Tag Archive | Vivant Press

Chain Of Mercy by Brenda Anderson

May26

Happy 10th Anniversary

Chain of Mercy by Brenda Anderson is a wonderful contemporary Christian romantic novel. It is the first book in the Coming Home series and wow what a series it promises to be. There is just so much in Chain Of Mercy – a fabulous storyline, numerous themes, and a novel that honours God. It is hard to know where to start.

God is very much at the heart of the novel. God is faithful. We may move away from Him but He will never move away from us. Sometimes we use our busyness as an excuse and we drift away from God. “Being busy always kept God at bay.” God will wait in the shadows, waiting lovingly for us to return.

The novel shows the need for grace. We all need grace. And we all need to extend grace. We have all sinned  but there is no condemnation from Jesus, just love and grace.

A major theme in the novel is forgiveness. We all need to receive forgiveness. We all need to give forgiveness. It is often easier to forgive others than to forgive ourselves. “Everyone’s forgiven you. You need to forgive yourself.” God says we are loved and forgiven. We need to believe Him. To withhold forgiveness can make one bitter. Life can become a downward spiral. That is when we need to recognise our need for God and for His help to extend forgiveness. Not in our strength but in His.

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Broken Together by Brenda S and Sarah S Anderson

Dec1

The Guiding Light

Broken Together by Brenda S and Sarah S Anderson is a most delightful contemporary Christian novel and part of the Mosaic Collection.

The novel follows a family that are broken apart by a false accusation. We see that when we are broken, we need to rely on God to get us through. When we cannot stand in our own strength, we need to kneel and press into Him.

Prayer is vital. “I give my prayer muscles a workout every day.” Prayer needs to be exercised for it to grow. The longer we spend in prayer, the more intimate we will become with God. “She prayed as if Jesus sat right beside them.”

Sometimes it feels as if God isn’t listening. “God hadn’t listened to those prayers, why would He start listening now?” God is listening but He is waiting too. Sometimes we need to be broken apart before we can be put back together. “You’ve worn yourself thin… It’s time to get on your knees and let God do the fighting for you.” God fights our toughest battles. We just need to fully surrender to Him.

God can use all our situations for good for those who love Him. “Prison may have broken him, but God had pieced him together.” When we are down to nothing, God is up to something.

Walls are no barrier to God. “Prison walls couldn’t keep God away.” There is no pit so deep that God cannot be found sitting beside us. No one is ever too far from God. “ ‘I’m just a screw-up’… ‘Exactly the kind of man God uses for His good.’ “ God does some of His best work with broken vessels.

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