Britta Lafont: Prodigal Conffesions

I met Britta Lafont back in August 2014 when I attended Declare Conference (by the way, it is an awesome blogging conference for women, check it out and plan to attend next year!). She is an amazing lady and very sweet since the first day I met her at a display table. We had great sharing time. I love hearing her heart for those who have not yet heard the Good News of the Kingdom of God.

Meeting her at that conference was not a coincidence.

At the last day, she asked me if I would like to read her new e-book and I said YES! 🙂 I am so glad she asked because her new e-book, Prodigal Confessions, has blessed me so much.

We are familiar with the story of Prodigal Son in Luke 15:11-32. In this book, Britta shared her testimony of being a prodigal daughter and how God led her back to his own heart. This e-book is full of encouragements and God’s words for us who has been running away from our heavenly Father, that He himself wants us to know that He is waiting with wide arms open. She shares 10 principles that lead us back to the Father. They are not just principles, they are God’s ways.

God planted the Gospel Story in our hearts. We want problems fixed. We look for the hero. We desire forgiveness and mended relationships. When we don’t experience this in movies, books, or real life, we tend to feel a lack of closure because it is deep in our spiritual DNA to crave reconciliation. Especially in real life, we don’t like loose ends. –Prodigal Confessions: 10 Principles that Lead Us Back to the Father

I would love you all to get to know a little bit about my friend, Britta:

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Britta is a sojourner. She was a military kid and is a military wife, now living in the high desert of Arizona and far, far from her New Orleans family. She happily homeschools and one of her favorite hobbies is snuggling on the couch reading history and literature with 12-year-old Gracie and 10-year-old Josh. Britta and her husband Scott recently celebrated their 20th Anniversary. Britta writes about the intersection of God’s Word and her world at Britta Lafont ~ Everyday Holiness.

And I asked her why she wrote this book, and here her answer to me:

My mom always talked in scripture to me. Little snippets, here and there, of the Word. And those seeds went down, deep into my heart. I don’t remember a time when Jesus was not my friend.

But growing up in a military family was not smooth and easy. Daddy was tough. Money was tight. We were sojourners, on the move, always the outsiders. We clung together and fell apart.

And somewhere in the middle of it all, I lost the sense that God was on my side. So I served myself and I felt alone. I made choices that made my life harder. My rebellious heart ran wild even under the cover of the good grades and the outgoing personality of a “nice girl”.

Looking back, my worldview was upside down. I didn’t know who God was or who I was to Him. Every difficult part of my life confused my understanding of Him more.

My marriage was the most painful piece of the puzzle. But “as iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another” (Prov 27:17). This sharpening finally forced me to cultivate the seeds of scripture that had been sown so deeply in my heart, so many years ago. I became a student of God’s Word. There was purpose in my pain.

By far, motherhood was the best thing for me. In trying to teach my kids about the Lord…I experienced Him (the Living Water, the Bread of Life, the Redeemer). I learned that though the Father’s standards are high, He stoops down to lift us up.

I have always loved words. So much so, that I majored in English in college. But I didn’t start really writing much till I began my blog a few years ago.

I was hoping to reach other women who were too tired after work to go to Bible study, because I knew how that felt. I wrote for the moms whose kids were eaten up with separation anxiety, because that was what kept me from Christian fellowship, for a time. And I wrote for women who looked in the mirror and didn’t like what they saw, because that was me, too.

But in writing about The Word, all those little words came together to tell me big truths. And blog posts weren’t always long enough to share the message well. Some of my life lessons have come together in my first eBook, Prodigal Confessions: 10 Principles That Lead Us Back to the Father.

And her book is now on Amazon with special prize for Kindle is only $2.99!

Prodigal Confenssions by Britta Lafont is now available on Amazon!

Get connected with Britta:
@Britta Lafont, Writer on Facebook
@BrittaLafont on Twitter
@brittalouise on Pinterest
@brittalafont on Instagram

An Interview with Angela Bickford, the Author of Beating Bed Rest

Bedrest is not my favorite thing to do when I had morning sick with both babies and even after the C-sections I “supposed” to be in bed rest for 3-4 weeks but I didn’t stay in bed for that long. I only could stayed in bed for a week!

When I was in bed, I didn’t feel rested. I was anxious and uncomfortable laying on my back all the time. The incision was hurt so bad when I laid on my side. I felt so useless that I couldn’t do anything. Lots of people helped and prayed for me. God gave me the strength to go through it all until I could stand up and moved around.

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A few weeks ago, Angela Bickford asked me and some other bloggers to review her new e-book, Beating Bedrest. I read the book and the first chapter, she said,

“You might be questioning why God would do this. Why he would make you feel like you might not make it … Honestly though… now isn’t the time to question Him.

Now is the time to hold on to your faith. Grab it and don’t let go. Pray fervently and have others do the same. Plaster your prayer requests all over Facebook. Don’t be shy about it either, you’d me amazed at the power of prayer.”

I couldn’t agree more with what Angela said. Prayer fervently! That is powerful and God is at work when we pray, He will give us everything we need to go through our hard times.

If you want to check about the detail and what what this book all about, you can go HERE.

Here’s a little interview with Angela about her background and why she wrote this book:

1) Tell us a little about yourself and your pregnancy

  • My husband and I married in 2007 and I have always wanted to be a mom. After 3 years of trying, we finally got pregnant – with triplets! Of course, this meant high-risk given it was three and because of my history of miscarriage. So, I pretty much did nothing from the beginning. The pregnancy was going very smoothly until about 21 weeks, when I started to have issues with my cervix not wanting to hold the babies in. Then, at 23 weeks, as it continued, I was put on hospital bed rest, where I stayed until they were born at 27 1/2 weeks. The bed rest was an enlightening time for me, since I’m quite the type-A personality, but I learned a lot and am now thankful that I had that time. Although we ended up losing one of the triplets, bed rest gave my other two more of a fighting chance and helped them survive.

2) Why did you decide to write this book?

  • When I was on bed rest, I searched for resources to keep me busy and also to help me understand what I had in store for what could have been 4 months. There was absolutely nothing other than one fiction book, which I read, and one very old history text type book that I knew I wouldn’t enjoy. I knew that I didn’t want other women to have to be alone in what they were going through, and I knew that a book would come out of my experience one day.

3) What was your favorite part to write?

  • Hmm… favorite part? Probably naming the chapters. I got to come up with some pretty funny names. It was so easy to write the first part – the part dealing with my experience, and I enjoyed adding in the quotes from other moms on bed rest. But what I really liked was how after putting together the resources section, I learned that there are now many other resources out there, which is awesome! Of course, my book is the best right? But, honestly, I think women on bed rest need a selection of materials to help them – it’s a tough job.

4) What was the hardest part about bed rest, for you personally?

  • Being away from my husband and pets. It got lonely. I could deal with the not getting showers and eating food that I didn’t like very much, but being lonely is really hard when you’re an outgoing person. Oh, and the lack of control. That was also highly difficult for me.

5) In your experience, what was the main difference between bed rest at home vs. in hospital?

  • Well, bed rest at home is easier in the sense that you can ‘cheat’. I don’t recommend it, but you can. If you’re home all day alone with no one to answer to and you really want something in the other room, who’s going to know? But, when you’re in the hospital, every one else is in control BUT you, and you don’t get much choice in the matter.

6) Any advice for significant others or family members of those on bed rest?

  • I think just being supportive in general. My husband came every evening after work and at least one person came during the day most of the time. That really helped. I have a chapter in the book about how to help your bed resting friend, and there are a lot of ideas in there as well. But, the bottom line, just be there and ask what they need from you, then do that.

7) I know you talk a lot on your blog about the loss of one of your triplets and how you’ve dealt with guilt about having to be on bed rest and ultimately going into preterm labor, can you talk to us a little bit about that?

  • Sure. I did feel guilty – and a lot of moms do. It’s perfectly normal, but it’s also not their fault. It took a long time to get to the point where I could forgive myself. If I had just not done this or that, then the babies would have stayed in, etc. Truth is, an incompetent cervix isn’t anyone’s fault. It just happens. Neither is pre-eclampsia or placenta previa or any other thing that causes a baby to come early. Most of the time, it’s nothing the mom did. But I think that it takes awhile to get to the point where you can forgive your body because it was supposed to be made to carry a baby, and it didn’t work right. To help myself overcome that guilt, I just reminded myself that I did all I could. I was a great bed rest patient, and I loved those babies more than anything and would have stayed in bed for the whole pregnancy if I had to. I told myself that even when I complained about being there, that didn’t mean I didn’t want to be there, it just meant I wasn’t having fun, and that’s normal! My advice for bed resting moms is to be kind to yourself – you’re going to have bad days, you’re going to deal with guilt. But, ultimately, you know you’d do anything for that little baby inside you, and you have – you stayed in bed for however long you had to!

8) How did your faith play into your bed rest experience?

  • Faith was a huge part of my bed rest time – really my whole pregnancy, the infertility before, and the NICU time afterwards. God never left my side and I learned how strong I truly am. I didn’t realize how much faith I had until I went through these experiences, and I am grateful that He continues to use them to help others and bring glory to His name.

The book is now available on Amazon for only $6.99! And if you buy from today until September 28th, you will get these 2 bonuses from Angela:

bed rest amazon specials copy

Introduction To Indonesian Language and Culture

Recently I made friend with a girl whom I met on Wycliffe Next Generation community website. She asked some questions about Indonesia because she will be moving there with her family soon for ministry. I remember some of the books that my husband got for himself in getting ready to go to Indonesia.

In your getting to know and preparation to go overseas (short term or long term), one thing among the others things on your preparation list is learning basic language and culture of the country. So here I would like to suggest you books that you can use to prepare your self and get some taste of Indonesian.

First book is Basic Indonesian, An Introduction Coursebook. You can try to order online from Barnes and Noble bookstore where we got it for my husband to learn Indonesian. This book comes with a Audio CD which will be helpful for you to listen and practice the pronunciation.