Look and Listen

Biography

Lisa Copen is the founder of Rest Ministries, a Christian organization that serves the chronically ill. She has authored eight books, including resources for over 300 HopeKeepers groups, a program of Rest Ministries. As editor of HopeKeepers. Magazine and founder of National Invisible Chronic Illness Awareness Week, Lisa seeks to encourage churches to increase an outreach to the chronically ill nearly 1 in 2 people in the U.S. Lisa's works have been published in periodicals such as Just Between Us and Faith Writers Magazine, and books including God Allow U-Turns. Lisa is a sought-after speaker and has been a guest of radio programs Decision Today, Family Life and Joni and Friends. Lisa loves being an entrepreneur online and has taken her knowledge of internet and book marketing to a new level with www.scrapbookmyadoption.com where she designs overlay transparencies and www.youcansellmorebooks.com where she posts daily blog tips for book marketers and is releasing multiple “50 Ways to ____” for book marketing and promotional ideas. She resides in San Diego with her husband and son, and has lived with degenerative rheumatoid arthritis and fibromyalgia since 1993. Visit her web site at http://www.restministries.org and sign up for the free online ezine to receive the first 40 pages of her book “Beyond Casseroles: 505 Ways to Encourage a Chronically Ill Friend.”

Inspiration

I distinctly remember fifth grade. I kept a journal out of a spiral notebook that rarely left my side. During recess, rather than be taunted, "Red Rover, Red Rover, send Lisa right over!" I would curl up on a square of blacktop and write. I recorded my thoughts, but also what people around me were doing. How I long to have that notebook now. Attending school with most of those children for twelve years, it would be a great delight to reflect back on those days when girls were discovering boys and boys were discovering how cool it was to be called by your last name. Writing was always my passion. I looked forward to classes that had required reports and in college, I dropped my business classes and excelled in sociology where I could explain my moral position from every angle. My early twenties were filled with re-evaluating. Rheumatoid arthritis at age 24 added a new perspective and new priorities. Rest Ministries followed a few years later, and I became a "published author." How? I started my own newsletter! "...And He Will Give You Rest." which has led to HopeKeepers Magazine. Since then writing has become a part of my daily life. Mosaic Moments was the work of over ten years, along with over twenty other people who contributed to 218 pages of devotionals for the chronically ill. What a joy! Summer '04 I released, Why Can't I Make People Understand? and Spet '05 Beyond Casseroles: 505 Ways to Encourage a Chronically Ill Friend. I write the devotionals, Rest Ministries' materials, and have been deeply involved with the God Allows U-Turns Book Series. I am blessed to have a story in God Allows U-Turns: A Woman's Journey called "Lessons from the Floor." My husband and I share our story in One True Vow and most recently, But Lord, I Was Happy Shallow. I've also had the wonderful opportunity to endorse a number of books. Some of these include: Chicken Soup for the Caregiver's Soul, God Allows U-Turns, Volume 2. Rest Ministries has a group of people who also feel this calling called Venture Quencher. Feel free to join me in this writing journey. God Bless Lisa