I have been watching the Kavanaugh hearing for the Supreme Court since the sexual allegations were made.  If true, they rightly should have upended his nomination.  My consistent prayer was that the truth would be revealed. And slowly and painfully, it was.  Senator Feinstein held on to the letter for over six weeks, releasing it when it could do the most harm.  The hearing was held and there was no corroborataion to Dr. Ford’s testimony.  None.  I heard Dr. Ford’s testimony and I feel very sorry for her, that she was a tool of the Democratic party and really lost a lot of her life, her privacy, by going public, something that she never wanted to do.  So, now the Republicans are doing a happy dance, rejoicing in their victory and the fact that for the first time in decades, there will be a conservative majority on the Supreme Court.  In the interest of honesty, I am a registered Republican, but I have to also state that I vote for the person, not the party.  And I seek out the person who is pro-life.  That being said, I am appalled at the events that have taken place since this allegation surfaced.  I do believe that something happened to Dr. Ford, but I do not believe that Brett Kavanaugh was the one who assaulted her.  Now his name and family will forever be tainted by an untruth perpetrated by the Democrats just to win power.  In my reading yesterday, I found a Scripture that is perfect for me today.

There are no winners in this debacle that was supposed to be a dignified hearing in the U.S. Senate.  But those who want to boast should read and heed this Scripture.  The only thing that we can be proud of is that we know and understand who the Lord is.  God delights in love and righteousness and justice, period!  That is what we can boast about—God, only God.  He is worthy and man’s petty victories are not.  So, I say to the Republicans:  “Get over yourselves.  Repent and get to know the Lord.”  I say to the Democrats who have also won a victory of sorts over decency and dignity: “Repent.  Get to know the Lord.”  Only in knowing Him and His love and righteousness can we truly have a reason to boast.   Everything that we do should be for God, knowing that all of our choices demonstrate who we really are.  The old saying is that “When the going gets tough, the tough get going!”  That’s what Christians need to do now.  We need to toughen up because the fight is real.  There is not just a fight on the streets and in the Senate.  There is a daily fight in our lives to do what is right, to truly think about doing what we do in love, to think about our Righteous Lord who gave His life for us.  Whatever we do, if we say that we are a Christian, others in the world are watching.  They are waiting for us to fall.  Or, they see us gain a victory and then boast about what a good thing we did instead of giving the glory to God.  No, there are no winners in D.C. today.  But we can be winners when we remember that our only reason to boast is that we know God, period.  I appreciate the pro-athletes who give glory to God by pointing to the sky when they prevail.  I appreciate the public leaders and celebrities who give glory to God for their power and talents.  I am going to try from now on to remember that it is not I who has intelligence or humor or any of the abilities that I have.  It is God who is working in me.  I am His vessel and I know that I am only righteous through Him.  I boast in the Lord, not in a conservative Supreme Court or a President who has claimed another victory for himself.  I boast in the Lord—first, last and always.  Those of you who call yourselves Christians would be wise to do the same.  

 

The death of my best friend six months ago is still heavy on my heart.  Then, in my reading yesterday, I found this Scripture.  It really makes sense to me when I think about how much God loves us for our entire lives here on earth.  He cares when we die, and I think that is because He knows that we are leaving loved ones behind to grieve.  My husband is still meeting weekly with Bob, Heidi’s widower.  I always send Bob my love, but I haven’t gotten to the point where I can sit in a restaurant across from him without Heidi.  He is preparing their home to sell and planning to move to Alabama, so I know that I will have to cross that threshold soon.  I also know that God will be with me when it happens.  I certainly don’t want to sit and cry during the whole meal.  God meets me in my grief right where I am.  He is giving me new friends to talk to and relate with.  It’s hard not to compare them with Heidi, her big laughter and her smile that changed her whole face.  Nevertheless, I am comforted that one day I will see Heidi again and that God will rejoice at our reunion.  After all, He cares deeply for her and for me.  

In one of the last times that I saw Heidi, we talked about her flower garden.  She was sad that she didn’t get to go home and work in it and see the fruits of her labor.  I asked her what her favorite flower was and she told me a purple aster.  So, after she died, I asked my husband to please find some purple aster plants.  He found seeds for me and planted them in our front garden.  I didn’t know anything about the flower until I looked it up online.  It blooms in September, which was Heidi’s birth month.  Now, I am blessed with this sight out of all of my front windows and each time I get into my car to leave.  I know it is only an annual flower, so we will have to plant it again.  But this beautiful flower is a reminder to me of Heidi’s love for her life here on earth and how much she was loved by God.  He ended her suffering and took her to be with Him.  What a lovely thought to have to start my day!  If you have someone who passed away and you are remembering them, that is good.  It is helping you to heal from your grief and to come to terms with the fact that everyone will die one day.  And God cares!

Sometimes we feel like we are lost in a forest and don’t know the way out.  There is evil all around us, people making poor choices with awful consequences.  We see it and then we get caught up in it ourselves and can’t move on.  God has the answer in the Book of Jeremiah.  These words were spoken to the nation of Israel, but I think that they most certainly apply to whatever nation you and I live in today.  The evil is real; it’s part of the national headlines daily.  There are rapes and murders, small children being killed, Godly people being maligned, and lies everywhere.  I don’t know what to believe about what is presented on the media, but I do know that God’s Word is true.  The only way that we can find rest is to go on the path that God has for us, but many of us are stubborn and want to continue in our own way, doing whatever “makes us feel good” because that is the current way of the world. But that is NOT God’s way!  He wants us to choose the path of life, to pray before we step out and make poor decisions.  

If you are like me, you have a tendency to worry, or at least that was my go-to behavior in the past.  I am working on changing that because I am hiding God’s Word in my heart and He tells me not to worry, but to pray.  On Tuesay, I followed my usual routine of arising early, reading my Bible and praying.  I record my prayers in a prayer diary and encourage everyone to do likewise.  That way, you can look back in your prayer journal and see all of the times that God has answered your prayers.  But, I digress.  So, back to my journal entry on Tuesday.  I prayed for the safety of each of my children and grandchildren.  I never know what they will be facing each day, so I pray for God’s protection over them daily.  That particular day, unbeknownst to me, my daughter was faced with driving through hail and heavy rains, with tornado warnings blasting all along her route.  Why was she out in this storm?  Because her beloved eldest daughter was at a Cross Country meet and the school bus had not been able to turn around and return to the safety of the school.  So, Hope drove through the storms in time to get to Teya, make sure she was safe and pray with her. Shortly thereafter, the storms ceased and all was okay.  What a scary event to go through!  I didn’t find out about it until that evening, but I certainly give God the glory for protecting and watching over them.  Now, I could pray and then sit and wring my hands in worry all day since I never know what activities my family will be doing that day and what they may face.  Today, I do know that my baby brother (he’s in his fifties, so he’s certainly not a real baby), is having a nuclear test on his heart.  So, he is in my prayers.  I could sit here and be anxious about the results of the test, but I am choosing to rest in God and His grace and mercy.  He knew my brother before I did and He loves him much more than I ever could.

Once I have prayed, and I have and will continue to do so, I can experience the peace of God.  His peace will take care of my wandering mind and my heart that threatens to race away with me when I am feeling anxious.  God knows what my brother has need of; and He knows what I need.  He is strengthening me today, just as He does every day, preparing me to face the challenges of the day.  No matter what I face, I know that Christ lives in me and will enable me to do the task, to the best of my ability.  Long ago, I chose the path that I was going to follow.  But I also make that same choice daily, to follow the path that God wants me to be on, with Him in the lead and my following closely behind.  That is what God wants for you and for each of His beloved children.  Yes, the world is a mess, but you don’t have to be.  You choose…eternal life and peace or lost in a forest with no way out.  It’s not that hard a choice, is it?  Choose life!  Choose God!  He already chose you!  

 

People in today’s modern world are rushing around and many are hurting but they are hiding that hurt.  They are anxious or fear what the day or what tomorrow may bring.  Those of us who know Christ have the answer and many of us are keeping that message to ourselves.  We need to share a kind word with everyone we meet.  We are moving on in the race of life, but we  must not forget that our fellow man is running the same race without the hope that lives in us. W don’t have to fear death or stumble along without knowing where we are going.  We start each day with prayer and move through the day with the confidence that God will be there for us, no matter what the day holds.  Can you imagine not having that hope, that confidence that God is in your corner during the daily battles?  That is the hopelessness that many face, and yet we walk around without offering the answer they need.  Using the Lord’s leading, I urge you to share the hope that is in you with someone today:  the lady behind you in the long checkout line, the cashier who grimaces at the long line but continues to struggle to do her job, the man at the child care center picking up his child.  The list goes on and on.  We all meet different people every day with whom we can share our hope so that they can have hope, too. Yes, some will turn away in disgust at what you share, but sow those seeds because people need that hope, even those who don’t admit it or really know that they need God.  Just keep spreading the good news; that’s the race that we are running until Jesus comes.  In an age where all the news is bad all the time, we have the GOOD NEWS.  Share it!

We are all wayward children.  “But, wait!” You are confused because you are a Christian who has the Lord in your heart and you have been forgiven.  So, how are we all wayward children?  Because we need to get on our knees and pray for our nation, whatever nation that you are from.  God’s judgment is real and it is coming, but He does not desire to destroy us.  He wants a relationship with us, so He tarries and delays His righteous judgment of the evil in the world.  This is my prayer for the United States, that we will recognize God as our Lord and return to Him.  I was once a wayward child.  I have a lot of friends and relatives that are wayward children.  I want all of them to honor Jesus Christ as their Savior, so I pray that God will heal the wayward hearts, including mine because I am not perfect yet.  I want to be a witness to a great revival in which Americans cry out to God that they are coming to Him and recognizing Him as the Lord our God.  This is a very simple post, but I am writing to encourage you, no matter what your personal relationship is with God, please take some time to pray for your nation, for God’s wayward children.  He doesn’t say, “Rebellious sinners!”  He calls us and others His children; it’s just that we lost our way and must find our way back to Him.  God reaches out and we need to respond with the same love that He shows us.  This is my prayer for today, one of repentance and revival.  We so need it!  

Available today online and at your local bookseller!  

When I first started reading, I thought that this book was a different genre for me and that I really wouldn’t like it. I ended up loving it because the characters were so lovable and the plot was totally unique! Carly is a young widow of an army man during the Vietnam War. After she is notified of Joe’s death, she discovers that she is pregnant. This news is shortly followed by the news that the baby has a terminal heart defect. Carly is emotionally supported by her sister Patti and her brother-in-law Hunter. But nothing can comfort her when she finds out that she has lost her husband and now she is going to lose his baby, too. Hunter then tells her a remearkable story of how he came from the future via a time travel portal and he will help her to travel there in order to get life-saving surgery for her baby that is not available in 1970. Wow! Just wow! This mind-blowing aspect of the plot got better and better as the reader follows Carly to the different decades that she ends up in, trying to find her way back home again. I liked Carly’s story because she captured my heart from the beginning. Her desire to save the life of her unborn child no matter the cost to her was admirable and made me want to keep reading more of Carly’s tale. The book was a stunning addition to fiction, sci-fi and fantasy combined, and had so many twists and turns that I never knew what to expect next. When Carly made the leap to a future 2001 with cell phones and laptops and surgery for her unborn child, I was right there with her, imagining what it must have been like for her. This novel was very enjoyable as well as thought-provoking and I highly recommend it to fans of Diane Chamberlain and to those who want to read a novel that has a totally unique perspective on time travel and its benefits and consequences.

Disclaimer-Disclosure of Material Connection:  I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher via Bookishfirst.  I was not required to write a positive review.  The opinions expressed are my own.  I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 “Guides Concerning the Use of Testimonials and Endorsements in Advertising.”

The five-star image is courtesy of a Google search and created by techFlourish.  

Available today from your local and online booksellers!  

Since I have read almost all of Jodi Picoult’s books, I was not surprised at the controversial topic in this one nor her liberal stand on it.  This book is about a gunman entering an abortion clinic and taking hostages.  I was a little put off at first with the backwards order of the details, starting at the end of the day and moving backwards, detailing the lives of each of the main characters up to the beginning of their days and then with an epilogue that drew everything together.  However, with this topic and in this book, it really worked well!  Hugh was the most likeable character along with his fourteen-year-old daughter Wren.  Most characters had secrets that were revealed as the book moved quickly to a conclusion that was somewhat expected but also surprising.  If you are a fan of Jodi Picoult, you will not want to miss this one because it is controversial with current topics and also includes a lot of pertinent research.  As a member of the pro-life community, I found the statistics slanted towards pro-abortion, but I was not surprised by this and it did not really bother me.  Jodi Picoult has written another book that book clubs will want to read and discuss because there are so many loose threads at the end, you will want to talk over with others what they think happened to some of the most important characters.  Excellent read!  Very controversial and timely topic!  A must-read for book clubs this fall!

Disclaimer

Disclosure of Material Connection:  I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher via Netgalley.  I was not required to write a positive review.  The opinions expressed are my own.  I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 “Guides Concerning the Use of Testimonials and Endorsements in Advertising.”

Available on October 2, 2018 at all local and online booksellers!  

This was a sweet contemporary romance that took place in a small, isolated village in Alaska.  I loved the descriptions of the scenery, especially the romantic atmosphere created by the Northern Lights.  Josie has a plan for her life, to cook with the famous Chef Anton in Seattle.  Although Palmer falls in love with her during her summer cooking adventure in Alaska, he also has a plan for his life; he wants to continue to pursue his career as a master sword smith in Ponder.  Dreams clash with reality in this quick, easy read.  My favorite character by far was Jack, the quirky comic relief to all of the drama.  Jack is always hungry and is determined to do all he can to get Josie to marry Palmer, just so she can be in Ponder to cook for him.  I also liked Palmer’s dog Hobo who seemed to understand humans a lot better than we understand ourselves sometimes.  This book was entertaining and humorous at time, set at that magical time between Thanksgiving and Christmas and proving that sometimes wishes do come true.  

Disclaimer:  Disclosure of Material Connection:  I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher via Netgalley.  I was not required to write a positive review..  The opinions expressed are my own.  I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commision’s 16 CFR, Part 255 “Guides Concerning the Uses of Testimonials and Endorsements in Advertising.”  

 

 

My Scripture reading yesterday seemed to be all about God being my shield, and since I don’t generally do a blog post on Sundays, I had a whole day to meditate on it.  What does having God as your shield mean?  When I was a child, I used to go into the bathroom and hide from the wrath of my mother.  She didn’t like me very much and made that extremely clear repeatedly.  But when I was in that small guest bathroom, I felt safe and somehow felt loved because I was frequently  chanting to myself, “Yes, Jesus loves me” that I had learned from Sunday school.  I didn’t know the saving power of God at that time or that He could be my shield for the rest of my life.  I discovered that remarkable truth when I was twenty-one, the first year that I left home and that I was alone.  I had left my mother five hours away in another small town in Virginia, but I took my fears with me.  I feared people, the dark, any change in my routine.  So, accepting the Lord set me free from my fears and on the battlefield with Him as my shield.  Yes, life is still a battlefield and sometimes there are explosions that I was not ready for, but as long as I keep God as my shield, I can make it through the attack.  Sometimes the attack comes from my old fears, but I have to make the choice to hold up my shield, to say verses that I have memorized from the Word of God and to know that He is right there with me.  I hope that you have this shield in your life.  He is my Savior and my hope in the middle of all of the strife that takes over at times.  I couldn’t make it without Him and I want everyone to know that He is the One who will protect you from all of the fiery darts of the enemy, no matter what shape they come in.  God bless you during this day and may you find His protective shield covering you!