Journal Jots – Blog
Welcome to my Journal Jots blog! This is a broad mix of what’s on my mind, allowing me to feel a little bit closer to some of the most important people in my life—YOU! From news on sales, freebies, giveaways, new releases, and excerpts from works in progress … to my thoughts on my walk with God, daily devotionals, or photos of my family, this is where you’ll find the most current glimpse into my books and my life. I invite you to subscribe in the “subscribe” box on the right side of this page to automatically receive an email whenever I post a blog. Till then, God bless and HAPPY READING!
Saturday, March 23, 2013
T’was Grace that taught my heart to fear.
And Grace, my fears relieved.
How precious did that Grace appear
the hour I first believed.
—lyrics from Amazing Grace
You know, I joke all the time about my colander brain and how my memory is not what it used to be, but the truth is that my memory IS what it used to be—the size of a flea! My husband and daughter claim it’s not so much a poor memory as poor listening skills, which they insist have been greatly hampered by my focus on whatever my current manuscript happens to be.
“Mom, where did you put the bridal-shower list I gave you?” my daughters says.
“Uh … shower list,” I repeat, desperately trying to pull my thoughts from the McClare’s mansion on Nob Hill to our not-so-mansion-like hearth room where my daughter is staring at me, patiently awaiting my response. Which, unfortunately … is lost somewhere between San Francisco and Missouri.
“Uh … what?” I say again, my mental plane just now touching down at St. Louis Lambert Airport, almost home …
“The shower list,” she repeats, fighting the urge to roll her eyes. “The one I gave you yesterday, for the shower at Aunt Kate’s.”
I blink, suddenly back in my hearth room again, my memory hard-drive whirring and clunking to comprehend just when she gave me this shower list, much less where it was at the moment.
She shakes her head. “You weren’t listening when I gave it to you yesterday, were you?”
I sigh. “I guess not,” I say, wondering if I should be happy it’s not my “memory” at stake or just depressed because my “focus” sucks pond water.
The truth is I have only been successful at memorizing a few things in my life—my address, phone #, Social Security #, pin #s, a few phone #s, the 23rd Psalm, and three stanzas of the song Amazing Grace.
Why the lyrics to Amazing Grace, you ask? Well, because other than Jesus Loves Me, it was the only song for which I knew the words when I used to rock my babies in the rocker. I remember soooo wanting to sing songs to them in my low, off-key crooning, but that’s kind of hard when you don’t know any lyrics, so the fact that I did, indeed, know three stanzas of Amazing Grace is truly, in and of itself, “amazing.”
“Mommy, sing “Amay,” my daughter would beg over and over again from the age of two through six, craving the comfort of our rocking song whenever she had a trial in her young life. Somehow, it always comforted her, soothed her, replaced the bad feelings with feelings of hope and peace and joy.
Just like the true meaning of the song itself:
The Lord has promised good to me.
His word my hope secures.
He will my shield and portion be,
As long as life endures.
A few Sundays ago at church we sang Amazing Grace during worship, and all those wonderful memories of rocking my babies came flooding back, bringing tears to my eyes. But it was when I sang the lines, “t’was Grace that taught my heart to fear, and Grace, my fears relieved” that caused those very pricks of tears to swell and overflow, slithering down my cheek at the incredible blessings and mercy of God.
You see, He took a hard, crass twenty-three-year-old woman who hated Him and wanted to burn Bibles and taught her to “fear” the sin in her soul, and just how much it would rob her of the love she so craved. He showed her that true confidence and self-worth comes from living for Him, not for one’s self, and that momentary pleasure—be it success, sex, drugs, alcohol, the occult, food, you name it—would never, ever satisfy beyond a fleeting moment and would, in fact, destroy all chances for true happiness.
Oh, yes, he “taught” my heart to fear … and then He turned right around and “relieved” every single fear I’ve ever had, replacing it with more hope and peace and joy than I have ever known before. Truly amazing love from a truly amazing God … given to us freely via His amazing grace.
Quick … somebody pass the Kleenex, please …
GIVEAWAY OF FIVE FREE COPIES OF LOVE AT ANY COST!!!
“Sweet Thunderation,” my publisher Revell is giving away five free copies of my upcoming release, Love at Any Cost, book 1 in my brand-new “Heart of San Francisco” series. All you have to do is click on the Goodreads link below and enter—it’s that’s easy! Good luck and here’s to a win!
http://www.goodreads.com/giveaway/show/46424-love-at-any-cost
TRIPLE GIVEAWAY—WEDNESDAY, MARCH 26 AT NOON EST:
My good friend Carrie Pagels will be discussing her upcoming e-book Return to Shirley Plantation: A Civil War Romance on Blogtalk Radio and not only will those who call in to comment be eligible for a prize from Carrie, but if you let me know via the CONTACT JULIE tab of my website that you commented on the air, I will also enter you in a random drawing of a signed copy of Love at Any Cost and a signed printed manuscript of A Light in the Window. Here’s the link for Carrie’s radio interview scheduled for noon EST on Wednesday, March 26:
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/gelatisscoop/2013/03/26/launch-party-for-cry-of-freedom
Here’s to an “amazing” weekend!
Hugs,
Julie
Friday, March 15, 2013
Just In Time for St. Pat’s Day …
An Irish Love Story For All Seasons!!
WHOO-HOO … HAPPY ST. PAT’S WEEKEND!! And I can’t think of a better way to celebrate it than with a sale on my Irish love story, A Light in the Window, so if you haven’t read it yet, NOW is your chance!!
ST. PATRICK’S SALE FOR “A LIGHT IN THE WINDOW”!!!
$ .99 for 3 days only—March 15, 16 & 17!
WEEKEND CONTEST — CAN YOU HELP ME OUT??
I REALLLLLY need your help in promoting the sale on A Light in the Window, so PLEASE help me out and spread the word by writing your own FB, Twitter, or blog message OR simply copy and paste my pre-made messages below. Then just e-mail me through my website or by tagging me on FB to let me know where you promoted it — your blog, your FB page, Twitter, wherever, and you will get an entry for every promotion you post.
AND WHAT DO YOU WIN? TOP poster wins signed choice of any of my books (including a signed printed ms. of A Light in the Window for those of you without e-readers) PLUS her choice of FIVE top CBA books from by personal library by authors such as Francine Rivers, Liz Curtis Higgs, Lisa Bergren, Karen Kingsbury, etc. A second random drawing will be help for a signed copy of any of my books so that even one posting enters you to win!!
So … can you help me out?? Then cut and paste the FB, Twitter, or blog copy below or write your own, then let me know!! And THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!!!
Hugs and HAPPY ST. PAT’S WEEKEND!!
Julie
FACEBOOK COPY (or write your own):
ONLY 99 CENTS??? THE SAINTS BE PRAISED!!! Julie Lessman’s Irish love story, “A Light in the Window” is on sale for St. Pat’s for 3 days only, 3/15-17 at both Amazon and Barnes & Noble, so PLEASE SPREAD THE WORD!!
AND Barnes & Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/a-light-in-the-window-julie-lessman/1113768144?ean=2940015926118
TWITTER COPY (or write your own):
ONLY 99 CENTS!! Julie Lessman’s Irish love story, “A Light in the Window” on sale 3 days only, 3/15-17 for St. Pat’s http://www.amazon.com/A-Light-In-Window-ebook/dp/B0091JZXXK/ref=pd_sim_kstore_1
JACKET BLURB COPY FOR BLOG OR WEBSITE (or write your own):
One Woman. Two Men.
One stirs her pulse and the other her faith.
But who will win her heart?
Marceline Murphy is a gentle beauty with a well-founded aversion to rogues.
But when two of Boston’s most notorious pursue her,
attraction, dreams and faith only muddle her mind.
Can the light in the window
illuminate the path of true love?
ST. PATRICK’S SALE FOR “A LIGHT IN THE WINDOW”
$ .99 for 3 days only—March 15, 16 & 17!
5-Star Rating on Amazon and Barnes & Noble and here are a few of the reviews:
— “This is Lessman’s finest work and will hold your heart captive and wanting more.” — Angi G.
— “Any director looking for a good movie script would have their work already done for them. I loved A Light In the Window and couldn’t put it down until I finished it at 5:30 this morning.” — Sunshine
— “I finished A Light in the Window at 1am this morning! Wowzers! What an emotional rollercoaster!” — BizLizy
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Award-winning author of “The Daughters of Boston” and “Winds of Change” Irish series, Julie Lessman was American Christian Fiction Writers 2009 Debut Author of the Year and voted #1 Romance Author of the year in Family Fiction magazine’s 2012 and 2011 Readers Choice Awards, #1 Historical Fiction Author, #3 Author, #4 Novel, #3 Series, as well as Booklist’s 2010 Top 10 Inspirational Fiction and recipient of 14 RWA awards. Contact Julie and read excerpts from her books at www.julielessman.com.
Saturday, March 9, 2013
The joy of the Lord is your strength.”
—Nehemiah 8:10
And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God …
Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths,
but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs,
that it may benefit those who listen.
—Ephesians 4:29-30
Have you ever had to “eat your words”? Trust me, I have, and let me tell you, it leaves a bad taste in your mouth. Oh, yeah, I joked about eating words in A Passion Denied through the humor of one of my favorite O’Connors—Charity—in the following clip:
Katie began tapping on the piece of paper, intent on beating Collin at a new game of Connect-The-Dots. “I say forget him, Lizzie. Boys are saps.”
“Hey, who you calling ‘saps’?” Collin shot her a narrow look. “I don’t see any females playing word games with you. Besides, you’re only ten. What do you know?”
“Eleven in a few weeks. And enough to know I’ll never let some sap boy steal my heart like Lizzie has, even if it is Brady.”
“You’ll eat those words someday, Katie Rose,” Collin said, tweaking the long, blond pigtail trailing her shoulder.
Katie scrunched a freckled nose. “Everybody knows you can’t eat words.”
“Oh, yes you can,” Charity quipped. “Just ask Mitch.”
Sigh. Poor Mitch—Charity definitely gives him a run for his money in the O’Connor saga, doesn’t she? And I’m pretttttty sure those words he had to eat didn’t taste very good, either, just like some of the words I’ve had to eat in my life. Because the truth is—as our Scripture quote so wisely pointed out last week—“gracious words are like a honeycomb, sweetness to the soul and health to the body.” But the bad ones that grieve the Holy Spirit? Uh, not so much …
Those of you who know me or have read any of my interviews know that I’m a pretty honest, out-there kind of person, what you read is what you get. And I write reallllly long books, which should give you another clue as to how much I can talk. But shooting one’s mouth off can be pretty dangerous, because as Proverbs 21:23 says, “Those who guard their mouths and their tongues keep themselves from calamity.”
Ouch.
So, where am I going with this? Well, as some of you know, I have been reading Joyce Meyer’s EXCELLENT book (I highly recommend it!!), Change Your Words, Change Your Life, and a few days ago I read something that was an absolute one-two punch. She said, “Satan wants to steal our joy so he can steal our strength,” which is in direct reference to one of our Scriptures above, “The joy of the Lord is our strength.” Then she follows that up with the 2nd Scripture above about “grieving the Holy Spirit with unwholesome talk,” which steals our joy just like a child can “steal the joy” of a parent by saying something sassy or rebellious or hurtful. Did you catch that? Steal joy = steal strength.
Wait a minute—let me pick myself up off the floor. The very words I speak affect my joy? Which then affects my strength?? So when trials come and I need God’s strength MORE than ever, if Satan can get me to grieve the Holy Spirit with negative speech such as “this situation is a nightmare,” or “I’m an idiot,” or “I hate this job,” etc., then he weakens me? Which, in turn, weakens my faith and steers the already negative situation into more negativity?
YIKES!!
A master plan by the devil if ever there was!
Which means that from now on, I’m cracking down on my words as much as possible. Yep, you heard me—cracking down on complaining, murmuring, gossiping, bragging, questionable remarks, white lies, exaggerations, seemingly innocent expressions like “this day is a nightmare” or “I am such an idiot”—NOTHING that would grieve the Holy Spirit. Because frankly, I need ALL the strength I can get and I don’t want my words foolin’ around with my joy either.
That said … let me just say that this was a “challenging” week, not an awful one. That huge mistake that made me cry is an “opportunity” for God’s power to be revealed, not a disaster. And those extra deep lines under my eyes are “character” lines, not old age.
Mmm … challenge, opportunity, character. All in all, a pretty darn good week!!
ST. PAT’S DAY SALE ON A LIGHT IN THE WINDOW THREE DAYS ONLY, MARCH 15, 16 & 17!!
This is it!! Mark your calendars for next weekend, MARCH 15, 16 & 17, which is your chance to download Marcy and Patrick O’Connor’s prequel love story A Light in the Window for the lowest price yet—only $ .99!!
This book is near and dear to my heart, not only because I feel so personally connected to Marcy and Patrick (whose marriage is based on my own), but because my artist hubby designed the cover and my daughter was the model. So I would really like to share this beautiful story with those of you who have not read it, and this will be your chance for the lowest price ever, so mark your calendars!
BOOK GIVEAWAYS!!
MARCH 6-13, 2013: Join me at Tamera Kraft’s “Word Sharpeners” blog for my article entitled “The Good, the Bad, and the Really Ugly: Memories of a Published Writer” and giveaway of choice of my books. Here’s the link and hope to see you there:
MARCH 10-17, 2013: Join me at Relz Reviews for a character spotlight on Marcy and Patrick O’Connor from A Light in the Window and giveaway of choice of my books. Here’s the link and hope to see you there:
http://relzreviewz.com/character-spotlight-julie-lessmans-marceline-patrick-sam-with-a-giveaway/
MARCH 13, 2013: Join me at Seekerville where you’ll have an opportunity to win your choice of my books including my upcoming release, Love at Any Cost. Here’s the link and hope to see you there:
http://seekerville.blogspot.com/
Here’s to a JOYFUL and STRONG weekend!!
Hugs,
Julie
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