Devotionals for the Heart: Praise God

A Habit of Praise
A devotional by Karen Marstaller

“Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” –1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 (ESV)

In this season of turkey and dressing feasts, pumpkin spice everything, and gloriously cooler weather, it’s easy to find reasons to be thankful.

Riding horseback under a cathedral of autumn leaves in the crisp mountain air, experiencing the first snowfall of winter as it dresses the landscape in a garment of purity, or enjoying a wonderful rain shower that causes one of our national treasures to surge again in thunderous falls after a long season of drought—all these things cause us to feel gratitude welling up in our hearts.

We are grateful for our families and our friends. Looking into their beloved faces causes us to smile as we cherish the times we’ve spent together. Then we look forward with anticipation to the future, maybe even to Thanksgiving, when we will see our loved ones again and make more beautiful memories.

Pausing in our busy lives, we thank God for the places we live, the food on our tables, and the jobs that give us a sense of worth and fulfillment. We slide into our favorite boots, or our coziest coats, or even into our cars with the blissfully warm heated seats. For all of these, we are grateful.

Then there are the times when we don’t feel that same rush of gratitude. Houses burn, jobs are downsized, economies shrink, a tiny baby dies, or a dear old friend breathes his last, and we are faced with a dilemma. Will we stop in the middle of the great heartaches of life to bow in humble thankfulness to the Lord?

God tells us to use every circumstance as a reason for praising Him. The events when joy is plentiful—like a wedding or a graduation—exist side-by-side with the other events. These are the ones where joy is not as apparent—like a gravesite, or a packed box representing years of faithful service with a pink slip resting on top. Thanking God is sometimes easy, and sometimes it isn’t.

God’s Word encourages us to thank Him regardless of our circumstances. To some people, His instructions sound like we’re to put on a fake smile and pretend to be “holy” in front of others.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

Our thankful hearts are the bond that keep us in tune with our Heavenly Father. We gain peace in His presence as we pray because He is our peace. He is strength when we have none because He inhabits our praise (Psalm 22:3). We can’t see the path before us, but God does. A thankful, praying heart helps us to keep following Him, even in the darkest night.

And as we follow the Lord with our sometimes faltering steps, we rely on His vision, His path, and His plan for our lives. Moving along a trail in the dark teaches us one of the fundamental truths of living for Jesus Christ. Our steps are uncertain, but His are sure. Our sight is blurred, but His is crystal clear. Our thoughts are fearful, but His are higher than we can even imagine (Isaiah 55:8-9). We can trust Him with every moment on this beautiful journey we call Life.

We can choose to rejoice in our life. We can rejoice in the things that hurt and in the things that make us want to jump for joy. When our eyes are filled with tears, we may feel as though we are blinded. But God collects all our tears (Psalm 56:8) and He shines that much brighter to others through our tentative smiles in the sorrows, and through our hearts that humbly bow to His will. He is with us always—in our joys as well as in our sorrows.

Let’s Pray:

Heavenly Father, we thank You for everything. We ask for the courage to choose to praise You for all the days of our lives—not just for the ones that fly by, but also for the ones that seem to take forever. We thank You for Your Life in us, and as we take a deep breath for courage, we thank You for death, as well. Because You are the Giver of Life, we understand that You are also the Giver of eternal life after death in Heaven for all whom are in the family of God. You are all we need, and we worship You in every circumstance. Help us to trust You and help us to lift our prayers of heartfelt thanksgiving to You, for everything is from You. Thank You, Lord. 

We love You. In Jesus’s Name I pray. Amen.

~*~
Author Bio:

During this time of quarantine, Karen enjoys reading, writing, and connecting with friends and family via phone calls, texts, emails, blogs, live-streams, and video conferencing. 

She is grateful that the Lord has provided so many ways for humankind to stay in community, even when we are all hunkering down in our homes.

Karen says, “In this unprecedented time, we know that He has prepared us for such a time as this! To God be all the glory!”

You can reach Karen by emailing her at this address: klmarstaller@gmail.com

Devotionals for the Heart: Seasons

Changing Seasons
A devotional by Gail Kittleson

This month is a favorite of many in the Midwest because it marks the gradual transformation from the Summer season to Autumn. As the temperature drops, the barest tinge of gold touches the leaves’ edges. A few days later, we see some leaves already fallen to the earth. But there’s much more color to come—oranges and reds and golds...oh my!

Beauty is in the eyes of the beholder, they say, and we can find glories in every season, but it’s hard to top walking through crunchy leaves in a fall landscape, with even more overhead, still clinging to their warm-weather home.

Autumn makes some people sad because it beckons us to winter’s inevitable cold. In my youth, I felt this way, but the decades have brought me to pronounce fall my favorite season.

Once it’s cool enough to delete all annoying, biting, stinging insects, we can relax and enjoy golden days still warm enough to spend lots of time outdoors.

We often hear midlife compared with autumn. In those years after our children have left home and we turn to other pursuits, we no longer carry the “baggage” of our youth and leave much of the trivial behind us. We know winter’s bound to arrive, we have a better idea of who we are and what to expect of life. Now, we can let go of our efforts to control, and give ourselves to the tasks we still believe worthwhile.

All this is because we’ve come to deeply believe the message of Romans 8:3-4 (MSG) which says, "God went for the jugular when he sent his own Son. He didn’t deal with the problem as something remote and unimportant. In his Son, Jesus, he personally took on the human condition, entered the disordered mess of struggling humanity in order to set it right once and for all. The law code, weakened as it always was by fractured human nature, could never have done that. The law always ended up being used as a Band-Aid on sin instead of a deep healing of it. And now what the law code asked for but we couldn’t deliver is accomplished as we, instead of redoubling our own efforts, simply embrace what the Spirit is doing in us."

Instead of redoubling our efforts, we simply embrace what the Holy Spirit is doing in us. This bears repeating because it’s so easily verbalized, but so very, very difficult to do. Some call it “let go and let God.”

But for many of us, it takes a lifetime to accomplish. Such a challenge, setting aside our work ethic, our desire to be in charge, and our intention to change everyone around us.

Ah, but Autumn often brings relief, and so do the middle years, when we finally accept our human limitations, but also the unlimited potential of placing God truly in the center of our lives.

Yes, our leaves may fade and fray, and one day fall to the earth, but in the meantime, there’s a glorious display of brilliant hues.

One day, we turn fifty. Then all of a sudden, sixty. And onward...

But it’s okay. Winter has its own beauty to offer, and through it all, our God has promised to remain with us.

~*~
Author Bio:

When Gail Kittleson's not steeped in World War II research, drafting scenes, or deep in an edit of her 1940’s novels, she does a limited amount of editing for other authors.

She also facilitates writing and creativity workshops, both in Iowa and Arizona, where she and her husband like to spend part of the winter in the amazing Ponderosa pine forest under the Mogollon Rim.

Favorites: spending time with grandchildren, walking, reading, meeting new people, and hearing from readers who fall in love with her characters.

Fall into Love: Lee Carver's story

An Autumn Remembered
A Fall into Love story by Lee Carver

Fifty years ago, my grad school roommate cornered me into a blind date with a guy in her German class. He invited me to the UNC Chapel Hill football game, for which we both had free student cards. I hadn’t been to a single game. I didn’t even know where to park or which section to sit in, but wanted to see a game before the season ended.

At the time, I lived off campus as a graduate biochemistry student and owned my first car. My prospective date had given his VW bug back to his dad because the university deemed that a student didn’t need a work scholarship if he could afford a car, and he worked in the library photo shop. So we’d use my car, and it wouldn’t cost the guy anything to take me. No strings. I accepted.

After the game Darrel drove around, tried to connect with his friends giving a hamburger party which never developed, and we wound up having dinner in an Italian restaurant. The date ran very long, and I had a terrible headache because I’d stayed up sewing until the wee hours the night before. I enjoyed his company and found him the most normal guy I’d ever met—no pretentions, not braggadocios, always polite, and he made no improper advances. At the end of the day, he said he’d call me.

Yeah, right.

But he did. We went to a movie, Bonnie and Clyde. I hated the movie but liked Darrel.

My roommate raved about the beauty of autumn in the North Carolina mountains. Being from South Alabama, I’d never seen the leaves as she described them. We don’t do autumn down there. “You’re going to miss it,” she said. “This is probably the last weekend the leaves will be pretty.”

In many hours of conversation, Darrel had spoken of having gone to the mountains during fall and over Christmas with his roommates in previous years. He knew where to go, and I had the car. So I, who never called men, phoned my new best friend. “Would you like to drive to the mountains with me to see the leaves this Saturday?”

He impressed me by filling the car with gas as we began the most beautiful, glorious drive I’d ever experienced. He bought us a KFC picnic, and we spread out on the deep, green grass in a field beside a little white Baptist church. In the grand setting of the North Carolina mountains dressed for autumn we began to realize we had something special.

"Tunnel of Trees" photo by Lee Carver

Four months after our blind date, I made a lovely wedding dress, my family came up from Alabama, and Daddy, a minister, officiated at our marriage.

Pictured: Lee Carver and her husband Darrel

This year we celebrated fifty years of courtship and marriage, our romantic season from September to February, by driving in search of autumn leaves. We went to Maine, New Hampshire, Connecticut, Kentucky, Virginia—and the best place at the perfect time, Lake Placid, New York. Every day we walked in the crisp air, captured the colors in photographs, and praised God for his craftsmanship. Along seacoasts and in mountains for more than a month, we wrapped ourselves in glorious reds, oranges, and yellows. We held hands as we strolled and stopped for kisses in hidden glens. Red berries hung from flowers and trees along the Blue Ridge Parkway, in botanical gardens, and deep in the wild forests. We feasted our eyes and our souls on God’s creation.

When we’d drunk our eyes full of shimmering fall beauty, we started the drive home to Texas. On the way, we stopped for a week with our son and his family in Maryland, where fall had not yet gotten serious, but the crab was fantastic. During evening prayers the first night with Quinn, his wife Sue, and their three children, a sense of joy settled over my heart. 
This was what our fifty years was truly about: our adult son and daughter and the five precious grandchildren they had given us. Each of them has chosen to live in a loving relationship with God, each accepted salvation through Christ Jesus. Surrounded by their prayers, Darrel and I witnessed and felt the wholeness of our fifty years of love.

~*~
Author bio: 

Lee Carver lived in the Brazilian Amazon for six years, the hardest and best years of her life. 

She and her husband served with a Brazilian organization, formerly MAF-Brazil, in which he flew an amphibious ten-seat Cessna Caravan over jungle area half the size of the United States. 

Their home in Manaus—the largest city in the world with no road to it—was a free guesthouse for missionaries, pilots, mechanics, and medical volunteers. 

She went on missions, speaks the language, and knows the people whose story she tells.

~*~
Blurb for Lee's book Rebecca's Redemption: A nurse seeking redemption for past sins joins a doctor contending against the jungle. Both healers need healing.

Rebecca Singer once was the kind of nurse who partied all weekend and closed the bar with the last karaoke tune. Then she met the Lord and vowed to make up to Him for those wasted years by serving in the worst place in the world. She determined to earn her redemption in the Brazilian Amazon jungle.

Dr. Ed Pierce, a widower with two young daughters, operates a Christian hospital in the Brazilian Amazon. A lifelong believer, he struggles with the tragedy of losing his wife—his love, the mother of his children. When the mission board agrees to hire a nurse, he requests an American who can split her time between the hospital and home schooling his children. 

~*~
Buy Lee's book on Amazon

~*~
Connect with Lee:
Website ~ Blog ~ Facebook ~ Pinterest

~*~
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:  

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Introduction: Fall into Love

Happy first day of Fall 2017!

I love this season because of the cool breezes, soft sunshine, gorgeous changing colors of the tree leaves, caramel apple cider and the fact that it's the perfect time to wear boots.

This year, I'm excited to introduce a new series for my blog titled, "Fall into Love." It's a weekly series featuring real stories about how my author friends first fell in love with the person they married. Every Sunday for all of Fall 2017, you will find a new feature on my blog.

Some Sundays, you'll receive a bonus that includes a blurb for the featured author's book and a fun book giveaway contest! However, since not all of the authors are published yet, so on their Sundays you will only read about their real-life love story. There is a chance that I'll feature some authors who ARE published but NOT married yet so on those Sundays, the focus will be on their book and giveaway contest.

All of the books featured in this Fall into Love blog series will be pure romance fictional stories.

You are encouraged to interact with the authors by writing notes to them in the comment section toward the end of their blog posts. Just like readers love receiving free books, the authors who give away those free books love to hear kind words from their readers! :) So let's encourage the hearts of these creative people who you will "meet" during the span of this series.

Until next Sunday,

Alexis

Love is in the Air: Author interview with Melissa Tagg

Happy Easter, my wonderful blog readers! I hope you attended a church program yesterday or today to celebrate the life and resurrection of Jesus Christ. God is SO good! He loves you truly, passionately and deeper than you can ever imagine! *John 3:16* If you do not already know Him, I encourage you to seek Him, trust, He's already waiting for you! :)

Today I am delighted to introduce one of my favorite reporters-turned-authors and friends, Melissa Tagg! She's been here before but I'm especially excited today because she's sharing the story about her latest book release, From the Start!

From the Start is a fictional story close to my real-life heart because the heroine, Kate Walker writes made-for-TV romance movie screenplays which is a dream career goal of mine and she's captured the love interest of a dashingly handsome, smart and funny hero like professional American football player Colton Greene! 

I loved this story from start to finish and highly recommend that you buy and read Melissa's book if you have not already!

Let's proceed to Melissa's author interview now so you can find out how wonderful From the Start is and what a gem the author is too! :)

*Interview questions by Alexis are in bold, answers from Melissa not in bold.

~*~

Alexis: Today is Easter Sunday (April 5)! What do you love the most about this holiday, Melissa? 

Melissa: I love what Easter is all about! Truly, it’s the most joyful and amazing event in history…the culmination of God’s love for us, the ultimate sacrifice. It’s just the best! But I also really like the candy.

How do you usually spend Easter? Share your favorite Easter memory.

I usually spend Easter with my family. I almost always end up at the church I grew up in for a special Easter morning breakfast and service and then go over to my grandparents’ house for dinner with my relatives. I love family time!

One of my favorite Easter memories is going to the passion play at my aunt and uncle's church. It always included thunder sound effects when Jesus was in the grave and Jesus rode in on a white horse at the end. Oh man, I loved that play. I grew up hearing about Jesus, attending Sunday School, seeing first-hand what vibrant faith looks like thanks to my parents and so many others. 

But there was something about seeing Jesus' death and resurrection reenacted in story-form year after year that drove home the amazingness and realness of what I believe. I'm praying this year to re-experience that same childlike awe and the heart-deep emotions that go with it as I celebrate Christ's resurrection. 

Earlier this month, you wrote a post on your blog titled “How I got my writing joy back.” Tell me about it.

Melissa: Sure, well, people can read the long story here: http://www.melissatagg.com/on-writing/how-i-got-my-writing-joy-back

But the short version goes like this: In 2014, I really struggled with my writing—specifically with writing my third book. I think quite a few factors contributed to that, but truly, by the end of the year I wasn’t sure I wanted to keep writing. I prayed a lot about it, told God I was willing to give the whole thing up…I just didn’t like the stressed-out, wrung-out person I’d become. And amazingly, it’s like deciding I was willing to give it all up freed something in me. God did something so awesome in my heart…I can’t even really explain it. Again, the long version on my blog goes into more detail. But it really does boil down to God renewing my spirit and giving me my joy back. And I’m so grateful!

What would you say is the most difficult part about being a novelist? What is the easiest and what is the most rewarding?

Definitely the hardest thing for me is balancing writing with the rest of my life. That’s a struggle and something I’m still working on.

The easiest for me is writing dialogue. I think it’s the thing that comes most naturally to me, and it’s definitely where I have the most fun in a story! The most rewarding, hands-down, is hearing from readers—specifically, hearing a line or a character or story in general in some way impacted, encouraged or challenged them.

Okay now let’s talk about what I know you’re excited about, the release of your latest book, From the Start! I’ve read it, loved it and you can count on a five-star rating from me! But tell me, what do your readers not know about what it took for you to write and publish this book?

Oh man! Well, hmm, here’s one thing I haven’t really shared too much about the writing of this book. About two weeks before the original deadline for this story, I tore the entire story apart. I mean, seriously, tore. it. apart. This made for an incredibly stressful couple weeks…thankfully my editor was incredibly gracious, let me turn in a story that needed a LOT of work and gave me extra time to finesse the draft.

As an aspiring screenwriter, I loved that your main character Kate Walker in From the Start churns out “made-for-TV” romance movie screenplays! What a dream career! How did you think of Kate? Did anything from your personal experience inspire you as you created this character?

Okay, don’t hate me, but I actually don’t really like Hallmark movies! I know, I know, that’s such a horrible thing to admit. And I know there are some good ones out there. But somehow I seem to have only seen the bad ones and it soured me toward them. So I started to think, what would it be like to be writing movies…and to not like the movies you’re writing?

Also, I have a friend who writes fiction…but she really doesn’t like writing romance. Like, not even a little bit. And over the years I’ve encouraged (i.e. nagged) her to let her characters dabble in romance a little more. Maybe even, gasp, fall in love.

I think those two things combined helped form Kate in my mind. Probably even more than that, Kate really struggle with feeling like she’s making a difference through the stories she writes. She feels like she should be writing something deeper, heavier, grittier. And I can relate to that.

Your hero in From the Start, NFL quarterback Colton Greene sounds like a hottie with a brain and a great sense of humor. I loved reading the interactions between him and Kate! What was the most challenging part of writing this character named Colton? How did you overcome those challenges?

Definitely the biggest struggle in writing Colton was simply the fact that he’s a football player…and prior to writing this story, I had just about zero interest in football. I have no idea why I decided to make him a football player! Thankfully, several football-loving friends really helped me out. One in particular was hugely helpful. He answered all my questions, even sent me some YouTube videos, and ended up giving me a football story that changed the direction of Colton’s spiritual journey.

Did any part of From the Start take play from your real-life love story?

Ooh, you know, not so much. I just finished writing my fourth book and in that book, there are definitely moments taken from my own, ahem, romantic history. But Kate and Colton’s romance is pretty much straight out of my imagination.

You mentioned in a blog post somewhere a few weeks ago that you poured a lot of yourself into From the Start and were more vulnerable than usual. What do you mean? Explain in detail.

Well, I almost don’t want to admit this, but I think the reason From the Start was so hard to write is that I prodded much deeper into my own emotions in this story than I have in the past. There are big pieces of me in all the stories I write, but From the Start probed some of my more vulnerable places. My heroine, especially, embodies some of my own insecurities. She struggles to feel like she’s doing something important with her life. She wishes she were as brave as the characters she writes. She has trouble admitting what she wants and how she feels, even to the people closest to her. All of which is very...me. And so writing her story was emotional for me because, well, I felt like I was baring my own heart and vulnerabilities.

Working as a grant writer is your day job. When do you find time to write all of these wonderful, full-length, creative and so good novels?

It’s definitely an exercise in balance…and not one I’m always that good at! (Also, thanks for the kind words about my novels!) My writing schedule differs from season to season, depending on where I’m at deadline-wise. But when I’m in the throes of drafting a book, I tend to rise early and write for an hour or so before work, and then fit another couple hours in in the evening. I’m usually writing a couple Saturdays each month as well.

What are you working on now? Tell us about your next novel.

I actually just turned in my fourth novel! It’s called Like Never Before and those who’ve read From the Start will recognize both main characters—Logan Walker and Amelia Bentley. Logan Walker is a former reporter turned political speech writer and Amelia is the editor of the Maple Valley newspaper.

Describe your writing space. What makes it special to you?

I actually write all over the place. I have a writing room with a desk and a big white board, so I do a lot of work in there. But I also love sitting in bed, under the covers, laptop in my lap. Or on my comfy couch. Or in this rocking chair that used to be my grandparents'.

What is your favorite season? Why?

Autumn. I love everything about it. The crisp air. Pretty leaves. Everything pumpkin. Apple cider. Bonfires. And now, surprisingly, I even kinda like football!

What is your go-to food or drink when you’re on deadline?

Baby carrots. Grapes. Pretzels. And yes, M&M's! Ms. I also always have coffee, pop and water in front of me when I write.

What was your favorite scene to write in From the Start?

I have several favorites but one of my very favorites is when Kate and Colton first meet…in Kate’s bedroom…rather surprisingly. I giggled so much during that scene!

What do you want your readers to remember the most about your book, From the Start?

In From the Start, both Kate and Colton have a very clear picture in their heads of what their lives should look like. And every decision they make in the first half of the book is an effort to make those pictures in their heads a reality. But they both learn, slooowly and at times not-so-smoothly, that God might be weaving together a completely different picture. 

He (God) uses change and circumstance, reshapes broken dreams and heals wounds...He’s been there, at work, from the start. And there’s great peace and confidence in that truth…I hope readers take that away.

Complete this sentence: At the end of the day, I am ____________ because ____________.

At the end of the day, I am hopeful because I have big dreams and serve an even bigger God.

Thanks for the interview, Melissa!

~*~
Author bio: 

Melissa Tagg is a former reporter and total Iowa girl. In addition to her homeless ministry day job, she is also the marketing events coordinator for My Book Therapy, a craft and coaching community for writers. 

When she's not writing, she can be found hanging out with the coolest family ever, watching old movies, and daydreaming about her next book. 

Melissa loves connecting with readers at www.melissatagg.com and on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.


Buy Melissa's book, From the Start:

Amazon, http://amzn.to/19TnO12

Barnes and Noble, http://bit.ly/1IfdQpZ

Books-A-Million, http://bit.ly/1xPltQh

Christianbook.com, http://bit.ly/1GUROau


Connect with Melissa:

Website: www.melissatagg.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/AuthorMelissaTagg

Instagram: melissatagg

Twitter: @Melissa_Tagg

Autumn's vibrant, beautiful colors reminds me of God's love