No Name

June 16, 2008 | T. Suzanne Eller

Today’s post is from one of my favorite people and most respected writer. Cec Murphey shares a story about his wife, Shirley, and a little girl with no name.

I don’t hear the term, “A mother in Israel” used often these days. It appears only a couple of times in the Old Testament. When I was fairly young in the faith, I used to hear the term regularly.

They referred to a woman, who might be a birth mother, but she was a person who wrapped her arms around others and expressed nurturing, motherly love.

I want to tell you about a mother in Israel. The story goes back to our days in Kenya. After we had been there at least a year and my wife had learned the Luo language, she went to a women’s convention with Africans Margaret and Wilfrida.

After they arrived at Kadem in our VW Bug, Shirley saw a little girl sitting alone next to the outside, wooden fire. Shirley guessed she was maybe eight years old. Her matted hair, dirty skin, and a dress that defied naming the color stirred up deep compassion in Shirley. She held out her hand to the child and introduced herself. (more…)

Facebook Mee Maw

June 9, 2008 | T. Suzanne Eller

I hung out with my mom on Saturday. She’s 70, but pretty computer savvy. She really wants to be able to connect with all of her children and grandchildren, because many of them live far away.

So, I helped her set up a Facebook account. And man, she took off with it. I checked yesterday and she had become “friends” with 8 of her 11 grandchildren. She had already left messages and her wall was filling up with, “Hey Mee Maw!”.

I love Facebook. I love connecting with family and friends and colleagues. I love meeting with someone and knowing what’s going on in their life. No awkward pauses. No “I know you, but don’t really know you” moments. I love knowing what their favorite song or book is, and to be able to celebrate moments such as my nephew, Mitch’s, engagement to his beautiful girlfriend, Brittney, this past weekend.

And I enjoy hearing from you. Thanks for all the Facebook messages. Thanks for encouraging this writer sitting, pecking away on her laptop, her hair in a clippee, still in her PJ’s (it’s raining buckets, it just makes it feel like a comfy Saturday morning, I can’t seem to change out of my pj’s), wondering if anyone out there is reading her books.

Connect with Suzie on Facebook: ID is Suzanne Eller

A long lost friend

April 2, 2008 | T. Suzanne Eller

I love being part of Facebook and MySpace because I connect with people around me that I might not get to hang out with, but also with friends from the past.

Yesterday I received a message on Facebook that took me back over 30 years. It was from Kathy. . . (more…)

Religion book of the day

February 25, 2008 | T. Suzanne Eller

The Woman I Am Becoming was featured as the Religion Book of the Day by Jim Agnew.

Writer’s Block

February 22, 2008 | T. Suzanne Eller

Writing can be a barren place. In 2006 and 2007, three books were published. But they were written in 2005 and 226.

Since July of last year I’ve not been able to write.

Funny, but I’ve penned thousands of words and articles and blogs, but the books I wanted to write? Nada. Zilch. I could blame time, or busyness, or travel. But can I be honest? It’s not any of those.

I was stuck. For whatever reason, the words in my heart just wouldn’t come. . . (more…)

You are the bomba!

February 14, 2008 | T. Suzanne Eller

 This morning I found a card resting against my bedroom door. I shuffled out of the bedroom with my morning non-personality intact. I picked up the card and opened it and the rocking music made my hips start to move.

La La Bomba! (more…)

I just don’t get the Bible

February 13, 2008 | T. Suzanne Eller

A few of my friends and I were sitting around a campfire recently and the conversation turned to faith.

“I just don’t understand the Bible,” one friend said. “I read it. I just don’t get it.”

Maybe that’s your struggle, too. One resource that has really be helpful to me is Studylight. It’s an online resource that allows you to read passages of scripture (it also has an audio feature that will read it to you), but it offers much more than that. (more…)

Christian Book Preview Review

February 8, 2008 | T. Suzanne Eller

From Christian Book Preview

a review of The Woman I Am Becoming: Embracing the Chase for Identity, Faith, and Destiny
by T. Suzanne Eller

Fresh from her ground–breaking book The Mom I Want to Be, speaker and young–adult mentor Suzie Eller offers 18–to–29–year–old women an honest, faith–filled look at the journey to maturity. In The Woman I Am Becoming, she acknowledges the pressure to look and act a certain way, and helps readers explore key questions:

• What is a real woman?
• Where do I fit?
• What should I look like?
• Who should I be with?
• Where am I going?
• What about my faith?

Each short chapter offers words from Suzie’s own story and an application, followed by real–life advice from older women who are still becoming. Concluding questions then help readers make what they’re reading their own.

Review: by Elece Hollis, Christian Book Preview Reviewer

The Woman I am Becoming: Embracing the Chase for Identity, Faith, and Destiny, by T. Suzanne Eller is a book for women in their twenties, that aims to fill a generation gap. Eller reminds readers that life in America has changed with families having moved apart leaving many young women without guides and role models for life. Finding a mentor or worthy examples to follow is one theme of this book. (more…)

Parenting goes on, but different

T. Suzanne Eller

Richard is sweeping the floors. Leslie and Melissa are winging their way here to decorate the house. Today I make several fruit pizzas (to die for, see the recipe below). Tomorrow night my home will be filled with friends of Ryan and Kristin as we hold their first wedding shower, a couple’s shower.Our Oklahoma weather has decided to cooperate, and we’ll host a “make your own pizza” party in the kitchen and on the deck with lights and candles.

The one thing I hoped for my children, besides a life of vibrant faith, was to meet and love someone and to have a strong, loving, fun marriage.

Josh and Melissa have it. Leslie and Stephen do as well. Now I get to watch Ryan and Kristin start their life together. She’s blond and fun and laid-back, and she loves Ryan. She has a southern drawl, “Suhweetheart”, she says to my son. She’s affectionate. She’s smart. I love her like a daughter already.

Ryan is into the wedding as much as she is, maybe more. He’s ready to start his life, especially to say goodbye to five years of living with a host of roommates and to settle down with Kristin. He’s tired of guys who eat his food, dogs who chew the deck, and guys who set the carpet and couch on fire by throwing gas in the fireplace (a true story). (more…)

Tiffany’s Story

January 24, 2008 | T. Suzanne Eller

Today I interview Tiffany Stuart. She talks about looking for love, an abortion she didn’t want, but had, and how God helped change this painful chapter in the story of her life.

Suzie: When you were in your early twenties, you said you abandoned your faith for a time. That’s interesting because there is a study out that says that 86% of twentysomethings leave their faith. What happened in your case?

Tiffany: My relationship with God grew stale in high school. I moved during my 9th grade summer to the desert away from my city and friends. My new friends weren’t believers, or if they were, I didn’t know it. So I had no accountability. No one asked me to youth group anymore. I didn’t really understand what I read in the Bible, and my family didn’t attend church.

So in my early twenties, I worked two jobs and started hanging out with my friends at nightclubs. Going to church after I partied on Saturday night just didn’t seem right. I didn’t want to be a hypocrite. I was either in or out. Out seemed like more fun.

Back then, my view of God was warped. I viewed Him as a punishing God if I didn’t do all the right things. I wasn’t exactly walking the holy road during those days. Who wants to run to an angry God who might say, “Shame on you”? Not me. So I walked away from my faith.

Suzie: What would you say to the twentysomething that is disillusioned with faith? Where do they turn when they have doubts or feel like they’ve failed? (more…)