Survival? Or surrender?

Hello, everyone! Glad to join you to talk about writing and life and the Lord. Lately I’ve been more Nana than writer, as my baby grandson (Caleb) was born two weeks ago. Talk about joy! He joins his parents and his three-year-old sister, Abby—who live just a couple miles away. I’m blessed! I’ll try not to write tons about the baby or post a zillion photos, but I make no promises. New babies are such a reminder of God’s love. “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you.” (Jeremiah 1:5)

I’m Kristi Holl, and I’ve been writing since 1980 and just finished my 30th book. Most of my novels have been for upper middle grade or middle school girls. One book for writers called WRITER’S FIRST AID was published in 2003. My latest books are four devotionals for girls: NO BOYS ALLOWED and GIRLZ ROCK are shown on my website, and CHICK CHAT and GOD TALK will be published in 2006.

I wrote my first dozen novels for girls who never go to church, don’t hear about God or faith at home, and never think of setting foot inside a Christian book store. I grew up like that, believing churches were only for holding funerals. I remember how scary life was, facing problems and pain and the future alone! I tried to infuse those family/relationship novels with hope because those were the kinds of books that spoke to me as a child.

With the devotionals, I changed focus a bit. I noticed friends my age and friends of my daughters were suffering a lot as a result of making some poor decisions. (Yes, me too.) I embarked on a personal quest to discover why I wasn’t enjoying the Christian life. I was going to heaven—I knew Jesus as my Savior—but the trip was miserable! Where was all that joy and peace and rest Jesus talked about? Sure wasn’t real in my own life—or in the lives of so many girls and women I knew. My devotionals for girls deal with their real life issues: being left out, peer pressure, gossip, divorced parents, being overweight, snarly friendships, the parent police—you name it. Life does have some major challenges, but victory and the abundant life can be ours if we’re willing to do things God’s way. We can do more than survive. We can thrive!

That willingness to do things God’s way is the kicker—for all of us, no matter what our age. That stubbornness (or fear) that makes us do things OUR way will keep us in survival mode—surviving one emotional upset and calamity after another. We can’t move forward into God’s purpose for our lives unless we’re really willing to surrender everything to God. Surrendering . . . but that’s a topic for another time!