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Hello dear friend!

I hope you had a lovely Mother's Day weekend!
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To all the mamas, whether you are a motherly figure by pregnancy, birth, adoption, marriage, fostering, church family, or mentorship — you have made an impact on those you nurture that cannot be overstated. Every act of love and sacrifice you perform for "the least of these" is Kingdom work. The Lord sees your efforts, and He will carry you through. It all brings Him glory, mama. Every messy, wonderful, exhausting, beautiful moment.
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And to those who were hurting this past weekend, whether because your relationship with your own mother is broken, because you have babies who passed away, or because you have unfulfilled dreams of children — I'm praying for you that the peace of Jesus will fill your heart. He understands your ache, and He loves you more than you can imagine. Your immense value is secure in Christ.

In this week's newsletter:

• work in progress updates
• what spider mites taught me about sanctification
• TFC meme of the week
• out of context quote
• my WOR endorsement
• Ripples of Mercy release day

WIP UPDATES: Lost King of the Pattern is with ARC readers, and all three formats (ebook, paperback, and hardcover) have officially been uploaded to Kindle Direct Publishing. Project Needle is with beta readers, and some really good insights are coming in! As always, they see things I don't, which is so very helpful. As for me (and yes, I am a work in progress) — I'm trying to be patient as I wait for the next phase of publishing. Because both book babies are with early readers right now, there isn't much for me to do until June. It feels... kind of bizarre, honestly. Part of me wants to jump right into drafting TFC Book III, but I'm trying very hard to BREATHE and WAIT so that I can focus my full attention on it after Project Needle comes out this fall. I am in absolute awe of authors who pump out like 5 books a year (often with other projects and responsibilities on top it all), but in my current season of homeschooling four kids, doing music for church, and trying to stay on top of the freaking laundry, I'm doing my best to keep my writing/publishing plans healthy and realistic. I love this craft so much and the last thing I want to do is burn out, especially when I have INCREDIBLE readers who are patiently waiting for more!

My strawberries weren't doing well.

As a certified Brown Thumb™, you'd think I'd shrug it off, resigned to the never-ending string of dead plants in my horticulture reign of terror, and I usually would. But not this time. Because this was a plant I'd kept alive and healthy for two YEARS (which is a big deal for me)!

One spring afternoon back in 2023, our family went to the local grocery store for some provision or other, and my husband smiled indulgently at me when I gasped with delight over the hanging strawberry plants at the front of the store, adorned in all their glory with lovely, white, button-like flowers. I knew I'd kill the plant. He knew I'd kill the plant. I knew he knew I'd kill the plant. But the sight of it made me glow like the spring sunshine, so he purchased it and brought it home all the same.

Much to both of our surprises, I didn't kill that plant. In fact, it thrived! It filled its giant pot with fuzzy emerald leaves and soaked up the light from our living room's south window season after season. We were treated to endless cycles of verdant leaves, tiny white flowers, and little yellow berries that matured into red plump gems (which were almost always foraged by my youngest child early in the morning before anyone else was awake — darling little thief).

Then, this late winter/early spring, my precious strawberry plant began to droop. The edges of its leaves crisped to an unhealthy brown, and gross cobwebs stretched over its dying form like a shroud. A quick google search told me it was spider mites, probably blown in on the dry air of the electric baseboard heater that kept us warm all winter.

I scoured the internet and tried every home remedy I could find, and for a few days I harbored hope that maybe my plant was improving! But no. My treatments had simply washed off the webs for now, and the mites quickly began their destructive work again. Finally, after many attempts, I gave up.
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With a heavy heart, I took my pot outside and started pulling the sickly plants out. My kids had recently planted their own flowers in little pots by the windows, and I didn't want the mites to spread and destroy the mini gardens they'd been so faithfully tending. Half of my diseased strawberry plants came out easily, their roots damaged by the little monsters. The other half, though, were harder to remove. Their root systems still seemed healthy, so I cut down the infected growth until all that was left were little stubs, brought the pot back inside, watered it, and waited.

To my delight and surprise (remember, I'm terrible with plants, so this was pretty amazing to me) those little stubs came back to life! Fuzzy emerald leaves began to grow, reaching for the light of the sun from my south window. Not a single cobweb in sight. And I couldn't help but think of the words of Christ as I watched this little miracle of rebirth take place:
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​“I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in me he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned.​

The half of my strawberries that were too far gone had to be removed. But the half that still held potential simply needed to be pruned before they could flourish again. Though my poor little strawberry plant probably found my pruning efforts to be traumatic, the act removed impurities so it could finally grow! We are the same, dear friend — our highest callings and greatest fruits come on the tail end of thoughtful pruning from the Lord. (And His pruning in our lives is administered much more carefully and strategically than mine was!)

This spring, I pray whatever is in our lives that prevents us from growing for the glory of God will be pruned out by the Master Gardener. In what ways are you experiencing growth in your life right now? Or what ways are you praying for growth? I would love to hear how God is working!

P.S. That bent leaf in the strawberry picture? Is because my cat, Vanessa, sat on my plant so she could look outside. She's never done this before; it's bizarre new behavior! Needless to say, I'm not about to save my strawberries from spider mites only for them to get destroyed by a cat. In the interest of protecting my strawberries and keeping my Official Mouse Hunter happy, I bought her a cat tree so she can sit in the sun and watch the world go by. It should be here tomorrow, and my plant will once more be safe from the creatures of the realm!
P.P.S. The cat tree came. She likes it... kind of. She's still parking her bum in the strawberry plant sometimes, though. SOS, y'all.

I was absolutely honored to be asked to write an endorsement for my friend S.L. Klein for the first book in her duology, Waves of Redemption, and I'm utterly thrilled to share that the second book, Ripples of Mercy, comes out TODAY!!

Seven years past, he stepped into freedom. Eight years past, she fell into bondage.

Bartholomew Wilhelm worked his way from a pirate to a captain in His Majesty's Royal Navy. He still proudly carries the mantel to bring freedom to the captives and redemption to the broken. But his was a mission easier said than done, for the elusive pirates he sought evaded him to no end. When a potential breakthrough sends him across the Atlantic, hope flares among the wreckage of their pursuit. That is, until Bartholomew pulls a woman from a real wreckage and is forced to face the demons in his past.

Katalina Corbyn finds herself aboard a Royal Navy vessel with naught but the clothes on her back and scattered memories of how she got there. The journey to Cardiff, Wales does nothing but wake the sleeping monster in her dreams. When the truth finally comes crashing back, can she brave the suspicions of those around her and start over, or will Captain Wilhelm prove to be the ultimate undoing of her fragile heart?

As their fates continue to intertwine, a new startling question arises: Will this journey result in a new bondage for them both, or will the gentle ripples of mercy disrupt the illusion of a fatal future?

About the series: Liberation is S.L. Klein’s swashbuckling duology that combines the adventures of pirates, the horrors of human tr*fficking, and the hope that is found in Christ alone. Waves of Redemption, book 1, can be found on her website, Amazon, and Barnes and Noble.

If you have any questions, comments, prayer requests, bad puns, or good book recs, I would love to hear them! Reply to this email and I'll get back to you ASAP.

Until next time,