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WORK TITLE: When God Says Wait
WORK NOTES:
PSEUDONYM(S):
BIRTHDATE:
WEBSITE: http://lizzylife.com/
CITY:
STATE: NC
COUNTRY:
NATIONALITY:
http://lizzylife.com/about/ * https://medium.com/@zachary_houle/a-review-of-elizabeth-laing-thompsons-when-god-says-wait-1bc5ad2985c7
RESEARCHER NOTES:
PERSONAL
Daughter of Geri Laing; married Kevin Thompson (a preacher), 1999; children: Cassidy, Avery, Sawyer (daughters); Blake (son).
ADDRESS
CAREER
Writer, editor, novelist, poet, essayist, public speaker, and women’s minister. Worked as a minister for campus ministries in North Carolina and Georgia.
WRITINGS
Contributor to books, including Chicken Soup for the Soul. Contributor to print and online publications, including the Huffington Post, Power for Living, Mamalode, Coffee + Crumbs, and BonBon Break.
SIDELIGHTS
Elizabeth Laing Thompson is a writer, editor, blogger, public speaker, and minister. She writes fiction for young readers—tweens and teens—and nonfiction for adults, particularly for mothers. Her work is strongly inspirational, with religious themes that encourage readers to follow Christ’s teachings and rely on faith in God to carry them through difficult times and times of joy alike. Thompson frequently blogs on LizzyLife.com, where she writes about “clinging to Christ through the chaos of daily life,” noted a biographer on Amazon.com. “I love finding humor in holiness, and hope in heartache,” she stated on the Elizabeth Laing Thompson Website. As a part-time minister with a focus on Christian parenting and related issues, she strives to help parents keep a religious perspective as they work through the challenges and accomplishments of raising children in today’s world.
The Tender Years
Thompson’s The Tender Years, written with her mother Geri Laing, is a guidebook and inspirational source for mothers with preschool-age children. The book is structured into thirty short, easily accessible chapters that cover the daily lives of moms and what they can expect from having very young children to care for. Thompson and Laing recognize that there are significant fears, challenges, and obstacles to successful parenting, but in this book they work to convey the message that there are also major joys, hopes, and achievements.
The book includes inspirational poetry with messages of hope and encouragement. The wisdom and advice provides just enough information for harried mothers without overwhelming them with dense lists of what they should and should not do. In total, Thompson and Laing give mothers encouragement to get through the tough times and inspiration to enjoy the plentiful good of being a parent.
The Thirteenth Summer
The Thirteenth Summer, Thompson’s first novel, tells the story of Crystal Waters, the thirteen-year-old daughter of well-known rocker and party animal Rage Waters. The rumors surrounding the father and daughter are that Crystal is going to join Rage’s band’s tour for the summer. Some think it may be a good idea for wildman Rage to finally back away from his over-the-top behavior for a while and spend some quality time with his daughter—even if it is on the road. Others think that Rage, his band, and the footloose rock-and-role lifestyle will corrupt Crystal and encourage her to take up an irresponsible, if not outright dangerous, lifestyle.
A third possibility exists, however, that not many consider: the fact that Crystal will give her father a reason to reform himself and give up his career to become a full-time parent. Before the summer is over, both Crystal and Rage will learn many new and valuable lessons about themselves and about each other.
When God Says "Wait"
Thompson returns to the advice and inspiration genre with When God Says “Wait:” Navigating Life’s Detours and Delays Without Losing Your Faith, Your Friends, or Your Mind. In this book, Thompson uses the lives of several biblical characters as the springboard for lessons on remaining patient and faithful during times when it is necessary to wait for a resolution. David, Joseph, Miriam, Naomi, Sarah and other familiar biblical personalities inspire the stories of patience during times of extreme disappointment, physical pain, emotional trouble, and other situations that can’t be brought to closure immediately but which often require the passage of time. The author adds to the stories from the bible, but remains faithful to the material contained in the scriptures. Thompson’s own story is relevant here, as she and her husband had to manifest extreme patience combined with faith as they unsuccessfully sought to become parents. Eventually, their first child did arrive, and they are now parents of three daughters and one son. It is situations such as this that Thompson addresses with her advice and inspiration.
“Thompson suggests that there is more to it than getting a binary yes or no answer to your prayers to God. There might be a ‘let me think about it’ and even a ‘maybe’ from time to time. That bit of reading into theology really struck with me. It never has really crossed my mind that sometimes God needs convincing in saying your prayers,” commented Zachary Houle, writing on the website Medium.
Throughout the book, Houle remarked, “Thompson has her strengths and weaknesses, but the strengths are quite empowering — making this title something to search out. A Publishers Weekly writer observed that Thompson “achieves her purpose of highlighting the positive aspects of learning to wait” during troubled times.
BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
Publishers Weekly. January 9, 2017, review of When God Says “Wait:” Navigating Life’s Detours and Delays Without Losing Your Faith, Your Friends, or Your Mind, p. 63.
ONLINE
Elizabeth Thompson Website, http://www.lizzylife.com (October 22, 2017).
Medium, https://www.medium.com (February 7, 2017), Zachary Houle, review of When God Says “Wait.”
Who’s Elizabeth?
Wife to the world’s most patient husband, Kevin—I call him Mr. Tall, Dark and Handsome, which might be why he’s so patient with me. Mom to the Crazies, our four sweetly wacky kids—kids we never thought we’d be able to conceive: Cassidy (9), Blake (7), Avery (6), and Sawyer (2). I write fiction for tweens and teens, and Christian inspiration books for women. When I’m not inhaling Starbucks mochas and plotting my next book, I work from home as a part-time editor and women’s minister, and as a full-time diaper changer, baby snuggler, laundry slayer, floor mopper, not-so-gourmet chef, homework helper, kid chauffeur, and tantrum tamer. I am living proof that geeky girls can live happily ever after.
Here I am, saying hi on my YouTube channel:
Who are the Crazies?
We’re a wonderfully imperfect family, fighting to do this Christian parenting thing God’s way. Our house is too small and our children too loud. There are a lot of random gymnastics at inappropriate moments. We have epic sock toss battles, and frequent dance-party-related injuries. We call ourselves the Crazies, because we really are—but most days, we mean that in a good way. I pray the lessons we’re learning, trying to wrestle Christ into the chaos of family life—will give you hope, practical help, and a lot of good laughs. Welcome to the LizzyLife.
kids01
Our Story
After three years of marriage, my biological clock wasn’t just ticking; it was firing off hourly cannon shots complete with fireworks displays. But let’s back up a little.
In 1999, I married my college sweetheart, Kevin Thompson, after several years spent swooning over him from the passenger seat of his Dodge Avenger as he gave me a ride to church every Sunday morning.
It took a church trip to Paris and a bite from a candy apple offered to me by another boy while Kevin stood there watching to make Kevin realize, “Hey wait a minute. I’m in love with that girl, but she’s here in the most romantic city in the world, on a date with someone else, and he’s feeding her candy apples. Maybe I should get a move on.” So he did. A year later, we were engaged, and nine months after that, there we stood at the altar, in front of my dad and eight hundred fifty family and friends. (That’s just what happens when your dad’s a preacher at a big church. We weren’t really that popular.)
At my wedding, my dad read this passage from Joshua 21:45: “Not one of all the Lord’s good promises to Israel failed. Every one has been fulfilled.” I was crying my makeup off; Dad was trying to cram 22 years of parental wisdom into 8 minutes; my about-to-be husband was trying not to faint.
But what a moment that was, looking back on a beautiful family life that was closing its childhood chapter. My dad could say with confidence that God had fulfilled his every promise to our family, as my parents had put God first.
I look back on the way my parents raised me and my three younger siblings, and I shake my head in wonder. God’s ways worked. My childhood was spent as a Preacher’s Kid, moving up and down the Eastern seaboard of the United States, serving churches from Boston to Miami and many cities in-between, and yet . . . we were—and are—happy. We still love—and like—each other. In spite of our countless foibles and flaws, God helped my parents to build a family filled with laughter and friendship and faith. So as I stood there on my own wedding day, a semi-grown-up making vows, how I longed to build the same kind of rich family life with my new husband!
Three broke-but-happily-married years later, once the baby-cannon started firing, I turned to Mr. Tall, Dark and Handsome and said, “And now, let there be babies.” He looked at me with vague panic haunting his eyes, but said, “Okay! That sounds fun. I think?” I expected that we’d just get off birth control and four weeks later, we’d be doing a happy dance around the bathroom, positive pregnancy test in hand—I mean, that’s how the get-pregnant thing seemed to be happening for all my friends. Only it didn’t happen that way for us.
Four weeks later, we were like, “Huh. Bummer. I guess we should play more romantic music this month.” Six months later, a seed of worry started burrowing into my heart. One year, two years, two-and-a-half years later—still no baby. Not even one false alarm convincing enough to make us run out and buy a single pregnancy test. Our struggle to conceive lasted two years and nine months, and we felt every minute of every day spent waiting. (One day I’ll tell you more about that painful time in our life—for now, we’ll move on.)
When God finally, finally (finally!) gave us the baby we’d wept and begged and bargained for, on Christmas night 2005, our world flipped upside down and life changed forever, for the good. (You can read the so-amazing-it-sounds-like-we-made-it-up story of Cassidy’s birth here—her story has also appeared in Chicken Soup for the Soul: It’s Christmas!)
Sometimes we joke that all those thousands of prayers for children got accidentally routed the wrong way, and then they suddenly found the right path and slammed into heaven all at once, until God was like, “OKAY! You want babies? I’ll GIVE you babies! Here! And here! And HERE!” Before we could say “birth control,” we’d had three babies in less than three years. We call it the Turbo Family Plan. We were launched into parenthood so fast, we could hardly breathe. But breathe we did, and laugh we did, and learn we did, and eventually, we got a full night’s sleep. And then we decided, “What’s one more?” (That must have been the full night’s sleep talking.) So now we’re a family of six: Two parents, three spunky girls, Cassidy (9), Avery (6), and Sawyer (2), and one sweet boy, Blake (7). (And the kids would insist that I also count the book-eating dog as a second son. So . . . yeah. There’s him too. His name is Cole.)
We’re an imperfect family, fighting to do this godly parenting thing God’s way. Our house is too small and our kids are too loud. There are a lot of random gymnastics at inappropriate moments. We have frequent dance-party-related injuries, and epic sock toss battles. We call ourselves the Crazies, because we really are—but most days, we mean that in a good way.
When I write about family life and Christian parenting, I come at it from two angles: From the perspective of a girl who was raised by wonderful Christian parents, and who had the privilege of watching what they did and why it worked; and from the perspective of a mom-in-training, learning as I go.
I pray the lessons we’re learning, trying to wrestle Christ into the chaos of family life—will give you hope, encouragement, and a lot of good laughs.
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About Elizabeth
Hi! I'm Elizabeth, and Lizzy Life is all about clinging to Christ in the chaos of daily life. As a minister, speaker, and novelist (The Thirteenth Summer), I love finding humor in holiness, and hope in heartache. I live in North Carolina with my preacher husband and four loud children. I believe the recipe for a happy life is simple: laugh-cry daily, pray continually, caffeinate constantly. My new book, When God Says "Wait," is now available from Barbour Publishing. READ MORE.
Elizabeth Laing Thompson writes at LizzyLife.com about clinging to Christ through the chaos of daily life. As a minister, speaker, and novelist, she is always seeking humor in holiness and hope in heartache. Her new book, When God Says "Wait," is now available from Barbour Publishing (Shiloh Run Press). Elizabeth lives in North Carolina with her husband and children, and they were totally worth the wait.
When God Says "Wait" is Elizabeth's first book through a traditional press, although she has previously published through independent presses. Some of her other books include a young adult novel, The Thirteenth Summer, and a book for mothers of preschoolers, The Tender Years: Parenting Preschoolers (coauthored with her mother, Geri Laing). Elizabeth's essays and poetry have appeared in The Huffington Post, Chicken Soup for the Soul, Power for Living, Mamalode, Coffee + Crumbs, and BonBon Break.
Elizabeth married her college sweetheart, Kevin Thompson, after spending several years swooning over him from the passenger seat of his Dodge Avenger on the drive to church every Sunday. Together the newlyweds went to work serving campus ministries in North Carolina and Georgia. After a long struggle with infertility, Kevin and Elizabeth became the always exhausted but totally grateful parents of one large dog and four loud kids. Now after 17 years of marriage, they still like each other even though Elizabeth beats Kevin at Ping-Pong and buys too many scandalously overpriced mochas.
Elizabeth often addresses issues of Christian parenting on her website and Facebook page (https://facebook.com/alizzylife), and she writes, "We are an imperfect family, fighting to do this godly parenting thing God’s way. Our house is too small and our kids are too loud. There are a lot of random gymnastics at inappropriate moments. We have frequent dance-party-related injuries, and epic sock toss battles. We call ourselves the Crazies, because we really are—but most days, we mean that in a good way. I pray the lessons we’re learning, trying to wrestle Christ into the chaos of family life—will give you hope, encouragement, and a lot of good laughs."
To connect with Elizabeth, visit her website, http://LizzyLife.com, Facebook page, https://facebook.com/alizzylife, and Instagram account: https://instagram.com/elizabethlaingthompson.
When God Says "Wait": Navigating Life's
Detours and Delays Without Losing Your
Faith, Your Friends, or Your Mind
Publishers Weekly.
264.2 (Jan. 9, 2017): p63.
COPYRIGHT 2017 PWxyz, LLC
http://www.publishersweekly.com/
Full Text:
When God Says "Wait": Navigating Life's Detours and Delays Without Losing Your Faith, Your Friends, or
Your Mind
Elizabeth LaingThompson. Shiloh Run, $14.99 trade paper (224p) ISBN 978-1-68322012-1
Thompson takes a smattering of biblical characters (David, Joseph, Miriam, Naomi, Sarah, among others),
gives them fuller storylines than the Bible depicts, and details how waiting played crucial roles in each of
their lives. While the book never professes to be an exactly accurate recreation and Thompson fabricates
much of what might have taken place, she does base her embellishments squarely upon Scripture. Each of
the author's 12 profiles is complete with contemporary life parallels in which waiting can engender
impatience, anger, bitterness, depression, pity, and discouragement. Thompson guides readers through these
potential pitfalls and offers Christians pointed introspective questions at the close of each chapter to provide
strength in the midst of life's waiting rooms. Christ followers will appreciate her full-bodied "fill-in-theblanks"
stories but may be put off by sporadic, inconsistent attempts to insert humor into the narrative. In
the end, Thompson achieves her purpose of highlighting the positive aspects of learning to wait in the njidst
of emotional suffering, physical pain, or crushing disappointment. (Mar.)
Source Citation (MLA 8
th Edition)
"When God Says 'Wait': Navigating Life's Detours and Delays Without Losing Your Faith, Your Friends, or
Your Mind." Publishers Weekly, 9 Jan. 2017, p. 63+. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?
p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA477339367&it=r&asid=b936706326444fe15526ecac12aa2e82.
Accessed 1 Oct. 2017.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A477339367
A Review of Elizabeth Laing Thompson’s “When God Says ‘Wait’”
The Waiting Is the Hardest Part (Part II)
“When God Says ‘Wait’” Book Cover
This book by Elizabeth Laing Thompson, despite being pretty much written for a female audience, was of particular interest to me. I’m in the middle of a waiting process myself — waiting to learn if I’m ever going to land a reasonable job — and wanted to learn more about navigating through this trying and difficult period of my life. I’m glad I read this as I felt that I walked away from When God Says ‘Wait’ with some valuable insights. More on that later, though. The first thing that I probably should talk about is the fairly unconventional narrative structure — one that mirrors another book I recently read.
When God Says ‘Wait’ has 12 chapters that all begin with a retelling of a Biblical narrative. That is to say that Bible stories (from both the Old and New Testaments) are retold through a modern lens with stuff added that nobody could know about. I was talking to a fellow Christian friend about this stylistic choice recently, and it seems as though the antecedent for this is a 1997 book called The Red Tent, which takes a very minor female character in the Bible that is only referenced in three verses and is blown widescreen into a full novel. That book is supposedly beautifully written.
Instead of a novel-length narrative here, we get a few short stories. Again, as with Waiting for Wonder, I felt that the effect was a little bit of padding to make this book quite longer than it needed to be. While I’m starting to come around to this approach at making Bible stories seem fresh, I have to admit that some of these stories aren’t well reframed. To me, they were filled with too many modern references and slang. However, that said, I can see where this might be of some value to a new believer who doesn’t want to go wading through the Bible to untangle these narratives (though Thompson does provide references so you can go and do just that).
Thus, I don’t want to be too hard on Thompson as I’m now starting to see more worth in this sort of thing, and am beginning to realize that this is something of a recent tradition in Christian self-help book publishing circles. However, it just didn’t work for me here thanks to the modernity of the tone of these stories and a rather “fill in the gaps” approach to writing these stories. And, in particular, there’s the retelling of the Joseph-Potiphar’s wife seduction story from Genesis that is pretty cringe-worthy writing-wise and comes across as a bit juvenile. While the approach, to me, didn’t really work well here, I am hopeful that I’ll stumble across another book where I’ll enjoy this stylistic tick more openly. Maybe I should get The Red Tent from the library.
After these retellings at the start of the chapters, we then get to the meat of what these stories are trying to tell us about waiting periods. After that, you get some more ideas for further reading, some journal prompts, and a prayer to recite, mostly taken from the Psalms, it seemed. Believe me, I spoke aloud some of those prayers, hoping that they would help me. So the end parts of these chapters do have some useful utilities, and Thompson is a good Christian who knows what she’s talking about just through her prompts and suggestions.
But about that meat. There’s some really good advice in those middle passages, advice that got me thinking about my waiting period and my relationship with God. For instance, Thompson suggests that there is more to it than getting a binary yes or no answer to your prayers to God. There might be a “let me think about it” and even a “maybe” from time to time. That bit of reading into theology really struck with me. It never has really crossed my mind that sometimes God needs convincing in saying your prayers. So I walked away from that bit of the book feeling slack jawed. I considered something new that I never considered before.
Thompson also has useful things to say about the importance of friends during waiting periods, and goes on to note that waiting periods can be transformative. I’ve personally felt the effects of this. In some ways, I feel like a better person as a result of my wait (I know I have things to still work on, too). I consider the fact that I’ve come to support refugees whole-heartedly, and the fact that I’m usually thinking about a friend who is taking care of a dying mother as signs that I’ve become more attuned to the needs of others. Already, I think I’m seeing the effects of this as the freelance work has picked up a bit. It’s as though God was holding out on me job-wise until I could also see the painful predicaments of other people, not just my own, before giving me a straight-up answer to some of my prayers.
Thus, there’s some really useful and sage things said in this book. I don’t know how else the author could have expanded about these things, but you do have to trudge through the modern-day Biblical teachings to get to the really good stuff. So When God Says ‘Wait’ is a revelatory book at times. You just have to sift through the author’s attempts at creative writing. That prevents this tome from being all it could be, but one gets the sense that — far from being a novice — the author is still proving her chops a little bit.
Thompson has her strengths and weaknesses, but the strengths are quite empowering — making this title something to search out. If you have a period of your life that you’re going through that feels a bit fallow, you’ll probably find something to take away from this book. Maybe taking The Princess Bride approach and just skipping to the good bits might be more helpful. There is power in When God Says ‘Wait’. You just have to do some waiting yourself when reading this book just to find the glory of its words.
Elizabeth Laing Thompson’s When God Says ‘Wait’: Navigating Life’s Detours and Delays Without Losing Your Faith, Your Friends, or Your Mind will be published by Barbour Publishing Inc. / Shiloh Run Press on March 1, 2017.
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Zachary Houle is a resident of Ottawa, Canada, and was the recipient of a $4,000 arts grant from the City of Ottawa for emerging artists. He has been a Pushcart Prize nominee, too. He also is a music critic, with music writing publishing credits in SPIN magazine and the Ottawa Citizen, among others. He is a member of First United Church in Ottawa, Canada, and has been so for the past two years. Houle is interested in anything having to do with deepening his newfound faith in God, so, if you’re an author, feel free to get in touch. Contact: zacharyhoule@rogers.com.