“Maybe you’ve had a friend jump start your car, or maybe you’ve received a warning instead of a speeding ticket, or perhaps your “rescue” was not being marked late for work or class. These everyday rescues are common graces the Lord kindly gives, but our greatest need for rescue runs much deeper to the core of our nature as human beings.”
Join me over on Gracefully Truthful today as we unpack Ruth 4 Redeemed Day 14- Paid in Full
Joining in JustReadPublicityTour for Heather Day Gilbert’s latest cozy mystery “No Filter”. First in a series.
“No Filter” is not Heather Gilbert’s first venture into writing cozy mysteries. This first in a new series is just as delightful as her previous cozy mystery series. While she is more known for her Viking historicals and contemporary suspense novels it is fun to read these lighter novels.
If you enjoy coffee, dogs, and small towns you will enjoy “No Filter”. Macy and Bo (short for Boaz) are brother and sister. One is wanting to find something different after going through a divorce, the other is wanting to leave their previous life and begin a new project.
We are introduced to a variety of characters, a murder, and a dog napping.
I love Macy’s spunk, even if she doesn’t always think, or inform others before she acts. Bo is a wonderful brother who comes to her rescue (of course) in the nick of time. Even if the “cozy” mystery always has typical elements, Heather does not make the novel predictable.
Heather does a very good job at giving us just enough development in the characters that make us adore some of them, be suspicious of more than one, and sets us up for further adventures of Bo, Macy and the “Barks and Beans Coffee Shop”.
If it sounds like something you would enjoy you can find it here(affiliate link): “No Filter” by Heather Day Gilbert
“Christians are still clay treasures,
but they hold within them the
Treasure of God’s Spirit.
We are the fine vessels containing the costliest of contents.
God’s love through His Spirit.
The love He poured out on Calvary
and the power He gave us when
His spirit was poured out on Pentecost is available for all today.
It doesn’t matter if our vessels are
tarnished, chipped, or cracked.
We are still His chosen,
and still invited to contain
the greatest gift of all time,
the Spirit of the Living God!”
What does it mean that God is the Lord of Hosts- Jehovah Sabaoth. How do we have that power? Delving into 2 Corinthians 4:7-9 over on the Gracefully Truthful site today.
Looking at what Mercy and Grace are in 1 Timothy 1:12-20 at the Gracefully Truthful blog.
Grace & Mercy 1 Timothy 1:12-20
Photo Credit – Lisa R. Howeler/Lightstock
Still in awe that I am a contributor for an online Bible study website. I think I will be for a very long time.
What does your armor look like?
Here is my take on what it looks like to have our Shields of Faith joined together.
“Shields Together” Gracefully Truthful Digging Deeper
Photo credit http://www.churchmotiongraphics.com
Many are truly saddened at the tragedy that occurred Monday to the Notre Dame Cathedral. I confess I’ve never visited there, nor have I read Victor Hugo’s novel. It is indeed a loss when something so magnificent suffers.
I can only imagine what it has withstood in its nearly 900 years. The history it has witnessed outside its walls, the lives it has seen transformed within.
It’s always a tragedy when buildings of faith are destroyed. Those buildings are sacred to those that worship in them. Etched in Notre Dame, in a crypt I believe, are the words “Spira. Spera.” Breathe. Hope.
Perhaps the building will be restored, rebuilt as other churches often are.
However this restoration turns out, it reminds me that there is Restoration and Hope available to us as well. This restoration and hope last longer than any man-made building.
In this week especially, it’s nice to remember that with Christ’s last breath on the cross He gave us Hope.
Anytime we utter His name, breathe His name, He is right there.
Spira. Spera.
Breathe. Hope.
“…According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead…to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you,…” – 1 Peter 3:3-4
I’m so excited to be partnering with a few other bloggers, writers and authors to offer you a chance to win a $200 gift card from Amazon!
Please take a few moments and visit, like, subscribe to these lovely women. Comment below so we know that you have visited the sites. Extra entries by using the Rafflecopter entry form below.
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Giveaway runs until February 13th. So you will have some funds to bless those special people in your life, or treat yourself.
Hello all,
I have been away from here for too long. It’s a new year and new goals. To post at least a bit more frequently than I have in the past. Sharing words of others even more often. Currently we, like the rest of the midwest are in deep sub zero temps and blowing snow. Time to dust off this blog and begin working towards those new goals.
Hope these older posts bless you. 2018 was indeed a year of amazing stretching for me. Excited to see what God has in store for 2019.
Five minute free write- ready begin.
We’ve heard the phrase “stake in ground “ that issue, that mandate for your life, your belief system that you don’t or won’t stray from. It doesn’t matter what your faith is, or isn’t. Everyone has a few of those stakes. There are very valid reasons for those stakes. Those markers. It help you stay the course, keep your true North in sight.
There are times though when those ‘stake in the ground’ moments might be worth looking at. Not to change those fundamental things, but to realize that there is Grace on either side of that stake. Maybe allowing space, not too far out, but far enough to let others in. It’s all too easy to be so very firm on where you’ve planted your stake that it becomes your moment. Perhaps, allowing for Grace on either side, it becomes far enough out that you allow those stake in the ground moments to become God moments.
photo credit-
Hello everyone,
I am taking some baby steps to being brave this month. First endeavoring to write either here or on Instagram every day for the whole month of October.
Every year there is a Write31 days challenge. Taking every day in the month of October to write something. Whether it’s a random post on social media, 300 or 3000 words for novel, or simply responding to a prompt someone has specifically made for this writing challenge.
So here goes…
Day One
Everyone has a story, you were created and formed and living your life. Your stories are what make you who you are.
Seasons in our lives are like chapters in a book. Sometimes we are just slogging along, you know those book that have parts that get bogged down. Or the chapters that seem to be nothing but background and set up for what is to come. That’s you, that’s me.
We all have times in our lives where we feel like we are just getting by. We all have those beginning chapters, or flashback chapters that form our foundation.
Then there are the plot twists. Especially with mysteries. Things we can’t see coming as we are reading along. But we all love the stories where the main characters overcome loss and, or hardship. Where they find love, where they succeed and win at this story of life.
My story is pretty boring by some standards. Pretty fun and exciting by others. But the one prevailing thread that has always run through it, is writing, reading, singing, make believe. There was lots of make believe in my younger days, I was the youngest by 11 years. So mostly an only. I had friends but there was a lot of alone time. Time to create plays from books for our parents, time to write and read.
I still have those very early stories. Written in pencil that has faded over the years.
The writing, reading and music took somewhat of a backseat in college because I just never thought I could do that and study. Note to younger self, find some that believe you can do that and learn from them. As in a novel, sometimes the action shifts.
Deciding to follow after Jesus and realizing my need for a Savior has only enriched my life story. Still there are struggles. As with a novel there have to be some conflicts for the character, otherwise it lacks substance and growth for both the flow of the novel as well as the characters involved. It allows the reader to feel empathy or sympathy for that character. And maybe some recognizable traits within themselves. And in the case of our life stories those times give us testimonies a ‘here is how I made it through’ type offering to others who are in that place we once were.
God has a marvelous way of drawing you back, returning you to the place of dreams. Because, after all, whether you are a believer or not, He is the one who placed those dreams and gifts within you. In a story there is usually change in one or more characters. Just as in life, a good character isn’t stagnate, your life isn’t stagnate. Growth is stretching, it’s stepping out into unknown areas. Or areas that at one time felt familiar and known and possible. But as we grow up those previous things sometimes get over shadowed by simply growing up and becoming an adult. With adult responsibilities.
God has nudged me ever so gently back to creating.
I’m stepping out, taking baby steps to being brave. Some know I write, some have encouraged me beyond belief that I am a writer. Some have even taken my meager submissions and published them. So this month, I may not be consistent, I probably won’t stick to a theme. (I realized in pondering this that I have lots of ideas). I may not have pithy things to say every day. So some days will be dreck. But that comes with the territory of writing, of story, of living life. Not everything is wonderful. Many parts of life are mundane.
But I will do my best to write something. Sharing mostly this month, the honing and practice of the craft. Sharing books. Occasionally sharing my Savior and all that that encompasses.
Photo Credits:
-Book photo by James Bold on Unsplash
-Typewriter photo by Elijah O’Donell on Unsplash
-To Be Continued photo by Reuben Juarez on Unsplash
