When God Answers

Today I have the privilege of hosting Heidi Kreider as she wings her way around the globe on a virtual book tour. I am so excited to celebrate her book launch and share The Secret of Counting Gifts with you.

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by Heidi Kreider

I sat with 4000 other women. She stood and spoke. She spoke with sincerity and authority... authority that comes from first-hand experience. She spoke of her childhood in Africa. She called herself, "the poorest of the poor." She came to the conference to represent Compassion International. She had been a sponsored child herself. I've not forgotten her beautiful ebony skin and the way she sang "His Eye Is On The Sparrow." 

I came home from that conference changed. I shared Lois's story with my family. We prayed and hoped that through writing and selling a novel our family could reach children around the world who need food, education, medicine, and Jesus. I'm thrilled to say that eight months after that encounter with Lois The Secret of Counting Gifts and the accompanying The Secret of Counting Gifts Gratitude Journal are now available in Kindle and in paperback through Amazon.com. 

While The Secret of Counting Gifts is a novel, I wrote it from my life experiences. I am a wife of 18 years and a mom of 3. I've spent the past fifteen years at home washing dishes, folding clean laundry, blogging, and teaching my children. My days are full of counting grace gifts with gratitude and asking for grace and forgiveness. I am blessed with rich friendships and have prayed more friends than I care to count through the battle of breast cancer. 

The Secret of Counting Gifts is a story about life, friendship, hardship, and gratitude. It is the story of  Kris McClintock and Liz Bower and their friendship that spans twenty-eight years. Through marriage, babies, and infidelity they stand by each other and hold one another up... until breast cancer delivers the final blow. As she sits by Liz, Kris recounts the trials and blessings that made them who they are. She tells their story and recalls the many "gifts" they have been blessed with throughout the years. She shares of how Liz taught her to notice the gifts in each day and to live with a grateful heart. It is through the telling of their story that the secret of counting gifts is discovered...

I'm excited for the release of The Secret of Counting Gifts and The Secret of Counting Gifts Gratitude Journal.  It is a direct answer to the prayers of my husband, my children, my friends, and myself.  I look forward to seeing how God will use these books!  Thorought this month, I am on a virtual book tour.  You can see the stops along the way on my website www.heidikreider.com.  While you are there, stop in and say "Hey!" and register for my giveaway... autographed copies of The Secret of Counting Gifts and The Secret of Counting Gifts Gratitude Journal in a hand-made basket. 

I'd love to hear your story. 

What have you prayed for?  

How has God answered?

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Heidi Kreider is a wife, mother, author and friend. She blogs about life, grace, and gratitude at www.heidikreider.com.

Life Interpreted

We heard a language we did not understand.

Psalm 81:5

Germany. Now it sounds so far away but I called that country home my fourth year of life. To immerse me in the culture and language, my mother enrolled me in all German-speaking preschool. I spent months there telling elaborate stories in English. It never occurred to me that the children in Germany did not speak my language. 


I needed an interpreter.


Marriage. It sounds so familiar and easy. Since the first couple, humans have been freely entering into marriage. I dreamed of becoming a wife from the time I was a little girl and eagerly greeted the day I first engaged in marriage. I have spent years hearing my spouse express needs that I simply can't understand. We do not speak the same language.


I need an interpreter.


Parenting. Now that's something that should come natural. My children were born from within me. Surely four little female beings who bear my DNA will speak my language. The longer I parent, the more I realize I can never understand the depths of my daughter's hearts. 


I need an interpreter.


Are you like me? Do you sometimes wish you could just hit the "translate" button in life and gain the understanding you desire? Do you long to connect with your friends and loved ones at a deeper level? We need an interpreter. We cannot on our own understand the words and actions of others.


Our interpreter is grace. 


Angry words filtered through grace lose their sting.
Tides of emotion sifted by grace land on peaceful shores.
Unmet needs shaded by grace come to light.


Today I will not listen alone. Instead I will invite Grace to hear with me words expressed and withheld. I will ask Him to see with me actions understood and mysterious. He will be my interpreter. He sees what is blind to my eye and hears what is deaf to my ear. Life Interpreted.

The Dance of Grace

Galatians 6:18 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. (ESV)

Music pulsed through the air as God's people lifted praises high and unashamed. Chris Tomlin's simple, God-inspired choruses had 5,000 singing loud and proud. Among the crowd was my little family of six.

As a particularly stirring song played, I watched my six year old raise her hand in worship. Five little fingers elevated to the One who is worthy. My heart beat a thunder of gratitude to God; I was witnessing a moment of true beauty.

With the last notes of that evening hanging in the air, I read Galatians 6:18, "The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit." This is a verse I've breezed through dozens of times but somehow this time the words played a symphony on the strings of my heart.

I saw grace dance through my daughter's spirit with my own eyes. I tend to think of grace like it's an event but what if instead I considered it as the living, breathing work of God flowing in the heart of every believer? What if grace can waltz through my heart at regular intervals.

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving. I find it relatively easy to be thankful on a day dedicated to gratitude but what about an ordinary day of preparation like today? Today I will clean floors, run errands and do dishes. Is it possible to have a thankful heart in the midst of every day life?

The key is to allow the grace of God to be with my spirit. When I sway through life to the rhythm of God's grace, every ordinary act of living becomes an extraordinary act of worship from which flows gratitude. God's grace can pervade my life because grace is not an event. Grace is God.

As you prepare for Thanksgiving today won't you join me in a dance of grace as we worship the Giver of all grace with thankful hearts?

Parking Hope

Psalm 44:1 We have heard with our ears, O God; our fathers have told us what you did in their days, in days long ago.

I showered, shampooed and shaved.  I painted and primped.  I even purchased a new dress - an unbudgeted extravagance.  Something deep inside whispered the significance of this night. I'm not sure I spent this much time preparing for my wedding day.

Why did I walk down the aisle?  This thought flickered often in my mind.  My nuptial dreams turned nightmare and ended in divorce.

Tonight I stood before my full length mirror in black.  I approved of my reflection.  My preparations had paid significant dividends.

I opened the door, the look on my date's face made it clear he too approved of my appearance.  He muttered a "wow" as I gathered my purse and said my goodbyes to my two little girls.

We chatted easily en route to the upscale restaurant my companion had selected.  Even the parking lot looked expensive I noted.

He opened my car door.  As I glided toward the entrance, he gently placed his hand in the small of my back.  Immediate energy pulsed through every nerve.  Was this excitement?  It couldn't be love - a divorced mother of two does not fall in love on the first date.  No this was something different. 

Hope. Hope was what I'd offered my friend.  Now God extended hope to me.  Hope reached down from heaven and touched me through his hands.

I never tire of reliving those miraculous first moments with my future husband.  God didn't give me this extraordinary experience for me to hoard.  The power of a story is realized when it is shared.

My faith grew as I saw God work in my life.  The faith of my children can blossom when I recount God's faithfulness to them.  As far as my kids are concerned, the events of 2002 might as well have occurred when George Washington fought for our independence.  In my heart, they are as real as if they happened yesterday.  That vision isn't taught; it is caught through repetition.

Jesus, may I relive and relay the moments of Your grace both from my history and in my present day.  I tell of Your works so my children park Your hope in their hearts.  Remind me and them how You parked hope in my heart...in a parking lot.

Can "No-No" Become "Yes-Yes"?

Psalm 43:5 Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God.

"No, no, No-No," Hannah (then 2) barked at her baby doll. 

"Why do you keep telling your doll no, honey?"

"Her name is No-No, Mommy.  I'm telling her 'no, no' just like you tell me."

I shrank a little inside.  Could the sum total of my parenting be "no"?  When I envisioned myself as a parent, I pictured a fun parent who enjoyed cartoons, playtime and silly songs.  My heart said yes.  My mouth said no.

Do you ever feel like your relationship with God is one big "no"?  I can relate. Sometimes I let myself get mired down in religion - following made up rules, to be accepted by unpleasable people.

Yesterday someone imposed their narrow views on my husband.  As his wife, I felt hurt, angered and attacked.  Then I remembered the "no-no" snapshot in time.  That day I decided to be a "yes" mom not just in my heart but in my actions.

I don't have to notice everything my kids do wrong.  I don't need to correct every slip of manners or the tongue.  I can choose when to correct, when to counsel and when to give grace.

Religion is a "no-no", downcast and disturbed life.  Relationship is a "yes-yes", filled with hope life.  In close fellowship with Christ, there is freedom and grace. 

Jesus, today I dance to Your rhythm of grace.  I sway looking into Your eyes.  Keep me focused on You and not the purveyors of rules who dance around me.  Let this former "no-no" become a "yes-yes" in Your arms.

Long Term Residence

Psalm 41:1 Blessed is he who has regard for the weak; the LORD delivers him in times of trouble.

One of my favorite perks of Memphis residence is the occasional lunch with my brother.  Today was one of those "perky" days.  I sat at our favorite Mexican restaurant; the site of the famed glass in the salsa incident. 

We were laughing and chatting with the familiarity of lifelong friendship.  I still felt the discomfort of Wednesday's fingernail mishap.   The residual pain lasted far longer than I'd planned.

In between bites of salsa flooded chips, I absentmindedly wiped my eye with the back of my hand.  A single swipe brought instant relief.  There taking a free ride, was Wednesday's finger nail clipping.  I only thought it had been removed.  Instead it spent parts of three days scratching and maneuvering about my eye. 

Some days my life's problems resemble the nail clipping.  I think they're long gone but the discomfort continues.  I think I've moved on.  They've taken up residence.

As I read today's passage, I heard God's encouragement.  When life seems more stray clipping than executed plan, God delivers me.  He is glorified in my weakness.

My tendency to fall prey to repeat offenses.

My negativity which springs out of nowhere.

Jesus, all to often I think I've removed some issue from my life only to find it still taking up residence.  Realizing the nail is there is the first step to its' removal.  Take out my shortfall.  And let me become a long-term residence of Your grace.