Posts by admin

Holly Jolly Christmas Giveaway

Posted by admin on Nov 26, 2018 in Blog | Comments Off on Holly Jolly Christmas Giveaway

Do you love Christmas….especially Christmas books? How about a $50 Amazon gift card?

Celebrate Lit has combined 35+ fantastic Christmas books for this giveaway. To check them out and read about a different author each day, VISIT OUR FACEBOOK EVENT PAGE HERE.

To sign up for the giveaway, VISIT OUR GIVEAWAY PAGE HERE.

 

 

Our Christmas Trilogy book, Holly, Ivy, & Intrigue is included in the giveaway. It contains three suspense/mystery stories that you will love, written by myself and two other authors, Denise Weimer and Alexa Verde.  Here is what each story is about:

Christmas Murder Mix-Up by Joanie Bruce

“I have to get rid of her now.”

After four months of a blissful marriage, Paige is devastated to overhear her husband, Cooper, say those words to his best friend. Because of a suspicious Christmas gift, a gas leak, and a home invasion, Paige’s love for Cooper is tested to the limit. Will their marriage survive the Christmas Murder Mix-up?

Holiday Pursuit by Alexa Verde

When Brianna Rockwell’s brother finds himself in danger and disappears three days before Christmas, she does everything to rescue him. Brianna dodges bullets, escapes fire, and even turns to her longtime crush for help. But the closer she gets to solving the mystery and finding her only sibling, the more desperate someone gets to silence her forever…

A Holiday Intruder by Denise Weimer

Kelsey Jordan prefers upcycling junk and refinishing antiques for her store in a Georgia mountains town to being the center of attention. When a robbery and an unknown benefactor shove her in the middle of a decades-old mystery, and a real estate developer and a former baseball star compete for her attention, Kelsey isn’t sure who to trust.

ENTER HERE……and good luck!

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A Sweet Savor for God

Posted by admin on Jul 21, 2018 in Blog | Comments Off on A Sweet Savor for God

In the books of the Old Testament, there were different types of sacrifices God required of the Children of Israel in the wilderness: the sin offering, the burnt offering, and the meal offering were only a few. God gave the priests specific instructions how to execute each ritual.

 

But the thing I noticed most is what God stressed about EVERY offering . . . that it make a sweet savor for the LORD.  It wasn’t the sacrificed animal itself that was as important to God as the sweet savor of the offering.

Even though the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ became atonement for our sins, and we are no longer required to offer sacrifices, I believe we can still offer God a sweet savor offering.

 

When we sacrifice time to help those in trouble, or sacrificially donate money to someone in need or to missions, or when we sacrificially offer forgiveness to a friend, it’s our attitude during those offerings that matter to God.

 

 

 

The right attitude ... showing love in God’s name ... is what He wants from us, and if our hearts are full of the right attitudes, we offer a sweet savor to Him. Click To Tweet

 

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Book Review: More Than Meets the Eye by Carrie Daws

Posted by admin on Jun 28, 2018 in Blog | Comments Off on Book Review: More Than Meets the Eye by Carrie Daws

More Than Meets the Eye by Carrie Daws

 

My Review:

This book was so much fun to read. What an uplifting story!

I especially loved the insights I gained regarding the struggles a military family endures during their service to our country. Knowing this story is the true story … of an actual military couple … made the situations in the book more moving.

I hurt for the mother whose child suffered with childhood asthma and wept with her as her husband struggled through physical and mental illness caused by Sleep Apnea. I also rejoiced with her as she learned to trust God for the strength and guidance she needed to accept, and actually thrive, with God’s presence in her life.

 

Over all I give this book five stars. I think it would be especially meaningful to any military wife and mother who struggles with military life; However not knowing anything about military life did not stop me from enjoying this book thoroughly.

I highly recommend this book to anyone loving a tender, inspirational story.

I was given a copy of this book. The thoughts and opinions expressed are my own.

About the Author:

From Carrie:

Me? A writer? That’s what I would have said before God pushed the issue. I just liked to write devotions and post them online for women to read. But then God introduced me to the Christian Writer’s Guild and I discovered that writing fiction wasn’t as scary as I thought it would be. With the help of an encouraging mentor and friends with a voracious fiction appetite, Crossing Values was completed, followed by the other three books in the Crossing series. Now I’m starting a new series based around military spouses!

Along the way, my husband medically retired from the United States Air Force. After years of constant moving, we settled in North Carolina with our three children. Besides writing novels, I stay busy home schooling and keeping up with our extended family and friends.

I strive to write clean fiction. I love happily-ever-after stories that gently advocate Biblical values and I believe in advocating healing from past hurts and families uniting in difficult circumstances. More than anything, I want the hope of Christ to permeate each of my books. Learn more or connect with me at CarrieDaws.com.

 

 

From the back of the book:

Deployment changed him, and she doesn’t know if she can live with it.
After her husband returns from a deployment to Saudi Arabia, Lori Braxton begins noticing little differences in his behavior. He’s withdrawn, moody, and can’t sleep. Could it be the stress of military life after the 9/11 attack on New York? Maybe it’s the new assignment in Montana or the financial problems he ignores. Perhaps it’s forces she can’t see and doesn’t know how to fight, or maybe she’s a bigger part of the problem than she wants to admit.
What is God doing? Is He even paying attention? 
Lori tries to attend church and do what God asks, but the truth is she doesn’t really hear Him speak. Between money strains, pregnancy hormones, and young ones underfoot, Lori spirals into depression.
What good could God possibly bring from the mess surrounding her? 

Buy Carrie’s book HERE

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Prayer Boot Camp Tip#2

Posted by admin on May 30, 2018 in Blog | Comments Off on Prayer Boot Camp Tip#2

 

 

Remember the post on the “Prayer Boot Camp”? Today I’d like to share tip#2 for feeling the power of God behind us through prayer.

Our first tip for effective prayers was HOW to pray the way Jesus taught us in the Bible. Using the PRAY method. P- praise, R-repentance, A-appreciation, and Y-yearnings.

Today, I’d like to share another tip I learned about prayer. Tip #2:   WHY we should pray.

We all know how human nature works: We pray when we need something, when we are desperate for a change in our lives. Sometimes it’s when a loved one is ill or when we desire something we can’t get for ourselves. But prayer is not only about begging God in the frantic or uncontrollable times of our lives; It is an avenue of worship and fellowship with our God who only wants the best for us. Click To Tweet

 

 

Prayer can be a time of renewal. Jesus told us that without fellowship with Him, we are nothing.

“I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without me you can do nothing.”   –John 15:5  We will wither up and die without Him.

Prayer is important to a Christian because it is actually infusing our life with the power of the God of the universe. Click To TweetWow! We have that power and energy behind us as long as we stay in God’s will and stay in fellowship with Him. To stay in God’s will, we have to be in constant contact with Him and follow His leading.

He loves us and wants the best for us, but when we forget to fellowship with Him, we lose the blessings He longs to give us. We wither up and die.

Why should we pray? Wouldn’t you love to bask in the BEST God has stored up for you? Prayer is the key.

Why do YOU think prayer is important in a Christian’s life?

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Impatient? Me??

Posted by admin on May 3, 2018 in Blog | 1 comment

 

 

Dear Readers: Are you a patient person? Sometimes I think when God created me, He forgot to give me patience. ( Lol ) …..which is ridiculous, I know, since God makes no mistakes—but I am deficient when it comes to that trait.

The world we live in today which flaunts instant gratification with fast food, instant access, high-speed internet, and speed dial, hasn’t helped my lack of patience at all.

But today, I learned a lesson in patience … from my husband. Ben has a bat-wing mower that he uses to mow down thistles and briers in the pasture so the cows can reach the grass underneath. His mower has seen better days, and one of the mower decks was rusted through, making it impossible to use. So … being the industrious hoarder of junk equipment that he is, he happened to have purchased an older mower to use for parts. He decided to combine the best parts of each and build a serviceable mower.

 

That’s when he ran into a problem. The hinges on the used mower were so old and rusty, they would not move. He worked for three days … yes, I said three days … trying to break them free by pounding, oiling, heating, cooling, and using any other tactic he could think of, but they refused to budge. And yet, even after all of that frustration, he still came into the house each time with an upbeat “Hey honey,” for me. Even though he was covered in oil, grease, rust and dirt and was tired from the ninety-five degree heat, he still had a smile on his face.

Now that, my friends, is a lesson in patience. My husband provides me continually with perfect examples of long-suffering and forbearance, and this is what I’ve learned from him after all these years:

1) Admit your impatience: Acknowledging I’m irritated with a person or situation is the first step to overcoming those negative feelings. Being patient is a mental skill. If I exercise it, it will get stronger.

2) Agree that patience is a choice:  I can choose to be angry or aggravated, which makes me irritated even more, or I can choose to be calm and tolerant. The choice you make determines your outlook on anything that happens in your life.

3) Accept what you cannot change:  Slow drivers are a nightmare for me, yet I can’t make them go away. I can ride their bumpers, honk my horn, yell out the window, or make faces and hope they see me in the mirror, but chances are, they won’t even notice my behavior. When you can’t change it, accept it. Ben would probably say “Relax. Enjoy the ride.”

4) Analyze the situation, and come up with something positive to say about it:  Being behind a slow car might save me from being involved in a wreck further up the road. If I can change my feelings of pessimism to optimism, I find that I’m much happier.

So, my dear friends, I’m trying to make my life happier and more pleasing to God by living my life with a tolerance for others and without complaint. I’m not saying I will always succeed because I won’t, but I’m trying … and I hope you will as well.

Patience: 1) the quality of being patient, as in the bearing of provocation, annoyance, misfortune, or pain, without complaint, loss of temper, irritation, or the like. 2) the ability or willingness to suppress restlessness or annoyance when confronted with delay.

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