I'm happily working again with partners I have worked with before.

Shirley Crowder is a lifelong friend. We grew up together in Nigeria in mission houses that sat directly across the dirt road from each other. We were constant playmates. Shirley teased once that the pickings were slim as far as playmates went, considering there were only a handful of missionary families and we children were not allowed off the two compounds (seminary compound and hospital compound.)

That was true actually, and consequently the few of us who lived near each other were and remain the closest of friends.

A few years ago, Shirley and I decided to collaborate on the devotional book, "Glimpses of the Savior" and we soon learned that our writing styles compliment each other. She is great at all that technical stuff that I am not, and I help her wordsmith.

She is a Biblical counselor and leads many Bible studies. As soon as she read my recent book, "Prayer: It's Not About You" she suggested we collaborate again on a study guide. I thought it was a great idea and asked my publisher about it. She loved the idea too.

Giving credit where it's due, Shirley is doing the lion's share of the work but it is based on and uses many quotes from my book.

This past weekend we both attended the annual reunion of the Baptist Missionaries in Nigeria--always a highlight of my year! While there we both signed the contract with Pix-N-Pens Publishing and I am happy to announce that this study guide is set to release in early 2017.

It’s Here!!!!!

“Prayer moves the arm that moves the universe … Prayer is the greatest privilege man can have.”

This a quote cited in the book, “Soldiers of the Cross” by Kent D. Dollar. Dollar found this quote in a hand-written journal from a soldier in the civil war by the name of Edward Owings Guerrant. I don’t know whether this was Guerrant’s original thought or if he had heard someone else say it.

I found the book by Dollar about ten years ago in the gift shop of a civil war battle site just outside of Washington D. C. while visiting my son who lived in D. C. at the time. The book in general and this quote in specific grabbed me. I could just picture a soldier in the throes of war, sitting by himself contemplating prayer and writing about it in his journal.

I can relate. I may not have ever fought in a physical war but I have been in spiritual wars contemplating and journaling about prayer.

For four years, in fact, I did just that.

At the end of those four years I had a manuscript written on the topic of prayer. Then, it took another almost eight years working on turning that manuscript into a book. It garnered a special recognition along the way when it finaled in the 20011 Women of Faith” unpublished manuscript competition. But until now it had not made it into book form.

Today, at last, I am thrilled to announce that the book is finally out! It can be purchased in paperback and will be available in e-book form in a few more days.

Here’s the link: Prayer: It's Not About You 

Through my Kitchen Window

A mighty spiritual weapon or a waste of time? What exactly is prayer? Is it something to be engaged in fiercely as if wielding a weapon in the midst of a spiritual battle, or is it a just a personal practice to achieve a calmer, more focused, and disciplined life? Does prayer really change anything?

Those questions and so many more are discussed inside the pages of my soon-to-be released book, “Prayer: It’s Not About You”. The book does not simply offer one writer’s perspective on the topic of prayer. Instead, it delves deep into scripture to see how prayer is presented in God’s word.

I am so excited to let you know that I am finally down the homes stretch of the publication and release of the book I wrote on prayer. I turned in the galley edits to my publisher last week, so now it’s just a matter of time until I announce that it is released!

What are galley edits? That is the last step in editing a book. It’s when the publisher sends the author a digital copy of the formatted book with each line in the document assigned a number. The author re-reads her book (for the umpteenth time) and notes any additional edits she may desire by listing the line number and the suggested edit in a separate document that she sends back to the editor / publisher.

This book is my Opus. It took four years to write and longer than that to get published. As an unpublished manuscript it was named one of only 25 finalists out of over 750 entries in the 2011 “Women of Faith” manuscript national competition. And very soon it will be available for purchase on Amazon. I will keep you posted! J