Note: This blog post is a bonus devotion celebrating the launch of Janet’s new book Between the Valley and the Mountaintop: Glimpses of God in the Middle Places
Going through the process of identifying my audience – my reader – I kept thinking it was everyone. “NO Janet – keeping searching” I was told. “This book may meet many at some point and bless them, but who is your specific audience?”
I connect with more women, but keep reading guys! You are welcome here too. “Not narrow enough – still” they said. (Guys still welcome!)
I worked through every story one more time and there I met them – the people who look a lot like me. And I know, I’m not alone on this path. These are not telling you how to “get over it” stories – these stories invite you into my adventures, experiences and my journey through grief in death, divorce, addiction and mental illness in our family.
Many travel with me but often our heads are hung, gazing at the ground, alone and lonely, walking with blinders beside our eyes, not seeing the fellow travelers shuffling alongside us. My journeys have taken me to the high mountain peaks, the below sea level paths, the badlands and deserts, fording rivers and being lost in the forests. But, most of all my journey is about moving – moving and learning with God as my Guide.
In the process of moving, I find scriptures like this that encourage me.
“…and giving joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of his holy people in the kingdom of light. For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.” Colossians 1:12-14 (NIV)
Experiencing God’s forgiveness empowers us to extend forgiveness to the world we live in and we experience a freedom we never before knew.
This post is being hosted by my friend Elizabeth Vinturella. Click here to join me over at her site to read the rest of the post.
Janet recently published her first book: Between the Valley & the Mountaintop, Glimpses of God in the Middle Places.
So much of life is spent in those “between” places. Janet has combined her love for photography and gift of noticing beauty in the journey into this dynamic devotional-style message. Janet transparently shares about how she saw glimpses of God in the triumphs, trials and everything in between.
Follow Janet’s story and her amazing photos on Facebook or Instagram.