Amanda Stephan's Blog: God is Good, God is Great, page 8

Thankful by Shelley Shepard Gray - Win the first two books in the Return to Sugarcreek series!

In Thankful , New York Times bestselling author, Shelley Shepard Gray captures the beauty, devotion, and warmth of Amish life in this engaging tale of family, commitment, trust, and love set in the beloved community of Sugarcreek.


Enter to win the first two books in Shelley's Return to Sugarcreek series, Hopeful & Thankful.
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All My Belongings - Enter to win a $200 Visa Card from Cynthia Ruchti

Cynthia Ruchti asks what it takes to overcome your past and become who you were meant to be in her latest novel, All My Belongings. Cynthia has woven a heart-wrenching tale of forgiveness, grace, and learning what it means to truly belong.


Cynthia is celebrating the release of her latest novel with a fun giveaway and a live webcast event!





One winner will receive:


A $200 Visa cash cardAll My Belongings by Cynthia RuchtiEnter today by clicking one of the icons below. But hurry, the giveaway ends on June 11th. Winner will be announced at the All My Belongings LIVE webcast event on June 11th. Connect with Cynthia for an evening of book chat, trivia, laughter, and more! Cynthia will also be taking questions from the audience and giving away books, fun prizes, and gift certificates throughout the evening.


So grab your copy of All My Belongings and join Cynthia and friends on the evening of June 11th for a chance to connect and make some new friends. (If you haven't read the book, don't let that stop you from coming!) Don't miss a moment of the fun; RSVP today by signing up for a reminder. Tell your friends via FACEBOOK or TWITTER and increase your chances of winning. Hope to see you on the 11th!

Failure.

Why is it that some people have all the confidence while others have none? Why is it that some feel their failures on such a personal level that it's hard for them to get back on their feet when someone else has been negative about them?

Most people think I'm an extrovert because I talk and laugh with many people. I have friends and am friendly to others. In truth, I'm an introvert with extrovert tendencies. An introvert recharges away from others while an extrovert receives a recharge from being around other people. I like people. I like doing things with friends. I like playing the oboe in the church orchestra. I like working with kids. But it scares the snot out of me to have a solo, or to stand and sing in front of people. I sit in the balcony because that's where I'm most comfortable. I don't like the feeling that people are looking at me.

Because I know they're going to find my flaws and find me lacking in some area of my life. For some people, I'm too Christian. For others, I'm not Godly enough. See? I can't win for losing!

Anyway, this is a constant struggle for me - I need to please God rather than man. God is my Judge (and He will always judge righteously) therefore, I need to seek His favor rather than man's. He alone knows the secrets and intents of my heart. He knows where I've failed - but it's easier with Him than it is with others. Why? Because He extends grace and mercy where others give no second chance. He allows us to get up, repent and move forward. Most people don't offer that kind of love to others.

When I've been the recipient of someone's nastiness - imagined or real - there is one thing I always do. I pray about the situation. I tell God exactly what I'm thinking and what I'm feeling. Why not? He knows it already, so just admit it and move on, right? During this time of prayer, I ask Him to show me if I'm being too sensitive (surprise. I'm a super sensitive person and honestly, it drives me nuts), or if there's truth to my thoughts and feelings. I ask Him for healing. I ask Him to deal with the other person, and then I ask Him to help me forgive and have a better attitude with them. 

That last one is sometimes the hardest, I'll be honest. It's not easy to forgive and smile when someone's been nasty. Some people would call me a doormat. Oh well. If there's something you're good at, do it, right? Just kidding. :)


What about you? When you're hurt, what do you do?

A Story in Pieces Book Review and Tour

About Quilts of Love: Quilts tell stories of love and loss, hope and faith, tradition and new beginnings. The Quilts of Love series focuses on the women who quilted all of these things into their family histories. A new book releases each month and features contemporary and historical romances as well as women's fiction and the occasional light mystery. You will be drawn into the endearing characters of this series and be touched by their stories.
About the book: A baby quilt touches many hearts as it travels from family-to-family and through generations. After the end of World War II, Clara Kirkpatrick returns from the Women's Army Corp to deliver a dying soldier's last wishes: convey his love to his young widow, Mattie, with apologies for the missed life they had planned to share.
Struggling with her own post-war trauma, Clara thinks she's not prepared to handle the grief of this broken family. Yet upon meeting Mattie, and receiving a baby quilt that will never cuddle the soldier's baby, Clara vows to honor the sacrifices that family made.Now a labor and delivery nurse in her rural hometown, Clara wraps each new babe in the gifted quilt and later stitches the child's name into the cloth. As each new child is welcomed by the quilt, Clara begins to wonder whatever happened to Mattie---and if her own life would ever experience the love of a newborn. Little does she know that she will have the opportunity to re-gift the special quilt---years later and carrying even greater significance than when it was first bestowed.

Learn more about this book and the series at the Quilts of Love website.
  About the Author: Emily Wierenga is a former editor, ghostwriter, freelance writer and staff journalist, a monthly columnist for The Christian Courier, and the author of Save My Children (Castle Quay Books, 2008), Chasing Silhouettes (Ampelon Publishing, 2012) and Mom in the Mirror (Rowman & Littlefield, 2013). Emily resides in Alberta, Canada. This is her first novel.
Learn more about Emily at: http://www.emilywierenga.comFollow the Tour!
My Thoughts:
This was a good tearjerker book. If you love books that make you want to grab your family and hug them until they struggle to get away, this one is for you.

Clara Kirkpatrick suffers from many things. Like stubbornness. Which she inherited from her father. I enjoyed watching her grow from a rebellious young woman into a mature adult that realizes that everyone is far from perfect - just like her - and that everyone needs forgiveness, compassion, and love. I very much enjoyed how much she loved her mother and how their relationship was so good. That was a blessing, and I liked how she came to grips with her father and why he acted the way he did. They were human - and I loved them for that. I didn't like Clara at the beginning, but she grew on me when she came to grips with herself and her beliefs.

This novel skips from World War 2 to the year 2000, and there were times I found that pulled me from the story and I had to really concentrate on what I was reading to get myself back into it. I connected much better with the flashbacks than I did the year 2000 periods of the book. 


My thanks to LitFuse and Abingdon Fiction for providing me a copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinions. I was not required they be positive.

Make Your Mom Cry. Make her a Mother's Bracelet for Mother's Day

Mother's Day is just around the corner. I can't speak for any other mother's out there,but I can say that in my opinion, a gift made specially for me by my children holds no price. It's invaluable.
Here's a video I thought might inspire you to create something for your ownmother.Happy Mother's Day!

Critical Condition by Richard Mabry - Book Review & Tour

About the book:  
Dr. Frasier couldn't save the gunshot victim on her front lawn. Now she's fighting for her own life.
It began as a quiet dinner party honoring Dr. Shannon Frasier's colleague, but became a nightmare when a man was shot on her lawn, reviving emotions from a similar episode a decade ago. Then a midnight call from her sister, Megan, causes Shannon to fear that her sister is on drugs again.Her "almost-fiancé" Dr. Mark Gilbert's support only adds to Shannon's feelings of guilt, since she can't bring herself to fully commit to him. She turns for help to her pastor-father, only to learn that he's just been diagnosed with leukemia. Shannon thought it couldn't get any worse. Then the late-night, threatening phone calls begin, the rough voice asking, "What did he say before he died?"With everything around her in a critical state, simply staying alive will require all the resources and focus Shannon has.
Purchase a copy: http://ow.ly/vyZt6
About the Author: A retired physician, Dr. Richard Mabry is the author of four critically acclaimed novels of medical suspense. His previous works have been finalists for the Carol Award and Romantic Times Reader's Choice Award, and have won the Selah Award. He is a past Vice-President of American Christian Fiction Writers and a member of the International Thriller Writers. He and his wife live in North Texas.
Connect with Richard at: http://rmabry.com Follow the Tour! My Thoughts: 
This was my first Richard Mabry and medical suspense novel. It was a good one to cut my teeth on. I loved how Shannon was written ~ strong and capable, yet lovable and caring and still needing to grow. Mark, Shannon's almost fiance, was excellent, and I wish there were more of his type in the real world! Overall, this story kept me guessing and kept me on my toes. I didn't much care for Shannon's sister, Megan. She was whiny and insulted that no one believed her when she promised she was clean and wasn't going back to drugs and alcohol. Never mind past actions, right? Also, she seemed to be quite the user which really bothered me as well. Not thankful, not compassionate to her sister or parents, and basically, an all around jerk with a pretty face. Blech.

There were no sex scenes and no swearing. 
*I received this book from the publisher in exchange for my honest opinion. I was not required they be positive.*

Defy the Night - Book Review & Tour

Defy the Night: A Novel, by Heather Munn and Lydia MunnIn the midst of war, one teenager is determined to make a difference. If no one will do anything, she'll have to do it herself. 


 In 1941 France is still "free." But fifteen-year-old Magali is frustrated by the cruel irony of pretending life is normal when food is rationed, new clothes are a rarity, and most of her friends are refugees. And now the government is actually helping the Nazis. Someone has got to do something, but it seems like no one has the guts--�until Paquerette arrives.

Smuggling refugee children is Paquerette's job. And she asks Magali to help.

Working with Paquerette is scary and exhausting, but Magali never doubts that it is the right thing to do. Until her brash actions put those she loves in danger. Read a Snippet!
About the Authors:


Heather Munn
Heather Munn was born in Northern Ireland of American parents and grew up in the south of France. She decided to be a writer at the age of five when her mother read Laura Ingalls Wilder’s books aloud, but worried that she couldn’t write about her childhood since she didn’t remember it. When she was young, her favorite time of day was after supper when the family would gather and her father would read a chapter from a novel. Heather went to French school until her teens, and grew up hearing the story of Le Chambon-sur-Lignon, only an hour’s drive away. She now lives in rural Illinois with her husband, Paul, where they offer free spiritual retreats to people coming out of homelessness and addiction. She enjoys wandering in the woods, gardening, writing, and splitting wood.


Lydia Munn


Lydia Munn was homeschooled for five years because there was no school where her family served as missionaries in the savannahs of northern Brazil. There was no public library either, but Lydia read every book she could get her hands on. This led naturally to her choice of an English major at Wheaton College. Her original plan to teach high school English gradually transitioned into a lifelong love of teaching the Bible to both adults and young people as a missionary in France. She and her husband, Jim, have two children: their son, Robin, and their daughter, Heather.



Purchase a Copy
My Thoughts:  
A coming of age story set in France, early 1941.
There were so many things I loved about this story. I'm not a history buff by any stretch of the term, but there are a few historical periods I can't learn enough about. World War 2 is one of those times. Magali is a young fifteen year old French girl who wants to fight back against the Nazis and Germans and scorns anyone whom she deems weak. Like her mother, her friend, and another young girl she doesn't know very well and doesn't care to.

She's a strong lead with a stubborn heart and I loved her spirit. Not her pride, but her tenacity, grit, and determination to help others. Yes, she liked herself more than she should have, didn't quite see her own faults as clearly as she saw fault in others, yet I still loved her and could only hope that if a day ever comes in which I have to choose to help others or turn a blind eye to what's going on, I help without hesitation like she did.

I don't think the authors could have written more true to life characters than Magali, Paquerette, Rosa, and Nina. This was a strong book that always went forward in plot, tone, and setting. I didn't tire of reading it at all. What reading time I have is precious, but I will be reading this one again and will recommend it to my reading friends.

I received a copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinions. I was not required they be positive. 



Kregel Publications is pleased to offer this delightful read for  FREE on 4/28  and only$1.99 4/29 through 5/2!So hurry! Get your own copy of Defy the Night while this offer lasts!

Win a “Women Helping Women” $200 Shopping Spree from @TheQuiltsofLove & @Emily_Wierenga | “A Promise in Pieces” Giveaway!

The latest Quilts of Love release, A Promise in Pieces by Emily Wierenga is receiving glowing reviews.


Emily is celebrating the release of her debut novel with a "Women Helping Women" shopping spree giveaway.




One winner will receive:

$200 to spend at Emily's favorite shops, Noonday Collection & Vibella (Click through to learn more about how these companies exist to make a difference in the lives of women!)A Promise in Pieces by Emily WierengaA Stitch and a Prayer by Eva GibsonRival Hearts by Tara RandelEnter today by clicking one of the icons below. But hurry, the giveaway ends on May 10th. Winner will be announced on the Quilts of Love blog  on May 12th. Then be sure to stop by the Quilts of Love Facebook page on May 29th for the "Quilting Bee" Facebook party with Emily and other Quilts of Love authors. RSVP for an evening of book chat, quilting tips & tricks, prizes, and more!



Spread the word—tell your friends about the giveaway via FACEBOOK or TWITTER and increase your chances of winning.

CRITICAL CONDITION Kindle HDX Giveaway from Richard Mabry!

Richard Mabry's latest medical suspense, Critical Condition , is receiving high praise. USA TODAY says, "Mabry combines his medical expertise with a story that will keep you on the edge of your seat."



Richard is celebrating the release with a Kindle HDX giveaway!

One grand prize winner will receive:
A Kindle Fire HDXCritical Condition by Richard MabryEnter today by clicking one of the icons below. But hurry, the giveaway ends on May 11th. Winner will be announced May 13th on Richard's blog .



Don't miss a moment of the fun; enter today and be sure to stop by Richard's blog on May 13th to see if you won.

Marilyn Monroe Bracelet Tutorial

I haven't made this one yet, but it looks so pretty I can't wait to try it!