Lynn Austin's Blog, page 20

Thanksgiving Joy

Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays, one that I’m determined not to allow our culture to hijack or separate from its faith-based roots. It has already happened with other Christian holidays—Christ’s resurrection has been replaced by chocolate bunnies and eggs, Christmas by Santa Claus and consumerism. Thanksgiving is quickly becoming a day to overindulge, watch football, and shop for bargains.

But the roots of Thanksgiving, like Christmas and Easter, are biblical. The Pilgrims got the idea for a harvest celebration from the Old Testament Feast of Tabernacles—in spite of what my daughter’s eighth grade social studies book said. The text never mentioned God and said that the Pilgrims were thanking the Indians!  When Abraham Lincoln began our modern-day celebration in 1863 it was as a religious holiday. He declared that the U.S. should observe “a day of Thanksgiving and praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the heavens.”

I decided to consult the same source as the Pilgrims for my family’s Thanksgiving celebration. Deuteronomy 16:13-15 says: “Celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles for seven days after you have gathered the produce of your threshing floor and your winepress.” Feasting for seven days may not be realistic but one day isn’t nearly long enough to thank God for all my blessings—chief among them, my salvation. We try to make the long weekend a time of rest from the busyness and craziness of life, setting aside time to enjoy the people around us, and to thank God for the blessings of the past year.

“Be joyful at your feast—”  Joyful! Thanksgiving isn’t the time to nurse grudges and old wounds, it’s the time for a brand new start. A few days before the Feast of Tabernacles, God’s people knelt before Him on Yom Kippur and thoroughly examined their lives, confessing their sins and asking for forgiveness. And before daring to approach Him, they were commanded to mend any broken relationships and seek forgiveness from those they’ve harmed—and to extend forgiveness to those who asked. Imagine how joyful Thanksgiving Day would be if we celebrated it with a clean slate—a new beginning with God and with each other.

“…you, your sons and daughters, your menservants and maidservants, and the Levites, the aliens, the fatherless and the widows who live in your towns.”  While I don’t have any maidservants (sigh), it’s a tradition in our family to invite people who are far from home or without family to feast with us. My husband and I started this tradition when we were “aliens” ourselves, living in South America. We invited a dozen expatriate friends to join us for Thanksgiving—and every year since then, our meal hasn’t been complete without the “aliens, fatherless and widows” at our table.

“For seven days celebrate the feast to the Lord your God . . .” I never want to forget that this is a feast dedicated to praising and thanking God. I love it that our church has a Thanksgiving Day worship service. God is at the center of our day, not the turkey. Our family also spends time around the table talking about our faith and our faithful God.

“For the Lord your God will bless you in all your harvest and in all the work of your hands . . .” It’s interesting that Abraham Lincoln instituted Thanksgiving in the middle of the Civil War, a time of enormous hardship in our nation. I try to remember that God can bring blessings from our hardest trials, whether our “harvest” is big or small. The most painful times in my life were when I’ve drawn the closest to Him.

“…and your joy will be complete.”  Joy! Complete—with nothing lacking. Our lives will overflow with joy when we take time to express our gratitude to our God, the source of all our blessings.

Happy Thanksgiving!

It’s beginning to look a lot like…

I was in the mall the other day and Christmas had arrived. Already? I’m not ready! But this year I want to be. Not for all the glitter and trimmings and presents, but ready for Jesus to arrive in my heart in a deeper, more meaningful way. So while I haven’t bought a single present yet, I’ve begun to read a very special Advent book: Finding the Messiah: From Darkness to Dawn—the Birth of Our Savior by my good friend and fellow author, Jane Rubietta. Her book is exactly what I needed to read as I prepare for Christ’s advent, so I’ve invited her to be my guest blogger this morning.
Please welcome Jane Rubietta:

We moved over the summer, and are still finding things that we”d lost. Still missing stuff. Still walking around boxes of not-yet-unpacked goods, still avoiding eye contact with cardboarded pictures and mirrors and anything remotely resembling decor. Only last week did I manage to put together the third bed, complete with sheets. We are missing one of the little wheels for the frame, so I found some blocks of wood. It should work. Yesterday I found the pillows.

So even with the house in disarray, the beds are made. Even though to reach them, one must sidestep carefully the dresser in the middle of the floor, the upside-down tables waiting for a home, the baskets of extra bedding, the books begging for shelves.

The good news is that whether we can find our beds or not, God has made a way for us to find the Messiah. It’s hard to find Christmas in the middle of real life and all the holiday hubbub and marketing. All our wants and hopes rev their engines, dominating our calendars. Ordering (or disordering) our wallets, bulking up our credit card balances.

Seems like, every year, I get to December 25, exhausted, with a pile of dishes in the sink and wrapping paper jamming wastebaskets, and my heart crashes. “What just happened? I have missed it. I’ve missed Christmas, again.”

My grief at missing Christmas has overtaken all other pressures, including deadlines, the storage-state of our home, and everything on my to-do list. This year, more than any other, I hope to deeply seek the Savior.

One of the simple tools that I will use to prepare the resting place of my heart, is silence. Start out with only sixty seconds, maybe, where I still my heart and soul, and point my heart toward God. Want to try it with me?

Set the timer on your phone, or your stovetop, for one minute, haul in a deep breath, and exhale all the words in your brain. Focus, then, on God. God’s love. God’s gift in Christ. Invite God into that place. No need for words. Just pointing your heart.

And then wait there. If your mind derails, downloading a bunch of worries and words, exhale again, reload with God”s presence, and wait some more.

The seconds flee, refilling us with a new sense of calm. Of peace. Silent Night? Silent Minute? Whatever it takes, snag a few and be still.

That level of deep silence is the kind of silence that changes us. Changes our attitude and direction. Changes our day, our relationships. Our hope. Today, and for the upcoming holidays. Just a minute a day, or two or ten…

Let me know how it goes. I”d love to hear from you about how you enter into this Advent season. May this be the year that the Promised One comes, scatters our shadows, shatters our fears, wraps us in the light that is night-splitting love and forgiveness.

Finding the Messiah: A 28-Day guide to deeper devotion during Advent!

Advent is for us all. The brokenhearted, the barren, the aged, the young, the disillusioned, the faithful, the doubting; people going through the motions of faith though faced with God’s silence.

Finding the Messiah: From Darkness to Dawn–the Birth of Our Savior is a unique look into the hearts and souls of the people who people the Advent narratives in Scripture.

Because we, too, are Advent people, and their lives inform our lives, and lead us into significance–because they lead us to the Messiah.

Tired of missing Christmas? Find the Messiah, and find both your greatest adventure and the fulfillment of your greatest desire.

Join me on a four-week daily Advent-ure, beginning the first Sunday in Advent, November 30, 2014.

http://janerubietta.com/books.html

Seasons of Change

Change is on the way. I see signs of it all around me as I go for my morning walks with my husband. The trees show it first, of course, their green leaves morphing to flaming shades of yellow, orange, gold and rust.

The park that overflowed with activity all summer is closed and shuttered for the season.

Nearly all of the boats have been hauled inland for the winter, leaving the docks deserted.

The boats look out of place standing forlornly on shore, sheathed in plastic blankets to weather the coming storms.

Even the beach is braced for what’s coming with snow-fences lined up against the winter snowdrifts.

As beautiful as fall is, there’s something in me that panics a little at all these signs, longing for everything to stay the same. In my book Pilgrimage I wrote:

“Change is such a huge part of life that we should be used to it by now. Instead, we resist. We’re tearful on the first day of kindergarten, fearful on the first day of high school, overwhelmed as we start college. A new job, a new spouse, a new baby—all of these changes are regular parts of a normal life, yet each of these milestones inaugurates enormous changes.”

Is it part of my human nature to resist, longing for everything to stay the same? I know it can’t. Pilgrimage tells about a season in my life when I experienced too many upheavals. But after traveling to Israel and walking in the footsteps of the heroes of my faith—Abraham, Sarah, Moses, David, and Jesus and His disciples—I realized that change is God’s template for our lives, not an anomaly. It’s how we grow in our spiritual walk, and how our faith grows. I returned home from my pilgrimage with these thoughts:

“Change will be good for me, not something to fear. It will strip away my self-sufficiency and self-reliance and force me to lean on God, to pray more, to trust Him, and to walk in faith with the One who invented change.”

The world around me is bracing for change, and I know that I must, too. Maybe God created the vivid changes of fall so we won’t be so surprised when it comes into our own lives but we’ll embrace it with joy, knowing that we serve an unchanging God.

Flight of Faith

Every now and then I have the opportunity to get away from my desk and travel somewhere to speak. For months I had been looking forward to a Ladies’ Brunch at a church in St. Louis, Missouri. Flying there the day before, I arrived at O’Hare Airport in Chicago at 8:30 AM and checked the board for my gate number.

FLIGHT CANCELLED

What! I skimmed down the roster and saw that nearly every flight was DELAYED or CANCELLED. “There was a fire this morning in our main radar facility,” an airline employee explained. He pointed to a long line of passengers and said, “An agent will rebook your flight.”

I joined the line then called Bonnie, my contact at the church. “We’ll start praying,” she promised.

The line barely moved. When an hour had passed and hundreds of people were still lined up ahead of me, I called my husband in a panic. “Can you look into train schedules to St. Louis?” He called back to say that Amtrak was sold out until late tonight. I decided to wait a little longer before opting for the train. I was chewing my fingernails.

It took more than three hours to finally talk to a booking agent, so I had plenty of time to worry. All around me, people were shouting at employees and yelling into cell phones, explaining why they absolutely HAD to get to their destinations. My stomach churned with worry. Then it occurred to me that God was still in control. (I know, sometimes I’m slow-witted about these things).

Did I believe that God had called me to speak at this church? Yes.

Then if He wanted me there, I would get there. And if He had another plan for the brunch tomorrow, then all the worrying in the world wouldn’t make a bit of difference.

When I finally spoke to an agent, I was calm as I explained my problem. “I can re-book you for 10:00 am tomorrow,” she said.

“That’s too late. I’m the keynote speaker at 9:00 am tomorrow.”

“I’m sorry but I have no seats available today.”

I didn’t budge. “I have to be there,” I repeated, still calm. “Can you book me on any flight out then re-route me back to St. Louis?” She explained that without radar, flights were landing and taking off one at a time. The chances of getting on any plane out of O’Hare today were grim. I still didn’t budge.

“Let me look again,” she said with a sigh. I listened as her fingers clicked across the keyboard. She looked up in surprise. “I do have a seat on a flight at 2:30 today—if the incoming plane manages to land here, that is.” I told her to book it.

At 3:30, I was still waiting at the gate with the other worried passengers. One young man was supposed to be the best man at his brother’s wedding. Three sweet ladies from Ireland were trying to get to their relative’s house. A young soldier on leave from Japan hadn’t seen his wife and 4-year-old son in months. He stood up and announced, “I’m renting a car. If anyone wants a ride, you’re welcome to come.”

Maybe this was God’s plan for me. I decided to join him. So did the Irish ladies and the best man. “But let’s check with the gate agent one last time before we give up,” I suggested. And at that very moment she learned that our airplane had finally landed. “But will it be able to take off again?” we all asked. She was reasonably certain it would. Eventually. And later that evening, it did.

The brunch went well the next morning. I testified firsthand that God answers prayer, and told the ladies we should all stop worrying. Then I learned that all of the flights back to Chicago that day—and the next day—had been cancelled. And I had another speaking engagement in Michigan in a day and a half. I guess I needed a second lesson in faith.

Jesus urged His followers to go the extra mile, and Bonnie and her committee members lived out His command. They drove me halfway home, and my husband and his good friend drove the other half to pick me up. We all spent six hours in a car. But I made it to my next event.

Is there a moral to this tale? Jesus said it best: “You of little faith, why are you so afraid? . . . Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?”

God is in control—and I’m not Him.

Fun at the Fair(s)

You know summer is over and fall has arrived when it’s time for the county fair. I used to go to the Orange County Fair in NY State back in my youth, and I remember the livestock displays (and the aroma!); the games of chance where you could win a giant Teddy bear; the junk-food booths that sold corn dogs and funnel cakes and cotton candy. My favorite attractions were the carnival rides that tossed you back and forth and upside down until you regretted eating all that junk food.

I haven’t been to a county fair in years, so when my sister-in-law, Molly, and niece, Carrie, invited me to the Allegan County Fair here in Michigan last week, I just had to go. Everything was exactly as I remembered it. The (aromatic) livestock and produce displays, bristling with prize ribbons. The tempting games of chance with stuffed animals dangling as bait. Are they still “rigged”, I wonder? And the junk food booths! The county fair isn’t the best place to count calories or eat healthy food, but how could I resist? I’m way past the age where going on the carnival rides is fun—or wise. So why not indulge in a funnel cake?

A week later, I went to another fair in Huntington, West Virginia. There were no pigs or horses or carnival rides this time—just BOOKS! This was The Ohio River Festival of Books, sponsored by the Cabell County Public Library, and I was honored to be one of their special guests. I spoke about “My Roller Coaster Ride into Publishing” at one of their breakout sessions. Here are three of my new friends and fellow book-lovers, Ted, Maria and Deborah. Afterward, I signed books.

Here, I’m talking to Vicky Woods, the librarian who arranges to send digital recorded books to the library’s sight-impaired patrons, as part of the Library of Congress’ services. Vicky made my day when she told me about a 90 year-old patron who loves reading my books.

The fair was filled with books—new books, used books, children’s books, non-fiction books, novels—and the people who love to read them. I talked with many book-lovers who have an appreciation for e-books, but we all agreed that it wouldn’t be nearly as much fun to have an e-book fair as it was to have a real-book fair. There’s something very special about holding a book in your hands and turning the pages . . . don’t you agree? I mean, would the County Fair be the same if we were watching the pigs on video screens instead of seeing (and smelling) them in person?

KEEPERS OF THE COVENANT Kindle Giveaway and Live Author Chat with Lynn Austin!

Book two of The Restoration Chronicles series, Keepers of the Covenant, weaves together the struggles and stories of both Jews and Gentiles, creating a tapestry of faith and doubt, love and loss. Here, the Old Testament comes to life, demonstrating the everlasting hope displayed in God’s unwavering love for His people.

I am celebrating with a Kindle HDX giveaway and a live author chat webcast on October 21st.

 

One winner will receive:

-A Kindle HDX

-Keepers of the Covenant by Lynn Austin

Click here for more info:

 

 

 

 

 

Enter today by clicking here. But hurry, the giveaway ends on October 21st. Winner will be announced at the Keepers of the Covenant LIVE webcast event on October 21st. Connect with me for a fascinating evening centered around God’s unwavering love for His people. I’ll be hosting a Biblical fiction book club discussion, giving away prizes, answering your questions, offering an exclusive peek at the next book in The Restoration Chronicles, and much more!

So grab your copy of Keepers of the Covenant and join me with friends on the evening of October 21st for a chance to connect and make some new friends. (If you haven’t read the book, don’t let that stop you from coming!)

Don’t miss a moment of the fun; RSVP today by signing up for a reminder. Tell your friends via FACEBOOK or TWITTER and increase your chances of winning. Hope to see you on the 21st!

{More about Keepers of the Covenant}

The Old Testament Comes to Thrilling Life in the Latest from Lynn Austin

In one life-changing moment, the lives of the Jewish exiles in Babylon are thrown into confusion and despair when a decree arrives from the king’s palace in Susa. It calls for the annihilation of every Jewish man, woman, and child throughout the empire on the thirteenth day of Adar, in less than one year. Ezra, a quiet Jewish scholar and teacher, is suddenly called upon to lead the community as they seek God for a reason for this catastrophe. When a second decree arrives, authorizing them to fight back, Ezra is thrust into the role of military leader as they defend themselves against their enemies.

When the battles come to an end, Ezra’s brother Jude is dead and Ezra is required by the Law he so diligently studies to marry Jude’s widow, Devorah, and provide an heir. Fatherhood changes Ezra, and he asks God to make a way for him and the other exiles to leave Babylon for good and return to Jerusalem. His prayers are answered and the exiles move to Judea to revitalize worship at the temple–but the fight to keep God’s Law is never easy. As more and more of his community are tempted, a new battle emerges…this one for the survival of God’s covenant and the souls of His chosen faithful.

Women’s Brunch – Sept 27th – Columbia, IL

For additional information and to Register click here

Hot off the Press

There’s nothing quite like opening that first box of books, hot off the press. Keepers of the Covenant may be book #22 for me but I still feel a thrill of accomplishment each time I see my novel for the first time. Back in 1995 when my very first novel, The Lord is My Strength, arrived in the mail, I carried it everywhere with me for two or three days. I even laid it on my bedside table at night so I would see it the moment I woke up. I think I was afraid I’d wake up and discover that it had all been a dream! I’m not quite that obsessive anymore, but I’m still very proud of each book, the culmination of more than a year’s work. Here’s a peek at my timeline:

I began researching Keepers of the Covenant in January of 2013. After a year of writing it, I turned it in to my editor in January of 2014. A month or so later, I received a detailed letter with suggestions for changes to consider and rewrites to make. I completed those about a month later.

In the spring, it was time to talk about the cover design. The art department wanted to go with a design that was similar to Return to Me, the first book in the Restoration Chronicles series, yet different enough to make it obvious that this was a new book. After a few tweaks, the new cover was approved. In the months that followed, I received “galleys” with the edits that my editor and copy editor had made. The galleys come in manuscript form and I was given one last chance to make any changes I wanted to make.

Just as I was relaxing at the beach during the summer months, I received the page proofs to read through. This time each page was laid out and numbered the way it would be in the final book. Only minor changes can be made at this point but of course there’s still time to check for typos and other errors. By now, I was well into the researching and writing of the next book in the series—and trying not to get the two mixed! Keepers of the Covenant features Ezra as the main character, and the book I’m writing now, entitled On This Foundation, features Nehemiah. The two men were contemporaries but had entirely different missions from God.

Now that fall has arrived, it’s time for my finished book to arrive, too. Here are some “behind the scenes” pictures Bethany House sent showing part of their process:

These are overlays from the printer’s proofs showing where the cover enhancements will be positioned. Blue indicates areas of the cover that will be matte, and clear sections indicate areas that will be glossy. The areas in orange indicate which parts of the cover will be raised or embossed.

Printer’s Color Proof & Overlays

These are the printed pages of the book prior to binding.

These are the Printer’s Press Sheet of the Cover – Covers are printed 4-up, and trimmed down into single covers later in the process.

And here’s that marvelous box of books. TA DA!

I’ll savor the newness of my book for a while and then it’ll be time to get back to work on the next one. After all, it has to be finished by my January 2015 deadline so the process can start all over again.

Ohio River Festival of Books

Please join me September 20th at the Ohio River Festival of Books! For more info please visit www.ohioriverbooks.org

Into the Past

A huge part of a writer’s job is to create word pictures. We try to describe a room or a house or a village in such vivid detail that readers can see them, too. We transport you there, so you can smell the dirty socks in the bedroom or the aroma of bread baking inside the house; you’re tempted to sneeze as you inhale the dirt on the dusty village street. Whenever I research a story I take plenty of notes and photographs to help me recall what I’ve experienced and recreate it in word pictures.

But I’ve faced a big challenge in writing my latest series of books, The Restoration Chronicles. These three novels take place 500 years before Christ—and I don’t have a time machine to see what life was like back then! I did make several trips to Israel so I could describe the lush, rolling green hills around Jerusalem; the stark beauty of the Judean wilderness; the distant snow-covered peak of Mt. Hermon. But what did the houses look like? The villages? How did people cook—and for that matter, what did they eat?

One of the places I discovered while researching in Israel was the excavated village of Katzrin in the Golan Heights. This typical Jewish town has been partially reconstructed for modern visitors and outfitted with the household items and farm implements that people would have used every day. It was inhabited during a slightly later time period than my books, but it still offers a peek into what everyday life might have been like for my characters.

These are of the remains of the village synagogue. It was the place where people gathered together, studied scripture and prayed. Like most synagogues of this time, it was built facing Jerusalem.

One of the main storylines in The Restoration Chronicles is how God’s people labored to rebuild Jerusalem and God’s temple. This example of an ancient house under construction shows the tools and methods my characters would have used.

This picture was taken inside a typical home and shows the main room, used for living, dining, and sleeping. That platform hanging from the ceiling is where people put their food so the mice couldn’t get it. (And maybe it discouraged midnight snacking?)

This is my son Benjamin climbing down the ladder from the loft where the parents might have slept for privacy.

And this is the hearth where the women cooked the meals. I’m feeling grateful for my stove and microwave, aren’t you?

Benjamin, my mother, and I are demonstrating an olive press, squeezing the oil out of the olives to use for cooking and lamplight.

So, do any of you want to go back in time and live in Katzrin? I admit I’m grateful for all my modern gadgets. By the way, if you want to read my word pictures describing daily life in 500 B.C., the second book in my Restoration Chronicles series will be out this month. It’s called Keepers of the Covenant. I hope you enjoy it.