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Today is February 7th! Do you know what that means??? It means a very special day is fast approaching! This is perhaps, more than any other date on the calendar, the most polarizing observance in the western world! Couples love it! Singles hate it! But whether attached or unattached, Christians have a reason to celebrate the idea of this observance all year 'round! Yes, I know that last statement sounds a lot like what we hear at Christmastime, but no, clearly we are beyond the Christmas celebrations.
I am speaking of Valentine's Day! This day was set aside in honour of a man who legend says was the first person to ever send a card to a lover. The catholic church sainted him and at some point in history, this day was set aside to honour his memory by sending cards and gifts to those we love.
The reason I suggest that Christians, whether attached to someone else or not, can engage in this celebration, is because we have an eternal Bridegroom waiting for the Father's signal to return for His Bride, which is made up of those in the Church who have both watched and prepared themselves for His coming.
"Dressed for Eternity" introduces the reader to an ancient ritual in the Jewish marriage custom that God patterns Christ's behaviour after with regards to the Church. Following this introduction, the book takes the reader on a trip through history, archeology, Scripture, and scientific observation to delve more deeply into how God adorns His Bride in the Scriptures.
Why did God choose the stones He did? What purpose or meaning could be behind His choice of garments, footwear and jewelry? Is there significance in how He stated the Levitical priests should dress and do the precious stones of the New Jerusalem's foundation have anything to contribute?
This year, why not find out for yourself?
Beginning today, February 7th, there will be a week-long rafflecopter giveaway for one free epub copy of "Dressed for Eternity". Each day this week there will be presentations from the book, beginning with a small one year celebration of the launch of this book a year ago on February 8th 2014. We'll wrap up with a slideshow presentation the day before the draw takes place on the 14th. During this week, "Dressed for Eternity" will be available from select online retailers either in paperback or in e-book formats, all at discounted prices.
Stay tuned for today's inaugural post and be ready to enter the giveaway! You'll have multiple ways to enter, and you may engage in each them once per day to increase your chances of winning this book. I look forward to celebrating with you!
Here's a bonus link for you! Do you like to coordinate your life? Check out Dressed for Eternity at Cafepress.com!
Anyone following this blog will be aware of the pre-launch virtual book tour that's been going on. As a thank-you to each blogger hosting me and my next book on their site, I've been sharing features of either themselves, their blogs, or their books if they are authors as well. Tomorrow is the second-to-last blog stop on tour, which means the overlap talked about in July's newsletter and on this blog begins TODAY!
In addition to the first giveaway starting up today, another form of celebration is also now in gear! While the ebook versions are begin given away throughout the month of August, the paperbacks are not being left in the cold. They get to celebrate by giving you a 15% discount at three different online retailers:
This 15% off sale will run from August 1st through to August 30th, which makes it a great time to buy these books as gifts for others. The grad gift, "Mom's Little Black Book: Godly Advice for the High School Graduate" is a great book to send off to college with your high schooler that graduated this summer. "Dressed for Eternity" is definitely more affordable with this coupon code as well. So if you've been waiting for prices to come down on some of my paperbacks, this is the month to grab them.
But suffice to say, that we are now in launch mode! It's been an interesting ride preparing and talking up this particular book. In wanting to hit the widest audience possible within the Christian community, I took the risk of spreading my book tour across a wide variety of written genres. This now has me negatively labelled in some people's minds who solidly disagree with some of the blog hosts featuring my book. Sadly, they have attributed the works of those authors with myself and I am now guilty by association. The problem however, did lead to constructive criticism and that may actually open this book up to more readers than I expected. So again, what the enemy has meant for evil, God has used for good.
My dream for "A Year in Prayer With Jesus", would be if 365 people bought the book and each began Day One on a consequative day on the calendar. Because this book can be started at any time of year, Day One can occur on September 1st, or October 31st, it doesn't matter. The book simply ends 365 days later. So imagine 365 people all beginning Day One one right after the other until the last person begins on the 365th day. For an entire year, almost two year now that I think about it, every single prayer prompt in this book would be covered every single day by someone! Imagine the prayer cover that can give missionaries, global workers, inner city workers, etcetera? Those are covered under one of the prayer prompts throughout the year. Prayer is such a powerful communication medium! If this dream came true, I'd be thrilled!
"A Year in Prayer With Jesus" has reached the proofing stage! This means in 3 to 4 weeks, I will have it in hand, reviewing the paper copy for errors, and hopefully releasing it for printing ideally the week before the September Labour Day Long Weekend! 
