I was introduced to Sisterchick books a while a go and found them a lighthearted yet pointed read.    So, recently when I found myself being rather overwhelmed with life, I decided to check out to the Netherlands in Sisterchicks in Wooden Shoes.

When I first started this book it began with a rather heavy subject matter.  Summer (the primary character of this story) has received some news that no woman wants to receive and so she’s decided to go all out into denial and do something she’d always wanted to do.  

I thought I might be disappointed but Robin takes us along with Summer as she travels to the Netherlands to meet her long time pen pal (since the third grade and Summer is now in her 50s.)  Noelle face to face.   

Summer and Noelle,  find that God has orchestrated this visit to show Himself to them in a very real and practial way.  There are many light hearted moments… such as when they find them floating down a canal in Amsterdam in a wooden shoe boat without the navigator of the boat on board….these lighthearted moments are punctuated when you least expect it with truth that permeates the soul!   At least it did for me.   There are moments that poignant yet moments when you’ll find yourself laughing out loud (or at least smiling broadly!).

One thing I’ve come away from this book is that Summer realizes in her journey that she wants to “own the truth of God’s Word, not just rent the words.”   This hit home for me because I’ve realized that I do to.   I want to Own the truth of God’s Word… not just rent the words… God is good.

I recommend this book highly for anyone who finds themself in need of a trip to the Netherlands!     Thanks Robin!  You made my week.

This is the book whose central character is Peniel.   The son of a potter, is a blind man from birth whose Jewish mother is harsh and blames him for the death of his brother, Gershom.  

Peniel goes to the Nicanor Gate every day and  being blind, is not allowed to enter the Temple according to the Law. So, Penile begs using the bowl his brother Gershom had made for him so many years ago and  listens to those who come and go through the gate into the Temple to worship.  Pharisees, Sadducees and the devout.     

He contents himself with listening as many things are discussed about the Law of Moses.   He sees more in all his growing up years than many sighted people and at night he talks with the various of the Old Testament characters about life.

Then one day, he meets a Man who puts clay on his eyes and tells him to go wash in the pool of Siloam.   Who is this Man?   Why are the Temple authorities against Him and why do they object to his being healed?  

Life becomes more involved with intrigue.   Peniel, blind from birth, now must contend with all the things that sighted sense brings.   A good read… much thought-provoking material.

Mrs. Brundstetter writes much about hte Amish way of life and I like her style of writing…  This series starts with the oldest daughter Grace, aptly named in my opinion as she has returned to her roots after her rumspringe (time of sowing wild oats as I understand it.) 

She comes home but with a secret she has not told any of her family.   One that has the potential to tear the fabric of her family apart.   However, she finds grace in the knowing of her secret.   A secondary theme runs through all these books as terrible things start happening to this family.   Even to the burning down of the house Grace’s husband had built for them.

The seond book is the story of Ruth.  A woman of sweet and gentle spirit, she finds love and marriage to a sweet and gentle man… then tragedy hits on Christmas Eve when their buggy is hit from behind by a car… was it a continuation of all the things that had been going on against thei family or was it just coincidentally someone out driving drunk?   Ruth wakes up in the hospital and must start to put the pieces of her life together.   Angry at God, she tries to make sense of the senseless as well as find her relationship with God once again. 

The third book is the story of Martha.   Martha has shown no interest in love and marriage as far as her family knows.  Instead Martha wants to be a dog breeder.  Martha’s father had a carpenter apprentice whom he blamed for all the “accidents” happening around their place, but Martha wasn’t so sure… She sets out to investigate as the local sheriff seemed to be unable to do and puts her own life in jeopardy.  

All three are good reads.

This is an account from the wife of one of the heroes of Flight 93 that went down in Pennsylvania on 9/11/2001.  I’m not sure what motivated me to read this now.   I’d not seen many if any of Lisa’s interviews with the press, yet I went to the library the other day and there it was, waiting, calling my name.  When I got it home, I found it hard to put down.

I found this book well written, inspiring and tearjerking all at the same time!    To find a couple whose faith is not just a talk-faith but one where they tried to live it daily was, to say the least, refreshing!

Lisa is humble in her account regarding her husband Todd who was on Flight 93.  I learned things I guess I had missed in the media as to what really happened on that flight.    She does not paint Todd as a “too heavenly for earthly good” saint.   She writes about their life as real people with real struggles.   I learned a lot not only about faith in God but how our relationship with God can affect our  marriage relationship and /or our relationships with others.

I think you’ll  find this a worthy read if you haven’t read it yet.   It will inspire you to live each day as if it were your last, because as Lisa and Todd found out… we don’t know when will be our last day here on this earth.  We don’t know when someone we love will be called up.    So, as Lisa quotes in her book….

~~When it comes time to die, make sure that the only thing you have to do is die  ~~ Jim Elliot

… and Todd did just that!

This is the third book in the triology of Mark of the Lion…

This is the journey of Atretes and Rizpah.

Rizpah is a recent widow who had also lost her young son.  She it is to whom  Atretes’ unwanted son had been given in Echo in the Darkness.   Rizpah is a young Christian in the church at Ephesus.   They do not have written Scripture, yet what they do have they commit heart as precious instruction for the day-to-day lives.

Atretes became a German slave when the Romans conquered Germania many years prior. He was brought to Rome to entertain the masses in hand to hand combat, to the death fighting.   He finally has won his freedom from the death arenas and desires to return to his tribe in Germania.  

In the process, he learns that his son by an illicit relationship is alive and though he is well-known in Ephesus and barbaric in his approach, he finds him and demands his return.  Caleb is only months old and his biological mother is now dead.   Atretes’ demands that the young widow, Rizpah accompanies him back with his young son to Germania after which he will release her to return to Ephesus.

It takes months for them to arrive at Atretes’ former home…They are accompanied by a Christian retired Roman soldier named Theophilus.  God does some amazing things in their lives in the journey. 

This is a good read as well as a reminder to many of us that God is still in control even when we wonder if that’s really true!

Hadassah had served her mistress, Julia,  well.  Now, however, Julia and her family were haunted by her death.  

In search of happiness, Julia had done everything she thought would make her happy only to find they did not.  Now  she had developed a disease for which none of the gods she knew or any doctor could cure.  

Her brother Marcus has gone to Judea in search of answers….  to find Hadassah’s God.   He couldn’t understand why anyone would serve a god who would let them die.  He returns to where Hadassah grew up - seeking answers only to find an irascible old woman who spoke to him things he thought he didn’t want to hear.  Then Marcus gives up looking and decides to end his life for living life without Hadassah would be unbearable.  He walks into the Sea of Galilee only to find the One he’d been looking for.  He then returns to Ephesus where his mother and sister live.

Meanwhile, back in Ephesus, a veiled woman helps a struggling doctor in his  practice.  She teaches him that people are more than just physical beings.   That God made us spiritual and emotional as well and sometimes when the spiritual and emotional illness is attended, the physical illness is no longer apparent.  She becomes known as Rapha  and becomes well known among those who are ill, young old, rich, poor.   Rapha brings hope to people through proclaiming Christ the answer to all things.

The doctor with whom Rapha worked is called to the side of a wealthy aristocratic woman who has apparently suffered from a stroke.  Where the doctor went, Rapha went.   All the doctors advised this weathly woman’s  faithful servants to “put her out of her misery” even the doctor with whom Rapha worked.   Rapha stops them.  She makes them understand that this woman knew what was going on and should be made as comfortable as possible as God still had a purpose for her.

When Julia becomes so ill and deserted by all those she thought loved her, Rapha leaves all other patients to minister to Julia.  She refuses the title Rapha, or “the healer” as she knows there is only One who can truly heal.   She takes to herself the title of Azar or “helper”.  She ministers to Julia in her own home until Julia’s brother comes back to Ephesus when he moves her into his own home where his mother also resides despite his anger with her.

Lady Azar faithfully attends both Julia and her mother.   When others encourage her to give up on Julia because there simply was no human hope, Lady Azar refuses to and because she remains steadfast in her faith in God, He uses her in a wonderful way to bring hope and healing into this family. 

Should we like Lady Azar continue to believe God can do all things or should we give up when humanly speaking things are bleak?   When others urge us to give up… should we?  Or should we continue in the things we know?  

You decide.

This is the first in a triology of stories in “Mark of the Lion”.  

This is the story of a young Christian Jewess who not only survived the starvation of her family, Titus’ destruction of Jerusalem but the horror of seeing dozens of crucified men outside the city.    She survived the destruction of the Jewish Holiest of Cities and was transported to Rome to become a slave to a rich Roman family.  Bought from the market place by their overseer, a righteous Jew named Enoch, she is given to be the handmaiden of the young daughter of the family, Julia.

She serves Julia faithfully with love and devotion, as that of a sister.    Hadassah was a timid girl growing up in Galilee; fear her constant companion.  She struggled with sharing her faith with others who were nonbelievers in her Lord, yet she desperately wanted to share the family God had given her.  

God takes Hadassah through many things as her young mistress grows older.   The spoiled, self-centered daughter of a rich man, Julia pursues happiness and becomes in involved in much of the perversion and self-seeking lifestyle of what was the Roman Empire… and Hadassah grieves… she grieves for the family to whom she believes God entrusted her to bring news of Him.   She struggles with knowing how and when to tell them of Him, for to speak of Him was grounds for a death sentence…. and fear stalks her.

However, Hadassah faithfully serves this family out of love and devotion and they are aware she is so much different than the other servants.   In particularly than Enoch, a righteous Jew.   They saw the difference between her sweet humility compared to his self-righteousness who served them only because he had no choice.   Hadassah served them knowing she was free to do so with the love of Christ.   

When questioned by her master’s son how she can remain faithful to a god who deserted her in Jerusalem and so many of his “people” were killed, she replies, “He hasn’t deserted me.”   When Marcus asks how she knows, Hadassah replies because He speaks to me.   When questioned how He spoke to her, she replies, He often speaks as a voice in the wind, a still small voice.   

Though she tries to explain her faith to each member of this family and prays for them faithfully, it is not until the father is on his deathbed that she finds words to properly speak of her Lord, Jesus Christ.  

In this book, Francine Rivers, vividly portrays the atmosphere, the mindset of society as a whole in pursuing only the pleasures this world holds as well as what being a Christian during Roman Empire times meant.  They were times not unlike our own, though we feel proud that no one is a slave to others in our society, yet there are many of us who are slaves nonetheless to our own passions.

I identify with many of Hadassah’s feelings.  I love talking to other believers about God, His Word and our ministry-related things, yet I often struggle with sharing my belief with others as I know God would have me do.  Though unlike Hadassah, I find myself wanting to shake Julia until her teeth rattle because of her selfishness.   Yet, in a strange way, I also find myself pictured in Julia’s self-centered seeking for happiness.  

This is a book hard to put down and makes you want more when you come to the end.    Read it… and let God speak to you through it!

I came on this book in a book sale.   Have I ever mentioned I’m a book addict, especially for particular authors?   Well, I saw this and bought it not realizing it was a sequel. 

Nevertheless I read it.   It is a story of how history impacts the present.   We must learn from history or we die.  If we do not learn from the struggles, the warfare, etc. of our ancestors, then we are destined to make similar mistakes or ones that have a far greater devastating impact on our descendents.

There are fascinating details of history in this book and though I cannot verify the accuracy of the historical parts of this story (as many of them are fictionalized), the story does in fact give one pause to think. 

Andrew Trentham, modern day LibDem MP in the House of Commons finds himself in the middle of an age old controversy and searches for the truth behind all the mayhem.   His search leads him to Northern Great Britain to the ancient land of Caledonia or Scotland.

He finds history he never knew about before his search.  He meets people who have had an impact on his own life though unknowingly.  He learns that for a people to be free, it may often require the blood of it’s own to redeem that freedom.   Andrew finds his purpose and so much more than he ever realized he would.

If you like history of any kind, I think you’ll enjoy this fictionalized account of ancient Caledonia.   I found this book to be thought provoking and hard to put down once I started it.  Though it is a sequel to a book which I haven’t read, I found myself able to enjoy this book on it’s own merit.

This book puts forth an interesting experiment.   One, I’d never heard of before but one I think might be worthy of thought. 

In this book, Corrie and Christopher develop their relationship.  Christopher shows his heart for God and the wisdom God has given him.   Though he has lost his heart to Corrie and desires to marry her, when he asks his perspective father-in-law for her hand in marriage, he states he does not want his answer for a year.  

In that year, Christopher would work at whatever Drum (Corrie’s father) and Almeda (her stepmother) desires him to do.  In this way, her father would get to know Christopher in almost every kind of situation and be able to more carefully discern whether he would be a worthy husband for Corrie.  He and Corrie would also be able to see each other not only at their best but at their worst.  At the end of the year, if any party involved has any reservation, then no marriage would take place. 

The year starts out in the flush of young love and as it progresses, Corrie and Christopher realize there are things they must work on in their relationship, the biggest one being that of communication — like all couples.  Though much of their relationship was developed through letters, when Christopher starts working under Drum’s authority, the letters stop for a while.  Then they realize that there is something to be said for letter writing. 

I concur.   There are things one can say in a letter, on paper, that are often difficult to express properly while standing face to face with the one you love.   

It is, to say the least, an interesting proposal.  A delightful end/beginning of Corrie’s journey.

This is a book that I keep with my Bible and prayer time book.   It has been an invaluable asset to my prayer life when it comes to praying for my husband.

Quite frankly, though I knew I should be praying for him and desired to do so, I’m rather unimaginative as to how that should take shape. 

As women, I don’t think we realize how much we can influence our husband’s walk with the Lord.   Stormie lays out different ares in a man’s (our husband’s) life for which we should be praying.   One of the first areas to pray for is his wife! 

If we want to have a Christian marriage that is honoring to the Lord, we need to be on our knees in prayer for our husbad.    God has designated him as head of our home. 

It is too easy for a wife to want to tell her husband what he should be doing when we are not, in fact, willing to do what God wants us to do.  Sometimes, the hardest thing for us to do is to be quiet and let the Lord speak to our husband.   It may be the Lord will want us to say something to him but we better be sure we’ve prayed and asked God’s direction first!

Stormie gives us a platform of Scripture based prayers to help us in our ministry of prayer for our husband.