“How did you come to be involved with this book?” a friend asked. Escape the Lie: Journey to Freedom from the Orphan Heart released last week on the day I flew home from teaching at the Colorado Christian Writers Conference. I came home to two cases of the book resting on my office floor. And even though midnight had just passed, I had to hold one of the real-life copies in my hand before I went to bed. My writing partner, Dr. Walker Moore, and I agree that the path to publication has been a journey—a personal, spiritual one as well as a professional one. Escape the Lie is the third book on which we’ve collaborated (the other two are Rite of Passage Parenting: Four Essential Experiences to Equip Your Kids for Life and the award-winning Rite of Passage Parenting Workbook). We first connected when a friend recommended the student missions-sending organization he founded, Awe Star Ministries, as a great avenue for our two oldest daughters, then fifteen and sixteen. Since then, all five Pieper children have served multiple times with Awe Star, and I’ve also served with Awe Star teams in both Mexico and Panama. In 2005, because of our involvement with Awe Star, I was part of a group of thousands across the world who were praying for fifteen-year-old BJ Higgins, a committed follower of Christ who fell ill after serving for the second time with Awe Star in Peru. When I saw the potential for a book in his story, I wrote Walker and volunteered to help. The memoir that resulted, I Would Die for You, became a Young Adult bestseller and continues to draw people toward the God BJ served with such passion. But even before I had the opportunity to assist BJ’s parents in telling his story, I began editing Walker’s popular weekly column in the Oklahoma Baptist Messenger. Walker is a brilliant Bible teacher, but, like two of my daughters, he’s dyslexic. He doesn’t think of himself as a writer, but his combination of biblical wisdom, humor, and life-changing stories (many from his years of experience on the mission field) has a way of touching lives few writers can achieve. For his column, I have the privilege of making sure the words appear in the right order and the stories make sense. For his books, though, we have a different way of working. In fact, we wrote much of Rite of Passage Parenting before we ever met. At first, he sent me some of his old writing and workshop videos, asking me to turn them into something fresh.  He hated the result. And I hated that way of working. So since that time, I do the...

As promised, here’s my interview with author, speaker, and woman of encouragement Michelle Cox. Because of our shared publishing connections, I “knew” and prayed for Michelle for several years before meeting her in person when we roomed together this year as faculty at the Florida Christian Writers Conference. I hope you enjoy this Words with Friends interview with Michelle. And if you missed my review of her new novel with Rene Gutteridge, Just 18 Summers, check it out here. You’ve told me the fascinating story behind the start of the “Just 18 Summers” concept. Would you share it with our readers, please? My pastor dedicated a baby at church one Sunday morning, and as the parents turned to leave the platform, Rev. Sexton said, “Don’t forget you have just 18 summers. Go make some memories.” The poignancy of that slammed into me—particularly since my youngest son was getting married a few weeks later. I came up with the idea to do a gift book based on the thought, but God had much bigger plans. I’m now developing a complete brand based on the concept—and the release of my Just 18 Summers novel (co-authored with Rene Gutteridge) is an exciting component of that. You’re a mother of three and grandmother of six. How does Just 18 Summers relate to your own personal experience? My sons grew up way too fast—and now I think my grandbabies are growing up even faster. Seriously, I look back at those years with my boys and wonder how we got from the days when we brought them home from the hospital until now so quickly! We made a conscious effort to spend time with our sons and I’m so glad we did that . . . but I wish there’d been so much more. Six years have gone by since our youngest son got married and left home. I love my daughters-in-law and I’m crazy about my grandchildren, but there are still times when I miss my boys so much, days when I’d give a million dollars to walk down the hall one more time to tuck them into bed, to listen to bedtime prayers, and to hear the sounds of their laughter ringing through the house. I know this concept has now become a brand, with a dedicated website, screenplay, and now the novel. Please explain how this developed. Sometimes I feel like the poster child to prove God has a sense of humor, because it’s absolutely hysterical how all of this happened. After hearing my pastor say those words, I’d come up with the idea to do a gift book based on the concept. About that same time, my friend, Lori Marett, was starting the Gideon...

It may look as though I’ve gone missing lately. In truth, I’ve been busy serving and teaching in Estes Park, Colorado at the Colorado Christian Writers Conference. There, I had the opportunity to teach a class titled “Book Proposals, Queries, and One-Sheets” and another called “Master the Memoir.” But today, I’m back in Florida and also over at the Christian Authors Network blog, where I’ve posted an interview with the lovely Cheri Cowell. Cheri, a popular author and speaker, has several wise tips to share with us today. Enjoy the interview here. And stay tuned tomorrow here for a Words with Friends interview with another author and speaker friend. Next week: more information on my new...

Our daughter graduates from high school today. Our family members have started arriving, and I know this day will stand out in all our hearts and minds. Melanie’s the youngest of our five children, nearly ten years younger than her oldest sister. Although we will miss Karissa (serving as a nanny in Southeast Asia) and Andrew (keeping his perfect attendance record at the National Aviation Academy tonight, but coming to her party tomorrow), we are grateful for those who can join us. Of course, I woke up in prayer today for Melanie and her friends from Grace Home Schoolers and the many others who are graduating at this time of year. I’m sharing my prayer with many today! Father God, You are so good and so great. Thank You for bringing us to this long-awaited day. I praise You that you love celebrations and ask us to celebrate Your work in our lives. As we celebrate today, we know we’re really celebrating You and all You’ve done. I thank You, Lord, for Your presence with these graduates at every point, every step, every bend in the road. Thank You for Your tender care and love. Thank You for dying on the cross to bring them to Yourself. Thank You for your mercies so freely poured out. Keep intersecting Your life with the lives of these graduates and allow them to keep running into You. And thank You, Jesus, for Your power in our lives. Thank You that nothing is too hard or too difficult for You. Thank You that when we call, You answer. Thank You that when we come to You in faith, You can give us the strength and the ability to do what seems impossible. Thank You, indeed, that nothing is impossible with You. Thank you, too, Holy Spirit, for Your peace which passes understanding. Thank You for your promise that as these graduates acknowledge You in all their ways, You will direct their paths. Thank You for the individual ways You have shaped them to bring Your name glory; for what once seemed like little that You have used to make much; and for the fact that one day, one year, or one decade from now, none of us will be the same because of Your mighty work and Your manifest wisdom. Thank You for these special graduates who are so dear to our hearts and lives. Thank You that we have the privilege of celebrating with them. In the holy name of Jesus I pray, AMEN.  Thanks for joining in my prayer and our celebration. Please share your prayer requests or praises in the comments below or by emailing me through the link at...

“Don’t forget—you have just 18 summers. Take time to make some memories.” This simple comment by her pastor after a child’s dedication did more than resonate with my friend, author Michelle Cox. It set her heart humming, her mind whirling, and before long, “Just 18 Summers” moved from concept to a parenting blog, a novel, and a screenplay. It seems appropriate that I review the Just 18 Summers novel just before Mother’s Day. This also happens to be the week that our youngest daughter graduates from home high school. Like most parents, I face this milestone with mixed emotions. I’m thrilled for our daughter and the Christ-follower she has become. Not only has Melanie been named the valedictorian of her class at the private school that keeps our records, but she has also received at least three scholarships toward her future studies in Mass Communication/Public Relationships at the University of South Florida. Before she enters college, she’ll serve as a missionary to Nicaragua for five weeks as part of a team sent by Awe Star Ministries. We have much for which to be thankful, and much to celebrate. Because we started her homeschooling career a bit early, this is only our seventeenth summer with Melanie. But that doesn’t take away from the validity of Michelle’s concept or the strength of her novel, written with popular novelist Rene Gutteridge. Just 18 Summers covers four families at different stages and facing different challenges in their parenting journeys. The death of Butch’s godly wife, Jenny, has touched each one. Butch, a contractor, has the challenge of parenting his young daughter without his wife’s wise and loving influence. His employee, Tippy, and his wife Daphne, are expecting their first child and wondering if following all the right parenting rules will give them all the right answers. The Anderson family’s nest is almost empty, but what about their daughter’s choice for a husband? Robin sees him as her handsome prince, but to her parents, he’s more like a pizza-delivering frog. And what about their snooty neighbors, the Buckleys? Is it too late for them to realize the things they valued most may have the least significance? I enjoyed this novel—and not only because I have an almost empty-nest. The chapters flip from one family’s story to another’s, and it took me a little while to keep the characters straight. But this minor issue was more than offset by the way Gutteridge and Cox made me care about each family and their lives. Michelle, author, speaker, and food blogger for Fox News personality Todd Starnes, has authored seven previous books ranging from inspirational to humor to cookbooks. Her nonfiction skills and Gutteridge’s fiction expertise combine...

My Dear Friend, We all remember those “How I Spent My Summer Vacation” assignments. Did my teacher really want to know how many times my brother and I visited the neighborhood swimming pool, weeded the garden, or played kickball? This year, I want to suggest a great way to spend your summer. You’ll find it fun, economical, family-friendly, and best of all, life-changing. I’m sending you this letter because I care about you and your family. I know you’re like most parents: you want what’s best for your kids. You’ve even told me you want to “train them up in the way they should go” (Prov. 22:6). You want them to reach adulthood with the deep desire to follow Christ with all their heart, soul, mind, and strength as well as the tools to carry out that desire. The Shelby Kennedy Foundation is a nonprofit dear to my heart. SKF exists to encourage parents as they disciple their children through in-depth study of the Word of God, Scripture memorization, and prayer. And my friends there have created two fantastic tools to help families make this vision reality. The first is the Sword Study, an age-graded inductive Bible study designed not only to teach the Bible to families of all ages and sizes but to teach them how to apply that study method to any Bible passage. I wish I’d had the Sword Study as a young mom. It would have made a great way for our entire family to study the same passage at the same time. It contains activities and applications designed for each level. And it also includes specific, step-by-step guidance for dads (or moms) to lead the family in discussing and celebrating what they’ve learned every week, no matter how much or how little time the parents has to devote to the Bible study. The Sword Study takes the fear out of family discipleship. If we’re honest, we know such fear exists—but God is never its author (2 Tim. 1:7). And the SKF’s optional competition step, the Bible Bee, provides fellowship, support, and fun—along with some fantastic opportunities to win cash and scholarships. We’re talking $25,000; $50,000, and $100,000 to the top winners at the Nationals competition in Primary (7-10), Junior (11-14), and Senior (15-18) Divisions—not exactly small change. True Confession: I do some writing work for SKF. I’ve even blogged about the Bible Bee before (here, here, and here). But I’m not about sales (I couldn’t even sell Girl Scout Cookies when they were $.50 a box). When you read the Sword Studies, you’ll see little pieces called “Vignettes” between each week’s work. Those are mine. But I don’t make more money if you buy...