About the Book

Book: Glimpses of God, A Winter Devotional for Women
Author: Shirley Crowder & Harriet Michael
Genre: Non-fiction, Christian devotional
Release Date: November 6, 2019

As Christ-followers we also experience spiritual seasons. These seasons do not come in order like seasons in nature, which come regularly without fail. Each spiritual season we experience is defined by certain features also. In spiritual winter we think of the coldness of our relationship with God; in spring, new growth; in summer, warmth and heat; in fall, shedding the old and preparing for difficult days ahead.

This book is focused on winter—both calendar and spiritual. During our spiritual winters, when it feels as though God is far away or we feel stuck or dormant, we must rest in the truth of God’s sovereign mercy, grace, love, and care for His children. It is the first in the Glimpses of God” series.

Click here to get your copy.

My Thoughts

Glimpses of God: A Winter Devotional for Women, co-written by Harriet Michael and Shirley Crowder, is a refreshing devotional that parallels the months following the Christmas season and I quickly connected with the theme. October through December is my favorite time of year, with its cooler temperatures, breathtaking color, a time focusing on family and giving thanks, then all the busyness and excitement leading up to the celebration of Christ’s birth. But after all that? I don’t necessarily get depressed, and I do love cold weather, but there is a sense of letdown and dread.

I love how Glimpses of God connects the physical months of winter with the spiritual winters that come uninvited into our lives. These two authors have written a collection of application-filled essays drawn from a lifetime of experiences and insight, steeped in Scripture, and stirring memories through the lyrics of beloved hymns. What I appreciated is the reminder that there is a purpose in our spiritual winters – that they are a time of waiting, resting, and reflecting.

The insight these authors share from their experiences in Nigeria as the daughters of missionaries also adds a fresh touch to their writing. One devotional was especially moving because it touched on a favorite African American spiritual of mine entitled “Give Me Jesus.” The simple prayer-breathed lyrics remind that help and hope are found in none other than Jesus.

This devotional is the first of a series and I look forward to more from Harriet Michael and Shirley Crowder.

Recommended.

I received a copy of this book through Celebrate Lit. The opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own.

About the Authors

Shirley is passionate about disciple-making, which is conducted in and through a myriad of ministry opportunities that include biblical counseling, teaching Bible studies, and writing. She is Biblical counselor commissioned by, and serving on the national Advisory Team for, The Addiction Connection. She is co-host of “Think on These Things,” a Birmingham AL radio/TV program for women; and a freelance writer.

Harriet is a wife and mother to four grown children and grandmother to two precious grandchildren. She has authored a growing number of books, including “Prayer: It’s Not About You”, a finalist in the 2011 “Women of Faith” manuscript contest. She is also a freelance writer with numerous published pieces, including more than a hundred devotions in various magazines.

More from Shirley and Harriet

From Africa to America, Life Long Friends

March 14, many years ago …

In the heart of the African jungle in the Niger River delta of eastern Nigeria, the first cry of a newborn baby echoes from a small jungle hospital. The baby is a girl, Harriet Clarice, the third child of medical missionaries, Alice and Keith Edwards.

Harriet and her family stayed in this remote part of Nigeria for a year until the other family returned from furlough. At that time, they went for another year to Oyo, Nigeria to language school and then on to Ogbomoso in central Nigeria, where they stayed the next ten years. Keith practiced medicine at the hospital in Ogbomoso, and Alice worked with him as a nurse.

October 24 of the same year Harriet was born …

Deep in the Yoruba country of southwestern Nigeria, some 260 miles away from Joinkrama, piercing through the tropical night sounds, the first cry of another newborn baby cries out at a guesthouse in Ogbomoso. This baby is also a girl, Shirley Jeanne, the fourth child of missionaries Jeannie and Ray Crowder.

In 1962 the Crowders moved to Ogbomoso. Ray served as administrator of the 96-bed hospital, and Jeannie taught kindergarten and ministered to the Nigerian women with home visits and Bible studies. Harriet’s parents worked at the Ogbomoso hospital with Ray.

Lifelong friends

Harriet ended up living just up the dirt road from Shirley. They played together nearly every day and formed a friendship that remained, even after years and distance separated them.

Harriet and Shirley, and the others in this unique group of individuals, who shared a common childhood in Nigeria in our beloved tropical homeland half a world away from where most of us live now, grew up calling each other’s parents aunt and uncle. Even as adults, we still feel a kinship as though we are family—cousins perhaps.

Some years ago, at a mission reunion, Shirley handed Harriet a book to which she had contributed. That was the first time Harriet knew she was a writer. Shirley had discovered a few years earlier that Harriet was a writer, too.

Several years ago, Shirley suggested that they prayerfully consider writing a devotional book together. Through that experience, they learned that they work well together. Their similar understanding and views on scripture is a good foundation for the different strengths each of us bring when it comes to writing.

Since that first book, we have worked and continue to work together on other projects. Glimpses of God: a winter devotional for women is the first of a 4-book devotional series. Through our devotionals we want people to see Glimpses of God all around them. Creator God made the world and the seasons throughout the year. By using the seasons in nature, we help readers see correlations to the spiritual seasons Christ-followers experience and to get “Glimpses of God” in and through everything that happens.

So, we guess it could be said that we are once again “playing” with our childhood friend in spite of several decades having passed since they played together happily beneath the shade of mango trees.