The Saturday Six

One.

Am I allowed to start with a prayer request? I have one! I am speaking at another women's retreat this weekend, talking on the same topic I presented last month in Ohio. As I have mentioned on here a couple of times already, I've been fighting an annoying cold for the past couple of weeks, and while I feel significantly better than I did, I am still not in the "well" category. I need to be able to present {without sounding horrific} two times today and one time in the morning. {One session is already done.} I would completely welcome your prayers as I speak! And because I know firsthand how important this topic is, I would welcome your prayers for those attending, too. This one does not seem to go without a battle!}


Two.

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For a while now, I have been following the adoption journey of blogger Nicole and her husband. They battled infertility and began an adoption journey, and then found out they were pregnant. They were recently matched with a birth mama and drove to get their baby right after he was born, and the mama changed her mind and kept the baby. They're caught in the place of grieving the son they lost and anticipating the daughter to come so shortly...and Nicole's faith through it all is inspiring. She's writing a series on the attributes of God for Write 31 Days this month, and if you've not seen it, I want to point you to it. 

Three.

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I read this article this week and have to brag on Ryan for just a moment. He does this. He sees people as people. If we go out to eat, he makes a point to learn the waitress's name on her first stop at the table, and he calls her by name every single time she comes back. He does ask the cashier how his or her day is going and proceeds to make actual conversation from the answer, not just shrug and call the conversation done. As a girl who is ridiculously terrible with names and generally hides to avoid divulging that fact to waitresses and cashiers, I have to say what he does, and what this article suggests really matters. 

Four.

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You know of my undying love for all things photo booth related. So even though I know Thanksgiving is over a month away, I wanted to share this now for those of you who might be planning ahead. FUN!!!!

Five.

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At our Bible study meeting this week, we talked about how important it is to teach Bible verses to kids while they're little, because we've noticed that the verses we know the best are the ones we learned early. It just gets harder for most adults to memorize as adults. So I found this list of 25 suggested verses to teach your kids while they're young. I wanted to pass it on for those of you with little ones at home!!

Six.

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Last year, right about this time, I read the book The Road to Becoming by Jenny Simmons. I was extremely excited to learn that she actually signed a deal to write more than one book, and the second one, Made Well, just released. {It's been kind of a big month of Jenny: a book and a new baby! Lots of births! Lots of celebration!}

Jenny writes with such a beautiful heart and no reservation. She'll tell you honest stories about herself, even if they're scary to share. She'll pull wisdom out of them and write it out for you to see, so you can nod your head and realize that wisdom hides in an awful lot of places. And the blend of these two things causes Made Well to be a treasure, in my opinion.

Made Well works two ways. It's a good reminder that as people made in the image of Almighty God, we are indeed made well. It's also a reminder that we live in a broken, broken world, but if we desire to see it happen, we can be made well. {See what she did there??}

Filled with stories from the scope of her life, this book makes Jenny incredibly relatable, even though most of us will never live the kind of life she leads. Not long ago, I read a series of book reviews for a recent release by a pretty well-known author. I noticed a common thread in the review: readers felt like they couldn't relate to the author because her life was filled with privileges that the common readers wouldn't connect with. You won't find that issue in Made Well, because even though Jenny travels and sings and writers {which most of us don't do}, it's not been a smooth journey. The path of service the Lord has called her to hasn't been easy, and while the details may differ from her journey to ours, it's clear that she gets it. She gets the struggle and she's slogging through the trenches with us.

Multiple times as I read, I stopped to read out loud to Ryan, because the things she said fit so perfectly with what we're learning in our small group study or conversations we've had in recent days. Affirmation poured over us as she said what we'd been trying to say...only she said it better.

The wounds for Jenny run deep: the plague of lifelong, debilitating anxiety, the loss of people dear to her heart, the disappointment of a career that didn't do what she hoped, the confusion of trying to parent well so her daughter is strong and well-equipped for life, the exhaustion of trying to keep up with it all and be all things to all people.

But the gifts of healing for Jenny run just as deep: story after story of God's provision in unexpected ways, the glimpse of this story He's weaving with all our lives interconnecting, the reminder to look for Him in the most obscure places.

I dearly loved this book and will treasure it as a permanent resident in my library. I'm grateful for the reminder that someone else struggles in ways similar to mine, and I'm grateful for the reminder that God is very much at work in our world today. {How much we need to know that right now!!}

Thank you, Jenny, for being so transparent with your life and for writing deep wisdom, coupled with compelling stories. You were made well...and you are being made well. I'm grateful for both!

* Thanks to Baker Books for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. *