Rediscovering Grace with Author Kim Stuart

Join me in my conversation with Kim Stuart, author of "Star for Jesus and Other Jobs I Quit: Rediscovering the Grace That Sets Us Free."   Kim is an author of nine bestselling books, a speaker, writing coach, and a podcast host of "For Real" and "The Writing Room" that she co-hosts with New York Times Bestselling author Bob Goff. In her new book she explores the topic of grace in a fresh new way. She reminds all of us that we don't have to perform for God to gain His favor or earn our way to receive his grace. It's a fun and uplifting topic to discuss.

To say I admire Kim is an understatement. She is talented, wise, kind, smart, entertaining and funny--and above all, very humble. Her faith leads her steps in every area of her work and her life, and she inspires anyone who knows her to live a more authentic, faith-filled life. I was thrilled that she agreed to come on this podcast and if you don't know her yet, I know you'll enjoy her too.

SPOILER ALERT: I've read all of her books and they are EXCELLENT! Every single one. Buy all of them.

Get in touch with Kim at www.KimberlyStuart.com

Follow her on Instagram @kimberly.stuart.writes

Order her books   https://www.kimberlystuart.com/books

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Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:24

I'd like to welcome Kim Stewart to the Pivotal People podcast. She was brave enough to come on the podcast when it was brand new two and a half years ago and she's agreed to be on it today because she's come out with a new book and I just have to tell you a little bit about Kim. Before we start, I'm going to tell you what she does. She is a writer. She has actually this is her ninth book. She is a speaker. She speaks at writing workshops. She works with Bob Goff. She coaches writers. She helps people write their own books something like 30 or 40 a year, I think, is what Bob said.

Speaker 1: 1:01

She is a podcast host. She has her own podcast, which is great, called For Real, and she also does a podcast with Bob Goff called the Writer's Room, and they interview authors. On top of all that, she's a wife. I've met her husband. He's great and a mother, and her kids are great. That's what she does. Okay, I'm excited because today we're going to find out a little bit about who she is and I'll tell you she is a pretty inspiring, special person. I look at Kim and I say you know you really. She could have her own television talk show now that Oprah's done with it.

Speaker 1: 1:35

No, she'd be great at it. She could be a comedian. Like Leanne Morgan is the South, she could be the Leanne Morgan of the Midwest. I have all kinds of suggestions for her, but what she really loves to do is she loves to blow wind into other people's sails. That's what she does, and it's so inspiring to me because she really is so humble. It has taken me almost three years it's like layers of an onion to really discover what a special person she is, and I promised her I wasn't going to gush, and I just gushed all over the place, and here's the last thing I'm going to tell you before I let her speak.

Speaker 1: 2:12

This is her ninth book, and I pre-ordered it. It's her first nonfiction book. Her other eight books were all novels. I read mostly nonfiction. I love to read. Anyone who listens to this podcast knows reading is my favorite thing. I could do it all day long. The only thing that could be better about reading is if it burned calories. Unfortunately, it doesn't. First person who figures that out, though, is going to sell a lot of books, so my husband and I were going on vacation a couple of weeks ago. Her book wasn't out yet, but I thought, if I'm a good researcher, I should really read one of her other books. So I ordered her book off Amazon called Sugar other books. So I ordered her book off Amazon called Sugar because it had the most reviews. That's how I decided, and it was a five-day vacation. Well, I finished it in two days and thank goodness I brought my Kindle. I bought three more of her books.

Speaker 2: 3:00

She has this trilogy.

Speaker 1: 3:06

I'm almost done with that and I read another book called Act Two, and I've ordered another one, Heartland, and then her book finally came so I could read that. So in three weeks I've read six of Kim's books.

Speaker 1: 3:15

Maybe, there's a support group for this. Here's what I love about Kim's writing and this is why you're all going to buy her book. I read so many books so I know what I'm talking about. Some people, they have great wisdom and they write these books. Unfortunately, they have good editors because they're not really great writers. But you wade through it because they have great wisdom, like a lot of pastors do. This. It's really good wisdom. Some people are beautiful writers and you read their books and the words are beautiful and they're so pithy you can hardly make it through.

Speaker 1: 3:46

Kim is so wise and she is a beautiful writer, which is why I kept ordering her books. They are so great. So that was way too much gushing. But welcome, Kim, we're going to let you talk. I want everyone to know why they're staying tuned in the whole time because they get to hear from you. Welcome.

Speaker 2: 4:07

Thank you for the best introduction in the history of humankind. Goodbye. I have nothing to say after that. I'm transcribing that, I'm going to post it on our refrigerator and each child interned every day will take turns before dinner as read aloud time Everyone sit down. This is about mom and I forgot to tell you that she's really funny.

Speaker 1: 4:35

I also forgot to tell them the most important part, which is what your new book is. So Kim's new book is called Star for Jesus and Other Jobs. I Quit Rediscovering the Grace that that sets us free. So she's talking about grace. I just want to talk to you about how you came on grace and tell us what grace means to you. She told us beautifully with so many real life stories. You tackled a tough topic there.

Speaker 2: 5:06

Kim. Well, what was I thinking? Okay, that's the first question. Um, you mentioned I've written some novels in the past and I have come to believe that a novel in many ways is an easier tackle, and here's why you make people up and then, if they irritate you, you just kill them off. Chapter five you don't need her anymore. Bye, these are all true stories and I'm not a violent person. And so I got to chapter five in this and thought what was I thinking? These are all true and also pretty vulnerable. In fact, I've been in a total vulnerability hangover since the book released and I hadn't anticipated that.

Speaker 2: 5:44

I have no regrets. These are all stories that are dear to me and I'm very proud of the way that the book ended up. I have no regrets. These are all stories that are dear to me and I'm very proud of the way that the book ended up. I feel like it's the best book I can write right now. And yet these are all things that have been my own, that I've held fast to on my own, and now they're out there. The beautiful part has been to see how my stories are really all of our stories.

Speaker 2: 6:06

So Tackling Grace you mentioned is just a ridiculous. I'm paraphrasing, but that was a really silly thing for me to do because it's such a big idea. I have found it to be slippery in my life, this idea that I already have this fully wrought, paid in full, this fully wrought, paid in full, unmerited gift, unmerited favor with the God who loves me. I don't understand that with my brain, because everywhere else in my life I have math that I do and the math goes I perform and I receive right. That's at my job, that's even in relationships. If I'm a total, as my grandpa would say, deadbeat, then people will not want to hang out with me, even in my family. Yes, we have unconditional love for each other, but we do have, we have an expectation. We're all going to do the dishes right, we're all going to work together and then when we don't, we have to talk about it. God does not have math with the way that he loves us. He doesn't ask me to add and he also doesn't ask me to subtract and decide who gets it. So this idea doesn't make sense. You and I have talked many times, stephanie, about our own wiring to achieve. We just really like. We like gold stars and we like having a goal and we like crossing finish lines, and for two decades at least, I've been asking God, are you sure, you're really sure? Like I don't have to. I don't have to spiffy up for you, I don't have to be striving constantly to remind you that you really, you're right, you're right, you should love me. And five, six, seven, eight, I'm going to tap dance for you. So it is a huge idea.

Speaker 2: 7:52

There have been so many people who have written beautiful books about grace.

Speaker 2: 7:54

Most of them have PhDs and MDivs, and I am just the every girl.

Speaker 2: 7:59

And there have been times through this writing process where that has been super intimidating and I've had to kind of recalibrate and remind myself that the every girl has something to say too, that most of us are the everyday girl or the everyday guy, and that's the beauty of grace. You don't actually need a PhD to wade in. That's the point of it. You're not, there's no button to push, there's no star to put on your head, it is free and it is enough and it's for us. So it was a ridiculous decision, but I did it anyway and I learned so much. That's the thing, right, we always learn. What we're writing about, we think, is for others, and it's a hundred percent for us. So I've had yet another deep dive, even in this book release season, of what does it feel like to really extend grace to myself, to really extend it to other people, even in the carpool lane, at my daughter's school, where I'm tempted to say things that are not in keeping with a Jesus follower.

Speaker 1: 9:07

You said a couple things right there that prompted me to think. It's like number one you can never fully understand this. We can't fully understand.

Speaker 1: 9:16

God we can't fully understand. When I was in high school and I first started being interested in the Bible, the very first verse that got my attention was but now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. In other words, we're off the hook. We don't have to understand it all, our minds are too little, but the flip side of that is that means we're never done understanding it. So for me it's always interesting to read more about it, because in each writer, even though they're writing on the topic, each writer brings their own lens to the topic. That's right their own experiences, their own stories. I call it not necessarily an explanation of grace, but more of an exploration of grace.

Speaker 2: 9:57

Yeah, that's good.

Speaker 1: 9:58

Yep and I thought about your book and I thought this is really helpful for people to feel invited when they didn't even know they were welcome.

Speaker 2: 10:09

Oh, I love that, so I can and you said I heard another podcast.

Speaker 1: 10:13

You said you know there are commentaries written about grace, you know academic commentaries. And you said this is not a commentary. But, kim, I'm going to tell you those. I've read commentaries and certainly they're informative and educational, but they're I've never read a funny commentary. There is nothing funny about them. So I appreciate real life humor and the whole idea of vulnerability. I mean, when you said, I mean your book spoke to me so much, it'll speak to everyone, this idea of we don't have to strive. And then you know what I do. I'm like, okay, I'm striving not to strive. Wait, then you know what I do. I'm like, okay, I'm striving not to strive.

Speaker 1: 10:50

Wait, you're striving not to strive Because I'm not striving.

Speaker 2: 10:53

Look at me, I'm not striving right now. Pretty good, huh.

Speaker 1: 10:57

That's right. It's hard to get your head around, especially, as you said, the rest of our life is a earn and deserve, earn and deserve Absolutely. It doesn't make any sense, absolutely.

Speaker 2: 11:07

No, that's why it's slippery to me, stephanie, that's why it's taken me. I mean, in some ways, this book took two decades to write, because it took two decades really more than that from early, early stages, just trying to wrap my head around it. And what you said is so beautiful. Just because we don't understand something fully does not actually mean that it's not real and it's not palpable and not something that we can hold on to. That's something that's taken a long time For a person who likes to know. That's a beautiful place to land, right? I don't actually even understand my phone. I don't understand it. It works. I guess I do not get it, and yet I just decide I will accept that as part of my life. How much bigger that the God of the universe, who has spun planets into motion and hung stars in the sky. I don't think he offers or owes me an instruction manual. I mean, my arrogance is really astonishing.

Speaker 1: 12:04

Now that I'm saying it out loud, there is some beauty in that mystery and that absolutely absolutely goes nip and tuck with the idea of grace I've been saying in my head this week after reading your book. I love it. Grace upon grace upon grace, just like grace upon grace for yourself. Yes, ma'am, grace for yourself. I can remember when my mother died and I got an email from a friend who was honestly being supportive and kind and her mother hadn't died. So I kind of have this thing like talk to me when your mother dies, then we'll all be on the same page. But it's always perplexed me. I didn't understand it at all then. It's been 14 years of learning what this means. But her one verse was his grace is sufficient for you. And in that you know, when you're in the middle of a trial you're like nothing feels sufficient right now. She was right. She was right, his grace was sufficient for me. But we're not always ready to hear that.

Speaker 2: 13:06

No, there's a timing issue, right? Oh man, I wouldn't have drop kicked your friend Stephanie See previous story about carpool and Jesus following. But I have learned a lot about grace in grief and often I'm kind of at the point. At this point in my life I think I would just advocate for a lot of silence as a measure of grace. So the way we show grace to each other in times of loss and of grief and losing your mom, I mean, what a profound earthquake loss in a woman's life there is nothing we can say. Even the true things aren't probably needed in the moment, not for me. It doesn't comfort me. Even truth is not super comforting to me. Sometimes, when I am absolutely wracked by grief, I would prefer you to just sit with me. I know there's a bigger purpose. I know God has a plan. I know God's grace is sufficient. I know his grace is made perfect in my weakness. All of those things can be absolutely true and I know that my loved one has not stopped that. Actually they're living the fullest version of themselves in that moment, but I'm not.

Speaker 2: 14:22

And now we begin the missing, and that is gut-wrenching and difficult, one of my favorite things in the whole Bible that I never got growing up. You know when you're asked to memorize verses and so you just said Jesus wept because it's the shortest verse. Maybe that was just me. Get another gold star. Totally memorized it, thanks.

Speaker 2: 14:42

That word wept, I realized after researching for this book. It means bellowed, jesus bellowed. He himself bellowed at grief. He bellowed at death, which is curious to me because he's the one who knows what happens after we die. Why wasn't he like hey, graduation day?

Speaker 2: 15:02

And I have felt that in Christian circles, when people pass away, that they want to skip straight to the. This isn't a funeral, this is a celebration, and my heart is fully in the funeral. I can't yet celebrate because I'm here and I don't know if there's a more tender verse in the whole Bible than Jesus bellowed. He knows he missed his friend. He looked at the people weeping and got angry that death steals because that wasn't the original intent. So if we take him as a model, I don't know that it's a time to quote scripture. I think my suspicion is it's more stop talking earlier and hold that person's hand and look in their face and say I am with you and I love you so much. Feels like you can't go wrong with that and we can go wrong other ways. So I'm still learning, but right now that's where I'm hanging my hat. Fewer words, more presence.

Speaker 1: 15:59

And I actually think that's freeing for when you're in a point where you're trying to comfort someone is. No, the best is. Catherine Wolfe calls it the ministry of tears. Just sit and cry with me, that's right. Just admit it. This is terrible.

Speaker 1: 16:12

This is terrible that this person died or whatever, and then that takes the pressure off. And now when friends or people I know, when their mothers die, it's really easy for me to do that. You know it's okay, I don't have words, we're not going to have words, but I understand. What I also loved was this Okay, let's talk about understanding grace, so that, just before people think they have to run to a commentary, we don't necessarily. You know, god can speak to us through our intellect. He can speak to us through our hearts and, if you wouldn't mind sharing, I so loved the dear story of your 28-year-old father and his experience of grace, which I don't think was through his head. Might've been through yours.

Speaker 2: 16:58

Quite, literally yeah. When my dad and mom had just started out. I was two years old and my dad came home for lunch one day. He had his brand new dental practice and he was close enough to drive home. And now that I've had a two-year-old, I know how this happens. I toddled around out of the backyard when my mom went in to say hello to my dad and got out of the gate, crossed over our yard into the next door neighbor's yard and my neighbor did not see me. Their driveway was at an incline and she ran over me. She ran over my head, actually, the tire went straight over my head and so her car went. This is the seventies, these really heavy cars. It was a convertible, I remember a lot of chrome, and she felt the body of the car go up and down and immediately thought oh my gosh, I hit my dog. They had this sweet Basset hound named Hugo who I loved, and my parents think I was probably going to go say hi to Hugo. So my parents heard our neighbor screaming and crying when she realized what had happened and my dad scooped me up and put me in the car.

Speaker 2: 18:11

And that moment was a bit in the making, because two weeks prior he had privately prayed this prayer to God and said I've been going to church my whole life. I am weary of going through the motions. If you're real, I want you to show it to me or I'm all done. He's not a man of finesse, but he is an honest one, and so that was a very honest prayer, not a lot of bells and whistles. Basically, show me what you got. And you know, for a guy who was so skeptical two weeks prior, he called every person he'd ever known and asked them to start praying for his daughter. And so we got to the hospital and the x-ray showed that I'd had a bilateral skull fracture, which is not a great situation for a little girl. So the doctors are very concerned and really kind of cautioned my parents that this was, this might be the end, and if I did recover I would probably have some serious delays or disabilities. And this prayer chain that went absolutely fiercely into what the writer of Hebrews calls the throne room of grace. Right, they went with confidence asking these bold, bold, bold requests of healing for this little girl. God answered in the affirmative for that and in five days I was out of the hospital and had no surgeries. They didn't have to drill to relieve pressure, they had. No, I had no stitches, even I didn't even have children's Tylenol.

Speaker 2: 19:43

And my mom told me years later that she went to the follow-up appointment with my neurologist and he just sat. I was I know this will shock you, stephanie, but I was a verbal child and I was blabbering, blabbering in his office and she said she just remembers him sitting with both hands, kind of his palms up, and shaking his head and watching me, you know, work it in his office. And he just said I have no way to explain this. I cannot explain to you medically what happened. None of this makes sense. I cannot explain to you medically what happened. None of this makes sense. And my dad that was an answer to a very, very bold prayer and it was an answer in a way that made sense to my dad If God had chosen to give him a packet of candles and a lighter and said go sit in solitude and wonder if you can hear me. That's not my dad.

Speaker 2: 20:36

This story has become so tender to me because I can see how personal grace is. It is not this universal. May God be gracious to you, humanity. But it's just kind of a blur, like an impressionistic painting. This is super, super specific. It speaks a language that we understand and God knows that language because he built it into us. So even now, this has been 46 years since this happened and my dad cannot tell that story without weeping. We've told it in many countries. We've told it to big groups and to small groups. In fact, we had a launch party here a few weeks ago and I looked over at my dad and he I wasn't even telling, I just like inched to this story.

Speaker 2: 21:23

Someone asked a question about it. He had, he had tears streaming down his face. He knows the end of this story. There's no cliffhanger here. I mean he knows what will happen at the end. When I tell the end and I think he cries because it's still so nonsensical the way that God loves us, even more so with all the other prayers we've prayed in the last four years that haven't been given that answer. Right, this is not a formula. There is no template here. In that answer right, this is not a formula. There is no template here, and we know that and we bow our knee to that. But when you see this extraordinary level of kindness and this personal communication between a God who loves us and a feisty I mean punk. Let's just call him a punk. I just don't know any other reaction than to say what my dad says, which is we're just reporting it. Someday Jesus will explain it.

Speaker 1: 22:18

Our role is to say it out loud and to be grateful, and we are and when you hear that story and then you think about the ripple effect of that. You have a sister and a brother. You're believers. I've met your children. They're believers. Your husband's a believer. Your father has no doubt impacted so many of his patients in his dental practice. You have no idea such a real, true, no big church word story that, as you said, what hit me in that chapter was your whole idea of God speaks to each of us in a language that makes sense to us. And when you talked about the idea of you know it's so easy, like you said, maybe there are prayers we've had that he hasn't answered. But we're going to look back four years from now we're going to say, well, actually he did answer it, not in the way I thought, but he had a better one you talk about, you know God does, and I've written the same thing in my journal, kim.

Speaker 1: 23:16

So when you said God has a 100% track record of unfailing love and grace, he got us this far. And when you think about the things you know, things I worried about in my life, and oh my gosh, oh my gosh. And again, maybe it didn't turn out the way I thought it should, maybe it turned out better, but we got through it. Even the super painful things, he got us through it. Absolutely, absolutely. And in that, can we be more compassionate to people who come behind us, who are going through the same kind of thing, absolutely.

Speaker 2: 23:49

Yep, that has become one of my quiet Midwestern battle cries about this book that people would feel the joy and just a little gentle nudge again to look at their story of their life, look back over the years, and mine the years for grace, because it's there, right, I decide which narrative I will focus on in my life and I think the human reaction normally is to look for scarcity. But when I turn around and look at year by year, month by month, evidence of God's grace is so ridiculously overwhelming, that says to me I can do something with the remembering. The remembering shifts things. I've been thinking a lot about this lately because you know the Old Testament over and over. God says remember, remember I am the God who took you out of Egypt. Remember I'm the one who gave you freedom. Remember, remember. I mean, if you just read from page one, you start to think that God maybe has need of an editor. Like he already said that 49 times, like you said this in every book. Okay, like entire passages I am the God who took you through the Red Sea. I'm the God who.

Speaker 2: 25:02

Well, I think it's probably not an editorial decision. I think it is my absolutely abysmal memory that prompts him to say kid, look over here. Remember, we've been here before. You are acting very disoriented and, like you, are not anchored. Turn around, turn around just for a second and look behind you. Remember, I'm the God who loves you and this is when you have known that, with every cell in your body, I'm the God who heals you, I'm the God who fights for you, I'm the God who gave all that I am for you, and you know this because we've walked this road forever. So, chin up, kiddo, look behind you. I don't think that makes this saccharine or sugary.

Speaker 2: 25:47

And again, going back to the top of the conversation, I don't mean that in any paper mache over grief or loss, absolutely not. No. But in keeping with just having my eyes open, I can absolutely with certainty look behind me and see the grace of God. I can see it everywhere and, to your point, absolutely some of my very favorite prayers that got the no oh. Thank you, jesus, that you didn't give me what I wanted. I was a nincompoop, I had no business asking that and you are a lot smarter than me. Thank you for not listening to that particular request, right, oh?

Speaker 1: 26:28

my gosh, yes, yes. So I'm not interrupting Kim, because you cannot miss a word of what she says. I've had the privilege of being at workshops where Kim is teaching and speaking to aspiring writers, and a lot of those people have written their books because Kim gave them the confidence to do that. And a lot of those people have been on this podcast and they have shared their hearts with me and many of them have become good friends of mine. Oh, I love that.

Speaker 1: 26:58

I look back and I think Kim is kind of like the wind in the sails of these I call he's just like my super high quality, neat friends. This is what I tell everyone. Everyone should do what Kim's talking about Look back at your life. We can all create the narrative we want to create. Take out the points, look for God in the past, look for the stories that show God's faithfulness and write your story, not necessarily for the world, but for your kids, if you have kids, for your siblings, if you have siblings, because, first of all, you've explored God yourself and you get closer to God.

Speaker 1: 27:37

Second of all, we might not be around forever and the people who could read these words at a later point in their life where they're more mature and they can benefit from it, will appreciate that you wrote them. But what I appreciate is I have a theory that everyone should write their own vulnerable book and we should read each other's books, because as soon as you read someone else's book, you talked about this. You understand them differently than that label you threw on them. They're no longer a Democrat or a Republican, or a blonde or a brunette, or a member of this club or that club. They are a human being with the same struggles, with the same hopes that you have, and we see each other in such a more beautiful way when we read each other's stories. So, even if it doesn't have to be published by a big publishing house, but it's a wonderful way to A get to know yourself a little bit, get to know God a little better and maybe to let the people you love know you better and then encourage them to write their stories.

Speaker 2: 28:42

Beautiful. I mean. What a gift. That would be right. I just found out. I don't think I can reach it, but I was recently reminded that my grandmother wrote a book. She self-published it. I mean years and years ago. I had forgotten this. This is my reading material in the next few days. I'm telling you first, I cannot wait to read her that snapshot of who she was at that time. And she was feisty. I already know that and I will absolutely. This is grandma Edna who's in the book, and it will be a gift to me that she spent the time took I mean laborious time in the days of word processors and typewriters to write this down to document what she knew at that moment.

Speaker 2: 29:26

I think a lot of folks get stuck with the idea of writing because they think, well, I don't know all of that yet, right, or in 10 years it will feel different, or in five years it will. Or who am I to write this down? I always push back on that because writing now gives us again that Zoom lens on who you are now, what you know now, and obviously that will change. We hope it does, but you'll miss it. You'll miss it if you don't write it down. And what a gift to the people who know you and or don't know you yet. What would you give Stephanie Nelson to have a whole stack of books behind you by the people who came before? Can you even imagine?

Speaker 1: 30:07

I wish my mother had written a book.

Speaker 2: 30:09

That's what I'm saying. I would love to know how did you feel, what did you think, how did you process this, all these same universal human emotions and experiences? So I say, get off your tushar or sit down with your tushar and write it. No one else can write your story. You're it, you are the nominee, you must.

Speaker 1: 30:28

So I'm going to do a shameless commercial. One of my favorite places to go is the Oaks Retreat Center. I've been four times and I am limiting myself to one a year.

Speaker 1: 30:40

I try to just go when Kim's teaching, but I would encourage people to sign up for a writing workshop at the Oaks. You don't have to sign up for a writing workshop in order to sign up for Kim's coaching program with Bob Goff, but I think it would be a wonderful launching pad You'll really get a sense of. I mean, I went to my writer's workshop just because I wanted to meet Bob Goff. I had zero expectation of it other than that, and it changed the trajectory of what I've been able to do the past couple of years, but not just what I've been able to do, who I have come to know and the relationships I've had in my life, and I am so super thankful for it. So, yeah, that's my commercial.

Speaker 2: 31:20

I do not get a commission. What a great plug.

Speaker 1: 31:22

I think I should get a commission. I think I'm going to make a phone call. I'll pin in a word and this doesn't fit in anywhere, but I have to tell you I have to read this before we finish. I've kept you too long, Kim. No, I love it, it's so fun. Okay, so when you get to know Kim, you're going to go to her website. It's what's the exact URL.

Speaker 2: 31:43

Kim Kimberlystewartcom and it's S-T-U-A-R-T.

Speaker 1: 31:47

We're going to have it on the show notes, but Kimberlystewartcom, like Stuart Little, have it on the show notes. But KimberlyStewartcom, like Stuart Little, and you got to sign up for email newsletter. It's the best. I mean, she's got like a little information about her podcast. She reads a book and she likes it, and she writes a good little review. She has a good recipe. I haven't seen a locale one yet, though, kim. I'm waiting.

Speaker 2: 32:09

That's not the place for that.

Speaker 1: 32:10

No, and she opens with some little funny thing. No matter where we are, we're standing in the kitchen first thing in the morning waiting for the coffee. I open up my email. There's Kim's newsletter. I'm reading it to my husband. We're driving in the car 21 hours across the country each year. I'm reading her email to my husband.

Speaker 2: 32:28

He despises me and I would like to publicly apologize.

Speaker 1: 32:32

When you get Kim's books, you're going to get all nine of them, trust me. You got to read the acknowledgments. I always Okay. So here is she's written this. This is one of the first books I read of hers and she's written these acknowledgments. You know your third grade teacher, you know your editor, you know all those people who helped you. And then at the end she sneaks this in and thank you to my extended family for buying my books, even if you never read them. It's okay, I barely read your Christmas letters. So we're even. Oh my gosh.

Speaker 2: 33:03

I love her. Oh my gosh, that explains why no one reads your book.

Speaker 1: 33:12

So it's. I said she is the perfect combination of smart and sweet. You're not going to get any smut in any of her books. There's a lot of fade to black. I kind of like that, but sassy so not. My husband said you mean sweet like the Hallmark Channel? I said no, like no, they shot me down.

Speaker 2: 33:37

Actually, I bet some of these went to Hallmark, some of those books that people you know that my publisher, my agent or whatever they always shoot me down. Stephanie, I'm too sassy for them.

Speaker 1: 33:39

They need to get with it, but anyway. So you got a little irreverence and a little sass, but nothing disrespectful and nothing sacrilegious Enough to be entertaining. Not enough to feel like you have to take a shower.

Speaker 2: 33:52

So anyway, amazing. Can you please take over all of my publicity and marketing? You're hired.

Speaker 1: 33:58

Oh, you know what? It would be very fun to promote you, because you are not a mere mortal. Mere mortals would be boring.

Speaker 1: 34:07

So the name of the book everyone's going to go to Amazon right now and get it. Star for Jesus and Other Jobs. I Quit. It's not about being a star for Jesus, it's about not striving anymore and just really enjoying the pure gift of grace. And you got to read about it over and over and over and over and over again to get closer to understanding it. But any final thoughts, Kim, before we have to let you go.

Speaker 2: 34:32

Well, you are delightful. I'll see you tomorrow on our first marketing Zoom call. Tell your husband I'm so sorry, but you're going to have to move to Iowa. It's no problem, He'll love it here. Thank you for such a beautiful, rich conversation. You know I am a huge fan of you. You have been on my podcast. So there you go. Sister Podcast, sisters forever.

Speaker 1: 34:54

I only have people on that I really love, so I appreciate that we haven't been able to convert it to coupons, but we're working on it, that's a hard no.

Speaker 2: 35:02

However, mark is very excited and he was very excited that I was talking to you today. So, with all apologies, that he will sign up for Can you please do online courses? Will you please do that? Just do one for Mark, he will.

Speaker 1: 35:13

Okay, I tell Mark I actually I probably will.

Speaker 2: 35:17

Okay, oh, he will love it. He will love it. Just tell me when it's released, cause otherwise he will pepper me with questions and I can only have so many. I can't. I think you're the greatest. Thank you for having me on. It was just such a lovely time together.

Speaker 1: 35:31

And everyone you know. You can hit quit now and go straight to KimberlyStewartcom order your book and you're welcome. You're welcome for that great advice to all of you. Thank you so much for coming on and I look forward to seeing you at the Oaks. Can't wait.