Faithful to Laura by Kathleen Fuller

As I have previously written, books about the Amish interest me since I live near a settlement here in Tennessee.  Recently I was able to read a great Amish book by Kathleen Fuller that I got on Booksneeze.com called Faithful to Laura.

The main character in this book is Laura Stutzman, a young Amish girl that fell in love with an “English” man named Mark.  She was raised in the small, close knit Amish community in Etheridge, Tennessee.  One day she met a handsome English man that helped in her family’s bakery.  The two teenagers fell in love but only later did she realize he was just using her to get the money from the bakery.  After stealing the money, setting the barn on fire and locking her inside to die does she realize that he is not the man she thought he was. Now left with permanent scars on her face, she decides to go to Ohio to stay with some kin until she can face her parents. All she can focus on now is finding Mark and exacting her revenge for all he has done but her Amish roots are telling her she needs to forgive. However, Laura doesn’t know if she can forgive and although meeting someone new is the last thing on her mind, her heart may have other ideas.

Sawyer is a “Yankee” that has been raised by the Amish since his parents’ death when he was a child.  Now, the time has come to choose which life he wants to follow, Amish or Yankee. To further complicate things, a lady claiming to be his grandmother shows up wanting him to come with her to New York so she will have an heir to leave her wealth to when she dies.  Sawyer doesn’t know which way to turn.  Then he meets Laura and all of a sudden has someone he can talk to.  He sees past her scars and looks into her heart. Is being Amish in God’s plan for him and if so, can he ever get Laura to trust him after her previous experience with men?

I loved this book and although there are other characters and their stories intertwined, I found it very intriguing and hard to put down.  I would definitely read more books by this author in the future.

You can find out more here.

Through Rushing Water by Catherine Richmond

“Ignore the rushing water. Ignore everything that tries to pull you under or knock your feet out, or obscures your view. Plant your feet on solid rock.”

Through Rushing Water is the story of Sophia, a French teacher in New York in 1876.  Her life was all planned out and everything was going great until the day the man she thought she would marry announced his engagement to one of her close friends.  Feeling the need for a change, Sophia signs up for foreign missions expecting to be sent to China.  Instead, she ends up teaching the Ponca Indians in Dakota Territory.  While there she realizes that some of the things that she really valued meant nothing compared to the vital necessities that these Indians lacked.  She valued money, fancy dresses, a fine reputation while the Indians only wanted food, shelter, clothing, and a place to call their own. 

While working as a schoolteacher at the Dakota Territory mission she meets Will, the missionary carpenter to the Ponca tribe.  She immediately notices something different about him. He is quiet and reserved but instead of looking down on the people he is helping, he has learned their language and determined to be the best that he could be in spite of the overwhelming circumstances of extreme poverty and utter helplessness. 

Together Sophia and Will strive to make a difference while ignoring the rushing waters of circumstances.  Sophia writes letters to congressmen and politicians asking for help and interest in the plight of the Ponca people. Will takes a quieter approach, sharing his story with as many will listen when the Indians are moved out of their place of residence and he heads home to Omaha to pick back up his carpentry business with his brother.

This book taught me a lot about being able to look past the circumstances that may be staring you in the face and pressing forward seeing the bigger picture. That God has us in the center of his protection if we will follow his commands and let him lead us.  When we get to the really tough situations, he won’t leave us helpless. That is when he will no longer hold our hand but pick us up and carry us to the other side of the trouble.  So take heart, know you are not alone, and ignore the rushing waters! 

You can find out more here.

Covenant Child By Terri Blackstock

Hello fellow readers! I hope you have been reading!

Today I would like to share about another book I got from Book Sneeze called Covenant Child by Terri Blackstock. I have to admit that I almost didn’t finish this book because I got bogged down in the negative events that kept happening to the characters. But in the end, I am glad I finished it. When I took a step back and compared it to the life of a sinner saved by Jesus’ grace, it all began to take shape in my mind. Let me explain.

This book follows the life of Kara and Lizzie, twin girls that are heirs to the largest fortunes ever known when at the age of three, their father and grandparents are tragically killed in a plane crash. They are then snatched from the loving arms of their stepmother and sent to live with their other grandparents.  They are only interested in the money these little girls will get when they turn eighteen.  They grow up never knowing the truth and being constantly abused and mistreated learning to fend for themselves and getting into all kinds of trouble.  All the while being told lies about their stepmother, Amanda, who is biding her time, taking care of the girl’s inheritance and just waiting for the day that Kara and Lizzie can come home to her and receive what is rightfully theirs.

This book made me think of the story of the prodigal son in the Bible.  The boy took the inheritance that his father gave him and squandered it but instead of coming back to the loving arms of his father, he refuses to admit that he is better off at home and starts eating the slop of the pigpen.  He was at the lowest of the low just like these girls.  Once he got past the devil’s lies and realized that his Father truly did love him, he was able to go back and receive all that he was destined to have.

It is the same way with our relationship with Christ.  No matter what we have done in life, no matter how far down we have sunk, God is right there, like Amanda in the story, guarding what is meant to be ours, just waiting for us to get past the devil’s lies and see that he has our best interest at heart. God will always take care of us if you will allow him to. 

This is not a book you can put down halfway, you have to stick it out and make it to the end of the book to know the whole story. 

You can find out more here.

Facing Your Giants by Max Lucado

There are giants everywhere but we are not grasshoppers in our minds.  With all the power of Heaven at our disposal and the sword of the spirit in our hands, we can defeat any enemy that comes against us.

In Max Lucado’s book called Facing Your Giants, he takes the life of David and shares secrets and insights that can help us face the giants in our lives. 

We have all heard the story of David and Goliath. David was the skinny little freckle faced shepherd boy completely out of his element on the battlefield. Goliath was a nine-foot giant that had a little too much pride and confidence in his ability.  But David had something Goliath didn’t have with all his physical abilities, the power of God backing him up.  When David saw Goliath on top of the hill, he didn’t slink back and hide like the rest of the army.  Instead, he called upon his God and ran toward his giant picking up five smooth stones as he ran and slinging his slingshot.  Even with a nonsophisticated weapon, he was able to hit Goliath where he wasn’t protected and kill him.

As Max points out in this book, even later in David’s life when he fell short and lost sight of God, he was always able to come back and face his giants and receive God’s forgiveness.   God is always there waiting to forgive and restore your life but you have to face your problems, not run away from them.

The only part of you that is not protected with the armor of God is your backside.  God intended for us to face our giants head on not running away from them where they have a target to hit.

These days we don’t have nine-foot giants to face and kill. We have debt, worry, sickness, anger, bitterness, failures, and fear.  But if we take David’s advice, we can cast our cares and let God fight our battles. We will always win with him on our side as long as we don’t run.  But we have to stay focused on God and his Word. 

I will leave you with a quote from this book:

            Focus on Giants – You Stumble

            Focus on God – Your Giants Tumble

I hope you will read this book and learn how to follow David’s example and conquer any Goliath you have facing you today! 

You can purchase this book here.

Trial by Fire by Terri Blackstock

Amid all the difficult circumstances that life throws my way, I always find it relaxing at the end of a hard day to stretch out with a good book.  I just completed the fourth book in the Newpointe 911 series by Terri Blackstock called Trial by Fire.

This book centers on Nick Foster who is both a firefighter and the pastor in Newpointe, Louisiana.  When they get the call that his church is on fire, they rush to the scene in hopes of saving the building that means so much to the entire town.  Once they arrive on the scene, Nick sees that the whole building is engulfed but he charges in amidst the flames to make sure no one is trapped.  After sustaining burns to his arms and legs, he frees a young man from the building only to find that the kid has a bullet hole through his head.  He didn’t just die in the fire; this is a murder.

The local paramedic, Issie Mattreaux, is the complete opposite of Nick with a wild lifestyle and a record of poor choices.  After the fire at the church she begins searching for her nephew, Jake, who has went missing.  But what she finds will put her life and those close to her in danger.  When an attempt is made on Issie’s life, she doesn’t know who else to call so she calls Nick.  In an ironic twist, the preacher and the town sinner will have to stick together to stay alive. Can Nick keep her alive long enough to share his faith with her and just maybe find the girl of his dreams beneath Issie’s tough exterior?

This is a great book that will have you hanging onto every word!

You can purchase this book here.

Word of Honor by Terri Blackstock

Word of Honor is the third book in the Newpointe 911 series by Terri Blackstock.  This book focuses on the local attorney Jill Clark and her old flame, Dan Nichols.  When a bomb goes off in the downtown post office killing three people and leaving a five-year-old boy lying comatose in the hospital. 

The man seen leaving the scene of the bombing breaks into Jill’s hotel room and holds her hostage while trying to figure out his next move.  The whole time she is being held hostage, her captor keeps telling her he is innocent but he will not give police the name of anyone else.  To get out of the gunman’s hands, Jill agrees to represent him. However, once outside she backs out of her promise.

With the suspected bomber in jail, things get rocky when there are multiple attempts made on her life and it becomes clear that he may not be the bomber or at least not acted alone. Jill starts digging deeper into the case with Dan’s assistance but finds that to solve it, she must dig deeper into the Bible and find out what a covenant really is.

This is a high action book that I highly recommend!

You can find out more here.