Merrillee Whren's Blog, page 5

Happy Thanksgiving

Psalm 100:4 (NIV)

 Enter his gates with thanksgiving
    and his courts with praise;
    give thanks to him and praise his name.

What are you thankful for this Thanksgiving?

The Tale of Three Houses

Here are the three houses whose furnishings we have tried to combine into one here in Arizona.
The house my mother-in-law lived in for nearly 25 years.

The house we lived in on Amelia Island for 12 years.

The house we now occupy in Arizona.

I haven’t visited my blog in several weeks. I’ve been busy doing other things−like going to the Novelists INC Conference in St. Petersburg Beach, FL. I saw some lovely sunsets while learning a lot about the publishing industry and sharing time with fellow writers. After the conference it was off to our former place of residence, Amelia Island. I met my husband there with the plan to clear out our storage unit and bring what we would could back to Arizona.We rented a sixteen-foot Penske truck and drove it 2,0oo miles with everything we could get on the truck. We left behind a sofa and loveseat, a kitchen dinette set, and a rattan sofa, chair, end tables and coffee table. We gave away small miscellaneous items. When we got to this end, we had to figure out what to do with everything.

We gave our former bedroom furniture to our daughter. We gave away another bedroom set that had belonged to my mother-in-law. We are going through the boxes that we’ve unpacked and finding a place for them or giving it away. Here’s what our garage looked like a few days ago. This is what the inside of the house looked like two days ago.Now the counters are clean, but we still haven’t found a home for the artificial plants on the kitchen table.

Slowly but surely we will find a home for everything. Doing this reminds me that I definitely have too much stuff.

Do you have a hard time getting rid of things? Are you a thrower or a saver?

Blurb for Second Chance Reunion

Last week I shared the cover for my upcoming Love Inspired book, SECOND CHANCE REUNION. I promised then to share the blurb this week. So here it is from the back cover copy.

A MOTHER’S REDEMPTION

Annie Payton’s lost everything she once
held dear. The Village of Hope is her last
chance to rebuild the life she’s frittered away
so needlessly. But as she works to regain
custody of her children, she never imagines an
unlikely advocate in her corner—ex-husband
Ian Montgomery. Ian’s always willing to help
those down on their luck, but his ex-wife’s
a different story. Her past betrayal is still a
painful memory. As the Village’s lawyer,
he’ll represent her—but that’s as far as
he’ll allow his feelings to go. Can Annie
show Ian that she’s changed in every way
but one—the love she still has for him?
VILLAGE OF HOPE:
A community built on love

A New Book

Today I received the official cover for my January 2015 book for Harlequin’s Love Inspired line. Today I’m showing the cover. Next week I’ll put up the blurb for the story. I don’t want to tell you what the book is about until you have a chance to guess what the story might involve. There’s the old saying, “A picture is worth a thousand words.” What does this cover say to you?

The Star-Spangled Banner

Today is the 200th anniversary of the poem, The Star-Spangled Banner, written by Francis Scott Key during the War of 1812. You can read about it here. This entire weekend is filled with the celebration of this poem that was eventually set to music and became our national anthem in 1931.

Have you ever visited Fort McHenry in Baltimore, Maryland?

The Tale of Two Covers

Once in a while I check my author pages on the different e-book sites. I have a new book with Love Inspired which will be coming out at the end of December. I noticed it was up for preorder on Amazon and Barnes and Noble now. 

I also discovered that my last book for Love Inspired, Montana Match, has been translated into Afrikaans and is available to order on Amazon. It is interesting that it is shown on the US Amazon site. The other interesting thing is the new cover. I haven’t figured out the significance of the images on the cover. Here it is.

Here is the original cover.

 Here’s the blurb for Montana Match.

Nanny to six-year-old twin girls isn’t exactly the position Brittany Gorman is looking for. But she needs a job. And the twins’ struggling single dad, rancher Parker Watson, needs all the help he can get. Soon Brittany is not only assisting the girls, but also helping Parker make peace with his past. It seems Brittany’s finally found a place to belong. And with two little matchmakers on the loose, there’s no telling what the future holds. As her time on the ranch runs out, can Brittany and Parker find the strength to face that future—together?

Do you have a guess as to why they put those things on the cover of the Afrikaans edition of Montana Match?

New Perspectives

This week I finished reading the book of Acts. I had planned to blog each week about something that I’d read as I’ve been reading through the Bible, a chapter a day. However, blogging is not my first priority so when things get hectic, the blog falls by the wayside, but I can thankfully say that I have that most days find me reading at least one chapter from the Bible.

A few years ago we were blessed to be able to visit the ruins of Ephesus located in present-day Turkey. As we walked through the ruins, I kept thinking about how I was walking where Paul had walked so many years ago. Envision the events from the nineteenth chapter of Acts while you look at the photos following the scripture.

Acts 19 New International Version (NIV)
Paul in Ephesus

19 While Apollos was at Corinth, Paul took the road through the interior and arrived at Ephesus. There he found some disciples and asked them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?”

They answered, “No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.”

3 So Paul asked, “Then what baptism did you receive?”

“John’s baptism,” they replied.

4 Paul said, “John’s baptism was a baptism of repentance. He told the people to believe in the one coming after him, that is, in Jesus.” 5 On hearing this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. 6 When Paul placed his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they spoke in tongues and prophesied. 7 There were about twelve men in all.

8 Paul entered the synagogue and spoke boldly there for three months, arguing persuasively about the kingdom of God. 9 But some of them became obstinate; they refused to believe and publicly maligned the Way. So Paul left them. He took the disciples with him and had discussions daily in the lecture hall of Tyrannus. 10 This went on for two years, so that all the Jews and Greeks who lived in the province of Asia heard the word of the Lord.

11 God did extraordinary miracles through Paul, 12 so that even handkerchiefs and aprons that had touched him were taken to the sick, and their illnesses were cured and the evil spirits left them.

13 Some Jews who went around driving out evil spirits tried to invoke the name of the Lord Jesus over those who were demon-possessed. They would say, “In the name of the Jesus whom Paul preaches, I command you to come out.” 14 Seven sons of Sceva, a Jewish chief priest, were doing this. 15 One day the evil spirit answered them, “Jesus I know, and Paul I know about, but who are you?” 16 Then the man who had the evil spirit jumped on them and overpowered them all. He gave them such a beating that they ran out of the house naked and bleeding.

17 When this became known to the Jews and Greeks living in Ephesus, they were all seized with fear, and the name of the Lord Jesus was held in high honor. 18 Many of those who believed now came and openly confessed what they had done. 19 A number who had practiced sorcery brought their scrolls together and burned them publicly. When they calculated the value of the scrolls, the total came to fifty thousand drachmas.[c] 20 In this way the word of the Lord spread widely and grew in power.

21 After all this had happened, Paul decided to go to Jerusalem, passing through Macedonia and Achaia. “After I have been there,” he said, “I must visit Rome also.” 22 He sent two of his helpers, Timothy and Erastus, to Macedonia, while he stayed in the province of Asia a little longer.

The Riot in Ephesus

23 About that time there arose a great disturbance about the Way. 24 A silversmith named Demetrius, who made silver shrines of Artemis, brought in a lot of business for the craftsmen there. 25 He called them together, along with the workers in related trades, and said: “You know, my friends, that we receive a good income from this business. 26 And you see and hear how this fellow Paul has convinced and led astray large numbers of people here in Ephesus and in practically the whole province of Asia. He says that gods made by human hands are no gods at all. 27 There is danger not only that our trade will lose its good name, but also that the temple of the great goddess Artemis will be discredited; and the goddess herself, who is worshiped throughout the province of Asia and the world, will be robbed of her divine majesty.”

28 When they heard this, they were furious and began shouting: “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!” 29 Soon the whole city was in an uproar. The people seized Gaius and Aristarchus, Paul’s traveling companions from Macedonia, and all of them rushed into the theater together. 30 Paul wanted to appear before the crowd, but the disciples would not let him. 31 Even some of the officials of the province, friends of Paul, sent him a message begging him not to venture into the theater.

32 The assembly was in confusion: Some were shouting one thing, some another. Most of the people did not even know why they were there. 33 The Jews in the crowd pushed Alexander to the front, and they shouted instructions to him. He motioned for silence in order to make a defense before the people. 34 But when they realized he was a Jew, they all shouted in unison for about two hours: “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!”

35 The city clerk quieted the crowd and said: “Fellow Ephesians, doesn’t all the world know that the city of Ephesus is the guardian of the temple of the great Artemis and of her image, which fell from heaven? 36 Therefore, since these facts are undeniable, you ought to calm down and not do anything rash. 37 You have brought these men here, though they have neither robbed temples nor blasphemed our goddess. 38 If, then, Demetrius and his fellow craftsmen have a grievance against anybody, the courts are open and there are proconsuls. They can press charges. 39 If there is anything further you want to bring up, it must be settled in a legal assembly. 40 As it is, we are in danger of being charged with rioting because of what happened today. In that case we would not be able to account for this commotion, since there is no reason for it.” 41 After he had said this, he dismissed the assembly.

I gained a new perspective as I walked among the ruins of this ancient city. In the story related in Acts 19, the people who were shouting of the greatness of their god Artemis were wrong. The temple to this god lays in ruins. How glorious that our God dwells in a temple not made with hands.

 What is your favorite story from the Book of Acts?

Learning and Fun

Last week I attended the Romance Writers of America Conference in San Antonio, TX. I had a good share of Mexican food, listened to some fabulous and motivating speeches and workshops. I talked shop with a lot of other authors, and I had a lot of fun. I learned that I’m not very technically savvy when it comes to social media like Pinterest and Twitter. I am somewhat proficient at Facebook. Beyond that I am often clueless. However, I learned one thing at the conference. It is more important to write books than do all the social media, even this blog. 

Now for the fun part. Here is a photo of the venue for the Harlequin party. That table was eventually loaded with chocolate delights. Of course, you can be sure I indulged. After all, we had three plus hours of dancing to work it off.

What is your favorite kind of dessert?

 

Happy 4th of July

What’s more appropriate for the 4th of July than a picture of the Liberty Bell in Philadelphia. As Americans celebrate the birth of our country, we can be thankful for our liberties. For me the freedom of religion is one of the most important liberties we have.

Ephesians 3:12 says, “In him and through faith in him we may approach God with freedom and confidence.“

Because we have freedom of religion, we can approach God without fear. Not everyone in this world has that privilege. We need to guard our freedoms.

What freedom do you cherish the most?

Mansions

This is a photo of the Peterhof Palace near St. Petersburg, Russia. Can you imagine living in such splendor? What would you do with all those rooms? Although this place is huge, our Heavenly Father promises us something even better in John 14:1-4 “Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me. My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you?And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. You know the way to the place where I am going.”

How much better is God’s promise than anything we can experience here on earth!

What’s the most spectacular place you have ever visited?