Hey y’all!

I’m in the mountains at the lake. It’s been a good week, but also a weird week. It’s rained. It’s been cold (for August), and I’ve felt the pull of trying to squeeze in some relaxation while simultaneously managing the beginning of the school year and book revisions. As someone who struggles to relax under the best of circumstances, it’s been a challenge.

Then, MailerLite (my newsletter/blog subscription service) decided to randomly send out messages yesterday when there was no new blog post! Do we know why? No. No we do not. Does MailerLite know why? Maybe? But their answer was, “It was a glitch. We fixed it.”

This is where having an imagination can be a dangerous thing. Because now, I want to know what happened. And I’m not buying the whole “glitch” answer. I have a few different ideas, all of which are based on my (potentially erroneous) idea that the people who work there are all computer nerds.

• Someone spilled their coffee and, in the chaos, accidentally changed some code, and no one knew it until all these blank posts went out.
• Something locked up, and they just unplugged everything and plugged it back in (because that usually fixes it, right?), and they reset something that wasn’t supposed to be reset.
• It was bring the kids to work day, and someone’s little computer genius in training didn’t want to be there. She wanted to be at home reading a book. So to vent her frustration, she messed with the code.
• Someone is made that they didn’t get employee of the month, and this was their payback.
• Gremlins.

None of that is the point of this post, but now you’ve had a glimpse into the weirdness of my brain. I hope you haven’t been too traumatized!

Now, on to the point.

I have a newsletter. Many of you subscribe, but there are still a lot of you who don’t.

I don’t usually share my newsletter publicly because it’s for newsletter subscribers. You subscribe, you get the newsletter and all the goodies that go with it.

But I’m making an exception this time. I want everyone to see what they’re getting when they sign up for my newsletters, and I’m hoping more friends will become newsletter subscribers.

And of course I’m sweetening the pot with a giveaway. A big one. You could win a complete set of signed copies of the Dive Team Investigations series or the Defend and Protect series!

You can get entries by signing up for my newsletter, for following me on social media outlets, and for signing up to receive a notice when I update the blog.

I’d love for you to check it out!

Lynn’s July Newsletter

Assuming our friends at MailerLite were telling the truth when they said they’ve fixed the glitch, once you subscribe you’ll only receive an email when there’s a new newsletter or a new blog post.

And if you get random emails, you can be sure it’s not my fault.

We’ll blame it on the gremlins. Or the glitches. Or the little girls who want to go home and read books. Let’s face it, we all get how they feel!

Grace and peace,

The post So…there’s a giveaway… appeared first on Lynn H. Blackburn.

You know what’s true about August? It’s brutal. Every year.

I know it. I try to be ready for it. I never am.

This August will go down in the history of Augusts as a doozy. But if you looked at my calendar, you wouldn’t be able to tell what had happened.

• I went to MurderCon. It was AWESOME.
• Our family went to the lake. It was AWESOME.
• The boys started baseball practice. Their teams and coaches are AWESOME.
• Emma started a new high school. Her teachers and the culture there – AWESOME.
• Our homeschool year began. My boys are doing AWESOME. Our community is AWESOME.
• One Final Breath releases in a few days. Y’all. My 5th book. AWESOME.

Are you sensing a theme here? August was AWESOME! Right? 

Um . . . Yes . . . But . . .

August brought a lot of change to our family and especially to my personal routine, and here’s a fun fact for you: I don’t have a great relationship with change. It takes me longer than your average bear to regain my footing after any sort of upheaval. I get there. But it’s work, and I can’t say I enjoy it. At all.

I’m exhausted – physically, mentally, and creatively. For reasons that don’t show up on a list of highlights, that don’t make it into social media posts, that aren’t shared with the world, August has just been hard. 

But as August bows out and September takes the stage, the thing that I am most overwhelmed by isn’t the chaos and confusion.

It’s the grace.

Y’all. God is so good. In the past week, He has showered me in grace.

Subtle, quiet grace.

The grace of my mother-in-law having Emma spend the night with her. The grace of friends jumping in to help with the boys when I unexpectedly had to pick Emma up early from school this week.

The grace of a friend quietly saying, “The Lord has already gone before you” in some initial moments of confusion. The grace of takeout for dinner. The grace of a friend joining me for a long drive.

The grace of beautiful music and talented artists. The grace of coffee, chocolate, and grocery delivery.

The grace of the postal employee (shout out to Mindy at the Ace Hardware post office on Woodruff Road) whose kindness and willingness to offer a solution to what would otherwise have sucked an hour of my life away, quite literally brought me to tears.

A week ago, I told some friends that while I knew God was in control, the knowledge was all in my head. I knew it. I just couldn’t feel it. And I asked them to pray that the certainty of God’s presence and plan during this season would move from my head to my heart.

He has more than answered that prayer.

He is so, so good.

Let those who fear the LORD say, “His steadfast love endures forever.” Out of my distress I called on the LORD; the LORD answered me and set me free. The LORD is on my side; I will not fear. What can man do to me?

~ Psalm 118: 4-6 (ESV)

The post When August Angst Gives Way to So Much Grace appeared first on Lynn H. Blackburn.