Category Archives: books
Stepping Out on Faith (with guest blogger Bonnie St. John!)
Welcome to Pearl Girls™ Mother of Pearl Mother’s Day blog series – a week long celebration of moms and mothering. Each day will feature a new post by some of today’s best writers: Tricia Goyer, Sheila Walsh, Suzanne Woods Fisher, Bonnie St. John, and more! I hope you’ll join us each day for another unique perspective on Mother’s Day.AND … don’t forget to enter the contest for a chance to win a beautiful hand crafted pearl necklace. To enter, just {CLICK THIS LINK} and fill out the short form. Contest runs 5/6-5/13 and the winner will on 5/14. Contest is only open to US and Canadian residents. If you are unfamiliar with Pearl Girls™, please visit www.pearlgirls.info and see what we’re all about. In short, we exist to support the work of charities that help women and children in the US and around the globe. Consider purchasing a copy of Pearl Girls: Encountering Grit, Experiencing Grace or one of the Pearl Girls™ products (all GREAT Mother’s Day gifts!) to help support Pearl Girls. And to all you MOMS out there, Happy Mother’s Day!
Stepping Out on Faith by Bonnie St. John
“Darcy . . .”
“Yeah, Mom?”
I momentarily held the undivided attention of my teenage daughter. Her thumbs, free of their ubiquitous texting keypad, quietly dangled by her side. Her computer and its omnipresent Facebook page were completely out of sight. I had almost forgotten what she looked like without all these adolescent accoutrements. As we sat down together on the burgundy leather sofa in our living room, I realized this fleeting state of electronic dislocation was my chance to hatch a plan I had been formulating for the past several weeks. Carpe diem. Read the rest of this entry
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How to Know When You’ve Found a REALLY Good Book (and a Kindle giveaway!)
Not sure if you’ve found a great book? If so, you may find yourself employing rationalization techniques (like these). If the book is really, really good, however, the signs may be far less obvious. Here are some clues.
- You bring your book with you while walking the kids to school … even if the school is only three short blocks away.
- Your solo lunch break between errands turns into a three-hour afternoon lost in the roaring ’20s.
- Your audible gasps attract the attention of people two tables away during your lunch-break-turned-three-hour-afternoon-lost-in-the-roaring-’20s.
- Your neck is red from clutching it while reading.
- Your husband wakes at 1am to find you wide awake, nestled with you favorite blanket, your book and a healthy mountain of tear-filled tissues.
It’s no secret: Susan May Warren is one of my very, very favorite authors. Her latest series — Daughters of Fortune — tackles a different genre than most of her spunky, chick-lit contemporary romances. I reviewed the first book last fall. Today I’m going to share with you Book 2: Baroness.
This title takes place six years after the first. Heiress followed sisters Esme and Jinx; Baroness follows their daughters, Lilly and Rosie. These girls definitely come from their mothers’ stock. I recognized so much of their mothers in them, yet they had their own mountains to climb, their own lessons to learn. Rather than being in the Gilded Age of Titanic fame, these girls come of age during the roaring 20s. While tangling themselves both in culture and society from Paris to the mob underworld in New York and Chicago and even to the dangerous heights of early aviation, they challenge the roles of women and the fine lines of propriety. As always, Warren’s characters are fabulous. They’re complexities absorb readers, seamlessly investing our hearts in their successes and mistakes.
Throughout all of this, one question resonates: What are the limits of God’s love?
If you read Heiress, you know these girls were born into baggage. They’ve enough drama within their bloodlines to fuel stage and tabloids. Can God’s love reach even them? At what point will He give up and refuse to forgive? Can they be loved and free at the same time? At what cost?
This book hit every one of those clues listed above. I loved it! As with most series, I do recommend starting at the beginning, but I believe one could still thoroughly enjoy both this and its prequel if read out of order.
Now for a bit more from the author and publicists.
About the book:
Lilly and Rose, daughters of an empire coming of age in the roaring twenties, can have anything they want … except freedom.
Expected to marry well and to take the reins of the empire, they have their lives planned out for them. But, Lilly, Esme’s daughter longs to return home to Montana, to adventure outside the confines of New York City. And Jinx’s daughter Rosie dreams of the bright lights of the newly emerging silver screen. But following their dreams – from avant garde France, to Broadway, to the skies in the world of barnstormers and wing-walkers will take all their courage.
And if they find love, will they choose freedom or happily ever after?
Find out more from Behind the Pages.
Find out what the reviewers are saying here!
Click here to purchase the book from Amazon.com.
About the Author:
Susan May Warren is the RITA award-winning novelist of over thirty novels. A five-time Christy award finalist, a two-time RITA Finalist, she’s also a multi-winner of the Inspirational Readers Choice award, and the ACFW Carol Award.
A seasoned women’s events speaker, she’s a popular writing teacher at conferences around the nation and the author of the beginning writer’s workbook: From the Inside-Out: discover, create and publish the novel in you!.
She is also the founder of www.MyBookTherapy.com, a story-crafting service that helps authors discover their voice. You can find her online at www.susanmaywarren.com.
About the Giveaway and Party:
Celebrate with Susan by entering her Roaring 20′s Giveaway!
One grand prize winner will receive:
- A Kindle Fire
- Signed copies of Baroness and Heiress by Susan May Warren
But hurry, the giveaway ends on 5/7/12. The winner will be announced on 5/9/12 on Susan’s blog, Scribbles!
Just click one of the icons below to enter! Tell your friends about Susan’s giveaway on FACEBOOK or TWITTER and increase your chances of winning.
Your Turn: What are clues that you’ve found lost yourself in an absolutely delicious book?
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The Wedding Dress
Sometimes a book’s storytelling is so deliciously enchanting that a glance at the back of the book seems scandalous. I can’t risk diminishing the pleasure of discovering the story as it unfolds. I don’t want to be told what the book is about; I want to experience it as the characters do. No preludes. No synopsis. No back cover blurbs or enthusiastic reader reviews. Just the story pure and unspoiled.
Rachel Hauck’s latest novel — The Wedding Dress — is one such book. In fact, loving and trusting Rachel as I do, I signed up for this blog tour knowing absolutely nothing about the book. I knew she wrote it and I wanted to read it. If I were you, I would stop reading this post right now. I would get the book immediately and refuse to read anything else about it, including the back cover. Start with chapter one. You’ll love it. I promise.
If, however, you need a little more than my glowing endorsement and rationalization tips — or if you want to a chance to win $200, a free copy of the book and possibly a skype date with the author — keep reading. Read the rest of this entry
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Can God change His mind?
Most of us can quote the passages that say God is the same yesterday, today and forever. We believe in His immutability and consider a constant comfort. While everything else in the world perpetually changes, He is our One Thing that is always the same. God never changes.
But does the fact that His character never changes apply to His decisions as well? And if it doesn’t, if God can change His mind, then doesn’t that imply that He can and does make mistakes? If He makes mistakes, then what is the basis of our eternal hope?
These are some of the questions we talked about this week at BIG WORD. I’ll not review the answers to every question in the homework. If I skip over something you thought was important, or an area that you questioned, bring it up in the comments section. Let’s absolutely discuss it!
In 1 Samuel 13–15 we covered a lot of ground, most of which is introductory for the chapters to follow. We met Jonathan for the first time and saw an interesting relationship between him and his father, King Saul. We also saw the end of Saul’s relationship with Samuel. This came after yet another failure on the part of Israel’s first king, a biggie.
Saul was told to wait in Gilgal, a city with a significant history, for Samuel before launching another attack on the Philistines. Saul waited seven days and, seeing his army quickly diminish, decided to take matters into his own hands. By so doing he sinned. How?
- He offered a sacrifice to God without the authority to do so. Only priests could offer sacrifices. Not only was Saul not a priest, he wasn’t even from the right tribe! This was a bad thing.
- He didn’t wait for Samuel as instructed.
- He didn’t seek God’s direction before acting. He acted out of fear, not faith. Furthermore, he sought God as a good luck charm and not a Sovereign Power. (We talked a lot about Lucky Charms Faith in chapters 4–7.)
Samuel confronted Saul, but it didn’t make any difference. Saul continued to align himself with men (14:52) rather than God. He perpetually made terrible decisions, even sentencing his son, heir to his throne, to the death simply for eating some honey (14:43-44). After the people rescue Jonathan, their valiant champion, from Saul’s hand, Saul presses on toward the last straw.
In chapter 15 God commanded Saul to annihilate the Amalekites. (See the homework for the background and reasons.) Saul didn’t obey fully. Worse: he lied about it! In dramatic fashion, Samuel, a very, very old man at this point, took Saul’s sword and deftly beheaded Agag, king of the Amalekites, thereby completed the job God ordered Saul to do. He assures Saul that this is it. His kingdom will not endure; God will take it from him and give it to his neighbor. Samuel and Saul never spoke again.
Let’s get back to our initial question. God appointed Saul as king. Then he takes it from him while claiming to “regret” making him king in the first place. Can God change His mind?
Now, one could argue that Saul’s kingdom was granted conditionally. We all read Samuel’s sermons on the importance of obeying God and keeping His laws (chapters 10 and 12). Maybe that was an understood “if you obey …” coronation.
Looking back at Genesis 49:8–10, one could also say Saul never even had a chance. Any kingdom that would be for the nation of Israel had to come from Judah. Saul was a Benjaminite. He didn’t qualify. God anointed him king simply to offer a ready contrast between what they wanted (Saul) and what He wanted (David).
Another argument is that God never changes His character, but that He can change His mind when it is for our good. I’m sure Saul never thought this “change of mind” was good. It wasn’t for him, though one could argue it was a just punishment for his disobedience. God’s change, however, was very, very good for Israel. Removing Saul from the throne made room for David, a king who not only ruled the nation well, but led with passionate abandon for God. He set the standard for intimate communion with our Creator and Eternal King.
Over the next few chapters and weeks we’ll be comparing Saul with his son Jonathan and his successor, David. It’s very interesting stuff!
If you would like to study this question a bit more, I recommend God Behaving Badly. Written by David T. Lamb, this book tackles a number of seemingly contradictory truths about God. One entire chapter is devoted to this question: Is God rigid or flexible? In other words, can He change? Can He change His mind?
One last thing I’ll leave with you:
“Does the LORD take pleasure in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as he does in obedience? Certainly, obedience is better than sacrifice; paying attention is better than the fat of rams.” ~ 1 Samuel 15:22 (NET)
Just as God didn’t want Saul offering empty sacrifices, He doesn’t want us being “Christian” just on the outside. He wants us to seek Him and follow Him fully, from the inside out. It doesn’t matter what we do, if the deepest parts of us miss the point of who He is. Seek Him first and foremost. He’ll take care of the rest.
Your Turn: Of the characters we studied this week — Samuel, Saul, Jonathan –, which is most like you? What does God’s immutability mean to you?
Get the homework for our next batch of homework on the BIG WORD Bible Study page.
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How to Rationalize a Good Book
One of the great pleasures of being a stay-at-home work-at-home mom is that I get to make my own schedule. If I want to spend Mondays catching up on housework or writing my next Bible study, great! If I would rather spend that time visiting with friends, praying with a group at church or shopping for new sneaks for the ever-growing boy, that works, too! I have deadlines (usually self-imposed) and I have concrete responsibilities, but the how and when of meeting those standards is totally up to me. If I have to run back and forth to the school several times in the day (thanks to forgotten library books, lunch money or sick tummies), I can stay up late that night to finish whatever task may have been originally planned for that day.
One problem with this type of free and flexible schedule, however, is the temptation to do nothing at all. Well, not nothing … just nothing that really needs to be done now.
Today, for example, I would LOVE — L.O.V.E. — to spend all day curled up in a sunny corner of my kitchen reading a book. I have an advanced readers’ copy of Rachel Hauck’s newest offering - (The official release date is April 3rd, but you can order it HERE.) - and I cannot put it down. Oh, I want to tell you all about it, but I can’t yet. Soon! Today I should be folding laundry and writing the next bit of homework for Big Word. Instead I’m finding all sorts of delightful ways to rationalize reading Rachel’s book instead.
If you find yourself in a similar situation, wanting to lose yourself in a delicious story, but feeling a tad guilty for doing so, here are a few tips to employ.
- Eat a bigger than usual breakfast. I tend to drink my breakfasts (Read: lots and lots of coffee) or grab a quick granola bar on my way to the computer where I’ll spend hours writing or researching. This morning I made two pieces of toast and scrambled eggs. They, of course, cannot be eaten while typing. So I filled my “free” time with reading a few more chapters. Bonus tip: Chew slowly.
- Take lots of bathroom breaks. We call our bathroom the Reading Room. I realize this may be more information that you expected to receive when you visited this blog. I am sorry about that. I am also slightly sorry that my family feared I had a serious bowel condition before they realized I simply wanted to finish a few more chapters. Let’s be real, now: Moms only get so much quiet time and the bathroom offers a rare and treasured sanctuary.
- Claim overload or inspiration necessity. Sometimes solutions only come when you stop thinking about the problem. If I get stuck in my mental organization, I retreat to a completely different time or task, like solving a mysterious love triangle from 1912, and suddenly everything on my plate rights itself.
- Complete chores that require waiting. Coincidentally, today I remembered that I need to renew my drivers’ license. They always have healthy lines that can help me. Let’s see … what else? I wonder if the gynecologist takes walk-ins? Maybe I’ll just run over there and wait around until they have an appointment for me. (Both of these tasks, of course, pair beautifully with the shower I forgot to take this morning because I woke early to read and then lost track of time and nearly forgot to pack the kids’ lunches before dropping them off late to school. I was going to take a shower when I got home, but that just seemed like a waste of time, what with so many important things on my to-do list.)
- Go out for lunch. Eating provides a lovely conduit for multi-tasking. And maybe a change of scenery will give me that extra fortitude to focus. Again, chew slowly.
- Surrender. Let’s face it. I’ll not be able to focus on anything else until I finish this book! The only rational thing to do is sit down, read it, and then get on with my life.
And this is exactly why stay-at-home moms are frequently accused of eating bon-bons and wasting away their days. Oh, but it’s a wonderful life!
Your Turn: How do you squeeze good books into your day?
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Leaping Faith
My husband teases me for keeping a red pen near when I read novels. Yes, sometimes that crimson friend is for marking missed errors that will be compiled into an email to the editor. More often, however, that pen is for noting things of significance. Good fiction can cut right to the heart more efficiently and in a more memorable way than most nonfiction. Those are the lines that I mark. Those are the paragraphs I want to remember.
I recently read a novel by Tessa Afshar. A sweet friend recommended it to me. I’m so glad she did.
Pearl in the Sand (Moody Publishers, September 2010), a fictionalized account of Rahab from the Bible, is filled with multi-faceted characters and profound truths about God and faith. There are many parts I found absolutely fascinating, sections that challenged me to look deeper into the Scriptural account. Other chapters urged me to evaluate my faith and commitment to God. It is one such scene that I want to share with you today. Read the rest of this entry
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Four Letter Words (and a giveaway!)
What used to be expected and assumed is now questioned, criticized and even mocked. We live in a post-modern world, one that questions everything, but never accepts concrete answers. The problem is that many Christians still approach life as if everyone agrees with us. Or at least that they would if they were simply informed. This is a dangerous place to be. When faced with relativism, circular reasoning and theories presented as facts, many believers choose to question their faith before questioning the opposition. Why? Because they are not equipped.
Four Letter Words, by Dr. Bill Giovannetti, seeks to equip readers (specifically upper high school and college-aged believers) with the logic behind our faith and the prevalent holes in modern thinking. While I don’t agree with everything he wrote, the book offers an excellent starting point for contemporary apologetics. Read the rest of this entry
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The Shadow of Your Smile (and a giveaway!)
Susan May Warren is the contemporary author I recommend most and most freely. Every one one of her books not only entertains, but also inspires me to investigate myself. My husband teases me about underlining text in novels. I do! But it’s because I learn something about God and something about myself in every single one of her books. I don’t want to forget those lessons. She is a tremendous writer, a beautiful tool used by God.
Her latest book, The Shadow of Your Smile, is another in the Deep Haven series. (I believe this is the fifth.) As always, she features new characters far enough removed from the last that you feel still the cozy familiarity of a series, but without redundancy or direct tie-ins. Each book can stand on its own. This series can be read out of order.
About the book:
After twenty-five years of marriage, Noelle and Eli Hueston are contemplating divorce. They’ve been through a lot together, but instead of growing closer, they’ve gone separate ways. They both have secrets. When an accident erases part of Noelle’s memory, she wakes without any memory of Eli, their children, or the tragedy that has ripped their family apart. In fact, she believes she’s still a college co-ed, incredulous that this is her body, her husband, her life. Why did nothing turn out like she dreamed? As she tries to regain her memory and slowly steps into her role as a wife and mother, Eli helps her readjust to daily life with sometimes-funny, sometimes-heartwarming results. But can she fall in love again with a man she can’t remember? Read the rest of this entry
You don’t have time to read the Bible.
Don’t have time to read your Bible? Yeah, me neither … ALL IN ONE SITTING! But it’s important. Like, crazy life-changing important. That’s why we MAKE time to read it.
I know it’s intimidating and we all have excuses. Think about it. How books have you read that exceed 1000 pages? Personally, I can’t think of a single one. In fact, this is the very reason I’ve yet to finish Bonhoeffer’s biography. I simply can’t wrap my mind around the task. I can, however, think of several series that I’ve complete which, if all the pages are totaled, well surpass that size.
Let’s see … there were the Baxter books (beginning with the Redemption Series) by Karen Kingsbury. Each book was around 275 pages; multiply that times 15 books … yup. I could have read the Bible front to back THREE times in the hours I spent immersing myself in that family’s melodrama. Then, of course, I read Alex Haley’s Roots at least four times. That plus the two sequels … Yup. There’s another three or four times. The Mark of Lion series by Francine Rivers. Those were amazing books! Read each of them at least four times.
Maybe we just need to break this huge task into more manageable pieces. Don’t look at it like War and Peace. It’s simply 66 little books, many of which can be completed in just a few minutes. For example, while waiting for the bus. Or waiting for the next step while cooking dinner. Or waiting for your doctor appointment. Or waiting for the kids to finish their piano lessons. We do a lot of waiting, don’t we?
I wonder, if we picked up the Bible instead of Angry Birds or that silly waiting room magazine, how far we would get this year?
Your turn: When and where do you like to read the Bible?
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Do’s and Don’ts of Deciphering the Will of God
DO remember that God is far more concerned with our character than our addresses or job titles. His purposes for you are likely to focus more on who you are to be rather than what you are to do.
DO investigate what the Bible says about the topic. If God’s Word offers clear direction, follow it!
DON’T test God with a “fleecing” when He has already made His Will known in Scripture. If He has already made it clear, asking for a miraculous confirmation is not only delayed obedience, it is doubt and disobedience. His will for you will never contradict Scripture.
DO seek wise counsel from trusted, mature believers. Talking to your closest friends is great, but if they’re still “baby” Christians, they may lack the wisdom to help you see God’s plans for you.
DON’T seek advice only from people you know will agree with you. This isn’t guidance, but flattery.
DO pray about it. Lots. And LISTEN to what God may say to you.
DON’T believe that the mere act of praying about something justifies whatever action you want to take. “Oh, I prayed about it, so it must be what God wants.” This type of thinking is very, very dangerous. If praying about something instantly guarantees the right decision, then, in theory, we can easily pray about everything and never make wrong decisions. That belief alleviates us of personal responsibility and gives a get-out-of-jail-free card to every bad choice. It’s immature. It’s bad doctrine.
DO think. We should pray AND think! Sometimes God expects us to do crazy things that defy human logic (as in Gideon’s case). Often, though, the wisdom He gives is compatible with logic. Look around you. Do you have other believers confirming your direction? Or are they all wondering what in the world you’re doing? Does the course of action you are considering align with other common threads in your life or does it take a u-turn from where God has already led you? Pros and cons lists can be very helpful. God does give us wisdom; wisdom frequently involves logic. Use the wisdom He gives by thinking through your situation and your options carefully.
DO SOMETHING. A lack of specific, audible instruction from God does not warrant a lack of action. Yes, we should wait upon the Lord, but you can still do something while you wait.
Scripture to Discover:
The entire book of Ephesians is a great place to start learning about the will of God. As I tried to pinpoint specific passages that would speak on this topic, I found that I couldn’t prune down the list to a few simple verses. So I strongly encourage you to read the whole book. Specifically, take note of Ephesians 4:22–24 and 5:6–17.
Also, take a moment to look up 1 Thessalonians 4:3 and Romans 12:2.
More Resources
- 10 Dumb Things Smart Christians Believe by Larry Osbourne: Multnomah Books, 2009.
- God’s Guidance: Finding His Will for Your Life by Elisabeth Elliot: Revel, 2006 (2nd ed.).
