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.
We are meant to be people with community, with fellowship with one another. The early church met daily and had communion and fellowship. These days, we meet once or twice a week and in order to be with other believers. While I was in Maryland, I attended virtual services. It wasn’t the same as being in church, but it was better than missing church altogether. Churches are not perfect places because they have imperfect people in them. However, we are told to get together with one another and I think that is for our own benefit. Being with other believers and sharing about my week or upcoming events helps me to focus on how God is taking care of me through everything.
It is for our encouragement that we get together, not to judge each other or to look for faults, but to see Jesus in each other and be aware that He is returning soon for each of us.
Have a blessed day and may you find somewhere and someone with whom to fellowship this week, to share your testimony and to encourage one another.
Before the month of February gets started every year, I see boxes of heart-shaped candies, ads for low-cost roses and cards depicting Cupid everywhere. I get ads in my inbox and see them online, too. In spite of this onslaught of advertising, I am thoroughly convinced that the world that doesn’t know Jesus doesn’t know what love is either. It saddens me that many people settle for a cheap substitution and never consider the real sacrifices that true love requires.
This Scripture verse goes along with what our pastor told us almost five decades ago when my husband and I were going through pre-marital counseling. He said, “Love is always choosing the highest good for the other person regardless of what sacrifice you have to make to do that.” His pronouncement has stayed with me through the years and has meant that in spite of our many difficulties and differences, Harry and I have stayed together for almost fifty years. We have learned to see things through each other’s eyes and make a concerted effort to make choices that will be for the good of our life partner. In today’s world, marriage has become a trial and error situation. If it doesn’t work out, you can always get a divorce and move on. That is not the way we approached our commitment to each other. We saw it as a covenant before God and have spent many hours praying about situations beyond our control that tested our relationship with one another. Regardless, we did not see marriage as a “if it doesn’t work out” proposition but rather as a promise before God to love each other in the way that our pastor described, choosing the highest good of the other person.
I don’t like all of the hearts, flowers and candy that attempt to romanticize a commitment that is taken seriously by God. Sure, they are nice surface things but the flowers die, the candy gets eaten, the card gets misplaced and the love that you felt for that one day or that one month fades quickly into the daily battles of everyday life. I prefer to think of love as a lifetime commitment, not a month of hearts and flowers, no matter how pleasant the latter may seem. I want the love that lasts through the mountains and the valleys, the one that says, “In spite of everything, I choose you.” My husband and I spent many years separated due to his military deployments, but not once did I doubt his love for me. His calls, letters and the cassette tapes he sent just so I could hear his voice when I was lonely showed his desire to fulfill his commitment to me and our children. So, a month of love is not for me. I prefer the kind that lasts forever, the kind that brings candy home “just because” or the kind that plants flowers outside of my window for me to enjoy for the entire season. Yes, the temporary things are nice, but the ones that are deeply rooted in God as the foundation withstand the storms of time, life and trials that we all undergo. It’s good to have someone to go through life with. Life is hard…it takes a lifetime of love to make it. Jesus set the example with His sacrifice and showed us the way to truly love.
May you each find the love that God has for you and the love that is meant to fulfill you in this life. Have a happy life filled with love!
Police Chief Autumn Long is fighting to keep her job in the quiet Alaska town of Shadow Gap when an unexpected string of criminal activity leaves her with a wounded officer, unexplained murders, and even an attack on her own father. Despite her mistrust of outsiders, she turns to Grier Brenner, a newcomer who seems to have the skills and training Autumn needs to face this threat to her community.
Grier is in Alaska for the same reason so many others are–to disappear–when Chief Long enlists his help. He emerges from the shadows and proves his mettle, but his presence in her life could be a deadly trap for them both. If his secret is exposed, all will be lost. And he’s not sure even Autumn could save him.
As the stakes rise and the dangers increase, Autumn and Grier must rely on each other to extinguish the deadly threats.
About the Author:
Elizabeth Goddard is the USA Today bestselling and award-winning author of more than 50 novels, including Cold Light of Day and the Rocky Mountain Courage and Uncommon Justice series. Her books have sold nearly 1.5 million copies. She is a Carol Award and Reader’s Choice Award winner and a Daphne du Maurier Award finalist. When she’s not writing, she loves spending time with her family, traveling to find inspiration for her next book, and serving with her husband in ministry. For more information about her books, visit her website at http://www.elizabethgoddard.com. Photo and Bio from author’s page at Baker-Elizabeth Goddard
My Review:
This is a race for survival for Sheriff Autumn Long. Not only does she have to survive those who want to take her job away, but she also has to find the killer who is stalking and killing multiple people in her little Alaskan town. She enlists the assistance of newcomer Grier Brenner who has his own secrets that he is hiding and who may have brought danger with him. The plot is propulsive and unique, with authentic details about the setting and intricate plot threads woven seamlessly into an action-packed story. There is a lot of spiritual truth built into the story with Grier and Autumn both exploring what they believe and how to keep believing in the hard times. The secondary characters were a dynamic addition to the story and I enjoyed getting to know the people in the town, especially the mayor who just couldn’t bring herself to fire Autumn without putting up her own struggle against it. This is an edgy page-turner that taught me a lot about Alaska during the intriguing and fast-moving plot. Crackling with tension between Autumn and her deputy Craig as well as with Grier, this book presented multiple layers that captured me from the prologue and just kept reeling me in. With characters that are relatable and realistic and a plot that is cleaver and totally satisfying, there was nothing I did not enjoy about this book and I am already looking forward to the next book in the Missing in Alaska series. Disclaimer Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary hard copy from the author as part of her launch team as well as an e-copy from Revell as part of the Revell Reads Blogger Program. I was not required to write a positive review. All opinions expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255, “Guidelines Concerning the Use of Testimonials and Endorsements in Advertising.”
Rated G for all audiences who enjoy good clean Christian romantic suspense
Releases on Tuesday, February 7, 2023, so you still have time to preorder and get freebies from Revell. Follow this link for all of the details: http://www.missinginalaskaseries.com
With much appreciation to Revell Books for the e-copy of the book to read and review and to the author for sending me a hard copy as part of her launch team!
I’m glad that you are still with me because I want to share a copy of this book with one blessed person from the U.S. I purchased an extra copy just for this giveaway. All you have to do to be entered to win is to tell me why you want to read this book in the comments. That’s it! I will randomly choose a winner next week.
Thank you to all who commented for the contest of a copy of this amazing book. The winner is ALISHA COLLINS. I have contacted her by DM and sent her book. Congratulations to Alisha!
We all want God to extend His grace to us, but when it’s time to extend that same grace to others, oftentimes we fall short. According to the dictionary, grace is unmerited or undeserved favor. Every day that I wake up, God extends grace to me. He gives me grace just to get though the day and to make good choices. He treats me like a favorite child. And then I come across a person who irritates me and I avoid them or cut them off in mid-sentence or treat them like they annoy me (because they do). I think of all of the times that I must have annoyed God yet not once did He withdraw His presence from me and turn away. I am ashamed to say that I need to practice more extending grace to others.
We need to practice the art of patience with each other. We are all works in progress, so we need to show each other love, humility and gentleness. There is a world of people out there waiting like sharks to devour us and to belittle us and our faith. We need to support each other, give each other the time needed to show encouragement, uplifting each other so that we can survive what the world and the enemy throws at us.
May you take these words to heart and be a blessing to someone today who needs a kind word.
We need God’s help every day in every way, no matter what small or large challenges we face. God is our healer, our deliverer, our comforter, our refuge and our strength. Thus we need Him and need to acknowledge our need for Him in our lives.
May you recognize and accept the help that only comes from God and may your day be blessed with the knowledge that He loves you enough to reach out to help you.
For many years I felt like an invisible person, without a lot of worth and not much to offer to others. Then, the Lord got hold of my life and showed me that I am worthy because of who He has made me to be. He reassures me daily that He sees me and notices the steps that I am taking, the direction in which I am going and the people that I encounter along the way. God sees everything I do every day! Some may say that sounds like some kind of stalker. Well, maybe, but God is the best kind of “stalker” because He sees me in order to be able to prepare the way for me and to protect me.
May you always be aware of God’s presence in your life and the blessing that it is that He is constantly seeing you.
God is worthy of all praise, so let’s focus today on just being thankful for all that He has already done and all of the plans that He has for us. He is worthy! Let us praise His Holy Name!
For many years, actually about forty, I was a classroom teacher. I taught in eleven different states and over twenty different schools. I taught in public schools, Christian schools and even a private school for the children of diplomats. I wanted to be a teacher since I was a child and I worked hard to make that dream come true. But it not come without sacrifice, just as all things worth having require some kind of sacrifice. I am grateful to my high school Spanish teacher, Señora Mary Smith, who encouraged me in pursuing my gift with language. She became my model and I became her disciple. A disciple is another word for a student. I was her student for all four years of high school and was happy to be able to tell her that I was majoring in Spanish in college in order to become a Spanish teacher. I know for sure that many of the methods that she used so successfully became part of my routine with my own students, but none more so than constant encouragement and pointing out what was right with their work first, then gently leading them to correct errors. I think that is the way that Jesus deals with me, too.
In spite of my age, I do not consider myself fully trained yet. I am not like Jesus, but I am a work in progress, becoming like Jesus. Note that “becoming” is a progressive verb and that’s what I am, a work in progress. In turn, I have tried to be a role model for others to follow so that they, too, can learn to be disciples of the Lord. One of the songs that I sang to encourage myself is “He’s Still Working on Me.” It is as true today as the first time I sang it many decades ago. In my impatience, I thought sometimes that I would arrive at the station, get off the train and continue with the rest of my life. But I’m still on the train of being made into His image, and I don’t want off until He is totally done with me. That day will come when I stand in His presence, but in the meantime, I am still a willing disciple, ready to learn the new lesson that He has for me each day. Just as I did not learn Spanish overnight, I have not learned all that God has to teach me in one or two lessons or devotionals or even years of them. There is always something new that He can teach me, some new way that I need to learn, some new path to take and something about me that needs to change to be better.
Yes, I am a disciple, but I am also a teacher and so is each of you who proclaims to be a Christian. We are not saved to hold the message in our hearts and minds and be quiet about the wonderful gift we have. We are saved to tell others, to teach them the way that they should go so that they can also celebrate a new life in Christ with us. We are each a disciple and each a teacher. Each one teach one, then two, then three until the world knows the Gospel and Jesus returns.
May each of you fulfill your roles as disciple of the Lord and teacher for those who seek Him. Have a blessed and wonderfully fruitful day!
Vickie's Book Nook and Meditation Corner 