Hosea on my Mind

I am excited and terrified to blannounce (my made up word for blog announce) a new endeavor.  I'm writing a Bible Study.  On the book of Hosea.  Yikes.

I've been curious about the book of Hosea since college when friends would come out of Dr. Byargeon's Old Testament class gushing about it.  There are a few little popular and poetic parts of Hosea that would pop up into my life at various points; interesting, but the book in general scared me.  A few years ago, after reading a popular novel based on Hosea and hearing a verse taught by an even more popular Bible Teacher I felt compelled to figure out what Hosea was all about.  I dove in and was astonished.  Whenever I learn something amazing I want to teach it, so I did.  I made a weekly set of bullet points from what I was learning and taught it to and with the ladies in my Wednesday morning Bible Study. My friend Amanda then encouraged me to to teach it to a group of moms and daughters at our church, so I did.  I just love the lessons in this book from the Minor Prophets (named because of the length of their books not the size of their messages). 

After years of foot-dragging and leadership juggling and LOTS of encouragement from my friends I am finally stepping out of my comfort zone and turning those bullet point lessons into a real-life 30 day Bible Study. 
It's such an exciting blessing for me. 

Here's what my dining room table has looked like for the last two weeks. 

You know I get tickled and roll my eyes at the acknowledgements in a book where the female author (men don't tend to do this) thanks her husband and children for eating macaroni and cheese and pizza while she was busy writing......these are real life authors with important things like publishers and deadlines and editors.  I almost laughed out loud the other night when I was reading over something I'd written....there are no publishers or deadlines or editors waiting on me, and our baby girl came up to me for about the third time asking for chocolate milk.  When I finally looked down at her she was totally naked except for a little green purse she had slung over her shoulder.  I shut my computer down right then amid guilty thoughts of macaroni and cheese and pizza.

I hope you will watch for more news about this book, I hope to have a manuscript submitted by the end of the month and books in hand by the end of August. I'll be posting updates and announcements and excerpts as we go along.  More than anything thanks especially to those who have encouraged me so much in this endeavor.  I am such a scaredy-cat, you all make me feel brave.

“Hosea put it well:
   I'll call nobodies and make them somebodies;
      I'll call the unloved and make them beloved.
   In the place where they yelled out, "You're nobody!"
      they're calling you "God's living children."  Romans 9:25 The Message