Janet Sketchley's Blog: Tenacity, page 66

Cocoa White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies

Each novel in my Redemption’s Edge series has a recipe that’s significant to one of the characters. InSecrets and Lies, Carol does a lot of baking, at the café where she works, at home, and even a private catering stint. Baking is one of her coping mechanisms, and if she can give away the results, it’s less for her to eat. These are similar to the cookies she dropped off at Joey’s radio station for him and his co-workers.

In Awe of God’s Goodness

But afterward the people will return and devote themselves to the Lord their God and to David’s descendant, their king. In the last days, they will tremble in awe of the Lord and of his goodness.
Hosea 3:5, NLT*

We’re a pretty unfaithful bunch, aren’t we, as humans?

It’s worth noting that the people whose return to the Lord is anticipated in this verse only come back after a serious intervention on God’s part. Their choices lead to consequences.

The Book of Hosea is a beautiful picture of h...

Review: Secrets, by Kristen Heitzmann

Secrets, by Kristen Heitzmann (Bethany House, 2004)

Lance Michelli’s beloved grandmother can’t speak, following a stoke, but she’s desperate for him to accomplish something for her – something urgent, something secret. The few clues she can give lead him to an old home in California wine country, which he suspects should truly belong to her.

Everyone else thinks it belongs to Rese Barrett, a young woman who’s left a successful construction business to restore the building and run it as a bed...

Guest Post: Excerpt from Sofi’s Bridge, by Christine Lindsay

Excerpt from SOFI’S BRIDGE by Christine Lindsay releasing May 1, 2016

Sofi had been so angry with Neil for his secrets. But Neil had given Trina nothing but compassion. He’d put himself at risk to save Gunnar’s life. The contradictions in him persisted. But murder? The man she’d kissed, who’d held her in his arms, a murderer?

The following excerpt is set in 1913, in a remote town in Washington State in the beautiful Cascade Mountains that bridge the US and Canada. In this scene Sofi is secret...

Darkness has Limits

Then I heard two holy ones talking to each other. One of them asked, “How long will the events of this vision last? How long will the rebellion that causes desecration stop the daily sacrifices? How long will the Temple and heaven’s army be trampled on?”
Daniel 8:13, NLT*

This is from one of Daniel’s visions, and in it, everything looked disastrous. Verse 12 says “The army of heaven was restrained from responding to this rebellion.”

Daniel saw evil winning – permitted to win – but even then...

On the Wonder of Flying

Last week I had the opportunity to sharea guest post at the Castle Gate Press blog, on a “behind the scenes” aspect of writingWithout Proof.

Flying has always caught at my imagination, and this post let me chat about how it led to the small plane flight in the novel. You can read it here: Behind the Scenes: Author Janet Sketchley and the Wonder of Flying.

Guest Post: The Spiritual Side of Writing Breaking Free, by Jennifer Slattery

The Spiritual Side of Writing Breaking Free by Jennifer Slattery

I’m pretty sure every writer has that one story they long to see get published. Perhaps it’s the first one they wrote, or maybe one that touches on a deeply personal subject. Or maybe they sensed God’s hand so strongly as they wrote it, the story took on a deeply spiritual meaning.

Breaking Free was the first purely fiction adult story I wrote, it touched on encounters from my past, and it came about after a long spiritual stand...

Living for God’s Glory

Do everything without complaining and arguing, so that no one can criticize you. Live clean, innocent lives as children of God, shining like bright lights in a world full of crooked and perverse people.
Philippians 2:14-15, NLT*

In Canada, we’ve recently seen what looks to many like another travesty of justice. And we see legislation in the making that has frightening possibilities.

The US political scene has sent me to read the Book of Daniel. Around the world, terrorists spread hate and f...

Review: Rooms, by James L. Rubart

Rooms, by James L. Rubart (B&H Fiction, 2010)

Micah Taylor has it all: prestigious business, penthouse condo, a girlfriend who’s his perfect match. Until he leaves Seattle for Cannon Beach, Oregon, to check into a house he inherited.

The house is everything he’d have wanted had he designed it himself – except for the location, stirring memories of childhood tragedy. And except for the mysterious rooms that suddenly appear.

Rooms is a supernatural tale of how God might lead a person to revisit...

Guest Post: Can You See the Positive in the Negative?

Can You See the Positive in the Negative? by R.A. Giggie

Whenever I go through hard times, even if it seems it can’t get any worse, I try to look at the good things I have. Nine times out of ten, it helps and lifts my spirits up. For example, if I see rain instead of the sun, I thank God for the food I eat, the cozy home that keeps me warm and dry, the clothes on my back, and the comfy bed I sleep in. This said, it doesn’t mean I don’t have trials and tribulations.

I’m blessed beyond belief t...