Book Launch!

I didn’t start off writing a book; I started off by stepping out of the boat. Inspired by John Ortberg during a summer Bible study that was meeting in my home ten years ago, many of us launched out that summer.

At first, I thought I was going to change jobs, but that wasn’t it; instead, I began to study the Bible more intensely than I had ever studied God’s Word before. I researched and read and prayed and prayed and prayed. I listened. I learned. I shared what I learned. And as the years went by, I met many interesting women.

Some had names -- Miriam Rahab, Ruth, Tamar, Hannah – but many were known only by their occupation (prostitution!) or by their mistakes (bathing naked in public!) or by an affliction (hemorrhaging that would not cease).

One was a worship leader. One was desperate for a child.

One slept with her father-in-law. One lived with her mother-in-law.

Several shared the same husband.

They were rejected women and lonely women and women living with regrets.

Some were desperate. Many were searching. Others were exhausted. All wanted peace.

As diverse as the flowers across Texas in the springtime, each woman beckoned me to pay attention. Each carried a unique fragrance that reminded me that God is at work even when we can’t sense that He is.  

And all were worthy of reflection.  

And then after five years, I realized I had a book of stories that were similar to the lives of the women I saw everywhere -- in the grocery store and in the church congregation, in restaurants and in Bible study, at school and walking their dogs on the street.

And now after ten years, a book has been launched that shares the lives of many of these women from the Old Testament and the New Testament; but it’s also a book that shares a special time that I spent with God, studying the lives of these women.

God and me. Together. Ten years. One project.

A long time in our earthly lives; not so long in eternity.

Jesus died for my sins. Mine. (And yours, too, of course!)

So even if one person reads my book and is moved to sense more of God, then the ten years I spent writing it would be worth it. Every minute.

And today, the paperback has been launched on amazon.com!

Like a Sweet Fragrance.

A decade of God and me.

Ten years ago I was inspired to step out of the boat. Today, I pray Like a Sweet Fragrance inspires you to look for God in whatever situation you might find yourself.

And then go do what God made you to do – spread the sweet fragrance of Jesus throughout the world wherever you go.

“But thanks be to God!

For in union with Christ we are always led by God as prisoners in Christ’s victory procession.

God uses us to make the knowledge about Christ spread everywhere like a sweet fragrance!”

(2 Corinthians 2:14 GNT).