Peering Through Life's Window

  A Warm Welcome to Kristi Neace Kristi shares a devotional. She will start a new Bible study on Facebook in July. Watch for the announcement, giving the exact date and time on her  Facebook Page   Scriptural videos also available. See below.*  In a Pit? Psalm 40:1-3‚ “I waited patiently for the LORD; he turned to me and heard my cry. He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; he set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand. He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God. Many will see and fear and put their trust in the LORD.” Can you think of a time when God helped you out of a low place? Perhaps something had caused you to spiral downward, or maybe like the Old Testament character, Jonah, you had run away from God so as not to have to do what He was asking of you.  Through this passage, we see that David was experiencing this first-hand. He was in a place of despair, yet God was gracious, and after some time, placed Dav...

  A Warm Welcome to Fay Lamb Fay shares a devotional. She's also having a contest. Enter here   by guessing at the clues given to you as to the location of each book in The Visitor series. One Day Heaven Was Open Those five words from “One Day” rang in my head as I contemplated this post. The hymn is a beautiful story of Christ’s redemptive love, but those lyrics came to mind for a different reason. There had been a day in my life when Heaven had opened, and I saw clearly my Savior who bled and died for me. Since that day, there have been other times when the Lord has shown Himself real to me. One particular time I will never forget occurred one very early foggy morning. While driving to work, I passed an entrance ramp onto Interstate 95. An overwhelming prompting from the Holy Spirit urged me powerfully with one word. “Pray.” Then a still, small voice said, “Pray for Ethan.” Ethan is my grown son. I knew he would have been on his way to work in the fog driving on the interst...

  A Warm Welcome to Pamela Thibodeaux Pamela shares a wonderful devotional. Have you ever heard the audible voice of God? I have. I bet you have too, although you may not have recognized it for what it was. I remember a time when I was filled with shame and guilt and doubt because of the kind of life I was living. My husband and I attended a new church, a place we’d never set foot in before and there, in the quiet of the service I heard God say, very plainly, “You are forgiven.” Did that change my life? Not completely but it did set me on the path to change. Isn’t that what faith is all about–changing as we get to know Him and hear His voice in whatever means He uses to speak to us? When I start writing a book, I don’t always know the referencing scripture. Most of the time I don’t even have a blurb or tagline or anything to develop the story around. I’m 100% panster when it comes to creating, but somewhere along the journey, these things fall into place (especially if I’m listenin...

  A Warm Welcome to Terri Gillespie Terri will give away a signed hardback devotional book. To enter to win leave a comment and an email address below. Hi Terri, first, tell us a little about yourself.  I suppose I can begin with I’m a wife, mother, and grandmother. From the time I could press the keys of my grandmother’s ancient Royal typewriter, I have wanted to write stories. It has been a long journey with twists and turns and topsy-turvey experiences, but after sixty years, here I am. It’s never too late. Many writers were avid readers as children. How about you? If so, what did you read? I had undiagnosed reading issues. Reading for me was a challenge. My parents didn’t read to me as a child, so despite a passion for writing and telling stories, I struggled with reading. My grandmother was a storyteller and my best friend. Some of my best memories are of us swinging on the porch swing and her telling me these amazing tales—some of them true. It wasn’t until my younger si...

A Warm Welcome to Shirley Brosius A contributor to  Wholly Loved Ministries, a 90-day devotional, Shirley shares "Reasons To Dance In The Rain" with us. Each day, God beckons us to Himself, calling us to rest in His love and grace. As we do, He heals our hurts, overpowers our fears with love, and restores us to the women He created us to be. Wholly Loved Ministries , written by women who are learning themselves to live anchored in God's grace, will help you deepen your faith and grow your relationship with Christ. Reasons To Dance In The Rain As I watch a gentle rain dimple our deck, I am reminded of my childhood. Rain on a tin porch roof outside my bedroom window lulled me to sleep. A cedar tree dropped orange blossoms onto that roof when it rained. And there was something special about sitting on the porch of our farmhouse, watching raindrops splash on a large flat stone that served as a porch step. Rain. Precious drinking water. So necessary for...

A Warm Welcome to Larry Hammersley Larry will give away an e-Book of The Forever Bond . To enter to win leave a comment and an email address below. Tears/Weeping Includes favorite verse of Psalms 56:8 Name some reasons for weeping.  Tears are shed at funerals, weddings, pain, anger, happiness, fit throwing, loved ones leaving, for those who are sick and suffering. Tears not due to emotions are cold wind, dust storms, onions, tear gas. Is weeping just for women and children?  Is it okay for men to weep?  Ecclesiastes 3:4 says there’s a time to weep.  That’s not gender specific.  In Romans 12:15 everyone is included.  Job describes his face as foul with weeping. Both the New and Old Testaments include examples of men and women who wept.  In the Old Testament we have women such as Hannah, Hagar, Ruth, Orpah, Naomi and Samson’s wife.  Men include Jeremiah who described his tears as a fountain and a river, David on several occasio...

          I carried the blue canvas stadium chair to the beach and planted it in the deep, white sand. A baby lizard lay in the seat. My husband, Rick, flipped it out with his hand and turned around to set up his chair. Tail and all, the tiny creature measured only one to one-and-a-half inches. It writhed in the grained earth.      Bright sunshine lit up the spring day, but the shore felt chilly to my bare feet. He must be cold. I stared at the lizard. His little arms and legs so thin; his fingers, like short pieces of thread, wiggled frantically. “Now you’ve done it.”      Rick sat down.      “He can’t travel on the beach,” I said.      Rick stood. Using his foot, he scooped up a large amount of sand with the lizard atop it. He took several steps, and the sand filtered to the ground, so he flicked off the lizard and repeated the process. At first the little reptile squirmed as though h...

A Warm Welcome to Julie Cosgrove A staff writer for Cru Canada's Power to Change Internet Ministry, Julie shares a devotional, Give It Up. She  also gives away a print copy of  Threes, Sixes and Thieves   (U.S. residents only). Enter to win by joining the Rafflecopter giveaway below. Hi Julie, First, tell us a little about yourself. I am a widow who lives in Fort Worth, Texas. I am a native Texan and write about Texas folks and places because it is not only what I know, it is what I love, deep in the heart…as the song goes.  I love words and play word games with friends and the computer.  I always have—from crosswords, to find the word to solving the jumbles in the daily paper. My mom was always my Scrabble partner and would cheer me on when I won. I do miss staring at that board of pink, tan, red, and blue squares with her. Let's talk about your writing. Why do you do it?  Why do you scratch an itch? Seriously, I have always loved ...

Lillian will give away an e-book. To enter to win leave a comment and your email address. FINDING YOUR WAY OUT OF A DARK ALLEY James 4: 8 Draw close to God, and God will draw close to you. We humans are not necessarily the smartest of God’s creations even though we think we are! We seem to go out of our way to hurt ourselves in so many different creative ways. At one time or another most of us end up in a dark alley of our own making through our own bad choices and actions. And sometimes other people put us in those alleys or at least lead the way. It always seems so dark and so lonely there, but God never abandons us—it only feels that way sometimes. And that’s what I want readers to take away after reading DARK ALLEYS . No matter what we’ve done, God never stops loving us. He is always there waiting for us to ask for His help. In James 4: 8 it says, Draw close to God, and God will draw close to you." To me that means, God is always there waiting for us to come to HIM...

Ann says,"Anyone who leaves a comment will receive a free e-copy of Kicking Eternity. If you don't want to leave your e-mail address, you may request your free book at AnnLeeMiller.com." Ann Tells about Her Childhood and Her Writing in E-mail From God An e-mail from God showed up in my in-box last November, during a year I strained to wring out the deeper novel my literary agent was convinced I had in me. I needed to scrape out my emotions and smear them on the page. But I only knew how to shove them inside. My Chatty Cathy doll tumbled over the stucco banister worn shiny from my family’s hands and those who had lived in the Miami apartment before us. Salty tears tickled my face. I scooped her up in chubby, six-year-old arms and pulled her string. But she who won me countless friends on a year-long Volkswagen van trip across Mexico would never talk again. “Quit your crying, or I’ll give you something to cry about,” my daddy said. When I was thirteen, Mama drov...

                                                              "Serve the LORD with gladess; come before His presence with singing."Psalm 100:2 People love to hear music when they attend church. It adds another dimension to the service. I am sure that in your own personal experience you recall times in your life that were heightened by the music being played in church. My father’s funeral is one such memory, to me. Even this week’s Royal Wedding was uplifted with glorious music and the divine songs of a choir. But harmony is not always prevalent. We have been experiencing a crisis in our church choir for months now, one that has tested the limits of our tolerance and true Christia...

Often children remind us of truisms we've forgotten, or haven't heard in a long time. Sometimes we hear a youngster say something that's so true, and we comment, "Out of the mouths of babes." When I've observed elementry students playing in groups, I've often noticed how they talk about caring. There are such phrases as "Who cares?" "Tell somebody who cares," "Nobody cares," "I don't care," and "Why should I care?" to name a few. Even at this early age, they, like us, seem to be searching, reaching out for someone who will be concerned if they're sad or hurt. No one cares more about us than Jesus. He suffered and died on the cross for our sins. If we trust in him, he'll be there for us. His compassion is so much deeper than we can imagine; his power so great he rose from the dead. Matthew 28: 1- 6, "After the Sabbath, at dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary w...

LISA LICKEL WRITES ABOUT G OOD WORKS GIVING UP SOMETHING AND GRACE Lisa's giving away a copy of her Barbour mystery, The Gold Standard Yet even now, says the Lord, return to me with all your heart. Return to the Lord your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. --Joel 2:12-13 It's Lent, traditionally a time of mourning, of self-contemplation and self-deprivation. Most of the people in my circle don't pay it any more mind than Advent. My husband I moved about a year and a half ago to worship with a new congregation after spending our whole married lives with one body of believers. We are learning different ways of celebrating our Lord and Savior, and it is good. We are also able to share some of the meaningful traditions from our former congregation; one of which is to gather during this time as a smaller group. Come, let us return to the Lord; for it is he who has torn and he will heal us; he has struck down and he will bind...