been down that road with God before, back in those beginning days when his fear might have kept him from the greatest faith-adventure of his life. Instead of giving into the fear, Moses approached the darkness—the burning bush, the throne of Pharaoh, the Red Sea. Why?

Because God was in there, in those places of great testing. Moses, better than the Israelites, valued the presence of God and understood that, sometimes, it’s in the darkness where the Light is most radiantly revealed. God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. But in the darkness, when we cannot see clearly for the thick fog surrounding us, God’s light is a holy, welcome resource.

We should not fear the unseen. Just because we cannot see the light doesn’t mean that the light isn’t waiting for us just beyond the veil. Sometimes the way through is clear and obvious. Sometimes, it’s only by taking those initial steps of faith into the cloud that the light will be revealed. Sometimes, it’s our steps forward that bring the sacred flame into focus.

Not long ago, I stepped into the cloud to meet with God. Was I afraid? A little. But like Moses, there was a greater fear that penetrated my heart – The fear of not taking those steps forward. I think that Moses, like me, clearly knew that God had something more for him (beginning at the ripe young age of 80) . . . something beyond the routine of sheep-tending on the plains of Midian. Don’t get me wrong; there’s nothing wrong with sheep-tending. Sheep-tending is a good living unless God wants to move our tending to the other side of the pasture, or in Moses’ case, the other side of the Red Sea.

Every now and again, we have to be willing to let go of good pastureland in order to take hold of God’s Promised Land.

And so, I said “yes” to God and stepped into the thick darkness surrounding my “yes.” Do you know what I found once I did?

His extraordinary “yes” on the other side, brilliant light radiating deeply into my heart and bathing my soul in peace. Why? Because God was there. God is there, and God wants me to be where he is.

Friends, I don’t want to live my life beneath a cloudless sky if it means missing the beauty of a trust-filled walk with the Lover of my soul. I don’t want sunny skies if it means I cannot have the thickness of God’s presence surrounding me. I don’t ask for the darkness; I much prefer sacred revelation without it. But I’ve walked with God long enough to know when he’s inviting me to a deeper level of trust. This is one of those seasons. Accordingly, I have stepped beyond the veil in recent days, and I have seen with my own eyes and felt deeply within my soul what it is to move beyond my fears and to walk with faith as my anchor.

Have I crossed the Red Sea? Not yet, but I’ve dipped my toes into the waters of anticipation, and I’m ready to make that journey through on dry ground.

This is faith from the inside-out, all the way through to Canaan. God is there. He is my next, and he is my peace . . . for the journey. I can’t wait to read the next chapter in this crazy book called “My Life.” Thank you for joining me on the road.

PS:The winner of a surprise gift from Lisa Dixon is Cindy from Letters From Midlife.

Leave a comment today for a chance to win a copy of Leah’s new study, HeBrews: a Better Blend. It is a fascinating, challenging dig into the life of faith. I hope you’ll take advantage of this soul-stretching resource!

Also, have you heard about my summer-combo book deal? You can secure copies of Peace for the Journey and Beyond the Scars for $20 (includes shipping – USA orders only). I’ll be happy to sign them for you and get them in the mail this week (sent media mail). You may order through paypal using the link below or by contacting me directly by clicking here.

 

Summer Book Special – Combo Pack

Welcome to my wedding-centric, crazy world! We are eleven days away from celebrating the blessed union between my eldest son, Nick, and his bride-to-be, Chelsea. My heart is overwhelmed with emotion and anticipation for the impending nuptials and for the new chapter unfolding in the life of our family. I imagine I’ll have some further thoughts in coming days, but for now, I’m sitting back … taking it all in.

It’s a lot to manage, this turning of the page in my story. But God is enabling me to do just that and to find deep joy alongside. Oh the depth of my mothering years! Thanks be to God for the privilege of counting each one of them – all twenty-five of them – and all the milestones that accompany two and a half decades of growing a boy into a man. Sweet mercy – I barely made it through Nick’s high school graduation! How grateful I am for the family that surrounds me and that will, undoubtedly, shepherd me through the next two weeks.

Would you pray for me, that I would be attentive to the necessary to the exclusion of the unnecessary? I don’t want to be an ogre in this season of bliss. Instead, I want to be an agent of God’s love, a dispenser of the kingdom, not a hoarder therein. I want to live and give my mothering best. I’ve missed the mark on several occasions over the years, but by God’s empowering grace and with his perfect peace at my disposal, this won’t be one of those times. Thank you in advance for coming alongside me and supporting me with your prayers. It means the world to me.

Blessings, friends, and as always …

Peace for the journey,

PS: It’s unlikely you’ll see me here at my cyber address for the next couple of weeks. Still and yet, you can always reach me through my contact page. A few closing details:

  • I’m happy to report that the groom-to-be has chosen a winner for Leah’s study, HeBrews: a Better Blend. The winner is Sharalee. Sharalee, please message me your mailing address.
  • Secondly, I want to offer a Summer Book Special – Combo Pack on Beyond the Scars and Peace for the Journey. For a limited time, I am offering both books for $20 (shipping included – USA orders only). Please use the link below to place your order (this is the only link that provides this particular offer). If you’d rather mail me a check, send me a message by clicking on this link.

Something

One glance in her direction, and I knew that she was carrying a terrible ache in her heart.

Maybe it was the way her head was lowered, covered up by the golden locks that frame her face.

Maybe it was the way she flicked her husband’s hand away from the back of her neck as he tenderly tried to comfort her.

Maybe it was because I knew some of her story.

Maybe it was because God needed me to notice.

Regardless of the reason for my knowing, it was clear to me what she was so desperately trying to hide . . .

Her grief. Her loss. Her something.

“Everybody has something. Your something might not be my something, but at some point in your life, you’ve had a something. Maybe not a big something, but something large enough to rock your inner equilibrium and force your outward response. It’s not particularly important what your something is. What is important is what you do with your something. Somethings come and go; what will endure, however, is the memory of how you handled yours.” (from Beyond the Scars, p. 13)

I think she is handling her something as best she knows how. Somethings don’t come with a survival manual, and the last thing she needed in those moments was another “how to” on how to handle her grief loaded on top of the already burgeoning responsibility of carrying it. Instead, what she needed was for God to notice her and to do his noticing through one of his children, through the unexpected hands of a servant who isn’t normally included in her inner circle but who was willing to momentarily charge in to deliver a message of hope.

And so I entered in and interrupted her grief to give to her what God had given me moments earlier. To wrap her up in my arms, cradle her pain, and strengthen her with heaven’s declaration.

“This is not the end of the story.”

In that sacred pause between us, I knew that she believed me . . . believed God, and I felt the burning of a great love inside of me for a woman I barely know. I am grateful for those flames because they remind me, even as they reminded her, that I am alive and that . . .

“This is not the end of the story.”

Not for her. Not for me. Not for you either.

I don’t where you are in this season of life. I don’t know the suffering somethings that have walked these many miles by your side. But I do know what it is to lower my head in sorrow, to wet my lap with bitter tears, and to flick tender caresses away from my neck. And I know what it feels like to feel alone, to feel so buried beneath my grief that I didn’t even know that I needed God to notice me. When all I could see, all I could hear, all I could absorb was the terribleness of my something.

Like a death march to a bottomless grave.

Maybe today you’re marching in similar stride. I don’t know how long it will last, friend. I wouldn’t dare try to talk you out of your grief. Grief walks its own timetable, and I’m not in charge of the clock. There’s a seasonal work taking place in your soul, and it can only be accomplished by your willingness to walk it through. Piece by piece, step by step, until one morning you wake up and you feel the warmth of something stronger, a peace that surprises you and that reminds you . . .

“This is not the end of the story.”

That day is coming, and it isn’t very far from now. Our God has taken notice of your pain; your something matters to him. It matters to me as well. Rest easy in the arms of Jesus, friend. There are more lines to your story, and our very good God is working on a way to make them all count for the kingdom . . . even when you can’t feel past the pain.

Especially then.

I love you dearly.

If you or someone you know is walking through a suffering something right now, I have a resource that will serve as a gentle companion to you and to them while moving through the pain. It was written with you in mind; it is released to you in love. Click here for more details.

Also, my friend, Laura Boggess, is hosting a give-away of the book at her website. Click here to learn more.

 

 

 

Final Sale on Books

As a way of closing out inventory on my two books, Peace for the Journey and Beyond Cancer’s Scars, I am offering a final sale on books out of my personal stock. Please don’t purchase from an online retailer as I no longer benefit from any of these sales. Each book is $12 (includes shipping – USA orders only). If you’d rather send a check, you may do so by sending me a private message (click here). Ordering through paypal is for USA orders only. For international orders, please contact me directly (click here).

I appreciate your support as I endeavor to close this chapter of my journey with Winepress Publishing and turn the page to see what God has in store for my writing in coming days.

 

*This sale/offer is no longer available.

error: Content is protected !!