Journal Jots – Blog

“Everyone knows the sweetest-smelling roses

have the worst thorns,

so I consider it a small price to pay

for true joy and beauty.”

He slid Marcy a secret smile.

“As long as one keeps his hands to himself,

that is, far from the prickles.”

— Patrick O’Connor, A Light in the Window

Hard as it may be to believe, I am not your typical “girl.” For instance, I’m not big on diamonds, shopping, or roses, and to be honest, I have to be in the mood for chocolate. 

Now … before you quit reading and just write me off, please know that I have mellowed with age and now enjoy shopping once or twice a year with my daughter if I have a conference to go to, am marginally addicted to Hershey Bars, and recently badgered Keith for a new diamond wedding band for our 35^th. 

Although diamonds leave me cold, I did feel it was time for the diamond wedding band since the diamond from my engagement ring fell out while cleaning my house about 20 years ago and I never did find it. Frankly a big, hunky diamond sticking up on my ring finger annoys me because it catches on things and just gets in the way, so I wasn’t overly upset when I lost it. For the next 20 years I simply wore a plain gold band that originally had a pretty engraved flower motif, which eventually wore off. But this year—our 35^th—I went for the gold … uh, and the diamonds … so now I won’t look like bag lady when I go to writer’s conferences. 🙂

And roses? Yes, I suppose I liked it when Keith gave me roses for the birth of my kids and for a number of our anniversaries, too. And, yes, they’re very pretty of course and smell good, but then they die and you have to pick up all the dead petals and wash the stupid vase. And it smells, for goodness sake!! I know, I know … for a romance writer, I’m not all that romantic, am I? 

BUT … I am dirt-practical, so when I discovered a way to make roses last forever, I absolutely fell in love with them! And, no, I’m not talking plastic or silk roses here, I’m talking the real thing, in a very, very special way.

For instance, did you know that you can take any rose cutting—be it from roses you received as a gift or a clipping from your neighbor’s garden—and stick it in the ground and have a rosebush next year? Well, it’s true, and I have proven it over and over again during my former gardening days when I was SO into gardening, that I even won a perennial garden contest. Check out the picture above showing some of the rosebushes at my old house that came from those few initial clippings!!

So today, I’m going to share the secret with you so that you, too, can enjoy roses that last forever! And September is THE month to do this, so give it a shot!

1.) Take a rose clipping with a stem about 4 to 6 inches in length and stick it in the ground where you want to plant it. I have found that the best roses to do this with are Jackson & Perkin’s pink rose hedges, which used to grow profusely in berms along the parking lot where I used to work. I SO fell in love with them that I asked the maintenance director if I could take a few clippings home, and he said yes. So I planted several of the cuttings and eventually ended up with about twelve nice-sized rosebushes in my yard, ALL from one or two cuttings!!

2.) Water the rose stem really well and cover it with a glass jar, stabilizing it with a little edging of mulch around the bottom so no air gets in.

3.) Don’t touch or lift the glass jar until next spring when all danger of frost is past. When you take the jar off, you will have a tiny rose bush that will grow and grow and grow! Easy and fun, so give it a shot! I gave a clipping to a friend about twenty years ago, and check out a bloom from that same cutting that has bred two gardens full of rosebushes!!

You know, if you think about it, roses are a lot like life—at times it looks good, feels good, smells good and makes us happy. But then there are those nasty thorns, pests and fungi that sap our energy and make us sick, weak, and sometimes even die. Which is all the more reason we need to incubate, like the roses above under glass, in the warmth and safety of God’s Word and grace. This is where we can thrive and grow strong enough to handle the world and all its trials, offering the world the sweet fragrance of a rose that lives forever, from this life into the next.

ONE LAST CELEBRITY MONTAGE FOR … A LIGHT IN THE WINDOW!!

WHOO-HOO … one of my VERY creative reader friends, Salyna, put together celebrity collages for each of my books, choosing who she thought the characters would look like. This week is the final week and the featured book is A Light in the Window (September 6 – 13), so check out which celebrities Salyna chose at Kissed Books Blog! Can you say DROOL????

LISTEN TO ME READ AN EXCERPT FROM LOVE AT ANY COST!

It’s Open Mic night at Southern Writers Magazine, and I am up, so be sure to check it out, then head on over to the Take Five section of the magazine’s website to hear me read (more like stumble through) my favorite romantic scene from my latest book, Love at Any Cost.

WHOO-HOO … SOUTHERN WRITERS MAGAZINE “TAKE FIVE” WINNER!!

And everything is coming up roses for BONNIE ROOF, an adorable reader friend who took up my challenge last week to listen to an excerpt I read from Love at Any Cost for the “Take Five” segment of Southern Writers Magazine. Bonnie not only found the two mistakes I thought I’d made in my reading, but she atually found a TON more, so YAY, Bonnie—you have won your choice of a signed copy of any of my books! SUPER CONGRATS, my sweet friend!!

Hugs and Here’s hoping everything’s coming up roses for you too!! Happy Weekend!

Julie

Your will—not mine—be done.

Katie tugged on her final stitch and broke the thread with her teeth,

hoping with everything in her that Faith’s words were true:

His will . . . the path to our highest pleasure.

— Katie O’Connor, A Heart Revealed by Julie Lessman 

I know, I know … I’ve been talking an awful lot about “God’s will lately, but that’s because after sixty-two long, stubborn years, I have FINALLY learned that, indeed, His will IS the path to our highest pleasure.

Ironically, it’s been something I’ve been writing about in my books since the very beginning, making sure it was a lesson the O’Connor family learned over and over again. (Oh, and speaking of the O’Connors, at the end of this post, be sure to check out the final montage that Salyna did for the entire O’Connor clan, which has a different Patrick O’Connor that I LOVE!!). 

Anyway, doing things God’s way is something I’ve believed whole-heartedly from the moment I first embraced a personal relationship with Jesus at the age of twenty-three. Whole-heartedly, yes, and with all of my mind too. But emotionally? Well, I thought so … until I went on my May fast to seek God’s direction for my writing. Suddenly, it became crystal clear that my will was butting heads with God’s and I didn’t even fully realize it. 

Till now. 

Now, I can honestly say with everything in me that His will IS the path to my highest pleasure because God knows my will has wrought nothing but heartache and disappointment. And can I just tell you what an absolute skin-tingling freedom it is to want His will instead of my own? Talk about a spiritual 4^th of July!!

So, how’d it happen, you want to know? Well, it wasn’t fast because I’ve been praying about God’s will for my writing for five years now, both on my own and with my prayer partners. But the will is a tricky thing, especially for Christians because on the outside we are saying, doing and believing all the right things, but on the inside? Hate to say it, but most of us are (or at least I was) all about gritted teeth and white-knuckled grips on the things we want God to do—our own personal “will checklist,” be it the type of job we want, the relationships we want, the type of success we crave, and so on.

Oh sure, I would always pray for God’s will, but deep down inside, I hoped and prayed it coincided with mine and when it didn’t? I was ticked, troubled, and totally depressed, not exactly banner boosters for one’s faith in God. So, as many of you know, I fasted something very important to me—people approval through emails and good reviews—by fasting Amazon and emails for a solid month. At the same time, I read two books as daily devotionals, reading a page or two everyday. The two books were Catherine Marshall’s Beyond Our Selves—absolutely one of the MOST incredible books I’ve ever read and HIGHLY recommend, and Anita Higman’s Where God Finds You, a wonderful daily devotional as seen through the perspective of Bible characters. 

God used these two books to open my eyes to—along with my daily Bible reading, of course—the bottom line in having a solid and joyful faith. Which is?

It’s all about Him—and His will for us—not about us or our will.

And you want to know why? Because as Mrs. Gerson basically said in A Passion Most Pure, God is like Milton Bradley—He made the game of life and in order to win, you have to play by His rules (His will). Not because he wants to lord it over us, pun intended, but because He loves us and knows that His will is the path to our highest pleasure.

Does your faith feel stymied, shallow, as if your relationship with God is a wee bit long-distance like mine did? Then I encourage you to go deeper with a month-long fast of something you love (maybe even love a little too much!) such as chocolate or Starbuck cinnamon dolce lattes or if you’re an author, then Amazon, as in my case. My husband does not like me to fast dinner, and I don’t eat lunch, so food is not really an option for me, but for some of you it can be. They say it only takes 30 days to make or break a habit, and I have to say that in my experience, that has been true. I no longer am obsessed with Amazon and rarely go there anymore, which has not only been SUCH a freedom, but it’s drawn me closer to His will by changing the bad habits of mine.

And while you’re doing your month-long fast? I encourage you to pray about what books God would have you read during that month as far as devotionals. I HIGHLY recommend Beyond Ourselves, but there are so many others that have drawn me closer to Him as well such as The Well by Mark Hall, pastor and lead singer of Casting Crowns, the N.Y. Times Bestseller One Thousand Gifts by Anne Voskamp, or Anita’s wonderful devotional mentioned above. Mind you, they don’t have to be actual devotionals—I generally take a normal book like Beyond Ourselves and read a page or two everyday. Give it a shot—you’ll be amazed at just HOW much God speaks to you and draws you near. 

UPCOMING NEWS!

August 30 – September 12!

WHOO-HOO … one of my VERY creative reader friends put together celebrity collages for each of my books, choosing who she thought the characters would look like. These two week’s featured books are A Love Surrendered (August 30 – September 5) and A Light in the Window (September 6 – 13), so check out which celebrities she chose at Kissed Books Blog!

August 30 – September 12!

It’s Open Mic night at Southern Writers Magazine, and I am up, so be sure to check it out, then head on over to the Take Five section of the magazine’s website to hear me read (more like stumble through) my favorite romantic scene from my atest book, Love at Any Cost. And just for fun, if you can find the two word mess-ups I made while reading the excerpt, let me know through the “Contact Julie” tab of this website, and I’ll toss your name in the hat for your choice of any of my books. Good luck and be sure to check out all the cool tabs at Southern Writers Magazine’s website!

Hugs and Happy Labor Day Weekend!

Julie

“No matter how hard, no matter how difficult, God,

I will always say, ‘blessed be the name of the Lord.’”

— Emma Malloy, A Heart Revealed

For some reason this week, Emma Malloy was on my mind, my heroine from A Heart Revealed. I guess because I knew I was planning on posting Salyna’s montages for the Winds of Change series this week. And also, I suppose, because I was listening to one of my favorite worship songs on the treadmill the other day, Blessed Be the Name of the Lord, something that Emma always does, as indicated by her quote above.

Whenever that song comes up, my heart fills with joy because for me, it embodies my commitment to God, no matter what happens in my life. Which is what Emma does in her story — though her heart is breaking and her life looks bleak, she will never stop praising God. A very mini and very mild version of Job 13:15: Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him.

Matt Redman sings the song, and the lyrics go like this:

Blessed be Your name
When the sun’s shining down on me
When the world’s ‘all as it should be’
Blessed be Your name

Blessed be Your name
On the road marked with suffering
Though there’s pain in the offering
Blessed be Your name

No matter what, for me, praising God in the midst of good times and bad, gives me peace and joy that defies understanding. Like a rush of adrenaline in the good times and a dogged determination in the bad that yes, my God will see me through.

And you know what? He always does. And He always will. Until I take my last breath and beyond, filling my lungs with the sweet air of heaven … and Him.

So, since Emma’s quote above came to me this week, I thought it might be fun to share it with you, along with the montages and other favorite quotes from each of the Winds of Change books. So, here we go …

A HOPE UNDAUNTED:

I have so many favorite quotes from this book, lessons I’ve learned, that I decided I’ll share the background on them down the road in future Journal Jots. But for today, here are two of my favorite quotes from Katie and Luke’s story.

The first quote I like is a truth God showed me WAY back in the early days of my love affair with Him. When I first came to Christ — really and truly gave my heart to him for the first time at the age of 23 — He made me feel SO very special, SO very loved! Now everybody wants to be special, of course, and yet God loves everybody the same because the Bible says He’s “no respecter of persons,” meaning He doesn’t play favorites. But God somehow God managed to make me, Julie Winterer, feel special amid billions and billions of people for whom He also cared.

How? Well, one day He showed me that just like each piece of a puzzle is unique and cut differently than the next, so is each equally important to complete the whole. And what’s the wholepuzzle? His heart! You see, God made me feel special by showing me that without my love, a piece of His heart was missing, a piece no one else could fill. A piece that caused Him to ache if it wasn’t in its proper place, leaving a hole in God’s heart … and in my life.

So that’s why I in A Hope Undaunted, I had Faith O’Connor tell her sister, Katie, that she, too, was special, as we ALL are, with the following favorite line:

“You own a little piece of God’s heart, Katie, like a piece of a puzzle that’s missing. A piece nobody else can fill.”

A second quote I love from that book is just because of the deeper significance in what the hero Luke McGee is saying. The truth would hurt Betty if she knew, but Luke doesn’t lie to her. He reaffirms his love for her and yet speaks a hidden truth at the same time by leaving out one word in his mind.

“You’re the love of my life, McGee—yesterday, today, and forever.”

“Mine too, Bets,” he whispered, then bent to kiss her again.

Yesterday and forever.

And HERE’S Salyna’s montage for A Hope Undaunted, which she already knows I think Katie is perfect, but Luke? Uh, not so much, which she also knows. I’d much prefer to see a young Brad Pitt with white-blonde hair to portray Luke, but I SO appreciate Salyna’s take on each of my characters.

A HEART REVEALED:

You already saw the quote I love from Emma in our header quote above, but here’s another based on a truth God showed me through His Word one day. That, yes, “all things work together for God for those who love God,” but especially pain because it draws us closer to God and teaches us lessons that joy never could.

“No one escapes being hurt in this life, Sean, because unfortunately, we live in a fallen world. But please believe me when I say . . .” Her voice gentled, as soothing and peaceful as the patter of rain on the marble sill. “There’s a great gift in pain.”

And WOW, did Salyna hit it out of the park with Sean and Emma!! You’ll want to be sure to check out even MORE great pix of Sean and Emma on Salyna’s blog today and DO let her know what you think, okay?

A LOVE SURRENDERED:

Well, I have to be honest, there are SO many spiritual parts that I love in this book, but one of my favorites is the moment the hero Steven O’Connor finally comes to God. I swear I shed a tear or two every single time I read that scene, but here’s the gist of it in a few sentences:

He leadeth me beside the still

waters . . .

He restoreth my soul . . .

He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness . . .

“I don’t understand,” he rasped, eyes brimming with tears. “Why do you even care?

Because you are mine, the thought came, and Steven bowed his head and wept.

Because for the first time in his life, he finally understood.

He was.

I gotta admit, I think Salyna absolutely NAILED it on Annie Kennedy and Steven O’Connor for A Love Surrendered, don’t you??

So, always remember that YOU are an essential, critical piece of God’s heart that no one else can fill and no matter what happens, you will always be HIS! Have a BLESSED weekend, my friends!!

Hugs,

Julie