Month: August 2023

God’s Response

On By vickleaIn Scripture1 Comment

For those of use looking aghast at all of the sin that is being touted as normal in the world today, God has a response already given in His Word. You want to know why these things are happening? Read the Bible. You want to know the end result of all of this sin? Read the Bible. You want to know what God thinks about what is going on? Read the Bible. I have found myself turning to God’s Word not just for comfort but also for a hope for the future when things all around me look hopeless.

Are we a nation calling on the name of the Lord? Sadly, the answer is “no.” We are a nation lost in our own glory instead of depending on God and His glory. We are a nation that isn’t looking for God at all. God hasn’t moved. He is ready to answer our cry, ready to be found. But, as a nation, we are not calling on Him. Of course, there are a few of us who are calling on God, but the tumult of the many who have turned against Him resound so loudly that we are being ignored. Not by God! We are never ignored by God! We are ignored by the powers in D.C. and in each state capital who could actually change the direction in which our nation is going, if they would just call on the Name of the Lord. We are ignored by the media (unless they are vilifying Christians as an evil and divisive force). We are ignored by those who need Christ in their hearts.

The end result is not a good one. God will not sit back and patiently wait forever for men to call on Him and turn away from their sins. Look at God’s response to Israel’s sin after calling on them to return to Him over and over. The nation was destroyed, the people were taken captive and led away to Babylon, a symbol of sin and unrighteous living. These were God’s chosen people and He did not allow them to continue in their sin, their mocking of the One who had led them out of Egypt and into the Promised Land to begin with. Can we honestly say that God will deal differently with America? Judgment Day and the wrath of God is coming. Before that day comes, may we open our eyes and turn to God and sincerely repent and ask for His help. I am not seeing this happen. I am not prophesying that it will. I just have a little grain of hope inside me that someone in power somewhere will be stirred to call on the Only One who can make a difference in this chaotic and topsy-turvy world that is controlled by sin and darkness. God wants to answer…He is waiting for the call. As Christians, we need to pray for mercy but also for God to reply to our prayers. Perhaps judgment will be the answer; I can’t say because I don’t know. But I do know that what is happening in the world today is an abomination to the Holy Lord and it will not be allowed to stand without consequences.

Review: IN A QUIET TOWN by Amber Garza

On By vickleaIn Book Review1 Comment

About the Book

On Sale Date: August 8, 2023

9780778334255

Trade Paperback

$18.99 USD

336 pages

ABOUT THE BOOK:

In this chilling new novel, a pastor’s wife discovers that her estranged daughter is missing, but no one will believe her, until she meets a man claiming to be her daughter’s fiancé.

The book is about Tatum, a woman who secretly reconnects with her estranged adult daughter—secretly because Adrienne’s been all but disowned by Tatum’s husband, a pastor at the church in their small California town, where every move is watched and reported by his congregation. When Adrienne doesn’t show up for her shift at the bar where Tatum’s been visiting her, she knows something is wrong. Adrienne may have been a bit of wild child, but she hasn’t missed a day of work without calling in for years.

Tatum tries desperately to get the police or her husband to take her daughter’s disappearance seriously, until a mysterious man shows up claiming to be Adrienne’s fiancé. It’s a relief to finally have someone who believes her and is trying as hard as she is to find out where Adrienne is. But can she trust that this stranger is really who he says he is? And can she find her daughter before it’s too late?

My Thoughts

This is a slow-burning suspense thriller that is compelling and intricately plotted. Tatum’s daughter Adrienne is missing, but she can’t get anyone to believe her since she was estranged from her family and they had little or no contact with each other. Then Seth shows up, saying he is also looking for Adrienne since they are engaged. The twists in this book just keep coming! The beginning was a little slow as the story was building but the pace quickly picked up once all of the characters are in place. The POV is Tatum’s, Adrienne’s and the fiancée’s. I spent part of my reading time making sure I knew who was telling which part of the book because that is very important to the story. There are clues everywhere as well as some false trails. I felt compelled to continue to read because I wanted to know what happened to Adrienne as much as Tatum did. This is a mother-daughter relationship story, with the males in the story not only being secondary but also being untrustworthy. I enjoyed the complexity of the story with its multiple layers…Adrienne’s childhood, her quest for independence and her mom’s subjugation to the pastor father Shane. Religion was presented almost like a crutch here, so I didn’t appreciate that part, but I did like that prayer helped out in the long run. The conclusion was satisfactory, but the author leaves it up to the reader to fully close out the story of the two women and their future choices. I really liked Tatum, but I was annoyed by Adrienne for most of the book. I just wanted her to make better choices and to let the past go. All in all, this was a great read and well worth the time invested in getting to the meat of the story.
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, and all opinions expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16th CFR, Part 255, “Guidelines Concerning the Use of Testimonials and Endorsements in Advertising.”

Rated PG-16 for more mature audiences due to content and language. Reader discretion is strongly advised.

About the Author

Amber Garza has had a passion for the written word since she was a child making books out of notebook paper and staples. Her hobbies include reading and singing. Coffee and wine are her drinks of choice (not necessarily in that order). She writes while blaring music, and talks about her characters like they’re real people. She lives with her husband and two kids in Folsom, California.
SOCIAL LINKS:
Author website: https://ambergarza.com/
IG: https://www.instagram.com/ambergarzaauthor/?hl=en
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ambermg1?lang=en
FB: https://www.facebook.com/ambergarzaauthor/

Purchase Links

Bookshop.org: https://bookshop.org/p/books/then-she-disappeared-amber-garza/18816653?ean=9780778334255 

B&N: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/in-a-quiet-town-amber-garza/1142722524?ean=9780778334255 

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Quiet-Town-Novel-Amber-Garza/dp/0778334252

Many thanks to HTP Books for inviting me to participate in this blog tour!

My Words

On By vickleaIn Scripture3 Comments

This morning in my devotional, God was dealing with me about my words, particularly the words I use with my spouse. I am very careful to choose my words with people whom I don’t know well or those I want to make a good impression on. But with my husband, I just say what I think and I am not always kind.

For example, when we went to the beach, Harry brought along a huge fishing cooler. Of course, he had put it into the back of the SUV and I didn’t even see it until we arrived. I was actually shocked to see it there and asked him why he would bring it, full of his clothes like a weird suitcase. He said he brought it to take to the beach with us. Well, I exploded, mostly from embarrassment at the laughable idea of him dragging that across the beach with us. Nevertheless, he took his clothes out of it and packed it daily with his towels and other things he wanted to take along to the shore. That thing is heavy even empty, so he only carried it a short ways and then truly had to drag it across the sand. I was berating and not at all kind as I followed him to the place where our daughter and her family had set up chairs and an umbrella. Then, he pointed out that he as dragging it in front of me and making a smooth path for me to walk across the sand so I would not fall. How foolish I felt about all of my unkind words! I had chosen to speak without thinking and to express my honest frustration instead of noticing his commitment to safeguarding me.

We didn’t really argue about the whole cooler thing, but I was not happy and I am sure that everyone knew it because I don’t hide my feelings well. If only I had seen Harry’s genuine acts of kindness and shared kind and appreciative words with him! They would have cheered both of us up!

I don’t mean to have a “deceitful tongue” but sometimes I confess that I do not tell the entire truth. I make excuses that I am doing it for the benefit of the other person because I don’t want to offend them. What I am really doing is saving face for myself. God wants me to be completely honest if I am going to say anything to others. Or, the other choice is to just be quiet! I don’t want to go around being deceitful, then the other person finds out what I was really thinking (or others tell them the whole truth), and they are crushed because I wasn’t honest to begin with. God is honest with me. He tells me when and how I need to change. He doesn’t mince words or tiptoe around so He doesn’t offend me because He has my best interests at heart. If that is my real motive, can I do any less towards others?

Words matter. They show the condition of my heart and places that are raw inside me and need to be healed and changed. Sometimes, they show what I am really feeling and sometimes they show a parody of what I feel because I don’t want to be offensive. I end up offending anyway more often than not, so my plan to not do so doesn’t usually work out for me. Kind words…gentle words…think before I speak and speak as the Spirit leads. My lesson for today, and I hope that it helps you, too.

Practice Now

On By vickleaIn Scripture2 Comments

The Scripture is very clear that one day every knee will bow before the Lord and give Him the worship and glory He deserves. Read that again and think about it. Every knee! Those who are in power, the rich, the poor, the homeless, the famous and the infamous. All will bow before the Lord. So my thought is that we should be practicing our worship now and get ready for that day. There are so many who are still lost in their sins, so many who will be bowing in fear of the judgment to come, so many for whom it will be too late for them to repent and confess Jesus as Savior and Lord. For those of us who already recognize God’s sovereignty, mercy and grace, we should spend time on our knees praying for those who do not yet acknowledge their Creator.

I would like to think that this verse means that everyone will be saved, but I know that is false thinking. Everyone will bow before God, but not everyone will have acknowledged Him as their Savior. We will all face Judgment Day, some of us with Jesus as our Advocate. Thus when God opens the Book of Life and finds our names written there, we are safe from the lake of fire. But others are not and that breaks my heart. Therefore, while there is still time, we need to practice our worship, practice our faith and practice telling the gospel to others. We don’t have to be perfect at it…we just have to do it. We are rescuing people from eternal flames of hell, and that is worth whatever discomfort we face in order to tell them the truth about how to be saved. Every knee! The whole earth…

Our Intercessor

On By vickleaIn Scripture, VideoLeave a comment

Many years ago, back in the 70’s actually, my husband and I attended Youth with a Mission. There we studied the Bible in preparation to share the gospel with others wherever we went. We also studied the works of some great theologians. One such book was by Norman Grubbs and was entitled Rees Howells: Intercessor. If you are interested, you can get a copy here:

Amazon

This book tells the amazing story of a man who dedicated his life to intercession. So, what is intercession?

The Cambridge Dictionary defines intercession as “the act of using your influence to make someone in authority forgive someone else or save them from punishment.” https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/intercession

The Bible says that each one of us who has accepted the Lord Jesus has an intercessor because He intercedes for us.

Jesus’s death on the cross was a “once and done” action, but His intercession for us is constant because although we strive to be like Him, we have not achieved perfection.

What is our role in the world if we want to be intercessors like Jesus and plead for the souls of friends and loved ones? We are standing in the gap for them, asking God for mercy and as David Ettinger said in his blog today, we are to realize that they are blinded and need to pray for their eyes to be opened. David Ettinger on WordPress

For more information about Rees Howells, check out this video,

Rees Howells, Intercessor from Revelation TV

Our Instruction Manual

On By vickleaIn Scripture3 Comments

Many times as our children were growing up, I would throw up my hands in despair, look towards Heaven and tell God that since He made them, He needed to help me raise them correctly. His response was always the same, “I already gave you the instruction manual.” Of course, He did! But when I was frustrated, I would forget to turn to it.

God’s instruction manual for our lives is in His Word. I recall my husband putting together baby cribs, small furniture and toys. So many toys! Bikes, Barbie houses, race car tracks, etc. He would start out okay but soon I would hear Harry call my name and tell me that he was stuck because there seemed to be a part missing or a step he left out. So, I would head to where he was and he would start again. This time, I unfolded the instructions that he had usually left in the box and read them aloud to him, one step at a time, until the work was finished. You see, he always thought he could complete the task without looking at the instructions. After all, it should be easy and it was just “common sense.” I think we do the same with our lives. We are going along happily and come across something unexpected that disrupts our plans and our happiness. Instead of reaching for our instruction manual in God’s Word, we often try all kinds of other solutions first. We call a friend for help, we decide to deal with the problem another day (I call this the “Scarlett solution” from GONE WITH THE WIND. If you have read the book, you know the reference). Or we simply walk away and try to live life without a solution to the problem If only we could all learn to first look in our instructions and follow them step by step. God does not leave us without teaching, correction and rebuking us. He does all of this for our good and expects us to take the instructions out of the box and use them. They are for our good and end up helping us to be more like Jesus.

After a time of fruitless grumbling and whining to God about the children and their actions, I would inevitably turn to my Bible, finding comfort and resources there to continue to parent in spite of my children’s opposition to my parenting skills. I learned by doing things incorrectly and then I learned how to do them the right way. God always has a right way to do things, including putting together the puzzle that is our lives. I also learned that when I disciplined the children, reading Scripture with them and praying with them afterwards soothed them as well as me. We were reconciled to each other and to God, and that is exactly where we needed to be.

Calming the Storms

On By vickleaIn Scripture4 Comments

I live on the east coast and we have a good number of hurricanes or tropical storms pass through. The worst one that I can remember was Isabel, a storm that took out our electricity for almost two weeks and forced us to evacuate and stay with friends for a while until the roads were cleared and it was safe to go home again. I vividly remember hearing that the storm was coming and getting ready for it, with flashlights, bottled water and canned foods as well as crackers. Then, as the storm got closer, Harry and I prayed together for safety. The rain was pounding, the thunder was crashing and the lightning just seemed to light up the sky with one lightning bolt after another. We didn’t sleep much that night; the electricity went out early in the evening and since we live rurally we were in total darkness except for our small lanterns and flashlights. But, we made it through the storm safely. When Harry went out to scout around, he found that there were electrical lines down everywhere and it wasn’t really safe to go anywhere yet. But once it was, we moved to stay with someone else who still had electricity. The storm was powerful and scary, but there are worse storms to be in.

There are storms of broken family relationships. My siblings don’t all talk to each other but they all talk to me. That makes things awkward for me, to say the least. Some of my siblings won’t talk to my sons because the latter are so liberal. I don’t believe as my sons do, but they are still my sons, so I try to mediate that situation, too. My sister has a health issue that is causing her to go blind. My daughter had a cancer scare last year. We have three grandchildren going to college this year, and we all know that college is expensive and sometimes their ideas aren’t worth having. My husband and I are both getting older and have decisions to make about our future. The list of storms of life goes on endlessly.

As I look around the “boat of my life,” I am convinced that I would not have made it this far without Jesus calming the storms. He doesn’t always calm the storms around me. He calms me so that I have a different perspective and can maintain peace even in the middle of the storm.

When the storms of life are shouting for attention, Jesus makes them whisper and when the waves want to toss me around, Jesus makes them still. Are there still storms happening? Yes, every day. Why, I can’t go a few hours without someone trying to disturb my peace with a troubling story or a complaint. I take them all to the Lord and continue, with my sea calmed and the voices becoming a whisper in the background. The voice that stands out will be that of the Lord telling me to “Peace, Be still.” Yes, that’s right. He calms me so that I can face the storms. Does that mean that I am always calm? No, but I am a work in progress. What it means is that I am trying to remain calm and when that doesn’t happen naturally (which it seldom does), I ask for Jesus’s intervention and He is faithful to calm me to face the storm. Then, He calms the storm and the thing that I feared or dreaded is not a hurricane but only a mild wind storm that passes quickly.

Peace…be still!

Our Work Isn’t Finished

On By vickleaIn Scripture2 Comments

Just about every Christian probably knows no quotes Jesus’s words from the cross, “It is finished.” He declared that the sacrifice was done, the work the Father had sent Him to accomplish was done and because of His great love and death on the cross, He knew that He was opening to door to eternity for us. But is our work on earth done as soon as we become a Christian?

The work that Jesus gave us to do is to continue to tell others the Good News about the grace available to them through accepting the Lord Jesus as Savior. I used to be so diligent about every task. If a teacher assigned me something to do, I jumped right into it, eager to complete it and do a good, impressive job of it. I don’t think it’s an accident that Jesus is called “Teacher” and that He left us an assignment to do. He wants us to participate in bringing the story of His mercy and grace to others. I wish I could say honestly that I am been just as diligent about this assignment that Jesus left me to do. I have been more of a “hit or miss” kind of person. Because of my shyness, I am reluctant to approach others, so I need boldness that can only come from God. I need His guidance to show me the people to whom I should speak His words of comfort and affirmation, those who are ready to receive His Word. I am elderly now and don’t work at a regular job anymore. I am in awe that God gives us a job to do in spite of our weaknesses and infirmities. I can still tell others about Jesus and the gifts of grace and eternal life that come from freely to those who believe. I am not finished with my life on earth, nor am I finished with my assignment from God. If you are still walking on earth, living and breathing, then you, too, still have an assignment. Let’s work on it together!