blog tour: amy grant's mosaic

Almost immediately after agreeing to an invitation to review Amy Grant's new book, I thought, What have you done? Everyone in my life will tell you I am buried in writing projects--truly, no-visible-daylight buried. But I had promised.

When the book came, I devised a plan. I figured I'd trick myself into reading it by attacking it in barely noticeable increments. It's the same method I use for keeping the house clean: pick up something every time you enter a room, and before you know it, your house is clean. The problem was, my scheme crumbled within the very first chapter. I didn't want to stop reading. So I read another, and another. And twice in three chapters, I got goosebumps. Twice in those same three chapters, I cried.

Amy Grant is a long-time friend. Mind you, she has no idea who I am. But we go back a fair distance. The year I turned 19 (which was the year she turned 19), I went to visit an ex-boyfriend turned good friend (Jeff Ellis) at Pacific Lutheran University. He had arranged for me to stay in the dorm room of two girls he knew there. Before they headed out to morning classes, they set me up in their room and gestured toward their record player. "You should hear this album," one suggested as she left. It was Amy's first release. I listened the first go-round out of a mixture of politeness and boredom; the second time out of just-awakened hunger. I listened to that album all morning. And to this day, whenever I recall the words to "My Father's Eyes," I'm back in that dorm room, heart pounding madly, wanting to know Amy's Father, and wondering if He wanted to know me.

Since the year it was released, her first Christmas CD is the first to go into the player whenever I pull all our Christmas things from the back of the closet. It's the CD I put on just before we call the kids downstairs to tear through their gifts.

I've loved Amy as a far-off encourager, and loved her music. But could she write? I had my doubts. She had them too, for she addresses that unspoken, but clearly present question in her introduction. But it didn't take long for me to find the answer for myself. She can write. Her voice is easy; her timing unflawed. She knows when to pull in for poignancy. She understands rhythm. I enjoyed every page and wished the book was longer.

In Mosaic, Amy shares vignettes from her life. Most are ordinary moments that another soul might have drifted through unthinkingly. But Amy has an ability to catch the lessons others miss. She hears God's heartbeat in places you wouldn't think to listen. Interspersed between her stories, Amy has included the lyrics to many of her songs. You'll read about the moments that spurred her to write those lyrics and meet characters who begged to be captured in song. And along the way, you'll find yourself feeling thankful that this woman thought to share her life in just this way.

My sister, Megan, and I have an odd ability to laugh at a joke a good second or two before anyone else in the room catches on. We're always just a tiny bit ahead of everyone else hearing the same jumble of words. Meanings fly toward us. I felt that sensation as I read Mosaic. Amy would lead me to a point, but I'd find that truth rushing to meet my heart before I think I should have gotten there. At one such moment, when describing what it was like for her sister to send her first son to college, I knew what was coming before I really knew, and I couldn't stop the tears. I anticipated that extra long phone cord, because I'm that same mother these days, keeping the cell phone charging near my ear, just in case Zac should call.

This book is a gift. I hope you'll read it, and I hope you'll pass it on.

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* To purchase a copy of Mosaic, CLICK HERE.

Want to win a copy of Mosaic? I have three copies to give away. Everyone who comments on this post between now and October 21 will have a chance to win. Names of all posters will be put in a hat (more likely, some sort of bowl I will snag from the kitchen) and I will ask my husband, the pastor, to draw three names. Does that make you rest easy? Make sure you give me a way to contact you--email, blogger i.d., etc. Books will be sent out early next week.

Want to double your chances of winning? Run over to Christian Women Online and read their review. Darlene is also giving away three books this week.

Happy posting!