Yvette Maher - My Hair and Gods Mercies . . . New Every Morning: A Story of a Life Changed by Grace

Praise for
My Hair and Gods Mercies
New Every Morning

Yvette wins the hearts of everyone she meets. Her infectious personality draws people in, and her love for God and others keeps them engaged. I trust youll find her stories funny, moving, deeply authenticand above all, glorifying to God. The Lord changes lives, and in Yvettes case, in radical, wonderful ways!

JIM DALY, President, Focus on the Family

When Yvette walks into a room, the entire place lights up. She is equal parts authenticity and joy, and audiences cant get enough. Through her message, she will sit with you in your pain, give you cause to laugh, all the while praising the Jesus she loves until youre doing the very same.

MICHELE CUSHATT, inspirational speaker and author

Yvette adds an extra measure of joy and humor to our team, and she does so in her new book as well. I believe women will see themselves in her stories and learn that what seems like a disaster at firsteither big or smallcan be turned around and used for Gods glory. Well done, Yvette!

BRADY BOYD, Senior pastor of New Life Church

I am delighted that Yvette has written this book! For the last decade, Ive wished she would share her amazing storyand her amazing heart. Yvette is one of those special people who can make you snort with laughter while shes illustrating the deepest of lessons about grace, resilience, and implicit trust in God. I was absolutely captivated by this book, and I know you will be too.

SHAUNTI FELDHAHN, social researcher and best-selling author of For Women Only

Yvette and I have been friends for twenty years, and so I realized a long time ago that shes a joy and wisdom bomb just looking for a place to detonate! Shes helped me see Jesus bigger, and I can guarantee this book will help you have a clearer picture of Him too. If not, Yvette will give you your money back plus a pony (actually, Im only teasing about the pony part).

LISA HARPER, author, Bible teacher, and Women of Faith speaker

Yvettes story is a profound picture of the loving-kindness of our God. At our greatest moment of need He picks us up, dusts us off, and calls us His child, His beloved. He did that in my life, and He continues to do so with breathtaking beauty and tenderness. If you want to be encouraged to pursue Jesus with all thats within you, I commend this book to you.

SHEILA WALSH, author of God Loves Broken People

The moment we started reading this book, we literally couldnt put it down. Its true that sometimes fact is stranger than fictionthus the life of our sweet friend Yvette! Her joy is infectious; her stories are compelling. Through these pages youll learn God is in the details of our daily lives and its abundantly evident that He has a fantastic sense of humor! We hope you come to understand He loves us just the way He made us and that life with Him is an outrageous adventure!

PHIL AND HEATHER JOEL, founders of deliberatePeople

My Hair and Gods Mercies New Every Morning

Copyright 2012 Focus on the Family

A Focus on the Family book published by
Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188

Focus on the Family and the accompanying logo and design are federally registered trademarks of Focus on the Family, Colorado Springs, CO 80995.

TYNDALE and Tyndales quill logo are registered trademarks of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.

All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version. NIV. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission of Zonder-van. All rights reserved worldwide (ww.zondervan.com).

Scripture quotations marked (MSG) are taken from THE MESSAGE [paraphrase]. Copyright by Eugene H. Peterson 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group.

Scripture quotations marked (NKJV) are taken from the New King James Version, (NKJV). Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked (ESV) are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version, (ESV), copyright 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

All stories in this book are true and are used by permission. Peoples names and certain details of their stories have been changed to protect the privacy of the individuals involved. However, the facts of what happened and the underlying principles have been conveyed as accurately as possible.

The use of material from or references to various websites does not imply endorsement of those sites in their entirety.

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any meanselectronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or otherwisewithout prior written permission of Focus on the Family.

Editor: Marianne Hering

Cover and interior color pages design by Mark Lane

Cover photo by Stephen Vosloo, copyright 2012 by Tyndale House Publishers, Inc. All rights reserved.

ISBN-13: 978-1-58997-689-4

Printed in the United States of America

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To Landon and Jaxon
You are the first two of my little angel babies, and I am CRAZY in love with you! I hope this book establishes that your foundation is built on the Truth of Jesus and that His mercies, like Nanas hair, are new every morning.

I think you should tell people that you carried a mattress on top of your car from place to place, Tootie. That was my moms suggestion for what to include in this bookand yes, my nickname is Tootie.

In fact, in my late teens and early twenties, I drove around with a mattress ingeniously secured by a garden hose to my old beater car. The car was missing a floorboard on the drivers side, so I covered the gaping hole with a grill grate from the charcoal Weber in our backyard and lay a floor mat over the whole mess. It came in handy when I needed to dump my soda or a cold cup of coffee. Because the car lacked a muffler and started with a boom, my ride was christened The Bomb.

While I can look back and smile at my nomadic lifestyle, hardship and insecurity were at its root. The intense desperation I felt during my young adult years was no laughing matter.

So why the heck do you care to read about someone you dont know even if she did have a rock star of a car as an adolescent? If I were Julia Roberts, Oprah, or the superstar of the month, some of you People magazine fans (only in the doctors office, right?) would grab this book to learn more about the details of my life.

As it is, I not only lack the fame of these individuals; Im not even a one-hit wonder. And yet I have stumbled into Gods grace over and over throughout my life. No matter how much Ive screwed up or found myself in crazy situations, His mercy has been new every morning. He is a God who delights in seeing us pick up our sorry selves and try again. Seriously, knowing that the Lord of the universe has had my back, even in the darkest, most uncertain times, beats having any amount of celebrity status, money, or talent.

My Journey

I am a Kentucky farm girl to my very core.

Tobacco, cows milk, and probably a touch of horse manure course through my veins. I hail from Waynesburg, a small country town where people are born, marry, raise their families, and die without giving a serious thought to relocating; everyone, that is, except me.