Friday, July 22, 2011

Friday Tip: Check Out These Monkeys!

Okay, I'll admit: I only found this site after it had reviewed and was giving away my Daddy book. (And after connecting with Angie, I blushingly realized she had given away three other books in the past!)


BUT once I got there, oh good golly, what amazing stuff I found!


If you're a parent, take care of children, like to craft--if there is a kid anywhere within a fifty-mile radius--you'll want to check out this site. Parent-friendly product reviews and giveaways galore overflow from the pages of this Disney World (you know, you could stay forever and still not do it all) site.


So, don't take my word for it. Stop reading this post and check. them. out.


www.MyFourMonkeys.com


You're welcome. ;)

Friday, July 1, 2011

Dismissing God's Glory (An Idiot's Guide)


When A Night Night Prayer sold 50,000, then 100,000 copies, I regarded it as a fluke.


When A Christmas Prayer bobbed up to #33 in Parable's Top 50, I dismissed it. "It's the Top 50. Everybody makes the Top 50."


Then, when Thank You, God, for Mommy made Parable's Top 50, then Top 10, I told congratulating family, "Well, it's seasonal. All the seasonal books rank in their season."


Finally, today, when Thank You, God, for Daddy ranked #7 for the month of July in the entire ECPA, I decided to just shut up.


It took me a while, but I've realized that I'm actually just rationalizing away God's immensely deserved glory. (It's not even mine to rationalize away!)


So, my friends, I'm tickled to announce a #7 ranking (coincidence that it's #7?). But more than that, I'm here to celebrate that, after years of whipping me into shape, God is using this tiny career for something that points back to His glory. (Do I think God really cares about bestseller lists? No. Do I think He tries to speak in our language? Of course.) When God uses our little ant-selves for His glory, it is nothing to dismiss or take lightly. Not to get all preachy here, but isn't it our entire purpose to glorify God here on earth?


Don't get me wrong. I realize that I'm a babbling, toddling, idiot trying to feel my way through. As my pastor, Allen Jackson tells us, "God doesn't use the brightest and most talented to do His work. That's how I got the job." Absolutely none of this book publishing, chart-ranking stuff is my doing. And it's not at all humanly deserved. I'm just a grace-kissed girl, finally starting to realize that maybe I should listen when He calls.


And when that happens, well, there's just no telling where we'll go together. 


(That goes for you too.)


Stay tuned, my friends. And to God be the glory.