Have you ever wished you could sit down in a casual coffee shop with one of our authors and speakers and chat? We are so thankful for the amazing women of God we have the privilege of working with regularly. And while we can’t all gather in our favorite downtown coffee shop, we want to give you the opportunity to know them a little more personally.
Every so often we’re sharing a fresh “coffee chat” with a member of the Lifeway Women family to give you the opportunity to get to know her a little better.
This month, get to know Caroline Saunders, author of the new Come Home Bible study!
Tell us about your writing process. Any favorite pens, locales, teas to drink, and music to listen to?
Unfortunately, I’m most likely to come to my laptop feeling inspired by whatever is not the pressing deadline (I know other writers understand this!), so I first try to capture those fleeting bits of inspiration by jotting down some quick notes, and then I discipline myself to write the thing before me. If I’m struggling to get started, I can shake things loose by writing something silly and stream-of-conscious. Once I’m going, an instrumental playlist, comfy clothes, one hot beverage, one cold beverage, and a string of little deadlines help me make my way to the big deadline.
Along the way, I pray lots of “Help me!” prayers. Sometimes a public place offers me the accountability I need to stay focused, but I need to make sure I go somewhere where I’m not likely to run into a friend. For me, friends are the ultimate distraction! (I don’t know how I got any papers written in college.) So, typically, I’m writing at home on the few days a week in which my kids are at school, my husband is at work, and where my dog won’t talk to me. (Although if he did, that would inspire some great content.)
What is something that makes you laugh?
I love anger directed toward something harmless and niche. For example, I have a friend who gets riled up about the home décor in the kids’ show Cocomelon and the book Goodnight Moon, and it’s bliss to listen to her rant. Similarly, my brother is an architect and has always been infuriated by the designs of certain buildings. I have no idea what he’s talking about, but I’m here for the rage. If you want to bluster about something wildly specific yet meaningless (like the unsustainable economies in Daniel Tiger and Paw Patrol), I’m your audience.
What do you love to learn about?
I love to learn about what makes people sit up and pay attention. It’s not necessarily that I’m reading scientific studies about attention spans (although a book called Brain Rules is really fascinating); it’s that I’m typically paying attention to who’s paying attention. For example, during a sermon, a lesson in kids’ ministry, a small group, a conversation with my kids, or a dinner with friends, I love to notice when everyone is totally engaged and when people seem to struggle to focus. What gets absorbed, what doesn’t, and why? As a writer and teacher, I want to be thoughtful about my content—but I also want to be thoughtful about my delivery. If something important needs to be communicated, how can I bring that vital content to people where they actually are, with the brains and attention spans they actually have?
What is your favorite snack?
I understand that this is a tragically millennial answer, but I love avocado toast. I will never pass up a piece of avocado toast.
You have a new Bible study with Lifeway called Come Home. Tell us a little about it.
Come Home is a seven-session study in which we trace the theme of home through Scripture. Home is a deeply personal subject that evokes both joy and pain, and our connection with the idea makes a lot of sense when we realize how much of the Bible points to home. If you think about it, the Bible starts with the perfect home God created that is tragically lost because of sin, and the Bible ends with an even more perfect home in which sin can never enter—and the middle is packed with people looking for a home and God promising to show them the way.
I love that Jesus calls Himself “the way”! As the theme develops over the course of the story, I think women will grow in their love for God’s Word and in their capacity to press His story into theirs. I’m eager to point women to Jesus and to proclaim His message to homesick hearts: “Come home.”
As you worked on Come Home, what were some new things you learned along the way?
Diving into the promise of home we see in Abraham’s story, I was struck in a new way by the zigs and zags of his life. For example, Abraham left his home and followed God without having any clue where he was going (Heb. 11:8). As a person who lives life fairly dependent upon a GPS, this challenged me. Do I trust God like that? Or do I like to secure my own way? (I bet you can guess my answer!) In many ways, Abraham didn’t receive the things God had promised, but Hebrews 11 tells us he greeted them from afar and declared himself a foreigner (v. 13).
When we have that “not home yet” feeling, we’re in really good company—and it doesn’t mean that God doesn’t deliver on His promises! In the midst of all the “delays” along the journey, God repeated His promise to Abraham (and then to Isaac and Jacob) over and over and over again. Much of Genesis is made up of God reminding His people of His promise! I love that God is faithful not just to keep His promises but to remind us of His promises when we are flailing in faith. As a result, one of my prayers for Come Home is that God will use it as a reminder to women that His promise of home is true, real, and for them.
Want to learn more about Caroline’s new Bible study, Come Home? In this 7-session study, Caroline follows the theme of home through the Bible. From humanity’s first home to our eternal one, we’ll see God drawing near to abide with us. We’ll find that even the best aspects of home here are just a glimmer of what God is building for us through Christ. This study will affirm that our longing for home is good and purposeful, pointing us to our truest home which is found in Him.
