Book Blast: Every Hill and Mountain by Deborah Heal 5/21/13 -$50 Amazon Gift Card Giveaway!



Title:Every Hill and Mountain (Time and Again) (Volume 3)

By Deborah Heal

About the Book:

Every Hill and Mountain
Visiting another century…not the summer vacation she had planned.

Those who have read Time and Again and Unclaimed Legacy know that Abby Thomas is a college student on a summer service project with 11-year-old Merri. And they know that the summer is not going the way Abby had expected—but in a good way. For one thing, she meets a very nice guy named John Roberts. And for another, she discovers a strange computer program called Beautiful House that lets her fast-forward and rewind life. Not her own, of course, but those of the people who lived in Merri’s old house. And the Old Dears’ old house, and…well, any old house.
And since the program worked so well for the Old Dears’ family tree project, Abby’s college roommate Kate hopes it will help her find out more about her ancestor Ned Greenfield. And Kate’s fiancé Ryan thinks the program has lucrative commercial potential.

Abby and John reluctantly agree to help Kate, but only on the condition that she and Ryan promise to keep the program a secret, because if it fell into the wrong hands…well, no one wants Big Brother invading their privacy.

The two couples take a trip to the tiny town of Equality, set in the hills of southern Illinois and the breath-taking Shawnee National Forest. According to Kate’s research, Ned Greenfield was born there at a place called Hickory Hill.

The mayor, police chief, and townspeople are hospitable and helpful—until the topic of Hickory Hill comes up. They seem determined to keep them away, telling them, “There’s nothing there for you to see.”
Eventually they find Hickory Hill on their own—both the mansion and the lonely hill it sits upon. Built in 1834, Hickory Hill stands sentinel over Half Moon Salt Mine where the original owner John Granger accumulated his blood-tainted fortune.

Abby and her friends meet Miss Granger, Hickory Hill’s current eccentric owner, and they eventually get the chance to time-surf there. Their shocking discovery on the third floor concerning Kate’s ancestor Ned Greenfield is almost too much to bear. What they learn sends them racing to the opposite end of the state to find the missing link in Kate’s family tree. And there they are reminded that God is in the business of redemption—that one day he’ll make all things new.

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Deborah Heal
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Deborah Heal, the author of the Time and Again time travel mystery series, was born not far from the setting of her book Every Hill and Mountain and grew up “just down the road” from the setting of Time and Again. Today she lives with her husband in Waterloo, Illinois, where she enjoys reading, gardening, and learning about regional history. She has three grown children, three grandchildren, and two canine buddies Digger and Scout (a.k.a. Dr. Bob). She loves to interact with her readers, who may learn more about the history behind the books at her website www.deborahheal.com and her Facebook author page www.facebook.com/DeborahHeal.

Follow Deborah Heal
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by on May 21, 2013  •  Permalink
Posted in Christian Books, Faith -- Inspirational
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Posted by Staci Stallings on May 21, 2013

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Let Go

By Staci Stallings

Although there are a lot of careers in this life that could teach someone to let go, I think that writing has to be near the top of that list. Maybe that’s because I write, or maybe that’s because it really is.

Whatever the case, this understanding was made clear recently when a writer friend of mine asked the question, “How could I not see the holes in my manuscript that my critique partners caught and pointed out? They were so glaring.”

As a writer, I completely understand the frustration in this statement. If you are a high school writer only, you may not. While teaching I saw plenty of high school writers. They wait until the last conceivable moment to start, write down everything they can think of on the topic at hand in no particular order, then race to the teacher’s desk to fling the paper at her, hoping it’s good enough for passing. These people are not the writers of which I speak.

I’m speaking about the writers who think all the way through every word they put down, who cross out, delete, rewrite, re-think, edit, re-edit, and hone every inch of a manuscript before they let anyone else so much as hear the idea presented in it. These are the writers who research until their eyes bleed, think until their brain hurts, and generally torture themselves over every single word because it doesn’t just need to be “good,” it needs to be “perfect.”

Then after they can see no other place in the entire work of oh, say 80,000 words, they heave a sigh of relief and acquiescence and place it into the hands of someone else to read. In high school, these are the kids who have been finished with the first draft of their 250-word essay 40 minutes before the bell rings, but who are still crossing things out and rewriting them even as they slide toward the teacher who’s saying, “That’s it. Turn in your papers.”

It’s painful for them to turn their work over to someone else. It’s like a mother leaving her first baby with a sitter for the very first time. They hope and pray the reader will be gentle. They hope that when the paper is returned, there are very few red marks if any at all. And above all, they hope they haven’t made any grievous errors that will make the reader think they are a complete imbecile who should never have been given a pen and paper in the first place.

This is the kind of writer my friend was and then came the shocker. She had missed something, and not just something but a huge gaping hole in the story and how she told it. When that happens to a writer of this ilk, devastation sets in like a hurricane across a soul. Even the mildest criticism is like a knife to the gut. Immediately after the devastation blows through, the rains of doubt begin to pour. “Maybe I’m not supposed to be a writer. Maybe I just don’t have what it takes to do this.”
To some extent there might not be a way around this feeling totally; however, I don’t think it is completely inevitable. You see, I have found a way (not foolproof but pretty close) to weather this storm and let the manuscript grow as God intended it to. It’s called, “Let Go.”

That’s the short version of having a “Leave Everything To God Opportunity.” These types of opportunities are all around us.
They are in the panic of a mother when her child is sick. They are in the stress of a business owner who just placed a major bid and then realizes or suspects he missed something. They are in the quiet reaches of our own souls every time we feel that maybe we haven’t quite done enough in a given situation.
Here is what I told my author friend, and here is my advice to you. When you have a “Leave Everything To God Opportunity,” realize that if you could do it alone, God wouldn’t have made everyone else. Each of us has our own, unique experience that we bring to a situation. In short, each of us has a piece of the puzzle to fill in.

As writers, we must realize that just because we couldn’t see the piece that someone else lays before us that doesn’t mean we don’t have skill, talent or desire, it just means that they have a different perspective, a different piece to fit into the mosaic of the work.

Instead of abhorring the pieces that someone else fills in, bless them. They just made your puzzle make more sense than it ever could have without that piece. Then thank God for bringing that piece into your life.

When you begin to do that, you can then begin to slowly let go earlier and earlier in the process, and the puzzle can come together while you are building it rather than you having to knock it all apart and rebuild it later.

It’s not easy for any of us to do, but when you think in terms of “Leave Everything To God Opportunities,” the storms of life begin to look less frightening and more manageable than ever before. So try it today.

Let Go, and see if He doesn’t hand you a piece that on your own you couldn’t have known or found but one that makes the whole puzzle fit in a way that it never could have without it. Then celebrate because you have now found the key to how God intended all of us to live, and that key will unlock doors you never imagined could open to you.

Let Go. Let God, and enjoy every “Leave Everything To God Opportunity” that comes your way.

Staci Stallings New Headshot 1A stay-at-home mom with a husband, three kids and a writing addiction on the side, #1 Best Selling Christian author, Staci Stallings has numerous titles for readers to choose from. Not content to stay in one genre and write it to death, Staci’s stories run the gamut from young adult to adult, from motivational and inspirational to full-out Christian and back again. Every title is a new adventure! That’s what keeps Staci writing and you reading. Staci touches the lives of people across the globe every week with her various Internet endeavors including:
Staci’s Internet “Home”:  http://www.stacistallings.net

You can WIN a copy of Staci’s book, “ETERNITY” along with 15 other Christian paperbacks in the CrossReads Spring Cleaning Giveaway!
May 13 – 20th! Don’t wait! Enter NOW…

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He thought they were just friends…

He was wrong.

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by on May 20, 2013  •  Permalink
Posted in Contests and Giveaways, Grace & Faith 4 U Authors on the 'Net
Posted by Staci Stallings on May 20, 2013

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God’s Great Romance

By Steve Biddison

 

Many nights as I sat at my computer writing on my recently released Christian Romance novel, Desires of the Heart, I found myself reminded of the greatest romance of all – God’s love for us. That love began to find itself intertwined in the lives of the two main characters as their romance developed, causing me to once again see the power of God’s sometimes irresistible love for us.

Throughout this story, Eric and Lacey at separate times both began to feel God drawing them to His love and forgiveness. Yes, it is primarily a story of two people falling in love with each other in what one reader described as a “very sweet romance.” But beyond their fictional story, we see the reality of how God draws hearts and lives into His kingdom.

In Desires of the Heart, we meet Lacey, a girl that many Christians can relate to. She had grown up in a Christian home, being the near perfect child who wanted to grow up living for God. However, in her teenage years and on into college, her heart slowly drifted away from God to the point that her sin and guilt pulled her completely away from her beliefs and practices she had grown up with. We also meet Eric, another so many can relate to, who though mostly living a good life, never knew God, and is running from a painful past. In two separate circumstances, God begins to show His love and offer of forgiveness to each of them. One of them needs to find God’s love for the first time and the other needs to both recognize God’s forgiveness as well as forgive herself in route to returning to the God of her childhood.

Before I even started writing a romance novel, I joked with a best-selling romance novelist about the genre. It seemed that all romances had the same story line. Boy meets girl and they fall in love. One or both of them do something that hurts the other one (or some tragedy drives them apart). After struggling being apart, they both come to the conclusion that they can’t live without the other one. End of story. I asked if people got tired of reading that kind of forumla. Of course, the answer is never. Most people love to read about love battling back to a happy ending.

And then I began to realize that this same formula that makes romance novels so successful is the same formula God has used for centuries. The stories we romance novelists write is simply a pale reflection of God’s great romance.

God’s Romance is evident in what is perhaps the most famous Bible verse of all time – John 3:16

For God loved the world. This is the greatest love story of all time. God Almighty not only loves the world as a whole, He loves me. It is the story of a romance between God and me.

That He gave His Son. In every romance, we see some form of sacrifice. One or both characters usually give up something to be with the one they love. God’s great romance for us is no different. He sacrificed His Son, the thing dearest too Him, so that we could be with Him.

That whoever believes in Him will not perish. Just like in any romance story, we respond to that demonstration of love. In the modern romance stories we read, we almost always see the romance dying before something or someone brings them back together again. It’s the same in God’s romance story. We are on our way to eternal death until we respond to God’s love, thus rekindling the romance that He desired from the beginning of time.

But will have eternal life. This is the happy ending to God’s romance with us. Just as in romance novels, in the end we see the guy and the girl together in what appears to be the beginnings of eternal bliss, God’s romance with us promises a way to eternal joy.

The Desires of the HeartIt is with that picture in my mind that I began writing Desires of the Heart. In so many ways, it fits into that classic romance formula. However, as you read this book, God’s love working in the background demonstrates another angle of the classic boy meets girl tale. That’s why this book can truly be called a Christian Romance.

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by on May 17, 2013  •  Permalink
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Posted by Staci Stallings on May 17, 2013

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Book Blast: Wacky Wishes by Susette Williams, Illustrated by Jack Foster – Enter to Win a $25 Amazon Gift Card!

Title: Wacky Wishes By Susette Williams Author, Jack Foster Illustrator

About the Book:

Tommy and Suzie find a wishing well and like children do, they begin making wishes. Imagine their surprise when their wishes start to come true! Are spacesuits the new dress code at school? What�s Tommy going to do with three heads? You�ve heard of, �Be careful what you wish for, you just might get it.� When Tommy and Suzie’s wishing gets out of hand, will they be able to wish away the mess they’ve created before their wishes run out?

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Susette Williams Author, Jack Foster Illustrator
Susette_300_dpiSusette Williams is a Best Selling Author. She loves writing various genres, both for children and adults. She usually can’t resist the urge to let her ornery sense of humor shine through in one of her characters and has always believed that laughter helps you deal with the obstacles life puts in your way. Susette and her husband have six wonderful children, all with intriguing and different personalities, like the characters she creates in her novels.

Jack Foster has illustrated over 25 children’s books. He is a Sunday school teacher, art teacher and the father of five terrific children and eleven wonderful grand kids. He lives just outside of Chicago with his lovely wife, dog and cat. Check out his work at www.jacksillustrations.blogspot.com

Follow Susette Williams
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by on May 16, 2013  •  Permalink
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Posted by Staci Stallings on May 16, 2013

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REVERSING REGRETS

By Rosemary Hines

Do regrets haunt you? Do you cringe when you think of things you’ve said or done in the past ~ words and actions you would take back in an instant if you could relive the moment? I have my share of regrets. We all have them.

Although we can’t travel back in time and right our wrongs, God’s work is not confined by our past actions. He is able to transcend time and bring healing and restoration ~ even to our regrets.

I lived the first thirty years of my life for myself. Although exposed to the Christian faith as a child, I chose to pursue New Age beliefs and practices. I even became involved in séances, Ouija board sessions, and tarot card readings to predict the future.

Then a radical event in our family rocked my world. My father committed suicide. And suddenly all the New Age mysticism I had embraced seemed hollow.

Thankfully, my sister suggested we study the Bible, which resulted in a yearlong journey into a deep, abiding faith in Christ. The transformation it made in my life caused me to feel profound regret for wasting so much of my life chasing false gods.

I remember pouring out my heart in prayer one day, expressing this regret to my new heavenly Father. Immediately, He ministered a truth to me that stands at the core of my beliefs today ~ Nothing is wasted in God’s economy.

Nothing.

Not even my fortune-telling days with the tarot cards or my Christian mocking attitude of being so much more open-minded and wise.

As a result, God has given me stories to share, a series of novels that teach His truths in the context of very real yet fictional characters and events. They bring insight into some very relevant topics such as the seductive nature of the New Age movement in our culture, the social issues and challenges we face in the areas of suicide, abortion, and our faltering education system.

This creative venture of writing was never one I would have imagined growing up. My life plan was to become a teacher. Although God allowed me to enjoy 20 years of that career, His plans for me spanned a much larger audience.

A powerful verse He gave me in this process was from the book of Joel. In it God promises to redeem, or buy back, the years the locusts ate away (Joel 2:25). Isn’t that what regrets really are? Gnawing locusts in our minds eating away the joy we would have found in the good plan God had for us.

As I reflect back on the many bad choices I made, I can assure you that no regret from your past is beyond His redemption. It is my prayer that the novels He inspired me to write will communicate that message of hope and restoration to both non-believers and believers alike. While we all carry regrets, God desires to lift those broken memories off our hearts and minds and use our life experiences to draw others to His grace, mercy, and miraculous, restorative love.

Rather than allowing regrets to cast a shadow on your life, ask God for His perfect plan to redeem the years the locusts have eaten away in your life. Perhaps He will do it through your own writing journey. Or maybe He has a ministry for you that you never even imagined!

rosemaryRosemary Hines

Author of the Sandy Cove Series ~ Out of a Dream, Through the Tears, and Into Magnolia ~ fiction with a message

www.rosemaryhines.com

https://www.facebook.com/RosemaryHinesAuthorPage

http://www.amazon.com/Rosemary-Wesley-Hines/e/B005H8D8TU/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_1

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by on May 15, 2013  •  Permalink
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Posted by Staci Stallings on May 15, 2013

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How To Write a Story

Once upon a time, in the dark ages before the advent of the Internet, a young mother dreamed of writing fiction.

She said, “How do I learn to write a story?” but there was no one to answer.

how to write a story

She went to her small-town library and whispered the question to her librarian. Very, very quietly the librarian replied, “Here are the books that teach you how to write,” and showed her the shelf.

All eight books came home with her. She read them. They talked about points-of-view and plots and conflicts and sentence structure. How was that supposed to help? She didn’t know where to start so, after three weeks, she took the books back and fixed many more lunches.

Time went on, and the dream of writing fiction rekindled. But once again, there was no one to show the way. The library had nine books now, but adding a description of the hero’s journey was no help to her. She returned the books to the library, no wiser than before, and folded many loads of laundry.

More time passed. One day she said, “No, really! I want to learn to write a story.” And the sun shone upon her that day, because the Internet had been invented and there were people—mentors—who freely gave advice, some of it good. And. . .some of it not so good.

A few more years passed. She learned to turn ideas into plots and plots into stories. She learned the long, slow, hard way because her mind needed to find all the ways that didn’t work before finding ways that did. She wrote one novel, then another and another until she’d written ten.

And one novella, which she sold to a traditional publishing house.

She began to mentor other writers. She taught workshops online and, later, at regional conferences. To her astonishment, she loved teaching. Loved seeing the “aha” moment. Loved sharing the multitude of ways that didn’t work for her, but might work for someone else. Loved talking shop.

Along the way, she remembered what it felt like in the beginning, when she knew nothing. When the information available overwhelmed her, and when she just needed to get a glimpse of the over all process, from beginning to end.

Then she had a thought. What if she started a website? What if she wrote a course on how to write a story, one that didn’t get too bogged down in details but showed the process? One that pointed to other resources, like blog posts, how-to books, deeper courses, or other helps? What if she made it free?

“Aha,” she thought. “That is what I will do.”

And she did.

She’d like to invite you to come and learn to write a story with her. It’s FREE, more fun than a barrel of monkeys, and guaranteed to give your characters their own happily ever after—at least if you want them to have one.

Come to To Write a Story and join her big adventure!

Valerie Comer“She” is Valerie Comer, an author and blogger Where Food and Faith Meet Fiction. Valerie is passionate about locally grown real food, about her walk with Jesus, and about her granddaughters. (She did tell you a lot of time had passed!) Her novella “Topaz Treasure” is part of Rainbow’s End, an inspirational romance collection set during a geocaching event in the heart of the Missouri Ozarks.

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by on May 13, 2013  •  Permalink
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Posted by Staci Stallings on May 13, 2013

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Mother’s Day with GNFA

The economy is still in a rough spot and you find yourself trying to find a good present for mom. Is is possible to get Mom something that she would treasure, like a good book, for very little or even free? It is possible with GNFA.

Did you buy Mom a Kindle, or an Ipad and you want to get her started with some quality books? You’re in the right place.

Right now we have 4 Books from our GNFA Authors to recommend to you.

TheRoadHomeFinal (2)

 

The Road Home on Sale for $2.99 (originally $4.99)

 

 

 

 

 

 

SeasonsGreetingsFinalCover

 

 

Season’s Greeting from Amelia $0.99 (originally $1.99)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jack and Yani Love Harry Potter Free (originally $3.99)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

BlessBack: Thank Those Who Shaped Your Life Free (originally $2.99 )

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by on May 11, 2013  •  Permalink
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Posted by Staci Stallings on May 11, 2013

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Body Image Lies Women Believe: Free Kindle eBook & $100 Giveaway

By Shelley Hitz and contributing authors

Download on Kindle

FREE three days only: 5/8/13, 5/9/13 and 5/10/13

PLUS enter to win a $100 Amazon Gift Card!

 

About the Book, Body Image Lies Women Believe:

  • Are you insecure about your looks?
  • Have you ever compared yourself to someone else and found yourself wanting?
  • Do complements or put downs determine the image you have of your beauty?

Real Stories of Overcoming Body Image Lies Women Believe with God’s Truth

Throughout this book, Christian women share their stories of how they have struggled with body image lies and a distorted view of themselves. However, each of their stories also contains hope – the hope of replacing these lies with God’s truth. Our prayer for you is that you find encouragement within these pages and allow Christ to transform you with His truth.

We Are Each Created Unique

God has created each one of us with unique abilities, unique talents and a unique personality. As women we are influencers and God has given us that role and our beauty to share with others. Yet so often we settle for a counterfeit. The enemy has counterfeited our idea of beauty, convincing us to share our beauty with the world in a distorted way. Today that often means that we see our beauty as what we look like on the outside.

What Lies Have You Been Believing?

Join us for the journey of replacing body image lies with truth from God’s Word.

Download on Kindle

FREE on 5/8/13, 5/9/13 and 5/10/13

Paperback | Large Print | Audiobook

 

Shelley Hitz

Shelley HItzShelley Hitz is an award-winning and international best-selling author. Her openness and vulnerability as she shares her own story of hope and healing through her books will inspire and encourage you.

Shelley has been ministering alongside her husband, CJ, since 1998. They currently travel and speak to teens and adults around the country. Shelley’s main passion is to share God’s truth and the freedom in Christ she has found with others. She does this through her books, websites and speaking engagements.

Follow Shelley Hitz
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Thank you to our sponsors!  The giveaway is sponsored by Staci Stallings, Spirit Filled Kindle, Grace & Faith 4 U and Body and Soul Publishing.


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by on May 10, 2013  •  Permalink
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Posted by Staci Stallings on May 10, 2013

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Does the Juggling Act Bring Objects Crashing Down on your Head?

By Mary Anne Benedetto

I seem to be one of those people who doesn’t know when to pull the plug on embarking on more projects than a reasonable person can hope to handle. Admittedly, if I don’t exercise some degree of discipline, I can easily stay glued to my computer for far too many hours, and before I even realize it, dusk is knocking at my door. I then have to stop and give some serious thought to what might be happening for dinner.

If my husband is working out of town, I have a bit more flexibility and may continue working until 9:00 or 10:00 p.m. because I am researching, adding to my Tweet list for various books, writing a blog post, investigating how to be a better book marketer, writing a book review, catching up with those pesky accounting tasks, seeking potential events for my Beach Author Network group or perhaps I’m on a productive writing roll and can’t bring myself to write just a few more words and call it a night.

MaryprojectsWriters, whether independently or traditionally published, are typically wearing multiple hats. How can we possibly track everything we’re in the process of handling, as well as upcoming deadlines, appointments, follow-ups and obligations? Don’t we live in fear of neglecting to recall an appointment or to follow through on something we have promised?

If I could quote precisely where I read this suggestion, I would be happy to attribute it to that individual and give them a gigantic hug, but several months ago I read an article that recommended the use of a white board for organizational success. You may say, “Why bother? My calendar works just fine.”

In addition to depending on my worn-out calendar for future, as well as historical information, I have discovered that an inexpensive, medium-size white board is going a long distance in keeping me organized in this whirlwind journey on which I travel. My white board entries encompass every obligation–personal and professional for the next four weeks. There is something satisfying about removing completed tasks with one swipe of the Kleenex.

At the bottom of my board, I reserve an area to track the names of works-in-progress, whether they are nearing completion or just beginning. This enables me to view ongoing projects at a glance.

Another suggestion for preventing total burn-out is to walk away for a day or two or more. Pre-schedule your Tweets, Facebook, LinkedIn and blog posts so they can go live without the necessity of your physical presence, and then let them work for you while you take a well-deserved break in the action. It is amazingly therapeutic to clear your mind, take some long walks, spend some quiet time communicating with the Almighty Creator, read a book for sheer pleasure and give it a rest.

Sharing this with you will, hopefully, serve as my own reminder to act accordingly. I make every effort to avoid my computer on Sundays and walk away. We aren’t of any great value to anyone when we are living a frenzied existence.

We know that God intended rest for us, just as He did for Himself in Genesis 2:2–By the seventh day God had finished the work He had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all His work. And God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it He rested from all the work of creating that He had done. NIV

Therefore, my friends, please consider my suggestions:

1-Rest in Him

and…

2-Experiment with a white boardwhiteboard photo

Blessings,

Mary Anne Benedetto

 

Speaker, ghostwriter, blogger, Certified Lifewriting Instructor and author of Eyelash, Never Say Perfect, 7 Easy Steps to Memoir Writing and From Italy with Love & Limoncello, Mary Anne Benedetto’s passions include helping people preserve their life stories, creating Christian fiction, world travel and walking the spectacular South Carolina beaches. Please visit her at www.awriterspresence.com, www.maryannebenedetto.blogspot.com, www.abookfeast4u.blogspot.com and www.4womenwholove2travel.blogspot.com.

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by on May 8, 2013  •  Permalink
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Posted by Staci Stallings on May 8, 2013

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Content in All Circumstances

By CJ Hitz

“…for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances.” – Philippians 4:11

In the last month, Shelley & I found our contentment being challenged to the max. It all began with an email near the end of March from the property manager who handles the condo we rent. The email was simple…

“The owner wants to know if you guys plan to keep renting the place for another year?”

Our response was also simple…

“Yes we would like to sign another year extension. If possible, we’d even be interested in signing a longer lease. We’ve really enjoyed the place.”

The property manager said he’d relay the message to the owner and get back with us soon. The next day, we received the following email…

“The owner has a friend that possibly has an interest in purchasing the property and would like to see it. Very preliminary, I believe at this time that owner will extend the lease unless this friend would purchase at a price acceptable to her. I’d like to meet owner and friend there on Thursday at 6 PM according to the owner’s instructions. Won’t take long; will that work for you?”

Whoa, hold your horses here. We go from possibly renewing the lease to now getting the place ready for the owner to show it to a friend? I have to admit that my feathers were now a bit ruffled as I thought about the possible outcomes. They showed the place to the friend and our worst fears were a reality the next day as we received this email from the property manager…

“Unfortunately, the news is not good. The owner isn’t going to sell the place, but wants to lease the place for a couple of years to a good friend/acquaintance. They raised the rent (probably justified) and will also no longer utilize my services. So they asked me to give you 30 days’ notice that the lease will terminate and you will need to vacate by the end of the day, April 30, 2013.”

Wow. Two words summed up my feelings…numbness and shock.

The next two weeks were a mixture of denial and anger. Eventually, I came to the place of acceptance. We had much to be grateful for over the course of the last year, not least of which was simply being blessed with this condo in the first place.

When we arrived in Colorado Springs on April 20, 2012 we hadn’t yet secured a place to live, though we did have a few appointments to see some places that looked interesting to us. Once we saw this condo with its view of Pikes Peak out our front window and an unobstructed view of the city skyline out our back window, we knew this was where we wanted to call home. Amazingly, everything fell into place where we were able to put down a deposit and sign a lease within three days of arriving here from Ohio with a moving truck full of our earthly belongings. We even found a guy on Craigslist who offered to help us move our stuff into the condo the night before the moving truck was due to be returned. Talk about incredible timing!

We really couldn’t have asked for a place more suitable for our needs…and wants. Throughout the course of the year, I found myself gazing out our front window at the grandeur of Pikes Peak and thanking the Lord for giving me this desire of my heart. And now it was about ready to be taken away.

Naturally, I found myself asking “Why?” Why would the Lord bless us with this place for only a year? It just didn’t make sense in my finite mind. I was tempted to have ill thoughts toward the owner for doing this to us. “Why would they do this to good tenants?” Being landlords ourselves, I couldn’t imagine doing this to good tenants-not even for a friend. The enemy was playing my mind like a fiddle with one sad tune after another being written.

Last weekend in church we were singing “Blessed Be Your Name” by Matt Redman. I had sung this song more times than I could count, but on this day the following words in the song had a different meaning…

You give and take away

You give and take away

My heart will choose to say

Lord, blessed be Your name

The Lord had already been doing a divine work in my heart the previous week as I surrendered our condo to Him and accepted whatever was ahead. I even found myself praying for and blessing the owner. What a freedom comes when we surrender! Peace replaces fear and worry. And despite the circumstances we encounter, the Lord’s name is always worthy of being blessed with praise.

So after a month where a few more gray hairs were added to my collection and a lesson in contentment was taught (and hopefully learned), you’ll never believe what’s transpired over the last week. I can hardly believe it myself. Turns out that the friend of the owner who was supposed to rent the place received a job transfer out of state! The owner called us last week to see if we’d like to stay. Needless to say, we just signed the renewed lease for another year.

Lord, blessed be Your name

 

Forgiveness…Learn How to Forgive and Let Go.

Sometimes life doesn’t seem to make sense or “add up” in ourForgiveness Formula math. We have life circumstances that make us question whether we can truly have a full life. Divorce. Death. Sickness. Financial losses.

And life doesn’t seem fair.

Whatever your circumstances, we believe every reader can benefit from what we share in these pages, whether you’ve endured varying levels of pain or struggle in your own life or you know someone who has.

It’s our prayer that God uses this book as a tool to bring healing, hope, forgiveness and a new-found freedom to people from all walks of life. Maybe you’ve been searching for that formula that will help you make sense of your life.

Come join us as we explore the Mathematics of Jesus and His Forgiveness Formula. Find out how Jesus is and always will be the greatest mathematician, in that He knows what truly adds up to a full life.

**2012 Reader’s Favorite Book Award Winner**
**Check out the brand new audiobook version narrated by national Christian radio voice Larry Wayne!**

CJ on South SisterCJ Hitz is an author, speaker and entrepreneur. In his downtime, he enjoys spending time outdoors running, hiking and exploring God’s beautiful creation.  CJ and his wife Shelley have written several best-selling books which can be found at their website – www.BodyAndSoulPublishing.com/books

They reside in Colorado Springs, CO and are grateful for a place to live

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by on May 6, 2013  •  Permalink
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Posted by Staci Stallings on May 6, 2013

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