Janet Sketchley's Blog: Tenacity, page 61

Heart”wings” Blog

Just letting you know about a blog for Christian women: Heart”wings” began as a private Facebook group and has grown into a public blog as well. The writing team posts Monday through Friday as follows:

Monday Memories
Tuesday Testimonies
Wednesday Words
Thursday Thanks
Friday Focus

For a healthy dose of Christian fellowship, pour yourself a refreshing drink, navigate to HeartWings Blog, and get acquainted.

Remember and Rejoice

So now we can rejoice in our wonderful new relationship with God because our Lord Jesus Christ has made us friends of God.
Romans 5:11, NLT*

New Christians are so vibrant and full of joy. Whatever our spiritual “age,” let’s think about what relationship with God means:

no dread, or fear of punishment no hopelessness about our lives confidence to approach God with our needs (see last week’s post) peace in our spirits forgiveness and cleansing from our sins changing character and behaviour h...

Review: Secrets of Sunbeams, by Valerie Comer

Secrets of Sunbeams, by Valerie Comer (GreenWords Media, 2016)

Chickens… and a goat… in the city? Yup. Eden Andrusek discovered the bylaws in her Spokane neighbourhood allow such things, as long as the goat is a small one.

Pansy, the goat, is like family to Eden, who’s still grieving for her parents and sisters after a car crash five years ago. Pansy also gets her into trouble. Like when the little goat escapes the fence and chows down on the new neighbour’s architectural drawings. Is it any...

Christian Speculative Fiction Anthology

What’s more exciting than having something published? Being published in the same project as a good friend or a loved one! Last year I celebrated the release of Hot Apple Cider With Cinnamon, an anthology with a short poem of mine that also included a true story by my mom, Beverlee Wamboldt, and stories from two others from my local writing group, Ruth Ann Adams and Laura Aliese Miedema.

This year I’m celebrating RealmScapes, an anthology of science fiction and fantasy stories, which has a st...

Confident in God

Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.
Hebrews 4:16, NIV*

We’re encouraged to approach God’s very throne. With confidence.

In what circumstances? When we’re at the peak of our success and have it all together?

No. Believers in Christ are to come to the All-Powerful Ruler of all creation when we most need grace and mercy.

Asking for help from others is hard for many of us, in part because we feel...

Review: Random Acts of Murder, by Christy Barritt

Random Acts of Murder, by Christy Barritt (River Heights Press, 2014)

Having only a year to live affects a person’s choices. Social worker Holly Paladin knows she can’t change the world, but she can make a difference for a few people – even if her random acts of kindness could get her in a heap of trouble.

Case in point: she breaks into a client’s empty home to clean it. The occupant is a single mom, overworked, underpaid, and out of hope. Won’t a surprise cleaning job give her a boost?

We’ll...

Guest Post: 12 Places to Find Motivation

12 Places to Find Motivation by Steph Beth Nickel

Where do you find motivation when the only thing you want to do is laze around or lay your head down and have a nap?

I’m not sure if it was the muggy weather, a mild case of burnout, low grade depression, or a combination of all three, but I haven’t been near as productive over the last little while as I would have liked.

But things are on the upswing. Maybe the following ideas will help you as well.

Make a List

I gave my most recent list what...

Remember Our Hope

I asked you to come here today so we could get acquainted and so I could explain to you that I am bound with this chain because I believe that the hope of Israel – the Messiah – has already come.
Acts 28:20, NLT*

This is the Apostle Paul, talking to the local Jewish leaders in Rome after he arrives as a prisoner.

What strikes me is the latter part of the verse: “I believe that the hope of Israel – the Messiah – has already come.”

For years the Jews had been waiting for the Promised One. The...

Review: The Things We Knew, by Catherine West

The Things We Knew, by Catherine West (Thomas Nelson, 2016)

Lynette Carlisle can’t remember what happened the day her mother died, but she was there. Now, in her dreams, it feels like her mother wants to tell her something. Or is it her own mind trying to communicate with her?

Lynette divides her time between her daycare job and caring for her father, who exhibits signs of dementia. The family home on Nantucket Island is falling down around her. Her older brothers and sister have left the are...

Prelude to Danger Free on NoiseTrade

Here’s a new option for acquiring your free download of my Redemption’s Edge bonus features ebook. This will be especially helpful for my non-US Kindle-reading friends, since outside the US Amazon lists the price at the equivalent of $0.99.

I’m excited about offering a book through NoiseTrade (which has expanded from music to include ebooks and audiobooks too). Take a few minutes and browse the other options for reading and listening. The way the site works, material is offered for free, with...