Our friend, Leigh McLeroy, launches her new book, The Beautiful Ache: Finding the God Who Satisfies When Life Does Not, today. Here's a link to a really good interview with her about it.

When our friends in Houston, Karen and Barney Giesen, introduced us to Leigh, we instantly loved her. She's smart and witty and well-read and balanced, and approaches life with gritty honesty. I think you'll appreciate her, too.

Some quotes from a different interview she did:

C. S. Lewis says that "If we experience desires that no earthly experience can satisfy, the most logical explanation is that we were made for another world." We are. But we live in this one. That's an ache that can't be avoided - and shouldn't be. Embracing that longing is embracing the kingdom of heaven.

So many writers and artists have influenced me. I love the lyrics of Bono, Derek Webb, Chris Rice and David Wilcox - and the writing of Annie Dillard, Frederick Buechner, Eugene Peterson, C.S. Lewis and Peter Kreeft. I'm also powerfully inspired by hymns. There's a chapter in this book called "Singing the Hymnal" about our aching desire to praise God. The poetry of Emily Dickinson moves me, too.

Leigh writes a weekly e-mail devotional called "Wednesday Words." You can read archived copies (and a few other things) at www.wednesdaywords.com.

Enjoy!