May 2023 Newsletter

May Moments

April showers have given way to May flowers, & I am excited to be enjoying my first Spring season with the bookshop. Along with beautiful blooms, May also brings a few important celebrations - Mother’s Day, the start of graduations, & Memorial Day.

We’re looking forward to honoring our mothers (& mother figures) on Sunday, May 14. What a blessing mothers are! We’re so thankful for their love & influence. In the words of President Lincoln, “I remember my mother’s prayers and they have always followed me. They have clung to me all my life” & “all that I am, or ever hope to be, I owe to my angel mother.”

As you shop for a special gift for the moms/mom figures in your life, I hope you’ll visit the bookshop as there are lots of lovely items just for them - books, devotionals, journals, t-shirts, caps, & jewelry. There’s also a variety of home decor items, garden flags, porch boards, & much more that she is sure to love.

We’re also excited to honor this year’s graduates as they move from one of life’s stepping stones & onto the next. We offer our prayers & best wishes for these graduates, hoping that all of them know how much they are loved by God.

You can find a wide selection of gifts for the grads in your life here at the bookshop, including books, devotionals, Bibles, journals, t-shirts, caps, & more. Such items can help point them to the Savior & can be carried with them into their next season of life.

The month of May concludes with observing Memorial Day on Monday, May 29. It is with deep appreciation & gratitude that we honor those who died as they served & protected our country. We celebrate their lives, remember their sacrifice, and pray for the loved ones they left behind. As God’s Word says, “This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down His life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters” (1 John 3:16) and “Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13).

This month, I am planning to create a permanent patriotic section in the bookshop. Be on the lookout for this, which will include copies of the U.S. Constitution, prayer guides for our nation, & patriotic yard signs, to name a few.

Book of the Month

With Mother’s Day in mind, I’ve chosen “The Amber Photograph” by Penelope Stokes as May’s featured book. In this fictional novel, Stokes introduces readers to 25 year old Diedre Mcalester of Heartspring, NC who receives a mysterious birthday gift from her dying mother - an old, unfamiliar family photograph. With this curious image in hand & with her mother’s final words echoing in her mind, Diedre goes on a cross-country journey to do what her mother said do - “Find your self. Find your truth. Just don’t expect it to be what you thought it would be.” As she seeks to put the puzzle pieces of her family & herself together, what exactly will she discover? What secrets will now be brought to light? How will her faith hold up during this challenging investigation? Will she end up finding the healing & wholeness she so needs? If you enjoy a powerful, suspenseful, and well-written story, join me in reading “The Amber Photograph” this month.

The Little Prayer Box

In the middle of the bookshop sits a little prayer box. An accompanying tray holds a pen & prayer request cards, which offer a place for folks to write down the cares on their hearts. From the start of the bookshop, I knew I wanted to have this box; a spot for people to simply & quietly deposit their burdens, knowing that I will join them in lifting up their requests to the Lord. During the first few months of business, a few requests trickled in, but since the beginning of the new year, the prayer box is regularly on the verge of overflowing. I am humbled & honored that my patrons feel comfortable leaving their concerns here. And in doing so, invite me to join them in prayer. The requests left are, & always will be, kept confidential, but I want to invite the community to be involved. You don’t know every person, situation, or need, and you don’t have to, as God certainly knows. So as you talk with Him, would you remember the requests left in the bookshop’s little prayer box?

May we be a community of prayer warriors, helping one another in this special, powerful way.