It’s All Under Control and a Celebration Giveaway

Well, I’m just thrilled for my friend, Jennifer Dukes Lee today! Her newest book and companion Bible study are debuting ToDaY!!!! Congrats, Jennifer!!

It’s All Under Control

I love the encouraging inspiration this book brings. I like how it recognizes the need to live our lives and make decisions and do the things, yet in it all, make time for rest and finding our best and resting in the truth that God’s got it and I don’t have to micro-manage myself and everyone else to death.
I love the encouragement to keep doing the best job at what we excel at and to recognize God is directing us in it all.

I love the real life stories and struggles Jennifer  shares.

If you’ve ever struggled with grasping at controlling everything or if you’ve ever dealt with feeling as if everything were out-of-control, you may want to add this book to your reading list!

I’ve NEVER once in my life felt like I had it all together. I’ve had people tell me I seem like I have it all together, to which I promptly laugh, loud and long!
N E V E R……….have I ever FELT or HAD it all together.
I’m even amazed someone actually viewed me this way. {And I will take it as a compliment, because I would really love to have it all together.} 🙂

And yet……even though I’ve never felt like I had it all together or that it’s all under control, I still fall into the snare of trying to corral everything or micromanage when I don’t need to or stress out because it all felt so out-of-control!

It’s All Under Control is an exhale and a refreshing inhale of a reminder that God’s Got It and while I have choices every day and tasks that require doing and people relying on me, I can keep handing the control to Him, keep remembering Him in the details of living and stay centered in His love and care.

I have an excerpt below from the book; a beautiful story Jennifer shares in the pages.

{And I will be sharing a guest post from Jennifer this week as well.}

An excerpt from It’s All Under Control by  Jennifer Dukes Lee ~

Scott and I had to hang on tight a few years ago when uncertainty hit our farm like a punch in the gut. Four days after my accident on that icy highway, Scott’s father, Paul, died of leukemia. This meant Scott would not only grieve the loss of his father & business partner, he would also care for the land alone. A law-school graduate who had only recently returned to the farm, Scott was still fairly new to the business. Sure, he’d grown up on this fourth-generation Lee family farm. But it’s one thing to haul grain & feed pigs when you’re a teenager. It’s quite another to make decisions about what kind of seed to use, when to sell your grain, & what to do when your pigs-your own investment-start getting sick.
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Paul died in the cold of winter. That spring, we were so grateful for the mercy of God during this trying time. Our crops grew tall, thickening over the rows so everything green was touching. There was something so beautiful & hopeful about that. It felt like everything was going to be okay, even though Paul’s old John Deere cap drooped, sad, on a nail by the back door. .
We had hope.
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But then October came. Not a single plant had been harvested when we awoke one morning to find a thick white blanket of snow covering all the crops. The snow stole the hopefulness we’d felt earlier that year.
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Later that afternoon, a farmer who lived a few miles away tapped his knuckles on the back door. I opened it & found him standing on the doormat with his fists shoved into a thick quilted jacket with a corduroy collar. He showed up at our house on a really hard day, during a really hard year. .
The farmer’s eyes looked softer than I remembered.
“Scott home yet?” he asked.
“No,” I told him. “Still doing chores.” “Well,” the farmer continued, “you just tell him that I stopped by because I want him to know something for certain. I want him to know that harvest always comes. You’ll let him know?” I nodded my head, feeling a catch in my throat.
The farmer had come to remind us, in his own way, what the Bible says about hope in hard times. “At the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up” ~ Gal 6:9

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This story causes me to blink tears. The hang-on-to-hope and encouragement and wisdom of years found in three simple sentences shared by a fellow farmer. This deliberate, intentional climbing-into-a-pickup and taking a few minutes of time to hand out hope from one work-roughened hand right over to the next generation placing his workboots on the bottom rung and beginning the climb.

AT THE PROPER TIME! Hallelujah! Harvest always comes. Amen. Sometimes it looks like 10 bushels an acre with way too much of it scattered on the ground. Sometimes it looks like praise-soaring, bin-busting 75 or 144 or 200 bushel to the acre. But harvest always comes!

And look at the verse that follows Galatians 6:9 ~ Verse 10 continues, “Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially those who belong to the family of believers.”

And sometimes that “doing good” looks like opening a pickup door and driving a few miles to share a few words and stepping into a been-there, me-too moment.

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To celebrate, Tyndale is throwing this great, big giveaway! They are giving away 50 copies of It’s All Under Control!

Enter below to win one, friends, and have a simply gorgeous Tuesday!

{Order your copy of It’s All Under Control right here and keep an eye out……..I will be hosting a giveaway for a copy on Thursday and you can enter it for a chance to win the book too!}

It’s All Under Control 50 Book Giveaway

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