An Unconditional Love

It's amazing to me that God can love me unconditionally. It's not that I go out of my way to upset Him, but there's plenty of days I need to be spending time with Him, only to skip right over and go do something else I think is more important.

Each time--thankfully--He reels me back in and reminds me just how much I need Him.

While reading through my devotional, Seeking Purity, I came across something very profound. Laura says, "Hear me loud and clear when I say this: God is not like us! Amen! He is not upset with us if we are coming up short. He loves you and this love is not based on a feeling, it is based on Christ, on truth, on the choice He made to love you unconditionally. Feelings change with conditions, but God's love for you stands firm."

What a blessing to know that God will love us NO MATTER WHAT! I don't have to perform, I don't have to grovel when I mess up. I can come to him with my whole heart, and He will take me just as I am.

He continually loved the Israelites, in spite of themselves. Each time, He drew them back in and loved them unconditionally, just as He loves us. The Israelites were and are worthy of His love. So are you!

Not a Fan of Idols

I love the fact that God had so many prophets throughout the Bible. I'm sure they walked back into their tent each night so frustrated with people not listening to what God wanted for them.

I would've been one of the top non-listeners. I tend to have a mind of my own. I'm sure the hubs could fill you in on that one quite easily. :)

Laura tells us in Seeking Purity, that the Lord warned the Israelites many times through His prophets. I'm so grateful to know that I wasn't the first one to put up a fight when it came to listening.

She goes on to tell us that when we read 2 Kings 17:14-23, we will see that God makes it very clear that the Israelites were not to have idols, among other things. In her research, she found that in the NIV the word "idols" is used. But in the KJV and the NASB, the word "vanities" is used in its place. She says, "A word study will further clarify this for us: 'vanities' and 'vain' are translated in the Hebrew as hebel and habal. Hebel, meaning 'vanities' is a 'breath or vapor,' and habal is 'to act emptily, to become vain or to be vain.'"

Wow! That's quite a statement. A breath or vapor doesn't last long. At all. I don't know tons about science, but I've learned enough to know that a vapor is gone pretty darn quick. Kinda puts things in perspective.

In my daily life, it's easy to find things that seem important. Cars, clothing, purses, Starbucks (yes, you read that correctly. We all have different things we love - ha ha!). But trying to get a bigger paycheck just so I can have more Starbucks won't work. It won't last (except around my waist). Focusing in on "idols" will be a waste of breath - literally.

God placed his prophets in the midst of Israel to bring them closer and fully to Himself. They are in the pages of His word so we can look back and learn, and see that He still wants us closer and fully to Himself. Fleeting moments of vapors just don't seem to measure up - and never will. I'm so thankful we serve a God that still wants every part of us!

Seeking Purity

I've been wanting to share my thoughts as I go through the new Bible study, Seeking Purity: An In-Depth Study of the Book of Hosea by Laura Ford.

I am so blessed with a wonderful and amazing family. Laura is my cousin, and although we lived far apart during our growing up years, we've had many opportunities during our lives to visit and hang out together. I even spent one summer in Montana living near her family and loving every minute of it.

So, when I heard she was releasing a new Bible study, I was one of the first to line up and get it. I've read through a great deal of it, but I wanted to put down some of my thoughts as I went through and studied. My plan is to start over and share as I go along.

I've read the old testament plenty of times, but never delved too deep into the books. However, I've always been fascinated with the story of Hosea. God told this man to find a promiscuous wife, marry her, and have children with her. Wow, that's quite a request! Hosea obeyed with a willing heart. There are plenty of times in our lives when we wonder why God wants us to do something. We question, rebel a little (or a lot), and act like we really didn't hear what He said. I'm actually pretty good at that. I have a feeling my reaction would have been a little different than Hosea's.

Many times I've wondered when am I going to stop and listen to God and what He wants for my life? God wanted Hosea to marry a promiscuous woman for a multitude of reasons. He's just asked me to do a couple small things, not even close to comparing with Hosea, and I have a hard time with that.

Laura says in her study, "Dear friend, we have nothing to fear. If we genuinely love God and keep His commands, He will show loving-kindness not only to us, but to many generations after us. God is jealous for you, just like a groom should be of his bride. He wants you all to Himself."

My plan is to listen with my ears and my heart.

Blessings to you today in your journey.

30 Days of Seeking Challenge

Several months ago, my cousin Laura Ford celebrated the new release of her Bible study, Seeking Purity. It's special for me because I feel like I get a few perks while reading through the study, because I know her so well. When she discusses people and events, I can relate all the more, simply because I know them!

I decided to join her 30 Days of Seeking Challenge, which started Wednesday, September 19th. I am excited because it's a chance to spend thirty minutes a day in the Word seeking God. I am going to spend my 30 days learning more about Him through her new Bible Study. You can order her Bible study through the links below, or just seek out after God in your Bible.

I'm attaching a few links so you can join the challenge with us. If you decide you want to join us, be sure to let Laura know on her Facebook page or on her blog.

So, grab your Bible and start reading!

http://www.seekingpuritylauraford.com/

http://www.seekingpuritylauraford.com/the-30-days-of-seeking-challenge-starts-today/

https://www.facebook.com/seekingpuritylauraford

See you there!

Cookin' and Laughin' with Sandra Bricker

Sandie Bricker is the kind of girl that can make you laugh when she shoots you a three-word email. I'll never know how she does it, but she's got it down to a science.

Known for writing laugh-out-loud Inspirational fiction, she's ventured out into cookbooks. Not just any cookbooks, but ones that come from her heart. She's just released the first two in a three-book series.

I had a chance to talk with her and here's what she had to say:

1. What made you decide to write the cookbooks?

When my mom passed away, she and I were working on compiling her recipes for a family cookbook, which had been her dream for many years. Unfortunately, I lost her before it was all put together, and it was a little too painful to continue so I loaded it all into a box and closed the lid until I could manage to look at it again.

2. What is your favorite dish?

Really?! Just one?! How about if I narrow it down to a few? My mom was sort of a genius when it came to baking and cooking. She used to make these unbelievable cookies made from chocolate and coffee, and they were half-dipped in chocolate. Ahhh-mazing! And then there were the comfort foods like beef stew, dumplings, and stuffed peppers. I could never narrow it down to just one, Julie. I can’t believe you asked me to!

3. What are some of your favorite cooking memories with your Mom?

To tell you the truth, I didn’t learn a lot about cooking from her. Certainly not for lack of trying on her part either! I just don’t have the gift that she had. In fact, there probably isn’t a single dish on earth that I couldn’t ruin with very little effort. But baking! That was our thing. I have such wonderful memories of sitting on a high stool in the kitchen, rolling out dough, using the mixer (and licking the beaters afterward, of course), prepping the pans. I’ll never forget when she taught me how to use the cookie gun. We laughed so hard that day that she had to run out of the kitchen before she peed her pants!

4. Tell us about the wonderful way you came across these recipes. What does it mean to you?

A few weeks after Mom’s funeral, I was going through her things and came across a cookbook she’d made for me. It was red-and-white checkered and held together with a bright red plastic spiral, and inside she’d written down her very favorite recipes in her shaky little handwriting. The note on it said that she didn’t have much to leave me, but she considered her recipes the legacy she had to give. I’ve intended for a long time to do something with them, and for a while we’d discussed doing a cookbook related to the Another Emma Rae Creation series of novels I did for Abingdon Fiction. When they decided against it, I started thinking about how I might pay homage to my mom, and eventually the idea for these e-cookbooks was born.

5. Tell us about the "Hostess with the Mostest," and what you learned from her.

Mom and I were a tag team when it came to hosting the parties and brunches that she loved so much. I would design the tables with flowers and china and centerpieces, and she was the master chef. In my mom’s world, food equaled love. So you can see just by looking at me that I was deeply loved!

6. It sounds like your Mom had parties down to a science. What were some of your favorites?

My mom was the queen of the impromptu neighborhood barbecue because she could put together the most amazing gatherings in no time at all! And she loved to create brunches and cocktail parties where every morsel, every beverage, and every fine detail coordinated the theme or tone she wanted to present. I have such wonderful memories of helping her get ready for them, too. She’d show me her dress and shoes, and then let me dig through her jewelry boxes to choose what she would wear.

7. You are well-known for writing Christian fiction. What recipes do you think some of your characters would like to cook?

Nearly all of the recipes that I used in the Another Emma Rae Creation series came from my mom’s files, so I think those characters would have as hard a time as I do narrowing it down to favorites.

8. What projects are you working on now?

I’m just finishing up the third and final cookbook in the Legacy Recipes series before I complete my book for Abingdon Fiction’s Quilts of Love series. It’s called Raw Edges, and it’s based on the creation of an ovarian cancer memory quilt. Since I’m a survivor, it’s a project very close to my heart. After that, I’ll get started on my second Contemporary Classics novel for River North Fiction. Those books are contemporary takes on fairy tales. The first one was based on Cinderella, and the second will be a new spin on Sleeping Beauty.

9. Where can readers find you on the Web?

LegacyRecipesVideo Trailer

Web site

Weekly blog

Facebook

Amazon Reader Page

Amazon Kindle Legacy Recipes

Thanks so much for joining us on the blog! I for one look forward to trying out some of these recipes!

Recipes With a Heart from Sandra D. Bricker

When award-winning author Sandra D. Bricker was a child, her mother was widely-known for the meals and sweet treats she put on the table.

“I always used to tell her, ‘Mom, you’ve made me what I am today!’ Which, of course,” quips the author of best-selling romantic comedy for the Christian market, “is a diabetic with a weight problem.”

Bricker gave up an established life as a publicist and aspiring screenwriter in Los Angeles to move across the country to Tampa, Florida, in order to provide care when her mom could no longer care for herself. It was her mother, in fact, who suggested to the writer that, since she felt that she’d left her screenwriting dreams behind in Hollywood, perhaps she could try her hand at writing novels.

“My very first romantic comedy was published a few months before she passed away,” says the author, “and I’m so happy that she actually had the chance to hold it in her hands and read it before I lost her. She was so proud, and it really made me feel like I’d accomplished something to see that look in her eyes.”

When Jessie Kovacevich Bricker passed away, she and her daughter were in the process of compiling the family recipes in hopes of fulfilling her dream of publishing a cookbook. Unfortunately, the project didn’t come to fruition. Until now.

“After she died, I found a cool little spiral cookbook that she’d made for me,” Bricker explains. “All of her favorite recipes written in her shaky little hand were inside, and a note that said it was the only legacy she had to leave me.”

In honor of her mother, the author has begun working on a series of cookbooks called Legacy Recipes. The first volume, Legacy Sweets: Cookies, Cakes & More from the recipe files of my mother, is available now for Kindles at Amazon.com, priced at $2.99.

“These cookbooks are the epitome of a Labor of Love,” the author beams. “But the response that they’ve gotten from my readers has been so gratifying. My mom would be over the moon about it!”

For further information about the author or her books, including Legacy Sweets, contact PressAndMore@aol.com, or email the author directly at SandraDBricker@aol.com.

An Interview With Author Sheryl Young

I had a chance to interview another author, the wonderful, sweet Sheryl Young. Thankfully, she lives locally, so I get to visit with her every once in a while. She talked about her new release, God, Am I Nobody? Here's what she had to say:

Sheryl Young’s new pocket-sized devotional is called God, Am I Nobody? Subtitled Yielding Our Desire for Success to God's Will for Our Lives, it deals with how Christians might be conflicted between wanting personal “success” as the world defines it, versus following God's plan for their lives – or whether we can have both!

Sheryl explores why God uses some people in the spotlight, and others in the shadows.

What made you write a devotional on “worldly success” versus God’s plans for us?

I had spent three years proposing an earlier book to publishers. I received lots of interest within that time from five major Christian publishing houses. But one by one, they decided that I was too unknown for them to take a gamble on…

Within that time, I also did quite a bit of article writing for newspapers, magazines and websites. Then the economy crashed.

One day, while having a pity party about many of my freelance writing venues closing down, I  brushed against a shelf in a Christian bookstore. Out tumbled a book that landed open to a short sermon by Hudson Taylor entitled A Higher Calling.

Taylor, a 19^th century missionary who devoted his life to serving the people of China, begged Christians to fully turn themselves over to the Lord, no matter the cost, and to put our pride aside even if we had to work in obscurity. This really touched me and made me feel like a self-absorbed fool! It became the basis for the devotional.

It sounds like a good topic to study. So how is the devotional structured?

It’s a convenient, carry-anywhere little book consisting of 17 chapters. Each chapter includes segments of Taylor's sermonette, along with parallel Bible verses and thoughts for everyday application. The chapters are short enough to be studied one per day, but can also be absorbed at a reader’s own leisurely pace.

It’s really good for Christians of all ages looking for God’s next open door…teens wondering what direction to take, empty nesters, career people, ministry leaders, stay-at-home moms; and it would also make a good small group study on a number of topics like waiting on the Lord, humility versus pride, low self-esteem, or just folks struggling with the desire for their “15 minutes,” like I was!

And, did you get a “big” publisher this time?

Sheryl Young

(She smiles) - No, but it was my choice this time. In proposing it around, it was suggested to me by two large companies that if I could stretch this little devotional into 90 days by adding other missionaries’ pieces, it would stand a good chance. But in researching possible additions, I realized that coming across Taylor's piece was a Godsend that I couldn't duplicate…

I felt it would be selling out on the topic, which includes the struggle with pride, if I expanded the book just to get a bigger publisher. So it’s published by a small press, Treble Heart Books, that saw value in its pocket-sized coverage of the subject. 

God, Am I Nobody? was released in November 2011 by Treble Heart’s nonfiction division, MountainView. Although it’s not in bookstores, it’s available at many places online:

-At Amazon.com in paperback: http://www.amazon.com/God-Am-Nobody-Sheryl  

-Amazon for Kindle: http://www.amazon.com/God-Am-I-Nobody-ebook/dp/B006E88XRO/ref=tmm_kin_title_0?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2&qid=1329862262&sr=8-1

-At the publisher’s website in paperback or e-book (Treble Heart Books): http://www.trebleheartbooks.com/MVSherylYoung.html

- Barnes & Noble Nook: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/god-am-i-nobody-sherylyoung/1107956290?ean=2940032890683&itm=1&usri=god%2c+am+i+nobody

-Smashwords as an e-book: http://www.smashwords.com/books/search?query=god+am+i+nobody

As of May 2012, 10 great reviews have been placed at Amazon!

By the way, Sheryl’s first book, What Every Christian Should Know about the Jewish People (she’s a Jewish believer in Jesus), is still available at Amazon, too: http://www.amazon.com/Every-Christian-Should-Jewish-People/dp/141411074X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1329925650&sr=8-1.. She and her husband prayed about it and ended up self-publishing that earlier work.

“It was a very rewarding experience, and we have faith that it has reached the hands of those Christians who are interested in being good witnesses and friends to the Jewish people,” she says.

Sheryl blogs about stuff like politics, faith and entertainment at http://20-20faithsight.blogspot.com.  

Sheryl, thanks so much for stopping by the blog! I am excited about the other books you have in store for us in the future! I always love your work.