Saturday, December 29, 2012

Book Review: Daily Dose of Determination (Kindle)


This Kindle book was like a MINI daily devotional. It had a few good ideas that I "ear marked" and highlighted. But it mainly was a good reminder of those things known but could have slid to the side of my remembrance. If your looking to read something encouraging about practicing " Determination" that is not too lengthy each day; this is it.

P.S. Yes, there is Scripture in it.

 Daily Dose of Determination

Book Review: Cowboys and Angels (Kindle Version)

Cowboys And Angels (Aspen #3)


Disappointing! I guess I'm a prude. I quit reading somewhere in Chapter 9. Prior to that it was going along pretty good and I had high hopes for it.  I was beginning to like the two main characters and had hoped for  more.    I wish I had seen the review "MKay" gave on Amazon, sooner. Out of fairness, I went back and skimmed over the racy stuff- to see if there was much of a story. You see, part of the short review mentioned that it was "soft porn" with very little to the story-line. It was right on the money and I wouldn't have ordered it if I had realized that!

Saturday, December 22, 2012

Book Review: An Angel by Her Side- Novel #3


A Heaven on Earth Novel, #3

The town Hope Falls, is where two people meet; each with their own deep tragedies.
Feisty, Katie Bender, who found her purpose as a teacher, after the death of her fiance in an accident.
Seth Stutzman, who comes to help his widowed brother, Amos and his children, and who is hiding from the hurts of an accident he feels responsible for because of his calling, as a Master Builder.
Both of them find themselves running for cover at the school house with the children,all seeking to escape from a devastating tornado. Seth only plans on staying as long as it takes to help Amos gets things back together and finds its not as easy as he thought and its going to be longer than he thought. Both Katie and Seth begin working together with others in the Amish community to help rebuild it. Spark begin to fly of course, and in the midst of it all is Elias, an elderly man, who just seems to appear and disappear as they need him. He is sent by God, to help and protect them as spiritual warfare also goes on over them and their futures.

I was thankful for the Pennsylvania Dutch glossary in the front of the book, it was very helpful to understand some of the conversations. Most of it was easily understandable but there were a few times I had to look at the glossary to look up a word here or there because of the different words.
I liked the book okay but found it pretty slow moving. I know it was slow in the beginning, giving the reader time to get used to the culture and their language. I haven't read any of the other books in the Series either. There were times I didn't like the heroine, Katie, because she was so selfish but part of the book was about her struggle to grow out of that. It also showed times when she was tender but incredibly misunderstood. Sounds like real life, doesn't it?

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


Friday, December 21, 2012

Book Review: JUDGE by R.J. Larson

Judge
" Judge" is Book # 2 in the Books of the Infinite Series-
Kier Lantec is on leave from his military duties when God, His Creator "The Infinite" speaks orders  for him to go to ToronSea.  He's a military judge, in training and he's being sent to warn the people to repent from worshiping another, a false goddess, and return to him and all will be forgiven.  Kier not only doesn't want to go but can see no way that he is qualified.  This is more in line with what the woman he loves, Ela is called to do.  But he obeys and the adventures begin.  Not to worry, the adventures of Ela continue as well, as she has visions and sees that spiritual disaster for her birthplace, Parne is close unless they too repent and turn back to the One who loves them, The Infinite !!
I was a little worried when I opened the book and saw a Character List in the front of it. I was concerned I wouldn't be able to keep up with all the people.  You see, I didn't realize this was a series and I hadn't read the first book. But not to worry, I LOVED, LOVED, LOVED this book.  Wish I could give it MORE than a 5 stars review on other sites. The story kept me riveted to it.  Great fiction!  The characters, the story -line,  the spiritual elements to it.  Wonderful!  Caused a strong stirring in me to be even closer to God! The author did a great job of showing how closely the main characters were living; so intimately attached to their instructions from and relationship with God!  So easy to see parallels with even the days we live in now.  Now I've GOT to read Book # 1 "Prophet". A surprise addition was the preview to the 3rd book," King"; that was in included in the back of this book.  This is another book that I WILL be reading as soon as I can get my hands on it!  The sooner the better, I say.

I received this book FREE from Bethany House for an honest review.

Monday, December 17, 2012

Book Review: REAL LIFE, REAL MIRACLES

Real Life, Real Miracles: True Stories That Will Help You Believe
Stories and plenty of them; miracles in every conceivable way.  Ordinary people; even in their own words.  Many said they didn't do anything special, weren't anyone special but God was and He reached out and gave them a Miracle.

I wasn't even half way through this book before I knew I was in love with the content!!!
Uplifting, encouraging and just pure joy to read.  Yes, tough situations for sure, but the goodness of God showing up?  Wonderful.  Will there be those that will be skeptical of the stories?  Probably.  But its my hope that more will be encouraged and just enjoy the many stories shared.  And maybe even find a story or two that they can identify with and encourage them to hang on  until THEIR miracle comes.   Can you tell that I believe in Miracles?  Yes, I guess that makes me a bit prejudiced IN favor of Miracles still happening today.  But I'm not apologizing for that!

I received this book FREE from Bethany House  as part of the book review program, in exchange for an honest review.  I was not obligated to give a positive review.

Saturday, December 15, 2012

Book Review: Open Heaven by Tommy Tenney

He's still a God-chaser!
 In this book he describes very well the frustration of church when we are seeking God's hand and not God's face.  He's hoping that there are other worshipers  God's kids, out there that feel the same.  Scripture is given to show God's desire for our presence and that  God isn't looking to feed "casual nibblers but that he feeds the hungry".  A sobering presentation of the fact that we often live our lives that basically say, "God we know how to go on without you".  And we also run our church services and the things we do FOR God, in the same way.  Learn how to carry the "Blue Flame" of God's presence.

The forwards in the book were very interesting, which I can honestly say for me isn't always the case.  3 Major standouts for me were:
#1 The story about building a mercy seat for God (the story about no place to sit; was piercing in its truth) It broke my heart.
#2 The  fact that the Chinese people have such a precious understanding  of how to show honor to their guests.  They are treated as highly valued; I got it, there is so much we can learn from this. In how we treat our guests in our homes and treating God as a valued guest as well.
#3 About merely getting God to come into our midst and then we don't really spend any time with Him when he comes.
Oops, I underestimated the number of things that impacted me.
 How can I not mention, getting a spirit of Bartimaeus?
  Or... giving up our dignity & composure for the presence gift of His Presence.
 Or.. the Weeping Zone?
 Or..the value of Sweat?
Or..that sometimes (often) when God comes, the way He does it offends our sensibilities

I Received this ebook FREE from Destiny Image for an honest review.

Open Heaven: The Secret Power of a Door Keeper  -     
        By: Tommy Tenney

Thursday, December 13, 2012

Graham Truth Quotes; a list of them

‎"If we do not progress into a place of astonishment and awe and reverence of God, we are going to be intimidated by life around us. 
We’re going to be intimidated by what the enemy is doing. 
Your intimacy with God should be the most intimidating thing about you!"
.......................................................................................................................


***"There’s a place set aside for you in God where you get to make the enemy tired and weary. 
He becomes depressed by your joy.
 He becomes discouraged by your grace. 
He becomes paranoid about your peace. 
You make the enemy tired, weary, depressed, and requiring therapy."*******


  • "The Holy Spirit is taking the righteousness of Jesus and applying it to you every single opportunity He can. God isn't dealing with your sin; He’s dealt with it. He’s dealing with your righteousness."

  • "Stress is not caused by what other people are doing or by circumstances. Stress is caused by the way that you think about and approach those circumstances. When you're tempted to worry and be fearful and so on, peace within is the antidote."


  • "God has taken up residence inside us, that’s the reality that you need to deal with. Don’t make things on the outside your reality; make the things inside of you your reality. What’s in your heart should be the most real thing to you because you can overcome anything out there from the place of who you are in here."

  • When you say, “Ah, I’m really frustrated,” what you've done is you've just capped your experience at a negative level. What you’re saying is, “I’m frustrated, I have this obstacle, I can’t overcome it, I’m stopped, I can’t move forward.” Those are all negative confessions. The truth is there is no frustration in the Kingdom. So now what’re you going to do? Well, you’re going to move forward!"

"Rest is a weapon that can do damage to the work of the enemy, and it’s a weapon that’s going to do damage to your own inherent negativity. We've all grown up with a negative view of ourselves, and what we’re learning in the Kingdom is the view that God has of us and we’re replacing our negativity with that one. I want to think of myself the way God thinks about me!"

"The Holy Spirit is our helper in all things. We are never alone, ever!"

  •  ‎"Thanksgiving is not causal; it’s really intentional. You give thanks until you become thanks, yeah              That's when everything changes and your whole internal atmosphere changes."

Tuesday, December 4, 2012

Book Review: Fire of The Raging Dragon


A tense story of China, Taiwanese forces and the U.S.A caught in the middle of an escalating power struggle.  The new Chinese president, Tang Qhichen, orders the brutal attack on Itu Aba Island against Taiwanese resisters;  who consider themselves  the True China.. Tang Qhichen  is power crazy with dreams of being a near god in how his people revere him and he wants the rest of the world,  to basically bow in fear and reverence as well.  He wants to rule the seas as the only great super power . The U.S. President Surber has things become more complicated because  his daughter Ensign Stephanie Surber is aboard the U.S.S. Emory Land, one of the first ships that finds itself in the naval war zone. Things become even more critical when a Chinese freighter is found to be carrying a horrible secret.  Everything is trying to bring all into the brink of war.  There is also the added threat of how much the U.S. owes the Chinese in loans.  War and economic pressure both come to bear.  So the question becomes " Stand against evil and risk war, economic disaster AND  his daughter's life or fold to the Chinese and allow the cover-up of evil?"

Well written, edge of your seat is how this story is written.  A bit slow starting though, so you might want to keep at it.  For me, everything was a bit slow until about page 70ish.  I liked this story but I did find some of the information, battle strategies and maps a bit boring (sorry) although I can understand why some of it was necessary to the story.    I have to admit there may be other women who enjoy this more but I didn't in particular. Men will probably love that part a lot.   But once the story got rolling,  (after page 70) it really started getting interesting, as did the people and I couldn't wait to see what the outcome was going to be.

 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



Sunday, December 2, 2012

DELIGHT- Graham Cooke

"Delight is a lifestyle

 that the Lord really wants us to develop. 

It is the key

 that opens up your life to God."

Do you like these nuggets?

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Graham Cooke
You can also buy his books and tapes through Brilliant Books Graham Cooke