How to Take the Mystery out of Romance: Meet Gale Laure

How I Take the Mystery Out of Romance
By Gale Laure
 
Romance . . . hot kisses . . . a gentle touch . . . him softly calling your name . . . . 
 
It is not mystery we all want to be loved.  But why does a person love a certain person?  Why did all five men in my mystery, romance novel, Evolution of a Sad Woman, fall in love with one woman, Kizzy?   Was it her hauntingly beautiful, emerald, green eyes?  Was it her sexy, shapely body?  Was it her voice, her laugh, her smile, her tears, her anger?  What brought them to her and kept them there?
 
I believe passion is a prerequisite to any love that we experience in our lives.  Kizzy had plenty of passion for people, for her goals, for the men that she loved.  This passion is a powerful aphrodisiac for any man.
 
These five men all loved Kizzy with a passion.  Evan, the police detective could not forget that she was his first love.  Ah, first love is so powerful – so unforgettable.  It stirs a passion in us all.
 
Tom, the former pro-football player, could not forget his youthful years with Kizzy.  The passion she felt for him fed his ego, a strong need he had to fulfill.  Kizzy filled this need in him.  Does romance fill our needs?
 
Jimmy, the cabdriver, found vulnerability in Kizzy.  Or did she find vulnerability in him?  Did he need someone to need him?  Do we all need to be needed?
 
William, the attorney, always loved Kizzy, even as a child.  His loved changed into adult passion when he was overwhelmed with her as a woman.  William could never forget Kizzy, the child – or Kizzy, the woman.  Does love sometimes turn into romantic passion?
 
Father C.D., the priest, developed a physical passion for Kizzy.  She was his temptation.  Even after he conquered his physical attraction for Kizzy, he still had deep emotions for her.  Kizzy stirred a passion in him with her deep love for humanity.  Do we find romance with those we see admirable qualities in?
 
Passion is intense emotion.  This intense emotion leads us to romance and love.  Sometimes we make wrong decisions all in the name of love.  Wherever we go in our lives, we follow love. 
 
Kizzy is waiting.  The mystery of why she is loved is simple in Evolution of a Sad Woman. The mystery of the death of Kizzy is awaiting solution. 
 
Why are you loved?  Why do you love?  Do you find romance in love – and love in romance?
 
 
About the Author:
 
Gale Laure, a native Texan, is the international selling author of Evolution of a Sad Woman, a mystery, suspense, thriller and romance novel.   She resides in a small suburban town in the Houston area with her husband and family.  Laure’s hobbies include genealogical research, movies, creating stories for the children around her, involvement in her church and people watching. She is busy at work editing her second novel, The Bunkhouse, and writing the sequel to Evolution of a Sad Woman.  It is entitled Alana – Evolution of a Woman.  As mysterious as her  book, Laure writes under a pseudonym.  Adamant about maintaining her privacy and the privacy of her family, she keeps her identity a mystery! 
 
For more information about Gale Laure or her novel, Evolution of a Sad Woman,  visit www.galelaure.com or her blog  www.evolutionofasadwoman.com .

 

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Get clean with Clorox Green

“I wrote this review while participating in a blog tour campaign by Mom Central on behalf of Clorox Green Works and received a bottle of Green Works Natural Detergent and Stain Remover to facilitate my review and a $20 thank-you gift certificate.”

Note from Christa: When Mom Central first announced this blog tour, I didn’t know that days later my husband would start experiencing rashes that made him want to scratch off the top layer of his skin and were so red, they looked like burn marks. [I'm sure you're thinking, "TMI Christa!" by this point...but don't give up on me.] He’s been to the dermatlogist’s office so often they’re on a first name basis. Of course, the first thing she suggested was changing laundry detergent. I tried a few “natural” brands. They may have been for sensitive skin, but they were also for sensitively dirty clothes because the clean factor in our clothes greatly diminished.

So, along comes Clorox’s Green Works Detergent to the rescue. It’s a natural detergent that actually cleans our clothes and provides hubby the fragrance-free, plant-based ingredients that he needs. And an added bonus is getting the same punch and protection in Green Works Stain Remover.

Click HERE for a $3.00 coupon. Also, Clorox has a 100% money back guarantee. Go for it!

The Green Works Natural Laundry Detergent and Natural Laundry Stain Remover, launched in July, are tough on dirt and stains, but gentle on clothes. Green Works Natural Laundry Detergent is made with a proprietary, patent-pending technology that maximizes the cleaning performance of its naturally-derived ingredients.  The products are specially formulated to work in both standard and high efficiency (HE) washers. They are recognized by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Design for Environment (DfE) program and are also dermatologist-tested to show that clothes washed in Green Works Natural Laundry Detergent are gentle on skin and clean without leaving a harsh chemical residue.

All Green Works natural cleaners are made using plant-based ingredients. The products are formulated using biodegradable cleaning ingredients, are packaged in recyclable bottles and not tested on animals.

• Q. Where can I find Green Works® products?

  A. Look for them in the cleaning aisle at all major stores where cleaning products are sold.

• Q. What does natural mean? Are Green Works® products 100% natural?

  A. Currently, there is no industry standard definition for natural cleaners. To create Green Works® natural cleaners we set ourselves a very stringent standard. The ingredients must come from renewable resources, be biodegradable and free of petrochemicals. Green Works® cleaners are at least 95% natural. In certain cases we had to use synthetic ingredients, like the preservative and green colorant. But we’re working hard to develop natural alternatives so the entire line can be 100% natural.

• Q. Do Green Works® products disinfect?

  A. Not yet. But our scientists are focused on evaluating natural disinfecting ingredients. We hope to incorporate disinfecting into Green Works® cleaners in the future.

• Q. Why is Green Works® more expensive than traditional cleaners?

  A. The cost of natural ingredients is significantly higher than what is used in traditional cleaners. Green Works® products cost less than other natural clearers and when you consider they are more natural and clean with the power you expect from Clorox, the premium price is a good value.

• Q. Is Clorox merely jumping on the green bandwagon?

  A. We’ve been working on natural products for the past 5 years. We set ourselves a difficult task–to set the standard for natural cleaning and create products that clean with the power you expect from Clorox. In fact, we delayed Green Works® products from hitting the shelves by 6 months to further perfect the formula. We are fully committed to continuing to develop natural products that continue to set the standard for natural.

• Q. What does the Design for the Environment (DfE) logo on Green Works® cleaners mean?

  A. The United States Environmental Protection Agency created The Design for the Environment (DfE) Program to reduce risk to people and the environment by preventing pollution. When you see the logo it means that the DfE review team has screened each ingredient in the product for potential human health and environmental effects. Based on currently available information, predictive models and expert judgment they determine that the product contains only those ingredients that pose the least concern among chemicals in their class.

Eyewitness: The Life of Christ by Frank Ball

1. The gospel stories have existed for some two thousand years. Why put them chronologically together now?

Nine out of ten Americans own a Bible, but the people who most need to hear the message don’t often read the book. They believe Scripture is outdated and too difficult to understand. Would they read the story of Christ if it were presented as a single story that is easy to understand? Most of them say they would, so Eyewitness answers that need.

2. Why do the Gospels appear to have conflicting stories?

At a crime scene, eyewitnesses always have different testimonies about what happened. Because each gospel writer had his own point of view and spoke to a different audience, the information is actually complementary, not conflicting. The apparent conflicts disappear when we use each viewpoint to compile a complete and compelling story.

3. How was writing and recording events different two thousand years ago?

We now use a computer keyboard to rapidly type and edit text that prints on our laser printers. In the first century, writers had only their parchment scrolls in which every word was hand written, one character at a time. Cut-and-paste editing and simple rearrangement of details into chronological order didn’t exist. Writers naturally put down information as it came to mind, giving us a flow of thought that isn’t always in date sequence.

4. What is the significance of John’s gospel being the last one written?

If John were to introduce his book to us today, he might say, “Let me tell you the rest of the story.” There wasn’t much need to repeat what had already been written, so he gives us clarification of events that were already being told and retold, as well as eyewitness reports that are found nowhere else. Unlike the other writers, who were not always chronological, John unfolds most of his story in date sequence in relation to the Jewish feasts. This gives us a chronological guide for putting all the biblical information in order.

5. In what way do you think the readers of Eyewitness will have a clearer understanding of the nature of God?

Jesus said, “Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father.” If we can see what Jesus is doing and hear what he is saying, we become eyewitness of God’s nature. Because the words in Eyewitness are more like what we would read in a novel, readers are able to visualize themselves as present at the gospel events. It’s the next best thing to actually being there, walking with the other disciples.

6. How many different Bible translations were necessary to complete this project?

Hundreds of scholars have invested countless hours in the production of good translations. In the development of an easy-to-read wording for Eyewitness, translators’ handbooks and more than fifteen popular translations, as well as the Greek and Hebrew texts, were considered.

7. Is the Bible flawed in presenting the life of Christ in four separate books?

No, not at all. Each author’s report has its own perspective and meets a different audience need. Matthew points to the fulfillment of ancient prophecies to prove Jesus was the Son of God. Mark, the shortest of the Gospels, is the quickest to read. Luke, being a physician, gives many important details. And John adds clarity, chronology, and new information. Eyewitness was written for those who don’t read the Bible and for people who are helped by seeing how the story unfolded, chronologically.

8. Why do you think Eyewitness appeals to people who seldom attend church?

Even professed atheists and agnostics have questions about the meaning of life and what happens after we die. Eyewitness isn’t a book of difficult-to-understand rules that threatens punishment if we don’t do everything exactly right. The life of Christ is presented in a way so people can easily understand the value of loving our enemies and helping people in need.

9. Where can we find out more or purchase a copy of Eyewitness?

Please feel free to visit my web site at www.eyewitnesstools.com.

Eyewitness: The Life of Christ Told in One Story by Frank Ball (WinePress Publishing)

Eyewitness reaches people who seldom go to church or read their Bibles.

Of the millions of Americans who don’t go to church, 56 percent consider themselves Christian. If they knew what Jesus said and did, they would know the importance of networking and reaching out to help others. While Bibles sit on coffee tables and bookshelves at home, gathering dust, people pick up Eyewitness and don’t want to put it down. Not only does it use language that is easily understood, it pulls readers into the story, almost like walking with Jesus in the first century.

The Bible has sold more copies than any other book and continues to sell year after year. Continuing in its footsteps is the Eyewitness series written for the average person.

Flash back to first century AD. One man appeared who shook up the world. Four men testified to what they saw and heard. The details of Jesus life were recorded by four of his closest followers. Each account is written from a different perspective and only one of the four tells the events in chronological order. Therefore, for centuries, the accounts have been told in out-of-sequence fragments.

Eyewitness compiles the information from the Gospels and hundreds of other Bible verses into one chronological story laid out like a story without reference or verse. The result is a seamless combination of the four gospel books that will appeal to customers across the board, even those who would not normally purchase a Bible.

About the Author

Frank Ball was the Pastor of Biblical Research and Writing at Anchor Church in Keller, Texas, for three years. After thirty years of research and teaching the life of Christ, he began a twelve-year project to analyze every gospel story about Christ and put the events into chronological order. Ball meticulously considered almost twenty resources, including the Greek and Hebrew texts, the opinions of other Bible writers, and different translations, to make sure his translation was correct. Using the gospel of John as the chronological backbone, he determined an appropriate time setting for every event.

Ball believes there is no greater role model than Jesus. The better we know him, the more we can be like him. “It’s impossible,” he says, “to love someone you don’t know. The Scripture arranged in this easy-to-understand order helps us to know Jesus. It allows us to be more of an ‘eyewitness’ to the events of Christ’s life, and in doing so, to be more like him.”

Ball has always been a great student, especially in math and the sciences, but hated English. He excelled in high school; however, because his family was impoverished, he was unable to attend college. After high school he took a menial job that supported his parents and siblings. In 1968 he married Kay and they had three sons. Kay passed away in 2005. Ball currently lives with his family in Fort Worth, Texas.

When personal computers became available, Ball embraced systems analysis and business administration. He devoured reading material on the high-tech industry and was a successful business executive until he made a commitment to full-time ministry in 2002.

In 1995, despite his dislike of English, Ball believed God was redirecting his life, and he devoted himself to writing—which has, ironically, become his passion. Knowing the challenges he faced without a secondary education, Ball became self-taught by voraciously reading books as if they were college texts. He studied as if he were preparing for tests.

Ball says that this project wasn’t his idea at all. He just had an unexplainable desire to do this chronology, and along the way he realized that God had a plan. Using his Eyewitness Stories version of the Gospels as a foundation, Ball assembled the gospel information, as well as more than two hundred other Bible verses from the Old and New Testaments, to create what he believes is the accurate order of events. Ball believes the combined stories resolve some of the discrepancies that some say exist in the Gospels.

10	Blog: God Uses Broken Vessels Host: Angela Briedenbach
11	Blog: Latte With Me Host: Cathy Davis
12	Blog: Worth More Than Rubies Host: Cheryl Lacey Donovan
13	Blog: Godly Graffiti Host: Mary Moss Blog: Window to My World Host: Kim Ford
14	Blog: A Mom After God’s Own Heart Host: Shirley Rempel Blog: Christian Speaker Services Blog Host: Christian Speaker Services

Can you help make someone’s dream come true?

Fiona Robyn is going to blog her next novel, Thaw, starting on the 1^st of March next year. The novel follows 32-year-old Ruth’s diary over three months as she decides whether or not to carry on living.

To help spread the word she’s organizing a Blogsplash, where blogs will publish the first page of Ruth’s diary simultaneously (and a link to the blog).

She’s aiming to get 1000 blogs involved – if you’d be interested in joining in, email her at fiona@fionarobyn.com or find out more information at http://www.fionarobyn.com/thawblogsplash.htm.

 

An anti-dieting plan for weight loss: THE EDEN DIET

NOTE FROM CHRISTA: The simplicity of what Dr. Hancock teaches is the absolute “secret” to a life where you eat to live, not live to eat.  At first, it seems too good to be true. How is it I can eat whatever I want and still lose weight? Nothing to measure, weight, calculate, total, dance around, stand on one foot and jump…? Did God really create brownies to torture me?

Eat when I’m hungry? What a notion! Hunger? I eat by the clock. My lunch at school is 11:15. I eat whether or not I’m hungry because, if I don’t I can’t eat again until after 2:41. Horror of horrors! The most challenging aspect of this mind set is being aware of hunger pangs, the pangs God gave us…not our emotional hunger pangs, our physical ones. In the beginning, that kind of obedience requires patience and attention to your body signals. What’s amazing, though, is that once you begin to recognize the rumblings as true hunger, you realize how much food you DON’T NEED to be satisfied.

This plan is about obedience to God and trust in Him. If he meets all my needs, I don’t think the Blue Bell Creamery is going out of business because I eat less ice cream than before!

 

THE EDEN DIET

In The Eden Diet, Dr. Rita M. Hancock teaches you how to lose weight by attuning to and harnessing the power of your hunger pangs—by using them as a compass to tell you when and how much to eat. On this plan, you get to eat any

food you enjoy, even cheeseburgers, pizza, desserts, and junk food—but in smaller portions than the world would have you believe is normal, and only when you’re actually hungry.

Through the book, Dr. Hancock exposes food industry and advertising and marketing tactics that lead you to eat when your body doesn’t need food. She teaches you how to reject those misleading messages and rely on the only information you can trust—the hunger signals that God programmed into you in the beginning.

The Eden Diet: Weight Loss Through God’s Love, Not Through Dietary “Works” (from Dr. Hancock):

For some people, losing weight can be an unconscious attempt to achieve validation. They think, “If I lose weight, I’ll show God (and myself and those around me) that I’m a good Christian-that I’m more together and obedient-and that I’m finally good enough.” In a way, it’s a form of spiritual perfectionism-or bondage-feeling that you have to redeem yourself with weight loss “works” to earn His approval.

But obedience is supposed to flow naturally out of love, according to 1st John 5, not hold you in bondage or make you feel guilty. The way you eat should not be a tool through which you try to manipulate God. “If I eat properly and lose weight, then God will be pleased with me and give me an easy life.” When you think that way, your obedience (or failure at obedience) becomes a tool that Satan uses against you.

That’s why the concept of eating properly as a demonstration of your obedience to God is potentially harmful. It can help you or it can be twisted around and used against you by the Accuser to cause guilt and shame, which, in turn, cause you to feel separated from God.

God doesn’t want you to eat properly for the sake of obedience. He doesn’t want you to feel guilty and shameful, and He doesn’t want you to feel separated from Him. He primarily wants you to be closer to Him in relationship. He looks at you through the eyes of mercy and love, not condemnation and blame.

After you overeat, God wouldn’t even mention the word “obedience.” He’d say, “My heart breaks for you, child. You had a deep need for Me and you tried to medicate your void with food. I wish you could receive My deeper healing instead.” He would NOT say, “I’m angry because you disobeyed Me.” The latter statement reflects self-centeredness, not love. Therefore, it can’t be from God.

God is not a whip-cracking overlord who cares about minutia like what you do or don’t eat. In the New Testament, the Lord said to not worry about what you eat and drink (Matthew 6:25). Worrying about such trivial things distracts you from God and makes you even more vulnerable to Satan’s attacks. God is all about love. He is love. But, He won’t love you extra if your obedience helps you to lose your unwanted fat. He won’t love you extra if you break out of bondage to food. He won’t even love you extra if you draw closer to Him through your weight loss. He loves you the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow, no matter how much your weight fluctuates.

Likewise, failure at weight loss won’t bring an eternal penalty. If you’ve asked Jesus to be the Lord of your life, you are saved by His grace once and for always, again, no matter what you weigh or how you eat.

In summary, if you’re seeking to improve your eating habits, stop trying to force the change through obedience. It often backfires and becomes a tool that Satan uses to cause guilt, shame, and condemnation.

Instead, relax, let go of the pressure, and lose weight in the flow of God’s will through The Eden Diet. You will feel so good emotionally that you won’t even want to overeat anymore. Voila! Weight loss the more joyful way-through love!

About Dr. Hancock’s Personal Weight Loss Experience

Rita knows first hand what it is like to overcome obesity. Being Italian, she had access to the world’s most delicious food when she was growing up. Unfortunately, she ate too much of it. By the time Rita was 17 and was 5’1” tall, she weighed 207 pounds and wore size 20 jeans.

Prior to leaving for Cornell University to study nutrition, Rita lost 75 pounds. And she did it by including occasional treats in her overall low-calorie diet, and by eating less and exercising more.

At Cornell, Rita minored in nutrition, participated in original nutrition research, and completed a thesis on the control of body weight. Through these studies, she was mentored by a world-leader in obesity research.

Apart from temporary fluctuations in her weight related to having children, Rita has now maintained her weight loss for 25 years.

About Dr. Hancock’s Medical Training

After completing her nutrition studies as an undergraduate at Cornell University, Rita attended medical school at the State University of New York at Buffalo, where she was awarded a research fellowship to study gastroenterology (digestive diseases) at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas. She was also awarded the prestigious National Institute of Health’s Medical Student Research Training Fellowship, which allowed her to continue her studies in nutrition for two years at the Center for Human Nutrition in Dallas, Texas.

Upon graduating from medical school, Dr. Hancock completed an internship in internal medicine at Baylor University Medical Center in Dallas, and went on to her residency in rehabilitation medicine at Parkland Memorial Hospital in Dallas, and to subspecialty board-certification in pain management.

Sometimes the only thing perfect about perfect is that it isn’t: WHITE PICKET FENCES by Susan Meissner

WHITE PICKET FENCES

Amanda Janvier’s idyllic home seems the perfect place for her niece Tally to stay while her vagabond brother is in Europe, but the white picket fence life Amanda wants to provide is a mere illusion. Amanda’s husband Neil refuses to admit their teenage son Chase, is haunted by the horrific fire he survived when he was four, and their marriage is crumbling while each looks the other way.

Tally and Chase bond as they interview two Holocaust survivors for a sociology project, and become startlingly aware that the whole family is grappling with hidden secrets, with the echoes of the past, and with the realization that ignoring tragic situations won’t make them go away.

Readers of emotional dramas that are willing to explore the lies that families tell each other for protection and comfort will love White Picket Fences. The novel is ideal for those who appreciate exploring questions like: what type of honesty do children need from their parents, or how can one move beyond a past that isn’t acknowledged or understood? Is there hope and forgiveness for the tragedies of our past and a way to abundant grace?

Note from Christa: Susan Meissner was on my radar even before The Shape of Mercy, which I think isn’t just a breakout book…it’s a break through book. In that novel, Susan breathed life into the Salem witchcraft trials and the events surrounding them. And, in doing so, created characters that poignantly brought that time in history alive for readers. What I found interesting was that the essence of White Picket Fences is captured on the novel’s cover. That idyllic American dream of the perfect family, the house, the white picket fence and the notion that, even if we’re not living that life, someone is. But between those posts on Meissner’s cover is a delicate, gossamer spider web, as perfectly deceiving as the secrets we keep. Secrets that have the potential to break us or the lives of others. In her latest novel, Susan uses events from the Holocaust to bring her characters to face tragedies in their own lives. Don’t miss this one.

TO PURCHASE FROM RANDOM HOUSE, CLICK HERE

Susan Meissner cannot remember a time when she wasn’t driven to put her thoughts down on paper. Her novel The Shape of Mercy was a Publishers Weekly pick for best religious fiction of 2008 and a Christian Book Award finalist. Susan and her husband live in Southern California, where he is a pastor and a chaplain in the Air Force Reserves. They are the parents of four grown children.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Multnomah provided a copy of this book.

Meet Jennifer Kennedy Dean and discover how to live the “Set Apart” life

Note from Christa: I heard Jennifer speak over five years ago when my church invited her to one of the women’s programs. I was touched by her honesty and challenged by her call to seek a relationship with Jesus through prayer. Since then, I’ve purchased each one of her books and through them learned more about myself and about the God who loves me. Don’t pass this one up.

Jennifer Kennedy Dean is Executive director of The Praying Life Foundation and a respected author and speaker. She is the author of numerous books, studies, and magazine articles specializing in prayer and spiritual formation. Her book Heart’s Cryhas been named National Day of Prayer’s signature book. You’ll find articles and daily quotes from Jennifer at the National Day of Prayer website. Her book, Live a Praying Life, has been called a flagship work on prayer.

 Jennifer was widowed in 2005 after 26 years of marriage to Wayne Dean, her partner both in life and ministry. They are the parents of three grown sons. Jennifer makes her home in Marion, KY.

An Interview with Jennifer Kennedy Dean

Jennifer Dean

 You are known for your extensive research and your fresh insights. Do you have a method for gleaning new concepts?

 Of course, the truths are not new, but I think I sometimes am able to frame old truths in new ways. I always find that when I put the words of Jesus into their original Hebraic setting and experience the scene through the viewpoint of His real-time audience, some new little fragment of truth finds its way into my thinking. I like to let the Scripture breathe. To let it sit in my heart until its full aroma has time to emerge. There’s the hard-core research, and then there’s the marinating. Turn your imagination loose and unfurl your curiosity, and listen to the living Word.

 You have a series of Bible studies in the format of Set Apart, designed to be interactive. This series of studies has video series and leader’s kits available. What is the advantage to this kind of format?

 I try to produce a new Bible study with video series every year. I like the interactive format because I like to pull the reader into the Scripture to experience the Word. I like to challenge the reader to interact with the thoughts and ideas and to take the time to absorb them and apply them, rather than just to read. The other thing I like about this format is that it can be done by an individual, or as a group. In the video series, I like to be able to teach the main points of the material and set the learners’ up for a productive week of personal study. I love feeling like I get to be part of your Bible study group! The kits have lots of other resources for leading a small group in the study.

 Several of your studies have theme songs that go with them, as Set Apart does. How do these songs come about?

 I have developed a song-writing relationship with a talented musician named Roxanne Lingle. I write poems, we turn them into lyrics, Roxanne composes and arranges the music, and Roxanne records the songs. For Set Apart, we have the theme song in the form of a music video, which is a new addition. In the leader’s kit you have the audio track, accompaniment track, lead sheet, and the music video. The theme song becomes an important and worshipful part of the study experience.

About the Book:

 (Marion, Kentucky) – In a world of self-love and materialism it’s reassuring to know that God’s Word has a better plan for living. Renowned author and speaker, Jennifer Kennedy Dean, provides insight to the life of Christ, specifically the Sermon on the Mount, in her new book, Set Apart: A 6 Week Study of the Beatitudes.

Set Apart

 Through careful study of the Hebrew traditions of biblical times, Dean leads participants into a deeper awareness of this early ministry sermon series by Christ.

 Jennifer guides readers to a heightened understanding of each beatitude, correlating the Ten Commandments with the Sermon on the Mount to tie these Old and New Testament principles together. Dean shares how living the Set Apart Life is an exciting and life-changing spiritual journey. Participants surrendered to Christ will see a total transformation: outward actions of holiness as well as inward attitudes of joy. Believers following along in this workbook will experience the life God intends. This blessedness comes from seeking and knowing God. Anything outside the realm of Jesus Christ results in emptiness–the ultimate opposite of blessing.

 Each chapter includes interactive questions for readers to answer, emphasizing God’s desire to reproduce the character and attitudes of Jesus in each Christian’s life. Along with the Bible study book, there is a Leader Kit that includes six DVD sessions and a CD with bonus material for small-group leaders. Jennifer’s website, www.prayinglife.org, provides opportunities for previewing the Set Apart materials and extra resources for pastors and leaders.

Adapted from Set Apartby Jennifer Kennedy Dean
 
“I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong” (2 Cor 12:9-10).
 
My weakness is my greatest asset in the Kingdom. My weakness is where God meets me. My weakness is where Christ’s power is most clearly displayed in me. Only when I am confronted with my own helplessness can I experience the power of Christ in me.
 
“Your helplessness is your best prayer. It calls from your heart to the heart of God with greater effect than all your uttered pleas. He hears it from the very moment that you are seized with helplessness, and He becomes actively engaged at once in hearing and answering the prayer of your helplessness.” (O. Hallesby, Prayer)
 
I recently had the tiniest glimpse of how powerfully helplessness speaks. A few years ago, I lost my husband to brain cancer. During the final months of his illness, he became utterly helpless. The man I had leaned on for 26 years, whose strength I counted on, was now dependent upon me for his every need. During those weeks, my ear was tuned to his every sigh, his every restless movement, every change in his breathing pattern. If I had to be out of his room for even a few minutes, I had a monitor with me so I could hear him if he needed me. When he was strong, I was not so attentive. His needs did not fill my waking moments, when he could meet them himself. His helplessness spoke louder than any word he might have spoken. Because of his helplessness–because I knew he could do nothing on his own–I was on watch day and night.
 
My experience is but a pale shadow of the reality of the Kingdom, but still it helps me understand how my weakness is the opening for His strength. The fact of my helplessness is the only prayer I need. It speaks louder than eloquence.

 Let your helplessness and your weakness be the offering you bring to Him. He is not waiting for you to be strong. He is waiting for you to recognize that you are weak.

 Jennifer Kennedy Dean provides an informative video commentary to introduce Set Apart content.  
http://www.tangle.com/view_video.php?viewkey=7a2a32c15229df5a5359
  
 
You’ll be encouraged by the music video produced especially for Set Apart. http://www.tangle.com/view_video.php?viewkey=d155726c8c57d0b6f7a8
 
GRAND PRIZE DRAWING
 Please leave a comment to be entered in a drawing to win the following items from Jennifer. If you are a leader (small groups, book club, Bible Study, Women’s Ministry), please note that you are–you will automatically be entered in the contest. If you are a member of one of these groups at your church or community, mention that you are a group member.
You will be entered to win:
A Set Apart Leader’s Kit (video and leader resources and a student book) retail $79.99
A copy of Fueled by Faith (retail $19.99)
Jennifer will have a live web event just for your group
THIS BLOG TOUR COORDINATED BY KATHY CARLTON WILLIS COMMUNICATIONS. A COMPLIMENTARY COPY OF THE BOOK, SET APART, WAS GIFTED TO ME IN EXCHANGE FOR RUNNING THIS TOUR ON MY BLOG.

 

Under the influence of alcohol or parents? You choose.

“I wrote this review while participating in a blog campaign by Mom Central on behalf of MADD.  A donation was made to MADD in my name to thank me for taking the time to participate.”

As a high school teacher for over twenty years, I wanted to participate in this blog campaign because I’ve taught students who died because of their own drinking or because of being in a car with someone who’s drunk or being hit by someone drinking. Kids at every grade level, freshmen just entering high school, seniors on the verge of graduation…robbed of opportunity by disability or death.

What’s enraged me even more than kids drinking are the parents who provide the alcohol for them. Their rationale? “Well, they’re going to drink anyway. I’d rather them drink here where I can watch them.” Really? Where you can watch them get drunk, then attend prom in a limo where there’s more alcohol? If they’re going to engage in sex “anyway,” will you let them do that at your house as well?

I live close to New Orleans, and some students think that getting smashed on Bourbon Street is a rite of passage. For far too many, it’s followed by the last rites.

Check out these sites, don’t be afraid to be honest with your kids. Take a stand to shape a generation, not bury one.

• MADD Blog: http://maddparents.blogspot.com/
• Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/maddparents
• Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/MADDs-Power-of-Parents-Its-your-influence/131838435851
• Safety Quiz: http://www.madd.org/parents/highschool-drinking2.html
• Support 21 Survey: http://support.madd.org/support21

Roughly 6,000 people will die this year in direct correlation with underage drinking—a statistic that can be greatly reduced with parental intervention.

Underage drinking has emerged as the number one youth drug problem. By being an informed, caring parent you can strongly impact your teens decisions regarding alcohol. In fact, 74% of kids will turn to their parents for guidance on drinking. And research shows that as moms we are the number one influencers in dealing with this issue. For teens, alcohol is an illegal drug—and a zero tolerance policy is the best policy to have as a parent.

On October 27^th, MADD (Mothers Against Drunk Driving) will be launching The Power of Parents: It’s Your Influence (www.thepowerofparents.org). This program has been designed to help provide us as parents with key tips, information, and tools to help us at home reach our teens and communicate the real life danger of underage alcohol use.

Fear Tactics: Creating Terror and Suspense

From ghoulies and ghosties

And long-leggedy beasties

And things that go bump in the night,

Good Lord, deliver us!

-Old Scottish saying.

Walking through a graveyard on Halloween night is more frightening because of what we imagine we might see rising from under the next gravestone or lurking behind the next tree than because of anything we’re actually likely to run into. What we imagine is always more frightening than reality. This is true in real life and it’s even truer in fiction.

Perhaps Alfred Hitchcock said it best, “There is no terror in the bang, only in the anticipation of it.”

Watching a character we care about unwittingly approach an evil lurking at the top of the stairs will keep us turning the pages of a book far more effectively than actually seeing a murder take place. It’s a principle any wannabe writer of thrillers or suspense novels would do well to understand if they want their work to succeed.

Creating a sense of foreboding and carrying it throughout the book was one of my major objectives when I sat down to write my first suspense novel, The Cutting. It’s one of the things that makes the book work. And it’s a key reason so many readers say they couldn’t put the book down, they had to keep reading until they found out what happened to a young woman named Lucinda Cassidy.

We first meet Lucinda in chapter one of The Cutting. In the opening pages, she and her dog Fritz set off on an early morning jog through fog-shrouded streets of Portland Maine’s upscale west end. Lucinda doesn’t know it but a psychopathic killer is waiting for her in that fog. He could have killed her right there and then but if he had the story would have been over on page ten. So instead of that, for the next three hundred or so pages, he holds Lucinda captive in a small dark room. She has no idea what terrible fate he has in mind for her. But the reader does. And so does the hero of The Cutting, Detective Sergeant Michael McCabe.

We also know that the clock is ticking and time is running out on Lucinda’s life. McCabe has exactly one week to find her and catch the bad guy before he does her in.

Anticipation of impending doom is a classic technique in suspense fiction. But it works. As one reader/reviewer said of The Cutting on Amazon: “ I couldn’t put it down till I had devoured every page…Towards the end, I was so spooked.. I had to sit in the park and finish reading the book, because my boyfriend wasn’t home and I was too scared to come home to an empty house.” Happy Halloween.

Like McCabe, I’m a native New Yorker. He was born in the Bronx. I was born in Brooklyn. We both grew up in the city. He dropped out of NYU Film School and joined the NYPD, rising through the ranks to become the top homicide cop at the Midtown North Precinct. I graduated from Brown and joined a major New York ad agency, rising through the ranks to become creative director on accounts like the US Army, Procter & Gamble, and Lincoln/Mercury.

We both married beautiful brunettes. McCabe’s wife, Sandy dumped him to marry a rich investment banker who had “no interest in raising other people’s children.” My wife, Jeanne, though often given good reason to leave me in the lurch, has stuck it out through thick and thin and is still my wife. She is also my best friend, my most attentive reader and a perceptive critic.

Both McCabe and I eventually left New York for Portland, Maine. I arrived in August 2001, shortly before the 9/11 attacks, in search of the right place to begin a new career as a fiction writer. He came to town a year later, to escape a dark secret in his past and to find a safe place to raise his teenage daughter, Casey.

There are other similarities between us. We both love good Scotch whiskey, old movie trivia and the New York Giants. And we both live with and love women who are talented artists.

There are also quite a few differences. McCabe’s a lot braver than me. He’s a better shot. He likes boxing. He doesn’t throw up at autopsies. And he’s far more likely to take risks. McCabe’s favorite Portland bar, Tallulah’s, is, sadly, a figment of my imagination. My favorite Portland bars are all very real.

You can visit our website at www.jameshaymanthrillers.com.

Athol Dickson’s LOST MISSION

Note from Christa: I’d heard about Athol Dickson before having an opportunity to review his novel. And a few weeks ago, he was a guest blogger on my agent Rachelle Gardner’s blog. His discussion of  literature and the arts learning from architecture was not only intriguing, but cause for me to print the post and mine the nuggets of information there. He closed with, “I believe genuine creativity is directly proportional to openness to new ideas and inspiration, wherever they are found.” Read Lost Mission and you’ll discover that Dickson is a man of his word. This novel braids together the lives of seemingly disparate characters, which is a tribute to Dickson the architect. It also avoids any “neat” resolutions, so don’t read this if you’re looking for simple solutions!

Lost Mission

What haunting legacy awaits deep beneath the barrios and wealthy enclaves of Southern California?

A billionaire driven mad by grief.

A pastor in love with the wrong woman.

An illegal immigrant desperate to feed his family.

Only Lupe de la Garza can save them from the ancient evil lurking in a lost mission’s ruins, but it will take an act of faith beyond all human power.

An idyllic Spanish mission collapses in the eighteenth century atop the supernatural evidence of a shocking crime. Twelve generations later the ground is opened up, the forgotten ruins are disturbed, and rich and poor alike confront the onslaught of resurging hell on earth. Caught up in the catastrophe are…
· A humble shopkeeper compelled to leave her tiny village deep in Mexico to preach in America
· A minister wracked with guilt for loving the wrong woman
· An unimaginably wealthy man, blinded to the consequences of his grand plans
· A devoted father and husband driven to a horrible discovery that changes everything

Will the evil that destroyed the Misión de Santa Dolores rise to overwhelm them? Or will they beat back the terrible desires that led to the mission’s good Franciscan founder’s standing in the midst of flames ignited by his enemies and friends alike more than two centuries ago?

From the high Sierra Madre mountains to the harsh Sonoran desert, from the privileged world of millionaire moguls to the impoverished immigrants who serve them, Athol Dickson once again weaves a gripping story of suspense that spans centuries and cultures to explore the abiding possibility of miracles.

About the author:
Athol Dickson is an award-winning author of several novels. His Christy Award-winning novel River Rising was name one of the “Top Ten Christian Novel of 2006″ by Booklist magazine. He lives in California with his wife. Find out more about Athol and his books by visiting his website.

BUY THE BOOK! https://www.amazon.com/dp/1416583475?tag=sprightly-20

 

 

Thank you, LitFuse, for providing a copy of Lost Mission for me to review.