Light from Distant Stars by Shawn Smucker... A Book Review post.

***

Two posts... in one day? I know... Honestly, I do! But our Colossians Series is on a set schedule, and this is Launch Day for Light from Distant Stars, so...

Here's the thing... I was not going to do anymore Book Launch Teams for awhile!  I had long been saying that I needed to add more fiction into my stacks of books and so I had already decided to pass on any invitations over the summer.  And then I saw this upcoming novel by Shawn Smucker and signed up right away!  

I know!? I can't help myself! Plus --bonus!-- I was reading his non-fiction book, Once We Were Strangers, and I was loving it! So I had some high expectations for this new release! I had heard a ton of great things about his other fiction works but haven't read them... however, (spoiler alert!) they are now on my list for summer reading!

I made it onto that Launch Team and I'm here today to encourage you to order a copy of Light from Distant Stars for yourself --or order a couple so you can give one away! You just may want to do that --so you can talk about it with a friend when you're done reading it! 

I had started reading Once We Were Strangers, also written by this author, before joining the launch team for Light from Distant Stars. So I already knew I would enjoy the book. I had been saying for months that I needed to add more fiction to my reading list so this was perfect timing!

I was hungry for a book that would draw me in and make me put off sleep for all the best reasons! So I had high hopes for this one, and Shawn Smucker did not disappoint!

When the Ocean Beckons You Out... a Five Minute Friday post.

***

I had a friend stop by last night and --well, I'm pretty sure you and I both are getting tired of the excuses of why I keep missing out on the gathering on Twitter! My best explanation right now is: Summer! One day soon, I will make it back! 

Our One Word Prompt this week is OCEAN,  which just so happens to be one of my very favorite destinations and that friend I mentioned above? Yeah - we talked about the ocean and how we can't wait to get back there together! This is Five Minute Friday! Let's go...

{GO}

I have long had this love affair with the ocean.

I just can't get over it... how it beckons me to come closer... to sit and listen... to watch the mesmerizing rhythm of the tide pushing and pulling and how it reminds me that I am oh so small... and yet, oh so loved and held and protected!

It's so romantic... when it's warm and sunny and the kites are flying and the kids are playing in the waves... and when it's stormy and windy and the rains are coming at you sideways and threaten to blow you off course. 

Either way... 
I will take to the ocean
and lean into the Lord... 

What We Learned This Summer...

It is time yet again for Emily Freeman's quarterly link-up on What We Learned, and it's still my favorite! It gives me opportunity to reflect back over a few months at a time and process more fully what God is teaching me! (I'd love for you to join in, too!) The last few months held a lot of Hard and Heavy --but aren't those the seasons that teach us the most? We'll mix in some Light and Lovely, too! 

Here we go:

***
12 Random Things I Have Learned this summer... 

This is the 2017 Summer (June - August) edition

We Are Better Together... A Five Minute Friday Post.

Oh y'all... I can't even remember what I was doing last Thursday night... surely it was important, because it caused me to miss the #fmfparty and life right now is over-filled and bossy... mostly in the best ways though, so that helps (tremendously!)  Still - this word prompt? Yeah... right about now, we are all about team!

This is Five Minute Friday (- a five minute timed free write) and our One Word Prompt for the day is:TEAM

{GO}

So listen... 

Y'all know we helped to start a new church a little over a year ago. I try not to turn this blog into the church planting blog... (#NotThatTheresAnythingWrongWithThat.) 

Still... I have found myself saying over and over lately this one phrase --and truly meaning it:

"We are better together!"

And we are. 
We really are!

Because we were MADE to be that way!

What We Learned This Summer...

I know... I know!
It's only mid-August...
   (--ha! "Only!" Summer just FLEW by, right?)

I have stepped a bit away from this chair this summer - posting a little less frequently, and battling to enter in to Rest, but when I saw it was time already for Emily Freeman's link-up on What We Learned, I had to sit myself down and reflect back over this summer and remind myself of what we've been learning! 

So often, we won't fully process the lessons until we slow to remember what they were! 

***
12 Random Things That I Have Learned...

When God Just Keeps Saying the SAME Thing... Rest - a Five Minute Friday post

You know how it goes... {Insert Gushing Comment about my tribe over at #fmfparty on Twitter and the whole Five Minute Friday Community here.}

This is Five Minute Friday (- a five minute timed free write) and our One Word Prompt for the day is: REST

{GO}

I can't seem to escape this word... or of the need for it to manifest in my life.

Rest... we all need it!  

We hunger and thirst for it even --but it's not loud and it will not shout for our attention.

It's easy to put it off... push it aside... or think we are immune to needing it.  

It's not something this world offers freely and it will not happen on accident!  

True rest is intentional and slow... it seeps down deep to water our roots and often it's only when we find ourselves bone dry and dying of thirst that we notice our need of it!

When It's Vital (and Humbling) To Know Who He Says You Are

This world, y'all... it is heartbreaking and brutal and it can seem like it is spinning right out of control.

We can tap into the heaviness and let the darkness talk us into believing that evil is closing in on us on every side. We are easily convinced because, well - the darkness is dark and it spreads like oil, oozing on to everything... covering, but not sinking in... making a mess of slippery slopes and roads we don't want to go down.

But I am reminded again and again to look up!

Look up! For your redemption draweth nigh...

And there it is. That hint of Hope that the Light has come and darkness will never overtake it! 

It's in that moment that we remember...

Darkness never wins! Light is always dawning... coming for us... and while darkness may seem to be getting darker, the Light is ever increasing and it is shining brighter and brighter as His Glory and Love are put on display for all to see.

We do Him proud when we let Love win.

Satisfied from Wanting Yet Longing For More - a Five Minute Friday Post

I promise I will find my rhythm again and return to my regularly scheduled program of partying it up on Twitter on Thursday nights with my #fmfparty tribe but for now...

--Sickness has me like:

Actually... I am feeling MUCH much better today... I just still sound a little like I'm dying! 

This is Five Minute Friday (- a five minute timed free write) and our One Word Prompt for the day is: WANT

{GO}

My first thought goes to Psalm 23... because, of course!

Or more like: because, I've been reminiscing!

You see, I immediately thought back to reading this psalm to our girlie when she was itty bitty and she stopped me before I even got to verse two!

"The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want..."

You know how it goes. But to a toddler this sounds like, for some reason, David is saying he doesn't want God. 

I loved her curiosity! I loved that she would stop me mid-sentence and wonder why... why in the world would someone not want God?

So we explained it slow... assuring her that what this verse means is that God is so good, that we never are in want.

But that can sound like a fairy tale or a lie... because we all want something, right? 

There is always something or someone or somewhere just out of our reach and our hope and desire is wrapped around wanting... except when there isn't. It's possible to experience times when there really is no want...

--And that's the thing!

What Happens in Vegas...

I know... 

Honestly, I do!  If you know me us then you know that Vegas is not really our deal.  I mean, we love to travel and to see new places and new things but Vegas hasn't ever been on our radar as a desired destination! 

And yet... there we were --all three of us, taking off from Seattle, Vegas-bound!

I wrote about it earlier... how it all started off as a joke! How my girlie and I talked of being like Lorelai and Rory, and celebrating her 21st birthday Gilmore Girls-style.  But life happened, and time (as it does) got away from us and I forgot to plan it all out and I forgot to hope that she would even want to.

But when she asked, as if she really did still want to hang out with her Mama in Las Vegas, well... God showed up, leaving signs that He was all in, (Ya see what I did there?) and we put a trip together real quick like!

Ready to Listen, Ready to Hear...

It's Wednesday,
and I breathe in deep,
letting the morning breeze shower me
with sprinkler mist, like dew
gently refreshing and waking me
to wide-open possibilities
and an unplanned day.

Inhale.  Exhale.

I close my eyes and open my ears.
Ready to listen, ready to hear.

What I Learned in July... A Link Up

It is the start of a whole new month, which means it is time for my favorite quirky link-up, "What We Learned..." hosted by Emily Freeman.  

July was, not surprisingly, a busy summer month - full of all sorts of lessons learned... but it was also full of resting and relaxing and oh my - how Summer has some of those lessons of her own to teach us, yes? I am praying that you have learned some lessons from the busy - and some from the less bossy kind too!

Let's get started!

12 Random Things That I Have Learned...

When You Believe in Living Art, You Will Find It Everywhere You Go!

It's just truth --the statement Jesus made about seeking and finding! Him - of course! If we seek Him, we will find Him... but also this: we will find Him in so many things, in so many ways!  Whatever it is that our heart is longing for... if we seek it out, chances are really good we will begin seeing it everywhere we look. Chances are really good it's been all around us the whole time!

Lately - (read: in the past couple of years really!) God has been speaking to me about Art... about how we all make it and live it and how it is everywhere, all the time, if we will but slow to see it! 

If we will change our drive, shift gears once in awhile and, you know... look out of the box in where we may find Him, He will be found!

Sunflowers, Prayer Walks, and How He Speaks To Us Through Flowers...

I woke up early this morning, slowly allowing the conversation to begin again...

As I stretched and listened close to the morning breeze play songs all around me, the birds joined in with the wind chimes in three part harmony, and I anticipate His love whispering soft.

The choice was there, almost like an invitation, to simply curl up on my side and close my eyes once again... drifting off in the name of Rest. Rest is good, right? And yet...

I stretched again, full body...
and I chose wisely.

I got up.

These Are The Days Of Small Wonders...

If you are not new around here, it will come as no surprise that I love Emily Freeman. #ItsFine #ShesNotAfraid  She is one of my favorites and I am honored to be a part of her book launch team for her new book, Simply Tuesday. (No affiliate links, no kick-backs, just for real: You're gonna want this book!)  I will write a book review here soon, but today is not (officially) that!

Today, I am taking her invitation in the book to make a list. Oh yes... I said a List, y'all!  You know how I love me some bossy lists... but this is not that.

This is a trick, a way, a tool to help you stay present and to slow down. This is a list --a retelling or reminding really-- of what these days right here are made of!

And for me, in this season - this year, 
These are the Days of Small Wonders...

So I stumble-walk my way out to our sunny spot
to simply sit, to breathe slow and unwind my soul...
to make a list and to remind my spirit
just what 'these are the days of' anyway!

What I Learned in June... A Link Up

...And we're back (again) with my favorite quirky link up, "What We Learned..." hosted by Emily Freeman.  

It's such a great practice to look over the past month and see what we learned! It's filled with actual useful tips (although usually not here!) and some not so useful lessons learned. (Those, you will find here!) Well, they were probably useful to the one sharing them - but maybe not so much universal in nature.

Anywho... we'd love to have you join in on the fun!

12 Random Things That I Have Learned. 

The Symphony of Summer... a Poetic Offering

I sit, feet up, cup in hand, settling in to these morning hours...

I let the gentle wind and the birds' songs beckon me out of slumber to stumble-walk my way out to wake in this spot... 

our spot.

These early patio starts

 --my, how they stir my soul...

As I let the sun filter through leaves and softly caress shoulders, I close my eyes and breathe in slow --breathe in deep. I slow my mind and feel my heart beat bolder

...for I meet You here.

"Get Ready! Get Ready! Get Ready!" - Five Minute Friday

Once again... I had plans, ya'll! I had cleared my schedule and planned an easy dinner and I was going to be sitting right here in this chair at 5ish to chat and party it up with the #fmfparty crew... but you know how it goes. The day gets away from us and your All Growed Up Girlie stops by and plans are pushed aside to catch up and hang out... I mean, I love you all but come on? You get it, right?  So - it's later now, and I missed most of the party... but here I sit... ready to write!

Anyway - here we go: Five Minute Friday - Our Word Prompt is: READY

{GO}

So, it's no secret really. I have written about it several times over the summer...

God has had me in a season of waiting... a season of silence...
(apparently, until -well, soonish!)

The Mighty Power of a Simple Shift in Perspective

Perspective is powerful.

When it is even just a little bit off everything I see is tilted, off-center... topsy turvy, askew, uncertain.

Uncertainty is powerful too... and it can freeze this planners' heart and stop all forward motion.  I find when I am uncertain, I stop all the things. It's not that I need to know every detail or have a color-coded mapped-out plan (although... ) but I find when I am uncertain, my perspective starts getting all out of line and I can fall for the same old lies.

I can feel small. Insignificant. Unimportant.

I can make excuses or put things off... ignore promptings of the Spirit or hesitate long enough to miss an opportunity. 

I can forget that it's not all about me or that it should always, really, be all about Him.

What I Learned in August...er... well, over the Summer.

Here we are, in SEPTEMBER! 

SEPTEMBER, ya'll? For the love... how did that even happen? Honestly?

It is now the beginning of a new month, and a whole new season! With Summer wrapping up and Fall making his glorious appearance just around the corner, it's time for my favorite link-up where I share a random Gathering of Awesome things that I have learned... attempting to once again remember! 

So, here we are: What I Learned in August -well, let's be real... it's been since May! 

That Thing I Do Now - Vol 57

Can you even believe people are talking Back. To. School. already? I mean - do you remember when back to school happened in September, not August?  This is the first year that we have had no real 'investment' in the whole back to school ordeal! Oh - don't get me wrong... we fully anticipate our college girlie to need a little 'help' covering books, but as far as the back to school ritual of shopping for clothes and backpacks and supplies... we are free. Free, I tell you! (There are benefits to this whole Empty Nester gig afterall!)

I hope you were able to read through last weekend's TTIDN post because it was crazy good! This week is off to a great start as well so buckle up and read on, my friends!