People often ask me what I'm working on now. Will there be another book? Both of these questions can be difficult to answer. The answer is yes, I'm usually working on multiple projects and there's always a book being written. There's much more to the writing story of course. I listened to A Circle of Quiet by Madeleine L'Engle recently. Two things from that book strike me as applicable here. First, she wrote about the number of rejections she received (especially for A Wrinkle In Time). At one point, she could have wallpapered a wall with rejection letters. I don't have that many rejections... yet, so there must be more writing and submitting to do. Also, when people asked L'Engle what her next book is about, she stumbled to give an answer. It's hard to say what a book will be about until the book is finished. The twists and turns, the memories jarred, that's the golden stuff of writing.

That being said, I do have news about a project. I've attended the same church for fourteen years now, the longest I've been in any church. This church means a great deal to our family. They let me teach, minister to women and wander around visiting other churches. It is challenging to be a faith writer and a member of the local church. I'm a woman leader in a church with complementarian policies. I'm a writer who pushes the worldwide Church to do better, while loving us where we are now. I'm a presence on social media who works to help believers respect and learn from one another. How does that equate to using my gifts in my Sunday-to-Sunday church?

We've wrestled with that. We'll save those stories for another time. What I want to say here is we have all stuck with it. I've used my gifts where I saw a place to do so. The church has given me a number of opportunities. This summer, our pastors saw a way to make it all work together. I'm going to write an Advent reflection book for my church, who has been gracious enough to also let me share it with my readers. Recognizing my daughter's artistic ability, they've asked her to do the illustrations for this book.

I've wanted to write a book for advent. It's become such a meaningful season to me. The themes, from the Revised Common Lectionary) are rich and the readings powerful. I'm in between projects (although as I explained above, there's really no such thing). It feels like a gift to do this for my church. To partner with my daughter on the project is just God showing off.

Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen. Ephesians 3:21

The advent reflection book is scheduled to be completed by November 28th. I'll be sharing the PDF with my email readers (sign up here to receive it). If there's interest, I will look into ways you can purchase a hard copy. In addition, I'll be writing blog posts with updates and insight into my writing process (sign up here to make sure you don't miss a post). I look forward to including you, and MY CHURCH, in this project.