Dear Friend, Did you miss me? I’ve been out and about lately, first speaking/serving as chaplain at the Florida Christian Writers Conference and then catching up on some writing and speaking. Thanks for your patience. Today, I want to send you over to the Christian Authors Network blog, where I’ve posted this interview with my friend, author and speaker Janet Perez Eckles. I know you’ll enjoy getting to know this delightful friend as much as I have! This Saturday morning, I’ll speak for the Women’s Spring Brunch at Asbury United Methodist Church, 220 W. Horatio Avenue in Maitland, Florida, at 10:30 a.m. If you live in the area, feel free to come join us. You don’t need to bring anything except yourself, and I know we’ll have a wonderful time with food, fellowship, and learning about “Sister Act: Mary, Martha, and the Love of a...

Dear Friends, I’m writing about something close to my heart today. I guess that applies to many of my blogs, but I leave tomorrow for the Florida Christian Writers Conference. I don’t have far to travel this time, because the conference home is the beautiful Lake Yale Baptist Conference Center in Leesburg, Florida, which is probably half an hour from my home. This will be my fifth year attending the conference, fourth year on faculty, and third year serving as conference chaplain. What does a chaplain for this type of conference do? I can think of several important functions. These include monitoring the spiritual climate of the conference; forming and updating a team of intercessors to pray for faculty, staff, and conferees; and sharing devotionals and prayers as needed for the large-group meetings. But still another important aspect of the chaplain role is something in which I take great delight, and that’s meeting personally with conferees. In the past, I enjoyed having appointments primarily as the representative for Sisterhood magazine, which sadly ceased publication at the end of 2014. But I also met, and continue to meet, with conferees in my role as author, collaborative writer, and editor (in addition to my five years’ of work for Sisterhood, I have written eight nonfiction books, seven of them traditionally published; hundreds of articles and devotionals; and various projects for two nonprofits). I love using the lessons God’s taught me along my writing journey to assist and encourage others. And that’s what I do at the other conferences where I teach as well. This year, I want to place special emphasis on meeting with conferees in my role as FCWC chaplain. So why might you want to meet with me? Answers: Perhaps you need direction about with whom you should make appointments or which workshops to attend. Maybe you have a big (or small) decision to make based on conference feedback. I don’t know everything or everyone, but I do have some good industry and conference experience. I’ll be glad to answer questions or point you in the direction of a better resource here at the FCWC or elsewhere. Encouragement: Sometimes hearing the truth, even when spoken in love, can feel discouraging. I’ll be glad to listen, love, and (yes) pray with you. No matter how professional we are, we can all benefit from a healthy diet of encouraging words. And as my husband likes to say, “No one ever died from over-encouragement.” Prayer: I don’t make it a secret that I’m a knee in the body of Christ. It’s how He has gifted and equipped me. That doesn’t mean I have special prayer-power others don’t. But it does mean praying is my joy, my...

Dear Friends, Today, I want to invite you to hop on over to the Christian Authors Network blog, where I’ve posted an interview with novelist Carla Rossi. You’ll find out why she and I are a match made on the page and (more importantly), what her own marketing failures have taught her. Who wouldn’t want to learn from someone else’s mistakes? I love the title of her latest novel, too (pictured at right). How can a wedding be “unexpected”? Carla’s already done some great marketing work by drawing me into the story. Enjoy the read, and I’ll see you back here next week! Don’t forget you can always leave comments or send me an email through the “Contact” link above to share your prayer requests or concerns. Blessings! For His glory,...

For the past couple of weeks, I’ve posted excerpts from my unpublished article, “Here Am I. Send Me? Courage in Costa Rica.” If you missed any of the other excerpts, you can find them by clicking these links: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3. You’ll want to make sure to read those before you read the final section, posted below along with a sidebar that offers some fundraising tips. Send Me? The courage all these student missionaries displayed came from the same source as the prophet Isaiah’s: a living, loving relationship with a God who wants to draw people of all nations to Himself. Is your courage stuck on Empty? Do you make excuses instead of stepping up and stepping out? Check with your heavenly Father. He has grace for all, on the mission field and at home. No matter the situation, He’ll provide the courage you need to say along with Isaiah, “Here am I. Send me!” [Sidebar: Courage to Fundraise] Do you suffer from EWS, Empty Wallet Syndrome? Not to fear. The God who owns the cattle on a thousand hills can provide moo-lah for missions. Check out these fun ideas from some of our Costa Rica missionaries: KaytLyn: “My mom and I had a dessert business. We sold chocolate strawberries, chocolate pretzels, cake pops and caramel corn. For two years, all the money we raised went toward my trip!” Stephanie: “I had people sponsor beaded bracelets I made to give to children in Costa Rica. I asked for $5 apiece, but some people gave much more. Felicia: “My sister and I had buckets at the front of our church, each with a picture of someone’s face attached. The person whose bucket ended up with the most money got a pie in the face!” Felicia (part 2): “We also forked people’s yards [placing hundreds of plastic forks tine-down]. People had to pay $15 for us to remove them or $20 to fork someone else’s yard.” Have you served God in international missions, or would you like to? Is God giving you the courage to connect? I’d love to receive your questions and comments below, on social media, or through the email link at the top of this page. If you have other fundraising ideas, feel free to add those as well. My husband and I hope to join Never the Same in Ecuador June 29-July 12, 2015. Teen guys and girls as well as adults are welcome and needed to make a difference. Will you be the next one to say, “Here am I. Send me”?...

So far, I’ve shared two installments of my missions story from last year’s Never the Same Missions trip to Costa Rica and four stories of courageous people. You should know that I always have more stories than will fit in the word count limit the magazine gives me, so if you want a few more stories, check back to last summer’s blog (try here and here for examples). But I love the stories reserved for Part 3, and I hope you will, too!   Courage to Speak: Sammie Unlike John, “I’m a worship leader,” Sammie says. “Not a speaker.” That’s what she tried to tell God one morning as her team prepared for ministry. Her head team leader, Rob Kirkpatrick, needed someone to share the gospel after the second drama of the day. “Who’s gonna do it?” he asked. No one volunteered. “It felt like God was pressing his hands on my shoulders,” Sammie confesses. “I knew He was saying, ‘You do it.’” So she did. So well, in fact, that the crowd in the noisy street market had no idea she was anything but an experienced speaker. So well that God used her to help others receive His message of salvation. So well that she kept sharing with anyone who would listen. Watch out. When you follow God in obedience, He’ll give you courage to speak, too.   Courage to Connect: Yemi                                                                                                                                                                                                                          Yemi, another Faith in the Wait entrant, was the contest runner-up. But when it comes to courage, she’s a big winner. She shared her story before one of the group’s supercharged evening worship services, called FUAGNEM (Fired up and Going Nuts Every Minute). Yemi’s unusual background—adopted from Ethiopia at age 10—helped prepare her for the missions trip in ways she never expected. On their first day of ministry, her team spent time at a home for abused girls ages 12-18. Leah, one of the head team leaders, asked Yemi to share her testimony. “I forgot she was adopted,” Leah says. But God didn’t. As Yemi spoke, she didn’t know...

The other day, I posted Part I of an article that, because of the cessation of Sisterhood Magazine, never hit print. Since I still want others to read the great things God did through the Never the Same missions team in Costa Rica, I’m posting the story in installments on my blog. Enjoy the stories of two more courageous missionaries in Part II of “Here I Am: Send Me? Courage in Costa Rica.”   Courage to Care: Kohlie Kohlie also traveled to Costa Rica, but on a free ride. Her winning entry in Sisterhood’s Faith in the Wait contest covered the cost. Not only was this her first missions trip, but the journey from home to Florida was also her first flight. “My mom and dad were nervous,” she confessed during training. “But I want to be the hands and feet of Jesus, I’m excited to learn about the culture—and I want to be brave in my faith and stepping out.” As the trip progressed, God brought opportunities to do just that. “Lord, use me today,” Kohlie prayed one morning. Never the Same teams use a pantomime drama, “Spellbound” to share the gospel. Her team performed that day on a dirt road in one of San Jose’s poorest areas. Afterwards, “I turned around and saw a little girl who looked dead,” Kohlie explains. “Her friend was carrying her like a rag doll. I didn’t know what to do.” But Kohlie remembered her prayer. “I went over to check on her, then ran to get Chris,” she says. The medical clinic, a new ministry on this year’s trip, was operating alongside Kohlie’s team that day. Two doctors, several nurses, other medical professionals and students took turns meeting basic health care needs. When Kohlie called, Chris, a pediatric nurse practitioner, went into instant action. “The little girl really did look dead,” Chris explains. “But when I checked her, I realized she had passed out from dehydration and lack of food. We gave her some water, and soon, she was running around again.” Since the team also operated a feeding station alongside the clinic, this little girl and many of her neighbors received a full lunch. “It broke my heart,” says Kohlie. “I realized how selfish I can be when I don’t get what I want at a restaurant, and here’s a little girl who doesn’t have enough to eat and drink.” For this first-time missionary, Faith in the Wait meant courage to care.     Courage to Share: John John’s Costa Rica courage also began with a morning prayer. “I asked for the language barrier not to be an issue,” he says. A short time later, his team arrived at its...