Janet Sketchley's Blog: Tenacity, page 70

5 Blogs to Watch

How do you keep up with a blog series? I subscribe via email, because I’d never remember to check the site on a regular basis. And if the series has been going for a while before I find it, I’m unlikely to go back to the beginning to catch up.

Here are three new-ish blog series in early enough stages that you can start from the beginning if they catch your interest:

At Serving Singles, Rev. Shirley DeMerchant has just begun a series where she’ll explore what she’s been learning from studying...

Temples

Don’t you realize that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God? You do not belong to yourself, for God bought you with a high price. So you must honour God with your body.
1 Corinthians 6:19-20, NLT*

Think about the care that went into building the Israelites’ temples in the Old Testament. God has put that same care into us (see Psalm 139:14).

The temple building was

a place to meet with God a place to bring sacrifices and find forgiveness a...

Review: Make Love, Make War, by Brian Doerksen

Make Love, Make War, by Brian Doerksen (David C. Cook, 2009)

The title of this one may be a little intimidating, but look at the subtitle: “NOW is the time to worship.” Songwriter Brian Doerksen challenges Christians to adopt an intentional lifestyle of loving and serving God.

Each chapter begins with one of Brian Doerksen’s songs. Part memoir, part expansion on the themes that sparked the songs, this is an honest reflection on circumstances both joyful and sad. Topics include a Christian’s i...

Intentional

Some of my online friends have chosen (or discovered) their “word for the year.” Others seek out a Bible verse of the year. I knew one lady who spent the closing months of each year praying for a verse for each of her loved ones for the year to come.

Me, I’m usually scrambling to keep up with the close of a year, with no time to think about the one to come until it’s been here for a week or so. As I’ve been going through my “learning journal” from 2015, summing up what I need to take forward...

Renewing or Regressing?

For you are still controlled by your sinful nature. You are jealous of one another and quarrel with each other. Doesn’t that prove you are controlled by your sinful nature? Aren’t you living like people of the world?
1 Corinthians 3:3, NLT*

Is it any wonder Christians often find ourselves “living like people of the world”?

We live among people who give no allegiance to God. Some are our family, friends, co-workers. Others produce most of the current entertainment and music. And we still hav...

Review: Two From Isaac’s House, by Normandie Fischer

Two From Isaac’s House, by Normandie Fischer (Sleepy Creek Press, 2015)

Rina Lynne’s father insisted they had to live on limited funds, but she inherited a fortune when he died. She’d always lived a safe, predictable life, so now, before she marries her fiancé, Jason, and settles down, she’s off to see the world.

First stop: a small town in Italy, for a month of language school. But a passenger on the train is murdered, and the man she shared a carriage with looks like a terrorist.

Favourite...

Interview: Romantic Suspense Author Beth Ziarnik

Beth Ziarnik is a writer and speaker, celebrating the release of her first novel, a romantic suspense called Her Deadly Inheritance.

Janet: Welcome, Beth, and thanks for taking time to join us. Congratulations on your debut novel! So many firsts – contract, cover, holding the first copy in your hands… and more. We’ll have the cover art and full description at the end of this interview, but for now, what’s the story about?

Beth: Thank you, Janet, for inviting me. I’m so pleased to be here, and...

Praying Scripture

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*

I love eavesdropping on Paul’s heart-felt prayers for the congregations he’s writing to. Sure, parts of his letters aredirect to the point of sounding harsh (although always with a motive of love), but in his prayers we see how deeply he cares.

We can borrow these prayers for those we lo...

Review: Legacy, by Mary Hosmar

Legacy, by Mary Hosmar (2014)

What 15-year-old boy wants to tag along with his mother, visiting relatives in the Netherlands over Christmas, when he’d been planning a ski adventure with his buddies?

Not Jake Thompson. But it’s a condition of his late great-uncle’s will. So Jake, his attitude, and his mother fly from Canada to meet the strangers who are their extended family.

Bit by bit, they discover family history – and secrets – that neither of them had known, wrapped up in the fallout from...

Picks from 2015

Goodreads tells me I’ve read 90books in 2015. And that’s not counting Bible reading. Hereare the books (and music) that I’ve most enjoyed this year. Some were produced in 2015, some previously. Pop a note into the comments with your own favourites?

My top picks from 2015:

Christian living:PracticingHis Presence, by Brother Lawrence and Frank C. Laubach

Dieselpunk novel:Storming, by K.M. Weiland.

Fantasy series: The Staff & the Sword, by Patrick W. Carr.My reviews: A Cast of Stones, The Hero’s...