When your new book stays at the Number One New Release spot on Amazon for over three weeks, and it quickly reaches 50 five-star reviews, I call it the Ephesians 3:20 principle:
God can do anything, you know—far more than you could ever imagine or guess or request in your wildest dreams! Ephesians 3:20, The Message.
Here’s a few of my favorite quotes from those reviews, plus another opportunity to win Love Letters from God: Bible Stories for a Girl’s Heart,
Interrupting this week to bring you some fabulous news…
If you are a fan of the Love Letter Series (which I do hope you are!) you will already know that the unique beauty of these books lies in the lift-the-flap love letters from God, where you can write your child’s very own name. I don’t know ANYONE, be they child or adult, who doesn’t enjoy personally addressed mail.
It’s really not too onerous to write your child’s name in each letter. But what if I told you that this could already be done for you, in a beautiful font that matches the book? What if you could easily upload a photograph of your child to go inside the cover? What if you could include a personal message, printed professionally? Drum roll please… Continue reading
Meet The Sweet Sisters Discipleship group…
Although only four are pictured here, this group is made up of eight girls, aged between 8 and 10 years old. Recently, their mentor, Kristi, the fourth participator in my blog tour, introduced them to Love Letters from God: Bible Stories for a Girl’s Heart, and then wrote about their experience with it… Continue reading
Meet Colette, my first granddaughter.
This little girl, with the pony-tail tuft bouncing around on top of her head, is full of personality and fun. She’s not yet two years old, but already she can hold Grandma’s new book the right way round, lift the flaps, and see the pictures. It will be quite a while before she can read the words. But when she does, I want her to know that for every hero in the Bible, there’s always a heroine… Continue reading
A huge thank you to everyone who entered the giveaway of Love Letters from God: Bible Stories for a Girl’s Heart.
This little book has been out for just one week now, and, amazingly, it’s still at the number one New Release spot for Children’s Bible Stories on Amazon!
And the winner is… drum roll please… Continue reading
Meet Sarabeth. This sweet little girl is only two years old. Here she is, reading to her teddy bears as they sit side-by-side on the sofa.
The book she reads is Love Letters from God: Bible Stories for a Girl’s Heart.
It’s not been released yet, but Sarabeth’s mama is one of ten bloggers who will take part in the upcoming book launch. This is her advance copy. And this little story is my first amazing glimpse into what God will do through its pages… Continue reading
The countdown to Christmas is in full swing. with just twenty days left and little lights twinkling everywhere.
My Facebook feed is full of folks sharing their newly decorated Christmas trees, and just to add to the magic of the season, it started snowing yesterday, at least here in Michigan. I woke up to this wonderful world of white right outside my window.
Christmas is coming. Jesus is coming. That little baby, hope of the whole world, light of all life.. He is coming.
Christmas is simply the best time to begin making memories and establishing family traditions with our children.
At my final blog stop in the Christmas Love Letters from God tour, I’m sharing ideas for seven meaningful, memorable family activities to enjoy around the Christmas tree. Be sure to check out number seven… that’s my favorite one!
You’ll also be able to download your cute, cut-out Nativity scene, straight from the book, and, of course, enter the final Christmas Love Letters from God giveaway.
If you live in the Grand Rapids area and you’d like any one of my six titles signed for a Christmas gift, please come to my Children’s Story-time at Baker Books on Thursday 15th Dec. 10.30-noon.
And here’s my favorite story from Christmas Love Letters from God!
Happy Christmas! (that’s what we say in England!)
I loved Christmas when I was a girl.
I remember when my mum discovered ‘catalogs’… the perfect, stress-free way to shop for Christmas for all eight of us. We would pore over the pages, and then she would order what we wanted.
One year was a big disappointment. It must only have been a few days before Christmas when she broke the devastating news to an expectant ten year old:
Glenys, I’m sorry, but your pogo stick didn’t arrive. You’ll have to choose something else.
I didn’t want anything else. I wanted a pogo stick so I could boing up and down the driveway to my heart’s content. I don’t even remember what I chose as an alternative.
But what I DO remember is coming downstairs that Christmas morning, waiting patiently outside the living room for all my siblings to line up, and then opening the door to see…
a POGO STICK!
It had arrived after all, and my dad had dutifully hidden it away in the back of his wardrobe so it wouldn’t be seen. (He’d also forgotten to tell my mum). How excited she must have been to be able to surprise me with that gift after all.
I was a happy little girl, and spent the next several months boinging away happily to my heart’s content, up and down the drive. It was the best surprise ever.
It wouldn’t be Christmas without surprises. A little baby, in a manger, who would grow up to be King of the Whole World… what could be more surprising than that?
Traci Smith, a Presbyterian pastor in San Antonio, has a Christmas surprise for her two young sons. She wrapped up 25 books and beginning December 1st, they’ll open one book a day until the 25th.
And can you guess which book they’ll save for last? It’s Christmas Love Letters from God. What a wonderful surprise for me to find that out!
Read her post and be sure to enter the Christmas Love Letters from God giveaway. You never know… you might win.
What a lovely surprise that would be!
I’ll never forget the thrill of writing the dedication in my first book.
This book is dedicated to the oldest and youngest members of my family…. I wrote.
To my dad, Harry Hughes, who first told me the wonderful Story of Jesus. And to my grandchildren, Xander, Sam, and Brixham, who are just beginning to hear the wonderful Story for themselves.
When I penned those words I was nervous. I wasn’t sure whether my dad, frail at 90, would ever be able to hold that book, or turn its pages, or see that it was dedicated to him, or even remember that his daughter was the author. But he did. I have the photograph to prove it:
And how glad I was, because he never did get to hold my second book. He died while it was in the mail on its way to him, all wrapped up in Christmas paper, on route over the wide sea from Michigan to England.
If he could have opened it, he would have seen that I dedicated that book to my first granddaughter, newly arrived into the world.
For Colette, my first granddaughter, I wrote. How my dad would have loved to meet her, and lift her high onto his shoulder. But it wasn’t to be.
There is a time for everything, Solomon wrote, a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to weep and a time to laugh.
Isn’t that true?
When the time came for the third title in the series, Christmas Love Letters from God, I was ready when my editor asked, Who would you like to dedicate this book to?
I knew, straight away, whose name would be printed in the front of this book, and why. And so when Laura Sassi, children’s book author, welcomed me to her blog, and asked me to share the story behind its dedication, I was happy to do so.
Do you know who I dedicated Christmas Love letters from God to?
Read the story to find out…
One of the most marvelous things about becoming an author is what happens next. And it’s marvelous because what might happen is totally unpredictable.
Time after time in this publishing journey, I have seen the principle of Ephesians 3:20 at work in my life. And don’t you just LOVE how The Message Bible puts it?
God can do anything, you know—far more than you could ever imagine or guess or request in your wildest dreams! He does it not by pushing us around but by working within us, his Spirit deeply and gently within us.
Glory to God in the church!
Glory to God in the Messiah, in Jesus!
Glory down all the generations!
Glory through all millennia! Oh, yes!
Oh, yes indeed! Here’s five things I never, ever, in my wildest or craziest of dreams, could possibly imagine happening:
I don’t know what your dreams are… for yourself, or your children, or your future, but what I DO know is this:
God can do anything, you know—far more than you could ever imagine or guess or request in your wildest dreams!
There is nothing that our great God cannot do.
So keep believing! Let the wonderful, mysterious Holy Spirit keep working quietly and deeply within you.
Keep believing.
Read about using Christmas Love Letters for Advent and enter the GIVEAWAY.
