Janet Sketchley's Blog: Tenacity, page 59
October 5, 2016
Worship is for God
Say to all your people and your priests, “During these seventy years of exile, when you fasted and mourned in the summer and in early autumn, was it really for me that you were fasting? And even now in your holy festivals, aren’t you eating and drinking just to please yourselves?”
Zechariah 7:5b-6, NLT*
True worship is a heart-and-spirit response to the Living God.
Sadly, we can lose focus and make our Christian gatherings about us instead. Congregations can take sides over music styles, se...
October 3, 2016
New Releases in Christian Fiction
New fiction! More in-depth descriptions of these books can be found on the ACFW Fiction Finder website.
Biblical Fiction:
Providence: Hannah’s Journey by Barbara M. Britton — When the prophet of Israel refuses to heal her, Hannah flees Jerusalem and is captured by an enemy with a curse all his own. (Biblical from Harbourlight [Pelican])
Shadow of the Storm by Connilyn Cossette — In defiance of her mother, Shira pursues her heart’s calling to become an apprentice midw...
September 30, 2016
3 Challenges of the Christian Book Lover (Guest Post)
Giving a Kind Critique
Have you ever been asked to critique someone’s writing or been approached to be a beta reader? (A beta reader is given an author’s unpublished manuscript for review.)
Anyone who writes knows how hard it is to allow others not only to read the words they’ve spent hours—sometimes even months or years—grueling over but also to ask readers for feedback, both what they liked and what they didn’t.
As believers, we...
September 28, 2016
To Hear and Obey
…and the whole remnant of God’s people began to obey the message from the Lord their God. When they heard the words of the prophet Haggai, whom the Lord their God had sent, the people feared the Lord.
Haggai 1:12b, NLT*
What was the Lord’s message that the people obeyed?
A remnant of Israel had returned to Jerusalem, but in the busyness of rebuilding the city and their homes, they’d neglected to finish rebuilding the Temple.
God asked, “Why are you living in luxurious houses while my house...
September 26, 2016
Review: Scrivener for Dummies, by Gwen Hernandez
Scrivener for Dummies, by Gwen Hernandez (John Wiley and Sons, 2012)
This is probably the only reference book I have ever read cover-to-cover. It’s definitely the only one that’s ever caused me to cheer.
I’m posting a photo of my own copy, complete with page markers, instead of the standard cover shot, to show how many important things I want to be able to easily find. (The index will take me to the proper page, but will I find the specific line that I need?)
Most users would follow the expec...
September 21, 2016
God First
They sweep past like the wind
and are gone.
But they are deeply guilty,
for their own strength is their god.
Habakkuk 1:11, NLT*
This prophecy describes the Babylonians, whom God says He will “raise up” (verse 6) to conquer everything in sight.
He calls them “a cruel and violent people” (verse 6) yet it seems their worse offense isn’t wicked behaviour – it’s the attitude of their hearts. It’s what they worship.
Today’s verse reminds us that, as important as our conduct is, of greater import...
September 19, 2016
Review: Raise Your Gaze, by Peter A. Black
Raise Your Gaze, by Peter A. Black (Angel Hope Publishing, 2014)
Subtitled “Mindful Musings of a Grateful Heart: Fifty-Two Articles and Words to Bless,” this is an encouraging collection of some of the author’s inspirational columns as published over the years, plus a selection of brief verses of blessing.
The content is arranged to follow the calendar year, beginning in the winter of a new year and moving through the seasons to Christmas. As such, it’s suitable for a weekly reading plan, or...
September 14, 2016
Tested Trust
I pray that God, the source of hope, will fill you completely with joy and peace because you trust in him. Then you will overflow with confident hope through the power of the Holy Spirit.
Romans 15:13, NLT*
This level of trust isn’t a casual belief, nor is it taking something for granted. It’s an active, deliberate choice to trust God, regardless of the circumstances – or the consequences.
Trust like this seems risky at first, like sitting in a chair that looks rickety. You might lower your...
September 12, 2016
Review: Frayed, by Kerry Nietz
Frayed, by Kerry Nietz (Freeheads, 2016)
Fans of the DarkTrench saga will be pleased to return to that same, dystopian future Earth. New to these books and not sure what to think? The book that started it all, A Star Curiously Singing, is free on most ebook platforms.
Frayed is the start of the DarkTrench Shadow Series, with new characters. Chronologically it overlaps the last part of A Star Curiously Singing. (Now I want to go back and read that one for a refresher to what happened off-scree...
September 7, 2016
Set Apart
And now I entrust you to God and the message of his grace that is able to build you up and give you an inheritance with all those he has set apart for himself.
Acts 20:32, NLT*
God has set us apart for Himself. Not because of anything we’ve done to earn it, but because of His great mercy and grace.
Set apart for God…
for His glory, in our conduct and in the transformation others will see in us for His service, as and where He leads and empowers for personal relationship with Him, because H...
