Yes. We’re following God from California to Michigan!
We’re not moving to the Midwest again, though. On August 17-25, 2024, I’ll be recording the audio book for Waiting for God, speaking at a special event for the wonderful Our Daily Bread Service Partners, and hosting a Children’s Storytime at Baker Book House.
If you are in the Grand Rapids, MI area, please join Callie the Service Dog, my husband, and me at Baker Book House on Saturday, August 24, 2024, from 11 am to 1 pm.
I’ll be reading What Color is God’s Love? and Different Like Me.
I’ll also be sharing an exclusive sneak peek of Wonderfully, Marvelously Brown, published by WaterBrook Kids and scheduled for release on October 1, 2024.
After the reading, we’ll have a quick Q&A and fun activities for kids to enjoy while they wait for their books to be signed.
Please reserve your spot by calling the store or using this EventBrite link (Click HERE).
Please share this post and invite your church, your family, and your friends to join us.
Baker Book House will have all my books available for purchase, including the bestselling God Hears Her compilation that features the first devotion I wrote for Our Daily Bread in 2015, “When Yes Means No.”
If you pre-order Wonderfully, Marvelously Brown from Baker Book House before or during the event, you will receive an exclusive personalized signed book plate.
After the hard and hope-filled year I’ve had, I am looking forward to serving the Lord during this trip.
*
When we’re abiding in Jesus, we can persevere by the power of the Holy Spirit and glow as we grow, even in the dark spaces of the valley.
Suggested Reading: Isaiah 40:1-31 (ESV)
God created the moonflower (Ipomoea alba), a member of the morning glory family, which has blossoms that are only a couple inches wide during the day. Though beautiful and fragrant, these nocturnal flowers have poisonous seeds. So the moonflower may not be a good choice for gardens where children and pets roam.
However, though most flowers thrive when they soak up the sun, the moonflower flourishes under the light of the moon.
Each blossom opens into a sweet-scented round bloom up to seven inches long. Moonflower vines can grow up to twenty feet long as they crawl up the sides of solid structures like fences, houses, and even other plants.
Like the moonflower, God’s people can grow in unexpected places.
Some of the most fragrant and beautiful spiritual growth can occur as God guides us through the dark valleys of suffering that leads to sanctification ̶ the refining process through which He makes us holy, more like Jesus so we can be fragrant with the fruit of the Spirit as we point others to the hope we have in Christ.
In September 2018, I began trudging through one of the darkest seasons of suffering in my life. We had just moved across the country, following God from California to Wisconsin. As I searched for new doctors and a new church, I was working toward the deadline to submit my first full-length devotional. Waiting for God: Trusting Daily in God’s Plan and Pace was scheduled to be released by Our Daily Bread Publishing in August 2019.
In those dark valley moments, my pain and fatigue levels increased. As I searched for a new medical team and a new church, I loneliness and discouragement overwhelmed me. Still, I had to write Waiting for God, a book filled with encouragement and hope for those struggling to trust God when the wait felt too long and too hard to endure.
God affirmed that persevering includes pushing through in the power of the Holy Spirit as well as resting in the quiet peace of His presence.
To flourish in the valley requires we wait and walk by faith in the power of the Spirit, as He nourishes the deepest roots beneath the surface.
We may not see anything that resembles growth, so it would be easy to bow down under the weight of discouragement.
However, when we’re walking and waiting in the valley with our eyes are on the horizon expecting God to show up, He changes our perspective.
We can see hope when others see hopelessness.
“Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill made low; the uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places plain. And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together, for the mouth of the LORD has spoken” (Isaiah 40:4-5, ESV).
When our weakness tempts us to doubt, we can turn to Him and stand on every promise He made, fulfilled, and those that His unchanging faithfulness assures us that He will be fulfilling.
The prophet Isaiah said, “The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever” (v. 8).
No matter what the world says, we can believe that the truth we read in the Bible will stand firm and continue to be true and relevant because God never changes.
Isaiah offered God’s people a comforting promise: “The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength” (vv. 28-29).
By first affirming who God is and all how He promises to provide for us, the prophet builds a foundation that stands strong during the ever-changing seasons we walk in the light or the dark.
Though none of us is exempt from weariness or depletion, God offers hope for those who place their trust in the Jesus.
“Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted; but they who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint” (vv. 30-31).
When we begin to doubt we can press on through the darkest valley moments, the Holy Spirit reminds us that the deepest roots of our faith are beneath the surface.
With our eyes on the horizon, knowing our King is coming again, we can thrive in the darkest valleys because the Light Himself is with us.
*
Praise the Lord!
Join me in sharing God’s unerring and unchanging words of Scripture with the children God has placed in your sphere of influence.
In His incredible loving-kindness, God blessed me with the opportunity to serve as the contributing writer of the “Choose to Change” feature in Tyndale’s NLT Go Bible for Kids.
These fun and engaging multiple choice questions lead readers to apply God’s truth and live for Jesus.
The Go Bible, scheduled to release on September 3, 2024, includes over 600 features created by a diverse Jesus-loving team. This life-changing Bible is designed to equip readers to engage with the text, nurture their personal relationship with God, and apply the God-breathed words of Scripture in practical and relevant ways.
The Go Bible may be created for kids ages 7-11, but I’m using this full-text New Living Translation to read through the Bible in 2025.
You can visit Tyndale’s NLT Go Bible for Kids page (CLICK HERE) for more information, to download free activity pages, and to pre-order your copy from a variety of retailers by clicking here.
*
In my Pause for Prayer episode, “Special Delivery,” I share why working on the Go Bible is an answer to a prayer I placed into God’s hands shortly after I surrendered my life to Jesus.
CLICK HERE to watch “Special Delivery” and join me as I celebrate the upcoming release of Tyndale’s NLT Go Bible for Kids!
Thanks for being a member of my blog family. I am praying for you and looking forward to growing with you!
*