Bringing You an Update and a Smile – Share the Hope

Greetings, faithful readers!

Thank you so much for your love and prayers during the release of Refresh Your Hope, 60 Devotions for Trusting God with All Your Heart. Releasing a book is a crazy, exhilarating, exhausting experience.

So many questions run through an author’s mind.

Will they like it?

What if they don’t?

What if I get a terrible review on Amazon?

What if no one buys it, the publisher loses money, and I never get to write another book?

On release day, my grandkids and I celebrated by going to Sonic, their favorite frozen treat place. (Yes, we live in the South. We eat ice cream all year long.)

As I prepared to launch this book, I sensed the Lord impressing on my heart to do something different from a traditional launch party. I chose to do a series of women’s ministry events, called Share the Hope, based on the book. This is why I wrote the book — to share the hope we have in God with hope-hungry people.

We held the first of what I hope will be many Share the Hope events at my home church, New Testament Baptist, a small church in Columbia, South Carolina.

As we welcomed women from all over town, we laughed a lot. We admitted some of the crazy things we’ve done over the past few years in a fun get-to-know you exercise.

How many of you had to cut your own hair during the lockdowns?

How many got dressed for a meeting from the waist up only?

How many ran out of toilet paper?

How many stockpiled toilet paper?

Next we sang hope-filled worship songs like In Christ Alone, Even If, and All My Hope Is in Jesus.

After giving away a slew of door prizes (don’t we all love to win a prize?), I shared inspiration from God’s Word and Refresh Your Hope, “4 Unshakeable Reasons Not to Lose Hope.”

We talked about what true, biblical hope is and what it’s not. How we can stake our lives on the truth that God saves, God sees, God provides, and, one day, God will reward those He loves. We laughed–a lot. And maybe cried a little, ’cause life’s hard.

When my presentation was over, we broke up into groups and shared the areas we struggle most in to have hope. Then we applied what we’d talked about to our situations. We agreed God has an answer for every challenge that faces us. We came away braver, more encouraged, and more hopeFULL.

To celebrate the hope we have in Jesus, we fellowshiped over pineapple/pecan/cream cheese sandwiches (thank you, Mandy), chicken salad croissants (thank you, Debbie), mouth-watering cheese balls and crackers (thank you, Valerie), fruit, and cupcakes. Can we admit that the inner child in all of us cannot pass up a cheery-looking cupcake loaded with icing??

It was a grand, hope-filled day. And wonder of wonders, I get to do it all again this Sunday, January 22, at Kittiwake Baptist church from 4-6 and on Saturday, January 28 at Dunn’s Chapel in South Congaree from 9:30-11:30. If you’re in the area, please join us! Scroll to the bottom of this post for more information.

The Reviews Are Coming In

In the meantime, my kind readers have been busily posting Refresh Your Hope Amazon reviews. Here are a few:

“My bookshelves are crammed with other devotionals from previous years, and while some are okay, many are milky, mushy, dribbles of only nice thoughts. There’s no meat. Refresh Your Hope gives me something to chew on …daily.” ~ R.D.

“Have you ever wished to comfort a friend who needs hope? Or give them a hope-filled little gift that would last past your phone call? Past your visit? After the flowers die? After you’ve run out of words? This is your book.” ~E.B.

“Well written & much needed in today’s weary world.” ~W.A.

If you’re reading Refresh Your Hope, I’d be honored if you’d write a review (CLICK HERE). It doesn’t have to be fancy, just a brief thought or two about what you like. My goal is to reach 50 reviews soon. Once we hit that magic number, Amazon will promote it and help other hope-hungry people find it.

Thanks for reading all the way through. You’re family, so I wanted to keep you up-to-date on what’s been going on. Thank you for your support and prayers!