I met Cheryl Smith around 2014 at her place, Homespun Devotions. I loved her honest conversations about her faith. . . and I loved her bluegrass gospel music. I am always excited when writers in our community compile their work to share with each other, their family, and the community where we walk in the everyday ordinary.. Cheryl has released Homespun Devotions: Volume Three. She surely knows the way to my heart: God messages and recipes!

I took her book with me for a get-away weekend in September. The quiet of Shakertown in Pleasant Hill, Kentucky was the perfect place to to read, walk with the Father, to sit long, pray much, listen long. Cheryl’s book was one of a few I took with me.

As you enter the Christmas Season, having already cleaned up from Thanksgiving, maybe you feel like you’re in the middle of a push-me-pull me situation. Cheryl talks about that, saying, “Remember, Jesus was there, and He knows exactly how you feel.” You might want to stew over that one with her recipe for “Vegetable Rice.”

In “Bird Lessons,” she talks about the Canaanite woman with a demon-possessed daughter, who humbled herself to receive Jesus’ solution–His way, not her way. She asks if we “refuse lessons God is trying to teach us because we don’t like the preacher.” Ouch! How many times do we spurn what God has to tell us because we do not like the messenger? Hard to swallow yet oh-so needed? Wash it down with her recipe for “Must-Go Soup.”

Another favorite was “What Do My Actions Spark?” She asks, “Who am I influencing?” What kind of reaction am I “sparking?” “What might our good deeds unintentionally spark?” Oh, that impacted my day–and my week. Cheyrl’s pancake recipe went with that. All good ideas should come with pancakes, especially ideas that make you leap inside.

This one belongs on a bedside table for guests. Maybe it needs to be slipped into a Christmas stocking for sweet encouragement. Maybe someone needs to be shaken out of a blue funk? Maybe it needs to be opened with a morning cup of coffee.

What are you doing with the messages God has given you to write? Maybe you need to gather them, organize them, and share them! I am so glad Cheryl did!