Bored? Join Sarah Mae and Me Tonight to move to Flourishing!

"Bored! Bored! Bored!"

So, Sherlock Holmes said with his whole heart, as he pronounced how he felt about his mundane life!

(Made me laugh out loud! I like this man!)

Tonight is the last night all of us will be home together and what did we do? Watch a Sherlock Holmes.

I realize that not all of you are Sherlock fans, but with older children who love England, have lived there and love mysteries, Sherlock is a by-product. One of his recent episodes started out, "Bored! Bored! Bored!"

Tonight, Sarah Mae and I will be talking about just what to do when you are bored or feel like you will never live your dreams. Join us. Find out from her HERE what to do to join us--buy her book and share the evening.

All of us get restless. I can identify with Sherlock!Once in a while, this fog creeps upon me and makes me suddenly uproariously allergic to the mundane. It's as though I can't breathe! And I put my mind to thinking of escapes, adventures, fun things I can do to rest my spirit and to just have fun. You just can't live intensely and seriously all the time or you will explode!

So, I have been scheming  and designing a strategy for fun in my weeks ahead so that the work load and daily things don't overwhelm. And I would love to know, what is your favorite REAL thing to do when you get bored? It can't have facebook or reading online in the answer.

When my children were younger and I was about to explode, these are some of the things I would do:

1. Put them all in the car with a book on tape and take a ride into the mountains with a frozen yoghurt at the end of it.

2. Take everyone to a big bookstore like Barnes and Noble and get myself a cup of coffee--that only I sipped, while they explored.

3. Go to a local park and ask a family to meet us for a picnic lunch.

4. Go to Focus on the Family and let the kids explore while I just sat.

5. Find a French cafe for breakfast and ask a friend for time alone just for me. (Yes, I had to find someone to somehow stay with the kids, but I would trade with a friend at times and occasionally Clay could watch them for me on weekends.)

6. I keep a secret fund that I add to every month--like a savings account for Sally. And I have taken trips, bought something I wanted, gotten a massage, or gone to a movie all by myself!

7. I love outdoors, so I would take the kids to the national trails not to far from our home and hike and wear them out so they would take really long naps!

8. I love hot baths and salts in the bath and candles.

9. Ask Clay to plan to take the kids for a whole morning so I could sleep and stay in my jammies as long as I wanted and do whatever I wanted without any responsibility!

10. Clay married me when I had been adventuring all over Europe as a missionary. He has understood this from the beginning and even told me he knew it was in my blood and that we would save for it! I love planning places to go with my children and one other friend with her children. Even if it is to the museum an hour away, or a concert in the park, or a historical house nearby. I always kept places in mind. If the kids and I were ever about to explode in a day or every one was fussing. (lots of snowy days here!) I would just stop what we were doing, call this a field trip day, and jump in the car and get out---getting everyone out--often outside--sometimes quailed the nagging fussing little attitudes. Too many sinful people shut up in a house for too long can make for  very trying day--leaving home and deciding to play was a way we all made it. And still all of my kids have actually grown up and become responsible adults. I was just never afraid to have fun.

If I was bored in my home, I could be pretty sure they would also be bored. And so we worked hard and then when explosion was near, playing hard and having fun was much better than one more lecture or correction--and it made us all happier, too.

So, what do you do for fun when you are bored and about to explode!?

Find out what we do when we get lonely or bored!

Leading Through Serving as a Life Habit 24 Way # 15

Way #15

We work with a cooperative spirit, freely giving and receiving help.

Memory verse:

"Two are better than one, because they have good return for their labor. For if either of them falls, the one will lift up his companion.But woe to the one who falls when there was not another to pick him up." Ecc. 4:9-10

For my birthday a few years ago, we gathered with some close friends and our kids and Clay. According to our tradition, everyone tells the birthday person why they appreciate them or how they have been blessed and then the birthday person gets prayed for and blessed by all who are at the celebration. We have practiced this for many years and we have seen our children's souls practically burst with the goodness of life-giving words and prayers just for them.

All of my children communicated the most wonderful blessings to me. Nathan said, "Mom, as I look back on my life, I am beginning to realize just how much time you invested in our lives. From daily devotions, manners, learning to do chores, educating us, correcting us, providing lessons and leadership opportunities and counseling us on every possible subject. I just want to thank you for investing so much time and giving up yourself to make my life strong. Everywhere I go, I hear your voice wisely telling me what to do."

I was quite surprised. I had waited years and years to hear these words, but the thoughts seemed to ripen in their minds as they reached adulthood. As pondered all of these wonderful words of life given to me, I realized that investing in a child's life, mind, soul, heart, habits, education, takes lots and lots of time and training. But the daily training--NO not this, but this; no not this, but this, ........(a thousand and thousand times)! This is what it takes to shape a strong soul.

Self-actualization is a term  that has come up in conversation a lot this week. All of my children have talked about how they grew into thinking they could bring light to their dark world because of the way we trained them and talked to them, over and over again. We spoke forward into their lives--into the adults they would become.

"I believe God has a special work for you to do in the world. You are my right hand helper and you have learned to work so responsibly. "

"I love seeing your heart of compassion. Bringing all your friends from your drama club was a gift. You are such a good influence in their lives. Thanks for helping me clean up all the dishes from their time here. I know you will be a leader of women."

"Maybe you will write great works like Lewis and Tolkien did. You have such a grasp of truth and beauty and such a great way of expressing it. I know it took a lot of hard work to write your essay. Great job. "

"There is no limit to what God might do with a heart that is completely His. He would love to bless your ideas and dreams if your heart is His. Your diligence will pave the way. "

This idea means giving your children a real sense, inside, of who they are, what they were created to do, understanding their amazing capacity to live life with redemption and influence by living in to God's will and owning His design for their lives.

"This week's Way, number 15, is all about giving your child a sense of being a servant leader as a part of their self-image. Part of perceiving oneself as a leader is thinking inside that God has made them to serve and that it is a glory of a person to serve well. But another aspect of this perception is building a strong family sense of community.

Each morning, after breakfast, I would put on lively music and have all of the kids do the same chore to restore our house to order before we began the day. We would all rock out together on the same songs while one put the dishes in the dishwasher, another swept, another straightened the room where we would be reading, etc. I would, as often as possible--(we all have grumpy, discombobulated days!)--but mostly, I would thank them.

Before we had guests, each of us would have an area of picking up, setting the table, putting up a personal welcome sign, (welcome, Joel!--or whatever),  lighting candles. And I would tell them how much I appreciated them making our home so beautiful.

Our ministry conferences, each had tasks. Little ones would welcome moms with a basket of chocolate they would pass out. Older kids would run the book tables. Each year, all of them had to give a short talk, greeting, song or prayer at the conferences. "You all are the best book people will ever read. The Clarksons together, are used by God, to help mamas all over the world, to see how important it is to raise their children for God's glory and to build a strong generation."

As a matter of fact, having our children serve together for many, many years is one of the key components to the reason they all have a perception that God has also called them to impact their worlds for God's kingdom.They heard these messages in our devotionals, they heard us speak them to adults at conferences and they practiced right beside us, doing what we were teaching them.

Teaching the passages of Jesus when he laid down his life and served others, (feeding the 5 thousand and seeing how God used even a little boy to serve in a miraculous way, holding the children, healing lepers and those who were weak, etc.) and then I  would often say to my children, "God is making you so strong inside. You are such a help to your little sister or you have worked so hard.  Just like Jesus!" or "I couldn't do without your help." or "I know that God made you to be so strong inside--you are such a help and you have been so cooperative today. I couldn't have such a wonderful house without your help. Thanks so much."

A big part of our perception of serving when we are older and humbly helping others comes from practicing helping others and hearing about the importance of serving others when they are young.

As you learn the truth of this way, have a grid to encourage your children that family is always to help each other, and that they are so very precious to be willing to serve others. Giving your child a self-image of perceiving that God wants to use them in their world, will shape their work and service the rest of their lives. Giving them practice to serve each other will build strong relationships between siblings when they grow up.

I'm so thankful to have you here with me this summer as we study our 24 Family Ways together.

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Building a Self-image of Leadership: A Rare Gift to cultivate Way 14

24 Family Way # 14

"We take initiative to do all of our own work without being told."

Memory Verse

Go to the ant, O sluggard, Observe her ways and be wise, 7 Which, having no chief, Officer or ruler, 8 Prepares her food in the summer And gathers her provision in the harvest.

As young children, my little ones were facinated with nature. Living on 200 acres of wildness in the middle of Texas provided many opportunities to catch and classify butterflies, catch bugs, put snakes into large jars to observe, (I found one on the kitchen cabinet!) and to see how God had built lessons of life into the very warp and woof of his world.

One evening about sunset, Nathan and Joel were running ahead as we sauntered on our traditional walk after dinner. With the summer hours at night, we still had full light. Joel was captivated by a tiny any that was carrying a leaf almost 5 times its size. l

"Mama, if a tiny little bug like that can work so hard for his family ants, maybe we could do a lot more than we think."

Three days later, we received a shipment of a printing of one of our books. Boxes were stacked high and would take quite some work to empty them onto our shelves. Late in the afternoon, however, Clay came out of our little office and found Joel, sweating profusely in the Texas summer heat, but he had emptied 30 boxes of books neatly onto the shelves with only 2 more to go. It was quite a task, and we were amazed.

"Joel, this is amazing! What made you decide to do this?"

"Well, when I was thinking about the ant and how he carried so much more than we could ever imagine possible, I thought, I want to be like that ant! I want to be strong and dependable. Something came into my head and told me to empty the books." (Yes, he really said that--9 years old. Maybe the Holy Spirit came into his head! :))

Romans 5: 8 tells us that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. He saw our failures, our sin, our heartbreaks; He heard our cries; He, out of the driving force of His own nature that always causes Him to redeem, He took initiative to serve us an then die for us.

When we learn to take initiative, we reflect the out-reaching character of Christ. LIttle by little, as we train our children patiently and teach them to take initiative to be responsible, we are giving them a strong character and familiarity to take initiative when they are strong adults. There will always be work to do and so the one who takes initiative will always be in action. Initiative teaches believers to be responsible with the work of God.

Jesus says that the harvest is plentiful and the workers few. Why?

Because many people wait to be asked to help.

Those with the character of Christ are out in the world with eyes looking for people to help, work for the kingdom to be accomplished.

Initiative causes us to start a small group Bible study for women in our own home because we see a need--not because someone asked us. Initiative causes us to reach out to strangers to show them the love of Christ.

A spirit of initiative says, "I am God's and I will live my life for His glory. I will be His eyes to look out for places I might help, love or redeem, in the spirit of His initiation to me."

From early years, we always told our children that God had created them with a personality and skills and drives in order to bring light and His truth into their worlds. Teaching them to be responsible for themselves and for others, made them familiar, when they were adults, with the need to reach out to others and to invest their lives, even if it took a risk, to bring His truth into their own worlds.

When we talk to our children throughout the moments of their days and create the vocabulary and train them to learn how to think of themselves as responsible, we are preparing them to live a story of servant leadership. And when they see us taking initiative to help, to reach out to and to teach others, they will develop a self-image of one who is especially called by God to take initiative to bring light to their own dark worlds--all for the love of God's design in their own lives and for their own love of their heavenly Father.

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Remember to enter the giveaway for tickets to the Women of Faith conference.

Join Angela and me for lunch on Saturday!

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Come to Women of Faith Conference as our guest! A Great Giveaway!

Angela Perrit and I celebrating our Book, You Are Loved!

You Are Loved!

You are precious, just as you are!

God sees you in your circumstances and with your own personal puzzle and he sees you as a woman of great value.

Do You feel loved, forgiven, acceptable today?

Passion for helping women to know that God's love for them has been a part of my heart messages for a long time. When you understand that you, as you are, with all of your flaws and mistakes and bad attitudes, are cherished by the God who rules the universe, your life will be changed. There is nothing you can do to earn God's love--it would never be enough! But, He, out of the kindness of His heart, loves you as a Father loves his little one, his own child, and He has compassion and grace to give you every day.

Angela teaches women the to love God's word and to study and understand it every day, and she had a similar passion. We wrote a book together, You Are Loved, and have seen this simple message go all over the world. We were so thrilled when so many thousands of women  responded to our book, and have written us letters and shared it with their friends--and we loved hearing from so many of you.

Fast forward a year, and we were amazed and thrilled to see that The Women of Faith conference wanted to use our book as a part of their national conferences this year, along with the theme of their conference, LOVED. Thousands of women attend each conference where women are encouraged and inspired in their Christian lives. We are praying for thousands of women's lives to be transformed as they grow in their personal understanding of His love and commitment to them.

Women of Faith

To celebrate a new release of our book, especially for these conferences, as well as in other stores, Women of Faith has generously allowed us to do a really fun giveaway for the precious friends who follow our blogs and ministry.  How would you like to win a VIP Ticket to the Denver Women of Faith Conference, and get one for any friend you want to bring, and then meet with Angela and me for lunch? You would also receive a set of books and some other fun prizes. We will be there together and look so forward to celebrating with 2 women for the weekend.

Tyndale, who published my last book, Own Your Life, has partnered with us in this new venture and have agreed to give away the Women of Faith book set--a journal, our Bible study, and a special devotional put together by the women of faith speakers.

Be sure to enter soon as we will give the tickets away in just a few days. Tell your friends, share the news and you maybe you will be the winner. Angela and I are looking so forward to sharing this weekend with a couple of you!

Below is the way you can enter to win the tickets.

Thanks for sharing our excitement! You can also order our book for your small group or just for you!

Bring your friends to this conference in Denver and join us and other friends at the inspirational conference for Women of Faith. Find out more HERE!

Hope to see you there!

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Yumm! My Daily Bread.

A house full of adult kids, friends, and soooo much  eating and talking over and over again. I am having so much fun hanging around my peeps--even though it is constant eating/washing/eating/ washing. This morning I was making scrambled eggs for 7 people. I had bought 72 eggs last Saturday. When I went to make the eggs this morning, there were only 5 eggs left! Cakes, cinnamon rolls, breads, breakfasts took all the eggs!

Yesterday, I got 2 big boxes of blueberries and made 3 pans of blueberry lemon bread.

As the summer sun glistens this morning, I am drinking my strong cup of tea on our deck and the tantalizing aroma of fresh blueberry muffins being baked to perfection fills my kitchen.

I love summer fruit and of course blueberries, they say, is a strong anti-oxidant. They also help strengthen the brain--which I really need these days!

Creating a happy home for my family involves feeding the soul-but many a soul has first been opened by feasting. But, beginning each day with a warm, fresh, daily bread to excite the taste buds gives everyone a good start to the day.  the wonderful fragrance of something baking in the oven, pre-disposes all of those in my home to have an open heart to my messages. As we eat these warm muffins, I will share the words that Jesus used to encourage me this morning and I know all hearts will be open to my messages because their stomachs and tastebuds will be satisfied and happy! Heart, body and souls satisfied all at once!

This delicious recipe will definitely warm and delight your soul.

What is your favorite summer recipe?

From my soul to yours:

* 1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour * 3/4 cup brown sugar * 1/2 teaspoon salt * 2 teaspoons baking powder * 1/3 cup vegetable oil * 1 egg * 1/3 cup milk or 1/3 cup vanilla yogurt * 1 cup fresh blueberries (you could also use frozen) * 1/2 cup white sugar * 1/3 cup all-purpose flour * 1/4 cup butter, cubed * 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon (very important!)

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Grease muffin cups or line with muffin liners. 2. Combine 1 1/2 cups flour, 3/4 cup sugar, salt and baking powder. Place vegetable oil into a 1 cup measuring cup; add the egg and enough milk to fill the cup. Mix this with flour mixture. Fold in blueberries. Fill muffin cups right to the top, and sprinkle with crumb topping mixture. 3. To Make Crumb Topping: Mix together 1/2 cup sugar, 1/3 cup flour, 1/4 cup butter, and 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon. Mix with fork, and sprinkle over muffins before baking. 4. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes in the preheated oven, or until done.

Diligence: The Golden Key To Life 24 Ways #13

"Patience and Diligence, like faith, remove mountains." -William Penn

Way #13

 We are diligent to complete a task promptly and thoroughly when asked. 

Memory verse:

"The soul of the sluggard craves and gets nothing. But the soul of the diligent is made fat."

Cinnamon-pecan pancakes with scrambled-cheese-sour cream eggs provided the perfect entree into our Sunday morning devotion. Psalm 37 was the subject--waiting for God, cultivating faithfulness, staying faithful. A feast always leads the way to great discussions and today was no exception.

Each year, we gather the the kids from all over the world to have Family Day, (a celebration we began over 30 years ago.), and so my mama heart is so very happy to have everyone home. Amidst the gathering on couches, going on long walks, eating out, hiking, I just sit and smile in my soul. To see their faithfulness amidst living in secular culture, and to watch their integrity grow as they strain towards pleasing God is what I always hoped would happen.

I always hoped they were listening to our family devotionals but now I know the verses and wisdom was being planted in their hearts, even when I could not see.

Keep training, keep straining towards His ways, and you will find a harvest of righteousness--the kind that will keep them persevering in their lives, staying faithful to relationships, seeking to serve God.

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Quitting jobs, quitting school, quitting on marriage, quitting on friendship, quitting on God, just quitting is acceptable in every area of our lives. Often we use the word grace as an covering to all people in all circumstances who make wrong decisions, who fail to be wise, who prove to be lazy.

Just "quitting" has become an acceptable choice, an excusable choice. We blame others for our difficulties instead of choosing to be diligent to overcome our challenges. A lack of godly character is at the base of Christians having no impact on culture. Christians are as likely to except mediocrity as non-believers.

Yet, God gave us the capacity to "muscle-up" in life in order to be conquerers, to defeat the darkness, to work to completion. How many times have I been sorely tempted to give up on some of my ideals--my children have tested my patience and faith. Homeschooling challenged me to the core. Repetitive financial issues have tempted me to believe that God did not hear my prayers. People's negative voices in my life have caused me to second guess my ideals, and tempting me to think they did not matter.

Yet, God's word kept telling me to persevere, to be diligent, to overcome, to keep going. And by His grace, now I am so very thankful that He increased my capacity to work hard when I had grown up lazy. He stretched my faith so that I could live long enough to see His faithfulness. He kept me faithful through the hard times in marriage so that now I have a heritage of unconditional love.

We read that one of the fruits of the spirit is faithfulness--faithfulness is staying diligent to remain at the task or issue at hand. Paul, who suffered so much at the hands of persecutors, knew the importance of diligence.

"Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain."

1 Corinthians 15:58

Learning the importance of diligence in every endeavor of life is essential for fruitfulness in life. Though the world is in rebellion against God and His design, and thus our work is challenging, our relationships are fraught with pain, His spirit of redemption comes alive when we are diligent to complete the tasks we have been given to complete. Diligence is the energy, the inner will of determination to keep going, that provides the power to overcome in life.

I was not prepared to do housework, wake up with littles all night and then be responsive during the day. Diligence is a road, a direction, not a perfect rule to keep. It is moving toward maturity, not perfection.

When a mama trains her children, bit by bit, to work harder, to keep going, to develop an inner sense of integrity in work, faith, service, friendship and love, this child will become strong inside. To have a habit of diligence, to own the value of diligence in one's heart, provides the power, the strength to keep going--to move the mountains in his life.

Daily life is where diligence is trained and learned. As our children watch our diligence, and experience our love, they develop a heart to be diligent as we are. Giving children work to complete develops moral strength. Helping children to persevere in difficult relationships teaches them to be faithful in adult relationships.

If we do our children the disservice of taking them out of all difficult circumstances, then we are guilty of giving them a weak character. Diligence is a gold key to becoming productive and influential in life.

This week's way is crucial to the core of our children's character and will even help them to learn to stay faithful in times of doubt. When they learn to be diligent in one area, it spills into all areas of life. This is why it is crucial that we train this attribute into the very core of our children's values about themselves. We do it by gentle, daily, little by little, consistent training over a young lifetime at home.

But when it grows in the heart of the child, he will become the person who is reliable. This child will get the jobs he hopes for, work hard to reach ideals. If you love your child, you must patiently pursue this character quality in the life of your home and in your own life, and then you will see the ultimate reward of your own faith, as you learn to wait on God patiently and to work diligently in life to bring Him glory. May God find our hearts and works diligent as we see the blessing of His ways, in His time.

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Thanks again for all the wonderful notes and emails about how Own Your Life has encouraged and challenged you. Maybe it is the 24 Ways of Righteousness for women! I can't answer every message I receive, but I do pray for all of you and am so grateful to hear from you.

This is a great time to read Own Your Life to help center priorities for a new school year ahead.

You can find it HERE!

Faithfully Teaching Our Children the Stewardship of Life 24 Way 12

Roses from our mountain garden take a long time to grow.

Way # 12 We take care of what we have using it responsibly.

Memory Verse

“He who is faithful in a very little thing is faithful also in much; and he who is unrighteous in a very little thing is unrighteous also in much." Luke 16:10

"Mama, I want to move to New York City. I have a scholarship to New York Film Academy and I would love to go, but I need your blessing." I never dreamed of sending my children to New York City when they were 19. However, one of the life principles of our family was that if our children were faithful in small things, we would broaden their arenas to bigger places.

Practicing faithfulness in small tasks would prepare them to be faithful in bigger responsibility. Practicing letting our children work beside us, engage in our work, learn to rule over their own lives with decisions and work prepares them to think of themselves as responsible. Having a self-image of being responsible is developed by a life-time of training, day by day.

Part of the daily task of a mom is to teach her children character, responsibility and the stewardship of taking care of all that God has placed into our hands. Part of that process is helping our children picturing themselves as responsible for the world, for sharing the gospel, for the way they invest their time, for stewarding money and for taking care of their relationships.

Learning by real life practices makes far more impression on all us and our children than lecturing them or giving them advice. Engaging in real life creates self-image of who we are.

Many areas of life can become training grounds for children. One area that Joy loved learning responsibility was through gardening. As a small child, I  brought her with me into my garden when I planted roses, cultivated irises and daffodils, and made our yards beautiful. Though it is very hard to grow plants and flowers at 7300 feet altitude, and on the rock base of our land, which is basically a mountain. I have attempted to grow many different plants. I love flowers and so I will keep trying until I find the perfect garden."

Each year I would take my children, but especially Joy, with me and have them do the work by my side. Now, Joy is still inclined to plant her own garden each year because she also gained an appetite for creating beauty, by me training her to be a steward of our home and garden. So, even returning from college, the first thing she did was to buy herbs, two tomato plants and a few cutting flowers. The training and breathing into her these appetites have formed a pattern in her heart for being a steward of beauty.

So it is with other areas--reaching out to our neighbors to love them and share God's love with our children in tow gives our children a sense of stewardship for ministry.

Giving our children a jar to save their loose change in, builds up to whole jar full, that they can choose where it will be used in giving to missions trains them to feel a responsibility to help support church and missions as an adult.

How can you bring your children into the areas you faithfully cultivate and steward today? As you train them to be faithful in their small corner of the world, their capactiy and stewardship will also grow as they become better prepared for all that God will call them to as world changers for his Kingdom.

What you teach, model and give practice to for your children is what they are most likely to value when they grow up. Give them small ways to be faithful so that they can become strong in exercising bigger stewardship muscles when they are adults.

Nathan did go to New York, he had a great year, made wonderful friends and came out with his faith in tact. He was faithful at home to have integrity with his friends, to work at a job, to go to church and to make wise choices. His learning to practice faithfulness in front of us gave him and us an objective way to evaluate whether we should approve his decision to move to New York as a young man. He passed the test and home and we were free to trust him to a bigger arena. Remember:

“He who is faithful in a very little thing is faithful also in much; and he who is unrighteous in a very little thing is unrighteous also in much."

Satisfying the Longings in our Hearts! And a webinar!

There were times as a mom of 3 under 5 that I wondered if I would ever be allowed times of pleasure as an adult. My days were made up of a constant stream of feeding, cleaning up messes, settling small squables, picking up a child one more time, cajoling my little ones to sleep and then over and over again.

A part of me loved my precious little ones, watching them grow, becoming their friends, and having my own little club. But the mundane work of the everyday sometimes emptied my soul, the part that was "me" sometimes got lost in the demands of my demanding and sometimes lonely seasons.

As a dreamer-type who loves to have adventures and enjoys the sparkle of life, I wondered if my life of heart fulfillments and pleasures was over.

Slowly, I began to learn secrets, ways, to invest in my life so that my soul could stay alive and my adult heart could soar once again.

This is why I am so excited about the webcast coming up with Sarah Mae and me sharing some of our discoveries.

This is why I am excited for her to share her newest book with you so that you won't feel alone--but understood from one who is in your place.

And the fun is that Sarah Mae is celebrating her book with some really fun giveaways. If you pre-order her book, you will get the following!

1 or more books – Webinar with me and Sally Clarkson

5 or more books (for a group study) – Webinar, paperback copy of Desperate (limited to the first 150), the first four chapters of the audiobook of Desperate, one-year bible (limited to 100), DaySpring journal (limited to 100), signed print, PDF of D & D course, LFP teaching video

10 or more books – All of the above plus one life-coach session w/ Carey Bailey (limited to 10), Skype-in with your book club

You can find out about all of the details HERE

Hope you can join us on our webcast.

Order the book, HERE, and save your receipt!

A New Story with an Old Soul and a Giveaway!

“It is of the new things that men tire—of fashions and proposals and improvements and change. But it is the old things that startle and intoxicate; it is the old things that are really young.”

G.K. Chesterton

All of you who know I am a book lover and collector know that I recommended a book to you earlier in the year--The Green Ember. My son, Joel, was the reader for this great, rousing adventure. Now, our friend, Sam Smith, has come out with the second book--The Black Star! You will love it. I asked Sam to tell you about it!

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This is my goal: I want to tell new stories with an old soul. I want to look forward, to hope and dream, to gaze through the fog to the certain dawn of the true New World. I also want to echo. I want my tales to resound with old words, old ways, old wisdom.

I want to make vintage adventure.

Who cares? Does it matter? I think it does. I think it does because the stories we hear shape us like nothing else. Hearing the phrase “Jesus is good,” is positive, but it is meaningless without a story. When we read to our children the story of Jesus raising the dead, healing the lame, and sacrificing himself, we get more than just the information. We get the heart, the hope, the joy, the pain, and the information. We get formation. Because we see and feel that Jesus is good. We know it in our souls.

Stories matter. Fiction shapes us in a deep way as well. Perhaps especially when we are young. But why new stories with an old soul?

My friend (and the illustrator for my books) Zach Franzen is kind of a genius. When I run out of clever things to say, I usually pull out a Zachism and run with it. (It’s about to happen again.) He has been a cheerleader for the “New Stories, Old Soul” side from the beginning. He contends that most publishers don’t want to release new books with old virtues. If people want those, it’s easier and cheaper for the publishers to just release the old books again. So the virtues featured in those books are for now, he says, trapped in amber. They are museum pieces. So Zach has been a partner in more ways than just by illustrating my books. He’s been an encouragement, believing that those old virtues can live on in new adventures—that they can be seen in the wild again.

I want to uncork some vintage adventure on a generation of thirsty young souls.

The reason Sam wrote the books was with his own children in mind! The wonderful Smith family.

When I wrote The Green Ember for my children, I hoped they would love it and that the story would capture their hearts. I’m so grateful that it did and that they wanted to give others a chance to enjoy it too. When we were finally able to share it with other families, we began to hear that many of them also seemed to resonate with this new story and its old soul. That made us glad, like seeing the look on a dinner guest’s face who loved the food and enjoyed the laughter at the table. We shared something of our family’s life and other families welcomed it into their own homes and hearts. What an honor. What a privilege!

I want to keep doing it. So I wrote The Back Star of Kingston for my kids. And for all the kids who loved (or might love) The Green Ember.

It’s a story and that’s it. It’s not a tricky vehicle to teach truth. But I hope it is truthful. It’s not meant to sneak in a moral lesson, but I hope it burns with the fire of moral imagination.

Black Star is a simple story about a simple rabbit named Fleck. Faced with threats to his king and community, he must make a choice to stay and fight the overwhelming odds, or follow his dearest friend as he abandons hope.

The Green Ember (which was expertly read by Joel Clarkson for the audiobook) features a prologue that confused some readers. Why is this old, unrelated story in this book? Well, the prologue from The Green Ember is a part of Black Star, which serves as its prequel. It’s all related, but the series is just getting going. Here’s a small sample…  

Two soaked and battered rabbits washed up on the shore of Ayman Lake.

Gasping, Fleck crawled onto the stony beach, rolled over, and tried to clear his head.

Galt was already standing. “We have to go, Fleck,” he said, eyes darting from the lake to the tree line.

“I’m no traitor,” Fleck managed to say through ragged breaths.

“Traitor?” Galt cried. “The winning side gets to decide who the traitors were. We’ve lost, Fleck. It’s over. Even you, Captain Blackstar, can do nothing this time. We have no chance.”

“We? We have no chance?”

“He has no chance,” Galt said, head down, edging toward the forest.

Fleck stood slowly, staggering. The usually grey fur of his arm was blotched with dark scarlet. One eye was swollen shut.

“He can be saved,” Fleck said, reaching for his sword. His hand closed on air. His scabbard was empty.

“Nothing,” Galt said. “There’s nothing we can do. It’s the end of the world. It’s the end of the world!”

“But the oath, Galt. Remember? We can still turn this. King Whitson needs us. Prince Lander needs us,” he said, pointing to the burning ship. “I’ll never turn traitor.”

“You’re only a traitor if you betray yourself,” Galt said. He sprinted off, disappearing into the trees.

Fleck struggled to stay upright. Swaying, he turned from the fleeing rabbit to face the lake. Charcoal smoke corkscrewed into the sky. The blackened ship teemed with enemies. Flames snapped at the red-diamond standard as the last kingsbucks grappled with the invaders on the deck. Whitson Mariner stood among them, his sword poised and his harried shouts echoing over the lake.

Fleck straightened and stretched his arm. Pain flared. Unbearable agony. He bent, wincing.

He opened his eyes and saw King Whitson fighting desperately to protect Prince Lander. Fleck rose, ignoring the pain, and shouted across the water.

“My place beside you, my blood for yours! Till the Green Ember rises, or the end of the world!”

Swordless, Fleck Blackstar hobbled to the water’s edge and plunged in.

The Black Star of Kingston releases July 13. You can get it here.

I am giving away 3 of these today. If you want to enter, share on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or leave a comment about the book on Sam's page and let me know what you did. I will be picking the winners in the next couple of days.

Have You Ever Been Disappointed in Love? Friendship? Life? Loving & Losing

All of us have been disappointed in close relationships that we thought would last our lifetimes. Whether friendship, marriage, kindred spirits who fall and disappoint, believers who violate the sacred trust of loyalty, or places we have failed others, we all know the hole-in-our-hearts pain of broken love.

Joy, my newly graduated college daughter, soon to study for a Masters in Oxford, put thoughts to  these ponderings. The truth told here is profound, and gets to the very heart of our God.

You may find Joy and her lovely, insightful writing at Joynessthebrave.com

My thanks to my sweet Joy for letting me share this with you.

Loving and Losing

“It is better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all.”

– Tennyson

I have observed this maxim on many Facebook walls, unsubtly proclaiming the end of another ill fated teenage relationship. Sometimes it is said with care, but often it is said carelessly. It is said as a transition from one coffee-cup conversation to the next with a flip of the hair and a meaningless sigh. You loved. You lost. You move on.

Have you ever had love kick you in the teeth?

Driving is a time of existential contemplation for me. Recently, while driving under a stoplight in a dozy street of the California suburbs a thought came to me as quick as a slap in the face: Have I wasted my love on relationships that only ended in pain?

There have been times where it seemed to me that there was too much losing in the loving. I have spent years loving imperfectly but with great sincerity. Years praying and apologizing, trying to be strong and trying to forgive, and, at last, finding myself several years down the road with nothing to show but a few heart bruises. Perhaps you have experienced it too. Perhaps for you it was a friend, a sibling, a parent, a partner, or a leader, leaving you wondering…

Is it really better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all?

Those words come from Tennyson’s poem In Memoriam. Contrary to how it is often quoted, it is not in reference to romance. He wrote it after the death of his best friend. It is a deep calls to deep sort of poem. It is a prayer and a wrestling. He grapples with death and life, with love and pain, with doubt and faith. To me the poem is treading water in a sea of grief pleading with God to be kept afloat.

When experiencing pain engendered by love, whether that be grief in death, betrayal, or rejection, the desire to hide is appealing. Instinctively we hear “fooled once shame on them, fooled twice, shame on you.” We feel desperately that we need to build fortified walls to protect us from being that hurt again. We re-calculate, condemning ourselves from being vulnerable enough to be hurt. We cross our hearts and swear to never be so unwise. We say that we will put up “boundaries” to protect our hearts from unhealthy love, but quickly those boundaries become walls of stone with gates of steel. And we do it all because, in our hearts we feel that our love was wasted.

Someone familiar with love and loss, C.S. Lewis wrote of this tension of vulnerability:

“To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything and your heart will be wrung and possibly broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact you must give it to no one, not even an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements. Lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket, safe, dark, motionless, airless, it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable. To love is to be vulnerable.”

As I’ve pondered the beautiful and truly terrifying reality of the vulnerability in love, I have come to realize that even God is not immune to the pain of love and loss.

The story of God’s relationship to the world is one of unrequited love.

Creation was a lavish expression of a loving God. Beauty, music, green grass, and all the delights the world can offer are God’s offer of love to us. But again and again this love was snubbed by humanity. God, the greatest lover of all, was and is rejected again and again. Perhaps Jesus said it most poignantly as he entered Jerusalem, on his way give himself as an offering for the people he loved:

“Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not willing.” (Luke 13:34)

God loves because it is His nature. 1 John 4 says “This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us…” Love is in God’s DNA, so to speak; “God is love” (1 John 4:8).

God loves extravagantly, but never wastefully. God’s love is never wasted because it is an expression of his perfect character. When we love, we participate with God and reflect his love. John says “No one has ever seen God;but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.”

Love is never wasted. The act of loving proclaims the truest thing in the universe: that God is love. Our love may be weak, foolish, naive, unwise, or even unhealthy, but it is never ever wasted. Love is the truth that pulses at the heart of reality. It is the lifeblood of every good thing. It does not matter if love is requited, rejected or abandoned; the true meaning of love stems from the God who is love. When we love we affirm and sing into eternity the marvelous and unfathomable truth that God is love, and we are loved.

But, sometimes we do not feel that deep meaning as we struggle with grief, guilt, and pain. In the words of one who seems to always echo my soul’s truest feelings…

You who live in radiance

Hear the prayers of those of us who live in skin

We have a love that’s not as patient as Yours was

Still we do love now and then. (Rich Mullins, “Hard to Get”)

Even in petty and small attempts at love, we allow our hearts to be shaped by love.Though our love may seem not to touch the other person, it shapes us. Love leaves a mark, and sometimes it leaves scars. The greatest love of all bears scars. In Jesus’ resurrected body, he bears the scars of his extravagant love. In those scars I find a forgiveness that fills the cracks of my broken attempts at love, and I find solace in a God who knows what it is to be spurned.

And so, though my soul wrestled that night under the stop light (and many nights before and after), I have come to believe that It truly is better to love and lose than never to love at all.

Love shapes my soul to reach out in grace, forgiveness, and tenderness.

Love draws me closer to the God of unrequited love.

Love rebells against the hatred so natural to the world.

Love invites me into the love story of God.

Love is never wasted.

My kindred spirit gives life and love to me on a regular basis. So grateful.