A New Devotional and an Upcoming Conference

September 15, 2014



Since July, I've been working on a new devotional book for Bridging the Gap, a women's ministry organization that Kendra, Julie, and I work closely with throughout the year. We've worked on two other books with them, both 31-day devotionals that included some of my favorite writers: Jen Hatmaker, Susie Larson, Michaela Evanow.

Despite the mad rush of emails and submissions and endless editing, I love the privilege -- and challenge -- of glimpsing the hearts of women who are brave enough to share their stories with others.

Here's a devotional I personally wrote for the Flourish devotional, privately published this past spring:

Flourishing in Joy

We found my sister’s journals after her death, tucked in a bookshelf corner in the office she spent time dreaming in. Endlessly innovative, she spent hours haunting HomeGoods and perusing décor magazines, the journals yet another outlet for her creativity.

When she got breast cancer at age 23, we were stunned but undaunted. She was a young, glowing mother -- invincible. But as it re-emerged time and again to wrack her fatigued body, stealing her hair and vitality and lengthening her hospital visits, it was harder to hope.

When she died at 28, a part of me did, too. But buried treasure in the form of her journal, written during the desperate days of her cancer journey, gave me reason to hope again:

“So, how am I emotionally? Well, I choose to have peace. I choose to have joy. And you know what? You can have what you choose. My life is filled with joy, peace, love and usually, patience. He is faithful. My God is faithful.”


In the midst of her pain and confusion over God’s purposes, she chose joy. What circumstances do you need to claim joy in?


“So with you: Now is your time of grief, but I will see you again and you will rejoice, and no one will take away your joy.” John 16:22


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Our newest devotional is called "Words Matter," and it will be available at BTG's upcoming conference, held October 10-11, at Lake Geneva Christian Center in Alexandria, MN. If you're interested in more information about the conference, go here. We'd love to see you there!









Today we're linking up with Sybil for Make a Difference Monday.

1 comment

  1. Kristin,
    Smashing write.

    Could you drop me an email when you get a chance? AmyLSullivan12@gmail.com. I'm not sure what your schedule is like, but I think this post is beautiful, and I'd love to see if I can talk you into doing a guest post for me at my place. AmyLSullivan.com.

    PS Found you guys through Sybil's MADM. Thanks.

    ReplyDelete