TILT: Shauna Niequist (& Giveaway)

Today I am thrilled to introduce you to my friend and author, Shauna Niequist. :)

When I first met Shauna in 2003, my life was "full" to say the least!

I was 9 months pregnant, wife to John and mom to Jake and Benj, as well as overseeing a children's ministry of 2700+ kids and 1000 volunteers. Whew! I'm tired just thinking about life back then!

Shauna's husband joined the church staff where I was working, and Shauna and I became fast friends. She was going through an emotional season of change, and I was adjusting to baby #3 while working full time.

Shauna and I spent many hours sharing, hoping, crying, and adjusting to our "new normal". Her friendship was a very special gift during an extremely challenging season.

As friends do, Shauna and I would talk out our hopes and plans for the future. We both shared a similar dream of writing a book. For me, I desired sharing God's transformational work in my life with others. And for Shauna, she dreamed of writing a book of essays on life and celebration and so much more.

I can still remember when Shauna e-mailed me her first essay to read. (I still have it!). It was obvious that God had given Shauna a special gift with words and writing. It was no surprise (to us anyway!) when Shauna signed her first book deal. And I cried tears of joy when I held her first book, Cold Tangerines in my hands!! Her dream had become a reality!

Although our paths don't connect like they used to (I stopped working at the church, and Shauna and her family have since moved back to Chicago), I love watching God use Shauna and her amazing gifts to make a difference around the world!

She recently released another new book Bittersweet: thoughts on change, grace, and learning the hard way. It is a powerful, reflective, authentic, amazing book. Here's a brief excerpt...

"...This collection is an ode to all things bittersweet, to life at the edges, a love letter to what change can do in us. This is what I've come to believe about change: it's good in the way that childbirth is good, and heartbreak is good, and failure is good. By that I mean that it's incredibly painful, exponentially more so if you fight it, and also that it has the potential to open you up, to open life up, to deliver you right into the palm of God's hand, which is where you wanted to be all along, except that you were too busy pushing and pulling your life into exactly what you thought it should be.

So this is the work I'm doing now, and the work I invite you into: when life is sweet, say thank you and celebrate. And when life is bitter, say thank you and grow."

Here's Shauna sharing more...

And now, for the GIVEAWAY of a copy of Bittersweet...

To Win my Giveaway: Leave a comment in the comment section answering this question:

Why would you like to win a copy of Bittersweet??

RULES: Starts today, Thursday, December 2nd and ends Sunday, December 5th at 9 PM. Winner will be posted on my blog the week of Monday, December 6th.

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Thanks for stopping by *She Sparkles*. Have a wonderful, joy-filled day!!

P.S. For more Things I Love Thursday ideas, hop on over to my real-life neighbor Jill at The Diaper Diaries. She's also a fan of Bittersweet ~ and you can read more of Jill's thoughts about Shauna and her latest book here :)