My First Book Club Dinner

*Thank you, Blogger, for FINALLY coming back up. I missed you! Today's post is, as a result, very late, but it's here. And if you were the nice person who left me a comment on yesterday's car wash post, can you leave it again? I saw I had one but because of Blogger's issues, I couldn't read it and now it's gone. Sadness. Okay. On to today's business.*

Doesn't it just sound so fun to say you're in a book club?

I'm not in a book club.

But I was invited to speak at one last night! One of the members of the Fairmount Book Club heard me speak at the IWU Staff Council Luncheon back in December, and she emailed me a few weeks ago to see if I'd be willing to speak at the May meeting of the club. Well, of course!

The meeting was held at the Hostess House:
Kind of reminds me of my house! Okay, maybe not. If you're not from around here, you can't possibly appreciate the goodness that is the Hostess House. It's this old historic home where you can have little tea-room-esque lunches. They also host group events in the evenings and will even do wedding receptions and such.

We had a fantastic dinner. Chicken salad (happiness) and fresh fruit and lemon poppyseed bread. Fortunately I didn't get stopped on the way home. I'd have tested positive for opium. :) And carrot cake for dessert. (HEY - serving of vegetables!!)

After dinner, the leader said, "And Rebekah, we'll let you entertain us now." No pressure. :)

I thought I'd begin my entertainment with a little opera. A little Nessun Dorma.
I'm kidding, of course. But it kind of looks like that's what I'm doing, don't you think?

There were 20 ladies in attendance and they were delightful. They paid attention, acted interested, laughed in all the appropriate places, and put me very much at ease.

While my planned talk was supposed to be mostly serious, it's virtually impossible for me to keep it entirely serious. There were many stories to be told...and they seemed to love them all.

Always a flare for the dramatic.

Since I was speaking to lovers of the written word, I spoke about how our lives are stories...and how God delights when we embrace the plan He's written for our days...the good along with the bad.

I'll leave you with a little excerpt of what I said...but before I do that, thank you so much, Fairmount Book Club, for inviting me to spend the evening with you. I thoroughly enjoyed meeting you and sharing with you.

The words themselves work in us in ways we sometimes can’t understand…but we love the way they transform us.

But what I’m growing to understand more and more…and love…is that we’re all living a story. Each day, we live a new page…and just like the books we are drawn to, our lives are filled with heroes and villains, cliffhangers and resolutions, tears and laughter, questions and answers, heartache and healing, love and hate.

I want to encourage you to love your story as you live it every day. Rejoice in knowing that He has crafted each scene with great care and deepest love. And He is honored when we choose to embrace this life-gift with reckless abandon.