Friday, May 21, 2010

Sistergirl Devotions: Keeping Jesus in the Mix on the Job

Sistergirl Devotions changed my definition of “on the job.” Carol Mackey has written a straight-forward, faith-filled devotion for all working women – whether you’re behind a corporate desk, clocking into someone else’s business, or closing deals on your living room couch as a sistah-preneur. After leaving the corporate arena nearly four years ago, I didn’t immediately think about the work-related encounters and situations that would test my faith. I was about to be doing my own thing. I would call all of the shots, right? Wrong!


Mackey’s personal stories are relatable and she’s not shy about revealing her areas of spiritual growth. It was refreshing to read devotions that not only dealt with faith on the job, but keeping Jesus in the mix of family as well – especially when outside duties call.

Christians realize the importance of the words we speak – death and life are in the power of the tongue.(Proverbs 18:21). Mackey ends each devotional with a simple but powerful confession to set you on track for the day.

Sistergirl Devotions: Keeping Jesus in the Mix on the Job won’t be shoved onto my overflowing bookshelf, never to be thought of again. It will be one of the Biblical resources that I refer to often and this year’s gift to family and friends working the nine-to-five or burning the midnight oil.

** Available May 2010 at your favorite bookseller from Revell, a division of Baker Publishing Group.

Monday, May 17, 2010

Who Speaks To Your Heart?


Devotional Excerpt taken from Ch. 9 of Who Speaks To Your Heart?

God reveals through his living Word that what matters most to us should be the same things that matter most to him. It’s no coincidence that love is the greatest commandment. It trumps all else in God’s eyes. When we love with our whole heart, we are modeling the example set by Jesus, whose life and death were built on this foundation. Let’s be honest today – this isn’t as easy as it sounds. Sometimes we fail to meet this standard because achieving it and maintaining it leaves us feeling like doormats. We feel weak and used rather than empowered and giving.

Add to the struggle of building solid, loving relationships the challenges you may have faced recently in trying to pursue your purpose. Our nation’s ailing economy, disappearing jobs, home foreclosures and personal tragedies have left people everywhere anxious. If you haven’t faced losses, you may be stressed in trying to dodge them.


I’ll encourage you during seasons of turmoil to fight even harder to stay focused on whose you are and on who you desire to be. This is the perfect time to decide, if you haven’t done so already, to make your relationship with God the top priority in your life. Decide to develop a friendship with him, because the bonds of love and trust between friends breed a sense of security that can’t be purchased or manufactured.

What matters most in all we do is finding out who Christ is calling us to be in the time we have allotted to grace the planet. Hours can’t be put on pause and the days of our lives can’t be refunded. It’s important to stop procrastinating and apply God’s wisdom to every facet of your life.

As you learn about and experience God’s love, you become more loving. The more love you share, the more we find ourselves fulfilled. This sense of satisfaction won’t necessarily come in the form of the glitz the world adores, but will instead reveal itself through the pure intentions and unassuming wisdom that only God can provide.

© Stacy Hawkins Adams. Excerpted from Who Speaks To Your Heart? Do not reprint or publish this excerpt without full attribution to the author or without express permission from the author or publisher, Zondervan.


About the Book
With insight, inspiration, and practical ideas in her new book—Who Speaks to Your Heart?—, author Stacy Hawkins Adams shows you and all women—regardless of the labels placed on you—that your best and most important title is the one given by God … chosen vessel.

“I wrestled with whether a God that I couldn’t see or touch would be willing to single me out from the millions of other people who wanted love, attention and help.”

To women all over the country, from all walks of life, this uncomfortable uncertainty is all too familiar. Now—for inspiration, for affirmation, for a divine connection—you have a new place to turn … to this authentic look at what it takes to pursue God with abandon, by acclaimed author Stacy Hawkins Adams.

Offering insight, inspiration, and practical ideas on how to connect more often and more deeply with God, Adams helps give you and women the world over the courage to go deeper and grow deeper in God’s word to hear Him more clearly. Women young and old will be empowered and renewed by Adams’ reminder that—regardless of the labels placed on you by society, your family, your friends, and even yourself—your best and most important title is the one given by God … chosen vessel.

About the Author

Stacy Hawkins Adams is a nationally-published, award-winning author and speaker. Her contemporary women’s fiction novels are filled with social themes and spiritual quests that take readers on journeys into their own souls.

She holds a degree in journalism and served as a newspaper reporter for more than a decade before turning her full attention to penning books, speaking professionally and writing freelance articles.

Stacy lives in a suburb of Richmond, Virginia with her husband and two young children. Visit Stacy online at stacyhawkinsadams.com.

View the blog tour schedule and read an excerpt at http://bit.ly/WhoSpeaksToYourHeart.

From Tia's Pen:
I've been reading this devotional chapter by chapter. I found that it wasn't a book that I wanted to read straight through as if it were a novel, or rush through the pages for the sake of a writing a review. One of the most interesting things I found out is that Stacy and I are (were) a lot alike when it came to certain aspects of our lives -- such as dealing with being a perfectionist, trusting God's wisdom and direction instead of using our "head wisdom"...and some other things.

Who Speaks to Your Heart? has been a much-needed refreshment to my devotion time with God. Of course I love Stacy's novels, but this non-fiction book holds a special place in my heart.