Publication deadlines and a busy travel/teaching schedule have kept me off the blog grid for several weeks, but I’m excited to write you tonight from San Jose, Costa Rica and the Never the Same missions trip. I’m traveling with this group for the fifth year as the writer for Sisterhood Magazine, which means I have the privilege of writing the story of the trip. I take great delight in encouraging the students to watch for the story God is writing through them, then come and share it with me. Because I do need to save some special stories for the magazine, this blog will contain more personal than student stories. And as I have  learned on previous mission trips, the best stories come when I not only listen but allow God to make me a part of them. Today, God gave both my husband and me that privilege. Our trip coordinator, Steve Goley, suggested I travel with Tom’s team today because our traveling medical clinic was scheduled to work alongside them. We began our first official ministry day about twenty minutes from our hotel in a poor area of the city. Traveling that twenty minutes took about twice that long because of stop-and-go traffic. Through the windows of our bus, we watched the landscape change from more affluent homes and businesses to narrow streets, broken pavement, and concrete block homes with corrugated tin roofs. The team performed two dramas today at two different sites in this neighborhood. At the first, the narrow street was barely adequate for the movement needed. At the second, the noise of nearby construction work threatened to drown out the narration and testimonies. But none of these concerns or even the rain that fell steadily during the second drama prevented God from moving. After each performance, Tom had the privilege of sharing the good news of Christ with the crowd, and several each time indicated they had chosen to follow Him. When the students walked out to speak with the people, I went out to collect stories. And at least a few times, Tom and I had the privilege of ministering together. He and I spoke with (among others): ? Ana, a woman in a wheelchair who told us she was ninety-four years old. Already a follower of Christ, she said God had led her to the drama site and that her faith sustained her. She asked prayer for her health. We were blessed to share a Bible with her, one of the 1,000 the teams bought and send ahead to Costa Rica. She beamed as she clutched it to her chest. ? Raphael, an amputee who was also in a wheelchair and showed us the scars from...

This week marked the anniversary of my father’s death on June 10, 2012. I spent that day working and also thinking of the many ways he influenced my life and the person I have become. But I can’t think about my dad without also thinking of my mom and her many years of caregiving. Dad endured a two-plus year battle with oral cancer (and no, he never smoked or used tobacco) that metastasized. Mom transported him to countless medical appointments, waited for him during surgery, drove him five days a week for two different sets of radiation treatments, and managed the special dietary needs that came with the associated swallowing and other problems that developed. The accompanying picture was taken near the end of this difficult season. But Dad was also a diabetic for more than forty years. He suffered multiple toe amputations and other foot surgeries as well as dealing with neuropathy, glaucoma, and other diabetes-related issues. I know he would not have survived as long as he did without Mom’s patient weighing of portions, balancing of carbohydrates, dressing of wounds, and constant adjustments as his needs changed over time. To be honest, it took a while for me to think of her as a caregiver. To our family, and to Mom herself, she was simply doing what she did: loving my dad and taking care of his needs. And that’s what I see so many caregivers doing today. If you’re in that category, or you know someone who is, perhaps you’ll join in this prayer: Lord, Today I lift up those giving care to a loved one. I know they are on a journey that may seem without end—or without an end that provides relief. You are not only the great Physician but the One who knows, the One who sees. I praise You for Your choosing and calling of each one who cares for someone they love. I thank You for equipping them for this wonderful, terrible task. Some of them are taking this journey willingly but sad that it is needed. Others never wanted to begin traveling but felt they had no choice. Some would love to find another road. Some are clinging to both the journey and the one for whom they provide care. Father God, You see their needs. You know their hurts and joys. Would You reach down today to touch those who care for loved ones? Would You give them a smile when circumstances bring tears? Would You add extra strength to all they extend? Would You rise up within them to give just the right word, just the right touch, just the right encouragement at just the right time? Our...

I’m in the midst of catching up from conference teaching and meeting a deadline, so today’s post will be short. I just want to take time to announce the TWO winners of recent contests right here on Read. Write. Pray. The first, who wins a copy of my book with Dr. Walker Moore, Escape the Lie plus a bonus copy of Rite of Passage Parenting, is Karon Peterson. Congratulations to Karon! I think these will make great housewarming gifts for your new home. The second, who wins my review copy of All My Belongings by Cynthia Ruchti, is Erika. I know you’ll love this story, Erika! If you can both email me your mailing addresses through the link above, I’ll get the books out to you as soon as I can. Thank you for your comments. And for those of you who didn’t win, I’m sure I’ll offer another contest soon....

As promised, here’s my interview with sweet friend and award-winning author Cynthia Ruchti. She and I are serving together this week at the fabulous Write to Publish Conference held on the lovely campus of Wheaton College in Wheaton, Illinois. We both give a strong recommendation to this conference which has equipped so many. Now, let’s learn more about one of my favorite authors. Your tagline is “Stories of hope that glows in the dark.” How would you say All My Belongings fits this description? Hope often shows up best against a dark backdrop. That was certainly true for Becca in All My Belongings. Her parents detached emotionally from her before she was born and continued to live as if unaware they had a daughter. Her father’s actions brought shame and public attention to their family name. By her mid-twenties, Becca seemed to have lost everything, including her dignity and any sense of belonging. As the story progresses, she catches faint glimmers of hope that life could be different than how it started. But dark moments intruded. Her father’s reputation threatened, even from hundreds of miles away. But hope is tenacious. And it was all the more beautiful because of the way the light shone off of it in Becca’s greatest challenges. I love the hope that shines throughout her story. But they say novelists almost always write themselves into their main characters. How are you similar to and different from Becca, heroine of this most recent novel? My beginnings were dramatically different from Becca’s. I grew up knowing I was loved. . . except for that brief period in junior high when we all wonder if either we or our parents are aliens because of how “They just don’t get me.” My parents were respected in the community. I had to dig deep into imagination and the experiences of others I know whose childhoods held the kind of pain Becca’s did. Like Becca, though, I have deeply-rooted connections with the sea, even though I’ve lived landlocked most of my childhood and adult life. I got to vicariously live one of my dreams—returning to my birthplace of Oceanside, California, through Becca’s story. I understand her infatuation with it. Two more things we have in common: I love the beach as well, and our family lived in Oceanside for seven years. Now, I know you just won two Selah Awards, one for fiction (When the Morning Glory Blooms) and one for nonfiction (Ragged Hope). Which do you prefer to write? If I didn’t love both, I wouldn’t write both. My heart is the same whether writing fiction or nonfiction, and my nonfiction is strongly storytelling-based. Some topics lend themselves better to one format or...

Traveling seems to be the theme of the summer for the Pieper family. On Friday, my husband left for a music mission trip to New York City with the Florida Worship Choir and Orchestra. Sunday night, we received our daughter Karissa back from almost five months of missionary service in Southeast Asia. And yesterday, I flew to Chicago to teach at the well-respected Write to Publish Conference at Wheaton College. The summer continues with a music conference for my husband, our daughters’ five-week mission trips to Panama (Karissa) and Nicaragua (Melanie), and a two-week mission trip to Costa Rica for Tom and me. I’m excited about Write to Publish for a number of reasons, but one of the most important is the people. A special friend, award-winning author Cynthia Ruchti, serves as one of the conference worship leaders. I met Cynthia back in 2010 at the first writers conference where I taught. From the start, I recognized her as a kindred spirit. Her devotion to God, her caring spirit, and her passion for writing words that make a difference all challenge and inspire me. And so does her writing. Here, I reviewed her debut novel, They Almost Always Come Home. And with admitted bias but great respect, I want to share my thoughts on her latest release. I received my review copy of All My Belongings during a busy spring. But once I started it, I had a hard time putting it down. In fact, I finished the book in two days despite a busy writing schedule. Yes, it’s that compelling. If I had to shelve this novel at a bookstore, I could find several places where it might find a home. Cynthia’s work combines the warmth of romance, the intrigue of suspense, the deep characterization and symbolism of literary fiction, and the layered development of women’s fiction to produce one of the few novels I would call a must-read. When the story opens, Jayne (later known as Becca) has some difficult decisions to make. Within the first few pages, she learns that the nursing school where she hopes to finish her degree has rejected her application—not on the basis of her grades or character but on the sins of a family member. Almost at the same time, through the kindness of a friend, an opportunity for a fresh start in a new city presents itself. But when what seems like a perfect match in both relationships and vocation takes a sudden and ugly turn, readers wonder if Becca will get the happy ending they were so convinced she deserved. As with any fiction worthy of mention, we can meet ourselves in the pages of All My Belongings. We understand...

Today, I want you to imagine with me. Imagine you’re a research scientist. After working for years,  you can hardly believe it. You’ve discovered a pharmaceutical formula that cures cancer in all its forms. You know it works because of all your study. But you also know it works because you’re a cancer survivor yourself. Things looked bleak for you until you participated in a test of this drug. And now, you’re cancer-free—and have been for some time. You have a problem, though. You have no way of taking the drug to market. You’re a researcher, not a doctor. You’ve exhausted your funds and can’t finish all the FDA and other approval needed. And you can’t even begin to package it attractively or get it into consumer’s hands. So what do you do? You get help, don’t you? You do whatever it takes to finish the process and get the drug out there where it could save lives. You don’t quit. You persevere. Dramatic, yes, but both Walker and I feel this way about his Orphan Heart message. It has touched both our lives in specific, personal ways. And although it took us several years and a team of people to take the book from initial ideas to preached message to published book, we didn’t give up. We couldn’t. As you read the book, you’ll find his story. Wounded by a father he loved but couldn’t seem to please, he became an orphan who tried to fix himself and others by doing everything right. And things grew worse, not better, until he understood the truth he shares with thousands across the country and around the world: I am my Father’s favorite child. In brief, the Orphan Heart is the lie Satan implants in our hearts, often through a wound or perceived wound from a parent or other authority figure, which says we don’t matter to God or to other people. Sometimes we respond in rebellion, like the prodigal son we read about in the New Testament. Sometimes we respond by trying our best to be perfect, like his elder brother. Either way, we lose, and we lose big. We may know Christ, but we don’t live the abundant life He promised because we’re stuck in the past and afraid of the future. Our everyday lives are filled with “if only” and “what if” instead of the fruit of the Spirit. The Orphan Heart keeps us living as those who have no father, no identity, no purpose, no direction, and no destiny. And no, it’s not cancer, but it’s not life, either. So when I heard and responded to the Orphan Heart message, I knew I had to help Walker share it. I’ve been in...