The Nugget Newspaper - News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon

Independently publishing a new book in the midst of pandemic and upheaval poses challenges. Sisters author Lisa May launched a Kickstarter campaign to fund the printing of her book last spring — just as the coronavirus pandemic was shutting the country down. She persevered, and found an alternative means of funding the printing — and now has a beautifully crafted book in hand.

“I never thought that this wasn’t going to happen,” May said. “I just always assumed that I was going to follow this through.”

And the arrival of the book could not be more timely.

“Transformed by God’s Nature: Finding Hope In God’s Character In The Midst Of Suffering” is crafted as a daily devotional.

“It’s targeted to people who are suffering… finding God in the midst of suffering,” May said. “We’re all kind of suffering right now, right?”

May has experienced profound loss, and suffering so acute that it made her question her close-held faith.

“I always knew on an intellectual level that life is not perfect just because I’m a Christian,” she said. “But there’s an undercurrent that if I’m doing the right things and making the right choices that life should be smooth and enjoyable and all those adjectives…. You have to study and understand who God is to understand that it’s a lot more complicated than that... It’s actually biblically promised that we will suffer.”

Understanding the purpose behind such suffering brings comfort.

“It offers comfort in God,” May said.

She noted in a narrative describing her work that, “I learned that when life is painful, confusing, and unpredictable, God’s unchanging character can be a relief — if you know Him for who He has revealed Himself to be. But when my understanding of God was inaccurate, then suffering left my faith on shaky ground. It took years of study in the Bible to find a firm foundation of trust in God that was not shaken in the most difficult circumstances.”

Transformed by God’s Nature is a 23-week study on God’s character, based on a close study of Scripture, with each week focusing on a particular attribute.

“Each attribute has an illustration,” May explained.

From 2012 to 2014, May had been actively involved in producing artwork in a technique she calls “paper layering.” It’s a time-consuming process, and by the time she started on the book, she wasn’t actively working in the medium. But she discovered a means of producing the same type of effect digitally in a much more time-expedient manner, and thus began to illustrate her writing with her original work.

Full-color illustrations from cover to cover significantly contribute to the impact of the book.

“That’s the thing that people are wowed by,” May said. “That’s what makes it a little bit different.”

Transformed by God’s Nature: Finding Hope In God’s Character In The Midst Of Suffering is available at Paulina Springs Books in Sisters; at Amazon.com; and through logbridgebooks.com.

Lisa May is an employee of The Nugget Newspaper.

Author Bio

Jim Cornelius, Editor in Chief

Jim Cornelius is editor in chief of The Nugget and author of “Warriors of the Wildlands: True Tales of the Frontier Partisans.” A history buff, he explores frontier history across three centuries and several continents on his podcast, The Frontier Partisans. For more information visit www.frontierpartisans.com.

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