You can win an autographed copy of Laura Griffin’s new book just by commenting on my post about the contest. Contest ends on August 25th. Winner will be selected randomly.

I am a Christian, a retired teacher, a mother and a grandmother. I love to read and I love the Lord Jesus Christ! Unless otherwise specified ,all visual illustrations are from the YOU VERSION APP of the Bible.
You can win an autographed copy of Laura Griffin’s new book just by commenting on my post about the contest. Contest ends on August 25th. Winner will be selected randomly.

Review of HIDDEN by Laura Griffin and a Contest!!
— Read on vicklea.com/2020/08/20/review-of-hidden-by-laura-griffin-and-a-contest/
Here I am again, reminding you that I have a contest running until August 25th, release day for this fantastic book! Just comment and you are entered. The winner will be chosen randomly on August 25th.
With a well-written plot with all kinds of clues and red herrings, as a mystery buff, I loved the flow of the story and how absolutely captivating it was. I love all of Laura Griffin’s books and this one was not an exception. The main characters were Jacob Merritt, the lead detective hot on the trail of a hit man, and Bailey Rhoads, a dogged and determined reporter who ignores danger in order to follow the story. The romantic interest between the two of them added to the story and gave me insight into the dilemma faced by a police detective who falls for a reporter. I enjoyed following the clues along with Jacob and Bailey and finding out more about their weaknesses and strengths. I was intrigued by the introduction of the dark and mysterious John Colt and hope to see more of him in future installments of the series. I highly recommend this gripping and fast-paced read to all fans of romantic suspense. I, personally, am really looking forward to more books in the series and I’m very excited that this is the introductory book for future books!
Disclaimer
Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the author. 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.”



Laura Griffin is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of more than twenty-five books and novellas. Her books have been translated into fourteen languages. Laura is a two-time RITA® Award winner (for Scorched and Whisper of Warning) as well as the recipient of the Daphne du Maurier Award (for Untraceable). Her book Desperate Girls was named one of the Best Books of 2018 by Publishers Weekly. Laura lives in Austin, Texas, where she is working on her next novel. (From lauragriffin.com

Contest Alert! Laura Griffin will autograph a copy of this new book and send it to the winner. You are entered by commenting on this review. So, enter today! You can enter everyday until release day. I will randomly choose a winner on August 25th and Laura will send out the book. Enter today to win this fantastic romantic suspense. I loved it and I think that you will, too!
I almost missed it, and if it had not been for the article by Dr. Dennison, I would have just overlooked the current assault on the minds of our nation’s children. I used to watch a show called “The Wonderful World of Disney” every Sunday night. We only had one television, so we all watched the cartoons, movies and even some dramas as a family. There was not one single objectionable thing about the show, so it was truly “family fare.” Today’s Disney is “Katie, bar the door” kind of programming, especially with its latest show with witches and an openly bi-sexual lead. Say what? Yes, you read that correctly. The show that used to be wholesome now has its own channel that is promoting witchcraft and the LGBTQ+ agenda. For some insight into why that is so awful, I give you the article by Dr. Denison.
Dr. Denison’s Forum August 20, 2020
I am sad to report that two of my children are liberal, so their children will be allowed to watch these shows. After all, the younger ones already are enraptured by the Muppets, gay stars and all. Like Dr. Denison, I’m appalled that such a small percentage of our population can have such a long-lasting and sin-filled effect on our society. Just as I was horrified to learn that Hallmark, also a family-friendly channel supposedly, had a gay wedding last weekend in one of its movies, I cannot express with words how my mind is boggled by these changes in society.
It seems as if this acceptance of sin happened overnight, but like that one bite of the apple in the Garden of Eden, the sin has been an insidious liar and it will take over the minds of our children and grandchildren if we allow it to do so. You may think that there is nothing wrong with homosexuality. But the Holy Bible says otherwise, and it is the firm foundation on which I base my beliefs. Now, to me, it is not just sin; it is a sneaky, slithering snake that is trying to get our children to accept the sin as an acceptable alternative lifestyle. I’m calling it what it is and I hope that you will, too. Sin against God!
May the Lord help us to stand firm against the the onslaught of the enemy. He is truly walking about as a raging lion and the ones he is trying to devour now are our innocent children. “Right now counts forever.” Think about it. Do you want this behavior normalized for our children for all times? Do you realize what that means? Think about it and pray about what you can do to make a difference today.
Be blessed to be a blessing!

Are you wholly God’s or are you holding something back? I know that I have been selfishly giving God only what I think that He needs to handle and then I tell Him that I can handle the rest on my own. But can I really? The answer, of course, is “no.” I cannot handle anything without God’s help and He wants me to lay myself down on the altar, to give myself to Him and to let Him use all of me as He will. I have to be honest and tell you all that I’m working on this, but God has my attention. He is speaking to me daily about sacrifice and worship. These days, worship, thanking God, has become a sacrifice to me because I’m just not feeling very thankful. This morning, God almost hit me upside the head with a two by four to remind me that I have a testimony of how good He has always been to me, so I need to concentrate on being thankful. After all, I survived a massive stroke and returned to work in three months. That was God!
No, the world is not all that I want it to be. There are all kinds of signs and wonders, however, of God taking care of His people if we just open our eyes. I have held back worship from the Lord. It was kind of like I was angry at Him for my having to quarantine and disrupt the normal flow of my life. No more! I am giving God all that I am, including the anger inside me and the worship that flows from my heart. The freedom that I am feeling is real. I want to be wholly His, called to holy for Him. I am a Child of the King and I am wholly His! God wants me to be holy and He is teaching me how to be like Him, one day at a time. What is God teaching you?
Lord, I Lift Your Name On High
I hope that you will join me today in laying yourself open before God and praising His Holy Name. He is worthy!
Be blessed, my friends, so that you can be a blessing!
If you are a diehard Democrat or a Never-Trumper, then you will not want to read this blog. Your mind is made up and nothing here will change it and may even anger you. That is not my intent. As a Christian, I have been frequently challenged by my liberal friends and sons about how I can support the President. I could never really come up with an answer that would satisfy them. Nevertheless, a journalist came up with my answer for me and I am sharing it here on my blog so that it is clear to everyone that this evangelical Christian supports the President and his policies. I do not believe the MSM that tells me daily that he is a racist who is destroying the country. I have turned off most if not all of the news daily and choose instead to read and listen to music. I am already an informed voter, and I don’t want to hear people tell one lie after another that no fact checkers will ever really check. So, here I am, with an article that encapsulated how I feel. Please read with an open heart and know that whoever is elected, I will pray for them but I cannot support liberal policies that go against my Biblical beliefs.
Over 80% of evangelical voters supported Donald Trump not because they liked him as a person but because they favored most or all of these policies:
– originalist judges,
– pro-life policies,
– a stronger military,
– a free-market economic system,
– lower taxes,
– fewer government regulations,
– strong support for Israel,
– clearheaded recognition of the economic, military, and information threat of China
– a high value placed on human freedom,
– personal accountability for committing crimes,
– good jobs and school choice as the best way to help the poor,
– a strong border wall and a secure border, followed by a comprehensive reform of our immigration system,
– careful extraction and clean use of carbon-based fuels (coal, oil, natural gas),
– freedom of conscience (government should not force Christians to use their artistic skills to convey a message of approval of same-sex marriage or to use their medical skills to perform an abortion, or to use their pharmacies as the distribution point for drugs that cause abortion),
– racial inequalities in income and quality of education should primarily be solved by
– greater availability of tax-supported school choice in low-income neighborhoods,
– economic growth resulting in more and better jobs, and
– an increase in safety through an increase in police presence in high crime neighborhoods
-medical marijuana should be allowed (with a prescription from a doctor) but recreational marijuana should be prohibited, and
– restrooms, locker rooms, and single-gender sports teams should be restricted to people of one biological sex or the other.
On the other hand, I fail to see how an evangelical Christian who believes in the moral values of the Bible could support the increasingly far-left Democratic Party. How could Christian in good conscience support a party that promotes laws and policies that
– allow abortion up to the moment of birth,
– authorize the use of our tax money to pay for abortions and gender reassignment surgery,
– cripple our economy with ever-increasing government control and taxes,
– further cripple the economy with expensive Green New Deal energy regulations,
– increase unemployment,
– weaken our military in the face of increased aggressiveness by China,
– promote a Jimmy Carter-like foreign policy of appeasement,
– abandon Israel to fend for itself,
– nullify the Senate filibuster rule (both Obama and Biden have recently spoken about this) so that all legislation can be passed with only 50 senators plus the vice president casting the tie-breaking vote,
– support the rising influence of judges who are not constrained by the original meaning of the words of the Constitution or of the laws, perhaps even adding six additional seats to the Supreme Court in order to be able to give the court a new 10-5 majority of such justices (this could be done with control of both the House, the Senate, and the presidency)
– grant statehood to both Washington DC and Puerto Rico, thus adding four more Democrats to the U.S. Senate (I have heard three US senators already predict that the Democrats would do this if they had the votes)
– support draconian laws that compel an artistic professional or a professional counselor to affirm the validity of same-sex marriage even when that is contrary to the professional person’s conscience,
– reinstate the Obama-era guidelines that required schools to allow biological males who claim to be transgender females to use girls’ bathrooms, locker rooms, and showers (the guidelines were canceled by Trump),
– allow biological males to compete in women’s sports, setting new statewide records in women’s track events and other sports
– pass multiple new, extremely strict green energy laws that will massively increase energy costs and therefore will also increase the cost of everything that is made or transported with the use of energy,
-seek to defund the police (to be precise, Biden has said he favors “redirecting” some police funding to other programs, which is a partial “defunding” of police, which will lead predictably to a substantial increase in crime),
-use violence and intimidation to nullify freedom of speech (in practice) for those who disagree with them politically,
– support open borders and sanctuary cities in defiance of the law, and that
– promote a complete federal government takeover of our healthcare system.
It is not the fault of evangelical Christians that Republican party policies have increasingly favored policies consistent with Christian values, while Democratic Party policies have increasingly strayed from Christian values (this happened initially and most notably over the issue of abortion rights but then it spread to many other policies). Since that has happened, it seems to me that evangelicals face an easy choice of which party to support. (In fact, many of the policies favored in the 2016 Republican Party platform are the same as those advocated in my book, Politics According to the Bible.)
THIS EXCERPT IS TAKEN FROM AN ARTICLE BY WAYNE GRUDEN:
You can read the entire article at the link above. I have put into italics the words from the article and have added bold to the ones that are most important to me.
But, you say, the coronavirus has destroyed our economy and our jobs and we are sheltered in place and don’t feel safe, etc. And you add your opinion that you think that everything that has happened with Covid-19 has been the President’s fault. My reply to you is that this is a totally new illness that was released on us and the world from China. The President has heeded the advice of top medical professionals, some of whom change their minds frequently about what is best to do since no one really knows how to tackle this thing. Mask? No mask? Social distance or no? It boggles my little mind that we are told to stay in, wear a mask and social distance, but when rioters and looters are destroying entire city blocks, they are doing none of the above. What have the Democratic candidates had to say about this destruction? Nothing! Nada! Zip! Unless you count the fact that they promise to defund the police. Seriously?!? I want a law and order President, not one who thinks that mob rule works best.
For all of the reasons that I have listed from the article, plus the fact that I think that the President is the best person to help us recover from the Coronavirus, I am voting for him and Vice-President Pence. Rant and rail at me all you want. Just as I cannot change your point of view, neither can you change mine. I don’t believe that God has turned away from America. He is waiting to see if God will turn back to him, and perhaps our choice for President will demonstrate this.

Be blessed, my friends. Because when you are blessed, you can be a blessing!

This is an excellent addition to the series but can most definitely be read as a standalone. The story of Sarah Denning and her exploits in Afghanistan had me on the edge of my seat from the very beginning. Her problems with her relationship with her father were extreme but didn’t seem too unrealistic to me. Her father is a general in the army in which Sarah serves as a military journalist, so there is a lot of inherent conflict right there. When she returns to the U.S., she has to be protected by her former boyfriend, Army Ranger Gavin Black, a hero in more ways than one. Sarah is caught up immediately in finding out the truth about her brother’s suicide and her partnership with her brother Caden and Gavin is crucial to the success of the story. I really enjoyed the fast-paced action and the never-ending struggle to discover the truth. This book has me absolutely mesmerized from beginning to end and I know that I would have finished it much faster if I had not had a visit with grandchildren in the middle. This was a book that I had trouble putting down to do the regular routine, like eat and sleep. It was so good that I really didn’t want it to end, although I could see as I looked at the pages that I was nearing the conclusion. Ms. Eason knows how to tell a story that kept me entertained and enthralled, especially since it included one hazardous scene after another. I love that this book is Christian fiction and is totally clean. No expletives, no steamy sex scenes. Just plain good reading!
Disclaimer
Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary copy of this book from Revell as part of the #RevellReadsBloggerProgram. 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.”

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https://www.christianbook.com/acceptable-risk-2-lynette-eason/9780800729356/pd/729355?event=ESRCG
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www.bible.com/reading-plans/9211/day/1
This is one of my devotionals for today. I’m studying worship and this song was embedded. I love it and hope that you will, too! Have a blessed Sunday!
Jesus is the model for our behavior. Not our pastor, although that might be good for a while, but he/she is human and will fall. Not our spouse or our friend for the same reason. Only Jesus was without sin and He showed the way to be like Him in what He did every day for regular people just like you and me. I hope that your day is blessed so that you can go out and bless someone else.