Emanuel, God with us.

All is bright

Christmas night with only seventeen minutes remaining of day. My heart is full. Joy is evident. I'm in Tennessee with my husband and my family, and beyond the window, the night is thick with a cool rain.

Growing up, I hated the end of Christmas. No more glorious music. No more Christmas specials or holiday movies. Soon the lights in neighborhood yards will be taken down and off we go on day-in and day-out.

What is it about Christmas that makes us all stop and... hope. Believe? The lore of Santa Claus is about anticipating the "wow" of life. To believe the impossible.

Knowing and loving a big, amazing God makes the impossible seems possible. Even more, seem plausible. Why not here? Why not now? Why not me? You?

As much as I hate the end of the Christmas season, the New Year is chance for new hope and new joy. To set goals and face challenges. There's just something about a new year that says "reboot." Start over. Begin again.

Like the picture, life can seem very black and white at times. But there is always the color of Love and the dazzle of Promise that reminds us of what this is all about -- Emanuel. God with us!

Great Christmas Reads for Only $3.99

Here's the link!  http://bit.ly/TdszpP. 

Merry Christmas from Me to You

Joy to the World! Christmas is such a magical and charming time of  year. It warms our hearts, reminds us of peace and hope. 

The other day as I was playing a Christmas Carol, "Joyful Joyful We Adore Thee," on the piano, I started thinking about the great carols we sing. After a bit of research and I found that most of the Christmas Hymns we love were penned in the 1700 and 1800s. 

Handel's Messiah and Beethoven's Ode to Joy are the melodies behind Joy to the World and Joyful, Joyful We Adore Thee.  

As I meditated on the great composers of the 18th and 19th Century, and the lyrics and melodies of Christmas songs composed at the same time, songs we still sing today, I started to smile. 

The Lord released sounds and songs from heaven to earth that would be sung  and played a hundred and fifty years, a hundred years, fifty years before the break of humanism, communism, Darwinism and Freudism (my term) onto the world's stage. 

A good portion of the earth still sings "Joyful, joyful we adore thee." Or, "The Lord God omnipotent reigneth! Hallelujah, hallelujah!" once a year. The brilliance of Handel and Beethoven is indisputable. 

Every December choirs and choral groups, Muzaks play the hymns of the sovereign Lord's return and reign. 

God is always about the business of glorifying His Son. What sounds, songs, melodies and words is He releasing from Heaven in this hour in history that will resonate through time until His return? 

Every Sunday morning as we pray over our worship set, we ask the Lord for sounds from Heaven. We want to partner with Him to accomplish His purpose in us, through us unto the earth. 

I may not be a Handel up there leading worship. I many not be a C.S. Lewis writing novels that will endure the decades, but I am the Lord's willing and available vessel. My words and songs do affect the heavens. Forever. 

I love this passage out of Malachi 3. It's not your typical Christmas verse, but it speaks to what I'm trying to say: 

Then those who feared the Lord talked with each other, and the Lord listened and heard. A scroll of remembrance was written in his presence concerning those who feared the Lord and honored his name.

"They will be mine," says the Lord Almighty, "in the day when I make up my treasured possession. I will spare them, just as in compassion a man spares his son who serves him. 

And you will again see the distinction between the righteous and the wicked, between those who serve God and those who do not.

God listens in on the conversations of those who fear him. He writes them down. He's recording our writings, our stories, and singing!

Make a new melody in your heart to the Lord this Christmas. Believe that it will resound through the ages to come.

I've made up a lot of songs on the piano just me... and myself. But I have a feeling God's going to play them back to me some day with the full force of heaven. Hey, maybe he'll ask Beethoven to pretty up my chords and turn it into his first symphony in the new era.

Who knows? But let's not limit our thinking to earth. Let's be heavenly minded. What is God sending to your hearts this season? Let the Holy Spirit breathe in and through you.

Merry Christmas! Happy New Year!

Rachel

The Next Big Thing Blog Hop

The Next Big Thing Blog Hop!

So a bunches of bunches of folks are participating in this blog hop to learn about new and old authors, and get a peek at what's coming.

For those of you who aren’t familiar with a blog hop, it’s a series of posts linked to each other across the web. I’d like to thank Edie Melson who invited me to this hop!

I’m answering ten questions about my latest WIP (Work in Progress). Feel free to post questions and comments! 

Here are my answers to the questions.

What is the working title of your book? 

I'm calling it "An Uncommon Duchess." Zondervan may change it but for now, that's the title. It's a bit of a double entendre. 

Where did the idea come from for the book?

This is the second book in the Royal Wedding Series. The first comes out in May 2013, "Once Upon A Prince."

The series idea came from watching Kate Middleton marry Prince William. The whole world was captured by Kate, William and the wedding. I thought a fictional series about a common girl becoming a princess, or duchess, would be fun.

Coming May 2013

What genre does your book fall under?

Romance! Love Stories. Good readin'.

Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition?

I have pictures of the characters but I don't have an idea of the actors who would play their role. I don't like to assign actors or actresses to my characters. It changes who they are to me and I want them to come out genuine and real, and with a spiritual truth.

What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book? 

Regina Beswick knows who she is until a stranger from Europe arrives to tell her of her true identity.

Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?

It will be published by Zondervan/Harper Collins. I am represented by Chip MacGregor at MacGregor Literary Agency.

 How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript?

About six weeks. And it's a very rough first draft.

What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?

The Princess Diary for adults. :)

What else about your book might pique the reader’s interest?

Who doesn't love a fairytale? A royal wedding?

And the story is about how we think we know who we are then the Gospel and love of Jesus is presented to us and we are forced to reckon with our true identity in Him. Regina faces that same battle.

Hop on over to my friend's blogs to continue this journey!

Sibella Giorello

Kristin Billerbeck 

Donita K. Paul

Once Upon A Prince!

I'm so excited to debut my new cover! Once Upon A Prince releases May 2013 from Zondervan!

Once Upon a Prince, the first novel in the Royal Wedding series by bestselling author Rachel Hauck, treats you to a modern-day fairy tale. 

Susanna Truitt never dreamed of a great romance or being treated like a princess---just to marry the man she has loved for twelve years. 

But life isn't going according to plan.

When her high-school-sweetheart-turned-Marine-officer breaks up instead of proposing, Susanna scrambles to rebuild her life. 

The last thing Prince Nathaniel expects to find on his American holiday to St. Simon's Island is the queen of his heart. 

A prince has duties, and his family's tense political situation has chosen his bride for him. When Prince Nathaniel comes to Susanna's aid under the fabled Lover's Oak, he is blindsided by love.

Their lives are worlds apart. He's a royal prince. She's a ordinary girl. 

But everything changes when Susanna receives an invitation to Nathaniel's coronation. It's the ultimate choice. His kingdom or her heart? God's will or their own? 

A Few Of My Favorite Things! A Birthday Giveaway

For my birthday on Friday, Dec 7, I'm celebrating you and giving away a few of my favorite things. It starts at midnight tonight and ends midnight on the 7th. (So really, the 6th.)

Winners will be announced on Friday! Enter to win by following my FB Page, on Twitter or leaving a comment here!  



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