My #Saywhat Moment

Her name was Susan. She was a captive audience in my living room. She had come to my home to sell me a very expensive vacuum cleaner. She did her demo, and I listened politely. In exchange for this I got a clean living room carpet and a small, rather useless camera. She got stuck at my house with no sale and no ride for an hour.

To say this was awkward is an understatement. I'm extremely introverted and I struggle with small talk. Thankfully, she was somewhat chatty. We talked about life for a few minutes. She asked me what my husband did . I said he was studying to be a minister. This brought on a rather long diatribe about why she didn't like ministers because they were so rich and took money from little old ladies.

At some point during all of this I got the strong impression that I was supposed to share my faith with with Susan. After hearing her talk about all that was wrong with churches, and Christians, and pastors, I was a little hesitant.  But I was obedient. I asked her a few questions, and found out that when she was young she went to a hell-fire-and-brimstone church. All she had ever heard about God was how judgmental he was, and that he couldn't wait to send people to Hell. Pastors scared her, Christians scared her, and God scared her. I was able to share God's love with her, and tell her that I'm not a Christian because I'm afraid of God. I'm a Christian because of the love He showed when He sent Christ to die for me.

I never saw Susan again after the hour we spent together. I still pray for her whenever I think about her. I'm so thankful I was obedient that day. I hope today she is serving the God that I know. The one that loves her more than anything.

With All My Heart

I have been meditating on Deuteronomy 6:5 this week:

"Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength."

I've known this verse since I was a little girl. I never really thought about it being anything spectacular. Of course I love God. I am a Christian. That's what Christians do.

Last night I dug a little deeper. My study Bible commentary says the heart, soul, and strength are our intellect, will, emotions, and our physical being. Everything I am needs to love God. Everything that makes me who I am needs to love God. Not just my mind if I'm tired, and not just my body if I'm thinking about something else. I need to love Him with all my being. This takes concentration and discipline. It takes time. It also takes reading the next verse:

"And you must commit yourselves wholeheartedly to these commands that I am giving you."

Wholehearted commitment. That's what it looks like.

19 Facts About Adam

My oldest child, Adam, turned 19 yesterday. In honor of his birthday I thought I would try to come up with 19 facts about him. So here goes:

1. He loves fried chicken
2. He got his first car when he was 18
3. We pretty much had to make him get his driver's licence
4. To call him a movie buff would be an understatement
5. Just before his 4th birthday, he told us he was going to "get wild"
6. Adam is a tennis player
7. He loves movie soundtracks
8. He loves to say he is going to do something crazy, and then never does it
9. His first job was as a field hand in an Iowa cornfield
10. Adam's first girlfriend worked with him in said cornfield
11. He was home schooled
12. He graduated at the top of his class
13.To say he is a voracious reader is an understatement
14. He is a lefty
15. He had to get stitches 3 times before his 6th birthday
16. He was the district doubles champion his senior year at Matanzas High School
17. When he got his car, he took his sisters out for ice cream
18. He finds theology fascinating
19. His mother loves him more than words can say

Happy birthday, Adam!

Book Review: Wishing on Willows

Wishing on Willows is a sequel to the book Wildflowers from Winter. It is Christian romance dealing with falling in love after a tragedy.Robin has thrown her life into the cafe her late husband always dreamed of owning. She cannot see herself ever falling in love again. Ian is trying to save his family construction business by building condos...right where Robin's cafe is located. These two characters have a lot of chemistry and a lot of spunk. I enjoyed the story line and thought it was a well written book and a sweet love story.

I received this book for free from Waterbrook Multnomah.

January Reading

Read any good books lately? I have read a few already this year. I usually read 4-6 books a month. This month I read 5, so I am right on track.

The Face by Angela Hunt (3.5/5) ~ This was an interesting book. I have always enjoyed Angela Hunt. She's an excellent writer. This story was about a woman with a rare disorder that caused her to be born without a face. As an infant, she only had a small opening for a mouth. Everthing else had to be put on with surgery. She was raised by the CIA and used by them for her computer skills. She grew up thinking she had no family, but later finds out she has an aunt. This changes her life in ways she never imagined. I would have given this a higher score, but the ending bugged me.

Veil of Pearls by MaryLu Tyndall ~ reviewed here.

The Spirit Well by Shephen Lawhead (4/5) ~ This is #3 in  the Bright Empires series. There are supposed to be two more in the future. I think this was my favorite one so far. Lots of adventure and the mystery of  the skin map that everyone is trying to find. If you like time travel novels. This is a great series. I revied the first book, The Skin Map, here.

Glamorous Illusions by Lisa T Bergren (4/5) ~ This was a Kindle freebie that got really good reviews. Overall I enjoyed it. It's the story of a farm girl who finds out she is the illegitimate daughter of a copper tycoon. He decide he wants to integrate her into his family whether she likes it or not. She doesn't like it, and neither do his other children. This is the first in a series about a European summer tour. I liked it, but I doubt I will read the next book.

A Woman Who Trusts God by Debbie Alsdorf (4/5) ~ My word for this year is trust, so I thought it would be fitting to start the year by reading about trust more in depth. This book was a study of Philippians. Its focus was on what to do in "the meantime". The meantime is when your are struggling with life, and you aren't sure what God is doing, or where he is leading you. I in the meantime right now, so this book was great for me.

There's my January reading wrap-up. What are you reading?

WORDful Wednesday: Pictures of Egypt

This song always speaks to me when I am going through big changes.

Book Review: Veil of Pearls

My first book of the new year was Veils of pearls by MaryLu Tyndall. This book is set just before the War of 1812. The main character is a runaway slave named Adalia who is light skinned enough to pass for white. She arrives in Charleston, SC and begins to work as an assistant for a local doctor. She becomes interested in Morgan, a local plantation owner's son, and begins to enjoy her exciting new life.

This is the first book I have read by this author, and over all I enjoyed it. I liked the Adalia  a lot. She was strong and stood up for her beliefs, and she felt a strong responsibility to take a stand against slavery. She was also a very real character with flaws. She struggled with where she was supposed to fit in society and with new temptations that socializing with Morgan brings her. Morgan annoyed me somewhat. He was very spoiled and didn't seem to care if he put Adalia in compromising situations, but he did mature by the end of the story.

 I would recommend this book to women who enjoy historical romances. It was an easy read and a nice escape.