Author Chat with Julie Lavender on Her Book, Strength for All Seasons
Life has more than the four seasons we use to mark the passage of time. As the mom of a young toddler, I feel as though I have already experienced so many new seasons: from fresh baby snuggles to actually playing outside with my boy and watching the wonder on his face as he discovers new experiences. All those milestones–from sitting to crawling to babbling to walking to attempting to talk–are just the tip of the iceberg of the seasons motherhood presents. As I’m learning, each one brings its joys and its challenges.
My friend and gifted author Julie Lavender wrote a book to encourage women in all seasons of motherhood. Strength for All Seasons is a mom’s devotional full of powerful verses, prayers, and practical encouragement for all stages of motherhood. I relate so much to such topics such as comparison, overwhelm, juggling a career, and more. I love how each devotional starts with Scripture, provides a relatable message, and ends with reflection questions and a prayer.
Please join me in welcoming Julie back to the blog today as she shares about Strength for All Seasons.
Q: What is one fun fact about yourself that not many people know?
I always dreamed of traveling and “seeing the world” when I was a little girl. But not only did we have very little money when I was growing up, my truck-driving, farmer dad didn’t like to travel, so we rarely went anywhere. I accepted the fact that I’d never get to see much of the world beyond my county of birth, but I sure loved to live vicariously though movies and television shows about other places.
When my high school and college sweetheart became my husband, we were married while we worked on our masters degrees, mine in education and his in an advanced biology degree. At the end of his degree, when he started searching for a job, he accepted a position as a medical entomologist in the United States Navy. And, though he traveled extensively and way more than I did, I had the blessing of seeing a lot of beautiful and cool places that I’d only dreamed of. We lived in Florida, North Carolina, Virginia, California, and Washington State. And I traveled to Barbados, Ecuador, Israel, Mexico, Canada, Bermuda, Puerto Rico, and all across the United States. It was a sweet treat from the Lord to see His beautiful world.
Q: What prompted you to write a book of devotions for moms?
Actually, because this was a work-for-hire project, the idea was totally conceived by my publisher, Zeitgeist, which is a Penguin Random House imprint. But because I’d worked with them before on my Children’s Bible Stories for Bedtime project, they reached out to me with this opportunity as well. My editor knew my background as a mom of four, and homeschooling mom of those four, so my editor thought I was a great fit for the job. And, I absolutely loved diving into the Bible to find verses about God’s strength and relying on HIS strength to get us through each season and stage of motherhood. I’m convinced the writing of the book blessed me as much as I hope it blesses the moms who’ll read it.
Q: In your own journey of motherhood, what were some of the challenges you encountered, and how did God’s Word help you navigate them?
As the wife of a career military guy, I was often home alone with the kids for days or weeks, and sometimes months, at a time. I quickly gained an appreciation for single moms or dads, and it’s a very difficult job! And because we moved around often, like every two to three years, it was hard for me to get comfortable with a new babysitter when we first moved. That was very challenging to me not to have any help and to take care of the kids on my own. Even more challenging was being that far away from extended family. It was always comforting and reassuring to me that no matter where we moved, how many kids we had at that moment, or whether it was just me or David and I both doing the parenting, it was extremely comforting to know that God was with me in every step of my mothering journey.
Q: In the new year, moms might wish they had the time and space for new resolutions. How might you encourage them to prioritize instead of setting resolutions they might not be able to keep?
Resolutions can be fun, but I think they should be held lightly because like you suggested, they’re often very hard to keep as a busy mom. I like to set smaller goals, like for only a month at a time, and then revisit the goal at the beginning of the next month. Most of my goals revolved around spending time with the kids. I loved to plan fun activities, and creative ones, and unique experiences … but, if “life” got in the way and those things didn’t work out, I tried to remember to give myself grace. I always thought, “Tomorrow is another day,” and sometimes that really cool activity I planned might have to get postponed if someone woke with a fever that day or my husband suddenly deployed or some other life situation happened. I think it’s really important to give ourselves grace when things don’t go as planned. And when our kids see us do just that, then they learn about the unmerited grace that our Heavenly Father bestows on us every single day. We don’t deserve the grace we receive, but because He loves us and loves giving good gifts, we are blessed with truly amazing grace from the Lord. Hopefully, my kids learned more about God’s character by watching me give myself grace and start over again when things didn’t go as planned. Whatever plans I made, I tried to prioritize my family at the top of my earthly treasures, but I wanted them to see that God was always my number one priority above all.
Q: What is your prayer for the moms who read this book?
This is going to sound very cliché and trite, and it’s also a bit controversial with some moms these days, but my prayer for moms is that they enjoy every stage and phase and season of motherhood, because it really does go by in rapid speed. It doesn’t feel that way while changing millions of diapers and wiping noses and managing middle school emotions and letting a sixteen-year-old drive off in the car for the first time …. mothering doesn’t always seem “fleeting,” but it truly is. So, when I say that my prayer is for moms to enjoy each moment, I don’t mean I hope they’ll do more, more, more with their kids, I just pray that they’ll treasure the memories they are making at that very moment and not rush through that season.
And, if I get two prayers for moms – I have lots and lots of prayers for moms, but I’ll only mention two. I pray that moms will hang onto God’s strength every single day. Seek His presence and draw near to Him each moment, each day. In different seasons of my own motherhood, sometimes that looked like just a few short stolen moments with God during naptime and in some seasons, I was able to spend longer moments in prayer and Bible study. But when I learned to lean into the Lord each day, my day when much smoother. That didn’t mean it wasn’t without mishaps – I just handled it better when I was “prayed-up” and dependent on Him.
Q: Can you hint about what next project you have in the works?
Well, I’m super-excited about having completed a four-book, kids’ educational assignment with my husband. I’ve wanted to collaborate with him for a long time, and we finally got the chance recently. We enjoyed combining his science and biology background with my education background to do these four books that will be in school libraries, hopefully by the fall of this year.
About the Author
Julie Lavender is a journalist, author, speaker, former teacher, former homeschooling mom, and wife to her high school and college sweetheart, David, but her most favorite hat of all is “mommy.” Those four, previously-homeschooled students, two girls and two boys, are now college-graduated adults living farther away than she’d like. She enjoyed welcoming two sons-in-love into the family, as well as a precious grandson five years ago. Julie loved being a military wife for twenty years while David served as a medical entomologist for the Navy. Her family lived in nine homes in six states before retiring from the military and settling back in their hometown, where David began work as a wildlife biologist on a nearby Army installation. Julie is the author of Strength for All Seasons: A Mom’s Devotional of Powerful Verses and Prayers, Children’s Bible Stories for Bedtime, and 365 Ways to Love Your Child: Turning Little Moments into Lasting Memories. She looks forward to two picture books and four children’s educational books co-authored with her husband coming out in the next two years.
About Strength for All Seasons
A mom’s devotional of strength-bearing prayers and verses for overcoming the stress and difficulties of life and motherhood
In Strength for All Seasons, author Julie Lavender is beautifully candid about the difficulties of motherhood and offers encouragement and wisdom based on God’s most powerful words, reminding weary moms that he is the ultimate source of strength and resilience. This thoughtful weekly devotional gives moms the grace and space to go at their own pace and reflect on both celebrations and challenges while staying grounded in God’s truths. The seasons of motherhood are ever-changing with peaks and valleys and ebbs and flows, but the one thing moms can consistently count on is God.
