Lauren was left to pick up the pieces of her heart when her fiancé sent her a text breaking up with up with her the night before their wedding. In this charming romance, Lauren returns to her hometown to help out with the annual Christmas celebration, only to find d that David has already returned to Holts Ridge and is firmly ensconced in the hearts of her mom and the other residents. The characters are absolutely remarkable in their love for the town and each other. I loved the festivities, especially the Critter Parade. And I thoroughly enjoyed discovering David’s secret and Lauren’s steadfastness and willingness to return to the town in which she had suffered such rejection and embarrassment. Fans of Christmas love will want to read this one and will treasure it for its story and it’s life lessons.

Disclaimer

Disclosure of Material Connection: I own a copy of this book on my Kindle. 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.”

This totally clean read is available now! Enjoy a great romance during Christmas!

What did you do to celebrate your last birthday? Most people had gifts to open and were surprised and happy at what they received. Remember that as Christmas approaches, it is all about celebrating Jesus’s birthday. He doesn’t want a gift from us. He wants us, our hearts, minds and lives. He wants us to give ourselves to Him and to then look for ways to help others find Him.

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In my devotional today, I studied how important this season is and one of the devotionals that I am currently doing is called “Make Room” by Mark from Casting Crowns. It is found on the You Version Bible App and I highly recommend it. Here is a quotation from the devotional today.

Rather than turning to a store that can offer us savings, maybe we can turn to a Savior born to save us.--Mark, Casting Crowns

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Yes, this is definitely the season in which many of us are caught up in the hustle and bustle of shopping and wrapping and choosing gifts that we hope others will admire and really enjoy. How about we take time to remember the Savior, the greatest gift of all? We don’t have to shop to find Him; He is as close as our own hearts. The date that we remember His birth is coming in just a few weeks. Let’s each of us remember His birthday by giving Him the gift of us! Blessings for a day filled with quietness before the Lord and Savior of our souls!

I read an article today about Governor Greg Abbot of Texas. What he said in response to a Tweet made me praise God for His attitude and want to be more like him. Here is the link to the article:

https://www.denisonforum.org/columns/daily-article/greg-abbott-responds-to-god-put-you-in-a-wheelchair-tweet-paying-the-price-to-change-someones-life-today/

Think about it. What price are you willing to pay to change someone’s life? Blessings for an evening filled with God and His glory!

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The holiday season has begun! That means a lot of rushing around and little quiet time. I got up at 5:30 this morning, not for my quiet time with the Lord, but so that I had data to use in order to pay my online bills and get birthday gifts for my little three year old granddaughter. So, that meant that I was tired and ended up napping later. I just got up a little while ago and spent my quiet time with the Lord, doing my devotionals. We need to remember that Jesus made us a priority, so we can’t forget Him during this holiday season that bears His name. Many are trying to take His name away from the holiday, saying “Happy Holidays” instead of “Merry Christmas.” Starbucks is distributing coffee cups that say “Merry Coffee” in order to avoid offending some, I guess. What they don’t know is that their attempt not to offend those who don’t believe in Christ offends those of us who do. We, however, are the minority and we have not been very vocal about our displeasure over Jesus’s being taken out of Christmas. We need to raise our voices and remember Him who came to earth and died for us! I read a devotional today about the innkeeper who had no room for Jesus in the inn. The devotional said that the innkeeper gave Jesus a place, but not the place. See the difference? That spoke to my heart right away. Jesus doesn’t want just any place in our hearts. He wants THE place, the part of us that was created for Him, the empty part that is just waiting for Him to occupy it, even though we have tried to fill that void with so many other things.

Jesus came into the world to save us from our sins, and whether we acknowledge Him or not, no matter how we try to rush around and busy ourselves with the things of the world, one day EVERY knee will bow to Him and His glory and grace. I choose to remember Him now, to make Him a priority and I hope that you do, too. As the busyness increases, don’t forget to remember Him for whom the season is named and to whom we owe our lives, for eternity. Blessings for a wonderful evening and many hours filled with contemplating His goodness and His place in your hearts.

Today, I am thankful for forgiveness. It all started with the cross about two thousand years ago.

Jesus died once and for all on the cross, so I am forgiven. And He told me to forgive others as God has forgiven me. My daughter, Hope Bailey, wrote a wonderful post about forgiveness today on Facebook. Here is what she said:

Each of us has experienced our fair share of hurt (and then some). Relationships are not easy. Death happens. Illnesses and deficiencies are a reality. Maintaining perfect mental health is impossible. Emotional heartache is draining. Life can be excruciatingly hard. Some of that pain is so deep that it doesn’t feel like it will ever subside. I have a tendency to isolate when people don’t rise to my expectations – when they disappoint and fall short, leaving me on my own or worse. I’m so thankful that I discovered the power of forgiveness before bitterness choked any chance of restoration. Most of the time, people don’t apologize. I’ve found that sitting and waiting for words that may never come will quickly turn into a bitter root. Forgiveness is the key, regardless of whether the person knows what they did. I’ve been wounded time and time again by people. Sometimes, I have to choose to forgive all over again because the old hurts have a tendency to resurface. I thank Jesus for His example of forgiveness. I thank Him for the healing and restoration I feel when I make that decision to stop, capture the negative, believe and then declare, “I forgive”.

Forgiveness is a choice, so we need to make the wise choice of releasing others. Then, our hearts are free to love them as God meant for us to love. I am grateful for forgiveness today, the forgiveness of Christ that has set me on the road to forgive others along the way of life. I hope each of you has made that decision. It is freedom! Freedom for yourself and for the one whom you forgive. Let go and let God! Blessings, my friends! Let the forgiveness begin with a simple prayer and then maybe a letter or a phone call. Whatever it takes so that you know that you have forgiven, truly forgiven and moved on.

The excitement starts from page one of this newest thriller by Irene Hannon and continues all the way to the surprising climax. Heather Shields is a PI and Rick Jordan is an ex-army Night Stalker who wants help finding his missing friend Boomer. As Heather and Rick follow the clues together, they endanger themselves more and the tension gets more and more taut. The plot is extremely well-written, with false clues all along the way and a villain who is hidden until almost the end. I loved how the webs were so woven together that it all came together brilliantly at just the right moment in the book! Irene Hannon is the master of suspense in her genre and proves it once again in this mind-blowing and electrifying new book. Fans of romantic suspense will not want to miss out on this clean read!

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.”

This completely clean read is available now from your local bookseller and online.

I read voraciously. By that, I mean, if I am awake and not eating or spending time with family and friends, you can find me reading. In my love of reading, I have found the insidious creeping of the enemy into books. At first, there were only a few books with swear words. Now, it is almost all of them. I feel like I need a black marker to go through and mark out the bad words, but for some authors there would not be much left. Then, there was the insistence that those of us who are conservative Christians accept the lifestyle of being gay, transgender or one of the other alphabetical letters that have come to mean sin to me. Again, there were few characters in books that were so identified, so it didn’t bother me overly much. I figured it was a swing of our culture towards sin and that at some time it would swing back the other way, as God got hold of their lives. But last night, I was innocently reading a book by an author that I have read for over four decades, little suspecting what was coming. You got it! A gay couple… for no reason that I can figure other than to appeal to that aspect of the culture. Having access to a computer and search engines, I looked up the percentage of the alphabetical acronym to the heterosexuals in the U.S. Did you know that these who are lost in sin represent less than 5% of the total population in the U.S.? Yet, the books that I read, sometimes for pleasure and sometimes just to review, are increasingly including this very small, sinful minority, making everything seem “normal” and, in my opinion, trying to get the whole sinful action accepted by more of us. Anyway, off my soapbox and on to what I am thankful for. I am grateful for authors who do not sway with the wind, those who hold true to their values regardless of how society’s norms change. I am grateful for those that I can call a totally clean read…no foul language, no sex scenes, nothing that I would object to recommending to others for any reason. The world is becoming such an evil place that the encroachment on traditional values has been creeping in slowly, but I have noticed it in my books and I’m not at all happy about it. I praise God for the ability to read and understand and for the pleasure that I take in reading! I thank Him for the authors who are towing the line and meeting His standard of excellence. I pray that if you enjoy reading that you have discovered some of the Christian authors who will lead you closer to Him and not farther away. Of course, the best book of all time is the Bible and I read and study that daily, sometimes for pleasure, but usually for what God has in it to teach me each day. It is in learning more about Him that I take pleasure. Blessings for a day filled with words that God wants your ears to hear and your eyes to see!

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As a retired teacher who knows how hard and under-appreciated teachers are, today I want to express my gratitude for my teachers. So many teachers who influenced my life and helped me to understand what I wanted to be when I grew up and then helped encourage me along the way. One very special teacher was my Spanish teacher in high school, Señora Mary Smith. She was an elderly lady who loved the Spanish language and culture and showed it in her eyes, her movement and her enthusiasm. She told me that I had a natural gift for languages and encouraged this very shy girl to come out of her shell some, at least in her class. She recommended me for a summer institute of languages at the University of North Carolina, my first real extended time away from home. There, I spoke only Spanish for six weeks and made a lot of new friends. I also had a professor who snapped his fingers at me, trying to get me to speak Spanish in a more clipped way. Dr. Zayas-Bazan went on to write a Spanish textbook that I used in teaching a college class. I can still remember his snapping his fingers and telling me to speak more quickly. With my southern drawl, that was a challenge, but a fun one. I remember my college professors, like Dr. Stephenson, who told me that I should apply to live in the Spanish house, which I did during my sophomore and senior years. Later, I found out that she was the one who recommended me for Phi Beta Kappa, a total surprise for me when I got the invitation letter. Because of these special teachers, I majored in Spanish, teaching it for over thirty years and falling in love with the culture, just as Sra. Smith was. There were other teachers in other subjects, of course, who pushed me to do my best and to be more than I thought I could be. So, today, think of a teacher who has been your mentor, your role model, and your encourager. Say a silent thank you for that person that God placed in your life. Jesus was the first teacher and He taught each of us how to teach others. I’m glad that I had the opportunity to teach; I count that as one of the blessings of my life and pray that I was a blessing to my students just as so many of my teachers were to me.

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Have a blessed and thankful Thanksgiving, my friends!