The Birth of a Book

I feel like I haven't told you a single cohesive story this week. I've been all over the place, but I love you for hanging on for the blog ride and sticking with me until Friday!

Earlier this week, I told you our exciting news...I have a new book that's been released!

This book surprised most of you. Most didn't know I had something new in the works. I didn't hide it from you on purpose. It was a project that came up quickly and for a little bit, I wasn't sure it would be done on time. {On time being before the retreats I'm speaking at, and the first one starts today.}

Authors often refer to their books as their children, because they labor over them, celebrate their births, and set them free to see what they do in the lives of those they encounter. Since we don't have kids, I think my books feel even more like children. These words are what I live to do. They are my contribution to this world.

And that's why Be Still deserves a birth story post, I think.

The story part of this book was born ten years ago, when God took me on a journey with Him. A journey of visiting the prayer chapel on the campus where I worked. Over the course of seven weeks, I learned lessons that served me then, but they continue to serve me now.

Thanks to the prodding of my friend Marie {to whom the book is dedicated}, I wrote the story, all those many years ago, but I never did anything with it - well, other than hole punch it and shelve it.

Six years ago, in the desert days, God taught me a valuable lesson about being still, and knowing that He is God.

He taught me the purpose of the comma in that verse: Be still, and know that I am God. {Psalm 46:10}
 

Earlier this year, I was invited to speak at a women's retreat, and the planning committee told me they'd toyed with the topic of Be Still.

I started praying, digging, writing...and God prompted me to not just write a retreat, but to write a book to go with it. A book that offers an extension of the lessons I learned ten years earlier in a tiny prayer chapel.

And so the decade long gestation period of this theme gave way to the labor pains of a book. I pulled out the manuscript and began to tweak it. I began to relive the lessons of the prayer chapel and write new pieces that showed how God used the lessons of ten years ago to speak into my now and my future.

Labor went quickly...almost too quickly. The OCD in me clawed against the timing, aching for more opportunities for slow combing through the pages, searching for mistakes or things to say differently. I don't like to rush. I like to savor. But the time had come for the message to be shared, and what felt like a rush was really right on time.

A week ago today, on our 45th monthiversary, the doorbell rang.

I tried to wait until Ryan came home at lunch, but about 30 seconds later...

The first shipment. The reserve to share with the ladies at the first of the two Be Still retreats for this fall.

The book in flesh.

No longer an "ultrasound" of a cover on a screen. Real paper and shiny cover, held in my hands.

I tried to wait until Ryan came home for lunch, but about five minutes later, I couldn't wait anymore, and I went to work. I literally ran inside the building, bursting for him to see the baby.

And eventually, he did come home for lunch. :)

And he was home the next morning, too.

So yes, it's true. Just like a proud mom, I run around taking pictures of the book, wherever I can.

My friends are blessing me, ordering their own copies and sending me pictures:

It's terrifying and exciting all at once. I wonder where this little guy will go and what he will do with his life. I pray over him and his influence. I pray for God to use him and make him something special to anyone who picks him up.

It's no less special the second time around. I remember six years ago, when I did this the first time {Story told here and here.} I was a proud mom of that book too, though struggling in the blackest part of the desert. That book was a light in a bleak year.

This book is an entirely different journey, but one just as beautiful.

If you'd like a copy of your own, and you're local, let me know and I can get one to you! If you're not local or you just want it ASAP, here is the link to Be Still on Amazon!