Okay blogger buddies! Are you ready to win an awesome package of encouraging books! Do you want to be the grand prize winner in the blog tour of Dear God, It's Me and It's Urgent? Then here is what I need you to do:
Leave a comment on this post that shares one of your favorite verses on prayer. (Also, leave your contact information!) This will enter you into a random drawing for a free copy of this wonderful book PLUS four other books from the same publicist! So you will have quite a surprise on its way to you just for entering a comment on this blog tour!
Now, I have to have at least TEN comments in order for my entries to be counted, so spread the word, and let's encourage each other! Thanks so much!
(Bedford, England) Take a break from whatever you're doing, sit down for a few moments and focus your thoughts and your heart on one or two of the prayers in this book. You'll be thankful that you did! Marion Stroud's prayerful meditations will take you to the Father's feet with the honest concerns of your own life.
In Dear God, It's Me you will find six sections that cover every aspect of a woman's life: A Woman Within, A Woman and Marriage, A Woman and Her Children, A Woman at Work, A Woman Who Cares, and A Woman Growing Older. The topics range from A Bride's Prayer on the eve of her wedding to Feeling Unwanted and such concerns as Blue Monday, Mid-Life Crisis, After Chemotherapy, and Bereavement. Singleness and marriage, parenting and career, caring for others and growing older ... with imagination and inspiration Marion Stroud offers prayers for every season of a woman's life.
About the Author:
Marion Stroud lives in Bedford, England. She is a wife, mother of five adult children and grandmother to eleven grandchildren. She is an established, popular author and sought-after speaker whose books have been translated into 14 languages. In her spare time she enjoys walking, supporting and encouraging missionaries and traveling. Listeners enjoy her British accent and request readings just to hear her speak.
A VIEW FROM THE AUTHOR'S WINDOW:
What are your own private times with God like?
If I'm totally honest about my quiet time, they can be very erratic when I'm under pressure. In an ideal world I would follow the contemplative tradition where I read, allow time to sit and listen to what I sense God might be saying, write it down in a journal and then pray about it. But, if I follow that pattern there's the temptation to think that if I haven't got, say half an hour, then there's no point in starting. That's wrong of course. I don't refuse to speak to my husband or children if I haven't got the time for a heart-to-heart. So I try to put an hour aside once a week and ideally, half a day, once a month for a longer time of contemplation.
On other days I may use a devotional guide that might give me a short passage or even just a verse to think about. Writing the key point on a card and keeping it in my pocket means that I can remind myself and talk to God about it during moments. Catherine Marshall spoke of nuggets like this as being like vitamin pills that we should take daily with or after meals and that's a goal for me this year! I also try to walk for 30 minutes first thing in the morning on weekdays--the theory being that I get my exercise before my body is awake enough to object! I have five post cards in my pocket on which I've written various topics and people to pray for. Most days I will pray for these things as I walk--but I try to bring praise and thanksgiving to God first.
Women go through so many experiences during the different seasons of life. How can a transparent prayer life with God help them to cope?
I remember when my father was dying with cancer. I had five children at home at the time, ranging in ages from 18 to 8. My two older children were doing public exams, which would decide their future academic path. I felt as if I was being torn into a dozen different pieces! I wanted to help my mom, be at home for my husband and children and support my father. A friend pointed out that I didn't need to try and be God's little helper. I couldn't protect the rest of my family, or control the pressures they were facing. What I could do, however, was to take all these pressures and heartaches to the Lord, tell Him how frazzled and unhappy I was feeling (He knew anyway), and leave Him to deal with my needs and feelings and those of the rest of the family. It was like taking a really heavy bag to the foot of the cross and then just leaving it there. It was the "leaving it there" that was the key. The prayers in Dear God It's Me, and It's Urgent! are very real-to-life. It's almost like you can read the minds of other women who run to God with their own urgent life situations (big and small). Why do you think God is pleased to hear these very raw prayers?
Jesus was always very honest when He spoke to people. Jesus knew what was in their hearts and He didn't mince His words. God knows exactly what is going on in our lives and just as we can only really help a loved one if they are honest, so it is with God. He truly knows the best and the worst about us and loves us just the same. God already knows the underlying truth to our raw prayers and it is only when we acknowledge that truth to Him that we are open to hear His response!
How do women's prayers change as the seasons of their lives change?
Older people sometimes find it hard to remember things and my husband reckons that this is because the "bank vault" of our memories is much fuller! It's a bit the same with prayer. When I was young I knew what it was like to have the concerns and joys of being a "'young mum" and sleepless nights and toddler tantrums loomed large in my prayers, while prodigal teenagers only happened to other people! As I've got older I can remember both the tantrums and the teenage stage but am also grappling with caring for the elderly and praying for those with serious illness. So the scope of my prayers widens. I have children and grandchildren, for whom the tantrums and teenaged years are still very much "today," but, I have the concerns of my "today" to pray for as well. I can quite see why older people need more time to pray as they have so many things to pray about!
You can feel incredibly weighed down by all this need. Sometimes I just have to remember to follow the suggestion of a friend of mine. She focuses on just one or two of the most urgent things and then pictures herself putting the rest of her concerns into a basket. She may picture the basket as one of those gondolas attached to a hot air balloon, and as she releases it, it floats away and she has no further responsibility for it--the wind of God's Spirit has taken over. At other times she pictures it as the basket in which Moses was cradled as an infant, hidden in the reeds. She leaves it there, knowing that God might prompt her to do something to provide an answer to her prayer but in the meantime, He has it all in hand. How can reading prayers be a comfort to women as they deal with their own life issues?
I see these written prayers as providing words where there are no words. When crisis times arise, you may feel that you just can't voice your own feelings. Knowing that someone else has travelled on the same journey and survived, is an inexpressible comfort. It may also give you insights into what friends might be feeling and facing, when you haven't had personal experience of that particular situation, so that you can be more supportive of their needs. Discuss an example of an urgent time from your own life that became the inspiration for one of these prayers. How did God respond?
There have been an awful lot of urgent prayers in my life. But the one I remember most vividly, perhaps, is when our youngest son ran away from home. His three older siblings, who, the previous year had all been home-based the year before, were now at college university or travelling, and we had gone from a family of seven to a family of three in a few short months. I lay in the bath, with tears pouring down my cheeks, asking the Lord where we'd gone wrong. And God reminded me of the feeding of the 5,000 and the fact that the disciples were told to pick up the fragments of food that remained because nothing is wasted in His economy. Our older children had been relatively easy as teenagers, and without this experience, and the issues and events that surrounded it, I would have had a very different view of raising children. But now I was faced with a challenge. I could allow this experience to crush me, or, I could learn from it and share what I've learned with others. I chose to do the latter. It wasn't easy but it has been a very valuable lesson for the many other crises that have beset my path since. You've written quite a few books that have been read by women both in Great Britain and America. How do you find writing for American women different from British women? What are some similarities and universal truths that bond women from these two different continents together?
My American friends tell me that we Brits are more polite; I think that we're more cynical! But when all is said and done, we're all sisters under the skin! Britain is a much more secular society than America, and so what I write for a British audience would assume less faith or even familiarity with God and what He offers. But we share a common need for food, shelter, belonging and living a life that has meaning and purpose. We all love our families and struggle to be the best person we can be. We all realize that this is a tough call because we're so aware of our weaknesses and failures.
Obviously there are a number of cultural differences. Even the words we use can mean different things on either side of the ocean. This is why a wise editor included a glossary in Dear God It's Me. One of the words in the glossary refers to "Marmite." Perhaps this is just as well. I shall always remember when a visiting American friend picked up a pot of Marmite. Marmite; a dark savoury spread, and spread it thickly on her toast, thinking that it was chocolate spread. Her horrified expression as the yeast extract hit her taste buds will remain with me forever!
“Because forgiveness is forever, death isn’t.” ( p. 351)
The Rose Conspiracy is a novel with many layers. Yes, it is a legal thriller complete with a high-profile murder with strange cultic ties. On the surface, this is the fast-paced, dangerous story-line that pulls you along page after page at a frantic pace. However, underneath there is family – there is heartache – and there is a deep longing for peace and wholeness. It is the second layer of this story that adds subtle depth and rich meaning for the reader.
J.D. Blackstone is hired to defend a rather flighty artist type lady –Vinnie Archmont - from murder charges that seem to involve some mysterious tie to the Freemasons and their Gnostic search for immortality. Vinnie is stereotypically weird, and her association with a mega-rich, high-ranking Freemason only serves to highlight her weirdness. All of the mystic weirdness sends J.D. Blackstone on a legal goose-chase at first. But when he meets up with the wrong end of a gun, things begin to get serious. J.D. knows without a doubt that there is more to this case than meets the eye, and he will move heaven and earth to find it!
Now, all along the way, there is dear old Reverend Lamb – J.D.’s uncle – speaking truth and meaning into the story. He reveals the mystic depths of Freemason heresy during the course of the investigation, and inadvertently gives J.D. the angle he’d been looking for all along – both in his legal case and his personal life. The story is carefully constructed to lead the reader step by step through a thrilling and satisfying tale!
So, if you think the diary of John Wilkes Booth, the Smithsonian, the Freemasons and good old fashioned greed don’t have much in common think again. And while you’re thinking…add a dash of old romance, a wounded heart and the search for eternal life and you have a brilliant story! Actually, what you have is The Rose Conspiracy! Don’t miss it!
It is time for a FIRST Wild Card Tour book review! If you wish to join the FIRST blog alliance, just click the button. We are a group of reviewers who tour Christian books. A Wild Card post includes a brief bio of the author and a full chapter from each book toured. The reason it is called a FIRST Wild Card Tour is that you never know if the book will be fiction, non~fiction, for young, or for old...or for somewhere in between! Enjoy your free peek into the book!
You never know when I might play a wild card on you!
Bill Dallas is the CEO of the Church Communication Network (CCN), a satellite and Internet communications company serving thousands of churches across North America. He hosts Solutions, a weekly satellite program with Dr. Henry Cloud and Dr. John Townsend. A former Young Life leader and Bible study teacher, Bill is a graduate of Vanderbilt University in Nashville. He is the proud father of Dallas and Amanda. Bill and his wife, Bettina, life in northern California.
George Barnais the founder and directing leader of The Barna Group, Ltd., a California-based company that offers primary research and strategic assistance related to cultural assessment and transformation, faith dynamics and leadership development.
List Price: $22.99 Hardcover: 240 pages Publisher: Tyndale House Publishers (January 9, 2009) Language: English ISBN-10: 1414326564 ISBN-13: 978-1414326566
I'm about half-way through this one. Folks, this book is AWESOME!!!! You have GOT to read this book!! Review soon.
AND NOW...THE FIRST CHAPTER:
Life in the Median Strip
When I entered San Quentin for the first time, I was only thirty-one years old. Still reeling from the chain of events that had landed me there, I couldn’t believe this was now my life. Numb with disbelief, I tried not to think about where I was and who I would be living with. These people were lowlifes—hard-core criminals. They were beneath me, and I couldn’t believe that I would now be considered one of them.
How was this possible? How did I go from being the golden boy of the Bay Area to fresh meat in a state prison?
My life had been going great—better than great, in fact. After graduating with honors from Vanderbilt University in Tennessee, I had made my way west and learned the real estate business. By the mideighties I had joined with a business partner, Tony, and we were determined to take the San Francisco Bay area by storm.
We got off to a flying start. We put together huge deals, raising capital from investors who liked our creativity and chutzpah. Tony and I became known as the boy wonders of the Bay Area, and we reveled in the name. We also believed that this was only the beginning of the riches and fame that were surely in store for us.
While some people are known for being type A personalities, I was easily a type triple A. I wasn’t just living in the fast lane; I was going so fast I was burning down the median strip! Life seemed to be beckoning me for greatness, and nothing was going to stop me from living what I deemed to be the good life.
While I learned to play the real estate game in the Bay Area, I also worked as a male model. The money was good, but it was the clothing and attention that really appealed to me. Once I hit it big in real estate, I wore the finest threads available. I believed that image was everything, and I was selling it big-time. Because I needed to raise megabucks for the downtown developments I was always pushing, I knew it was critical that I looked the part of the well-to-do, successful magnate. No suit was too expensive or too finely tailored for me—Hugo Boss and Armani were my favorites. Throw in some exquisite Italian loafers and a brilliant designer tie, and with my hair gelled back, I was ready for action.
In fact, action seemed to be my middle name. I was constantly entertaining women at home, in clubs, even on the job. Cocaine was my drug of choice, and I always had a designer vodka cocktail in my hand. I loved cutting through traffic in my sleek black BMW sedan on the way to business meetings or driving my gleaming black Porsche around town on weekends.
Late at night, you could find me and my high-flying entourage cruising the city, looking for the best scene. My party mates and I regularly rented stretch limos to weave through the streets in search of the hottest clubs. Sometimes we even intentionally circled a specific club, waiting for a sufficiently long line of partyers to form behind the velvet rope outside. We wanted to pull up to the carpeted entryway and make a grand entrance.
Orchestrating favorable press coverage and wrangling introductions to the most important power players in the area became our standard operating procedure.
I quickly gained insight into how the political system worked, and I began to throw fund-raisers for key city and state officials—not just one candidate per race, but multiple candidates—being sure to grease their palms so they would approve our real estate projects. Often, I handed out more money than could be legally donated, but I always figured out ways to either hide the gifts or to skirt the laws. Such rules were merely a minor nuisance in my climb to the top of the world.
And when it was time to work the system, we worked it mercilessly. When we desperately needed to secure city funding for a $100 million development we were working on, I even dated a government official who would be influential in the decision-making process. The campaign coffers of several of the councilmen were filled, thanks to my generosity. In addition, Tony and I hired people to pack a critical city council meeting and say great things about our proposed project. The line of “local residents” extended outside the council chambers and down the block. The chairman eventually cut the meeting short, noting that the public’s overwhelming sentiment for the project could not be more obvious. The city council voted in our favor.
I was Bill Dallas, boy wonder. I had it all figured out.
***
As it turned out, there were a few things I hadn’t figured out. For instance, one of the details I failed to anticipate was the real estate crash of the early nineties. When it hit, it smacked me like a two-by-four across the head. Many people were taken by surprise by this swift and deep change in the economy, but I was taken hostage.
By the spring of 1991, we had used all of the money invested in our projects to fuel our combustible lifestyle and promote other, newer projects we were setting up. The combination of out-of-control spending, not enough financial planning, and the demise of the real estate market caused us to run out of money, plain and simple. Our financial backers, some of whom were falling on tough times as well—thanks in part to my lofty promises about the returns they would be receiving—began asking about their investments, wondering why work on their projects had been halted and how they were going to fare during the real estate downturn. That’s when everything started to blow up in my face.
Our business strategy had been based on impressing people with sizzle rather than substance. We had cut corners and manipulated every angle in an attempt to provide investors with a world-class return on their investments, which incidentally would also have meant that we would be rolling in cash as well.
But that dream was not to be. My business collapsed, and the life I had built around it began to crash. Big-time. Our luxurious office with its panoramic view was shut down. The phones were turned off. I was kicked out of my penthouse, and my prized toys—my homes and cars—were repossessed. My friends found new parties to enjoy and more successful partyers to accompany. The man of the year quickly became a social leper.
As if things weren’t bad enough, the legal hammer began to fall. Due to a lethal combination of ignorance and ambition, I had been handling investors’ money in a way that was apparently illegal—something called commingling of funds. We had used money from one project to float another without the investors’ knowledge. Although my partner and I always intended to pay back each investor after we completed our development activity, our naive and reckless approach was still against the law. Both the state and federal governments wound up filing charges against me, and a drawn-out, expensive courtroom drama began to unfold.
In the meantime, I sought any job I could get and wound up as a salesman at Nordstrom. I think I got the job because I had such fabulous clothing, but I wasn’t much of a salesman on the retail floor. My heart just wasn’t in it. In fact, my heart was nowhere to be found.
I was completely empty, almost numb, and had little energy for life. In the past, I had always been able to push away such feelings of emptiness with new toys, loud parties, and a lot of women. But now, without any of those things to distract me, I was faced with the fact that I didn’t really like my life—or myself—at all.
Flipping through the cable channels one evening, I stopped to listen to a TV preacher talk about salvation and getting right with God. Up to that point in my life, I hadn’t had much to do with religion. While I was growing up, my family had been tangentially involved in Christianity. Although my father never attended any church activities, my mother sometimes attended a local Protestant church, and I went to the Sunday school on those occasions. Those classes exposed me to some of the stories and values that form the basis of Christianity. But I never really understood the big deal about Jesus Christ. Mom and I found the church people to be nice, and she especially enjoyed the potluck meals and the special events, but we were never active in the church or in the pursuit of genuine faith.
That spiritual apathy was the norm for me until age fourteen, when the brother of one of my best friends led an impromptu Bible study. He talked about our sin problem and how Christ had died on the cross to save us from the punishment we deserved. I was aghast. As he painted the picture—God’s sacrificial love delivered through the murder of Jesus, necessitated by my wayward behavior and corrupted mind—it was clear that I needed to do something about it.
After that meeting, I began to pray constantly for forgiveness. When I say constantly, I mean just that: I literally prayed two to three hundred times each day, asking God to forgive everything I was doing and everything I had previously done. I was a wreck over the fact that I was a habitual, lifelong sinner! I did not have a relationship with Christ, only a foreboding fear of wrongdoing and the inevitable eternal punishment if I didn’t get it right.
The church my friend attended was highly legalistic, and every time we went, we were bombarded with an overwhelming parcel of rules and regulations we needed to satisfy. It was truly unbearable, but having been scared out of my wits by this church’s convincing doctrines about the wrath of God and the wickedness of man, I felt there was no escape. I had no choice but to keep trying to do better and to continually beg for forgiveness.
Religion became the heaviest burden I had yet encountered.
The appeal of that religious group was that it provided clear-cut parameters and some semblance of stability for a young boy raised in a very dysfunctional family. But when my father later died, I became the man of the house by default. It was no easy responsibility to bear, and the combined expectations of God and family soon became too much for me to handle. I was on the verge of cracking up. Religion was only adding to my guilt and shame. No matter how hard I tried, I always felt that it wasn’t enough and that I was losing ground on God’s scale of perfection.
Later, I was introduced to Young Life, a national parachurch ministry that works with teenagers. This group had a more balanced theology and was the first to teach me about God’s grace in response to my sinful ways. As reassuring as that approach was, it led to major confusion in my mind. Was He a God of perfection, holiness, and grand expectations, or was He a God of love, forgiveness, and grace? I wanted to believe the latter, but I was fearful that it might be the former.
By the time I was in my junior year of high school, I hit the wall. Having reached my breaking point and seeing no way to reconcile the competing points of view and excessive demands associated with faith in God, I felt I had to flee the whole thing. I knelt down and prayed to God, asking Him to forgive me (of course!) for having to leave religion altogether. I confessed that if I did not give it up I would surely lose my mind. I was absolutely stressed over the confusion and weight that religion had laid on me, so I followed my instinct, which was to apologize and run.
For the next thirteen years, God was not part of the equation. I sealed off that part of my life and focused on doing the best I could with whatever morals, values, and character attributes I had gleaned by that time.
Now listening to the television preacher on that lonely night in July of 1991, I vaguely recalled hearing an intriguing comment attributed to Blaise Pascal, something about how each of us had a God-shaped hole in our hearts that only He could fill. That made sense to me. I had tried everything—money, drugs, sex, alcohol, travel, clothing, political influence, cars, houses—and I was still empty inside. The void that characterized my life could only be filled by something huge—something superhuman, something supernatural, something beyond the limitations of everything I had tried.
So with nothing to lose and everything to gain, on July 11, 1991, I fell to my hands and knees and asked Jesus into my heart. Little did I know that an attorney would one day defend me in court by quoting Jesus: “What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul?” (Matthew 16:26).
With little else to live for at that point—retail sales failed to get my juices flowing—I got pretty pumped about the Christian faith and began reading the Bible and memorizing Scripture verses like crazy. I’ve always had a great memory, and since Christians seemed to treasure Scripture memorization, this was an easy way for me to get in the game. Eventually I decided to commit much of the New Testament to memory. That was me, all right: driven and over the top.
In retrospect, it would have been more helpful if I had devoted my time to simply understanding what a relationship with Christ meant and how to nurture it. But somehow I completely missed the fact that Christianity is not something you do, it is about a relationship with God and who you become through that divine connection. I had no idea at the time that my biggest issue in life was the superficiality of my character—or that the only antidote for that disease was a full-on commitment to allowing God to transform that character. Instead, I did what I had always done best: analyze, understand, and act. Deciding to become a Christian was simply a calculated, intellectual choice, and my bull-in-a-china-shop approach to Christianity was characteristic of me: understanding something without emotionally investing in it.
A short while after becoming a Christian, I found that I had some time on my hands while the lawyers battled over my fate. I thought it would be fun to work with young people who were seeking to develop their faith in Christ, so I started volunteering with the local Young Life program. I met some outstanding people who were committed to serving the teenagers in the program, but despite the upswing in my spiritual life, there was no getting away from the increasingly claustrophobic legal realities that confronted me. After a year and a half of expensive, embarrassing, and contentious legal defense, I could no longer ignore reality. I was convicted of felony grand theft embezzlement and sentenced to five years in prison.
I was in a state of disbelief. Up to this point, I had never even given much thought to the charges that had been brought against me. I figured my lawyers would work things out and come up with a way for me to get out of the situation. Even though I had become a Christian, I still had such a disconnect with reality that it had been easy to live in a state of denial, focusing only on the here and now.
For the first time in my life, I was forced to face the consequences of my actions. My crime was considered among the more serious offenses a person can commit, short of murder or rape. Besides a stiff prison term, I lost some of my rights as an American citizen. I would no longer be allowed to vote unless I received a full pardon from the governor. I would not be able to serve on a jury or purchase firearms.
I would also be faced with additional restrictions after I was paroled. For the three years of my parole, I would not be allowed to drink alcoholic beverages. I would be required to submit to antinarcotic testing at the will of my parole officer. I would not be allowed to work in real estate or in professions closely associated with my offense, such as financial services. There could be no outside contact with Tony, my former business partner who was convicted of the same crime. Every time I applied for a job, I would have to inform the potential employer of my transgression. And I would not be allowed to start my own business.
On top of that, I was liable for multiple fines, taxes, and other payments—one of the fines alone was $750,000. I also would need to have regular check-ins with my parole and probation officers, could not live more than fifty miles from their location, and could not leave the area without their approval.
But I’m getting ahead of the story. Before I could enjoy the relative freedom of parole, I had to complete my prison term. I didn’t realize it at the time, but my life was about to change. Dramatically.
I never cease to be blessed by the authors who I am allowed to meet through my blogging. Lisa Wingate has been such a pleasure to learn about and get to know! Truly, her heart is as big as the state of Texas! (pun intended!) The Lord has really been busy in Lisa's life, and I am so thankful for her testimony and sweet spirit! Please, give a warm welcome to Lisa Wingate!
There is a statement on your website that really spoke to me. When you talk of writing your stories, you state:
“I want to create books that are entertaining, but also good for the soul-- that don't leave readers feeling sad or disappointed, or wishing they hadn't read the book at all. I think we are all called to add something good to the world, to inspire and uplift, to add our colors to the canvas. I have met so many people who have wonderful ways of doing that. I admire them. I want to be like them. I love to write about them.”
This captures a deep desire within my own heart. Can you tell us about a couple of people in your life who encourage and inspire you?
First and foremost, I’m a wife and a mom, so I’d have to say that over the years I’ve been greatly encouraged, inspired, and supported by my family.Some of my favorite pieces of my own writing have been magazine essays inspired by ordinary, everyday moments with my two boys.It’s amazing what profound observations on life you can find while playing in the sandbox, or watching ants carry a grasshopper home, or creating valuable pottery from the gooey stuff at the edge of the driveway.
As a writer, I was greatly influenced by my grandmother, whose life-lesson stories became the basis for my first book, Tending Roses.She was an amazing woman who grew up in a troubled family during the Great Depression.She was appreciative of the things she had, because she knew what it was to have nothing.She liked to lecture us kids about how fortunate we were and how easy we had it.We didn’t always appreciate hearing those things, but she taught us the value of a dime, the importance of an education, and the need for faith.She was also a great storyteller, and from her we learned how to tell a tale and spin a yarn.
I’m fortunate in that my work brings me into contact with people from all walks of life.Oftentimes, after having read one of my books, people are inspired to share from their own lives, either in person or via email.Those stories are a constant reminder of the resilience of the human spirit and the power of faith to change lives and heal wounded individuals.For any story you can write, there’s someone who has lived it.Those real stories, and the long-distance friends who take the time to share them are a constant source of inspiration.
You also state that many of your stories are inspired by a real-life moment. What was that moment for Word Gets Around? Were you satisfied/surprised with the direction the characters of this book took your story?
Word Gets Around was inspired by a turkey commercial.Yes, I know that doesn’t sound very profound, but part of writing is having the sort of mind that looks for both humor and clarity in the absolutely ridiculous.I have come to believe that God works through turkey commercials, too, although I confess that when Pilgrim’s Pride came to my hometown to film an advertisement starring camera-ready fowl and local folks, no inner voices whispered, Hey!Here’s a potential book idea!But, you never know.As camera crews and spotlights took over our normally-quiet little berg, everyone wanted to get in on the act.Suddenly, potential fame was only a spoonful of warmed-over production potatoes away.For a few days, the turkey commercial, and who was in it, where it was filmed, who was asked to read for a speaking part, and who might make the final cut, were the talk of the town.
Somewhere along the way, it occurred to me that a Hollywood production company coming to small town and turning everyday life completely upside down would be a fun subject for a book.This just goes to show that you never know where life’s gold nuggets really are.Sometimes, they’re hidden underneath airbrushed turkey and cold mashed potatoes.
The first time “our” turkey commercial aired on TV, I watched as friends and neighbors gathered around a table to eat perfect-looking food, which I knew was cold and tasteless.I admired their ability to seem convincing while uttering such profound lines as “Mmmm”, and “From our house to yours!”Something deeper came to me as the camera panned away from the ideal family - who really aren’t related at all.Sometimes, our lives come pretty close to perfect, and we’re so busy worrying about the cold mashed potatoes, we never even notice.It’s easy to get so wrapped up in the details that you forget to look around the table and see the things that really matter.
In the end, the TV debut of my little hometown made me appreciate it in a new and different way.I live in place that can star in a turkey commercial.If that isn’t something to be thankful for, I don’t know what is.So, I guess you’d have to say the advertisement did what it was meant to do.After all, it was a Thanksgiving ad.
The fear and disbelief in Justin’s life that seem to fuel his destructive choices is an unfortunate and devastating reality in many people’s lives today. Do you think Christians could/should exercise a bit more of the “resistance free training” shown by the character Lauren? Especially toward those who have become enslaved to their own addictions?
I think as Christians we’re called to be more like the horse whisperer and less like the horse breaker in all of our dealings with others, but there’s a reason why, you’ll sometimes find more horse breakers than horse whispers.Horse breaking is quick.It uses the tools force, intimidation, and fear to bring the animal into line.It puts the horse breaker in the power position, since he’s the one controlling the whip, spurs, and bridle.The problem is that this produces an animal that will always need to be controlled with intimidation and force.Ultimately, you can’t force someone out of sin—whether the sin is substance abuse, a bad habit, a destructive relationship.Sometimes, you can achieve results for a while, but the behavior change doesn’t last because it’s not intrinsic.
Horse whispering, by contrast, seeks to cause the animal to learn that the safest place, the best place to be is in partnership with the teacher.It requires patience, time, self-restraint, and faith in the biological hard-wiring of the animal.It’s not always satisfying in the moment.It seeks to build a bond of trust, to win the animal over.There’s no way to predict how long that process will take.Each animal is different, as is each person, and each self-destructive choice.
I love the gem of wisdom on page 287 that says, “Sometimes God puts a new path under your feet, not because you think you’re ready to walk it, but because He knows that’s the way you need to go.” Can you share one of those paths from your own life with your readers? What did you discover on the journey?
In many ways, my life has been a series of paths that weren’t part of my plan.I think that’s probably true for most people.I definitely didn’t plan to move around a lot as a child.I was a shy apron-strings kid who preferred the comfort of familiar people to the challenge of having to make new friends.I hated the process of settling in new places, but in the end, those moves left me with memories of some very wonderful places and people, including one of my first grade teachers, Mrs. Krackhardt, who told me I would be a writer one day and made me believe it.If not for an unexpected family move, I would never have been a newcomer in her class, she would never have read my story, and I wouldn’t have grown up thinking I could be a writer.That was definitely one of the paths I was meant to walk, and I know that God put me together with this very inspiring teacher for a reason.Prior to that move, I’d been in a private school with a teacher who was critical, old-fashioned, and strict.I hated reading, and I would never have written anything for a teacher to see.Mrs. Krackhardt changed the way I felt about reading, writing, and myself. In the end, the path through her classroom changed everything.
Will your readers get to know more about Lauren and Nate in future books? Will we ever know what becomes of Justin and his kid’s ranch project? A sneak peek at your next project?
The fun part of writing (and reading) stories in a continuing series, is that there’s always the opportunity to keep up with old friends and find out how their lives have changed.Daily is like most small towns—everyone knows everyone’s business, so of course Lauren, Nate, Justin, Amber, and the ranch come up in the next book, which I’m just finishing now.Book number three in the Daily, Texas series will be released in February, 2009.The story stars an out-of-town character and Lauren’s adorable brother, Kemp (the local baseball coach) this time, as well as Donetta.When the beauty shop girls head to the coast for that cruise they’ve been talking about, well…let’s just say there’s a little problem they didn’t plan on.Hurricane Gloria is headed across the Gulf, and she’s made a turn straight for their port.The girls get an adventure, all right, but it’s nothing like the one they’d planned.
What exciting things is God doing in your life right now? Do you have words of encouragement for your readers?
God is always surprising me in and through the books, for one thing.Writing is, in and of itself, a solitary profession.You spend your days making things up, talking to imaginary people, sitting around with a laptop, and creating stories you hope someone will enjoy.What moves that process into the realm of the amazing is the ways God can take those stories and use them in the lives of people you’ll never meet, except through a book.I can’t even explain the feeling of hearing from a reader saying, This changed my life, it make me think, it made me appreciate what I have, it helped me to realize I need to mend old wounds in my family, it gave me patience as I cared for my aging mother, it brought my sister and I closer together…
Watching the stories travel out into the world is an incredible adventure.The only thing I can liken it to is sending your child out into the world and watching God use this person you’ve raised to make a difference.I teach Sunday school for high school seniors, so each year, I have a bit of this experience in real life, and we’re approaching the time of year when it will happen again.Most of the kids come in at the first of the year not knowing where they want to go after high school, afraid to leave home, not sure what’s right for them, and uncertain of how their spiritual gifts can be used in the world outside youth group.It’s amazing to watch God work in them and grow them, then send them out into the world and bring them back as adults who become youth leaders, musicians, charity workers, and volunteers who lead homeless missions.It’s proof (if we need proof) that, as Donetta’s mirror says at the DAILY HAIR AND BODY, God uses all things for great purposes!
“What good is a life saved if you fail to live it?” (p. 363)
I adore those books that take me to the place in my heart that says, “A-men!” When I reach the end of the story and there are tears of joy, of completion, of full understanding and rejoicing over something difficult overcome…it is SO WORTH the time spent reading! And blog readers, Lisa Wingate has taken me to that place, and I have never been more pleasantly surprised!
Word Gets Around sports a sassy, mischievous-looking girl on the cover, and in the background there is a barn, a pick-up truck and an old water tower. When I turn the book over to read the back-cover copy, there is talk of romance and Hollywood movie stars. When I begin to read, I find witty humor and fun, believable dialogue with only a hint that there is a bigger story underneath. By the time I’m half-way through the book I can feel the fear and doubt that hovers within the hearts of several of the key characters, and I yearn to reach out and encourage them not to give up…to keep going because there is so much more to be enjoyed. This story, these characters take me to a familiar place, introduced me to a familiar small-town group of people, and like Lauren (aka Puggy) I feel like I’ve come home.
Lisa Wingate captures the essence of small-town USA. Daily, Texas is a place not unlike the small towns of my own childhood. The ample amounts of rich food, unconditional, loving relatives, town-folk who know what is going on in your life before you do…I’ve lived that! I laughed out loud at the antics of the big-hair trio – Doneetta, Imagene and Lucy. I loved the sign at Uncle Top’s farm that reads, “No trespassing. If You can read this, U R in range.” (p. 213) I loved the way Nate and Justin and the crazy Frederico enter into this small-town world and have their hearts and minds transformed. And the way Lauren finally lets go of her guilt and reaches toward the peace offered to her by The Good Horseman…unbelievable!
It’s hard for me to sum up my Word Gets Around experience. It’s so much more than a romance! It reaches out to the broken, guilt-ridden hearts that have been wounded by the past, and offers hope of peace and forgiveness. This is what Christian fiction is all about folks! I am so very, very thankful that I had the opportunity to read this book, and I highly recommend Lisa Wingate’s work to everyone!
Lisa Wingate lives in central Texas where she is a popular inspirational speaker, magazine columnist, and national bestselling author of several books. Her novel, Tending Roses, received dozens of five-star reviews, sold out ten printings for New York publisher, Penguin Putnam, and went on to become a national bestselling book. Tending Roses was a selection of the Readers Club of America, and is currently in its tenth printing.
Lisa is now working on a new set of small-town Texas novels for Bethany House Publishers. The series debuted with Talk of The Town and continued with Word Gets Around. A new series is also underway for Penguin Group NAL, beginning with A Month of Summer (July 2008), and continuing with The Summer Kitchen in July, 2009. Lisa’s works have been featured by the National Reader’s Club of America, AOL Book Picks, Doubleday Book Club, The Literary Guild, American Profiles, and have been chosen for the LORIES best Published Fiction Award.
ABOUT THE BOOK
When Romance Is In the Air, Word Gets Around Lauren Eldridge thought she'd wiped the dust of Daily, Texas, off her boots forever. Screenwriter Nate Heath thought he was out of second chances. Life's never that predictable, though. Cajoled by her father, Lauren is back in town helping train a skittish race horse set to star in a Hollywood film. But the handsome screenwriter gives her more trouble than the horse. And Nate is realizing there's a spark of magic in the project--and in the eyes of the girl who is so good with horses. Daily, Texas, has a way of offering hope, healing, and a little romance just when folks need it most.
"Lisa Wingate writes engaging stories that strike the heart. God has gifted her with a marvelous talent and I, for one, am most grateful." —Debbie Macomber, New York Times #1 bestselling author
I just wanted to state clearly here on my blog that the books I review are provided to me in exchange for my opinion and thoughts. I am a member of two blog alliances and I work directly with publicists and publishers at their request to review a variety of Christian fiction and non-fiction books. I receive no compensation other than free copies of the books to read, and when a give away is offered, that copy of the book is also provided by the publisher for that exact purpose.
I give my opinions both positively and negatively and will continue to do so as time permits and as I am able. I do this because I love to read and I love to share my thoughts with others who love good books and Christian stories.
