The second book in my Small-Town Girl series is Shining Stars and Mason Jars. In it, Jen Guidry struggles to remember God’s promises. She has spent a year trying to fit into her new community of 298 people. She’s starting to feel more comfortable, but not completely. At times, she is resentful of their move from Dallas. One night on a camping trip she relates to Sarah, Abraham’s wife:
We breathed in the cool, fall air and gazed at the sky bursting with stars, marveling over God’s beautiful creation. As we roasted s’mores and gazed at the bounty of stars, we reminded the boys of God’s promise to Abraham. Mike pulled up his Bible app and read Genesis 26:4, “I will make your offspring as numerous as the stars of the sky, I will give your offspring all these lands, and all the nations of the earth will be blessed by your offspring.” We just don’t fathom that verse by gazing at the night sky in the big city.
The sky also reminded me, once again, of my reluctance to move from the bright lights of Dallas to the lightning bugs of Graisseville, Louisiana. I didn’t want to leave my perfect life, as Sarah surely hadn’t wanted to leave her life in Ur. It was a large city, one of the first places on earth where humanity dwelled. Ur was Sarah’s Dallas, Texas. But she followed her husband and father-in-law to settle in Haran. They moved again to Canaan, because God told Abraham to go, and He would make him a great nation. Did Sarah have the same resentment I had when Mike wanted to move to Graisseville? I gazed up at the stars and thanked God for giving me a life I never knew I was missing, a life I would have never known if I’d followed my own dreams instead of Mike’s. I promised to look up at the stars much more often, to be reminded of God’s blessings.
At the new café in town, Jen glances at the back of the menu, where the owner had written her own story:
I couldn’t wait to get out of Graisseville right after high school. But I soon realized my hometown had one particular draw the big city never would. When I was a kid, I would go outside in my backyard and gaze at the thousands of stars in the sky, amazed at God’s handiwork. It gave me peace, reminding me that God is always right there in my life. He doesn’t let me down. My move back to Graisseville meant my kids could grow up near their family and have room to play. My realtor found a backyard flooded with shining stars, so we could gaze up every night and see evidence of God’s presence in our lives. It seemed fitting to name my restaurant Shining Stars Café, after my favorite thing to do in Graisseville.
Jen has an ah-ha moment: everyone struggles to bloom where they’re planted. She changes her point of origin, so to speak. She focuses on God instead of surrounding herself with activities and to-do lists and distractions. She starts to see that once she puts God first, the rest of her life falls into place.
The Town of Graisseville, Louisiana is in crisis, and the mayor needs Jen Guidry’s help!
Jen has finally embraced small town life with open arms, but now she’s facing new challenges that test her faith. She struggles to balance family and her desire to help, but her husband Mike prefers she leave well enough alone.
While working with the mayor to save the town from financial crisis, she discovers others who also need her help. With Jen’s hilarious enthusiasm for navigating her career, friendships, and matchmaking schemes, she nearly loses sight of God’s blessings for her family.
Don’t miss the plucky adventures of a small-town wife, mother and friend, as she discovers how to embrace God’s plan for her life.
Grab your copy of this hometown book and follow along as Jen navigates a life she never expected to love. You’ll laugh, cry and roll your eyes at the antics of this charming small-town Southern heroine.
This book is the second of the Small-Town Girl Series.
Jann Franklin lives in the small town of Grand Cane, Louisiana with 298 other people. Many of her stories came from living the small-town life. Like her heroines, she was dragged kicking and screaming back to a small town. But now she can’t imagine living her life any other way.
She and her husband John enjoy Sundays at Grand Cane Baptist Church, supper with family and friends, and the sense of community that comes from living the small-town life. Their kids come to visit, when they aren’t too busy living their big city lives.