Today we’d like to introduce you to Summer Butler.
Summer, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
Having come from a broken home the last thing I imagined walking in to was another one. But God. In 2011, I found myself, literally, in the middle of our blended family. I have no doubt that God brought our family together but for many years I fought with insecurities, comparison, selfishness, and pride. It wasn’t until God pulled me off the road in late October of 2017 to remind me, “You are not raising these children so they grow up and call you their mother. You are raising these children so they grow up and call Me their Father.”
This was the spark that started Blended Book Co. While it took some time, slowly God revealed to me I was being held in a Refiner’s Fire. Blended families fail, on average, 60% of the time. Brokenness is the way of our enemy. If we know this and identify our personal traps, we can reallocate the hierarchy of our hearts and homes.
Blended Book Co. is a ministry for blended families born out of hard times and heartache with the vision to provide hope and healing to anyone in need. Blended is relationship-driven with a workbook foundation pointing others up, not out. Authoring Blended, I work to build a Kingdom of collaboration and community that offers a starting point for discussion about topics not often discussed for blended families. Grace, understanding, forgiveness, and love surround the workbook while rooting its cause in the Word.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
Ministry is hard. I never really understood this until we boldly stepped into it about two years ago. Hard in the sense that living faith out loud opens you up to the opinions of others. Hard in that I still sin, I’m human, and the idea exists that in order to teach about the perfect One we must be perfect ourselves. And, in that judgement, we consider ourselves perfect while doing so. It’s the furthest from the truth.
My heart is raw. My sin is real. Words pierce my soul. God has called me to live my deepest life lessons out loud so others don’t feel alone. In that, I sacrifice the privacy of those lessons knowing that in my weakest moments they can and will be thrown back my way. It’s so hard.
We’re not perfect we’re progress. Daily I show up in that truth. Today I show up, remind myself who God says I am, and take one more step forward in this journey. Not because it’s easy, because we’re called.
So, as you know, we’re impressed with Blended Book Co. – tell our readers more, for example what you’re most proud of and what sets you apart from others.
Blended Book Co. is committed to shaking up the failure rate for blended families, one family at a time. Our Co. is on a mission to promote hope and healing as we break out, breakthrough, and break free.
Outreach includes woman’s bible studies, community groups, couples classes, coaching and counseling services, shared stories through our Blended Blog, and scheduled speaking engagements that encourage God’s focus and personal spiritual growth.
So, what’s next? Any big plans?
We are excited to be part of an upcoming marriage conference, Enjoy Your Marriage, at Preston Trail Community Church on Valentines’ weekend. Andy and I will speak into blended marriages and specifically focus on the healthy hierarchy of your heart and home.
Outside of the conference, we will be leading Blended, a six weeks class for couples, on-campus at Preston Trail, starting in March of 2020. This class is designed to dig deep into topics not often discussed in blended families promoting healthy communication and conflict resolution.
While both these announcements are so exciting and sheer acts of God alone, our biggest announcement is that we have signed a book deal with the Christian Publishing Company, Kingdom Winds. This past summer, out of an act of obedience, I pulled Blended off the shelf to revise and refine. In doing so, God’s intricate web of connections landed our transcript in the lap of this publication company.
We are excited about the launch of our revised Blended workbook coming early 2020, for the insurmountable number of lives waiting to be touched by our messy one, and to watch God carry Blended Book Co. to places only made possible by Him.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.blendedbookco.com
- Email: blendedbookco@mail.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/blendedbookco/
- Facebook: https://m.facebook.com/blendedbookco/?ref=bookmarks
Image Credit:
Christie Gare Photography
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