Celebrating Five Years of "His Advent: Still His Greatest Gift"

I just realized a few days ago that this year marks the fifth anniversary of publishing my first book. I kind of wish I would have paid attention to that little milestone earlier and planned a party of some sort. I do love a party.

So in honor of a beautiful thing in my life and in mourning of the fact that I don't have a real-life party, will you have a blog party with me today?

I know many of you have started visiting here in the last five years, so you didn't get to be part of that early journey with me.

His Advent: Still His Greatest Gift is a devotional reading for the Advent Season, and it was born out of a Christmas season several years ago when my heart struggled to find a desire to celebrate. I went through all the outward motions, but I didn't really care. Throughout December, I did a personal study on the lives of people who were impacted by the moment Jesus arrived in their lives, and the next year, I braved sharing my thoughts with a few friends.

They urged me to publish my work, and I set about trying to find an agent to help me find a publisher for my book. It was discouraging when that part of the journey didn't work, but right about that time, I learned of WestBow Press, a publishing house that offered self-publishing packages to authors. I decided I wanted to share my devotional, even if the reading crowd was small, and in 2010, I submitted my manuscript and began the publishing process. You can read a timeline of that part of the process here, but here's a picture of fluffy Bekah with her manuscript:

The book became available in July of that year, and throughout the early fall, I mailed out copies to many friends {THANK YOU!!!} and even had some book signings...at my church, in my hometown, at Indiana Wesleyan. It was such fun.

And a bonus: I had the opportunity to be a guest on a little show you might have heard of: Mid-Morning on WBCL.

That's where it all began. That little interview with Lynne eventually led to my job at WBCL! A totally unexpected part of my book publishing journey!

2010 was a hard year in many ways, but this opportunity to see my name on a book was such a joy.

Some of you have asked recently about the book...where to get it...things like that. So....

Who: Just a reminder that I published this book before I got married, so if you're looking it up online, you'll want to search under Rebekah J. Freelan.

What: The book is only 108 pages long, and each day's reading is just two or three pages. You can use it for your own personal devotions or for family devotions. One of my friends used it with her under-ten-years-of-age daughter and said she really enjoyed sharing Scripture with her this way. 

When: Though you can read it anytime you like, the book was designed to be read each day through the month of December. So if you order now, it should arrive in time for you to begin on December first.

Where: The book is available on Amazon and if you're local and know me, I do have a few copies on hand and can save you some shipping.

Why: My goal in writing this book was to look at unique ways Jesus met the people of His day, and I hope you learn something through the pages. If you read, thanks so much for letting my words {learned from His teaching} be part of your season!