It’s No Secret Giveaway with Rachel Olsen

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Pssst….

I have a secret!

A dear friend and fellow Proverbs 31 sister of mine, Rachel Olsen, is releasing her new book today.

You are gonna love it! Read on for an interview and giveaway with this fabulous writer, powerful teacher and gifted girlfriend! Here she is:

Rachel, as the editor of the Proverbs 31 Encouragement for Today devotions and a university professor, you have lots of experience in writing and editing, but this is your first full-blown solo book. What prompted you to write it?

One verse. Jesus told His disciples in Matthew 13:11 there are secrets in the kingdom of God, and His followers can grasp them. That statement astounded me, and excited me. I was captured by the notion that God had secrets He was willing to share. I wanted to find out what they were.

I’d been operating with the assumption that the Bible was hard to understand, unless you were gifted to be a pastor or went to seminary. But in that passage Jesus said all you have to do is follow Him and He will supply the understanding. So I prayed for wisdom and dug into the Bible.  I’ve since realized God never hides truth from sincere seekers. In fact, He came to earth in the person of Jesus to ensure that we’d learn His secrets and understand His ways.

With this book I wanted to share twelve of the divine secrets I’ve found, so they can empower others’ lives just as they have empowered mine. And I included Bible study sections at the end of each chapter to get my readers digging into the Bible for themselves.

The book is titled It’s No Secret. Can you give us a glimpse into a few of the secret topics it covers?

Sure, Karen. I uncover the Secret to Responding to God, the Secret of Interdependence, the Secret of Handling Conflicts Biblically, the Secret of Living Generously, the Secret of Perfection in God’s Eyes, and the Secret to Growing Through Trials, just to name a handful. The whole list can be seen online in the table of contents when you “look inside this book” at Amazon.

To put it more succinctly, this book will help you:

* Overcome the competitive urges that leave you lonely

* Grow spiritually despite life’s setbacks

* Discover how to make what you give away ultimately return to you

*View rest not as a have-to, but as a get-to

*Handle conflicts and criticism with grace

*Relax unrealistic expectations in favor of emotional stability

*Discover a key to increased spiritual vitality

*Find adventure as you yield wholeheartedly to God

Your subtitle talks about revealing divine truths every woman should know. What importance does truth play in a girlfriend’s life?

Truth is crucial. Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” So it matters where you get your truth from. I hold to the conviction that if God created life, He alone gets to define it.  He is the Reality Maker. And His Word, the Bible, is our reliable source of truth. When we dig into it and follow it, our minds are renewed, our lives are transformed, and we grow in freedom.  I’m confident It’s No Secret contains biblical truth that can do that for you.

Jesus, by the way, is the Word Made Flesh –  He is truth in action! That’s why knowing truth always begins with following Him.

What is your greatest hope for gals out there who read your book?

My hope echoes the apostle Paul’s. I started the book with a blank page before the introduction with his words from Colossians 2:2-3, “I want them to have full confidence because they have complete understanding of God’s secret plan, which is Christ himself. In him lie hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.”

My goal for my readers is that they would become God’s secret-keepers and His secret-revealers – that they would embrace the “secret way of living” revealed in the Bible and this book, and show others this empowering way to live as well.

You are offering a fabulous giveaway to our readers today. Tell us about it!

If you look at the cover of my book, you’ll see one of my favorite things: coffee! Specifically, I’m a decaf latte or frappe girl. :-) What I really wish I could do is meet each of my readers weekly for 12 weeks over cups of coffee and talk through the contents of our lives and of this book.  But I can’t do that – I don’t have that many frequent flier miles! So I’m offering the next best thing in a giveaway: a free copy of the book and a $10 Starbucks gift card.

Thanks Rachel, for stopping by to visit and share your secrets with us!!

My pleasure, Karen. I am praying for each and every reader of It’s No Secret to encounter something life changing between the pages of this book!

Okay, now for the giveaway: Leave a comment on this post that names the topic(s) in the book you are most interested in reading.  Or tell what drink you would order at the coffee shop if you could meet Rachel there. If you do both, your name will be entered twice!

This post will be left up until Friday morning when the winner will be announced and when we’ll have ANOTHER giveaway in conjunction with an Encouragement for Today devotion I’ll have running. It also involves a book and TWO gifts cards! See you then!

91 Comments

  1. I am really interested in learning how to overcome the competitive urges that leave you lonely, view rest not as a have-to, but as a get-to, and relax unrealistic expectations in favor of emotional stability. It’s a constant struggle every day to fight against the negative things we say to ourselves. I’m really excited about this book!

    As far as Starbucks goes…currently I am a grande soy chai latte’ person :)

  2. God is taking me through a deep inner healing process right now, so the section titled: the Secret to Growing Through Trials sounds perfect for this season. :-)

  3. ‘Perfection in God’s eyes,’ is what speaks to me. I feel so far from perfect, which as Christians, yes, we all sin. But I want to do better, and sometimes worry what God thought of my actions.

    For a drink, it is a cappuccino all the way. My favorite is carmel swirl cappuccino’s, so good!

  4. I can’t wait to read this book, we are really digging into this type of study at our ladies group. I am really interested in the Secret to responding to God.

    I am not a coffee drinker so I would order a Chai Tea.

  5. “Overcome the competitive urges that leave you lonely” – I was just talking about this with another lady on our WM team! We’re one of several churches in our area hosting the Beth Moore live simulcast in a couple of weeks and we have to keep reminding ourselves that it’s *not* a competition! Why do we feel the urge to make everything a competition? I’m also very interested in the topic “Handle Conflicts and Criticism with Grace” – that’s really difficult, especially when it comes from within your body of fellowship and you’re just trying to do your best!

    My drink choice would be a Chai Tea Latte – yum!

    Thanks for the contest. I’m looking forward to reading the book!

  6. How to handle conflicts and criticism with grace, yep, that sounds like a good one!

    And I like my caramel hazelnut lattes with cream =-]

  7. this book sounds like just what i need. There are several topics that peak my interest but one in particular is: Handle conflicts and criticism with grace.

    Unfortunately i don’t drink coffe so i would order a tea.

  8. This sounds like it will be a fabulous book. I read the introduction and first chapter on Rachel’s sight. I think the “Find adventure as you yield whole heartedly to God”, sounds interesting to me.

    I would choose a pumpkin spice latte since fall seems to be just around the corner.

  9. Oh Karen, thank you for the heads up on this book! Sounds like I’ll learn a lot!

    I tend to be very controlling and find it difficult to submit often times. So, I believe I would benefit the most from “Find adventure as you yield wholeheartedly to God”. I can’t wait to read this book…it all sounds wonderful!

    With today being kind of the beginning of the fall season, I’d order a hot spiced cider to help me transition as the temp sure isn’t;)

  10. I think I would benefit most from the sections about the Secret to Growing Through Trials. Whether they are financial, emotional or physical trials… I need to learn to grown with God in those times. Really, I could use everything in a book like this. A teenager and this economy, coupled with work and stress… make Jill a Dull Unhappy Girl. :-) I want to unlock God’s secrets for my life.

    And I’d order a Grande Sugar Free Vanilla Latte!!! yum!!

  11. Handle conflicts and criticism with grace, and a latte would taste good. It’s all about WWJD when I’m in a conflict with myself or someone else. The complete book has some awesome subjects and would be a delight to read.

  12. The whole book sounds just what we as women need! Just about every topic you cover is something I need. I cannot wait to get the book! And the drink I would order would be a chocolate Mocha capp! My fav!!! I have trouble in the confidence level and do feel guilty when I feel I need to rest. Finally someone has wrote of these issues!

  13. *Handle conflicts and criticism with grace

    *Relax unrealistic expectations in favor of emotional stability

    these are the two that grabbed my attention! actually they all did but these two more so. The drink I would order at starbucks would be a tall- triple-1 pump-fat free white chocolate mocha with 3 slenda, please. :)

  14. Thank you for this interview!

    As listed above, I’m particularly interested in the following topics: the Secret of Handling Conflicts Biblically, the Secret of Perfection in God’s Eyes, finding adventure as you yield wholeheartedly to God, and viewing rest not as a have-to but as a get-to. They all look interesting, but Chapters 4, 7, 9, and 11 capture my attention the most.

    As for the coffee drink, at Starbucks, I like a skinny white chocolate mocha! It’s neat to read others’ preferences here!

  15. * Grow spiritually despite life’s setbacks
    *Find adventure as you yield wholeheartedly to God. Those would be my top priorities but all of them sounds like something I need. Sounds like a great book and would love to have one.
    If I had a Starbucks close I would order the Pumpkin Spice latte but I live in a small town and the closest Starbucks is about 70 miles away……=(

  16. First, I would read “Handle conflicts and criticism with grace,” unless I chose “Relax unrealistic expectations in favor of emotional stability” or “Overcome the competitive urges that leave you lonely.” Seriously, I can think of so many situations where this would be helpful.

    And my order would be Wyatt Earp, extra sweet.

  17. The secret of Responding to God would be the first topic I would love to read and dealing with conflict biblically is also a topic that I could use some insight on.

    I love coffee and tea – any flavors but the chai tea latte is my first choice. Thanks for the inspiration on the website!

  18. Every one of those topics is something I need to work on. So I am anxious to read all of it.
    I would order a Grande, Decaf, Mocha. Or since it is still warm weather a Grande, Decaf, Mocha Frappichino.

  19. I read the first chapter and was captivated by Rachel’s book! It is hard to choose one topic but I would say I could use help in dealing with conflict biblically. I’d go with the hot chocolate anytime since I’m not a coffee drinker.

    Sweet Blessings.

  20. Either “Handle conflicts & criticism with grace” or “relax unrealistic expectations” would interest me most.

    And I’m an iced vanilla latte, non-fat kind of girl. Although as soon as fall is here, I’m after a pumpkin spice latte.

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