WON this book!

I enter a lot of book contests, and this is one of three that I won this week! I am really looking forward to reading this one. The first in the series, Forget Me Not, was excellent. If you like suspense/mystery mixed with a little bit of romance, you will like this book. I highly recommend it!

Join The Book Club Network and find out how YOU can win books and have the opportunity to chat with authors after reading their books.

Also, this is a great way to stock your church library. Most times those budgets are slim. You can even use this as your ministry to your church family. There's all genres of books out there that authors are promoting, not just Christian Fiction.

Blogging for Books

I'm so excited!!! I just signed up with Blogging for Books (WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group). In 10-14 days I'll receive my first book to read and review.

♥ Happy Valentine's Day ♥

1 Corinthians 13

If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal.  If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing.  If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.

 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.  It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.  Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.  It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

 Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away.  For we know in part and we prophesy in part,  but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears.  When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me.  For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

I am so thankful for the love of God! He has blessed me with wonderful family & friends. I hope they all know how much I love them, because He first loved me ♥

Prayer

On Bible Gateway their Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary says this about Prayer* :

*Prayer is converse with God; the intercourse of the soul with God, not in contemplation or meditation, but in direct address to him. Prayer may be oral or mental, occasional or constant, ejaculatory or formal. It is a "beseeching the Lord" (Ex. 32:11); "pouring out the soul before the Lord" (1 Sam. 1:15); "praying and crying to heaven" (2 Chr. 32:20); "seeking unto God and making supplication" (Job 8:5); "drawing near to God" (Ps. 73:28); "bowing the knees" (Eph. 3:14).*

I have found recently that at times my mind is so OVER crowded with thoughts that I start conversing with God. Ok, not out loud lest they haul me off to the looney bin :) But my son will tell me, "Mom, your lips are moving." Yep, I'm getting close! Seriously though, I'm not talking a 10 minute prayer time here. I'm talking all throughout the day. When I'm washing dishes, doing laundry, etc. There's so many things going on in everyones lives...financial difficulties, emotional problems, spiritual challenges. So many things to be prayed about. So many hurting people. So many sick people. So many suffering with loss of a loved one. So many seriously ill. So many....

The only One I know equipped to handle all that is God, so I converse with him. Tell Him what's happening to those I know & love. Yes, I know He already knows. I don't ask Him why any of these things are happening. We live in a fallen world. I think that pretty much sums it up. But I do say things like, "Lord, you know they just lost their mom. They really need someone to come along side them and hold them, comfort them, guide them, LOVE them. I know you'll be there for them, but could you send someone in the physical? Someone with wisdom from You, someone that will help them make those tough decisions. They're just kids, Lord. They're not equipped for this, but You are." Then I move on to the next thought, and so on. I might get interrupted by one of my boys asking a question or the phone ringing but then I just go right back where I left off, and if I forgot where I was I know God didn't! I LOVE that I can keep a running conversation with Him all day!

Do I sound whacked? Maybe, but that's how I converse with my Father sometimes. How do you converse with Him?