Books

Fearless Faith – It’s book release day!

So I have a new book out today.

In case you’re keeping count at home, YES, this is my 74th book to come out in the last ten months. Some days I wonder why I have felt so tired and burned out and all out of words and then I remember I WROTE THREE BOOKS IN ONE YEAR. I realize this is probably significantly less books than Francine Pascal wrote in a year during the height of the Sweet Valley High series, but WHATEVER. It’s a lot of books for someone whose life motto could be summed up with the phrase, “Work smarter, not harder”.

Well, either that or “What can I binge-watch on Netflix this week?”

This new book, Fearless Faith, is a 100-day devotional for tween girls and the truth is that I originally did not want to write this book. My reasons were two-fold:

1. I had just turned in the manuscript for my Everyday Holy 100 day devotional for women.
2. See above about Netflix.

But God wouldn’t let it go in that annoying and endearing way that He has when He’s trying to get my attention and so I finally agreed to it. It also helped that I have a daughter in the target age group and I am fully aware of how much our girls need to have faith that is fearless in this world. I so want these girls to know how much God loves them and that he is the source of everything that will bring them joy and contentment and peace as they live in a world that is constantly trying to tell them something different and all the ways they could be better. So I essentially wrote down everything I’ve ever shared with Caroline about God and who he is and how he loves her. How different could this next generation of women be if they really learned to believe it?

As it turns out, Fearless Faith is maybe my favorite thing of all the things I’ve done. Isn’t it funny how that works out?

First, look how pretty it is.

Can we talk about that lion? He is magnificent. I would like to call him Aslan but I assume the estate of C.S. Lewis would have copyright issues with that. But that’s what he is to me…the perfect depiction of Aslan. Strong and beautiful and loving and majestic. A big thank you to Heather Gauthier for continuing to go above and beyond with my cover art.

Second, I followed the same themes and scripture references for Fearless Faith that I did for Everyday Holy. The idea is that they could be great companion pieces for a mother and daughter or aunt and niece or mentor and mentee to do over a 100-day period together and know they are learning some of the same verses and truths about God.

Third, several people have asked and I know the “tween” description can be vague. I would say Fearless Faith could work for girls as young as 8 years old through about 16 years. There are activities throughout the book that might feel silly to older teens, but the daily devotions were written in a way that I hope will appeal to them. I will tell you that Caroline has been reading it over the summer and she has really enjoyed it. Or maybe she’s lying to me. But she seems sincere and I’ve noticed that she’s put up Post-It notes all over her mirror with various scripture references from the book.

Finally, I thought it would be fun and encouraging to spend this fall doing a 100 Days of Everyday Holy and a 100 Days of Fearless Faith read-along because I believe that committing to spending 100 days of fall, reading truths about who you are and who God created you to be are the very heart of what can make us view everyday as holy and have faith that is fearless. Those five minutes a day could change your life and the life of a young girl or girls in your life. My prayer will be that we will look back on this fall as a time when God grew us and challenged us and made us more than we were before.

Here’s what that looks like:

Day 1: September 4 (This is the Tuesday after Labor Day and everyone will be back in school by then.)

Day 25: September 28th

Day 50: October 23rd

Day 75: November 17th

Day 100: December 12th

There will be no official group or anything that fancy, but just a lot of girls and women reading either Everyday Holy or Fearless Faith over those 100 days. And we can all share what we are learning and what God is teaching us by posting and using the hashtags #100DaysOfEverydayHoly or #100DaysOfFearlessFaith to help us all stay accountable and on track

And then we’ll celebrate on December 12th with a fun giveaway for two people that will be chosen at random from everyone who participates with the hashtags on social media.

What do you need to join?

-A copy of Everyday Holy and/or Fearless Faith or both!

-Five to ten minutes a day

-A journal might be good for writing thoughts down, but not necessary

-It might be fun to have some real life friends join in as well but, again, not necessary

-If you have any questions, feel free to leave them in the comments and I’ll do my best to answer them or find people who know the answers.

So if you’ve wanted to do something like this but needed the push or if you’ve wanted to do it but didn’t want to do it alone or if you want to invite friends to all do it together as part of a small group, this is the time. I so hope you’ll join in with us starting September 4th. And in the meantime, get your copies of Fearless Faith and Everyday Holy anywhere books are sold.

You can find Fearless Faith here on Amazon and here on Barnes & Noble.

You can Everyday Holy here on Amazon and here on Barnes & Noble.

I’ll be posting reminders as we get closer to the start date, but in the meantime you can go ahead and get your books and mark your calendar for September 4th. It’s going to be a great fall.

So what’s everyone reading?

Y’all. This is a big week for me. I mean, for Harry and Meghan. It’s the big wedding and in true wedding form, you have some relatives that have decided now is a good time to act crazy banana pants. Royalty. They’re just like us.

Except with easier access to tiaras.

The sad truth is I probably won’t even get to watch the wedding until Monday morning because Caroline has a soccer tournament in College Station this weekend and we’ll be busy with that. But I have big plans to park myself on my couch Monday morning with a cup of coffee and watch all the various recordings I have already scheduled on my DVR. And if you’re wondering if I’ve watched the Lifetime movie about Harry and Meghan then you must be new here. I’ve watched it twice and can’t promise I won’t watch it a third time. Is it a little cheesy? OF COURSE IT IS. Do I mind? Not in the slightest.

But here’s what I really want to discuss today.

Books.

There is something about summertime that makes me want to read more than usual. I guess it’s because summer promises a little more downtime than we have during the school year or maybe it’s a habit I developed back in the days of yore when Netflix didn’t exist and summer television viewing was an abysmal wasteland of reruns. Whatever the case, I am in the process of working on my summer list of books to read. I’ve been helped significantly by two recent posts from Modern Mrs. Darcy: this post of the 20 books everyone will be talking about this summer and her 2018 summer reading guide post. I’ve already put a few of these on my list, but here’s what I’ve read in the last two weeks and it’s not even summer yet. It’s like I’m an overachiever.

1. Girl, Wash Your Face by Rachel Hollis – I feel like everyone’s talking about this book right now and I totally understand why. I found it motivating and I am typically not one to be motivated by a book. I think because it reads more like you’re talking to a good friend.

2. Rich People Problems by Kevin Kwan – This is the most recent book in the Crazy Rich Asians series. I haven’t loved any of them as much as I loved the original, but they are all a fun, easy read and perfect for the beach.

3. Young Jane Young by Gabrielle Levin – I downloaded this on my Kindle and finished it in two days. It was a green light pick from Jamie Golden on the Pop Cast and so I felt like I could count on it to be good and it didn’t disappoint. The writing is so good, the characters are likable and relatable, and the story sucked me in.

I just started Love and Ruin by Paula McClain because I am powerless to resist any novel set during World War II. And I have Fitness Junkie by Lucy Sykes and Jo Piazza waiting for me next.

I’ll also definitely read When Life Gives You Lululemons by Lauren Weisberger and Summer Wives by Beatriz Williams as soon as they are released this summer.

But I would love to hear what you’ve read recently or what you plan to read. I love a good love story, a memoir, things that are light and funny except that I also love novels set in World War II so go figure. And yet somehow every time I read a novel set in World War II it’s like a fresh surprise that the book tends to be on the sad side. You would think I might figure that out.

I don’t like scary and I’m not big into thrillers unless it’s very light on the thrill part of that equation. And, obviously, I enjoy anything that has to do with the royal family.

I’ll eventually compile a whole list of what I plan to read this summer (Disclaimer: it’s always likely to change on a whim if say Gulley calls me and says, “You HAVE to read this book I just finished!”) and I’ll post little mini-reviews from time to time of what I liked and what I didn’t necessarily enjoy. Although, additional disclaimer, I’m not really good at giving books a bad review because now that I write books myself I realize that it’s like bleeding over your keyboard and who am I to judge someone else’s art?

So maybe I’ll just share what I really like and mention that others just weren’t my cup of tea but I’m sure somewhere they are being loved and enjoyed. It’s not exactly the The New York Times book review, but it seems about right for what usually goes on around here.

Book releases and ovens that won’t come clean

Listen.

I don’t even know what to say about how y’all have supported Everyday Holy. It means the world to Richard and me. I mean, look what you made happen.

I posted that picture on Instagram along with this caption about Richard wanting to rename the devotional book Richard Calling since Jesus Calling is pretty much the bestselling devotional book of all time.

And then look what happened next.

The Jesus Calling folks are totally supporting Richard and his quest for a book deal. My heart couldn’t be more full. There will be no living with Richard from here on out. I’m concerned that he and Mabel may team up for a book deal and totally cut me out of the equation. As it is, I see Mabel taking notes behind my back all the time. I suspect she’s compiling information for her eventual tell-all.

But in all seriousness, I am so grateful for your support. I’ve mentioned several times that Everyday Holy was so hard for me to write and some of that was because of all the pressure I was feeling about the fall release of Church of the Small Things.

(I’m about to share a little behind the scenes of how the book sausage gets made so feel free to either keep reading or just click away if you prefer to believe that books just magically go out into the world carried on the wings of songbirds and fairies.)

First, let me say that I love Church of the Small Things. It was the book that God put on my heart and in my head and it’s a message that I believe in so much. It’s actually my personal favorite of all my books. But the thing about having your fourth book published is that it comes with a lot of expectations and goals for it to surpass your previous books. I was essentially a dancing monkey trying to make sure that I wrote every article and was a guest on every podcast and basically did anything and everything I could to make sure it would be a success. And I want to clarify that this was pressure I was putting on myself more than anything. I am a people pleaser by nature and I wanted everyone to be SO HAPPY.

Here’s the thing, Church of the Small Things has done well. It just hasn’t necessarily sold over and above what my previous books have sold. It hasn’t set the world on fire. No one is offering to turn it into a movie and Reese Witherspoon still hasn’t called me. (Although if I’m picking, I’ve always thought Sandra Bullock should play me in my life story because she confirmed she can do a good Texas accent in Hope Floats) And I’m totally fine with that. In fact, it’s been a good lesson to me that where I belong – where I live my life – is truly in the small things. That was the whole point of that book from the beginning. It’s just that behind the scenes of it all it started to feel messy and I lost the joy of what it means to get to write books because it felt like it was under a microscope. It was the book that broke me. I forgot that all of this was a dream I didn’t even dare speak out loud just six or seven years ago.

All of this say, I approached the release of Everyday Holy with zero expectations. I basically said no to everything I was asked to do. It was all part of my YEAR OF NO. And I felt great about it. God has absolutely used the last six months of my life to bring my focus back to what really matters and to not worry about the rest. You know what matters to me right now? Soccer games, track meets, dinner with my people, wine time with my girlfriends, and sitting out on the back porch on a pretty day. The end.

So it’s been a fun couple of days because everyone has been so great about Everyday Holy and welcomed Richard with open arms. I’ve already gotten so many kind messages about the first couple of devotions and how they have spoken to you or encouraged you in some way. And that’s what this is all about for me…letting God use whatever meager little offering I have to help someone in some way.

Thank you for that.

And since so many of you have asked, Heather Gauthier doesn’t have a print of Richard’s Third Espresso available at the moment, but she is working on it and we’ll let you know just as soon as it’s ready for purchase.

Also, for those of you who pre-ordered the book, your free matching journals will ship separately from my publisher in the next week to two weeks.

Finally, I shared on Instagram that book release day is always super glamorous for me. This time I managed to do three loads of laundry by 9:00 am. and then I almost hesitate to tell you what I did next for fear the envy will overtake you.

I cleaned my ovens.

We had an Easter brunch tragedy over here that involved a french toast casserole that boiled over onto the bottom of both my ovens. The whole house filled with smoke as I inadvertently created burnt caramel inside my ovens. Nothing says gracious hostess like not being able to see your brunch guests through all the haze.

Then I did what I always do in these situations which is forget all about it after the smoke clears. So when I went to make baked ravioli for dinner on Monday night, all of that burnt caramel concoction on the bottom of the ovens heated up and smoked up the house all over again. It’s moments like these when P is so glad he married me.

And so I vowed AS GOD IS MY WITNESS that I would clean the ovens the very next day, which happened to be book release day. I used a Pinterest solution I read about that involves baking soda and vinegar.

Sadly, this is the after picture.

So if any of you have any great ideas about how to get baked on grease off an oven door and burnt heaven even knows what off the bottom of an oven, I’d be so appreciative. I mean, I probably won’t actually clean it again anytime soon but it will give me something to do the next time I have a book release.

Once again, I’m sorry to make life the life of an author seem so extravagant and over the top. All I can say is don’t hate the player, hate the game.

And somewhere right now Caroline just felt embarrassed and doesn’t even know why.

Everyday Holy

So I have a new book out today.

And it’s weird because I keep forgetting about it. I’m not sure why. Maybe it’s because I feel like I was just doing all this with Church of the Small Things and now here I am again. Or maybe it’s because it’s mid-April and we’re just in that crazy downhill run to the end of the school year. Or maybe it’s because Cardi B. is pregnant and I’m just focusing on that.

I don’t think it’s that last thing.

Although Caroline told us at dinner last night that some of her friends were arguing on Snapchat about some stuff and P and I decided to do a deeper dive into that statement and asked, “What are they arguing about?” And she replied, “Oh, you know, like celebrity pregnancies and stuff.”

I believe the children are our future. Teach them well and let them lead the way.

Anyway, Everyday Holy is different from my other books because it’s a 100 day devotional. When I started writing it, I thought it would essentially be like writing 100 blog posts. How hard could that be?

Let me tell you the answer. It was very hard.

But you know what it taught me to do? To look for God in all the ordinary, mundane day-to-day places of real life. That has really been the theme and the challenge God led me to as I wrote Church of the Small Things and it continued on into Everyday Holy. It has challenged me and it has changed me. It’s taught me that the biggest thing God calls us to do in this life is to look for him right where we are, instead of always waiting for that elusive next thing. He has each of us where we are for a reason and a purpose.

As for the cover, I want to show you the original inspiration. My friend and artist, Heather Gauthier, painted this piece and named it “Richard’s Third Espresso”.

I have this print of it sitting on my mantle because it makes me laugh every time I see it. And when we began to discuss the cover of the devotional, I was struggling with what it should look like. I mean, it’s a devotional book. Does that mean it needs to have like praying hands and a peaceful riverside scene on the front? Maybe a waterfall?

So I sent them this picture of Richard and said, “Hey, I know this is random but I really love this guy” and they sent me back a prototype of what became the cover, featuring Richard front and center. I could not love it more.

I feel like Richard is all of us. Life has him a little frazzled. Maybe even a tad freaked out. He needs that third espresso even though he knows that much caffeine is bad for him. And he’s got that one feather that won’t stay down no matter what products he uses.

And here are a few sample pictures from the inside just so you can get a feel for how much it’s basically like something Oswald Chambers would have written.

All that to say, I love this book. I realize I’m biased because I wrote it, but I’m really proud of how it came together and I know that God was in it every step of the way because otherwise I would’ve just watched Netflix.

My hope is that it will make you think, make you laugh, and draw you closer to the God who loves to see us do both of those things every day. It would also make a great Mother’s Day or graduation gift because Richard is all about celebrating special occasions.

The general average price point right now seems to be $12.32 (because apparently no one likes to end with a five or a zero anymore like God intended) and I don’t know how long that will last. The original price is $17.99 but we really wanted to offer it at a discount right from the beginning and someone actually listened to us.

You can find it here on Amazon, here on Barnes & Noble, here at LifeWay, here at Faith Gateway, and here at Target.

You can also find it inside actual bookstores if you are a person who still walks in a bookstore.

Thank you so much for your support for Everyday Holy and please spread the word, write an online review if you feel so led and just know that I am so thankful for every bit of it.

With much love and three espressos,

Melanie

I’ll take “Things I never thought would happen for $500, Alex”

So I never really thought I would write a Bible study. Not because I don’t read the Bible and love Jesus and all of that, but more that it just seemed really difficult to write questions and find practical applications and to feel remotely qualified to teach about anything. I am a girl who never won a Bible drill in Sunday School and still can’t find Habakkuk or Zephaniah in my Bible on the first or fifth try. But you know what they say? We make plans and God laughs. And so this happened:

The Church of the Small Things book has been out for two weeks, but the Bible study version is officially out today. Several of you have asked, so I’ll clarify that while they hit on the same theme of what God can do with the small things, they are also totally separate from each other and so you can read the book and then do the study or do the study and then read the book or you can read both at the same time or you can never read either of them and quit reading this blog post. It’s totally up to you and what you prefer and how you can live your best life.

And in what may the most surprising part of all of this, Faith Gateway decided that the Church of the Small Things Bible study will be their lead online Bible study for the fall.

The online study begins on October 22 and runs through December 7, 2017. You will have access to all six videos during that time as well as a private Facebook page and weekly blogs.

You can do the study on your own, with the Faith Gateway online community, or with a church or small group. Each week’s video is 15-20 minutes just to give you an idea of the time commitment and you can watch them at any point during the week. You can purchase the accompanying study guide here on Faith Gateway or at other online retailers or Christian book stores.

If you register before October 23, you can get access to some free bonuses. To get more information or to sign up, you can click here to get to the registration site.

If you’ve ever wanted to do a Bible study but felt intimidated or didn’t have a group or didn’t want to get out of your pajamas, then this is the perfect opportunity. No one will check to see if you actually did your homework or if you have good answers or if you really listened to the video. In other words, it’s perfect and you get to experience a little bit of Round Top, Texas, the Junk Gypsies and Royer’s Pie Haven.

I hope you’ll join us for this six week study. I can honestly say that as I’ve spent the last two weeks traveling and reading responses about the book and just seeing all that is going on in the world right now, I believe in all that God is doing in the church of the small things more than ever.

Have a great Tuesday.

Welcome to the world, Church of the Small Things

Before I say anything else today, I have to express how deeply heartbroken I am for Las Vegas and those who were tragically killed and those who are fighting for their lives in the hospital. My prayers go out to them and their loved ones as we all struggle to wrap our minds around this tragedy.

I hadn’t heard what happened until I arrived at the T.V. studio after I’d dropped Caroline off at school and then I immediately saw the headlines on all the screens in the waiting room. And all I could think is that it feels like there is heartbreak everywhere right now. As a nation, in just the last month, we’ve watched the devastation left by hurricanes, the constant fighting about anything even remotely political, and now this latest tragedy in Las Vegas where so many lives were cut short.

Honestly, it all feels like too much. Too much hurting, too much fighting, too much sadness and too much tragedy.

But it also embodies the very heart of what I wanted to share as I wrote Church of the Small Things because what we’ve also seen are neighbors helping neighbors, ordinary people stepping up to make a difference in the lives around them in a million small ways. What’s going on in the world right now can seem so overwhelming and too big for any one person to handle, but each of us can impact our small corner by loving our family, our friends, and asking God to show us what he’d have us do this day right where we are with what he has given us.

David killed a giant with a slingshot he already owned.
A widow saved her family with a little bit of olive oil that was already in her house.
A young boy shared his lunch and it fed 5,000 people.
Jesus changed the world with twelve men. He didn’t even have an Instagram account.

That’s the heart of this book. Never underestimate what God can do with a willing heart in the midst of our seemingly small lives and offerings. Let’s love our families and friends, let’s treat each other with kindness, let us embrace this one brief, wild ride we’ve been given on this earth and make it count in a million small ways.

This is my fourth book and I still can’t wrap my head around this whole process of launching a book out into the world. I cannot thank you enough for all the love and support so many of you have shown as you have pre-ordered and shared the word. I hope you love it.

And I hope as it gets delivered to your doorstep or downloads on your Kindle or after you pick up a copy at your favorite bookstore that it makes you laugh and cry and think and maybe remember how great movies were back in the days when entire plot points revolved around a mechanical bull riding contest. But most of all, I hope that it makes you realize that God has more for us than we could ever imagine in the church of the small things. We just have to look for him there.

There are still signed copies available at Barnes & Noble and in most Barnes & Noble stores with exclusive bonus content and a bullet journal in the back. You can order one online here or pick one up in the store.

And you can find it on Amazon here.

And you can find all other buying options here.

Thank you a million times over for supporting me and cheering me on. You’re the reason I get to do this and I am forever grateful.