Out with the Old

Hello,

Last year my word of the year was "Create". I wanted to be more creative, maybe even attempt some mixed media artwork. That did not happen. I currently have a two-toned house maybe that counts as mixed media. (Half done paint job, long story)
More importantly, I wanted to create the life that God had for me, or should I say be open to the life he was calling me too.

So what was 2012 like for me?

My bible study which we call a Quad really grew in number and in many cases in depth. About half way through the year I began teaching the study. God created a ministry for me that I was not seeking.

Later, this same group began studying the book of James in the Bible. If I am honest, I was actually quite afraid of this book. I learned so much about treating others and really rested in the grace of what it means to be a Christian. yes there is tons of grace in James.

I started 2012, not sure if I should stay at the church that I had landed in after the turmoil of leaving a church that I had gone too for 17 years. I really saw God making me feel at home in this body of Christ this past year. My House Church helped me with some problems I was having in my house which didn't always work out. It made me realize these people care about me, and I care about them. I started volunteering in the nursery, which is really rather fun, minus the dirty diapers. I started helping work with women as they go through the Gospel Class, which is basically Christianity 101. I met lots of great people and really saw that God had a purpose in them being in my life. I am even seeing that more in 2013.

Relationships (yes, I am talking men here). I ran into a guy I knew from church a few years ago one night shopping (before you think this goes anywhere, I am old enough to be his mother). He challenged me to consider if my heart was open to dating. This made me realize that maybe I need to be more open to the idea of dating and to stop saying things like "men don't like me" (making sure people know that I like men), and "I am too old for everyone I know". So I would like to say that I met the man of my dreams and ran off and got married the next day, but that didn't happen. If you really know me, you would know it would take me probably a year to really trust someone to even think about marriage. Well I digress, I am feeling a lot less content in my singleness, but maybe it is good because while I am content with my life, I want there to be room for others in it also.

Work: After applying for everything under the sun and letting my teaching license expire, I suddenly got a new job. Most of the year I was dreadfully unhappy. I had to stop working my part-time job because my full-time job which I began to dislike more and more became suddenly inflexible. So somehow in the fall, someone I know recommended that I apply for a job, and now I have it. I am still at the hospital, but I am doing something completely different, clinical research. It is lots of reading, learning, and figuring things out for right now, but I love all those things. Plus, I actually needed my college degree for it which for the most part I had never used. What a Blessing!!

So if you made it this far, you will see that I did not review a single book... I promise to write a goal for 2013 soon. I'm thinking about Freedom!!

At Every Turn by Anne Mateer

Hello,
One day I am going to post something amazing that will grow my readers to millions. Instead all I ever seem to do is do book reviews.

So here I go....

At Every Turn by Anne Mateer is a novel. I am a fast reader, it took me only a few hours to read. I think it would be a good book for a teenager.

Alyce lives in 1916. She is a member of a wealthy family in the country. Her family is pretty dysfunctional we would say today and multigenerational. Her grandmother is an invalid. She has an amazing relationship with Alyce and a strong faith. Alyce shares this strong faith. Her father loves the countryside, his business, and cars. He has recently begun his own race team. So the story has some moments on the early tracks in Indy and Chicago. The early days of the Brickyard. Alyce shares this passion for cars and likes her father's money. The mother wants to be in the city and she wants to marry Alyce off to some successful man in the city. Alyce wants to get married is about the only thing that she has in common with her mother.

The novel begins with Alyce driving her fancy new car to the small town church. She doesn't see that this separates her form the rest of the congregation. Some missionaries are at the church and share their story about orphans in Africa. Alyce pledges three thousand dollars (she thinks her father will pay) to the African orphans and commits the church to matching it. Keep in mind, it is 1916--this would be like 61,000 today or more than many make in a year.

Her father refuses to give anything to something about God. Alyce begins to beg the townspeople for money. In doing so she discovers lots of needs in her own backyard. She gives it away as quickly as she gets it.  Finally she comes up with the idea to race her father's new car. She somehow talks her father's mechanic into letting her do this. Keep in mind, very few women race cars today, 100 years ago it would have been shocking.So thus begins a web of deceit and lies all in order to give money away to missions.

The drama is between whether Alyce will end up with the mechanic Webster (her mother would hate that), her father's business associate Lawrence who attends church with her, or someone else who her parents would find acceptable. As the novel progresses, every one has their secrets which they scheme to keep from revealing.

The whole thing is rather silly. I think their are some good messages. Know your gifts and rest in them. Don't get so carried away with a great need--that you miss needs around you. Don't be impulsive even for good things. God gives you a sound mind for a purpose.

I received no compensation for this review, other than a copy of the book from Bethany House, a division of Baker Publishing.

To Love and Cherish

Oh the irony of the 40 something never married writing a book review of To Love and Cherish by Tracie Peterson and Judith Miller, a Bridal Veil Island  book.

What is Bridal Veil Island? It is a resort for the rich northerners in 1898. The first book in the series was about the beginning of the resort. When a family private island is turned into a resort in order for the family to survive. You can read this book without reading the first because it is a different time period and has none of the same characters.

The main characters are Melinda and Evan. Melinda works for a wealthy family and spends her summers on Bridal Veil. Evan works at Bridal Veil full-time as a gamekeeper. The story begins with Melinda not too patiently waiting for a proposal. Se leaves angrily when Evan has no idea that she expects this. They are brought together again when a hurricane threatens the island and Melinda comes on her own to find out what is going on.

Evan has lots of plans for his future which in his mind involves Melinda, but only after he is stable and able to care for his family.

I think this book is mostly about what it means to wait. Something this single girl knows a lot about. The problem is that Melinda like many of us gets involved in many a scheme to push it along. She fails to trust Evan and thinks the grass may be greener with someone else.

It was a light funny read and has some mysteries thrown in, one about a horse and another about President McKinley. It was just alright, not a classic but entertaining.

I received no compensation for his review other than a copy of To Love and Cherish from Bethany House, a division of Baker Publishing Group.

Nothing To Hide.

This is a funny title because I think I have been hiding from this blog. Where did the summer go? What have I been up to?
 In sometimes I feel like I have been in survivor mode. Bucket down the hatches and make it through. Yet I have seen God give me things that I have wanted for so long. I am beginning to move into more teaching and leadership roles in ministry and I am seeing a new confidence. I am also having good interaction with old friends that I thought were gone from my life. Plus I am meeting new people that make me thankful for the point I am in my life.
I am writing this blog to review a book. "Nothing to Hide" by J. Mark Bertrand. This is the third Roland March Mystery. I read and reviewed the previous book, "Pattern of Wounds". Roland is very much a loner. In this book, it seems like he is isolating himself even more. Even the chaos over changes in the police station, begin to isolate Roland as his leadership changes. Even if he didn't like or agree with the leadership, he finds comfort in the security and boundaries of it. In the previous book, Roland's wife Charlotte is his anchor. She always there to comfort him and give guidance. Their mutual grief over their daughter's death bonds them. Charlotte seems to be moving away from Roland. She has a spiritual faith that he doesn't share: she is busy with her law career and on the road all the time. Her appearances in this novel are limited to times of tragedy. Even the young neighbors who are Roland's safety and family have not only moved but are busy preparing for their first child. Again Roland is all alone.

So in this context, Roland is called to the murder scene. The victim's head is missing and his finger points to a clue. This case leads Roland into a messy maze. He follows one lead which he ends up stumbling and getting hurt. This is just a foreshadowing of what is to come. He stumbles his way into an undercover intelligence community where no one is really telling the truth. He puts people into jeopardy that he shouldn't, too easily trusts people that do have something to hide. He even learns that his own past is tied up into what is going on. He takes justice into his own hands and though he thinks he has nothing to lose and nothing to hide. I think in the end, he realizes that in his pursuit of justice, he risks way more than he should. In the end, the police community and his family are really what matter and honoring them.
 Plus we all have something to hide, there is more to the story than we all are willing to reveal.This is a good mystery and I was intrigued until the very end. I begin to have my suspicions about the killer, but only right before they are revealed.
I received no compensation for this review, other than a copy of this book form Bethany House, a division of Baker publishing.

P.S. I plan to start blogging more often.
 

Year Update and The Fiddler

Wow! The year is halfway over almost and it seems like not much changed.

Am I living up to "Create" as a theme. I think I have made the most progress in creating a community. I have also been volunteering at church  and that helps me use my gifts. My weak areas are in developing a job I love or I would settle for could stand. I would also like to do some type of craft or artwork. I really miss singing also.

I have been reading a lot lately. I received the following title from Bethany House-a division of Baker Publishing Group, The Fiddler by Beverly Lewis. I receive no compensation for reviewing this book other than a free copy of the book.

I think it is a good and easy read. I have never read any kind of Amish fiction before. This book is definitely Amish fiction. Because I am a newbie to the genre, I think there were stories about the minor characters that I was supposed to know from other books. I didn't know but it didn't really bother me.

So the basic premise is that this girl Amelia who is a classical violinist has a secret life as the fiddler Amy Lee, as in a bluegrass fiddler. Her father, boyfriend, and agent have her life planned for her. She is going to record classical music and travel the world. Her secret life as a fiddler is her attempt at her own life, a secret life. She is coming home form a concert and gets lost and stuck near Amish country. She is rescued or really just found by Michael, a man who has left his family because he refuses to join the Amish church. He is stuck between both worlds.

They return together to Amish country and the quiet life is refreshing to Amelia. With Amelia's help, Michael sees his world through new eyes. Without spoiling what happens, I like that through this meeting they help each other to discover a life that doesn't alienate their families, and gets them unstuck from being caught between what they want and the expectations of others. The plot is somewhat predictable but I did think it was heading somewhere else at times.

I don't think this is classical fiction by any means but it did make me compare their dram a to my own life and maybe realize that their is the best life in the middle of two extremes.

"My Own Worst Enemy, how to stop holding yourself back" by Janet Davis

From time to time, I get books to review. This time I chose this book because I had heard of the author. I often listen to Midday Connection on Moody radio. Janet Davis has appeared on there several times. I have always loved that she is very vulnerable about her own life and that she likes to explore the depth of people in the bible, particularly the female ones. To be honest, I didn't really pay much attention to the title when I chose this selection. So I was greatly surprised when this book came and it met me exactly where I am.
I shared in my previous post, that my goal is to Create this year. Most notably "I want to live the life that God has created in me not just what to do to survive." This book hit me over the head. I felt like Janet Davis had been reading my mind. I know that as she says,"I diminish my voice and my contribution".

I loved this book.  In the introduction, she shares that "she became acutely aware if how many awesome and gifted women spent significant amounts of time and energy neglecting, dismissing, or actively covering up their beauty and talent". I so think that I do this. I self-sabotage my life. I call it a fear of failure which it is, but to be honest I don't believe that someone would want me as their employee, their spouse, their friend or their mother. I don't believe that my words,and actions are effective. Janet Davis call this "Shining". She goes on to say "that good Christian women have been taught for generations that it is rude to talk about oneself, much less to shine." because we don't want to shine, we call this humility and think we are being spiritual. Instead we are missing the fact that we are gifted and unique. Ray Kane, another frequent Midday Connection guest says "we each are a unique fingerprint of God, and we express God through being whom he created us to be".
The book is divided into three sections Many Faces, Many Phases and Choices Along the Way.  She begins each chapter with an individual consideration, such as "Make a list of five subjects that you are so passionate about that you would stay up late just to discuss with friends" Then she explores the real life story of a woman, often herself and how God is revealing what is missing in their life. Then each chapter includes a story from scripture of how a woman needs to or has allowed God to shine in her life. Finally she shares a change in the real person's life. Each chapter contains personal challenges titled Your Story.

I am still working through many of these questions. I think working through many of these questions will enable me to create the life I am called to and allow me to shine. This book is definitely a journey, Janet Davis's journey but it can be my journey and your journey also.
   "Her previous painful life experiences became her deep wisdom and the seed of phenomenal inspiration for her creative soul which she now used to bless and comfort... her story shaped her ministry; her identity shaped her creativity.(p98)".

I received no compensation for this review other that a free copy of the book from Bethany House a division of Baker Publishing group. I saw this print on the Kelly Rae Roberts online shop. it is so appropriate.

 


http://shop.kellyraeroberts.com/collections/prints/products/permiission-to-shine-print

Create My World!

So Happy 2012! it is a few weeks in and already most of my thoughts for the year are gone.

Last Year, I decided to live my life according to a word for the year. Last years word was lover. I'm not sure how I succeeded but I do see myself as more relational and less concerned about being right.

This year's Word is CREATE.

Why this word? As I have gotten older I feel the need to be more creative. I used to be so analytical but I really want to express myself and what God is doing in me through my life.

Some ideas!
  I want to live the life that God has created in me not just what to do to survive. So I am going to examine my life particularly my career.
 I want to express myself through music, words and visual arts. I am really interested in creating mixed media art and writing a book.
I want to create a family. I am really praying about foster parenting and adoption. I would love to make some good friends to live life with. I also really long for a husband to share this life with. Mostly, I want to let God mold me into the Dawn he is making me.

So for me 2012 is about what God does through me to Creatively to Become Dawn!

Let Every Heart Prepare Him Room!

It is almost Christmas. I think it is going to be a very quiet Christmas. I hope so!

Last night,I sat and reflected on what Advent means to me.  What does it look like to prepare for Jesus coming as a baby? Is there room in my hear for Jesus! What does the Incarnation to me?

I have been reading Organic God by Margaret Feinberg. It sprung the idea that incarnation means that he is living in me.

This heart with Him living in me wants to make room for others. My heart is breaking with the plight of women throughout the world who die in childbirth from infections or from fistulas. My heart breaks for the orphan who needs a family.

What do I do about this? Do I go? Do I sponsor? Do I think about adoption or foster care?

I want Jesus to break my heart for all these things!

Joy to the World the Lord is come let earth receive her King. Let every heart prepare him room and Heaven and Nature Sing.

Lord I'm singing!

Merry Christmas!!

Dawn

Christmas Shopping for a Cause!

So Saturday night I was a little bored, and I had a busy day. I decided to go to my local Target store to just roam around and get some early Christmas ideas for my nieces and nephews.

I always buy my niece Mackenzie a doll. I saw these beautiful multicultural dolls.  http://www.hearts4heartsgirls.com/media/

They teach girls about different countries and the cost of them goes to support World Vision. I think this is a great way to teach girls about life not here. Girls cannot also go online and learn about the girls lives.

What a great idea! I didn't buy it but I will definitely purchase one or more of these six lovelies.

I received no endorsement of any kind for this post.

My Life and Lesser Catastrophies A memoir by Christina Schofield

What is a memoir? It is a reflection. it is not the complete story,but a perspective. It is what God has done in our lives, or is doing in our lives.
The subtitle of this book is an "unflinchingly honest journey of Faith". That is what I liked about this book, Christina Schofield is not afraid to tell her story. She's not afraid to share her disappointment when things don't work out when they are supposed. She's not afraid to share the fact that God 's will for us is that everything goes smoothly.
What is her story. She is married to Allen, a Christian student minister and has one child. She works as an illustrator in Christian publishing. her life seemed to be the American Christian dream, until one morning they are taking a belated anniversary ride on their motorcycle and hit some gravel. They are both injured. Christina has a concussion and Allen is left paralyzed.
She then wrestles with whether God is still faithful and still good. She wants God to heal her husband physically but does he have other plans for them? She learns to rely on God's presence in her life.
I sometimes struggled reading this book. I think I wanted Christina to see God's faithfulness faster. I haven't really had a life where I could relate to her feeling that bad things hadn't happened to her until this moment. My life has been messy and I've grown up trusting God to guide me through these days and not because my days are good, but He is.
In the end this is what Christina learns and her story isn't over. I can't not like her story because it is her story, my story is different.
 I am glad that people are willing to share God working in them. That God loves us....He writes our story...Maybe it isn't happy ever after...He is the hero and we are loved...
What is your story???

I received no compensation for this review of this book, other than a free copy of this book from Chosen, a division of Baker Publishing Group.

Wonderland Creek by Lynn Austin

Can you read too much? Can you be so lost in stories that you forget to live life? This is the dilemma of the heroine Alice of Wonderland Creek.
She loses her job, her boyfriend breaks up with her because he thinks she is out of touch with people. Is there nothing left for her but books? The only thing left for her is to go to Kentucky and take the books that she has collected for a rural library. She goes herself is the hope that there is more to her than books. She wants to touch people with books, which is proof that she does care about people.
So Alice shows up uninvited and gets caught up in an adventure. This adventure involves how to cope without the comforts of home. She gets caught up in the middle of a murder and a town broken up by a feud between two families. She also becomes a librarian who rides a horse to the homes of poor families and learns how to be involved in the lives of people.
I can relate to reading too much, but I like to believe that I have a balance of living. This book was a good reminder that the adventure is with people and not with books.

As far as this book goes, it really wasn't a page-turner for me, which maybe helps you to not get caught up in a book. I think it took a long time for me to like the characters in this book. Alice isn't very likable until she has her big adventure and then you begin to care about her.
I recieved no compensation for this post other than a free copy of this book from Bethany House.

To Have and To Hold Bridal Veli Island by Tracie Peterson and Judith Miller

To Have and to Hold by Tracie Peterson and Judith Miller

This is the first novel in the Bridal Veil Island series. This is a fictional island near Savannah, Georgia.  The name Bridal Veil refers to how the Spanish moss on the trees look like the lace of a brides veil. I happen to love this part of the country--so I have a natural curiosity about that area. I am also a fan of Eugenia Price novels which all take place in St. Simons Island or Savannah. So the comparison occurred naturally for me. I would say this novel is not quite as epic as a Eugenia Price novel. It takes place in a shorter period of time and almost everything occurs on the island or on the nearby coastal city.

I really enjoyed the main character, Audrey. She seems lost on her native soil after returning home having been raised in the North following the civil war. Her father had moved his young family north to make a living for his family after the island and the South are destroyed by the civil war. Instead of prosperity in construction, he found a life of alcoholism and the loss of his wife. Prior to moving with her father to their ancestral home, Audrey is a household servant. She comes to Bridal Veil to be with her father in his new life of faith and sobriety. I liked that she is able to forgive her father, but is still haunted with prejudices and suspicions. I like that she has a struggle to imagine the worse and let the proposed drama get the best of her. She is also old for a heroine in this time period. She is in her late twenties and never been married at a time when most barely teens are becoming wives and mothers.

Audrey and her father in order to relieve a family tax burden begin to take in boarders as their northern friends begin to build on the part of the island that the family sold long ago. This brings many men to the island which begins the drama for Audrey. This is even more complicated by a family friend "Aunt Thora" who hated northerners especially after the war. There are opportunities for love, dealing with prejudices, mistrusting people,a mystery and dealing with loss.

Sometimes the novel seemed a little predictable like with the title you are sure there is a wedding coming.  I did like that the faith seemed genuine and a part  of their lives unlike many inspirational novels where it is sometimes seems to be in the background.

I could relate to the character and her struggles. So for me it taught me when I am to quick to figure out a situation or to judge someone when I do not have a clear picture. then I like Audrey let my imagination run wild. I need to hold by every thought captive to Christ. I'm so thankful he forgives me. Oh grace it is amazing!!

I received no compensation for this review other than the book that I did receive free from Bethany House.

A Who Dunnit!

Do you love a good mystery? I do.
 I recently read Pattern of Wounds, A Roland March Mystery by J. Mark Bertrand. I have not read many crime novels recently. I tend to read the classics, chick lit, or Christian inspiration targeted to a female audience. it was refreshing to read something that engaged my mind in trying to figure out who killed this young woman brutally stabbed by the pool. No spoilers here but I did figure it out a little bit before detective Roland March and his team.
I really liked Roland March. I have not read Back to Murder of which this book is a sequel. it was easy to get to know Roland. he is really looking for acceptance. He has found acceptance through notoriety. Yet he seems to be misjudged by all his colleagues and superiors. They think he is a rogue cop. I think he is just passionate. He has a very loving relationship with his wife, they mourn together for the loss of their only child. Yet even she tries to dress him up into the elegant clothes of her recently deceased father. Roland is not of the social or financial class of this father, so he seems like a kid playing dress up. His other issue with his wife is her new found faith in Christ that she shares with their neighbors. She pushes him to come to church. He isn't quite there yet but he seems to be wrestling on does God really control the world and if he does, why do these bad things happen to this girl in the pool, to his own daughter,his longtime missing cousin,and the people he meets along the way. The obvious suspect is the estranged husband who is trying to get it all together, but seems to "backslide" into drunkenness and brawling. Roland doubts his faith, but I think the husband is just like all of us struggling with sinful patterns that haunt us
I guess this pattern of wounds is more than the pattens of wounds on the body, it is the pattern of wounds that are past had left on all of us. Only a good God and his grace can heal these wounds. He takes our wounds.
I received this book and no other compensation from Bethany House for this review.

Great Quote-I'm done being a "Good Girl"

Good” People




Jesus offers us so many gifts. But the one we seem to have the hardest time unwrapping is the gift of grace—the gift that allows us to become who God desires us to be if we would simply trust Him and quit trying to be “good” for goodness’ sake. We are saved by grace and faith in Christ.

We become like Him by the same radical strategy. Faith that He has changed us into a new creation. And understanding the grace that gives us good gifts even when we don’t deserve them.



— Excerpted from When Bad Christians Happen to Good People by Dave Burchett

"I Want Somebody to Love"

Sometimes this is the cry of my heart. A husband, a boyfriend, a child, or even just a good friend.

My next thought is that I am so ashamed for feeling that way. He loves me and yet I ignore him. He who gave his life for me. He who sets me free. Yet I pretend so often that he is not there and go my own way. I choose isolation so often.

Sometimes my cry is "oh God but I want some one with skin Someone whose touch I can feel and who I can touch."

Yet I have many beloved people in my life. Friends, family, and precious nieces and nephews. I have been blessed much.

So often I feel like a square peg in a round hole. Round wholes are married, round holes are young, round holes are mothers, round wholes have jobs they love. Yet when my house is full, I want to be alone. Oh this fickle heart of mine.

maybe this loneliness, this feeling of not fitting is just how Jesus calls to me." People don't fill your heart, only I do. You will never be satisfied this side of heaven. Your singleness is saving you for something special, even if it beyond the grave."

Why can't I wait? Better yet, why don't I wait with Him. Jesus lover of my soul--I know you are waiting for me.

grasping Him,
Dawn

Being Free!

I feel like I have spent much of my life living up to expectations! Fortunately, I have survived. I wish we would all just see that God's grace makes us free!!! We need to rest in this!!

The following is a Blog post from Tullian Tchividjian:  The Pitfall Of Perfectionism

I recently read this from Steve Brown and had to share it with you:

She was only twenty-six years old. She was a Christian working in a church. After college she had served for a year on the mission field. I didn’t know her well, but I liked her a lot. She was a strong witness for Christ and she was an articulate spokesperson for evangelical Christianity. This morning I got the message that she had taken her life. I was absolutely devastated. I didn’t understand.

As if that were not enough, shortly after hearing about her suicide I got a call from a man who listens to my radio broadcast. “Steve,” he said, “I haven’t told anybody in the world what I’m going to tell you. I have decided to leave my wife and I told God that if I get through to you, I would do whatever you told me to do.”
I asked him what prompted him to decide to leave her.
He told me, “I became a Christian at fourteen and all my life I’ve been seeking to live up to the expectations of others. I work full-time in a ministry, I teach the Bible, and everyone thinks I’m the model Christian. I’m just tired of it. I’ve decided to do something for myself for a change.”

Let me share a letter with you that I received a couple weeks ago. There was no return address and the person gave me no name.
Dear Stephen,
Please pray for me as I am on the edge–a total failure as a Christian. I have failed as a husband and as a father. God has probably given up on me. I feel so very alone and abandoned. It’s a horrible feeling that words alone cannot describe. Please don’t judge me. Pray for me.

At first these three incidents didn’t seem related. They were just about individuals for whom I prayed. But in the silence of my prayer it dawned on me that they all had the same problem: They all had created a false standard of perfection (or accepted someone else’s standard) and concluded they couldn’t live up to it.
What advice would you give them? If you had talked to the young lady before her suicide, or the man thinking about leaving his wife, or the anonymous correspondent–what would you have said?
Most Christians would say that they should try harder. The problem is that all three already had–and they were at the end of themselves.
Others would try to help them trace their despair back to some unconfessed sin in their lives–drawing a straight line between their spiritual depression and their spiritual failure.
And still others would tell them to have faith. And yet, they discovered that the faith they needed couldn’t be turned on and off like a faucet.
But what would Jesus have told them? We don’t have to guess: “Come to me, all you who are weary and heavy burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light” (Matthew 11:28-30).
Perfectionism (or performancism) is a horrible disease. It comes from the pit of hell, smelling like rotting flesh. Someone convinced these folks that they were called to measure up to an unattainable standard. They couldn’t do it and each in his or her own way simply quit trying.

Nobody told them that Jesus was perfect for them, and because of that they didn’t have to be perfect for themselves. They didn’t understand that if Jesus makes you free, you will be free indeed.
Christian, please remember that Jesus plus nothing equals everything. That,
Because Jesus was strong for you, you’re free to be weak;

Because Jesus won for you, you’re free to lose;


Because Jesus was Someone, you’re free to be no one;


Because Jesus was extraordinary, you’re free to be ordinary;



Because Jesus succeeded for you, you’re free to fail.



Preaching the gospel is the only thing that helps us take our eyes off ourselves and how we’re doing and fix our eyes on Christ, the author and perfecter of our faith. Jesus fulfilled all of God’s perfect conditions so that our relationship to God could be perfectly unconditional.



You’re free!



Check out Steve Brown at http://www.keylife.org/ 

I listen daily and it ministers to my soul. He also has a great talk show which is hilarious as it interviews all sorts of people that make up the crazy world of Christianity http://stevebrownetc.com/

Check out Tullian's blog at http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/tullian/
and his sermons http://www.crpc.org/resources/sermons/preacher/u/2/tullian-tchividjian
 

Grasping Grace,

Dawn

Children

Hey,
It is the week after Mother's day. It is hard to not be a mother in my 40's, so I try to focus on being a daughter.

I have always wanted to adopt. I'm not sure it is in my current plans but it is always in my current plans. There is a whole blog world out there about adoption and many fundraising ideas. This post is about one of them.

Some friends of mine the Thompson's are adopting from Africa, Ethiopia to be exact. They have a great passion for Africa. I have participated in the past in a garage sale and a car wash to help with their adoption. Last year when her sister adopted, they were chosen to be a fundraising family for Go Seek Love. The profits from the T-shirts every month go to a family who is adopting. May is the month for the Thompsons.

Please participate.

Grasping grace,
Dawn

Love Written in Stone

I was a little skeptical about this book. I did not really understand what Dr. Philip Carlson was trying to do. On the back cover, it is introduced as "a unique perspective to the connection between following God's guidelines and wellness in our lives" because Dr. Carlson is both a pastor and a medical doctor. It goes on to say"that he demystifies God's expectations  regarding family relationships, nutrition, sexuality, the environment and more and they are backed up by medical research.

Instead I found myself loving this book. The Gospel is central in this book and it is illustrated in all the relationships of our life. The gospel is good for us and living according to God's ways is best.

The subtitle of the book best explains it: Finding God''s Grace in the boundaries he sets. The first part of the book is Guidance for our relationship with God. Dr. Carlson thoroughly explains that sin is our problem and that we can hide from it but in doing so we destroy ourselves and those around us. Then the next section talks about forgiveness by God and how we are to forgive others. That forgiveness is good for our health and research shows it. The next section on Gratitude and Joy is amazing. The book contains within it and in an appendix many scripture on happiness and joy to reflect on. This attitude which God commands us is actually known to sustain us during depression, suicidal tendencies and other medical issues. 

The second part of the book is "Instructions for our relationships and others" . Their is an honest look at the importance of sex in the context of marriage only and on the importance of love and commitment on our families and on our society.

The third section of the book, talks about "Directions for a Healthier Self". Dr Carlson explores the importance of sleep, sabbath, and seasons of rest to the well being of our spirit and physical body. I left this part thinking that a loving God provides good things for me not to hinder me but because he loves me.

The final section talks about "Insight for our Relationship with Creation". God is redeeming not only us through his gospel but also the created world. We have a responsibility to take care of the world that God gave us dominion over.

I would recommend this book for a seeker,a new believer or just someone wants to know how God's grace impacts us, the people in our lives and the world we live in.

I received this book form Bethany House in exchange for this review. I did not have to write positive things. I received no other compensation.

Larkspur Cove by Lisa Wingate

Let me say first that I enjoyed this read. It is a very engaging novel. There are some things that I do not like about it because of it being considered inspirational fiction.

The main female character,Andrea Henderson leaves her life in Houston, to return to her parents' lake house in Larkspur Cove, an exclusive resort at Moses Lake. Since she is now a resident of Moses Lake, she and her son get to know the residents of Moses Lake and not just the vacationers. I have had this experience when I worked at local businesses at the beach two different summers in college. You begin to see the vacation paradise in a new light and that there are problems among the pretty facade.

Andrea begins working for a counselor who does long term meeting with the clients of the county child welfare program. Through this she begins to leave her country club facade behind and deal with the real issues of the society. There is great poverty on the lake. The mystery of this novel involves the town recluse who now seems to have a little girl with him wherever he goes.

Andrea and her son are damaged from the public disgrace of her ex-husband who was a church leader. Andrea arrives in Moses Lake scared and angry and afraid that she and her son can ever heal. She is bitter and she abandons the church and the most part God. I think this is a very timely subject because the facade of the perfect church is fading. I like that it shows that Christians aren't perfect, they need to be the people God is calling them to be. In this new environment they thrive as people want to be with them because of who they are and not their church position

Andrea through her work meets the local game warden, Mart McClendon. He has returned to his boyhood home to escape himself and his family. He also needs forgiveness. Primarily from his own inability to forgive himself.

So this is my dilemma, these two people find forgiveness and healing and they find the ability to be real and genuine people. I just don't like that this healing  seems to come more from their relationship with each other then from God. I like that Andrea begins to see herself as free. This freedom seems to always express it self by running into the night for clandestine meetings with Mart. Although their relationship does not involve sexual relations, making out in the dark in the moonlight just doesn't seem like appropriate behavior for the mother of someone who is reeling from his father's adultery.

I think a new man is a very worldly solution to healing and forgiveness. I wish this novel had shown the healing more from God or even a community of faith. I think inspirational fiction should point to Jesus as the healer not just a man.

I received no compensation for this review. I did receive the book free of charge from Bethany House.


Keep Reading,
Dawn

The girl in the gatehouse

I love to read Jane Austen. I think that I am a bit of a fan but yet I really don't explore her past. I have never joined a Jane Austen society (such things do exist). I know very little about the Regency period. Until reading this book, I am not sure I knew what that period of time when Jane Austen lived is called (A regent ruled in place of the actual sovereign). I also do not really read books that are written in the style of Jane Austen. There are books that retell Pride and Prejudice, add monsters, tell what happened next. I had seen books at the bookstore that were Christian versions.
As reported in a previous post, I have been given the opportunity to review books for Baker publishing. I chose this selection because of my love of Jane Austen.  The girl in the gatehouse by Julie Klassen is written in the time of Jane Austen. Most of Jane Austen's stories tell of the struggle of woman to get along in their society. Usually this involves obtaining a husband in order to secure a happy future. With the exception of Emma, the heroine does not have a prominent enough place in society to assure that is going to happen. Fanny of Mansfield Park is a poor relative. Eleanor and Marianne in Sense and Sensibility are the daughters of a happy second marriage but are left with little prospects after the death of their father and when the brother the heir takes over their home. In Pride and Prejudice, Elizabeth and her sisters' lack of prospects are because there are five of them and the estate belongs to a relative who is the heir because they have no brother.  Sometimes, in Jane Austen novels, some of the characters take matters in their own hands and do something that we would not be shocked by today but would be the ruin of the girl and her family in that time. These girls lose their virginity. Usually their punishment is that they are sent away. Jane Austen never tells what happens to these girls. The "good" girls end up happy ever after but what of the "bad" girls.
In The girl in the gatehouse, this is where Julie Klassen begins her story. Mariah Aubrey is sent away because she has brought shame on her family. Mariah is sent to live in the gatehouse of the estate of her "Aunt Fran" (the wife of her late uncle who is remarried and rewidowed). She is banished from her family and the neighborhood where she lived. Mariah is accompanied by her Dixon, her former tutor turned companion. These two women must start a new life with very little assistance.
What I enjoyed most about this story is that they build their own community. They take their difficult situation and start afresh. They learn to cook and clean. Mariah begins earning a living by writing which as Jane Austen herself knew was not proper for young women. Mariah like Jane Austen writes without her own name on her books.They make friends with the staff of the estate and they begin to get involved in the lives of the residents, young and old, of the poorhouse adjoining the estate. There is a man who haunts the roof of the poorhouse. Why is he there? Why is the poorhouse so close to the estate? Why is the gate locked?Dixon finds love for the first time. Mariah is not caught up in her own guilt and own misery but begins to move on and reach out to others.  These people are not the of the society that she has been banned from. Martin, who they inherit from Aunt Fran when she dies, is a man of many secret talents and he begins to change their gatehouse into a home. Aunt Fran also leaves Mariah her treasure, but what is it?
 Mariah meets the estate's new tenant, a naval captain who now has wealth but wants so much to enter the life of a gentleman. Mariah and he form a friendship that helps them both find a path to forgiveness and acceptance. In trying to find the mystery behind the locked gate, they find the path through the gate that leads to Christ. I won't reveal the mysteries of the estate and if they find love with each other. You'll have to read it to see.
I would recommend this book as a fun story of redemtion through the means of a community who accept you as you are. In doing so, they help each other find true acceptance in Christ.

I received this book free in exchange for this review, but received no other compensation.