GOD LOVES BROKEN PEOPLE by SHEILA WALSH

GOD LOVES BROKEN PEOPLE by SHEILA WALSH

God loves us, broken people, who open up our battered hearts to allow God to heal our personal sorrows and heartaches. When our carefully created glass houses crash down, we slowly start to carve a brand new world beyond the safe haven of those demolished walls.

We are broken lambs, who limp after our Shepherd. We do not know where He goes but we want to go with Him. Our personal brokenness opens up the way to the heart of God. We broken people know that God loves us, a heart knowledge that we dare to believe, and through such blind trust, a whole new awareness emerges from the shattered ruins of yesterday's broken pieces.

The Shepherd loves us. We have no hope and no meaning in life apart from Him. We are not alone, we have never been alone, and we will never be alone. Our divine Shepherd is with us. He has always been there except that we will never know it unless and until we welcome Him into our hearts.

The dark little fingerprints in our lives leave not-so-easily-brushed-away smudges that only the Savior can wipe away clean from our slates. Let us bring the scarred, broken pieces of our lives to God and allow Him to do for us what only He can do. He can stitch together the torn fragments of our shattered lives into the most beautiful tapestry.

God loves us with a selfless, undying passion. He has committed Himself and His supernatural, omnipotent power to getting us safely home to heaven to be with Him forever. To God be all the glory.

© Miriam Jacob

"BY THE LIGHT OF THE SILVERY MOON" by Tricia Goyer

"By The Light of the Silvery Moon" by Tricia Goyer is skillfully crafted with intricately interwoven lives enmeshed in major deep-rooted conflicts and characters that poignantly tug at one's heart-strings. Indepth historical research is accurately interspersed with the epitome of luxury to capture the magical mystic of the Titanic, highlighted by impending doom, in a tragic disaster waiting in the wings of time.

The Titanic was a ship of dreams, touted as "the greatest ship ever built." There has never been a ship like it before and there probably never will be again. It was intended to be much more than just a great engineering feat of mankind. It symbolized the dawn of hope and the promise of a bright future that was tragically not to be. In the history of the Titanic, time was destined to be an endlessly-flowing river.

Aboard the Titanic, Amelia Gladstone was all set to celebrate the historic advent of a splendid new era, heralding in the most luxurious ocean liners that ever sailed the seven seas. Determined to live in the present, Amelia decided not to let the anchor of memories pull her down and sink her flagging spirits. Nor would she allow the waves of worry to batter and bruise her heart. Amelia prayed to God to enable her to savour the present moment and live in the here and now. She wanted to be open to what God had in store for her future. Amelia's aching heart yearned for new horizons, fresh insights and a much stronger faith to sustain her through difficult times. Amelia loved God with all her heart but she knew she had not been as bold in sharing her faith as she should have been.

Quentin Walpole was wounded and scared. He longed for a friend whom he could trust. Amelia could see that gaze, deep down in his eyes. She wished she could do more for him, maybe even be that special friend he yearned for. Perhaps it would happen, on this ship of dreams and hope. Amelia wondered whether Quentin had people in his past life whom he missed dearly and longed to see again. Did Quentin's heart painfully ache "to know and be known, to love and be loved?"

Clarence Walpole missed his youngest son, Quentin, more than words could say. It had been five long years since Quentin had walked out of his heart and his life, claiming his share of his inheritance and squandering it away. Deep down in his heart, Clarence was sure thadaqs'npin w`q alive and well somewhere. If only he knew where he was. If only he could catch a glimpse of him. That would have comforted his father-heart as nothing else could.

Clarence was overwhelmed as he clung desperately to his faith. His heart ached with deep regrets as he struggled to hold back his tears. He could not afford to cry any more. He had already wept his heart out. He knew he had to be strong in order to prove that God's strength sustained him. What other choice did he have? Hope was his only option and his only way out. Clarence was well aware that God knew where Quentin was. He knew that he could trust God who loved Quentin even more than he did. At this moment, that knowledge had to be sufficient. He would trust God to take care of Quentin until the way opened up for him to see him again. When Clarence heard that Amelia had seen Quentin, he longed to see his son himself. "Give your sons to Me," an inner voice whispered compellingly in his heart. A peace flooded his whole being and he knew he had heard God's voice. "Lord, I am willing." Make me even more willing.

Amelia needed time alone by herself to recollect her thoughts and reaffirm her purpose for this voyage. She must make sure that she did not forget what lay behind her nor what was ahead. "May God fill your heart with a new love, to hold you up when the missing gets too terrible." She would pray for Quentin. A warm sensation enveloped her and a strange feeling of someone standing behind her pervaded her senses. She spun around but saw no one. An inner peace descended upon her heart and Amelia knew that she sensed the presence of God with her. A sudden conviction hit her that it was no strange coincidence that Quentin, his father, Clarence and his brother, Damien were all on this ship together. It was not by chance that she was offered an extra passenger's ticket on this ship which she gave to Quentin, on seeing him being dragged mercilessly off the gangplank. Amelia knew that God had a purpose for Quentin and He was instrumental in using her to meet his father and brother from whom he was estranged, despite being together on the same ship. Amelia knew that Quentin was in God's hands. She whispered a prayer that God would soften Quentin's heart and gently remind him of his father's love.

Amelia's heart ached as she thought of all the lonely years. Despite her pain and heartache, God had always been faithful to her. He had given her a brand new hope for her future. It marked a turning point in her life. It was both pointless and hopeless to think of what was past. She needed to focus on the present and look with hope to the future. She thought of Quentin. He was one of God's gifts to her. All he had to offer to her was his heart. When he gazed at her, his eyes reached deep down into her heart and moved her in a way no one had ever done before. When Amelia looked into Quentin's face, she felt a gentle peace stirring in her heart. She knew what she had never known before. Quentin was God's choice for her.

Quentin's heart felt full and complete. He knew that in order to win Amelia's affections, he would have to surrender. And he did just that. He prayed and surrendered, asking God to forgive all his past mistakes. Something snapped inside him and all his pain drained out into the hands of Jesus. "Quentin, who'd run away from love, now dared to hope love could be possible." Winning Amelia's heart was a gift Quentin felt he had no right to receive. Her simple innocence almost brought him to his knees.

As Amelia prayed for Quentin, God ministered to her heart that she was to guide Quentin into healing for his own pain. God had a gift of healing for Quentin that He wanted Amelia to deliver. "Lord, restore what was lost. Heal what's been broken. Whatever it takes." No matter what life held in the future for Amelia, she could never forget God's healing power that could easily restore in an instant what had been hurt and broken for so long.

When Quentin honored Amelia's words enough to lay down his pride and honor and reunite with his beloved father, Amelia knew deep down in her heart that she had hope for a brand new life with Quentin. She felt utterly cherished and saw with wide open eyes the amazing power of prayer at work. Prayer really made a huge difference in people's lives. Amelia realized this as seeds of love for Quentin were slowly germinating in the garden of her heart. She knew that she would have to trust God even more now than she had ever done before.

Amelia and Quentin learnt that none of their experiences in life would ever be wasted. God could take the broken pieces and fashion them into the most beautiful patterned mosaic. Something good would always come out of their past failures when they offered them to God to be transformed by His life-changing power. When Quentin bravely confronted the mistakes and failures of his life, and walked away from a past that had so often held him in chains, he made a fresh new start to life. Amelia and Quentin decided to trust God with what lay ahead. God would show them. As they grew closer to him, he would make a way where there was none. God had used Amelia to give Quentin the greatest gifts he could ever imagine - a reconciliation with God and with his own father. During the horrific ship wreck, both Amelia and Quentin sensed that God was just a whispered prayer away. His voice hovered over the dark waters, calling His children home. When Amelia thought she had lost Quentin, she acknowledged that she had lost the greatest treasure of all - love. God had given her Quentin's love briefly, only to lose him tragically, or so she thought, until she found him. "Amelia remembered Quentin's last smile. His last look of love." Faced with the imminent loss of the life of Quentin, the man whom she loved the most, and after being reunited with him, Amelia decided to put her utmost faith in God. "It's not what I put my faith in, it's who I put my faith in," she said.

© Miriam Jacob

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this e-book free from LITFUSE GROUP through the LITFUSE GROUP book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255

THEN SINGS MY SOUL by Robert J. Morgan

"Then Sings My Soul" by Robert J. Morgan presents the classic hymns of the faith in a magnificent two-thousand year repertoire of music in Christian hymnody that reverberates awesomely through the ages of time. By learning the splendid legacy of our past, we create a beautiful legacy for our future.

All creation sings God's praise in a magnificent crescendo of sights and sounds.The Lord created us with an extraordinary capability for music and song. We are designed and destined to sing His glorious praises. "God lives in the praises of His people." Our spirits respond to God's truth in a musical form. Hymns are "distillations of the richest truths of God," "bursts of devotional richness,""portable units of praise," and "miniature Bible studies" that lead us to worship and praise God. Hymns have "an indestructible freshness and power." A hymnbook is one of "the richest fountains of edification."

Sifting through the overarching heritage of our hymnody, we come to the root core of praise. The history of our hymnody is a rich and varied study of inspiring legacies, selfless heroes and astounding stories. The history of the church is recorded in her soul-stirring hymns while the story of Christianity can be read in its inspiring songs. Just like the well-gleaned promises of the Bible, a unique hymn is available for each particular need of ours, covering every single circumstance we will ever face in life.

God loves music. He recorded a lot of it in the Bible. God loves it when His children sing His praises. Hymns and songs proclaim God's truth. God blesses people in every age and clime with the amazing ability to compose songs and music to glorify His Name in all the earth. God the Holy Spirit sings through the voice of His church. "When we sing to the Lord, it is the Holy Spirit welling up and overflowing in our hearts!" God is praised and honored when we sing to Him! To God alone be all the glory!

© Miriam Jacob

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from THOMAS NELSON PUBLISHERS through the book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255

A RELUCTANT QUEEN by JOAN WOLF

"A Reluctant Queen" by Joan Wolf is the compelling, real-life story of Queen Esther of Persia who, when faced with an impossible choice, did not falter in her faith or flinch in her resolve. In a beautifully drawn portrait, described well with great sensitivity and perception, Joan Wolf presents Queen Esther exactly as she should be known by successive generations of Christians across the centuries.

Queen Esther's heart must have skipped a beat when Mordecai, her elder cousin, who had raised her up as his own daughter, requested her to speak to King Ahasuerus to save the lives of her people. She had not seen the King for a whole month. The law stated that anyone who approached the King in the inner court, without being summoned, faced instant death. The only exception was that the King could extend his gold scepter to save the person's life.

When Queen Esther apprised Mordecai of this alarming scenario, his response was noteworthy. If she did not speak up for her people, someone else would and her life and that of her paternal family would perish. His next words were utterly symbolic - "Who knows whether you have come to the throne for such a time as this?"

Queen Esther was fully aware of the dire implications and possible consequences of her actions when she requested Mordecai to tell the people to fast and pray for three days, along with her, after which she would speak to the King, even if it was against the law of the land. She was fully prepared to place her own life of the line to save the lives of her people. Her last words to Mordecai were chilling proof of this - "And if I perish, I perish." Haunting words from a newly-crowned Queen in the full bloom of her youth.

In "A Reluctant Queen," Joan Wolf transforms a Biblical tale of courage and bravery into a heart-stirring love story in which Esther, a simple girl, faced with a daunting task and an impossible choice won the heart of the magnificient King Ahasuerus of Persia. Their love altered the course of history. It was a divine surprise that God sprung upon the world. Joan Wolf brings Queen Esther to life in this beautifully inspired novel that scintillatingly vibrates with the elements of mystery, intrigue and romance in the exotic setting of the Persian empire.

© Miriam Jacob

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from LITFUSE GROUP through the LITFUSE GROUP book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255

SPRING FOR SUSANNAH by Catherine Richmond

"Spring for Susannah" by Catherine Richmond is a tender, realistic story of a young lady's journey to the Dakota territory where, hundreds of miles away from home and facing an uncertain future, Susannah struggles to survive the harsh elements on the untamed Dakota prairie, as her life is gradually transformed from being a shy, timid woman with an innate sense of unworthiness to a strong, fiercely independent pioneer of life in the wilderness. Here is a vivid portrait of the life of an extraordinary woman who is brave enough to take on the ultimate risk as she awakens to life and love.

When her small world crashes with the death of her parents, Susannah resigns herself to becoming a mail-order bride to Jesse, her pastor's brother, who is far more loving and patient than she dreams of but with a strange, bewildering wildness that mirrors the wilderness surrounding Susannah's puzzling new world. She is constantly on edge and hides behind the mask she painstakingly erects around herself. Susannah certainly did not believe in love at first sight, not by a long shot. All she dared to hope for in her faintest dreams was the minutest miracle to feel anything other than the strange, oppressive shyness threatening to overwhelm her.

Jesse had an aura of command surrounding him and he was far too aware of the dark side of people including Susannah herself. She knew deep down in her heart that his far-seeing, critical eyes could penetrate the armour of respectability she had erected to mask her worst self, the self that even she could not confront. The thought terrified her beyond words. For Jesse however, Susannah was a new song in his heart that he must learn to sing. His deep-rooted confidence in her and his unfaltering faith in God's perfect plan chips at the wall she hides behind.

After suffering a miscarriage in the cruel Dakota winter, Susannah's fledgling faith begins to totter and crumble to dust.But Jesse's unwavering love for her never falters. Just when the long and arduous winter never seems to end, Susannah sees the first hopeful signs of spring! And with it comes the stunning realization that so much more than the mere landscape has changed. Hope is born anew in Susannah's aching heart!

© Miriam Jacob

Disclosure of Material Connection:

I received this book free from LITFUSE GROUP through the LITFUSE GROUP book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255

NEARING HOME by BILLY GRAHAM

In "Nearing Home," world-renowned evangelist, Billy Graham frankly shares his views about life and faith, from the vantage point of old age. Not surprisingly, he says that growing old has been, by far and wide, the greatest surprise of his life. Not even he, in all his wisdom, could have imagined what God had in store for him.

Billy Graham is confident that the Lord will not forsake him on the last lap of his long journey through life, as figuratively speaking, he boldly threshed the wheat in his younger days and now harvests the golden corn in his twilight years. He is growing old with grace as he sets his heart and mind on the Giver of grace.

Scripture is full of rich nuggets of grace in the lives of men and women, whom God called very late in life, very ordinary people who made the astounding discovery that the golden years can be the most rewarding and fulfilling, to be embraced as part of God's great plan for their lives.

In the introduction to the book, Thomas Nelson Publishers presents it so beautifully - "Billy Graham's life and ministry have been dedicated to the here and now, but always with a happy-ever-after in view....... He is humbled to have been called of God to faithfully proclaim the greatest message the world will ever hear: Jesus Christ came to earth to bring hope to a lost and dying world."

© Miriam Jacob

Disclosure of Material Connection:

I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze®.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255

UNSHAKEABLE FAITH by KATHY HOWARD

Is your faith doggedly determined to withstand difficult times when the storms of life beat upon you with relentless fury? An unshakeable faith can keep you standing firmly on the unsinkable Rock, despite the storms beating around you like a turbulent sea.

The Apostle Peter was a very run-of-the-mill kind of person, a hard-working fisherman, very passionate and overly headstrong, famed for being 'impetuous, impulsive and overeager.'

Jesus singled him out for a most extraordinary mission. Simon, the faltering fisherman, was transformed into Peter the Rock, to lead Christ's Church strongly in the fiery face of persecution.

The greatest triumph of Peter's life was the fact that although, when Christ was betrayed, Peter fearfully denied knowing Him, thirty years later, Peter fearlessly died for his faith in Christ. This was his vindication.

What brought about such an awesome change of heart? God inculcated eight 'faith traits' in Peter to produce an unshakeable faith, guaranteed to weather every single storm in Peter's life.

These eight spiritual factors will give you an 'obedient, dependent and trusting relationship with your Savior,' to depend and rely upon when trials strive to unsettle you.

Life is full of the most extraordinary trials and difficulties. The only firm foundation for you to stand on is a rock-solid faith in God that is not easily moved. Peter's remarkable life reveals that God can transform a fragile, faltering faith into a strong, unshakeable faith.

Trait One reveals that you are secure in the love of God who chose you to be His very own.

In Luke 5:1-11, Jesus saw Peter and his friends washing their nets and getting ready to go home after fishing all night to no avail. Yet, Jesus told Peter 'to take the boat back out into the water and put the freshly-cleaned nets down for a catch.' Peter stared at Jesus in disbelief but obeyed Him at once. There instantly occurred an incredible miracle right in front of their eyes. 'The catch was so large they had to call for another boat.'

Two other miracles also occurred simultaneously in Peter's heart. Peter's perception of Jesus changed in the twinkling of an eye. He saw His Master in a new light. Peter's perception of himself also changed radically. As he perceived Christ's awesome power and authority, he also became acutely aware of his own wretchedness. A deep sense of sin overwhelmed him. 'Now Peter was ready to follow Jesus.'

© Miriam Jacob