Church Newsletter...

My church has been very supportive of my publishing adventure. I was asked to submit an article for the July newsletter to introduce the book to the congregation. This is what I wrote:

When I was a junior in high school, I sold my first piece of writing to a little devotional magazine called Youthwalk. I'd been writing for several years but that was the first time my words traveled into the homes of people I'd never met. And that was when I knew I wanted writing to be a permanent part of my life.

Even though I didn't attend this church during high school, that article also appeared in this newsletter, and I really appreciated the encouragement many of you sent me after you read what I'd written.

After graduating from high school, I enrolled at Indiana Wesleyan to study writing and my dream was to be a fiction author. With a host of very predictable short stories already in my portfolio, I began taking classes to learn more about the craft. I ended up taking quite a few Bible classes as well and was surprised to learn that God was calling me to write about Scripture.

In the years that followed my graduation from IWU, I wrote several articles and daily devotions for the Wesleyan Sunday School curriculum, and I began to write material for the ladies' Bible study I taught at the church I attended then. Three years ago, at Christmas time, I wrote a study for the advent season. I didn't set out to write this study. I wanted to purchase a book to read during Advent, but I couldn't find one. So instead, I wrote one.

I thought the study was just for me, but I gathered the courage to share it with some friends along the way, and they encouraged me to publish it. Within the past few months, that dream has become a reality, and the book His Advent: Still His Greatest Gift is scheduled to be available shortly after the first of July.

The book is published through WestBow Press, which is a division of Thomas Nelson publishers. As soon as it's ready, it will be available through the publisher's website, and I will also have copies available.

I really appreciate all the encouragement so many of you have given me starting back with that first article I sold...and even now. Even while I publish this book, I'm working on a couple of other projects. One is a women's Bible study and the other is so new, it's still hard to describe. It is (still) being born out of a very difficult journey God has chosen me to travel these past few weeks. I am excited to see what comes of both these projects. I also blog regularly. I'll tell you that the blog is quite an unpredictable blend of my heart's thoughts, lessons I learn, and the truly crazy things that would only happen to me!

If you choose to read His Advent: Still His Greatest Gift, I hope it will cause you to see the familiar in a new way and perhaps help you see just how much His presence can touch your own life!