In my fiction writing (I talk about my works in progress on my In the Works page) I typically come up with a three book series (a trilogy) idea. However, somewhere along this devotional journey, I felt that the Be Still series should have at least seven books. And I wanted to continue releasing them every November.

At the beginning of 2020, my husband had an idea for the next book, thinking it would have to do with Psalm 23 and rest. In February on the morning of my book launch party for Explore, my prayer was for the Lord to give us opportunities to rest, retreat, work on what we thought would be the next book called Restore. The Lord gave me two words for the year (which I typically don’t receive any word for a given year): Retreat. Generosity. Little did we know in February exactly how the Lord was going to give us rest and retreat, along with much of the world.

As the Corona virus reared it’s ugly head and sent the world into a tailspin, I, along with much of the population, wrestled with the consequences. The stress and uncertainty was compounded by the fact that the virus invaded our home early on, moving from the husband to me, to our son and to our son’s girlfriend (who was staying with us while the world shut down). A season filled with strident political division as well as racial unrest across the country did more than distract, it distressed. I am not one who writes in the midst of stress and busyness. I process first and then write. As a result, my work on the the next Be Still book and my fiction writing lagged.

And lagged. As the months went by, I realized that this would not be the year for Restore or a devotion on Psalm 23. But I still longed to release another Be Still book. I needed it. I felt like others needed it. But on what. The year was already half over.

I looked back over what I had in my writing files. In the summer of 2014 I started the blog series on the Psalms called First Verse: a journey through the Psalms. As I read through them, I realized I had lots of content for another book. Selecting twenty-one of the blogs, I recrafted them into devotionals with the theme of Abundance. I then combined them with more of my husband’s amazing pictures and the next Be Still book, Consider, was born. We managed to publish it by November and even had copies available for the Artisan Fair.

The book can be purchased on Amazon at Consider: Trusting the Abundance of God.

See all the books currently available by visiting my Be Still page.

All the books in the Be Still series are available on Amazon. Visit my author page Jill English Johnston.