An exciting morning for me! The two advance copies of my new book, My Heart Overflows, arrived in the post! The others are en route to NZ on a ship, due to arrive June 7th. It will be available for purchase on my online store then. The book is a daily devotional. I’ll paste the preface below so you can get a feel of the book.
Preface
I wrote this devotional as a young woman in my twenties over a period of a few years. I later gave it to my husband Chris on our wedding day. Then last year I read a verse from Jeremiah which leapt out at me with a compelling message:
Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, “Write in a book all the words I have spoken to you.” —Jeremiah 30:2 NIV. I immediately thought of this manuscript.
So here it is, just as I wrote it many years ago. My daughter Katie has lovingly transposed the original hand–written document into a typed version, and I’ve done some light editing. I’ve resisted the temptation to replace some of its entries with thoughts and wisdom from later years. I wanted to keep it as it originally was— the heartfelt musings and yearnings of a young woman whose greatest desire was to love the Lord with all her heart and soul and mind. It traces my struggles and pain after a broken relationship, the everyday challenges and joys of youth, and my call to the mission field.
I was an avid reader in my twenties and because of that there are many quotes in this devotional, most of them from Christian classics. I have always loved reading the journals and life stories of fellow believers. They have inspired and challenged me no end, and the wonderful thing is that their wisdom is still relevant even after hundreds of years. I realise that some of you may not have heard of such people as George Matheson and Samuel Rutherford, but perhaps the quotes from their books will introduce some of you to their writing. I hope so!
I’ve enjoyed retracing my pilgrimage as a young girl and feel inspired to continue my journey of faith. I hope and pray that the scriptures and thoughts written here will comfort, encourage and inspire you on your own pilgrimage.
Rosie
Ten years ago when I was in America, I visited Focus on the Family and saw their huge shop filled with books. Rather intimidating for a new author! That night before I sang at the women’s conference another lady did an item first. Her song told the story of a young boy eager to go and hear the preacher from Galilee…his mother packed him a small lunch in a brown paper bag and the boy joined the multitudes that had gathered to hear Jesus speak. Later, when the crowd was hungry, the boy offered his small insignificant lunch to Jesus. Jesus took it, blessed it and fed the multitude. I cried as she sang, because I felt just like the boy in her story. My new book seemed so small and insignificant. But I knew then that if I offered it to Jesus, he would take it and bless it and use it to nourish and bless as many people as he chose. On the way home I told my host about it, and said that I was going to put my book in a brown paper bag and dedicate it to the Lord. Half an hour later I noticed a brown paper bag had been slipped under my door. Since then, I have put each new book in a brown paper bag and dedicated it to Jesus. I have just done that this morning, with the prayer that He will use this new book to bless and feed many people.
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