In March of this year I was sitting in a hotel room in Tampa thinking about the World Race. I was there for a four day, pre-service orientation for my current year as an AmeriCorps VISTA. I had discovered the race a few weeks earlier and was still convinced I couldn’t possibly be suitable for the experience. I couldn’t stop thinking about it though, so I decided I needed to read a few blog posts from someone who had already completed the race.
I clicked on a random blog by a racer named Stephanie May Wilson. Little did I know, I had just stumbled upon one of the most well written blogs on the World Race website. I was hooked after one post and over the course of the four day training, had read through her year on the race in its entirety.
At the end of those four days, I felt like I had gone on an emotional journey tackling all my race-related fears. On the final night around 2am, I finished the last post and jumped up out of my hotel bed excited and thought (would have shouted but my pregnant roommate was asleep) “I am going on the World Race.”
Stephanie’s final post prompts you to start reading a blog she started when she finished the race that, up until last week, was called the Lipstick Gospel. The name comes from the story of how she found her faith and the first time she saw scripture. The verse she read was written on a mirror in lipstick in her sorority house.
“Look at the nations and watch– and be utterly amazed. For I am going to do something in your days that you would not believe, even if you were told.” – Habakkuk 1:5
I fell in love with her writing and have since become a very active reader. I have corresponded with Stephanie several times over email and even got the opportunity to write a guest post on her weekly series, The Lovliest Things.
Stephanie writes in a way that makes you want to constantly shout, “Yes me too,” and, “That’s exactly how that feels.” Her posts come from the most honest parts of her soul and make you realize your not the only one.
I credit Stephanie and her writing for giving me the confidence to say YES to the Lord’s calling to the race. Because of this, I can’t think of a more appropriate place to share with you all that Stephanie has turned the story of her faith journey into a book and it is available for free download right now.
The Lipstick Gospel: A story about finding God in Heartbreak, the Sistine Chapel, and the perfect Cappuccino.
I got the privilege of reading this book a week early and I did so in one sitting. My only complaint about this story is that it ends. I can relate to the Lipstick Gospel more than I really want to admit. She shares about her, self described, messy college life and how she ultimately realizes God has a better story for her. She learns this amongst the incredible backdrops of Colorado, Spain, Costa Rica and Ghana.
The Lipstick Gospel is a travel journal, a coming-of-age journey, a finding of faith, an acceptance of redemption and, most of all, the honest story of Stephanie’s relationship with God. It is refreshing, heart breaking, honest, beautiful and brave. You will find this book is filled with pages you swear she copy and pasted straight from your heart and all the little places inside you, you try to keep hidden.
I want to invite you to read my friend Stephanie’s book available for free download here. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.
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Update: The book is now available in paper back. If you order it before December 15, you can have it by Christmas. Buy it here.
