A New Book

Pray: Morning Prayer

Today’s Reading: Deuteronomy 16:1-19:10

Oh my friend, to stand where I stand now, on the banks of the Jordan river with my toes tickling the water’s edge watching them part. This morning I stand on the cusp of a new season in life, and knowing that it is a new season is rare. The seasons of life usually come and go with such fluency that we rarely notice the passing of one season and the beginning of the next; but not this time. The last twenty-four hours have been a complete whirlwind of activity! And while the teacher in me is desperate to tell you what God showed me through His word this morning, the friend in me is antsy to share with you the happenings of my life, so I think I will let the author in me speak first by telling you that I will be writing what the Spirit leads me to write and I will trust that the teacher in me will find a way to be a really great teacher by somehow working the lesson into the story. That is what will make the lesson more fun and interesting to read about, right?

So last Thursday night, a week ago from today, God has me stop on the way home from dance class to take pictures of the field of yellow flowers, the sundog and a street sign and just as I’m snapping the picture of the street signs He whispers “crossroads” to me, freezing me in my place, hands still lifted with camera ready to shoot another shot of the street signs. This same thing happened last year, not the street signs mind you, but God telling me about the crossroads that I was standing in and telling me to choose the path I wanted to go down. Now, I don’t know about you my friend, but this certainly has never been a regular occurrence in my life… until now that is!

There I stood literally in the middle of a country crossroads with the Holy Spirit speaking to me about choosing a path! What’s a girl to do? Choose a path, right? Ahhh, but which one? The path I’m already headed down has been one serious adventure so far, but yet I know that there are dangers untold up ahead, do I want to keep going? Then there’s this other way, the path where there are fewer dangers, but then there are fewer adventures as well. It would still be a ride, but it would be more of a kiddie ride at the fair rather than a roller coaster at a big amusement park. It’s almost like God’s got me standing at the crossroads of two paths in the park, one leads to the big rides and the other leads to the smaller, less intimidating rides, and asks me, “so which one do you want to ride? Both will be fun, I’ll be with you no matter what, and whichever ride you choose when it’s over we’ll still be going home together. So, whatcha think?”

Well, being the adventurous type I knew that I would never be able to stand my heavenly self looking back on my life and seriously saying “I took the easy road”. So I told God I’d take the adventure. The very next day things started happening, mostly just in my spirit, perhaps it was preparing for today! Monday morning I was overwhelmed by the message that God had given me to speak, a message of redemption and thankfulness through the sacrifice of praise, how lucky am I that I get to spend my life speaking a message like that??? But then God really kicked me into gear! Tuesday is usually my day off, I don’t cook or clean I only write and… well… sleep. (I gotta rest sometime with the crazy schedule that I keep.) Yet, strangely enough I found myself completely compelled to finish formatting the book I had been working on, “From Donuts to Daycare”. I worked on it all day like a mad woman, copying and pasting, resizing photos, pulling everything together until I got to the last chapter “The Pink Polka Dot Kitty”. I went to add the post after that one and stopped in mid-air, “nope, this one doesn’t go in here.” And I knew that that book was finished. So I went to work on the cover page again and looked at the title “From Donuts to Daycare” and I said “Lord, that’s a great title… but there isn’t a single thing in this book about donuts OR daycare!!! What’s the deal?” If I hadn’t already been sitting down I probably would have rolled on the floor laughing at His response. “Well, I had to get you started working on this book somehow and I knew that giving you the cover and title would be the only way to do it, so I gave you a cover and a title.” And in that instant I knew that that book’s name wasn’t “From Donuts to Daycare”. Having just spent an entire day working through it I had read bits and pieces from each chapter and was able to watch the story develop and unfold right before my eyes. That season in my life hadn’t been about donuts or daycare, it was about finding the Pink Polka Dot Kitty – Grace. And not just any grace, God’s radical grace! The kind of grace that is so good you have a hard time believing that He can be that good! A grace that He showed me through a stuffed pink polka dot kitty that I bought as a gift for my daughter.

So in the same instant that I knew the name of that book wasn’t “From Donuts to Daycare” I also knew that its name was “The Pink Polka Dot Kitty” and that I had already made the cover weeks ago when I wrote the piece about the kitty. So by Tuesday evening I was finished formatting and had the entire book uploaded to my Kindle e-book publisher. Yay! By Wednesday morning it was available for download on Kindle. Yay! I went to my Parks & Prayer meeting at the park on Wednesday morning, which lasted FIVE hours! It’s too bad none of us like each other, I got so sunburned. Anyway, while we were praying I asked for prayers for “The Pink Polka Dot Kitty” and while we were praying one of the ladies says “God says I need to order twenty-five copies”… WHAT???? She’s co-hosting their Mother’s Day banquet this coming Friday and wanted TWENTY-FIVE copies in the next two days! I told her I would do what I could. That evening when she came by my house to drop off the check to pay for the books she asked me to come to their women’s book club in two weeks to talk about “The Pink Polka Dot Kitty”! YOWZA! So in twenty-four hours my life went from placid and serene to crazy and frenzied! Suddenly I had twenty-five books to get printed, a speaking engagement to prepare for, a little girl to take to Kindergarten screening and oh, do a little writing along the way too while you’re at it sweet-heart.

I started this day much like I do every day with my Cinnamon Apple tea and my Bible, but very quickly got spiraled into the chaos that comes with stepping out into the unknown. Now please don’t read me wrong, by no means am I complaining, it just may seem that way due to the spinning of my head at the moment! When Daddy picks us up to dance, He likes to spin and make us a little dizzy at times! It amazes me to no end how quickly things in life can change. I’ve just sold more books in the last twenty-four hours than I have in the last year! Only God can do something like that.