Idoleyes (a giveaway)

UPDATE: Deanna, you won! Email me to send your address and I'll send the book. :)
Here are your random numbers:6
Timestamp: 2009-12-18 22:08:04 UTC

A couple years ago I met American Idol finalist Mandisa at a Christian convention. She was simply radiant, inside and out. She gave me a copy of her book, Idoleyes.

In the book Mandisa speaks openly about how her faith was challenged and deepened as a result of her experiences on the hit television show. (She was in the group with Chris Daughtry, Taylor Hicks, Kellie Pickler, Katherine McPhee). She also talks about her lifelong battle with food addiction. And how the now-famous remarks by Idol judge Simon Cowell about her weight spurred her to become a positive role model for millions of women struggling to live up to popular culture's image of the "ideal woman."

If you are an American Idol fan, you'll definitely enjoy this book. If you struggle with your weight at times, you'll appreciate it too. However, even if you're slim, svelte and have never set your eyes on the American Idol show, I'm pretty confident you'll get something out of this book too. Here's a quote I like from page 231: "When I get to heaven, I don't want to stand before the judgement seat of Christ and hear, 'You did a decent job, but you should have trusted Me more and praised Me more often.' I want to hear Jesus say, 'You believed Me, you trusted Me, and you didn't hold anything back.'" Me too, Mandisa, me too.

I'm giving away a new copy of Mandisa's book on Friday 12/18. If you'd like to enter, here's what you need to do. Click on the Compassionate Christmas banner in the upper left corner of this post. It will take you to a website where you'll find profile pictures of children trapped by poverty and hunger - children who don't even have the option of overeating. Choose one child from the site to give the gift of prayer. Pray for the child over the next day or two, and leave their name/country in a comment here so I can pray for the child you choose as well.

Then I'll announce the book winner on Friday afternoon. Best of all, the children will be winners this Christmas by receiving your prayers.

If you chose a child for last week's giveway and want to pray for the same child, that's fine, just let me know. And if by some small chance this book doesn't interest you, you can pass it along to another reader in your life. But I should warn you, Mandisa signed this book to me on the inside cover so don't give it as a gift to anyone unless she is named Rachel. :-)

Here's to having a compassionate Christmas this year!