But, I took the long shot, and ended up being one of the bloggers picked.
I was pretty pumped.
I am kind of a fan girl of Emily Freeman. Her talk at the Influence conference back three years ago changed my life. I began to see myself as a work of art. I began to see myself as an artist. My writing, my homemaking, my teaching-all a work of art. Inspired by, and for the glory of, the Divine Artist.
After that talk, being such a fan girl, I read her book, Grace for the Good Girl. Big sigh. More life changing, life giving words. Good girls, desperately needing grace. We've come up with our own idea of grace that involves a lot of perfection and trig hard. But, we fall so short. Yet, grace isn't earned or deserved. And "good" girls need it just as much as "bad" girls. It was a breath of fresh air. It touched my soul.
I've been looking forward to Simply Tuesday's coming out, since last fall at Allume. While there, I again heard Emily speak. This time she talked about embracing the small moments of life. Choosing to reject the hustle for the bench. It was good stuff. It was the basis of this next book.
I received my copy of Simply Tuesday towards the beginning of July, and I dove right in.
What I feel like when I read Emily's books and hear her words is, "really? You too?!"
Some of our life's happenings are eerily alike. And, once again her words touched my heart.
There is a chapter called Stairwells and Stages. She talks about worship. How we are made to worship. It's in our nature. We are good at it. We want to worship, and we desire to be worshipped. Whether it comes out blatantly (oh look! a celebrity! She writes ______!) or subtly (accolades from our families in regards to what we do for them.) worship is part of us. But, the only One who should be worshipped is God Himself. Every other worship turns to dust.
And then, there is the chapter called Community and Competition. Seriously, I felt like we lived a very similar year. Loneliness. Choosing to stretch ourselves beyond our comfort zone in three distinct ways. Seeking out a counselor/mentor. Joining a small group. Meeting with a group of artists.
For me (and I've written about these things)...we started marriage counseling which was so good for our marriage. We joined up with a Wednesday night small group (while we were in between churches, and that is actually connected with our new church home) which gave us fellowship we peers in both ours and our kids' life stages. I started "article club." All three things were a huge challenge for my personality type, but all three have made a huge difference in my life this calendar year.
I've got the book rather earmarked.
I must say that I totally get her idea of Tuesdays. Their smallness. Their ordinariness. But, I have to laugh, because Tuesdays are my one "not ordinary" day of each week. It's my working day.
So, I rarely do book recommendations, but I am going to recommend this one. If you are hustling and desperately craving rest-this book might speak to your soul. If you are feeling small in a big world-this book might encourage you right there. If you need a "me too!"-this book might be what you didn't know you were looking for.
Some nuts and bolts information about Simply Tuesday...
-Simply Tuesday's list price is $14.99. Amazon is selling it here.
-Simply Tuesday is almost 250 pages. It is divided into five parts, each containing three chapters.
-Simply Tuesday contains discussion questions at the end of each "part" which would be good for a small group or book club discussion.
-Each chapter of Simply Tuesday is closed with a simple prayer. It's just a nice ending to each chapter.
-Simply Tuesday has quite the pretty book cover too. If you happen to judge a book by its cover. Gold leaf....
Anyway, buy it, or borrow it, but do read, Simply Tuesday!
