Pearl Girls blog tour

Pearl Girls, Encountering Grit, Experiencing Grace, compiled by Margaret McSweeney,  encourages and gives glory to God by telling courageous women’s true stories of how God turned their life’s grit into pearls.

 “We’re all Pearl Girls,” states McSweeney, “With His love and grace, God covers  unexpected pain and transforms this pain into a pearl. Each of us has been touched by God’s gift of love and grace, and it’s a gift that I want to share with others. That’s why I am launching Pearl Girls.”

Pearl Girls resonates within the Christian woman’s soul. As I drank in the pages of Pearl Girls, I heard the voice of faithful Christian women spanning the ages humming a low, soulful  “Amazing Grace.”  It sends a powerful message that with God’s tender mercies, we have hope during and through every trial. Pearl Girls contributor, Maureen Lang notes, “It is the hard moments in life that are undeniably tied to those things that make us strong.” Each story holds its own amazing gift of courage, and as a whole, Pearl Girls weaves a mighty story of faith and sisterhood. This book is a drink of Living Water for the tired and thirsty soul.

Pearl Girls proceeds benefit two charities.

When you purchase Pearl Girls, 100% of the royalties go directly to two charities: WINGS  (proceeds help fund a Safe House in the Chicago suburbs), and Hands of Hope, (proceeds help build wells in Uganda for school children.) 

Tell your own “Pearl” story.

Inspired by the many women who opened their lives and shared their stories in Pearl Girls: Encountering Grit, Experiencing Grace, a sister site has been created to share your own pearl stories at  Post-a-Pearl. Collaborating is an important purpose of Pearl Girls. We connect to make a difference in the world.

Pearl Girls may be purchased online at Amazon.com.

a healthy quick dinner

Mike and I went to Costco and found individually sealed wild sockeye salmon. What to do, what to do? I like salmon if it’s poached in a champagne dill cream at a nice restaurant, not prepared at my house.

However, in light of all the benefits purported of salmon in particular, we felt we should start eating this once a week. Mike found some cedar wraps for the salmon (at Sur la Table) and brushed the fillets with olive oil and wrapped them. He grilled them five minutes on each side, and they were perfect. I made some jasmine rice and sauted spinach with garlic to go with it, and topped the salmon with some already prepared mango pico de gallo. It was a beautiful colorful dinner we threw together in less than twenty minutes. I wished I had taken a picture–it was so pretty and quite good.

Do you have any recipes for incorporating salmon in the diet? Please share them with me.

pray for Shirley Dobson

Shirley Dobson, wife of Dr. James Dobson, and founder of the National Day of Prayer, is giving a deposition today, November 10, from 8:30 to 4:30, defending her position to ask our nation’s President and legislature to pray for our country. She is being sued.

I ask you to join me today in earnest prayer for her and for our nation. Our liberty is at stake.

UPDATE: (My source was Kay Arthur’s Facebook status yesterday, Nov. 9, 2009:

Kay Arthur Dear precious faces – Shirley Dobson will be giving a deposition tomorrow from 8:30-4:30 PM. Because (as leader of National Day of Prayer) she asked the President and other political leaders to pray for our nation – an organization is now suing her. I prayed with her tonight and told her I would ask you to pray too. She is a valiant warrior…thanks.)

oh me of little faith

 Every once in a while, when going to church becomes a half-hearted act of obedience and doubt floods our thoughts, we get a big God hug that shakes us to the core. This was the case last Sunday, as I recorded the 21st of 24 scriptures to commit to memory for the year. I had approached the whole endeavor as I do most commitments. I tell myself “Anything is better than nothing.”  It’s no great wonder that I can’t find one Scripture to back up this philosophy.

I woke up Sunday, knowing my memory verse would be Isaiah 47:10.  Before the wedding, I had actually dreaded the day, worrying about so many things. Being “on” for a big crowd isn’t my favorite thing to do, and letting people see my anxiety is especially not fun for me. Because of this, I wasn’t particularly looking forward to my daughter’s wedding. However, after God saw me through with such Peace as only He can give, I knew my approach to the wedding (and most of life) was  filled with unbelief and fear. Afterward, when I came across this verse in my reading, I knew it was for me to claim.

As Sunday approached, I also became convicted that either I believed what Scripture said and let it change me, or my faith was just a hobby to fill my time. More and more, I realized that one of the biggest obstacles for me to rest in Christ is that I carry a negative, worrisome attitude. Sunday was the day to either let Isaiah 47:10 form the sturdy core of a belief system that would make me stronger in Christ or simply be a mental exercise in futility.

On the way to church and as I walked into the sanctuary and sat down, a wave of fear consumed me. As the music started, tight-clenching anxiety started its familiar progression. I felt the awkward catch in my throat, the inability to swallow, the subsequent shallow breaths and pounding heart. Every muscle tightened and my thoughts became  filled with doubt, I hardly can admit how low I sank. Satan had me by the neck, and I wasn’t doing a thing about it. Finally, a small, weak voice inside me started to sing, “Strength will rise as we wait upon the Lord…wait upon the Lord, we will wait upon the Lord…”

It was right in that moment that I looked up on the screen for the next words to the song, and right before my eyes were the words to Isaiah 47:10

“So do not be afraid, for I am with you. Do not be dismayed for I am your God.  I will strengthen you and help you. I will uphold you with my righteous right Hand.”

Now, you need to know that our church has never done that before that I know of, or since. One verse, right in the middle of a song, of all verses–my verse! Only seconds before, I had wondered if I was praying into thin air, if God, if He was God, cared. The next moment, I was swept into a flood of compassion–His compassion–for me.

Tears streamed as I sang, “You’re the defender of the weak. You comfort those in need…You lift us up on wings like eagles.”  My heart broke as I remembered my doubt, my fragile belief, and His most tender and personal mercies for me, a sinner, saved over and over, and again this day, by His everlasting Grace.

sunday’s song – mighty to save, hosanna!

Thursday night, my friend Trisha and I went to hear Joyce Meyer. Darlene Zschech led the worship and her heart’s love overflowed for Christ. Worship Him this day with your whole, gratitude-filled heart.

Singing for the glory of the Risen King!

siesta memory verse 21

New seasons, new chapters in lives, for all of us, call for a certain amount of faith, a certain amount of trust. Rest assured He is faithful through each step, holding us by His saving Hand, bathing us in His relentless, tending Love.  We can walk with confidence into the future, knowing little else. Once again, a memory verse has found me a little unsteady but fortified by His Word and faithful promise.

sunday’s song – Jesus draw me ever nearer

done