Lisa Pennington - Tightropes and Teeter-Totters: Finding Balance in the Ups and Downs of Life

Its my kinda-sorta dream to be a contestant on The Amazing Race . I say kinda-sorta because I really just want to travel around the world for free with the option of getting a million dollars at the end. I dont actually want to sleep on the streets or eat bugs.

Its also been my kinda-sorta dream to write a book someday. I have always, since I can remember, felt that calling. The topic changed over the years. When I was thirteen years old, my first idea was that I would write about what it would be like to be married to Donny Osmond and have lots of kids. I mean, the Osmonds had nine childrengood golly miss molly! Who does that?!

Later on I mostly thought I would write romance novels because I tended to see the world as one long love story. Now as a grown woman with, yes, nine kids of my own, I see it absolutely is a love story! It is a love story between me and God. Or you and God. His love for us is so much better than any Harlequin, and the story needs to be told over and over.

Thats my passion, what I love to do more than anything, including eating chocolate. Yes, its that huge. I am crazy about telling everyone who will listen (or read) about this love story of mine, one that changes all of us. I am driven to shout from the rooftop, He loves you!

You are a part of this beautiful love story! You are an amazing woman who is so beautiful I can hardly stand thinking about it right now. I dont care if youre in sweatpants or an Oscar-worthy gown, you are strikingly gorgeous. And God thinks it even more than I do. He sees you.

So I started writing my story, of a loving God who adores me in ways I couldnt have predicted. I see His love not only through my husband and children but also in my home, my friends, even my fifteen-passenger van. That enormous hunk of gas-guzzling metal gets my whole family where we need to go; its pretty amazing. Gods love is in everything we touch, and I had to write it down and share it. After I wrote my first book, Mama Needs a Do-Over , I got to hear from women who were in the thick of the hard times in their lives. What a blessing to be a part of someone elses victory! When it came to my next book (this one!), I knew I had to write about finding balance. This love story between God and us is filled with comedies and tragedies, highs and lows, and we need to know how to stay standing.

This love message about balance and joy and hanging on is the result. Everyone I know at some point or another has fallen off track in some way and struggled to find proper footing again. Its happened to me too, many times. So I started asking God, How do we find balance? Or what does it even look like?

And then my life got really hard. One of my daughters decided to walk away from our family, and for a time she had no contact with us. And if that wasnt painful enough, people took sides. They started calling me names and believed lies about me; it got pretty ugly. In truth, I wasnt sure how to recover from this. It was just too hard.

Then I remembered my cry to God. It was as though He said to me, You asked Me how to find balance, so I am showing you. Oh, well, then I clearly should have chosen a subject such as naps, or snacks.

Many of you have been hurt like this. Divorce, thats gotta rip you up. Any kind of rejection from someone you love. You can get off track in many ways, which is why I have divided this book into nine main areas of a womans life. Following our first two chapters that examine the meaning of balance, chapter 3, Me, Myself, and I, will go into the very personal part of life, areas only we can control. Then Ill move into marriage and motherhood: two very vulnerable areas of life. Afterward we will talk about home, ministry and work, friendships, money, taming the tongue, and moodsouch! Before our conclusion, Ive provided a miscellaneous chapter, because women are nothing if not complicated. You will find yourself in each section even if you arent struggling with that particular area right now. I wanted it to be something you could easily go back to and reread in the future if you hit a bump in one of these roads.