Thankful...

So thankful this week for many things...

God's voice through music (driving for 2 1/2 hours listening to worship music, hearing His whisper)
through His never-changing Word (isn't amazing when stories about King Solomon, so well-known can still capture my attention and draw me closer to my God?)
through His people (thankful for my husband and his ability to steady me when emotions swirl around).

Sing a New Song

It was a good thirty minutes past bedtime when I walked by my son's closed door and heard a sweet sound. "Waves of mercy, waves of grace..." he sang quietly to himself, not knowing he had an enraptured audience on the other side of the door. At the age of four, he is too old to have someone sing him lullabies as he snuggles into bed, so instead he has learned to sing himself to sleep.

Come visit with me at Laced with Grace today as we talk about music.

Getting into Trouble

Today, I get to tell you about one of my favorite authors and her newest release! Here's a note from Susan May Warren:

Sometimes, do you feel like you just don’t fit in? You look around you and if anyone knew how difficult it was just to put yourself together, to smile when you feel completely overwhelmed, to even figure out what you were making for supper, they’d know what a mess you were. Maybe you totally relate to those words in 1 Peter – God’s elect, strangers and aliens in the world. Do you feel like when you look in the rear view mirror, all you see are your mistakes?

Maybe not. But if so, then PJ is your gal. I wanted to write a story about the person in so many of us who just wants to get it right…but can’t seem to stay out of trouble. My friend and I have what we call the “stupid mouth” club…and we report our weekly foibles (usually on Monday, after Sunday church!). PJ is our charter member. She’s the girl that changes her mind, always hopes for the best, is always discovering that she is just a little different than everyone else. PJ is us.

And that’s good news. Because God loves PJ. He loves her messiness, and her impulsiveness, her heart bent toward others, the hope that fuels her actions. And He has a plan for PJ – one that includes her weaknesses as well as her strengths.

Yep, I need to hear that – need to hear that I don’t have to be perfect for God to love me, use me, sing over me. Need to hear that although I don’t fit in, well, I’m not supposed to…in fact, I’m supposed to be a little…alien.

I wrote PJ for everyone who feels just a little messy, just a little like they can’t quite get it right. And who needs to hear that God loves them. Period. Full stop. Hallelujah.

Heather says... What I really like about Susan's writing in general AND PJ
Sugar in particular are the real issues that the characters face. PJ is a
normal girl, who is trying to figure out who she is and what it means to be a new creation in Christ. I really related to her inner struggles and loved the way she discovers herself through the course of the story.

Here's a little about the book:
PJ Sugar knows three things for sure:

After traveling the country for ten years hoping to shake free from the trail of disaster that’s become her life, she needs a fresh start.

The last person she wants to see when she heads home for her sister’s wedding is Boone—her former flame and the reason she left town.

Her best friend’s husband absolutely did not commit the first murder Kellogg, Minnesota, has seen in more than a decade.

What PJ doesn’t know is that when she starts digging for evidence, she’ll uncover much more than she bargained for—a deadly conspiracy, a knack for investigation, and maybe, just maybe, that fresh start she’s been longing for.

It's not fair to say that trouble happens every time PJ Sugar is around, but it feels that way when she returns to her hometown, looking for a fresh start. Within a week, her former teacher is murdered and her best friend's husband is arrested as the number-one suspect.

Although the police detective investigating the murder--who also happens to be PJ's former flame--is convinced it's an open-and-shut case, PJ's not so sure. She begins digging for clues in an effort to clear her friend's husband and ends up reigniting old passions, uncovering an international conspiracy, and solving a murder along the way.

She also discovers that maybe God can use a woman who never seems to get it right.

Read the first chapter: http://gotsugar.susanmaywarren.com/