Archive | April 2019

The Paradox Of Love by Teri Harman

Apr28

The Hunter And The Star

The Paradox Of Love by Teri Harman is a heart wrenching Christian historical tale set in 1889. It shows the power of love to heal and to restore, if we would just let love into our hearts.

The novel has the themes of discrimination, abuse and intimidation. It is not a read for the faint hearted. Native Americans and women are seen as inferior to white men who continually flex their muscles and abuse their positions of power. Daughters are to be given in marriage with no thought to their feelings. “I’ll be sold like livestock.”

There are some hard to read scenes of domestic abuse as the sins of the fathers seem destined to be repeated. Women, wrongly, believe they deserve this treatment. The reader’s heart breaks.

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The Holy Heroes Devotional by Scott Bayles

Apr28

Not Just For Super Hero Fans

The Holy Heroes Devotional by Scott Bayles is a forty day devotional for super hero fans – right? Wrong! TheHoly Heroes Devotional is a forty day devotional for everyone. You do not have to be a super hero fan, you just need to love Jesus and want to immerse yourself in His truths.

Every chapter gives a summary of a super hero story or film. This is then likened to Biblical truths, backed up with scripture, and then each chapter ends with questions to ponder and a prayer.

This book is jam packed with Biblical wisdom and lessons we can all learn. I am not a super hero fan. As a child I watched Batman with Adam West and that is as far as my knowledge goes but it does not matter. This devotional still impacted me. There are familiar Bible stories. There are truths that God loves us so much that Jesus died for us. “This [the cross] is the very reason I came.” John 12:27 NLT. We defeat evil by standing on the Word of God.

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Gone Too Soon by Melody Carlson

Apr27

Shake Them, Break Them, Make Them

Gone Too Soon by Melody Carlson – wow what an emotional roller coaster read this contemporary YA Christian novel is. If you are looking for a comfortable feel-good read this is not it. However if you are looking for a gritty novel dealing with relevant issues and with the restorative power of God, then look no further.

Melody Carlson pulls no punches. This book is a difficult and at times uncomfortable read with its themes of loss, addiction, suicidal thoughts, guilt and fractured families. “I feel a huge load of guilt burying me.” The good news is that God sees the hurt and the pain and He walks alongside us to bring healing.

We do not always see or feel God. “I think my prayers are getting ignored, because it just seems to be getting worse.” We were never promised an easy life but we can know that God is not ignoring us, no matter what the circumstances might say. God sees. God hears. God is working tirelessly for us.

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A Time To Change by Callie Langridge

Apr25

One In, One Out

A Time To Change by Callie Langridge is a really powerful and heart wrenching novel about love and self-sacrifice. It is a time-slip novel with action alternating between 1913 and 2013. It is beautifully written and for a few hours I got lost in its pages as I ‘lived’ the novel. Now it is ended and I feel bereft – I have left my new ‘friends’ behind – because to me, these were not just characters in a book, they became my friends.

The novel is beautifully and sensitively written. The reader ‘feels’ the love, the desperation and the urgency of the main character whose heart is huge and full of love for others.

This is a story of self-sacrifice. It is a story of putting others first. It is also a story of great love – a love that will last down the years, a love that even death cannot extinguish.

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