Book Spotlight on "The Hem of His Garment" and a post by the author

Will Pain Make You Bitter or Better?

A guest post by Dr. Michelle Bengtson

Pain. It’s inevitable. We live in a pain-averse society, and we prefer living a pain-free life. But the truth is, we all experience pain of some kind. Jesus warned us we would have trouble, pain, and suffering. “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world” (John 16:33 NIV). 

Pain is certain in this life, but the challenge is how will we respond to it? Will we allow it to make us bitter or better?

We’re all familiar with physical pain—the sprained ankle, broken arm, sunburn, or toothache. But no discussion about pain would be complete if we didn’t also acknowledge other forms of pain: emotional pain, relationship pain, financial pain, spiritual pain, secondary pain caused by the words or actions of others that make us feel worse when enduring the other types of pain, as well as grief and loss.

My husband and I are no strangers to pain. Between the two of us, we’ve had cancer several times. We’ve gone through financial hardship. I endured clinical depression and anxiety earlier in our marriage. We’ve both been bruised by relationship pain, and wondering why relationships were severed with no opportunity to seek forgiveness or reconciliation for something we didn’t even do. And now, living a life of chronic physical pain, just like Jacob wrestled with God and Job asked God questions, I have also wrestled and asked God some hard questions in my suffering. Questions like: God, I’m serving you—why didn’t you prevent this from happening? Or God, do you care that I hurt? Or God, I know you can heal—why aren’t you? I’ve learned that God is big enough to handle my questions…and my pain…and teach me lessons through it.

I never have a pain-free day anymore, although pain is usually less in the morning and ramps up frequently to intolerable levels by evening. There have been many long nights and tear-stained pillows where I’ve cried out to God and asked Him to take my pain away. There have been times when I’ve wanted to ask God “Why?” and yet, in my spirit I sensed Him saying, “Why not you?” God didn’t inflict the pain, but he’s using it. He didn’t cause the trials, but he’s using them. So, the question is, do we want to be used by God, or do we want to be comfortable? I knew God could take it away if he wanted to, but I sensed Him saying, “I’m entrusting this to you. Steward it well.”

God isn’t just the God of heavenly thrones, churches, Bible studies, prayer meetings, and revivals. He’s also the God of chemotherapy chairs, overdrawn bank accounts, prodigal children, empty chairs at holiday dinners, bathroom floors, broken hearts, and tear-stained pillows. He’s a God who stoops and bends his ear to listen to our heartfelt cries. He’s the God who promises to go before, walk alongside, and come behind when no one else will.

My entire purpose for being on social media is to encourage others and point them to the hope we have in Jesus. But I’m also honest, authentic, and vulnerable about life’s challenges. Social media becomes so sanitized with perfectly posed pictures, that comparison and jealousy over others’ staged lives makes us feel worse about our own. So, I vulnerably share the real-life pain, and people resonate with real. My publisher came to me, having noticed that people respond to the authentic trials of life, and asked me if I would consider writing a book on pain.

In all honesty, my first thought was, “No!” Because I’m an experiential writer, and I have to go through what I write about. I had to walk through the valley of depression to write the books Hope Prevails: Insights from a Doctor’s Personal Journey Through Depression and the Hope Prevails Bible Study. I had to walk through anxiety to write Breaking Anxiety’s Grip: How to Reclaim the Peace God Promises. I had to learn to transform my mind and take every thought captive in order to write Today is Going to be a Good Day: 90 Promises from God to Start Your Day Off Right. And I knew that writing a book on pain would entail me experiencing more pain. And unlike those earlier books where I wrote from the other side of depression and anxiety, because every day is filled with pain for me, I would have to write this book in the crucible of pain. But it only took God a few seconds working in my heart for me to decide I want to be obedient more than I want to be comfortable. So, I agreed to write The Hem of His Garment: Reaching Out to God When Pain Overwhelms.

Readers are saying it’s my best book yet. But I would suggest to you that that is because I was completely and totally dependent on the Holy Spirit giving me insights to share. Throughout the book, the common thread is the story of the woman with the issue of blood, and to a lesser degree but still prominent is the story of Job. This was intentional because both of them experienced every single kind of pain I talk about in the book. They teach us how to hold onto our faith when we know God can heal but for whatever reason hasn’t yet. And they teach us about the gifts and benefits inherent in our suffering.

Perhaps in our longing for healing of our pain, God is beckoning us to exercise our faith, to come to him and touch the hem of his garment. Perhaps he has something more waiting for us than we could ever ask or imagine. But it’s our choice whether to let pain make us bitter or better; whether we will run away from God in our pain, or lean into Him for strength.

In her weakened, frail condition, the woman with the issue of blood pushed through the crowd determined to touch Jesus’s hem. She could get no lower, nor any further from making eye contact with the Great Physician. The defining moment in this woman’s life occurred when, lacking in her own strength, she reached out for Jesus’s hem in faith, and his strength went out from him, into her, healing her of the pain that plagued her for over a decade. Perhaps instead of viewing our dependence on God in a negative light, we can see it as the avenue he uses to draw us to himself.

If you are experiencing pain today, let me encourage you that God sees you. He cares about you. He weeps with you. And he not only doesn’t waste our pain, but he uses it. Will you trust Him with your pain and continue to reach out in faith to touch the hem of his garment?

~*~
Author Bio:

Dr. Michelle Bengtson is a hope concierge! 

Whether as a board-certified clinical neuropsychologist, host of the award-winning podcast Your Hope Filled Perspective, or the author of several award-winning books including Hope Prevails and Breaking Anxiety’s Grip, her passion is to share hope and encouragement with others. Her newest release is The Hem of His Garment: Reaching Out to God When Pain Overwhelms.

 She loves all things teal, spending time with friends and family, taking long walks, or sitting by quiet shores, and it’s a bonus when any of those are accompanied by sea salt caramel chocolate! You can find her and her hope-filled resources at https://drmichellebengtson.com/.

~*~
Blurb for The Hem of His Garment (book): 

Hope for When the Pain Won't Quit

Everyone experiences pain at times. It can manifest physically, emotionally, relationally, or spiritually. It can follow tragic accidents, great loss, sudden betrayal, or unexpected and unwanted change. Often it is temporary. But what do you do when it isn't? When the pain just won't go away, when healing does not come, when the grief and hurt settle in?

Drawing on her own experience of chronic pain and her years as a board-certified clinical neuropsychologist, Dr. Michelle Bengtson provides a countercultural perspective on pain. 

Offering hope without any false promises or empty platitudes, Dr. Bengtson unwraps the complex emotional aspects of dealing with pain. She gives you permission to question God, helps you identify the lies you've believed about your pain, and reorients your perception based on the truth of God's Word. Each chapter ends with a recommended playlist, reflection questions, and a prayer.

Your pain may not change, but your experience of it can.

~*~
Buy The Hem of His Garment (book) on Amazon or Barnes and Noble

~*~
Connect with Dr. Michelle:

Website: https://www.DrMichelleBengtson.com

Blog: https://drmichellebengtson.com/category/blog/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DrMichelleBengtson

Twitter: https://twitter.com/DrMBengtson (@DrMBengtson)

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/DrMichelleBengtson/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/drmichellebengtson/

Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/Drbhopeprevails/

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/MichelleBengtson

Podcast: https://apple.co/2madPRo or https://bit.ly/3ef2fvs

Amazon: https://amzn.to/3w64SHF

~*~
If you are a resident in the USA then you may enter this book giveaway contest for your chance to WIN a copy of this book by filling out the entry form on the link to Rafflecopter: http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/f8dcb68c463/?

Summer Stories: Teacher's Pet

Teacher’s Pet
A guest post by Gail Gaymer Martin

Although Teacher’s Pet is the name of my new release with a story that has nothing to do with my experience, the title rings true for the novel and for me. I was a high school teacher, later a counselor at the same school, and I loved animals. We owned two cats and two dogs. As time passed and the pets grew older and with lots of tears, we said goodbye to Teddy, our samoyed. Along with two cats, we still had our oldest pet, a small terror, named Jinx who lived to be twenty.

As Jinx grew older, he began to lose a few of his faculties, but he was still a loving dog that meant so much to us. One day, we let him out in the backyard and not thinking when a meter reader had gone into the backyard, we didn’t check after he left. He forgot to close the gate.

When I opened the door to let Jinx in, he was gone. I panicked and we drove up and down the neighborhood streets and didn’t find him. Next, we called the humane society since dogs were not allowed to run loose in our neighborhood. I also called the police department to let them know. Jinx did wear a collar with his license number on it, so we put up signs in stores and everywhere we could with his name and how to contact us. I heard from a couple of people, but when we searched their home area, it was either not Jinx or he had already moved on.

We waited and waited with his licenses number by the phone. After a week of crying, my husband and I faced the truth. He had been hit by a car or someone had taken him. Every day I looked at his food and water dishes and kept telling myself to dispose of them, but I didn’t have the heart.

One day I received a telephone call from Jinx’s veterinarian. He asked if we still owned Jinx. I said yes but told him Jinx had been missing for over a week. His comment startled me. “We think Jinx is here. The clerk saw him outside the building and recognized him. She asked me to take a look and I think it’s him. He’s wearing a license. Do you have the number?”

My heart pounded as I shifted the paper in front of me and read him the numbers.

“It’s him. He’s a bit bedraggled, and the pads of his feet are worn, but otherwise, he is fine.”

I could barely speak to say thank you a ton of times and to tell him we would be there. My mind reeled, trying to image Jinx finding his way to the veterinarian’s office which was at least nine miles away with two major highways to cross with four lanes in each direction.

We left home for the vet’s office unable to understand how Jinx had survived that journey and that he’d found his way to his veterinarian’s office. When we picked him up, he smelled awful and his little feet were worn, but we didn’t care. While my husband drove home, I hugged him and let him lick me as I thanked the Lord that somehow Jinx had found his way home.

My one regret was that we should have contacted a newspaper with this happy ever after story. But I’m telling the story now, even though Jinx had been gone for many years. I still have wonderful memories, and I’m still amazed.

~*~
Author Bio:

Best-selling and award-winning novelist, Gail Gaymer Martin is the author of contemporary Christian and sweet romance and romantic suspense with 81 contracted novels and over 4 million books sold. 

Her novels have received numerous national awards, including the ACFW Carol Award, Booksellers Best, and RT Reviewer’s Choice Award. 

She is the author of Writer Digest’s Writing the Christian Romance and is a co-founder of American Christian Fiction Writers (ACFW). 

Gail is a keynote speaker at women’s events at churches, civic and business organizations as well as a workshop presenter at conferences across the U.S.A.

She lives in Michigan with her husband.

~*~
Book Blurb for Teacher’s Pet:

Molly Manning loves dogs, and she uses shelter dogs with her Teacher’s Pet special education school program to provide discipline training and love for her students and the dogs. 

But her dream is a building of her own to run her Teacher’s Pet business, and Brent Runyan has that building. But Brent, a workaholic businessman, is not interested. He’s trying to raise his orphaned nephew who has special needs, and Brent is failing. 

His tragic past puts dogs on his no interest list, but Molly is persistent. Soon Brent finds himself and his nephew, tangled in Molly’s dream and, even more, in Molly’s life.

~*~

Buy Gail's book on Amazon

~*~
Connect with Gail:
Website: www.gailgaymermartin.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/gail.g.martin.3
Twitter: http://twitter.com/GailGMartin
GoodReads: www.goodreads.com/author/show/83354.Gail_Gaymer_Martin
Google+: https://plus.google.com/collection/sAX1kB

~*~
Enter this book giveaway contest for your chance to WIN a copy of this book by filling out the entry form on the Rafflecopter widget below: 

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Celebrate Lit Blog Tour: "Just Let Go" by Courtney Walsh

About the Book:

Title: Just Let Go

Author: Courtney Walsh

Release Date: June 5, 2018

Genre: Contemporary Romance

For Quinn Collins, buying the flower shop in downtown Harbor Pointe fulfills a childhood dream, but also gives her the chance to stick it to her mom, who owned the store before skipping town twenty years ago and never looking back. Completing much-needed renovations, however, while also competing for a prestigious flower competition with her mother as the head judge, soon has Quinn in over her head. Not that she’d ever ask for help.

Luckily, she may not need to. Quinn’s father and his meddling friends find the perfect solution in notorious Olympic skier Grady Benson, who had only planned on passing through the old-fashioned lakeside town. But when a heated confrontation leads to property damage, helping Quinn as a community-service sentence seems like the quickest way out—and the best way to avoid more negative press.

Quinn finds Grady reckless and entitled; he thinks she’s uptight and too regimented. Yet as the two begin to hammer and saw, Quinn sees glimpses of the vulnerability behind the bravado, and Grady learns from her passion and determination, qualities he seems to have lost along the way. But when a well-intentioned omission has devastating consequences, Grady finds himself cast out of town—and Quinn’s life—possibly forever. Forced to face the hurt holding her back, Quinn must finally let go or risk missing out on the adventure of a lifetime.

~*~
About the Author:

Courtney Walsh is a novelist, artist, theatre director, and playwright. 

Her debut novel, A Sweethaven Summer, hit the New York Times and USA Today e-book bestseller lists and was a Carol Award finalist in the debut author category. 

Courtney lives in Illinois with her husband and three children. 

Visit her online at www.courtneywalshwrites.com.

~*~
Guest Post by Courtney Walsh:

It’s funny where inspiration can come from. An overheard conversation in the line at the bank. A story filtered through generations. A rumor that, if true, would make a juicy story… inspiration is everywhere.

Even in the movies, you watch with your kids.

When I first started “plotting” (I put that in quotes because I don’t really plot, but I do have a loose map of where I’m heading) Just Let Go, I had a few ideas about my opposites attract love story that I really loved. I knew I wanted to explore the idea of accepting an apology you never got, and I wanted to take a deeper look at how we can’t really move forward until we let go of the past—and I knew I wanted my hero to be an adrenaline junkie who’d never really had to work for his success. You know those types of people…everything comes easily for them. They’re practically born on top.

And that made me wonder, what happens to someone like that when their bright light starts to flicker?

As I was brainstorming the story, a writer friend of mine pointed out that there were similarities to the Disney/Pixar movie Cars. My hero, Grady Benson, was in a predicament a lot like the one Lightning McQueen finds himself in. I’m a huge fan of Pixar movies, so I liked this as inspiration for one of my novels. I found that Grady’s character is a bit like Lightning’s, though his journey is different.

It was fun to think through that cartoon, which I’ve seen a million and two times, from a story perspective. I gained a new appreciation for the incredible storytellers at Pixar.

Inspiration really is everywhere, and writers are always watching and listening for it. I guess I never expected those countless viewings of cartoons to influence my writing, but a good story is a good story, animated or not.

~*~
My Review:

This story is wonderfully written and the main characters are not easily forgotten.

Courtney Walsh is a skilled storyteller who holds nothing back when she delves deep into her characters and shows the reader how their backstory affects their role in Just Let Go.

The dialogue in this story is fresh and witty. As a reader, this story kept my attention from Chapter One through The End.

The plot was solid and takes turns may surprise even the most experienced reader cannot guess. As a romantic, I loved that the heroine worked in a floral shop. It's a great backdrop for a story that includes romance. The heroine's romance with the hero did not easily unfold after her unfavorable first impression of him. The fact that he had quite the reputation following him only added an extra layer of conflict to the story as it presented all sorts of roadblocks to his desired romance with the heroine.

This story seemed to be family-oriented and that made me smile.

Just Let Go is well-deserving of a five-star review!

*Celebrate Lit provided me (Alexis A. Goring) with a complimentary copy of "Just Let Go". My opinions in this book review are my own.
~*~
Giveaway Details:

To celebrate her tour, Courtney Walsh is giving away a grand prize of a library of Courtney Walsh’s books and a $25 Amazon gift card!!

Click below to enter. Be sure to comment on this post before you enter to claim 9 extra entries! https://promosimple.com/ps/d0a4/just-let-go-celebration-tour-giveaway

~*~

Blog Stops

By The Book, June 26

Faithfully Bookish, June 26

Luv’N Lambert Life, June 26

Reading Is My SuperPower, June 27

Among the Reads, June 27

Splashes of Joy, June 27

God is Love, June 28

Fiction Aficionado, June 28

Genesis 5020, June 28

All-of-a-kind Mom, June 28

Carpe Diem, June 29

Christian Chick’s Thoughts, June 29

100 Pages per Hour, June 29

The Power of Words, June 30

Lighthouse Academy, June 30

Radiant Light, June 30

Just the Write Escape, June 30

Quiet Quilter, July 1

C Jane Read, July 1

A Baker’s Perspective, July 1

Cordially Barbara, July 2

Baker kella, July 2

The Christian Fiction Girl, July 3

Remembrancy, July 3

amandainpa, July 3

Two Points of Interest, July 4

Daysong Reflections, July 4

SusanLovesBooks, July 4

Vicky Sluiter, July 5

proud to be an autism mom, July 5

Moments Dipped in Ink, July 6

Pause for Tales, July 6

Bibliophile Reviews, July 7

Texas Book-aholic, July 7

Debbie’s Dusty Deliberations, July 7

Janices book reviews, July 8

Bigreadersite, July 8

Blossoms and Blessings, July 8

Godly Book Reviews, July 9

Jeanette’s Thoughts, July 9

Christian Author, J.E.Grace, July 9

Cozy Christmas Reads: Cynthia's story

Christmas in the Midst of Crisis
A guest post by Cynthia Ruchti

It’s impossible to approach Christmas apart from what’s going on in our lives—good and bad. But the wonder is that Christmas is God’s answer to what we’re facing.

Do some Christmas memories bite into your soul like the springs of a worn-out chair in need of restoration?

· An uncle refuses to come to the holiday celebration if his brother will be there.

· Christmas celebrating has lost its luster in light of the medical crisis the family’s facing?

· Memories won’t be the same in the assisted living center that now substitutes for the family home that once served as the gathering spot?

· Unforgiveness is an unwelcome guest at every holiday meal?

· As in “The Heart’s Harbor” in A Door County Christmas, the relationship you thought was solid has disintegrated?

· Imagine how Christmas festivities with a sweet Babe in a manger would feel to a couple who’s lost a child that year.

· How offensive Christmas lights must feel to someone whose world is darkened with depression.

· Television commercials about loving families gathered around a feast spread on the table before them must grate on those without a family or food or shelter, or whose family is estranged or bickering or missing a loved one.

We all know people who dread the holidays, who cringe at the mention that Christmas is coming. Many don’t necessarily approach Christmas with uninterrupted joy and unshadowed peace, with excitement and anticipation and an overflow of love.

All around us are people who are broken, worn-out, run-down, in need of repair, gouged by life’s injustices and injuries, faded, unprotected, uncared for, missing something vital…

What was really happening in the region around Bethlehem when Jesus appeared on the scene?

Jesus was born into a political firestorm that threatened the lives of babies like Him and sent waves of fear through their parents. Herod was ordering the murder of baby boys two years and under. Travel was hard and fraught with danger. Thieves abounded. Racial tension. Family heartaches. Financial difficulties exacerbated by taxation. Homelessness. The world had been waiting for answers to prayer for hundreds, thousands of years.

The same kind of chaos we see around us now.

The Christmas card Bethlehem picture doesn’t show the armed guards, the fear, the hopelessness.

But that’s exactly why Jesus came. Because the world—and we—are a mess without Him.

In “The Heart’s Harbor” novella that kicks off the A Door County Christmas novella collection, Amanda is reeling from the realization of how hollow that Christmas promised to be for her. But although drafted into a task for which she felt ill-suited—coordinating the legendary Christmas Tea for the Heart’s Harbor Inn—she soon found that it was in serving that she got her feet underneath her again. And that finding someone with whom she could serve side-by-side filled a gaping hole. The crisis of her Christmas disappeared as she served others and turned her attention away from her heartache to the needs around her. Discovering someone else who joined her in that adventure was an unexpected Christmas gift.

So much about the first Christmas was unexpected. The world had waited so long for a redeemer. Until Christ was born, hope was a promise, but an intangible. We humans have always had trouble with intangibles in our relationships.

SHOW me you love me.

SHOW me I can trust you.

SHOW me you care.

It’s been the same in our relationship with God. We listen to His Words, hear His stories, understand His truths. But the arrival of Jesus on the scene was, in a way, God’s response to a world that cries out, “SHOW me!”

Hope was born in a tangible way at Christmas.

Jesus’s birth proved once again that God keeps His promises—all of His promises. Hope soars when we grasp that concept. Life can be hard, harsh, hurtful, but still hope-hemmed.

The Christmas story we’ve come to embrace and honor isn’t rooted in applauding winter or venerating a generous St. Nicholas. Its foundation is an historic moment—when God became Man and dwelt among us. It’s recorded for us in Luke chapter two in the Bible. But more than that, it’s imprinted on our grateful hearts.

~*~
Author bio:

Cynthia Ruchti tells stories hemmed-in-hope through award-winning novels, nonfiction, devotionals, and through speaking events for women and writers. 

She is the professional relations liaison for American Christian Fiction Writers, connecting the organization with retailers, libraries, book clubs, and readers. 

Cynthia and her husband live in the heart of Wisconsin, not far from their three children and five (to date) grandchildren. 

~*~
Blurb for Cynthia's story "The Heart's Harbor" in A Door County Christmas:

Amanda Brooks retreats to picturesque Egg Harbor in Door County, Wisconsin, to escape an empty holiday season in her Chicago apartment. Peace on earth is what she needs but instead finds herself in charge of the Heart's Harbor Victorian Inn and its legendary Christmas Tea. Quirky guests, a bare-bones budget, an antisocial puppy, matchmaking owner, and the innkeeper's match-resistant son, Jordan, deepen Amanda's doubts that Christmas and love have anything in common.

~*~
Connect with Cynthia:
Website - www.cynthiaruchti.com
Twitter- https://twitter.com/cynthiaruchti
Facebook - facebook.com/CynthiaRuchtiReaderPage
Goodreads - https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/3176814.Cynthia_Ruchti

~*~
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Cozy Christmas Reads: Linda's story

What Would You Give?
A guest post by Linda Shenton Matchett

In times of war sacrifice is expected not only from the troops, but from those who remain on the home front. During WWII, Americans tightened their belts as food, clothing, rubber, metal and more were rationed. Women entered the workforce, and men left for parts unknown with the armed forces. Children played with toys that mimicked their parents’ lives and participated in air raid drills at school. However, the thousands of miles that distanced us from the conflict buffered the U.S. from the privation and challenges experienced by the European countries.

With only four miles separating France and England across the Straits of Dover on the English Channel, British citizens lived in fear of invasion. Street and subway station signs were removed to confuse possible raiding soldiers, and people were cautioned not to give directions to strangers. Anxious to win the war, the population was willing to do anything to further the cause.

One of the ways civilians helped was to give up their homes. According to Requisitioned, a book by John Martin Robinson, “the majority of houses of large size in Britain were requisitioned by the government…for use as barracks, homes for evacuees, schools, hospitals, works of art stores, strategic and military headquarters, billets and training premises, even prisoner-of-war camps.”

My story, “A Doctor in the House,” (part of The Hope of Christmas collection) takes place on a requisitioned estate north of London and explores what life was like for the homeowner to have his house converted to a convalescent hospital. Because the requisitioned homes were centuries old, they lacked central heating and other modern conveniences. Constructed of stone and brick, the structures held a constant chill during the cold winter months. Residents had to get creative to provide heat for themselves, and reports abound about furniture, paneling, and even staircases being broken up for firewood.

Nearly everyone used cigarettes at the time, and countless fires occurred due to careless smokers. Episodes are told about soldiers using priceless art work as dart boards, and at Tottenham Park in Wiltshire, the grounds were used as an ammo dump. An accidental explosion blew out every pane of glass in the house and the conservatory. Arundel Castle’s herd of red deer was hunted for food, and at Brocket Hall soldiers carved their names, addresses and phone numbers in the balustrade of the park bridge.

Hatfield House and Heath House served as the inspiration for my story’s setting. Hatfield House was used as a hospital and POW camp, and Heath House was taken over by the Red Cross as an auxiliary hospital for military personnel. The sheer volume of individuals stationed on these properties that previously housed several dozen people at most, created extensive wear and tear, but they did not suffer irreparable damage as so many others did.

Because of hard use or maltreatment, more than one thousand ancestral homes were destroyed or torn down after the war. In 1946, building materials were still rationed and taxes high. Repairs to country homes were done on a shoestring, make-do-and-mend basis, which meant bigger issues were covered over to be dealt with at a later time. But the generations who took over after the war were determined to make a go of it, and thanks to grants, opening their homes to the public, and the use of second-hand furnishings, thousands more homes have survived.

How would you feel about giving up your home?

~*~
Author bio:

Linda Shenton Matchett is an author, journalist, blogger, and history geek. 

Born a stone’s throw from Fort McHenry in Baltimore, Maryland, Linda has lived in historical places most of her life. 

She is a volunteer docent at the Wright Museum of WWII and a Trustee for her local public library. Linda is active in her church where she serves as treasurer, usher, and choir member. 

~*~
Blurb for Linda's novella, "A Doctor in the House", part of The Hope of Christmas story collection:

Emma O’Sullivan is one of the first female doctors to enlist after President Franklin Roosevelt assigned to England to set up a convalescent hospital, and she leaves behind everything that is familiar. 

When the handsome widower of the requisitioned property claims she’s incompetent and tries to get her transferred, she must prove to her superiors she’s more than capable. But she’s soon drawn to the good-looking, grieving owner. Will she have to choose between her job and her heart?

Archibald “Archie” Heron is the last survivor of the Heron dynasty, his two older brothers having been lost at Dunkirk and Trondheim and his parents in the Blitz. After his wife is killed in a bombing raid while visiting Brighton, he begins to feel like a modern-day Job. To add insult to injury, the British government requisitions his country estate, Heron Hall, for the U.S. Army to use as a hospital. The last straw is when the hospital administrator turns out to be a fiery, ginger-haired American woman. She’s got to go. Or does she?

~*~
Buy Linda's book on Amazon

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Connect with Linda:
Website - www.LindaShentonMatchett.com
Facebook - www.facebook.com/authorlindamatchett
Pinterest - www.pinterest.com/lindasmatchett
LinkedIn - www.linkedin.com/in/authorlindamatchett
Goodreads - www.goodreads.com/author_Linda_Matchett
Amazon Author Page - http://amzn.to/2yozXb3

~*~

Enter this book giveaway contest for your chance to WIN a copy of this book by filling out the entry form on the Rafflecopter widget below: 

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Cozy Christmas Reads: June's story

The Real Christmas at Raccoon Creek
A guest post by June Foster

A couple of years back, I got a contract to join with some other authors in writing a Christmas novella. The editor chose a theme—each story would center around a Christmas snow globe. Since I write contemporary romance, I fully expected my story to be in that genre. It is. With a twist.

I asked myself what if a young nurse, Emily Eason, who lives in her grandmother's fifties-style home buys a snow globe at the drug store in her tiny town of Raccoon Creek? What if she brings it home and falls asleep while gazing at the little village, the snowmen, and falling snowflakes then wakes up. Nothing looks different at first, but then she discovers her computer is missing and in its place is an old free-standing TV like from years ago. Her phone rings with the old timey ring tone, but when she looks for her cell phone, she discovers a black dial phone making the noise. Could that really happen? Well, yes, in my imagination.

Since we lived in Locust Fork, Alabama, population 750, I envisioned the story taking place in our town. Emily's 50's house I based on memories of my childhood home. Yes, I grew up in the fifties. I patterned the layout of Raccoon Creek after Locust Fork's time honored streets.

The 1950's drug store where the hero, Lance Hardwicke, is a pharmacist, is like the one in the middle of our little Alabama town. Only the present day store is updated for modern times but sells a few items one might find in shops five or six decades ago: old fashioned greeting cards, colorful plastic bracelets, fun sunglasses, jewelry items, and painted coffee mugs among others.

Though the imaginary Raccoon Creek is a bit larger than Locust Fork, the terrain around the town is the same. Well, I did add a little river near Emily's house. The real one, the Locust Fork River, is farther in the forest. The same evergreens grow in and around town. Emily and Lance experience a snow storm just like the one we had the first winter in our house.

This magical Christmas story was one of my favorites to write. It sent me on a sentimental trip to my childhood. How fun it was when some of my friends from Locust Fork and our church who read the story said they could actually picture present day Locust Fork as they read.

Merry Christmas, everyone. Hope you enjoy all the Christmas stories featured on Alexis's blog.

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Author Bio: An award-winning author, June Foster is a retired teacher with a BA in education and MA in counseling. June's book Give Us This Day was a finalist in EPIC's eBook awards and a finalist in the National Readers Choice Awards for best first book. Ryan's Father was one of three finalists in the published contemporary fiction category of the Oregon Christian Writers Cascade Writing Contest and Awards. Deliver Us was a finalist in COTT's Laurel Awards. 

June has written four novels for Desert Breeze Publishing. The Bellewood Series, Give Us This Day, As We Forgive, and Deliver Us, and Hometown Fourth of July. Ryan's Father is published by WhiteFire Publishing. Red and the Wolf, a modern day retelling of Little Red Riding Hood, is available from Amazon.com. The Almond Tree series, For All Eternity, Echoes From the Past, What God Knew, and Almond Street Mission are available at Amazon.com.

June enjoys writing stories about characters who overcome the circumstances in their lives by the power of God and His Word. Recently June has seen publication of Christmas at Raccoon Creek, Lavender Fields Inn, Misty Hollow, Restoration of the Heart, Letting Go, and Prescription for Romance. Visit June at junefoster.com.

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Blurb for June's book:  

Emily Eason wants to distance herself from her parents' opulent lifestyle in Birmingham, Alabama, and enjoy life in the rural village of Raccoon Creek and her fifties-style home. But after gazing into the little snow globe she purchased from Hardwicke's Drugs and Gifts, she finds herself transported to another time—her grandmother's era. 

Lance Hardwicke is the pharmacist and owner of Hardwicke's Drugs. Four years of pharmacy school didn't allow for much of a social life. Gorgeous Emily Eason, nurse and resident of Raccoon Creek, has captured his attention. The next time she comes in the store, he's determined to ask her out. Maybe take her to Birmingham to see the Christmas lights in his brand new orange and white '53 Pontiac Pathfinder.

Can love span the fifty-year gap standing between them?

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Buy June's book on Amazon 

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Connect with June:
Website - http://www.junefoster.com
Amazon - https://www.amazon.com/author/junefoster
Twitter -  https://twitter.com/vjifoster
Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/authorjunefoster

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Summer Love: A story that started as a daydream

Irish Encounter: It Started As A Daydream
A guest post by Hope Dougherty

In May of 2009, I was staring at the first day of the rest of my life. My oldest daughter was set to graduate high school in less than a month. Two years later, her sister would march right behind her, followed in two years by their twin brothers.

Life as I’d known it for the past eighteen years was about to change and change enormously.

Throughout my tenure as a stay-with-my-children mom, I’d written for publications sporadically. Very sporadically, but I had a portfolio of articles with my byline in print.

So in May of 2009, I decided my summer job would be to write something for Guideposts, a magazine filled with inspirational, faith-filled stories. I’d just completed the life of Moses with Bible Study Fellowship, and I envisioned sharing a lot of wisdom and insight gleaned from thirty-two weeks of study.

I wrote What I learned from Moses on the top line of a yellow legal pad. As soon as I wrote this fascinating title, I immediately began daydreaming—about Ireland, not Moses.

In my daydream, a woman in an Irish café scribbled in a journal. A little old man in a tweed vest approached her, introduced himself, and began talking about his late wife. I saw the wooden buttons on his vest and the Irish cap he clutched in his hands. Suddenly another man, dressed in dusty safari clothes, appeared to the woman’s left, lounging at his table and eavesdropping on their conversation.

This scene interested me infinitely more than what I’d intended with Moses. I turned over the first page to a fresh sheet and wrote as quickly as I could everything I saw and heard in that Irish coffee shop.

Irish Encounter began that day. I didn’t know it yet, but God did. I just hurried back every morning to my desk to see what happened next. Before writing, I’d recite Bible verses from the Moses study. Verses like Exodus 3:12 “And God said, ‘I will be with you’” and Exodus 4:12 “Now go; I will help you speak and will teach you what to say." (The Holy Bible, New International Version. Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, 1984.)

I’d pray for guidance and help, and then I’d travel to Galway.

God led me onto this writing journey with a lot of prodding and pulling and nudges toward those interesting characters. I’m thankful every day that He did.

Which interesting path is God leading you toward today?

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Author Bio: 

Hope Toler Dougherty holds a Master’s degree in English and taught at East Carolina University and York Technical College. 

Her publications include two novels, Irish Encounter and Mars…With Venus Rising, as well as nonfiction articles. 

A member of ACFW, RWA, and SinC, she writes for SeriousWriter.com. 

She and her husband live in North Carolina and enjoy visits with their two daughters and twin sons. 

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Blurb for Irish Encounter: After almost three years of living under a fog of grief, Ellen Shepherd is ready for the next chapter in her life, perhaps an adventure during a visit to Galway. 

Her idea of excitement consists of exploring Ireland for yarn to feature in her shop back home, but the adventure awaiting her includes an edgy stranger who disrupts her tea time, challenges her belief system, and stirs up feelings she thought she'd buried with her husband. 

After years of ignoring God, nursing anger, and stifling his grief, Payne Anderson isn't ready for the feelings a chance encounter with an enchanting stranger evokes. Though avoiding women and small talk has been his pattern, something about Ellen makes him want to seek her—and God again.

Can Ellen accept a new life different than the one she planned? Can Payne release his guilt and accept the peace he's longed for? Can they surrender their past pain and embrace healing together or will fear and doubt ruin this second chance at happiness?

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Buy Hope's book on Amazon

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Connect with Hope:
Website - http://hopetolerdougherty.com/
Twitter - https://twitter.com/hopetdougherty/

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