Monday, June 24, 2013

LILIES AND GOD'S LOVE---by Grace Fox



I'm a houseplant killer. Not intentionally, of course. It just seems that entering our home inevitably brings a death sentence to plants of all kinds. It’s only a matter of time.

I happened to mention this during my final speaking session at a recent weekend women’s retreat. “The only plants I raise are silk,” I said. “My youngest daughter recently killed a cactus. She says she inherited my genes.”

Everyone laughed. I had no way of knowing that the planning committee intended to give me a potted lily as a thank-you gift when that session ended. Oops.

When the presentation time came, one woman carried the lily toward me. She looked very apologetic. “I’m sorry,” she said. “Until this morning, we didn’t know you kill plants. I’m not sure what you want to do with this now.”

Seventy women watched my response. Awkward. How could I graciously receive such a gift after declaring this poor plant’s certain fate? And so I blurted the first words that came to mind: “I appreciate your thoughtfulness, but how about we do a door prize and give it to someone who will provide a good home?” Everyone laughed again, and then a name was drawn.

The winner approached me a few minutes later, lily in hand. She was a gal who’d recently completed an addiction recovery program and had just moved into a house on her own. “Thank you,” she said. “I have no decorations for my home, and I’ve been praying for a plant. This lily, to me, signifies a new beginning. It’s perfect.”

Who would have known this woman had been praying for a plant? Not I. Likely no one else in the room knew, either. But God did. I believe He directed me to speak those impromptu words about being a plant killer. In retrospect, I don’t even recall how they fit into my presentation. They just popped out. By divine design. I’ll forever treasure the moment when the lily winner approached me with prize in hand. Her eyes glowed, and her face reflected hope.

God delights in His children (2 Samuel 22:20). He lavishes love on those whose hearts belong to Him. His means are multiple. Sometimes He does so through timely kind words spoken by a friend or stranger. Sometimes through a song or an answered prayer. And sometimes through blurted words and a plant.

One never knows how God will reveal His love, especially in unexpected little ways. But of this one thing we’re certain—He delights in us and longs for us to understand how much.
 


Grace Fox is the author of several books including Peaceful Moments to Begin Your Day: Devotions for Busy Women  http://tinyurl.com/lm2bbdg

and Moving from Fear to Freedom: A Woman’s Guide to Peace in Every Situation

Visit Grace's website to learn more about her speaking ministry. www.gracefox.com


Twitter: gracelfox





Saturday, June 22, 2013

LONDONDERRY DREAMING FRONT COVER

I just received the front cover sent to me from WhiteRosse Publishing for my Passport to Romance novella LONDONDERRY DREAMING. The release date is to be announced.
 Naomi and Keith’s families once tore them apart—can rekindled love heal old wounds?

I love this cover. Am so pleased with it. Below is the back of the book blurb. Will keep you posted with each development as this book is released. This novella is a bit of a change for me, in that it is a contemporary Christian Romance unlike my series Twilight of the British Raj which is historical.


LONDONDERRY DREAMING by Christine Lindsay 

Acclaimed New York artist, Naomi Boyd, and music therapist, Keith Wilson, loved one another five years ago, until her grandfather with his influence over Naomi separated them.

That root of bitterness keeps them apart until a letter from Keith’s grandmother, Ruth, draws Naomi to Londonderry to find she’s too late. Ruth has passed on. After the death of his beloved grandmother, Keith has also come to Londonderry only to open the door to his past…Naomi...beautiful as ever, the girl who broke his heart.

A mysterious painting in Ruth’s attic brings up questions about their grandparents’ entwined past and their own broken romance. But more comfortable with the unspoken languages of art and music, Naomi and Keith find it difficult to share their old hurts and true feelings.

Will the majestic coastline of Northern Ireland inspire them to speak the words to bring peace to their grandparents’ memory and to rekindle love?
 


Christian theme/principle message to Londonderry Dreaming: Just as Jesus is the Word that became flesh to heal our relationship with God, words are needed to heal relationships with others. We must speak the truth in love. Ephesians 4:15 (NIV) “Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ.” 

Stay tuned to the next book in my lineup of Christian novels.


Thursday, June 20, 2013

A NEBRASKA ADOPTION & DISCOVERY--by LoRee Peery

Three months after my first novel was published in 2010, I received a letter from someone whose name on the envelope I didn’t recognize. My first thought was, fan mail?

Silly me.

I opened it at the kitchen counter. As I unfolded the lined paper and headed for the table, photo copies of one of my dad’s sisters fluttered to the floor.

What in the world?

I read the first paragraph and slumped onto a chair. The second paragraph brought tears. By the end of the letter, I’d reached for the phone.

Greetings, LoRee Peery,

The reason for this letter to you is because of an article I read it Nebraska Life magazine. It’s about the “Blizzard of 1949.” There was a piece, by you, in which you mentioned that you wondered if your mother rode on a tractor “all the way to Grandpa Mosel’s house” when she was pregnant.

My birth mother’s name was Elgene Mosel. She, also, was from Orchard, NE. I was born June 9, 1948, in Omaha, NE. I was given up for adoption and placed in care of the then Lutheran Children’s Home Society.

Elgene gave me the name Marlin.

My dad’s name was Merlin!

By then I needed a tissue and had to wipe my eyes because I couldn’t see the print. This man’s penmanship is beautiful, as my father’s was. He makes his cursive r’s the same as I do, very old-fashioned.

I had to leave a message because Marlin was at work. In the meantime, I started a letter back to him.

Dear Marlin,

Where to begin? I want to meet you as soon as possible. I hope you don’t mind, I posted receiving your letter on Facebook, which is an Internet networking site, so my family and friends know about you. They also know how excited I am that you sought me out and introduced yourself.

As I will say when we talk, I am the oldest of seven. You’ll see that in the genealogy. Your mother married and had four sons. I lost contact with my cousins after the death of my parents…

He called that evening. Thus began a beautiful relationship.

I scrounged for family photos and copied the genealogy for him. Marlin discovered one of his birth-mother’s sons had died and has spoken with one of his half-brothers, but they have yet to meet.

We agreed to meet the day after Thanksgiving because he and his wife, Vickie, were coming our direction. Their three grown children live in Lincoln and Omaha.

My closest brother to me in age came to our home that day, and he later said it was like sitting across the table from our grandfather.

Marlin and his wife Vicky
Marlin and I have seen each other twice a year since we first met. Most recently, because my husband and I were in that part of Nebraska, we went to his home, worshiped in his church, and helped him celebrate his 65th birthday.



Lezlie's Lifeline by LoRee Peery is a dollar download...

Blurb: Lezlie Diamond and Jordan Marshall meet again after a disgruntled husband accuses Lezlie of allowing his wife to die. A night security officer at the hospital, Jordan sees Lezlie home safely. 

Her nervousness tells him she’s holding something back. Jordan was devastated when Lezlie disappeared from his life sixteen years ago. 

Now she’s back and he discovers her secret: the birth of their son. 

How can he ever trust her again? The two loves of Lezlie’s life unite. The teen immediately forgives his mother for her secrets and wants to know his father, but dare Jordan follow their son’s example and grant Lezlie a second chance?


Purchase sites for Lezlie's Lifeline http://www.pelicanbookgroup.com/ec/lezlie-s-lifeline

Join LoRee Peery on her website  www.loreepeery.com


Monday, June 17, 2013

OUR FOOL-PROOF PLAN---By Susanne Dietze


As newlyweds, my husband and I had a foolproof plan: we’d use our brand-new college degrees to find good jobs, enabling us to earn sufficient money to pay for the seminary he’d attend the following year. My husband had received a call to full-time ministry, but we had several months before his Masters of Divinity program started across the country, so we trusted that God would provide for us financially by granting us good-paying jobs. 

We were both 22 years old and fully believed in God’s goodness and provision, and we were anxious to work.

On our honeymoon, however, we drove through California’s San Joaquin Valley and somehow caught a fungal infection known as Valley Fever. Both of us. We spent almost a month fighting fever and suffering wracking coughs. We couldn’t work. We could barely function. One of us would have the energy to open a can of Campbell’s soup before having to lie down again. Eventually, the other would cook the soup. We were two kids without parents or friends in town to help care for us, and we wondered how we’d pay our rent, much less pay for seminary next year.

Where was God in this? Had we misunderstood His call to ministry? Had we erred in getting married? Why was this happening to us?

Then something interesting happened. 

I called one of my bridesmaids and ended up speaking at length with her mother, a Christian woman whom I’d never met before. The next week, she sent a check to us, which (unbeknownst to her) exactly covered one month’s rent. Then, the family in the apartment next to ours moved, and they gave us all the food from their refrigerator. Time and again, God provided for us in unexpected and unusual ways. 

We started to recognize that His way was different than the way we’d planned; He wanted us to lean on Him for our every need. Literally. But He would be there with enough to get us by.

When our bodies healed, we never did get high-paying jobs. We actually had humbling employment, with wages sufficient to provide for us, even if we couldn’t manage to save much.  When it came time to move to seminary 3,000 miles away, we had to sell my husband’s truck to pay some costs, but we recognized God’s hand when the sale was better than we’d expected. A few friends offered to give us monthly support while we were at seminary. When we arrived to begin school, an outgoing student left furniture for us.

Throughout the season of want in our young marriage, we weren’t comfortable. We felt as if we lived on a razor’s edge. But by being humbled and forced to fully rely on God, we were blessed because only then could we truly see how miraculously He provided.

He’s a God of abundance. I’ll never forget how he abundantly provided for me.


About Susanne Dietze:

Susanne Dietze began writing love stories in high school, casting her friends in the starring roles. Today, she writes in the hope that her historical romances will encourage and entertain others to the glory of God. Married to a pastor and the mom of two, Susanne loves fancy-schmancy tea parties, travel, and curling up on the couch with a costume drama and a plate of nachos. She won first place in the Historical category of the 2011-2012 Phoenix Rattler, and her work has finaled in the Genesis, Gotcha!, and Touched By Love Contests. Susanne is represented by Tamela Hancock Murray of The Steve Laube Agency.

You can contact Susanne through the following links.

Twitter: @SusanneDietze
Tea and a Good Book: www.susannedietze.blogspot.com
Inkwell Inspirations: www.inkwellinspirations.com