Carol Peterson Cyber Tour - The Celebration Continues... And Gifts For You

    It is my privilege and honor to welcome my dear friend Carol Peterson to my site to share with us her new Bible study series entitled “With Faith Like Hers” Each book highlights well known female characters and asks the question how am I like these women?
   Most people read Bible stories and chock them off as a good tale, but never let their stories plant the seed that God intended in our lives. King Solomon wrote in Ecclesiastics “There is nothing new under the sun.” If we are wise we will take note of their lives and see how God worked. The Lord is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow. He will do the very same things in our lives, if we are paying attention. The Bible truly is a “how to” manual if we let the Holy Spirit teach us. Usually we are too busy to see the similarities, so that is why the Lord has blessed us with great teachers like Carol.
  Before I let Carol share a bit of how “I Am Ester” came into being, let me brag on my friend. I have known Carol for the past several years. She is always the first to comment on a post and give an honest review. I know the Lord sent her to me when I needed it most to fulfill my life's purpose. It's because of her encouragement that I keep going, keep writing, keep sharing my gift with the world. The Lord truly has a plan for each of our lives, we never know who the Lord will use. Now here is Carol...

Carol Peterson on Writing Esther:
Do you ever have those little conversations with the Holy Spirit where He’s leading you and you’re dragging your feet, digging in your heels and saying, “wait a minute”? I had a conversation like that when I woke up one morning with the title of a new book in my head.
“I am Esther,” said the Holy Spirit. “You need to write that book.”
At which point I proceeded to argue. A Bible study based on Esther? There are dozens of them out there.
“You need to write this one.”
I don’t know anything about the culture or the history back then.
“Just focus on a month’s worth of lessons modern women can learn from my daughter, Esther.”
A month’s worth of lessons? You do know that the Book of Esther is only about 20 pages, including commentary, don’t you?
“I know exactly what is in my book, Carol.”
How about a nice series of blog posts instead?
…silence…
I’ll read through the Book of Esther again, just to count the lessons, OK?
“I’m happy when you read my Word.”
So I opened my Bible and began jotting down the lessons I saw in the Book of Esther. When I finished the fourth chapter, I had 23 lessons listed and still had six chapters left to peruse. I set my pencil down and began to thank God for making me teachable and for the Holy Spirit’s patient leading.
I am Esther became the first book in the Bible study series With Faith Like Hers. Each book in the Bible study series focuses on a single woman in scripture. The thesis is that much of our character and circumstances are like hers. It is her story, but it is also ours, when we have faith like hers.
I won’t say that the rest of the series is writing itself. But I will say that when I surrendered to the leading of the Holy Spirit—when I got out of His way and out of my own way—the journey became a thrilling and deeper understanding of Scripture and how God can use even us women today for His good purpose.
Even if His purpose includes writing books.
WHAT ABOUT YOU? Has there been a time when you resisted God’s leading? How did that work out for you? What happened when you surrendered to His will?

Please Join Carol Peterson’s Cyber Party
This post is part of a week-long cyber party, celebrating the launch of my new Bible study series. A party isn’t a party though without friends and gifts. So please get to know some of my friends, by heading to their place and signing up for a drawing. Leave your name and email addie in a comment. At the end of the week, I’ll pick three people who will each receive one of the Bible studies in this new series.
For more fun:
*Monday’s delicious CYBER LAUNCH LUNCH is still going on at my site www.CarolPetersonAuthor.com . There’s plenty of cyber food left. (OK, so they’re recipes, but they’re still available for download and still delicious!) Leave a comment with your email address to enter the drawing.
*Also head back to Chris Vonada’s interview of me from Tuesday at www.ChrisVonada.com . Don’t forget to leave a comment to enter the drawing—again.
*Also on Tuesday at www.CarolPetersonAuthor.com , I’ll chat a bit about the writing of I am Eve and how I had to rethink the idea that living a life like Eve was a bad thing. Remember to leave a comment to enter the drawing—once more.
*Then return to Wednesday’s post at www.LynnMosher.com to glimpse a bit about one of Jesus’ ancestors, Ruth. Don’t forget to leave a comment to enter the drawing—one more time.
*Then join the celebration on Friday at my site again www.CarolPetersonAuthor.com . More gifts and offers await you there; along with my thanks for helping me celebrate this launch.

One more gift to you: if you purchase two of the three print books in this series from Amazon, email me a copy of your receipt and I’ll email a pdf of the third book FREE.