Sunday, July 11, 2021

Celebrate Lit Blog Tour: Going South by Marcia Moston

Book: Going South

Author: Marcia Moston

Genre: Christian nonfiction—humorous, inspirational, Christian-living memoir

Release date: January 2021

When Bob and Marcia Moston told their friends they were moving south, they meant it as a geographical move. They didn’t expect their plans to go south too.

Trusting his wife’s previously sound judgment, Bob agrees to have Marcia go ahead of him and pick out a house—an efficient, low-maintenance one. It was a good plan. If only Marcia had stuck to it.

But when she veers from the plan, the couple find themselves overwhelmed with the consequences of a seemingly bad decision. Marcia looks for encouragement in the story of Jacob—the patriarchal bad boy, remembered more for the predicaments he got himself into than for his commendable deeds—and the God who is not deterred by our plots, plans, stratagems, and side trips.

Written with heart, humor, and biblical insight, Going South—with the God of Jacob’s and My Mistakes offers hope and encouragement to those who find their lives upturned by a geographical move, a chaotic economy, a backfired dream, or just a plain bad choice.

Click here to get your copy!

I am not one who usually reads memoirs, but the synopsis of this book and the fact that it has a humorous slant, drew me in. Going South: with the God of Jacob's and My Mistakes by Marcia Maston is the most recent book I have read and it is a memoir.

Marcia Moston has convinced her husband to let her go South and he stay up North, to pick out a house for them to move to. They are looking for a low maintenance home. Marcia has a solid plan, but makes a decision to change up those plans. Marcia and her husband Bob are now in the midst of Chaos and trying to figure out how to deal with the consequences of changing plans.

Going South is a memoir with a message. Marcia and Bob lean on the Biblical story of Jacob. Jacob was shown Grace by God through his many mistakes. The book is filled with stories and memories of the Maston's journey of moving to the South and buying and renovating a home. The Biblical references are really encouraging. The message in the book is that no matter how big the mistakes are, God is there for us to continue to lead and guide us through the trial that was created. I always go by "God's plans are Greater then our Own Plans" and I also see that message in this book! I also enjoyed the humor that was throughout the book. Many times laughter is what will get us through the trials of life. GOOD BOOK!

Marcia Moston, the award-winning author of Call of a Coward—the God of Moses and the Middle-Class Housewife, has contributed to several magazines, anthologies, and newspaper columns. She loves to write about the possibilities of life in the hands of a very real God. Marcia teaches workshops in narrative nonfiction and makes home in South Carolina with her Bob.

More from Marcia

We were no superstar, sledgehammer-wielding, Fixer Upper Chip and Joanna Gaines. But I was confident my husband and I could handle the repairs that the house I had bought needed. After all, we were handy—solid do-it-yourselfers, excited about starting a new phase of life in a part of the country we’d never lived.

Armed with enthusiasm, experience, and degrees, we didn’t anticipate any problems finding jobs or making friends. And I certainly didn’t anticipate I’d be hanging telephone directories on doorknobs or stuffing vending machines to make ends meet. But our ravenous little fixer-upper had a bigger appetite than we expected and was devouring our funds in record time.

Before long we began to realize we’d left life as we knew it somewhere north of the Mason-Dixon Line. I wondered if, instead of running strong to the finish line of our lives, we would be crawling across it, covered in sheetrock dust and regrets.

It’s one thing to suffer for a noble cause, but quite another when you find yourself in messes and muddles of your own making time and time again. Like Jacob, some of us have to wrestle an angel of the Lord all night before we get to the end of ourselves and trust that the Lord can and will orchestrate all he’s appointed for us.

I wrote about our southern saga foibles in Going South with the God of Jacob’s and My Mistakes as an entertaining reminder for all of us trying to find our way home, that even when we make bad decisions and big mistakes, the Carpenter of Nazareth can fashion something beautiful from the dust and debris we trail behind.