Kristin Hill Taylor

Seeking God as the Author of Every Story

One-full-hand years old

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This girl is really into birthdays — hers and others. She loves a party and loves a crowd of people. So far she’s invited her entire soccer team, probably her preschool class, and the pool guy to her party. I hope she’s not disappointed tomorrow when it’s a mostly family party, thanks to the ever-changing response to the coronavirus. 

Rachel has told people she’s “this many” and holds up one hand with all five fingers up. She acts like she doesn’t know that’s five, but then she will see a 5 in a book or on a sign and say that’s how old she will be on her birthday. 
She has a million questions for anyone who will listen. Just the past few days: She’s asked the Kroger bagger how the virus started. I’ve explained extended family relationships several times. Her question about the purpose of a belly button led to a brief adoption conversation. 

Obviously, she’s the possibly the most extroverted person in our family, only maybe behind her dad. So join me as I continue celebrating my girl with my traditional birthday letter:

Rachel,

You’re the joy our family didn’t know we needed. We wanted you before we knew about you, cared for your birth mom in every way we could while she carried you, and know joy more because of you. You make life more fun, bedtime longer than it needs to be, and any ordinary day like a party.

You love all things pink, so much so you convinced your parents and sister to paint your room pink this past spring. Nobody knew it would take four coats of bright pink to cover the mint green. You remember so many words to songs, especially from the first Frozen movie but also from whatever is on the radio. You socialize while playing soccer, going to preschool at the big kids’ school, and wherever else we go. 

You love chocolate milk, jumping on the trampoline, princesses, mermaids, unicorns, and your brother and sister. For a couple of years now, you’ve proclaimed you’re going to marry our family friend Isaac, although he’s quite unsure of the future plan. Regardless of what happens with him, I have no doubt everyone you meet will be better off because you love well and fully. 

We love to celebrate you — especially when you are one-full-hand years old. 

Love, Momma

Bringing Home More Than Groceries

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Y’all, meet “Bringing Home More Than Groceries.” I’m breathing a deep sigh of relief that today is here and this is ready for you. I’m also a little nervous as I bare more of my soul to the world. Of course, I want to celebrate too!  

After years of writing and thinking about this book that has morphed from one thing into something else, I finished it while people were socially distant from each other. Talk about irony. But those months at home with a smaller-than-usual community have convinced me more than ever of the importance of this message. I believe in it, and I’m grateful for your support along the way. 

Join me in the grocery store, around tables with friends, and on her beloved porch where she loves to gather people. When I grocery shop, I bring home more than bags filled with cheese, fruit, eggs, and ice cream. There are life lessons, preparations for meals that create meaningful connections, and glimpses of my children as they become who they’re created to be.

Sometimes hospitality is flinging the doors to your home and life wide open for others to enter. Other times it means accepting invitations elsewhere because God has something for you there. Like everything in life, hospitality has seasons. What we do, what we eat, what’s on sale at the grocery, where we go, who comes with us all vary depending on circumstances and seasons – and through it all hospitality is love in action.

Of course, I couldn’t write a book about hospitality with some help from my friends! In “Bringing Home More Than Groceries: Stories About Gathering & Nourishing People,” you’ll also hear stories of hospitality and community from twenty-one of my real-life friends. Come on into the grocery store, in the kitchen, and on the porch where we learn how hospitality heals, nourishes, celebrates, and supports. 

I have a beautiful new landing page for this book, thanks to Mandy Roberson Media. Mandy, Traci, and Amy did a wonderful job bringing together what I saw in my head to paper and the screen. On the book page, you can find a sample chapter, hospitality resources, endorsements, and a playlist. You can buy the book on Amazon ($11.99 paperback; $6.99 Kindle) or from me directly ($10 paperback for local purchase plus $5 if shipped).

Giveaway!

And what’s a celebration without a gift? That’s right! I have a stack of goodies for one of you. Just look at what you’ll win!

  • Your own copy of “Bringing Home More Than Groceries”
  • $25 Walmart card
  • Paperback copy of “Practice Hospitality,” a devotional by Christen Price
  • Anchored Women meal planner PDF from Kayse Pratt
  • Package of 50 paper plates
  • 48 plastic forks and 48 plastic spoons
  • Ghirardelli brownie mix
  • Pioneer Woman set of three mini spatulas
  • Two regular-sized spatulas
  • Travel hand sanitizer
  • Two vinyl tablecloths

The giveaway is open to U.S. residents between now and Monday, Sept. 14. I will randomly choose a winner the following day. Use the Rafflecopter widget below to enter to win.

Enter More Than Groceries giveaway here!

I hope you are encouraged by these stories about hospitality, about love in action. And I hope you’ll swing your own doors and heart open to others, accept invitations from others, and recognized we truly are better together.

Take Back Your Life

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I’m about a week into “Take Back Your Life: A 40-Day Interactive Journey to Thinking Right so You Can Live Right,” a new devotional from pastor Levi Lusko. It’s written like bible-based pep talks and has already prompted lots of thoughts in my mind and journal. I suppose that’s the point – and I’ve still got 34 days left to go!

I especially loved Day #5, “If You Say So.” Lusko writes about how God spoke the world into being in Genesis 1 and then how God spoke himself into the world when the Word became flesh with Jesus, who is the living Word. Words matter. And the ways Lukso ties that simple philosophy to transformation is powerful. 

We have a similar power of speech because we are made in God’s image, so what we say about something matters. We feel about situations and circumstances what we speak about them.

“Your words can unlock a life of love or one you loathe. It is up to you whether the self-fulfilling prophecies you articulate become a delight or a dungeon.” – Levi Lusko in “Take Back Your Life”

He concludes each chapter with a “Breathe, Think, and Live” section with questions and suggestions. From Day #5, I have found myself thinking about this one: When have you noticed yourself using words to hurt, tear down, or complain about yourself in your day-to-day life? What would it mean to use them to build and heal in those areas? Of course, then I think about my words to myself, to others (especially my kids!), and about circumstances out of my control. The ripple effects with words are vast and lasting.

About the book

Every person has a mission and a God-given potential to impact the world, whether they recognize it or not. But life presents challenges and traps us in a helpless, hopeless loop of anxiety and fear.

In “Take Back Your Life,” a blend of bestselling books “Through the Eyes of a Lion” and “I Declare War,” pastor Levi Lusko leads readers on an interactive journey to take back your life. With biblical truth and perspective, this step-by-step journaling process will help you get out of your own way by learning to think right so you can live right, find purpose by discovering that God will do great things with your imperfect progress, and learn that your pain is not an obstacle to being used by God but an opportunity to be used like never before.

This is more than a book; it’s an intimate self-analysis tool that will help you recognize what’s weighing you down or holding you back, and equip you to embrace it head-on as you become the best version of yourself. Start thinking right, so you can live right.

This 320-page hardcover book is published by Thomas Nelson (Aug. 4, 2020).

Find free downloads, an online Bible study, and other resources at the book’s website.

I was glad to download the Take Back Your Life guide for Kids: “The Me I Was Born to Be!” I’ve got this ready to go so my eighth-grade girl can read aloud during our morning ride to school. I’m hoping for good discussions with my kids who are 13, 10, and almost 5.

This guide is a four-day devotional that will help you kids grow in confidence and adjust their thinking to set them up for success. It’s a tool kit that will be the perfect conversation starter for you and your kids — and especially in this season of uncertainty and loneliness, it will help you explore together what it looks like for them to bravely step into the victorious life God has been dreaming of for their futures.

This free bonus resource includes four days of devotional content that corresponds with days of “Take Back Your Life,” lunch box notes to print out and send with your kids lunch to brighten their day, a worksheet to help kids work through their emotions, and reminder cards to print out to encourage the whole family. (Get it here!)

About the author

Levi Lusko is the founder and lead pastor of Fresh Life Church located in Montana, Wyoming, Oregon, and Utah. He is the bestselling author of “Through the Eyes of a Lion,” “Swipe Right,” and “I Declare War.” Levi also travels the world speaking about Jesus. He and his wife, Jennie, have one son, Lennox, and four daughters: Alivia, Daisy, Clover, and Lenya, who is in heaven. 

Giveaway

And there’s a copy for one of you! Use the Rafflecopter widget below to enter to win. I’ll randomly choose a winner on Tuesday, Sept. 1.

Enter giveaway here!

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Many thanks to Propeller Consulting and Harper Collins Christian Publishing for providing two copies of “Take Back Your Life” for me to review and share with you in exchange for this review. Choice of winners and opinions are 100 percent my own and not influenced by monetary compensation.