Lisa Harper

xv, 179 pages ; 22 cm

IT WAS A REALM OF MAGIC... of superlatives... of illusions... an ageless wonder in a changing world. So Jovilette Wilder, the diminutive lion trainer, told Keane Prescott, the new owner of the circus. And he believed her. Night after night he had watched her fearlessly enter the lions' cage in her gold spangled body suit, her dark hair flowing down her back. He had seen her gentle the fiercest lion, command the lead elephant to kneel, tumble with the acrobats. Why couldn't he realize that her heart did cartwheels at the very sight of him, and that for her the greatest wonder of them all was when he held her in his arms?

In 1960s Norfolk, England, seventeen-year-old Clem Ackroyd lives with his mother and grandmother in a tiny cottage, but his life is transformed when he falls in love with the daughter of a wealthy farmer in this tale that flashes back through the stories of three generations.

"Are you a burn-the-candle-at-both-ends kind of gal with lots of room for improvement when it comes to creating margins for rest? However, you actually love living 'big' and feel called to give huge chunks of your heart and calendar away? Well, so does Lisa Harper. In her humorous and packed-with-biblical-wisdom way, Lisa shows us that it is possible for a frazzled nature to be glorifying to the Lord. Every late-night conversation with a hurting friend and each precious, adopted child needing a little extra tender loving care -- exhausting, yet imperative, ways to be extensions of the gospel. In each of these vignettes illustrating Lisa's overextended life, we learn that even in the middle of our own pure motives and hectic schedules, it is only by resting in God's sovereign mercy that we are able to keep risking our hearts to serve his people and fulfill the callings he has placed on us. Real life ... abundant life ... godly life is about loving Jesus and the people he allows us to rub shoulders with -- which means some days you'll be stretched emotionally and physically. You'll feel overextended. Thankfully God will expand our hearts and calendars to accommodate the calling. He is in the business of supplying us with new mercies every morning ... new candles to burn, for more lives needing His light"--Provided by publisher.