Sarah Holman's Blog, page 61

Black Friday Sale

Like most other bookworms, great books make their way onto my "things I'm thankful for" list every year. It's hard to choose favorites, but I went ahead and picked five books I read in 2016 and am thankful for.
<Flight School>, by <Jason McIntiregt;: <This book both inspired and challenged me<Me, Myself and Bob>, by <Phil Vischer>: <This is such a powerful book about dreaming big and following God><Let Me Be a Woman>, by <Elisabeth Elliot>: <This book really encouraged me in my study on Biblical womanhood>< Sufficient Grace>, by <Jessica Greyson>: <iThis story is amazing and it touched my heart>With Every Letter>, by <Sarah Sundin>: <I was going through a hard time and this book encouraged me>I don't know about you, but I'm looking forward to another great year of reading!

Speaking of more reading, here's one more thing to be grateful for. Books on sale! In honor of Thanksgiving and Black Friday, a group of independent Christian authors banded together to offer over seventy discounted books on Nov 25-28. There's literally something for everyone. Every single book listed on Indie Christian Books is on sale in one or more ways. Find discounted paperbacks, dozens of books offered with free shipping, $0.99 ebooks, package deals and more. Even if you have a budget of $0, new reading material awaits you. Don't know what to pick? The fearless Indie Christian Books team created a quiz that will generate a book list perfect for you! Check it out!

What awesome reads of 2016 are you grateful for? What books are you looking forward to reading in 2017?
A note on the Ebooks Only page. All books are listed as "Sold Out." This only refers to paperback copies of these titles. Please click onto the product pages to find descriptions and links to discounted or free ebooks. Also, some of the authors this year chose to not sell their paperbacks directly through the site. Those books are also marked "Sold Out" but if you click them open, you'll find a link to the site where they are on sale and a discount code for you to use at check out.Acknowledgements: Thanks to Leah E. Good and Kendra E. Ardnek for their work organizing this sale, and Hannah Mills for her fantastic design work on the website graphics. Hannah can be contacted at hmills(at)omorecollege(dot)edu for more information about her design services.

Surrender

I find myself singing this almost on a daily basis. There are so many things that I try to do on my own, yet God calls me to surrender them.

Buy them here.

All in All

This reminds me that Christ is my all. There is nothing that he cannot do.
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Heart of Worship

This song reminds me of the One I am worshiping. It reminds be of where my focus should be

Buy it here.

NaNo Day 1

It is time for NaNo again? Wow! That went by fast. I am determined to compete it this year. This month is already beginning to be cluttered with editing, helping the food pantry, and more. However, I really want to finish a book that I started last year: A Different Kind of Purpose.
Revising Selah and William has been wonderful. They both still have so much to teach me. I cannot wait to share what this tale holds with all of you. Here is the opening line:
"I should have been the happiest man in the world, but my life felt as aimless as my walk along the streets of Boston."

Our Response

You are falsely accused of a crime, maybe you didn’t commit it or what they are accusing you of isn’t a crime at all. What do you do?

Paul and Joseph both give us two responses that I stand in amazement of and pray for that kind of courage. They had the courage to face corrupted governments and still bow to the authorities God had placed over them.

Paul was imprisoned for a crime that was no crime at all. He stood before Agrippa and shared with him the good news of the Gospel. Paul used this miscarriage of justice to carry the message of Jesus to palaces and even hoped to share it with Creaser. Paul took what the corrupted authorities had given him used it to share the gospel. How amazing is that?

Joseph was accused of rape and thrown into the dungeon without a trial. While he did ask those he helped to tell the king about him, he continues to serve God in the jail. He served his jailor and helped him to run the same prison that was keeping him in the walls. He didn’t try to escape, he didn’t tell everyone that he had been wronged, he served God and others from where he was.
Over the last few weeks, we have been looking at authority. We have looked at how David treated Saul, how God calls us to treat those in authority, and Peter’s stand against authority. Armed with all this knowledge, how are we to respond?

I think both Paul and Joseph point us toward the conclusion that is easy to miss: We are Christian’s first, citizens to our country after. Both Paul and Joseph suffered horrible miscarriages of justice. Yet, both of them responded not with anger or disrespect, but by turning their adversity into something that glorified God.

In this world, we will have trouble. Our enemy, the devil, is corrupting the world and its governments.  We are the light of the world. We are to let our light shine before men. We are not to do that by shouting against our leaders, but by carrying the Good News to every corner of the earth. We cannot overcome evil with disrespect, hatred, anger, and dishonor; we can only overcome it with good.

I want my response to mirror Paul, Joseph, and Jesus. I want to stand before authorities without fear, and boldly speak of the gospel. I want to be faithful to respect them, even when they don’t deserve it. I also want to be filled with this knowledge: greater is He who is in me, than he who is in the world. He is the King of kings, the Lord of lords, and holds the ultimate authority in my life.

Could I be in better hands?

In Christ Alone

This is a family favorite. So much is packed into this one song.

Buy it here.

Finds of the Week Returns

For a while, I did a weekly feature about posts that I had found throughout the week that had blessed and inspired me.  This fell by the wayside as I had less and less time to read, but I am going to have this feature return. Not only will I share other blog posts, but books and products that I have found too!
For the Broken

This amazing lip balm is from the Healthy Farm Girl store. I have totally fallen in love with it. It is  $2.50 and totally worth it. It is made with ingredients that are healthy and feel amazing too.Get it here.
Yes, this is mine, but I am so excited to have the audiobook! Click here to check it out.

Adventure Between the Pages: Letters from a Scatter-Brained Sister

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Age Appropriate For: All Ages
Best for Ages: 11 - 18
Description: “How could you, in good conscience, leave the kitchen in the hands of me, a giddy sixteen-year-old??” So begins Nicole’s letters to her sister who has recently “deserted” the family because of marriage. As Nicole attempts to take over the kitchen, she begins to wonder if the kitchen will take over her?

Told in the form of letters, this was such a cute short story. I mean, who doesn’t love cooking mishaps and a bit of family drama? Nicole is an overwhelmed sixteen-year-old whose mission is to keep from making a disaster of her new responsibility in the kitchen.

While we only see Nicole’s letters (I so wanted to see the others), it is clear that she and her older sister have a loving relationship. The way her older sister points her back to God time and again is clear and wonderful.

I had one issue with this story. Nicole is struggling so hard, and she never mentions her mother helping or offering advice, nor her older sister; and as far as I could tell, her brothers never offered to help either. While I could just chalk this up to most teenagers thinking they are doing more than they really are, it bugged me that in all the letters, not one mention of help was given.

Still, I enjoyed this story and recommend it to teenagers who like light-hearted tales, short stories, and kitchen mishaps.

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She's married

 Saturday I was part of a wedding. I was the maid-of-honor for Rachel David. She has been like a younger sister to me. I thought ya'll might like to see some pictures.
Helping her into her dress
The vows being saidGiving a hug to Mrs. Rachel BusterTogether

My very handsome brother wanted to get a picture with me. My sister Mikayla captured the moment. 
The happy bride and groom.