Unexpected detours. They happen. Handling those detours, that's where integrity and character get to fiddle around with your psyche. Detours show you a little unexpected adventure, allowing room for discovery, growth, and thrill.

And for the past year, I have been on a detour. Exploring, wallowing, pondering, waiting. However, the time has finally arrived for movement, growth, change, and action.

Adventure awaits.

The Alliance Series will be releasing one book at a time, beginning with Insurrection on January 28th, 2023. The series has gone through a rebranding process with unified cover designs, fresh edits, and availability in a myriad of stores. Whether you read ebooks or print, you can grab your own copy of the Alliance series, beginning with Book One, Insurrection.

I am thrilled to see these books moving forward onto bookshelves. The series will flow together more seamlessly, with purposeful design choices on the covers, spines, and even internally on the pages. And you won't have to wait too long to grab the entire series, with a new title included.

Strange noises.
Dazzling beaches.
A secret military base.

And no regrets.

One of my favorite things about growing as a writer is seeing how it all started and where we are now. Saylor's voice began young, intentionally, and as I have grown and purposefully improved my writing skills, so has Saylor and her band of faithful friends and their voices. These books adventure along with Saylor and the Alliance Military Guardsmen as they experience their own road blocks, closed doors, and open pathways.
Sometimes a detour is just the direction you needed to take.

To see more information or pre-order your copy, click here:
https://books2read.com/u/49VD9J

Or click INSURRECTION

Fear.
 
We all do live with such great fear, whether it’s, “What if the chicken doesn’t thaw out in time for dinner?” up to, “Could this chicken be my last meal?” Fear of not being able to pay the bills, of driving down the road, of not having a good enough budget to last for the month, of screwing up our children, of losing someone or something very dear.
 
We are all affected by Fear, and we are called, especially us Christ-followers, to live outside of fear, outside of the boundaries we can see in this world.
 
In Esther 4 we read:
Hathach went back and reported to Esther what Mordecai had said. 10 Then she instructed him to say to Mordecai, 11 “All the king’s officials and the people of the royal provinces know that for any man or woman who approaches the king in the inner court without being summoned the king has but one law: that he be put to death. The only exception to this is for the king to extend the gold scepter to him and spare his life. But thirty days have passed since I was called to go to the king.”
 12 When Esther’s words were reported to Mordecai, 13 he sent back this answer: “Do not think that because you are in the king’s house you alone of all the Jews will escape. 14 For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father’s family will perish. And who knows but that you have come to royal position for such a time as this?”
 15 Then Esther sent this reply to Mordecai: 16 “Go, gather together all the Jews who are in Susa, and fast for me. Do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. I and my maids will fast as you do. When this is done, I will go to the king, even though it is against the law. And if I perish, I perish.”
 
In Esther’s roundabout conversation with her uncle Mordecai, she began as a hesitant woman who said she could be put to death if she went to the King, who then gathered the courage to say, well, I need to do what I need to do, and if I die, I die.
 
Most of us don’t live with this as a daily factor.
 
Well, I’ve got to go to Walmart. And if I die, I die.
Well, it’s time to go work out. And if I die, I die.
 
Living with a sense that at any moment something terrible can happen to you is no way to live. That is allowing in a darkness that has no authority to be present. BUT things happen. Sin is present in the world. You get in so many car accidents and you get nervous when that car inches closer behind you or that other car runs that red light. There have been several deaths in my family and among friends from cancer that I have really started questioning what the heck we’re doing to cause such damage to ourselves. But can we live like that? Can we live in fear of car accidents, disease, a crumbling economy, global crisis, Slow Moving People Day at Walmart? No. It will dissolve the trust in that firm foundation under our feet.
 
Beth Moore said in an Esther Bible study video, “What if something happens? If _________, then _________.”
 
What if you lose your job? What if your child grows ill? What if there is a tornado and we lose the house? What if……? Moore went through the stages of a hypothetical infidelity. Think about it. How would you first react? What would you do? Be mad. Be really mad. And then? Be sad. And then? She said, “Then I’d lay on the floor with my Bible over my face.” I chuckled at that. But think about the stages. She said then she’d go back to teaching Bible studies (and that she’d probably still be mad and take it out on studiers by giving a lot of homework) but then she would still eventually get back to God. That what’s left at the end of our loss, our grief, our complaining, our anger, our angst, our chocolate binges, our giving up… is God. He’s there all along, of course, but at the end of all of it, is just a shedding of layers to reach the final heart of the matter, that God is all we really have. We don’t have insurance, we don’t have a nice car, we don’t have the clothes on our backs. Even if the world crumbles underneath, God is there. Even if we don’t think we can pay for groceries, God is there. Even if we have no more ability or motivation to give, God is there. If _________, then  God .
 
The LORD will fulfill his purpose for me;
your love, O LORD, endures forever--
do not abandon the works of your hands.
Psalm 138:8
 
The eternal God is your refuge,
and underneath are the everlasting arms.
Deuteronomy 33:27a
 
Before the mountains were born
or you brought forth the earth and the world,
from everlasting to everlasting you are God.
Psalm 90:2
 
The LORD himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.
Deuteronomy 31:8
 
 
From these few verses alone, we see the concrete fact that God is, has been, and always will be there, unshakeable, almighty, and the author of our faith. And so we establish God’s persona. Now, how about us? We are shaken, poor, and unable? Often misguided, feeble, and unworthy. However, those of us who trust His Word, and hold to his hope, are this:
 
But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.
1 Peter 2:9
 
(God) who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood, 6 and has made us to be a kingdom and priests to serve his God and Father…
Revelation 1:6
 
You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals,
because you were slain, and with your blood you purchased men for God
from every tribe and language and people and nation.
10 You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God,
and they will reign on the earth.
Revelation 5:9-10
 
The kingdom of God does not come with your careful observation, 21 nor will people say, ‘Here it is,’ or ‘There it is,’ because the kingdom of God is within you.
Luke 17:20-21
 
So there you are. Even if we overspend on cheese or buy the wrong car warranty package, can’t figure out why the computer won’t turn on, or if we sit on a retainer, shred the wrong document, or are overheard dispersing judgments on a sister…. We are the children of the Most High King. We are his priests, his kingdom, his bloodline.
 
Do we cower in fear of tomorrow or do we live, “beyond the casket, all the way into the kingdom”? I think our lives may all change if we step into this reality instead of the one we can see. Sometimes we can’t see God’s love, but he is within and around us. Sometimes we can’t see his exact arms holding us, but he places people in our lives to embrace us or simply call to shake out that dark reverie. Moore also said that, “we won’t ever be in a situation where God doesn’t offer us his presence and to give courage. Courage is not the absence of fear, but the knowledge that there is something much more important at stake.”
 
We all have our challenges, our callings, our individual stories to live out. We are created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. Quite often those “to do” lists are challenging, and sometimes we are so exhausted we don’t want to even get out of bed. But take heart. He has overcome exhaustion. He has overcome the world. He has overcome fear, loss, hurt, grief, anxiety, and anger. Take heart. Take courage.
 
If it is starting over,
if it is eating less sugar,
moving to a new place,
making new friends,
not tearing out your hair when the baby poops in the bathtub again,
getting dressed,
learning to rely on His Strength,
… then we are able to do it, because He is there.
 
My doctor informed me years ago during a sonogram-- “It looks like you will be having a girl,” he said, watching the monitor next to me, “but don’t paint the walls pink.” Sort of anti-climactic, don’t you think? There is such a big push to “know” what your baby is going to be. Everyone gets all excited as you go to the office, the suspense building that finally, finally, you can find out pink versus blue, purple versus green, and fill the room with baby dolls and lace or dinosaurs and cars. And my doc said, “But don’t paint the walls pink.” Hey, thanks. Thanks for that not-so-pivotal answer. My anticipation balloon warped and winced, flopping down on the floor as the doctor handed me a wipe to clean off my stomach.
 
Our faith, our existence, our calling, is based on a firm foundation. We can most definitely paint our walls. We can line the curtains with purple ruffles and hot glue sequins all over the picture frames because we are His. And he is there.
 
Fear is that burst balloon, insinuating that we just might wait to celebrate because you never know if or when or what might come upon the next footfall. So this is the challenge: to paint our walls as vibrantly as we can, and to dwell in the shadow of the Almighty. Instead of hesitating upon that impending confrontation, stand firm and to throw back our shoulders.
 
Then     God     .


*****
Coming soon, I have some exciting news. Stay tuned.