Introducing S. D. Grimm and "Breathless"

S. D. Grimm is an  author and a good friend. In fact, she's a cousin of mine--specifically, one of my dad's first cousins. I am thrilled to host a fellow author on Living in the Light today. S. D. is sharing about her brand-new book, Breathless, and has even given us an excerpt to read! Check out her website at www.sdgrimm.com. Please give her a warm welcome here--and if you want to buy her book, get it HERE.

First of all, I want to thank Jaimie for being gracious enough to let me post on her blog today. I am so excited about the release of my novella, BREATHLESS.

What if one touch could unlock a thousand memories?

Eighteen year old Claire Summers has a rare gift she must keep secret, she's a Breather— someone who can see other people’s memories by touching an object they’ve touched. When she stumbles across a memory of her friend in danger, she'll do anything to help rescue him. The problem is, her secret will be revealed. If the wrong people find out about her ability, they’ll hunt her because Breathers are powerful weapons.

I started writing when I was … well I actually can’t remember not writing. It’s kinda my thing. I love fantasy—epic, urban, sword and sorcery, all of it—so that’s what I write.

The way I look at it, God blesses us with talents and makes us passionate about them so we’ll use our talents. You can learn more about me and what I’m writing on my website: www.sdgrimm.com.                                                  




Breathless is an urban fantasy. For those of you unfamiliar with whatever that is, it’s fantasy set in a city, sometimes it’s in the future, sometimes present. The story takes place in a few cities—Podunk towns actually. Yup, there’s a road trip involved, and it’s in this awesome, awesome ride.

Yeah, I know.

And for your reading pleasure, here’s an excerpt:

My shoes crushed the thick grass. Thunder rumbled in the distance. Damp, summer air swirled around me unable to cut through the heavy fog. Headstones, cracked and crooked, spread across the grassy hill. I’d been here before. My dreams often brought me to this cemetery. The full moon lit my way down a familiar path. Even though I was dreaming, I was chilly in my tank top and shorts. 

I headed toward the tallest headstone on the hill’s crest. No flowers or American flags decorated this soul’s final resting place. I reached out, like I had the other times I’d dreamed this, and I knew what to expect. Before I could touch the stone, my subconscious would pull me back and I’d wake on my bouncing bed feeling like I’d fallen from somewhere high. 

The rough stone was cool beneath my fingers. 

Three translucent figures walked away from me, passing through the untouched fog. Two men, one held a young boy’s hand, the other followed them. The boy looked so familiar. They walked through the headstones littering the hillside as if they were insubstantial, and then flickered out. 

My hand jerked back. A chill skittered across my chest and spread over my whole body leaving me with goose bumps. Heart racing, I willed myself to wake. 

I didn’t. 

My chest tightened. Was I dreaming or not?  Thunder rolled closer. I backed away from the creepy headstone and stepped on something slippery. Arms flailing, I lost my balance. I landed in the moist grass. Pain shot up my elbow as it connected with rock. 

“Back here. Quick.” The whisper turned my blood to ice. 

“I’m dreaming,” I said aloud since this was too freaky to be real. 

“Dream? No, sweetheart, you’re in a trance. Snap out of it or whatever it is you Breathers do.” 

The stranger’s voice rasped. 

I froze, watching him inch closer. Breather? What was he talking about? My head cleared like a fan turned on and blew the fog from my brain, and I realized my situation. I so wasn’t dreaming. 

This was real. This was real? 

I faced the stranger hiding behind a headstone and caught a glimpse of his rifle. Oh holy night.

What do you think? Does this sound like something you'd just love to read? I ABSOLUTELY want to-- you can get it HERE on Amazon!

Launching Real Food for the Real Homemaker!

Today is definitely the most exciting day of my blogging and writing career thus far--especially if you consider that it's been one of my dreams (since I was six years old!) to become a published author.

Today, that dream has come true.

I am thrilled to announce, along with my amazing co-writers Jami Balmet and Elsie Callender, the release and launch of our new book, Real Food for the Real Homemaker.

This book is a compilation of what the three of us have learned in our first few years of marriage about cooking, whole-foods eating, frugal grocery shopping, meal planning, entertaining, and so much more.

Not only are there nearly 80 recipes and over 60 photos to go with them, we've included 8 other chapters on some of the topics listed above, plus freezer cooking, our favorite and most-recommended kitchen tools, and more!

Our goal is to put in your hands the resource the three of us wish we'd had when we began homemaking.

We're offering a great deal for just this week. In about two days, the Kindle version of our book will be available on Amazon for $9.99. For a cookbook almost 200 pages long and packed with content, that's already a great deal!

But to celebrate the launch of the book, we're offering-- also for just $9.99-- all this:

• the PDF copy of the book
• the Kindle copy of the book
• a set of recipe cards with each recipe printed on a card
• an Excel spreadsheet that works as a meal planner and shopping-list generator (see below for details)

So this week, if you buy the PDF copy of the book from our website, you'll get for FREE the Kindle copy, the recipe cards, and the Excel spreadsheet.

Starting next week, that bundle of awesome products will be $12.95, so don't wait to take advantage of this!

We want to make this book affordable to you, because we know that budgets are often tight (as young married women, we understand!). But we want this resource to be easily available to other young homemakers like us, as well as experienced homemakers and singles. It's got something for everybody!

Check out the great things we're including with the copies of the cookbook:

Jami designed these beautiful, full-color, printable recipe cards--one for each recipe in the cookbook! I personally love being able to use recipe cards when I cook because they take up less space on the counter than a book, and they're easy to store. I will definitely be making use of these!

We want to make it as easy as possible for you to create a real food diet in your house while sticking to a budget! So Jami's husband, Jason, developed this menu planning and shopping list spreadsheet that works in Microsoft Excel.

Just pick whichever you want of our 75+ recipes from the cookbook from a drop down menu. Select the dates of your menu and viola! You have an instant grocery list that you can print off and take to the store – complete with an area for additional notes. I can't wait to start using this for my menu-planning: it's going to make that such a quicker and more pleasant task!

Get step by step instructions for using the shopping list in the FAQ section on the website.

For more information, to order the book, and to sign up for our mailing list so you can find out when the paperback copy of the cookbook releases (which should be in about two weeks!), visit our website, www.realfoodcookbooks.com. If you have any questions, feel free to ask in the comments section and I'll get back to you!

We are praising and thanking the Lord for the amazing blessing that this cookbook has been already to us, especially in the process of writing it and preparing it for you to use. I pray that this book will be a blessing to everyone who reads it!

Linking with The Better Mom, The Modest Mom, Exceptionalistic

What do you do with ninety-seven eBooks?!?

This post contains my affiliate links.  See my disclosure policy here.  Thanks for supporting Living in the Light!

The thought of having 97 books to read is downright overwhelming.

Have you thought that, too?  Is that thought making you hesitate to get this great bundle?  Well, think about it this way:

Maybe you're just interested in the books on cleaning and organizing your home and DIY decorating.  (I'm hoping to put these to good use this summer!  I have quite the list of things I want to do around the house.)

If you purchased all these books individually, they would cost $77.89.  The bundle of 97 books is $29.97!  For just these books alone, purchasing the bundle is a savings of nearly fifty dollars.

Or, perhaps you're a blogger and a stay-at-home mom, and you want to read the books with advice and information on being a blogger and working from home!  I know these are going to be so valuable for me.

These five books alone are worth $42.97.  That's nearly $13 more than the price of the bundle!

I'm really excited about this next collection of books.  I have all summer to work through them and try out new recipes!  If you like to cook at all, these books are for you.  I REALLY want to try "20-Minute Meals" and "Feed Your Family Nourishing/Real Food On a Budget!"

All these books on cooking and real food are worth $83.81.  Buying the whole bundle gives you a savings--on these books by themselves-- of over $53.00!

The collection of books on marriage and romance is one I'm really looking forward to reading, too!  I actually own two of these already--"Rekindling Romance" by Jason and Jami Balmet and "31 Days to Great Sex" by Sheila Wray Gregoire.  All these books are worth $22.95.  Now, that's less than the cost of the bundle, but when you buy the bundle you get these books and ninety-two others!  That makes the total cost of the other 92 books only SEVEN DOLLARS.  I'd say that's a pretty good deal!

Now, these aren't the only books in the bundle!  There are books on pregnancy and babies, home schooling, parenting, and finances.  (Plus, don't forget the freebies worth $140!!) Some of these I'll keep to read at a later time in my life, when they're more useful.

You might be wondering (and I asked myself this too at first)--"What am I going to do with all these eBooks?"  I have an older laptop, the hard drive of which has already crashed once, and I don't really want to keep all those eBooks on it in case the hard drive fails me again.  I plan on saving the eBooks to a disk or flash drive, and then deleting them off my hard drive.  You can also download the eBooks from your computer to any mobile device you want to read them on--an iPhone, iPad, Nook, Kindle, or other e-reader.  The great thing about all these files is that they're PDFs, which means they can be read on any e-reader, unlike eBooks you buy directly from Amazon which have to be read on Amazon's Kindle device.

If you save them on your computer, you can create files for the different categories, and then save the books in those files--much like a physical file cabinet.

If you had a LOT of paper and ink, you could print all these eBooks: that would fill a whole bookshelf!

Any books you don't need or want, you can give away!

Mother's Day is just a couple weeks away, and these would make great gifts for any woman in your life.

Plus, if you're a blogger, you can use the extra books for giveaways on your blog!

Just make sure you don't read them yourself (you want to give away "new" books that haven't been read!), and delete the files off your computers after you give them to the giveaway winners.

Even if you use only twenty of the eBooks--still a lot!--that leaves you seventy-seven eBooks to give away!  You wouldn't have to work hard to find things for giveaways for a LONG time.

I'm also hoping to review the books I read for the authors who wrote them, and become an affiliate for each of those authors individually.  That way I can promote each of the fantastic authors of these books!

Click the image below to purchase a bundle right now!

If you have any questions I haven't answered, feel free to email me!

Announcing: The Ultimate Homemaking eBook Bundle!

UPDATE:  The bundle is now available!!!  Click HERE to purchase it now, or click HERE to learn more!!

Dear readers!  I'm so excited to get to share this with you--

a MASSIVE sale on ninety-seven ebooks-- valued at $640, but for this sale, you get all ninety-seven books for $29.97!!

That comes out to a cost of THIRTY CENTS per book!!

This bundle includes books AND ecourses in the following categories:

• Home & Property {Cleaning, Organizing & Decor}
• Education {Homeschooling & Spiritual Teaching}
• Budgeting {Money & Time Management}
• In the Kitchen {Recipes and Cooking}
• Pregnancy & Baby Care 
• Holidays & Special Events 
• Spiritual Growth 
• Marriage/Romance
• Motherhood
• Health & Fitness
• Beauty
• Working from Home/Blogging

PLUS, in addition to all these books, you get over $140 in free products and the ecourses!

I'm really looking forward to reading so many of these books, especially some of the cleaning and organizing books, budgeting, cooking, spiritual growth, and marriage and romance!  Even though I'm not going to be a mommy for a while, I'm excited to read the books on pregnancy and motherhood so I can prepare for the future.

The sale goes live on Monday, April 29, and runs to Saturday, May 4.  Come back next Monday for more information and to order this amazing book bundle!

L~ Literature

I could have written about so many things today!  "L" is an easy letter.

Legalist...what, if it wasn't for the grace of God, I would most certainly be.  (Life isn't about me and what I do, it's about GOD and what he does!)

Love...in all its wonderful forms.  Of God, of my husband, of my family and friends.

Light...of Christ--and living in it.  For obvious reasons.

But this afternoon I did something I haven't for a long time, and as a result I realized what I wanted to write about.

Literature.

As a child and teenager, I would often spend hours at a time reading--historical fiction, inspirational novels, books like Little Women and Pride and Prejudice and the entire Mitford series by Jan Karon.  One of my favorite historical-fiction series was the "Dear America" series.  These books were written from the point of view of fictional girls who lived in real historical places and experienced major events in history.  I owned three, and the rest I got from the library.  In these books I could experience the life of a girl traveling the Oregon Trail, another girl who lived through the Revolutionary War, one who was on the Titanic and survived, and a Black girl moving to Chicago from down south in the 1960's.  At our school's annual Scholastic book sale last week I bought a new one, about a girl living in California in 1880, during the gold mining era.

This afternoon, after coming home from work and getting some groceries with my hubby, I spent a bit more than two hours reading all the way through this book (a little over 200 pages long).  Granted, it's pretty easy reading, and I'm a really fast reader.  But my husband was impressed. :)

It's been a while since I got that lost in a story--completely unaware of what was going on around me, immersed in the lives of the characters.  The story has already burned itself into my mind so that thinking back on what I read, it feels like my own memories.  Like they're people I knew, having experiences that I shared.  And when I put that book down, it was almost like I was saying goodbye to friends I wouldn't see again for a very long time.

Have you ever experienced anything like that?  The magic of good literature?  I'm so glad that I was exposed to many good books as a child.  As a result, my life has been fuller, my imagination has been enlivened, and my knowledge of the world enriched--just through the power of books.

Book Launch: "Single Girl" by Ashley Schnarr (and GIVEAWAY announcement!)

I'm so excited, honored and proud to announce that my friend Ashley has just released a new eBook:

"Single Girl:

the single woman's guide to life, liberty and the pursuit of godliness"!!

Ashley’s book is full of wise, Scriptural encouragement for the single woman.  She dispels commonly-held myths about singleness, but her message isn’t “I’m so sorry you’re not married, let’s all feel bad for ourselves.”  Neither is it “Singleness is the best thing ever!  Never get married!  Who needs husbands?!”  She honestly says, 

“I don’t pretend to pray that I remain single for the rest of my life either.  Marriage and family is something I deeply desire and want very much.  Like every girl, I long for the companionship and security of a marriage.  And yes, I’m one of those hopeless romantics that’s been dreaming about my wedding since I was five.

So why am I writing this book?  It’s not because I’ve got everything figured out but rather the Lord has brought me through some trials and taught me a few things in the middle of it all.”

Ashley is a young woman who has done a lot of learning already in her life.  She’s a stay-at-home daughter and is busy preparing to be a wife and mother herself someday.  But that does not mean she fails to look for ways that she can serve God by serving others as a single person.  She has practical tips in this book for skills a single girl can learn, ways to make money and have a job without going to college, alternatives for gaining education without going to college, ideas for ways to volunteer and serve in one’s church and community, and fun and helpful tips on beauty, modesty, and relationships with guys.  More importantly, she has suggestions and encouragement for young women on how to grow in their relationship with Christ.  Ashley is passionate about the Lord, and she wants to share that with those who read her book.

This book is Ashley’s gift to other young, single women.  She’s sharing with them what she has learned.  This is her testimony to how God has worked in her life, it’s her witness to her faith in him, and it’s her call to other young single women to be all that they can be, and embrace their life just as it is.  She writes, “I firmly believe that if the Lord is gracious enough to teach you something, you should be thankful enough to share it with someone else.  So that’s what this book is all about, me sharing some of the lessons I’ve learned, and continue to learn, during this journey of singleness.”

I highly recommend this book to any and all single women, no matter what your age.  This book is also excellent reading for anyone who is friends with or ministers to a single woman (e.g., pastors, teachers, youth ministers, counselors, and parents, just to name a few).  If you are in any of these categories I encourage you to get this book and use it for your own edification and to enable yourself to better encourage and instruct the single women in your life.

As a special gift to her readers during the book's launch week this week, Ashley is also hosting a giveaway of a fantastic set of beauty products!

Head over to Ashley's blog to enter the giveaway and buy the eBook--only $4.95 for a pdf version, OR you can get it on your kindle or nook!

Also, I'm excited to announce that next week I'll be giving away a copy of Single Girl right here at Living in the Light!  Ashley has graciously offered one of my readers a copy of her book.  So if the giveaway last month, for married people only, wasn't for you--this just might be!  Stay tuned!

The Nine Most Influential Authors of My Childhood

I have loved books ever since I was very small.  My parents can take the credit for instilling that love in me.  Words on a page have always fascinated me; I've been reading since the age of four.  As I grew in confidence as a reader, I would devour almost any book I could get my hands on.  Luckily, my parents, knowing good literature, provided me with quality books that made a positive impact one me.

I have no idea how many books I've read in, well, seventeen years.  The authors below have been the most influential in my life up till this point, and I still love their books and read them often.
I won't give much information about each author themselves.  The names are all links to biographical information, and I've included links to some other interesting sites as well.  Fair warning--this is a long post!

Laura Ingalls Wilder  When I was small, playing dress-up was one of my favorite activities.  More often than not, I played I was Laura Ingalls Wilder.  Her books fed my imagination.  If I could have gone back in time, it would have been to visit Laura.  The stories she wrote are easy enough to read for small children, and fascinating enough for older ones.  She is a master at storytelling, detail, and bringing places and people to vivid life.  I grew up with Laura, and now I love reading the books about her teen years, courtship with the wonderful Almanzo, and early marriage (Little Town on the Prairie, These Happy Golden Years, and The First Four Years).  At the age of seven I had one of the greatest thrills of my life when I visited Laura's birthplace in Pepin, Wisconsin.  That was an experience I'll never forget!

Jane Austen  Thanks to high school literature (credit to my mother) and two beloved friends who were, well, rather obsessed with Jane in high school (Janan and Emily!), I finally watched the five-hour movie of Pride and Prejudice my freshman year and read the book not long after that.  I have since read it several times over, and I have also read Sense and Sensibility, Emma, and Persuasion.  Someday I'll get to Northanger Abbey and Mansfield Park.  I also own the more recent, shorter version of Pride and Prejudice, the movie with Matthew McFayden and Kiera Knightley, and Sense and Sensibility with Emma Thompson.  They're all great movies!

Jane Austen's books are absolutely timeless.  The themes are still as applicable today as they were when they were written.  They're lovely romances, hilarious comedies, and serious dramas, all rolled into one.  Not for the faint of heart, but most certainly for the romantic.  (More about Jane Austen on this website for fans.)

Jan Karon  Ms. Karon has written quite a few books in the last not-quite-two decades, most notably The Mitford Years, a series of nine books covering ten years in the life of an Episcopal priest, Father Tim Kavanagh.  I believe it was my paternal grandmother who introduced my mom and me to these books when I was in middle school, and I have loved them ever since.  They take place in a charming fictional village, Mitford, North Carolina (which is based on the real-life village of Blowing Rock), and the characters are all so real, so endearing, and so relatable.  Reading a Mitford book feels like going home.  Father Tim is a devoted Christian, and Jan includes many wonderful sermons, prayers, and Christian life, so the books are nourishing to the soul and faith as well as the mind.  She also writes about food a lot, which sparked the creation of the amazing Mitford Cookbook and Kitchen Reader.  My mom and grandmother both have copies, and someday I'll add it to my own collection.

C. S. Lewis  The Narnia books took me a little while to get into, but then my parents bought me a beautiful hardcover edition of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe with gorgeous full-cover illustrations and a ribbon bookmark.  I've read it so many times that the bookmark is well-frayed.  As I got older I read the rest of the books in the series.  Lion remains my favorite, but the last book, The Last Battle, is AMAZING because of so many Biblical references.  Now that I'm older I can appreciate the Biblical analogy much more than when I was little.  I remember watching the old BBC movies with friends when I was about six, and I really love the new movie versions as well.  Other books by Lewis, notably his Space Trilogy (starting with Out of the Silent Planet) have also been favorites.  His theological works are fantastic--I read The Screwtape Letters in high school.

Louisa May Alcott  Ah, Miss Alcott.  After studying more about the religious views of her and her father, I've approached her works with a little more caution (let's just say they were friends of Thoreau and the like), but Little Women had such an impact on my young girlhood.  I always identified most with Jo, but I wanted to be good, kind and obedient like Beth, and a hard worker like Meg and Jo both were.  The movie version of this, with Susan Sarandon playing Marmee, always delights and moves me.  Another book of Alcott's that inspired me greatly was Eight Cousins.  The main character, Rose, is a delightful young lady and such a good moral example--but still real enough to relate to.  The sequel to Eight Cousins is Rose in Bloom.  I also loved Little Men and Jo's Boys, sequels to Little Women.  (For more on L. M. Alcott, visit here.)

Corrie ten Boom  Her book The Hiding Place is still one of my favorites!  Not for the squeamish, it includes a fair bit of detail about life in the Nazi concentration camps of WWII.  And if you're wondering, I didn't read this for the first time till about eighth grade.  WWII has always fascinated me, especially stories about life on the home front in Europe and the US.  The Holocaust is also a really interesting, albeit heart-wrenching, aspect of WWII.  The most amazing and inspiring part of this book, however, is the faith that was exhibited by Corrie, her sister Betsie, and their entire family throughout the incredibly difficult circumstances they endured.  Reading this book taught me to be thankful in all circumstances, to have complete faith in God even when nothing is going right, and to stand up for what I believe in at all costs.  (More about Corrie and The Hiding Place here.)

Lucy Maud Montgomery  I have loved the Anne books for quite some time!  Like with Laura Ingalls Wilder, I feel like I've grown up with Anne, and my favorite books in the series now are the ones about her early marriage (except that Anne is fictional while Laura is not).  These books are funny, lively, touching, emotional, and real.  I always felt like I really knew all the characters.  It was fascinating to read through the series and see Anne grow from a little girl to a young woman.  Her friendships, her relationships with difficult people, her courtship, and her marriage all were realistic but also a good example.  Anne is a very pure-hearted character, and I think that's one of the things I really loved about her.  She wasn't too perfect by any means, but she was someone I looked up to in a way.  (More about L.M. Montgomery here.)

Lois Lowry  Books like The Giver and Number the Stars got worn out eventually because I read them so many times.  The Giver is absolutely fascinating, but weird.  I would recommend it, but I encourage parents to read it first before letting their children read it.  It's about a Utopian society, and includes elements like government-arranged marriage, euthanasia (once people are too old to be of use to the community, they are "Released"--killed) and what is basically post-birth abortion--if a baby is a twin (they can't have duplicates) the smaller one is "Released."  However, the book's redeeming quality is that it makes clear that this kind of society is wrong.  It's a really great story, and can encourage some fantastic discussion between parents and children.  As a youngster (again, didn't read this till at least middle school) some of the details kind of went over my head; I realize how serious it is now as a young adult.

Number the Stars is another WWII book that takes place in Europe (Denmark, to be exact), this one about a young Christian girl and her Jewish best friend who has to go into hiding.  It's a fast, easy read, but it's very historically accurate (for historical fiction), a fun and moving story, and historically fascinating.

Frances Hodgson Burnett  Burnett's two most famous books are The Secret Garden and The Little Princess.  Both of these were favorites of mine as a child.  Both are about a little girl born in India, and include elements of Hinduism that troubled me a bit when I was little (especially in The Secret Garden), but that is the only caution I have about them.  Mary in The Secret Garden is an orphaned little girl who has to learn to live and love.  A gruff old gardener, a boy full of life, and a mysterious cousin help her do both.  Sara in The Little Princess is motherless but beloved by her father--until, while at a boarding school in England, she receives news that her soldier father has been killed in the line of duty.  When circumstances in her life change drastically, she learns to rise above them, keeping sweet and humble and remembering that her father always told her she was a princess, no matter what.

Both these girls had something to teach me.  A person doesn't have to be defined by their situation--you define yourself.  And you can't hide from real life.  You have to face it, make the most of it, and learn from it.  There isn't a strong Christian message in either of these stories, but they are delightful and thoughtful books.  (More about Burnett and her books here.)


If you've stuck with me this far, congratulations!!  I could have written about so many other authors and books, but this is enough for now.  I hope that what I've written will be interesting, informative and useful for you and/or your children.

Talk with me: what were the most influential books and authors of your childhood?  Share in the comments!


Linking with: Your Thriving Family; Consider the Lilies; Susan Godfrey; finding joy

Simple Faith

I recently read a book by Janette Oke called A Bride for Donnigan.  I won't give a full synopsis--it was just the end that really moved me yesterday.  (However, I would recommend this and all her books!)

By the end of the book, two parents are trying to raise their six young children as well as they can.  Neither parent was raised in a Christian family, but they believe there is a God, and that they should teach their children about Him.  Slowly, through much study of the Bible, they come to understand what God has done throughout history.  But there is something missing.  The husband and wife are both still burdened with anger and unforgiveness as a result of their past.  Finally, while talking with their children about Jesus, their little girl realized what they needed to do.  "I want to tell God sorry," she sobbed.  Her parents had not yet understood what it meant to pray--that they could just tell God anything--but their small daughter spoke simply to God, telling Him she was sorry for the bad things she had done, and asking Him to forgive her.  When she finished, she looked up at them with a smile full of joy and peace, knowing she was forgiven.

Her parents wanted that.  So, not long afterward, they each told God that they were sorry for what they had done wrong, asked Him to forgive them, and asked Him to help them live their lives in obedience to Him.

It was that simple.  They, too, felt the peace and joy that their little daughter had.

Now, I know this is a fictional story.  But Janette Oke is right.  The apostle John wrote in his first epistle,

"If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.  If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness" (1 John 1:8-9).

It's that simple.  When we confess our sinfulness, God forgives us and purifies us from the sin within us.

I've been a Christian all my life.  I was baptized when I was less than a month old, and I've had saving faith in Jesus Christ ever since.  I am thankful for this, but sometimes I make my faith more complicated than it needs to be.  Sometimes I'm fooled into thinking I actually have to do something to earn God's forgiveness...that I have to live a perfect life in order to please Him.

Well, I would have to live a perfect life to please God...if Jesus hadn't already done it for me.
There's nothing more I have to do.  Jesus has paid the price for my sins, taken them away on the cross, and provided the means necessary for my eternal forgiveness and salvation.

I don't have to try to impress God.  All He wants me to do is "tell Him sorry."
Thanks be to God for His immeasurable grace!!

Yesterday, as I closed this book, I was in tears.  I realized that I had been trying too hard.  I don't need a big, complicated faith.  Jesus encouraged His followers to have faith like a child--and that's what I need, too: a complete, unassuming faith that expects nothing of myself.  God doesn't expect me to be perfect.  He knows I can't be, and that I can't do anything good on my own.  He is the One who gives me the willpower, strength and ability to please and serve Him.  

So I asked Him for that.  I asked Him if this blog is really what He wants me to do--if it's pleasing and glorifying to Him.  I asked Him to help me be the best wife I can be to Joshua.  I asked God to help me honor, glorify, serve and praise Him in everything I do.

Then, last night, a friend messaged me on Facebook.  She said that my blog was a blessing to her, and even asked for help in coming up with an idea for a devotion.

A comment on yesterday's post suggested that I write devotions for women.

My husband reiterated once again that I am a great wife to him.

Now, it's not often that God answers my prayers quite this clearly.  Sometimes I'm not sure what His answer is.  Sometimes it's "No" or "I have something better for you."  But yesterday, the answer clearly was "Yes."  I am so very thankful to have been encouraged in this way.

"If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just, and will forgive our sins

and purify us from all unrighteousness."

When we pray, "God, please forgive me," that is a prayer He always answers with "Yes."

God keeps His promises.

Whenever we confess, He will forgive and cleanse us.

And it really is as simple as that--as simple as a child's faith.

thankful in all circumstances, past and present

Being home sick is one thing that opens my eyes to all I have to be thankful for!

In 1 Thessalonians, Paul wrote, "Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstance, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus" (5:16-18).  I just finished reading The Hiding Place, by Corrie ten Boom, a story about a Christian family in Holland during WWII who helped hide and rescue Jews.  Corrie, her family and many of their friends were eventually found out, arrested, and sent to concentration camps in Germany.  Miraculously, Corrie and her sister Betsie found each other and were able to be together in the worst of all the camps they had seen.  Upon their arrival at one camp, they realized the barracks was infested with fleas, besides being filthy and unsanitary.  Betsie in her prayers that night was thanking God even for the fleas, but Corrie protested.  "How can I be thankful for fleas?"  Betsie insisted, so they thanked God for fleas, but Corrie could not see how they would be a blessing.  A few weeks later, Betsie, who stayed in the barracks knitting because she was too ill and weak for any other work, had exciting news to share with her sister.  Betsie had been talking about Jesus and reading a smuggled-in Bible to the women around her, and yet had never been bothered by the guards.  She had discovered that day that her freedom to witness the Gospel was because of the fleas: the guards refused to enter the flea-infested dormitory.

Now, I am obviously in far better circumstances than Betsie and Corrie were.  God tells us to give thanks in all circumstances, however, and that includes mine!

Today I am thankful that I cleaned the house over the weekend so, although I haven't had energy to do much, the house is still in pretty good order.

I'm thankful for this time, in a quiet home, to rest.

I'm thankful for my grandpa, who brought me saltines, 7-up, some medicine and tissues with lotion in them!

I'm thankful for my husband, who works hard and who has been taking such good care of me while I've been ill.

I'm thankful for my mom and my friends, who I got to talk to on the phone today and yesterday.

I'm thankful that I'm feeling much better now than I have been, my energy is increasing, and I'm less tired.

I'm thankful that being sick happens to me much less often than being healthy!

I'm thankful especially that God is always faithful, always in control, never changes, and is always good.  His constancy is reassuring, in a world that is constantly changing.

linking up with other thankful and beautiful ladies today:

New Goals for a New Year

Everybody's doing it.

Making New Year's resolutions, that is.  It's a new year, we all feel like we have a fresh start, to try again, to do the things we didn't accomplish last year, to become better at something.

I don't usually make New Year's resolutions.  I've found them very hard to keep.  But this year, I've been inspired by several different people.  Jon Acuff was the major one.  He advised making just a few goals for the year, not a lot, and making them very specific.  If I accomplish all my goals I can create more.  And the more specific they are, the easier it will be to measure that I'm actually doing them.

I want to focus on three major areas of my life: spiritual, relational, and financial.  (Physically, I've already gotten into the habit of regularly working out, and although over Christmas break that's been set aside, it'll get going again once school starts back up.)

Spiritual: I want to spend half an hour a day, at least five days a week, reading Scripture, writing down what I learn from that day's reading, and praying about what I've read.

I want to read at least two books that will encourage me in my walk with God.  (One Thousand Gifts by Ann Voskamp is first on that list.)

Relational: I want to learn to love my husband better.  Specifically, this means seeking out one way to intentionally love him every day (by letting him have his way in something, making a food he likes, saying something encouraging, asking what I can do to help him, etc).

I will also read at least two books on marriage and relationships.  The first will be The Resolution for Women, by Priscilla Shirer (inspired by the movie "Courageous").

Financial: I want to write out, and follow, a set, specific budget for this year.  I want to keep track of our finances and tithe every paycheck.  I would like to attend Financial Peace University (there's a class at our college this spring).

Overall, I want to revamp my priorities so that it's always God, my husband, family and friends, and then me.

This isn't going to be easy.  Please pray for me, for willpower, steadfastness, and the desire to fulfill these things.  And guess what--I'll be praying for you, too. :)

When Jesus Takes Me Home

I just read (in about three hours, it's an easy read) the book Heaven is For Real, by Todd Burpo, about his son Colton's experience visiting heaven.  It's a good book, and you can read it yourself (find it here).  In a nutshell, three-year-old Colton develops a life-threatening case of appendicitis, and during his surgery he spends (according to him) "three minutes" in heaven.  There he sits on Jesus' lap, meets also the Father and the Holy Spirit, meets his long-dead great-grandfather, meets his sister who was miscarried before his birth, and sees other wonders of heaven.

This book is along the lines of Ninety Minutes in Heaven, but the really lovely thing about it is the child's perspective.  According to his father, Colton described many things that are found in detail in the Bible, without ever having read or been told about them.  I approached the book with some skepticism, but I do believe that God is all-powerful, which means he can give a little boy an experience in heaven to be able to bless the lives of many people on earth.  Everything Colton says about God and heaven are things that the Bible clearly states as well.  The book is an inspirational and encouraging story.

In the end, though, it doesn't matter much to me what other people say about heaven.  I can read about it for myself in God's word.  And what I can't understand about it (which is a lot), I am okay with just accepting until I can experience it for myself.  Because I know, without a doubt, that I will spend eternity in heaven with Jesus.  I don't know a lot about heaven, or about eternity, but I do know this:

God is all-good.  So heaven will be completely good.
I will have a perfect body: no more sickness, infirmity, ailments, weaknesses.
I will get to meet every other person who is a child of God, who has ever lived, including family members I've never met.
I will be in the very presence of God himself, and will get to praise him in his presence.
I will never sin again.  No bad thing will be able to exist in heaven.
I will never be sad, angry, lonely, or hurt in heaven.  Those things are all a result of sin, which won't be in heaven.
I will see Jesus for myself, face-to-face.
All the bad things I've ever done will be forgotten, because Jesus' righteousness will cover me.
However time works, I will be there forever, with God.

A Change in Perspective

I just started reading a book that a friend gave me for a wedding gift, Sacred Marriage by Gary Thomas.  The flap of the dust cover reads, "What if God's primary intent for your marriage isn't to make you happy...but holy? What if your relationship isn't as much about you and your spouse as it is about you and God?"

This really got me thinking (that and the first three chapters I've read so far).  From the world's point of view, life is about being happy, being satisfied, being successful, and being instantly gratified.  People should do everything they can to accomplish those things for themselves, says the world.

I said the other day that one of the most important things about marriage is being selfless--putting the needs and desires of one's spouse before one's own, making the other person's happiness your goal.

But now I don't think it's either of these, and I think I knew that all along; I just needed a wake-up call which this book provided.  Marriage isn't about making myself happy.  It's not even about making my spouse happy.  It's about making God happy.

Let me say that again: the primary goal of marriage should be to give God honor, glory, and praise.  The primary benefit of marriage isn't children, companionship or comfort (although those are wonderful benefits of marriage!).  It's a closer relationship with God; a deeper understanding of how God loves us and how he desires our relationship with him to be.

God designed marriage to point us toward HIM.  It's a matter of focus.  What are we focused on?  Ourselves?  Our spouse?  Or God?  Are we looking at our marriage like we should everything else, with an eternal mindset?

I've written about this before: how looking at life with an eternal perspective changes everything.  If we are considering that our final destination is heaven, the only person whose opinion we should care about is God's, and our primary goal in life is to serve, honor, glorify and obey him--then everything else in life takes on a different meaning and purpose.  If we view marriage as something designed by God to draw us closer into relationship with and understanding of him, and view it as another aspect of life in which our primary goal should be to serve God, then EVERYTHING else will fall into place.

Think about it.  If I'm seeking to serve, honor, glorify and obey God in my marriage, then I will be doing the following things in accordance with God's will:

Loving my husband as I love myself and as God loves both of us.
Submitting to him as the Church submits to Christ.
Forgiving him as Christ has forgiven me.
Staying faithful to him as God is constantly faithful to those who believe in him.
Honoring him and lifting him up, not breaking him down.
Treating him with kindness and patience, the way God treats me.

These are just a few of the things that will result from my seeking to honor and serve God first and foremost.  Honoring, serving and loving my husband follows naturally.

Through marriage I will also grow closer to God.  Marriage is teaching me:
Trust.  Not in myself, not in my husband, but in God to take care of both of us.
The blessing of prayer: individually and together, my husband and I daily visit with the Lord.
The blessing of daily Bible reading: my husband has (again) initiated devotions for the two of us, which encourages me to do devotions on my own.
The limitless love God has for me.  My husband is only human, and even his love is more than I can fathom.  Imagine how great God's love is for me--for us!!
The unity of Christ and the church, of the Trinity, as reflected in the unity of a husband and wife.
The selflessness of Christ in giving himself up for us, as I strive to give myself up for my husband every day.
The humility of Christ as he submitted himself to his Father, as I seek to be humble and submit to my husband.

Again, these are just a few things, and this post is getting long!  I was just awed and inspired by this new-found perspective that God has given me.  I'd highly recommend the book (I can't wait to finish it!).

I Can Trust Him.

Lately I've been worrying about money (again).

But then, on the phone with my man last night, God reminded me of something.  It's not me who will take care of myself, it's not my future husband who will take care of both of us--it's GOD who will care and provide for us.  And he already has!  In so many ways, God has been continually providing for us. I just need to open up my blind eyes and see those gifts for what they are: God's hand in our lives, taking care of us.

I'm realizing, pretty much daily, that marriage is going to be pretty hard work.  For me to submit to my husband is not going to be easy.  I'm a pretty bossy, selfish person, and I'm going to need some serious lessons in humility along the way.  But that's something else God can provide!!  HE gives us the love we need to give to one another.  HE gives me the strength to be humble and submissive, or in my future husband's case, the strength to lead in love and kindness.  GOD will give us the resources we need to make our marriage work.  That's not to say we won't have to put plenty of blood, sweat and tears into it ourselves.  But we can do ALL THINGS through CHRIST who gives us strength.

Sometimes I think that I have a pretty strong faith, but there are other days that I realize just how much I need to learn.  I don't need to do everything myself; I don't even need to figure out everything myself.

In a book I was reading yesterday (Shepherds Abiding, by Jan Karon), two characters had a discussion about what it means to be a Christian.  A priest told another man a simple prayer, one that included the line "I turn my entire life over to You."  The man commented, "My whole life is a lot to turn over to God."  The priest responded, "A whole life is a lot to handle all by yourself."  I shouldn't expect to be able to do everything myself.  God's given me life, but he also helps me work my way through it.

I can trust God, and I can trust my fiance because he trusts God, too, and I know they both love me more than I can imagine and will take care of me.

Today, I am going to trust.

He's Working for My Good: ALWAYS

I had originally intended to choose a Psalm to write about today, but other things are on my mind.

I'm tired.  I think I'm coming down with something.  My fiance is sick.  I would rather skip classes for the next two days and have break now.  I miss my parents and siblings.  But (with the spirit of Thanksgiving quickly approaching)-- I have SO MUCH to be thankful for!!

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 says, "Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus."

One of my favorite books ever is "The Hiding Place" by Corrie ten Boom.  She was a Christian in Holland during WWII, and her family hid Jews in their home to protect them from the Nazis.  The Jews they protected all stayed safe, but Corrie, her family and friends were arrested one day when the Nazis raided their house.  Corrie and her sister Betsie were able to stay together when they were taken to the concentration camps, and they managed to smuggle in a Bible.  Betsie was not strong enough to do physical labor, so she was forced to knit clothing for the Nazis while Corrie did hard manual labor.  In the filthy dormitory where they lived, the beds were infested with lice.  One night while reading the Bible, Corrie and Betsie came across this passage in 1 Thessalonians.  Betsie prayed and thanked God for everything she could think of, including the lice.  Corrie protested that she simply couldn't thank God for lice, but Betsie insisted.  A few days later when Corrie returned from her work, Betsie met her joyfully.  They had been holding Bible studies for other women in the dormitory, and couldn't understand why the guards were leaving them alone.  That day Betsie had overheard the guards talking about why they wouldn't go into the dormitories.  It was because of the lice.  Corrie realized how true it is that we CAN thank God for EVERYTHING, because we can't see how he will work things out.

Paul writes in Romans 8:28, "For we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose."

Despite the little frustrations, discomforts, and inconveniences I've been experiencing lately, I know that I CAN do all things through Christ who gives me strength (Phil. 4:13), and that includes being joyful always, praying continually, and giving thanks in all circumstances, because God will work all things out for my good, even if I can't see or understand how.

Also, when I have an eternal mindset- knowing how short and temporal this life is, and how much more there is to life than the physical things- little things like sickness or weariness hardly matter.  Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 12:9-10, "But [the Lord] said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.'  Therefore 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."

It is when I am at my weakest that God can work most powerfully through me, because through my weakness his strength shines all the more.  Through weakness, sickness, and trials, God can be glorified in and through me.  So with Paul, I can say, "I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me"!