What Determines Your Worth? (+ a Giveaway)

Have you ever felt like a misfit? Like you didn’t belong…anywhere? Or worse, that you weren’t valued? Do you despair of finding your purpose? Your niche? Or what makes you come alive? As a Christian growing up in the public school system, I endured many days feeling like I hadn’t yet found my tribe. As an adult who has spent the last decade and a half identifying as a stay-home mom, I also sometimes wonder if I missed out on my purpose (aside from motherhood). 😉

In Tinsel in a Tangle, my debut novel that released last October, Tinsel, a Christmas elf, can relate to feeling out of place. She even looks out of place, towering over the other three-foot elves at five-feet-five-and-three-quarter inches. Why, half of the clumsiness she’s known for is likely caused by maneuvering through a tiny world. Can you imagine always having to stoop down in order to walk through doorways? Or folding into chairs meant for bodies the size of human toddlers? Worse still, at 17-yrs-old, Tinsel has yet to find her talent. And what’s a Christmas elf without a talent—the very thing she’s been told gives elves a sense of purpose?

In most books, the main characters go through some kind of change, usually a shift in how they view themselves and/or the world around them. This is called a character arc, and it can be positive, negative, or flat. Throughout Tinsel’s misadventures, she goes through a positive character arc, in which she shifts from believing her worth comes from a position at Santa’s Workshop & esteem from her peers, to realizing she has worth simply because she is. Just the fact she exists gives her worth, and assures her she has a purpose! Whether she discovers this purpose within the pages of Tinsel in a Tangle…I’ll let you find that out for yourself. 😉

How does this apply to us? If you’re a tween or teen reading this, it means you exist (who knew!), which means you have worth and a purpose in life. Despite what you may feel internally on any given day. Despite what other people may tell you at school–or what you tell yourself (yeah, I’ve been there). God wouldn’t have created you if He didn’t have something in mind for you to do. If, on the other hand, you’ve already lived through a few decades (like me), perhaps you’re rifling through your past and question whether you missed your purpose at that crossroads a while back, or fear your current reality is all there is. But if God hasn’t called you Home yet, take heart! He still has a purpose for you beyond what you’ve already accomplished. And if you’re allowing Him to guide your daily steps, it will be impossible for you to miss it.

Book Giveaway!

As it so happens, today is my book’s first birthday. To celebrate, I’m giving away a signed, paperback copy of Tinsel in a Tangle to a random reader. Simply leave a comment below that you’re interested (even if you already have a copy, books make great Christmas presents), and I will put your name in a drawing. The winner will be announced in two weeks, on October 18th.

Join Tinsel on her misadventures as she pursues an esteemed position at Santa’s Workshop but finds her clumsy ways put Christmas in jeopardy worldwide. The only position in her future is a permanent spot on the Naughty List–unless she can redeem herself with the help of some über-talkative reindeer…and one annoyingly cute Kringle.

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