Normally on READ days, I post book reviews. I’m actually caught up with that task for the moment so I decided to share a little bit more about a unique printed piece. Please see this not as a commercial (I don’t profit from the magazine sales or subscriptions) but a heartfelt endorsement. Long before I began writing for SUSIE or any other magazine, I was a mom of girls—four, to be exact, along with one son. Our children have grown up to share their parents’ love of reading. We’ve encouraged that along the way through countless bedtime books and stories, regular library trips, and years of sharing books through homeschool. We’ve also subscribed to magazines appropriate for our kids’ ages and stages. For a while, five Focus on the Family magazines came to our mailbox each month. Brio, the teen girls’ magazine, was high on that list.  Our then fourteen-year-old had received Brio for only a few months when Focus on the Family dropped all their teen publications in January 2009. At the time, they said the magazine would move to online-only (so far, that hasn’t happened). But my daughter wanted a print magazine—something she could hold in her hand, lie on her bed to savor, and store in a special folder.  That’s how I found SUSIE Magazine—not because I’m a writer, but because I wanted my daughter to have a magazine that could take Brio’s place. What do we like about SUSIE? First of all, the content. Check out Seventeen or any of the other secular teen magazines. You’ll find articles and images that leave little to the imagination and much to be desired. SUSIE  has a strong faith element but also contains articles any teen girl would enjoy. You’ll find columns on fashion, health, and relationships as well as features about popular media stars or teens who’ve made significant contributions.  We also love the design. I’m always amazed at the way the graphics team puts together work to match the words in such a fresh, appealing way.  I love the creativity I find there every month. Finally, we love SUSIE (the magazine) because of our trust in Susie (the writer, editor, and Christ-follower). She spent nearly twenty years making Brio an award-winning product. She’s published more than forty books, many geared toward teen girls and/or their parents. As I’ve come to know her both personally and professionally, I’ve realized how seriously she takes her role. She encourages her writers to think of themselves as big sisters or brothers who whisper words of encouragement, admonition, and hope to their young readers. In a day when many magazines are folding or moving to online only, I applaud SUSIE Magazine....

Breast cancer. It’s the diagnosis nobody wants. It’s the diagnosis an estimated 1.3 million women worldwide receive each year. And it’s the diagnosis doctors gave Yvonne Ortega back in 2001. A popular speaker and certified counselor, Yvonne practiced the writer’s version of “When life gives you lemons, make lemonade.” When life gave her cancer, she wrote a book. In fact, many of the sixty devotionals contained within the pages of Finding Hope for Your Journey through Breast Cancer were written during her treatment and recovery period. The book’s format makes it a perfect match for battle-weary soldiers facing their own cancer wars. Each devotional contains a “Hope Builder” (a single Scripture verse or brief passage), key verse (quoted in full for easy reference), and one- to two-page devotional that ends with a brief prayer. Since the book moves chronologically through the author’s personal cancer journey, readers will identify with many of the emotions, experiences, and challenges she faces along the way. Yvonne’s performed a great service in the brief yet meaningful format of each piece. Readers can read a little—and gain a lot. The book’s primary strength, however, lies in the transparency the author brings to her subject. Writers—especially those who write from the perspective of faith—often fall prey to the temptation to make ourselves appear godly, righteous, and holier-than-thou. Ms. Ortega’s honesty about her moments of despair and days of doubt both endear her to her readers and add credence to the biblical, practical wisdom she shares. Because of Jesus, there is hope for your journey through breast cancer. Because of Yvonne Ortega, there is an attractive, thoughtful, and personal way to find it. BONUS: Please do as I intend and share this book with a friend or family member who’s traversing the cancer experience. And watch for my interview with Yvonne, coming soon in the “Write” portion of this blog. Most of those who follow Read.Write.Pray know of the passion God’s given me for prayer. Do you know someone facing breast or another form of cancer? Share (first names only, please) in the comments so we can share prayers along with words. I’d appreciate prayers for my friend Sally—first on the...

Godly divas? Sounds like an oxymoron, doesn’t it? But D.I.V.A.S. of the Divine: How to Live as a Designer Original in a Knock-off World (Henly Publishing, 2010) does not promote the traditional diva lifestyle. Instead, this combination workbook, Bible study, and journal provides readers with creative tools to build joy, balance, and accountability into their lives. As a pastor’s wife, I’ve seen the lack of these three elements in others’ walks with Christ as well as my own. In particular, accountability often goes missing from our overfilled, disconnected lives. D.I.V.A.S. (the acronym stands for Devoted Individuals Via prayer, Accountability, and Spiritual Growth) ensures that factor through a built-in component. The book’s first chapter encourages readers to find an accountability partner and offers four different ways to support and maintain such a relationship. The book consists of eight weeks of study that contain five sessions apiece. The authors recommend thirty to forty minutes per day to complete the daily devotionals. Each day’s study is also divided into three components: Devoted (Scripture reading and study of the week’s topic), Individual (a place to record personal insights and answers to questions) and Via prayer (pray and/or write out a prayer). Weekly group study is also encouraged as a part of the accountability/mentoring process, and a downloadable leader’s guide is now available from the publisher. McCrary and Holbert, both certified Christian life coaches, bring a personal yet professional touch to their work through the use of positive illustrations, creative questions, action plans, and exercises designed to move readers from observation to action. Jesus tells us, “For where two or three come together in my name, there I am with them” (Matthew 18:20). Where two or more study D.I.V.A.S. of the Divine, they will find Him in their midst, rearranging their hearts and lives to fit His purposes. Want to know more? Check out the authors’ website or that of their publisher, Hensley...

(Today’s post is part of a blog tour and reviews only Chapter Four. For more information, check out the author’s own spirited journey onher blog). Uncertain about how to pray. Fighting battles of sin and self. Wanting more of God—but uncertain how to reach Him. Modern-day strivings of a soul-searching evangelical? No. Sixteenth-century struggles from a woman canonized as a saint. No ‘saints’ in your tradition? No matter. Think relationship, not religion—and keep reading. In God Alone is Enough: A Spirited Journey with St. Teresa of Avila (Paraclete Press, 2010), Claudia Mair Burney does more than introduce us to an amazing woman of God. She invites readers to join her on Teresa’s—and her own—journey toward true intimacy with Christ. Burney’s clear exposition of Teresa’s writings combines with her own stories of spiritual quest to make God Alone is Enough a powerful, meaningful read. Have you heard the expression, “You’ve quit preaching and gone to meddling?” That’s my brief Baptist summary of my assigned chapter, “Get to Know Yourself.” I loved Chapter Three. My artist/writer persona responded with delight to Teresa’s admonition to “make a garden in your soul.” But get to know myself? God, I can already see this moving into more daily dying. Can’t we leave that theme and embrace a new one? After all, You’ve been hammering “self” out of me for a long time now. “Of course, my beloved. As soon as you learn to die.” Exactly as God (and the author) intended, Teresa and Burney’s dual pilgrimage yielded a journey of my own. My Lord came to me in the way this chapter (assigned at random) explored our helplessness in prayer (the general topic of a book a friend and I are writing); distraction in prayer (the subject of my blog earlier this week); and placing one’s life—with all its sin, inattentiveness, and distraction—before God as an offering (the aforementioned “dying to self” theme under which I both suffer and learn at His feet). A sample to savor: “You can’t cut yourself in pieces and offer only the good parts to God. He wants all of you; the good and the bad parts; your weaknesses and strengths; the brokenness you don’t want anyone to know about; as well as those things within that are being marvelously healed. We must be willing to tell the truth about ourselves: we are made in the image and likeness of God and yet, we sin and fall short of His glory. In the truth we find our liberty.” (page 52) The book arrived Wednesday so my assigned chapter marks the extent of my reading to date. But I won’t sidestep or abort this delightful, painful journey. I intend to...

A review–and a drawing to win this exciting new book! Fear. Stark, gripping fear. They Almost Always Comes Home opens with a fear that closes in on Libby Holden as she realizes her husband, Greg, is missing. Alone on what he intended as his dream trip through the Canadian wilderness, he hasn’t returned. Not yet. And maybe not ever. Libby’s fears compound as the search begins. They magnify as she confronts her true feelings about her failing marriage, her missed opportunities, and her own failures. As she, her best friend, and her irascible but wilderness-savvy father-in-law embark on a journey to find her husband, Libby doesn’t realize she’s on a journey to discover much more. As I read this debut novel, I found myself turning the pages and drinking in great gulps of story as though someone might snatch it away before I quenched my thirst. Ruchti’s plot captured me. Her characters moved me. And her gifts of language and imagery left me in awe. Every great novel has the goal of story and the result of inner change. They Almost Always Come Home tells a compelling tale that moved me to reexamine myself and my own often-selfish approach to life and relationships. As it moves back and forth between fear and faith, the book leaves the reader with a sense of satisfaction—and a longing for more. I’ve decided to give a little background for the authors I know personally. I won’t review a book I can’t recommend, but I think it’s appropriate to tell you when my acquaintance goes beyond Facebook or hearsay. Cynthia and I had corresponded through an online writers’ group but became instant friends this spring when we served on faculty together at the Quad-Cities Christian Writers’ Conference. My only regret about our connection is that many miles separate us. Cynthia lives in Wisconsin where she makes potato corn chowder for her husband of 37 years, loves on her three kids and five grandchildren, writes and produces a daily radio broadcast called The Heartbeat of the Home, edits and writes for the radio ministry magazine Backyard Friends, writes devotionals for TheChristianPulse.com, and serves as the current president of the 2,000-member American Christian Fiction Writers. Read more about Cynthia and her stories of hope that glows in the dark at www.cynthiaruchti.com. Sound like a book you’d love to read? Leave a comment here (or through the “contact” form on my website–click “contact” to the right of this post) and I’ll enter you to win an autographed copy of They Almost Always Come Home. I’ll announce the winner on Friday, June 11, so leave your comment before midnight Eastern Time on the 10th. Make sure to include...

A lazy Sunday afternoon, a golf tournament on television. Nothing special, right? This year, the Byron Nelson Tournament seemed extra-special to me. Yes, sixteen-year-old competitor Jordan Spieth and tournament winner Jason Day provided some great golf moments. But these only added to the interest sparked by my recent reading of a new book about the tournament’s gentle giant and founder, the late Byron Nelson. In Life with Lord Byron: Laughter, Romance, and Lessons Learned from Golf’s Greatest Gentleman, Peggy Nelson pens a charming personal memoir. Her detailed recall of conversations and situations seems so natural that I was amazed to read she hadn’t kept a journal. The deep love that marked the Nelsons’ relationship and nearly twenty-year marriage must have kept her memories fresh. Bryon married Peggy, more than thirty years his junior, at age seventy-five. Since her husband retired in 1946 after a career that included the famous “Eleven Straight” PGA tournament victory streak, Peggy experienced none of his career firsthand. What she did experience, however, was a man of deep faith, love, and integrity. These same qualities overflowed from the pages of the many letters she received after she wrote professional golfers and other friends to request stories about her husband. Life with Lord Byron contains plenty to satisfy golfers, including a bonus CD that features Nelson himself recounting the story of PGA Tour’s greatest single-year achievement. But the book also speaks to the many who, like me, appreciate the power of a life well-lived. Peggy’s warm, thoughtful style gives Life with Lord Byron an appropriately inspirational tone. Thoughtful readers will glean much from a man who loved his game—but loved God and other people more. If God grants windows in heaven, I know golf’s greatest gentleman is smiling down on his bride’s latest achievement. Nice...