Seasons of Opportunities

I received this book in exchange for an honest review. After the tragic death of Butch Browning’s wife, Jenny, four families begin to realize how precious—and fleeting—their time together is. Each is at a different stage in life: Butch is facing single parenthood. The O’Reillys are expecting their first child. The Andersons are approaching an empty nest, and the Buckleys are so focused on providing their children with everything that they’ve forgotten what they truly need. With just eighteen summers before their children are grown, how do they make the most of that time when life so often gets in the way? As summer flies by, each of these parents must learn about guilt and grace . . . and when to hold on to their kids and when to let go.

FTC Disclosure: I received this book for the purpose of review. Pre-teen shoe model Riley Mae laces up her flaming orange Sole Fire running shoes for another ad campaign in the third book of the Faithgirlz! Good News Shoes series. Kenya, Africa is the perfect place for runners to train, with its high elevation and encouragement from members of the famous Kalenjin tribe. It’s also a great hiding place for Riley and her Swiftriver friends from enemies back in the United States, but for how long? Adjusting to African culture is difficult, but by doing work she’s not accustomed to and by spending time with the kids and the Christian women in the village, Riley finds herself growing stronger physically, and praying expectantly for ways that God can use her to spread the Good News. Her prayers are answered in exciting and startling ways when Riley meets an orphaned girl seeking answers at a children’s home in Nairobi, but also when an error in judgment causes her to stumble into a surpr...

FTC Disclosure: I received this book in exchange for my review. No other compensation given. Attorney Landon Kingsley craves order and normalcy, and aside from his well-hidden vice of smoking, he lives the life that everyone expects from him in his hometown of Kingsport, Tennessee. Recently engaged to beautiful nursing student, April May, Landon’s new fiancée is everything he could want in a wife. She is devoted to her faith and family and truly loves him. April’s cousin, Ella Casey, has returned to Kingsport after ten years of pursuing a career as a country music singer in Nashville. Ella’s failed career and affair with a married music producer scandalizes her in the eyes of the town, but her legal troubles drive her to Landon for help. Landon finds himself increasingly attracted to Ella and more discontent than ever with the path he has chosen for his life. Amid a firestorm of family and town gossip, Landon is tormented by his past and the complicated decision of whether to list...

This book has just been one more along a theme of books that seem to be falling in my lap lately - about getting involved in peoples lives - being Jesus' hands and feet to a needy, hurting world. The only qualm I had with it, It totally took me away from what I should have been doing!! The plot so captivating that honestly, I just couldn't put it down! Dinah Taylor has an orderly life, and that is just how she likes it. A perfectly furnished luxury apartment, a satisfying career as a scientist and CEO of her own company, and an uncomplicated personal life. But all of that changes when she meets seven-year-old Jonah. The boy shows up one day, a scruffy dog by his side, in front of her office building. Dinah knows nothing about kids and even less about animals, but after she buys him breakfast, he shows up the next day...and the next. She tries to learn more about him, to help him, but he's remarkably skilled at evading her questions. And then, late one night, he ca...

Put Your Faith Into Action Do you ever feel like something in your faith is missing, that going to church,  studying the Bible, and tithing just aren't enough? There has to be more, right? What would it look like to truly "follow" Christ and not just believe in him? David Nowell asked the very same questions, and was led to minister to the "least of these," whom God loves deeply. In "Dirty Faith," Nowell shares powerful stories of faith in action, and encourages us to move with him from the sidelines to the front line, to get our hands dirty helping the hopeless, the disenfranchised, and the poor.

Not very often do I blog about much other than reviews on the books I am reading... courtesy of Hobbies on a Budget But over the course of this past year or so God has been really working in my heart. And I have been amazed at how God has providentially provided books that incorporated the same ideas - although the books themselves were in no way related to each other and didn't even come from the same publishers or authors, they often spoke the same message to my heart...

FTC Disclosure: I received this book in exchange for my review. No other compensation was provided. Can faith build a bridge between their dreams? For two years, Allan and Michele have been trying to have a baby. The emotional ride has been taking a toll on their hearts--and their relationship. Michele is obsessed with researching fertility treatments while Allan seems content to spend his time--and their money--on supporting displaced children in Africa. Something's got to give. But they both hope it's not their marriage. Still, God has a plan for Allan and Michele that they could never have imagined. And all it takes to set it in motion is a change of heart . . .

From one of my favorite authors  - Alana Terry -   I am excited to announce the release of her latest novel  SLAVE AGAIN Alana is hosting a HUGE GIVEAWAY including a Christian Suspense Bundle (autograph paperback copies of three of her books)  100 ebooks of her latest novel  and  25 audio books of the Beloved daughter To enter - just use the Rafflecopter link at the end of this post You can enter via Facebook or email.

In a Drought, It's the Darkest Cloud  That Brings Hope It's 1954 and Perla Long's arrival in the sleepy town of Wise, West Virginia, was supposed to go unnoticed. She just wants a quiet, safe place for her and her daughter, Sadie, where the mistakes of her past can stay hidden. But then drought comes to Wise, and Perla is pulled into the turmoil of a town desperately in need of a miracle. Casewell Phillips has resigned himself to life as a bachelor...until he meets Perla. She's everything he's sought in a woman, but he can't get past the sense that she's hiding something. As the drought worsens, Perla's unique gift divides the town in two, bringing both gratitude and condemnation, and placing the pair in the middle of a storm of anger and forgiveness, fear and faith.

FTC Disclosure - This book was provided in exchange for a review. No other compensation given. Three very different women. One dangerous journey. And a future that seems just out of reach. Letitia holds nothing more dear than the papers that prove she is no longer a slave. They may not cause most white folks to treat her like a human being, but at least they show she is free. She trusts in those words she cannot read--as she is beginning to trust in Davey Carson, an Irish immigrant cattleman who wants her to come west with him. Nancy Hawkins is loathe to leave her settled life for the treacherous journey by wagon train, but she is so deeply in love with her husband and she knows she will follow him anywhere--even when the trek exacts a terrible cost.

FTC Disclosure: I received this book in exchange for a review. No other compensation was provided. We all have days that make us want to pull the covers back over our heads and eat a dozen cupcakes.  Thankfully, Jesus said we don't "live on bread alone"--that includes cupcakes--"but on every word that comes from the mouth of God" (Matt. 4:4). What we really need is truth. If you're tired, discouraged, or feel a little empty inside , my prayer is that by the end of our time together, you'll be refreshed and nourished in a way that will sustain you through whatever the future may hold.  Remember, you're not alone , my friend.