Spokane writer Kim Chaffin finds God in the mundane

Kim Chaffin insists she’s no writer.

“I can’t spell,” she said. “I once took a message at my dad’s business from someone who wanted a quote on rough castings. I wrote ‘ruff’ and my dad called me into his office and started barking like a dog.”

Yet Chaffin, 51, recently released her first book, “Simply Blessed: Finding Joy in the Little Things,” (BroadStreet Publishing 2018).

But before the book, there was the blog – “Heartfelt Ramblings of a Midlife Domestic Goddess,” and the Facebook page with the same title with more than 4,200 followers from 30 different countries.

Chaffin said she started calling herself a domestic goddess when she was an at-home mom of two kids. She even listed it under “occupation” when filling out forms.

“One year I returned to a medical office for a visit and they asked me if I was still employed at Domestic Goddess,” she said, laughing.

The title is strictly tongue-in-cheek.

“In my opinion, a stove is more of an accessory.”

As she wrote blog posts and Facebook status updates about domestic mishaps and challenges, she noticed a theme emerging.

“God was revealing himself to me in the mundane,” Chaffin said. “No matter how tough things get, there’s always joy that can be found if you take the time to look for it.”

Three years ago began compiling her stories into a book. She said she wanted to share her sense of humor and her belief that we make God too hard.

“We’ve made God a religion instead of a relationship,” she said.

Despite being spelling-challenged she said she loved writing the book, but even after professional editing, an agent failed to sell it and a promising publisher turned it down.

As she prayed, she said she felt led make the book into a devotional. A few days before she sat down to start the rewrite; she got a call from BroadStreet Publishing asking if she’d be willing to turn her book into a devotional.

Chaffin grinned.

“I signed with them, and the book came out one year later,”

Her 31-chapter book became a 31-day devotional. “Simply Blessed: Finding Joy in the Little Things,” is divided into four sections; Redeemed, Where the Healing Begins, Standing Firm and It’s More Than a Building and features chapters like “From Zero to Irrational in less than Three Seconds” and “God is Like an All-You-Can-Eat Buffet.”

Each chapter includes a page for journaling and some action steps like “Pray It,” “Do It,” and “Write It.”

While the devotional tackles significant spiritual themes, Chaffin’s sense of humor is present.

Take her hair for example.

“I have short hair, and sometimes I wake up with it going everywhere. It’s my ‘Flock of Seagulls” hair (if you are a product of the ’80s you will know what I mean),” she writes. “On those days my hair is a simple reminder that I can’t control everything.”

Her message of finding joy even in the toughest times hit home when their family cabin at Priest Lake burned to the ground. While sifting through the ruins, Chaffin and her husband checked a shed and found the board where several generations of family height had been recorded.

It now hangs in place of honor in the rebuilt cabin.

“People think blessings have to be big,” she said. “But sometimes they’re just simple.”

Chaffin said her target audience is primarily women 25 and older, and the book’s spiritual themes are accessible to everyone from new believers to the most grounded believer.

“This isn’t deep theology in any way,” she said. “This is ‘I Love Lucy’ meets Jesus.”