Reading, Writing & Pondering

Shannon Adair leaves her confederate state of Virginia with her father, Rev. Delaney Adair as he accepts a call to preach in the gold rush town of LaCeour. Rev. Adair is determined to go where God has called him to go and to be used wherever that may be. However, Shannon isn't so sure that God can use her in this uncivilized area of the old West.   At the same time, Wells Fargo driver Matthew Dubois, has taken some time off from driving the stage coach to working in the office so that he can also nurse his ailing sister, Alice, back to health. Alice is a widow with a young son named Todd. Matthew soon finds that Alice is in worse shape than he thought. Will he be able to return to driving stage coach?   Without giving too much away from the plot, I enjoyed Robin Lee Hatcher's latest historical tale, Heart of Gold, set in the old west. I was immediately drawn into the character's lives and felt like I was in the midst of Grand Coeur. I especially appreciated her depict...

The Jesus Calling Devotional Bible offered me a devotional and a Bible rolled into one product that I could have on my e-reader device. I really liked that idea.  I am also a fan of easy-to-read Bible versions. This devotional Bible is offered in the New King James Version. I was already familiar with that version so it was easy for me to like that aspect of this Bible. I was also familiar with Sarah Young's book, God Calling, but I had not read Jesus Calling. In both cases, there has been criticism of Sarah for making a presumption of what God or Jesus would say. I have talked to several Christians that have found these books to be very helpful even though I understand that criticism. For me, I found Sarah's words to be helpful as well. In this Bible, Sarah responds to various prayers that people might pray on various topics such as fear, worry, suffering and other scenarios that Christians throughout the ages have faced. It seemed to me that she stuck with Scripture in her ...

The sub-title to this book is Real Stories. Changing Lives. That phrase sums it all up in a nutshell. This is a book of testimony after testimony of real people who went through all sorts of challenging experiences but in the end realized that they needed to give their lives to Christ and live for Him. I Am Second includes stories are from names that you will recognize such as famed singer and song-writer Michael W. Smith and Soul Surfer Bethany Hamilton. Other stories may come from names you won’t recognize but the all of the stories are well-written and compelling. They tell about people who have gone from living for booze, drugs, sex, money and the things that the world has to offer and coming up empty to knowing that only God can fill them. All of the stories offer hope and encouragement to those who end up putting God first in this me-first world we live in--"Becoming second means recognizing God is first." When I received this book, I was not familiar with this movem...