Janet Sketchley's Blog: Tenacity, page 74

Choosing to Love

You were cleansed from your sins when you obeyed the truth, so now you must show sincere love to each other as brothers and sisters. Love each other deeply with all your heart.
1 Peter 1:22, NLT*

Sincere love. Deep, whole-hearted love. This isn’t surface-friendly love. Nor it is always warm and fuzzy.

This is love as a choice. An act of the will, a decision of the mind. If the heart is slow to catch up, it can’t be allowed to affect the acting out of the love.

Let’s be honest. The whole rea...

Review: Murder at the Courthouse, by A.H. Gabhart

Murder at the Courthouse, by A.H. Gabhart (Revell, 2015)

Michael Keane took the deputy sheriff position in small-town Hidden Springs to get away from the ugliness of big-city crime. He wants to help people, not get hardened like his former partner.

When a stranger is found dead on the courthouse steps, Michael will only solve the mystery if he can see the truth about his fellow citizens – and about himself.

Murder at the Courthouse is a gently-paced cozy mystery with quirky characters and a h...

Without Proof: Meet Amy Silver

I’m trying something different today: instead of introducing Amy Silver myself, I’ve asked my editorial assistant (and son), Matthew Sketchley, to do the honours.

Matthew Sketchley

Matthew writes… I’ll call it dark fantasy, but I’m not sure that’s quite right. Some is dark speculative. He’s just started a blog called Probably Nothing Interesting, which often makes me laugh but which is definitely not for everyone.

Matthew: Alrighty then. We’ve got Amy Silver here today. Amy’s the protagonist...

Keeping Our Focus

So you must live as God’s obedient children. Don’t slip back into your old ways of living to satisfy your own desires. You didn’t know any better then.
1 Peter 1:14, NLT*

Peter reminds his readers that they’ve been chosen, made holy, and cleansed by God (v. 1, 2). They’ve been given new life (v. 3), great expectation (v. 3), and a future inheritance (v. 4).

This is what matters, the true perspective “even though you have to endure many trials for a little while” (v. 6). These people love an...

Review: Simply Tuesday, by Emily P. Freeman

Simply Tuesday, by Emily P. Freeman (Revell, 2015)

Subtitled “Small-Moment Living in a Fast-Moving World,” Simply Tuesday calls readers to live in the everyday moments without the pressure to perform or to push on to the next big thing. Even the cover art, a quiet bench with birds and dragonflies, calls us to slow down.

Sections consider our home, work, relationships and souls, as well as a vision for what’s ahead. Readers are invited to find ourselves and our loved ones in the present, and t...

Four Tips to Writing a Death Scene That Won’t Kill Your Readership, by Sara Goff

Giveaway: Sara is offering a printed copy of I Always Cry at Weddingsto one randomly chosen commenter, worldwide.The winner will be announced October 9.To be entered in the giveaway,please leave a comment.

Four Tips to Writing a Death Scene That
Won’t Kill Your Readership by Sara Goff

Readers aren’t likely to get excited about a death scene. You’re asking them to experience the protagonist’s despair, guilt-ridden relief, or callous pleasure, if that’s your story. The scene is intrinsically he...

Expectant Life

All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is by his great mercy that we have been born again, because God raised Jesus Christ from the dead. Now we live with great expectation…
1 Peter 1:3, NLT*

Peter’s talking about new life in Christ, and along with this “great expectation” we’re to live with, he speaks of our future hope of Heaven. Since he mentions these separately, I think the expectation is for the daily here-and-now.

I’ve been impacted by the invitation to become mor...

Review: Love Triangles, by Bobbie Ann Cole

Love Triangles, by Bobbie Ann Cole (Scrollchest, 2015)

Part travelogue, part memoir, and part biblical exposition, Love Triangles is a an insightful read for Christians. The book’s subtitle is Discovering Jesus the Jew in Today’s Israel.

Bobbie Ann Cole and her husband went to Israel as short-term volunteers, and stayed for a few years as immigrants. Love Triangles paints a picture of a land of beauty as well as danger, rich in heritage and full of meaning for a Christian wanting to know Jesu...

The Invisible Made Visible

The Invisible Made Visible by Steph Beth Nickel

In the English Standard Version of the Bible, Romans 1:19-20 says, “What can beknown about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them.For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature,have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world,in the things that have been made.”

I journeyed across the Pond this month to attend my son’s wedding in Scotland, the homeland of both my ancestors and my husband...

Remembering Our Purpose

I am writing to God’s church in Corinth, to you who have been called by God to be his own holy people. He made you holy by means of Christ Jesus, just as he did for all people everywhere who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, their Lord and ours.
1 Corinthians 1:2, NLT*

Do we sometimes forget our purpose as Christ-followers?

God called us “to be His own holy people,” and He made us holy through Jesus. He gave us “everything we need for living a godly life” (1 Peter 1:3, NLT*). Paul...