I post every Wednesday and my sole purpose is to nourish your soul along the way.

First of all, I want to apologize for missing you last week. I was on vacation in northern Minnesota and the internet was down at the resort. I had fully planned on posting, but the forced break from my computer was a welcomed one.

This week I am in Orlando at the giant Christian booksellers convention. Today is my first day online in what seems like ages. In a moment I'll respond to some of your posts from last week (bless you for stopping by!).

Before I get into my topic, I wanted to remind you of a couple of things. Each month I give away a $10.00 gift card to Caribou to someone who posts on this blog. I love to hear from you!

In celebration of my new release, "The Uncommon Woman" I will award a $50.00 VISA gift card to someone who posts in August. Each week I'll post about what it means to be uncommon and I want to hear from you! The call to be uncommon is straight from the Word of God, and I want to hear from you!

Now, on to my topic...

I'm here in Orlando to celebrate and promote the release of my new book (can I just say that this new book is truly the book of my heart?). I'm doing radio and TV interviews, I had a speaking engagement and a book signing, I've had editor/agent meetings, I've connected with a number of my author friends, and I've walked the convention floor to see what new books are hitting the shelves.

Each day I see someone 'famous'. The other day I had an interview right after Liz Curtis Higgs and before Karen Kingsbury. During one of my interviews, I looked to my right and a couple feet away, Rebecca St. James was giving an interview, and Ralph Reed was on deck. Yesterday as I walked onto the convention floor, I looked over my shoulder and noticed Kirk Cameron walking right behind me.

Truth be told, I'm not one to get star struck, but this whole event got me thinking about status and fame. This morning I had the most amazing prayer time in my hotel room.

With the Word of God open before me, I pondered God's greatness and majesty. I thought of the oceans and the mountains and the stars in the sky. He holds it all in the palm of His hands. Amazing. 

While we pine and posture to get our way, He tells us to delight in Him and He promises that He'll establish us.

While we strive and strain because of our many responsibilities, He tells us to be still and know that He is God.

While we are instantly impressed with the accomplishments of man, we often miss the wonders of God's hand.

We love to be noticed and embraced by someone of influence, and yet we often miss or make light of God's invitation to be much with Him.

To think that God Most High - the Maker of the Universe - thinks much of us, is amazing.

To think that the God - the One who is a Consuming Fire - draws us near without burning us up, is amazing.

To think that that Jesus - the King of the Earth - invites us to come boldly and gladly into His presence, is absolutely, amazing. 

May we value the Lord the way He has valued us.

May we take seriously the invitation to be much with Him and trust Him to make a way for us.

May we honor the invitation to come before Him, and do so regularly.

And may we understand in a fresh new way, what it means to walk in the fear of the Lord. 

He is our Friend, but He is far more than that. He is God Most High. He is a consuming fire. 

He is Authority.

He is Power.

He is Peace.

He is Forgiveness.

He is Love.

He is the Judge and He will judge sin and selfishness.

There can be nothing casual about this relationship.

He deserves our affections and our praise, our trust and our gratitude, our reverence and our honor.

He is God Most High and He invites us into a deep and abiding relationship with Him.

Isn't that just...amazing?

Everything else pales in comparison.

Slow down today and ponder what it means to be linked in fellowship with the One who holds the Universe in the palm of His hand.

Have you honored lesser things over the honor due Him?

Reflect again on the greatness of God.

Have a blessed and reverent week.

Until next week~