Rhonda's Doings !

Review of It's Just You and Me, Lord:  Prayers for a Woman's Life by Marion Stroud A woman's journey through life is marked by relationships, responsibilities, and concerns.Marion Stroud offers earnest prayers to inspire and encourage women through the daily and not-so-daily challenges of life.   She has written beautiful prayers in poetry form.  She includes scripture and quotes to further enhance each message.   Headings within the prayer book are:  A Woman Within, A Woman and Her Marriage, A Woman and Her Children, A Woman and Her Friends, A Woman at Work, A Woman and Her Family of Faith,  A Woman and Her Wider World, and A Woman Growing Older.  So you can see that there is something to speak to every woman's heart, no matter her age or situation in life.  This devotional prayer book is small and could easily fit into a purse, diaperbag, or briefcase for reading and meditating during lunch or coffee break time.   They are short ...

Review of Casa de Naomi, The House of Blessing (book 2)  by Paula Rose Michelson Naomi wants Chaz's love. Chaz loves Naomi but will not forgive his wife lying to him. The attorney wants Naomi's estate. The padre wants the couple to reconcile. Nicco wants to marry Lucinda. Lucinda wants to marry Nicco. Neither will wed until Chaz and Naomi are standing with them when they say their wedding vows. Who will get what they want? Find out when you read the second volume of Paula Rose Michelson's saga, Casa de Naomi: The House of Blessing. My review:  Paula Rose Michelson is a gifted writer and prophet. She is certainly telling the good news through her fictional work in this series of books.   The back of her novel says:   "Fulfilling Messiah's Great Commission through Literature" and she does exactly that in her writing.   I also love how she draws so many parallels between Ruth and Naomi in Casa de Naom i with Ruth  and Naomi of the Bible.   I ado...

Review of Buried Treasures by Mary Manners When Caroline flees Chicago following the brutal murder of her husband, the last thing she expects-or wants-is to fall for Matt Carlson, a builder with strong roots in the small town of Mountainview, Tennessee. She needs to focus on raising her six-year-old daughter and protecting both their hearts from ever being shattered again. Matt is struggling with issues of his own...guilt over the death of his wife and the responsibility of raising a cynical teenaged nephew who is dropped on his doorstep, abandoned by Matt's alcoholic sister. He doesn't have time to fall in love, yet he can't help being drawn to the woman who is ready to defend her home-and her daughter-with nothing more than a feisty attitude and a broom handle. Can Matt's help and friendship convince Caroline to trust again...and when Caroline's daughter goes missing, will Matt be able to find the girl before it's too late and he loses everything he lov...

Review of Raider's Vendetta Karen Arnpriester Charley knew what God wanted from her. She was willing to trust and obey as she protected the others in the bank. Then He would save her from her captor. There was no way she could have anticipated the rage that would be unleashed in response to her prayers and her faith in God. Raider was desperate, hardened, and his past had set the stage for an insane game of survival and spiritual warfare. The vendetta was in motion and Charley discovered that she needed her God to provide extraordinary miracles to keep her alive. ********************************************************************************************* My review of Raider's Vendetta:             Karen Arnpriester is making me think of Stephen King in some of her amazing writing in this book!!!    This book is full of suspense, action, forgiveness, God's provision, and miracles.    In fact, miracles abound for Charley and ...

Review of Be Still My Soul by Joanne Bischof Gideon only ever cared about himself. Now that Lonnie is his wife, will he ever be worthy of her heart? Night’s chill tickled her skin. Lonnie pressed her hands together and glanced up. He was even more handsome up close. Having grown up the shy, awkward daughter of Joel Sawyer, she’d hardly spoken to any boy, let alone the one who had mothers whispering warnings in their daughter’s ears and fathers loading shotguns.   Pretty Lonnie Sawyer is shy and innocent, used to fading into the background within her family, and among the creeks and hollows of the Appalachian hills. Though her family is poor and her father abusive, she clings to a quiet faith.  But when handsome ladies’ man and bluegrass musician Gideon O’Riley steals a kiss, that one action seals her fate. Her father forces her into a hasty marriage with Gideon—a man she barely knows and does not love. Equally frustrated and confused by his new responsib...

Review of Inescapable by Nancy Mehl, book one in Road to Kingdom series Page-Turning Romantic Suspense Set Against the Backdrop of a Small Mennonite Town Lizzie Engel is used to running away. At eighteen, she left her Mennonite hometown, her family, and her faith with plans never to return. Five years later, Lizzie finds she'll have to run again. False accusations at her job, a stalker, and a string of anonymous threatening letters have left her with no other options. This time, however, her escape is back to Kingdom, her hometown. As Lizzie becomes reacquainted with Kingdom, she realizes she may not have left her Mennonite roots and her faith as firmly in the past as she thought. She draws on the support of Noah Housler, an old friend, as she hides out and attempts to plan her next steps. When it becomes painfully clear that the danger has followed Lizzie to Kingdom, suspicions and tensions run high, and she no longer knows who to trust. With her life and the li...

Spending Time with God Daily This image of Jesus is one as depicted in the book: "Heaven is for Real" This is taken from my Joyce Meyer's "The Everyday Life Bible" reading: she adds notes to scripture and thought how appropriate this one was for the talk we had here about technology recently on Amish Living: In the Old Testament, the ark of the covenant represented the presence of the Lord.  I cannot stress enough how much we need God's presence in our lives--in fact, we need His presence more than we need anything else. When God called Moses to tell Pharaoh to let God's people go, Moses was scared and insecure about his lack of abilities. But God said to him, "I will surely be with you" (see Exodus 3:10-14). Later God told Moses, "My presence shall go with you: and I will give you rest." (Exodus 33:14).  I love Moses' reply:  "If your presence does not go with me, do not carry us up from here!" (Exodus 33:15)...

Wonderful Christian Fiction in  Wildflowers from Winter by Katie Ganshert Imagine a childhood that was not the happiest, a father who died of drowning after a stroke, a mother whom you are estranged from after she "took up" with the pastor who said your father was in hell for being a cripple due to the stroke....that he needed to repent as he had obviously sinned.....imagine the best friend who kept you alive and sane when everyone else in school turned against you....and the best friend then turns to God when you have turned against God....the farm where grandpa lived was your only safe place and mom moved you from there to a ratty old trailer in a ratty old trailer park..... yes, imagine all that, and it all comes flooding back and brings you up short when mom calls Bethany Quinn to say that tragedy has struck....calls at work where she is never to receive personal calls to say that best friend, Robin, has had a terrible incident. Robin's husband is in th...

Sarai, by Jill Eileen Smith, My Review Sarai, by Jill Eileen Smith, is a fictional account of the story of Sarai and Abram, later renamed Sarah and Abraham by Adonai, our God.   Jill follows the scriptural account of the story of Sarai and Abram, half-brother and half-sister, who marry and wait until far into their old age for God to send the promised child, Isaac.    Sarai despairs and gives her Egyptian maid, Hagar, to Abram, and Ishmael is born.   But God honors His promise to them, even though they sin and take matters into their own hands.    God also sends His judgement on Sodom and Gomorrah and Lot and Melah taste of the bitter punishment.   The angels told Lot and Melah not to look back, but Melah, who has worshipped other Gods disobeys and becomes a pillar of salt.    Sarai chooses to obey God and believe in Him.    Isaac means "laughter" and his birth did indeed bring laughter and joy to Sarai when she gave birth ...

Brush of An  Angel's Wings  by Ruth Reid Review What a sweet sweet book this one is!!!     I love Amish fiction and this one is quite unique as Ruth Reid includes angels surrounding the main characters and guiding them.....one a guardian angel and one a fallen angel trying to convict the main characters to doubt God and abandon faith in Him.    Rachel and Joshua have many obstacles in their way.   Rachel is not your typical Amish maiden.  She is not a good cook....her stitches aren't always even in her sewing....she has never been asked to ride home from a singing with one of the local Amish boys.    She is jealous of Joshua and fears he is replacing her father's affections for her and her dear, departed brother, James.   Joshua was raised by an Amish mother and had an absent father.  He locates his father, who is still working as a long-distance trucker with the help of the rich, pretty young English girl and her cell...

Oh, what a sweet sweet book!!   Jane and Elijah have settled into their Amish lifestyle, even though Jane was not raised Amish.   They are blessed with many children (I won't say how many so as not to spoil the book) and so are their family members.   Tragedy strikes in several fashions, with one of their children's lives hanging in the balance and a non-Christian doctor, who urges them to let the child die.   Their faith wins out though!!   Elijah has a chance to witness to the doctor and plant a seed.    When further tragedy strikes, Jane's world is torn apart and she returns to her childhood home to find peace.    She finds several surprises along the way.....remember her childhood friends, Penelope, and Bradley?  God brings them back together in the most miraculous ways.    Jane is able to find hope and plans to rebuild her life.    Read this book and you won't be disappointed.     It is a ...

The Little Wild Flower, book 1, Amish Romance by Samantha Jillian Bayarr This is my first time to read a book by Samantha Bayarr and I really like it! I would highly recommend it.  This is a very different "Amish Romance" as far as the genre goes.    Jane's English father moves the family to an Amish community and purchases a former Amish farm after his wife returns home from rehab for alcoholism.   Jane has suffered abuse at her mother's hands during the years of battling alcoholism.   Jane is furious to be living in the dull, boring place and especially to have left behind her friends, so she hides away for the summer.  When she finally comes out of her brooding seclusion, her eyes land on one very HOT Amish young man, Elijah.   There are a great many love matches to come in The Little Wild Flower.    What I love is that the book does deal with alcoholism, abuse, recovery, and forgiveness as well as purity before marriage and ...

Review of A Perfect Square by Vannetta Chapman For a perfect mystery,  mixed up with some Amish living in Shipsewana, Indiana, read a Perfect Square by Vannetta Chapman.   This is the first book of Vannetta's that I have read and I definitely want to read more.   Callie, Deborah, and Esther have been involved in some other "mystery solving", much to the chagrin of the local detective, Shane.  I did not get to read the full details of Falling to Pieces , book one in the Shipsewana Amish Mystery series,  but I can not wait to do so as many elusions to it were made in a Perfect Square.    If you love quilting, Amish things,  and mysteries, you will love this book.  It is a true "nail-biter".   I could not put the book down.  I was constantly trying to figure out exactly what had happened to the young dead Amish girl that Esther and Deborah found in the pond on Reuben and Tobias's farm.   I was just as sure as Callie a...

Review of God Loves Broken People (And those Who Pretend They're Not) by Sheila Walsh  I highly recommend this book to any one who is struggling with pain and discouragement in their lives (and who among us isn't?).    Sheila Walsh uses real-life stories from her own experiences and that of others to reach out to the broken among us.  She uses examples of great people, even Mother Teresa and her own personal struggles with God and His love.    She points out that Mother Teresa had faith AND doubt.  I once had a Presbyterian pastor tell me that without doubt, there is no faith.    I love these lines in the book:   " Nothing that happens surprises God, so trust Him in the midst of your pain.  God loves you, and nothing can separate you from His love.   God will be with you always, and whatever you have to face, He will go through it with you.           Do you believe those things?  ...

Crocheting & Praying! This is my all time favorite prayer shawl pattern above!! This pattern comes for Quick-to-Stitch Prayer Shawls from Annie's Attic.   I purchased the patterns and downloaded and printed them but as they are copyrighted, I can not share the pattern. The patterns even include suggested prayers and labels/gift tags to give along with the completed prayer shawls. Visit AnniesAttic.com to purchase the patterns.    Love it!!!    I have been busy crocheting and praying as I go.   I pray for the individual as I pray and this is for a very special friend.    I won't say who it's for as it is currently in the mail on the way to her.    It is my wish for her to have peace, love, joy, contentment, financial relief, safety for her and her family, and healing!     AMEN

Yes, God has fearfully and wonderfully made me and YOU,  He knit us together in our mother's wombs.   Wow! I was reading in Calm My Anxious Heart about being content with ourselves and our role in life.   Linda spoke about the fact that so many women are dissatisfied with their bodies, their lives, their jobs, their families, and more.   She's right.  I'm guilty too.  But it really made me stop and think.   God made me unique.  He wanted me to be different.  He loves our inner heart and soul.  He doesn't look at the outer wrappings.  He focuses on the inside and we need to do that too.   I am thanking God for my personality, my body, my roles in life, and I'm going to work on being content with where I am right now!   How about you? 

 I am studying the book, "Calm My Anxious Heart" by Linda Dillow, and she suggested making a list of the positives in your life and the negatives.   So I am going to do it. Positives in my life: I have a wonderful God who loves me and has an eternal home waiting for me! I have a terrific husband who spoils me and cares for me. I have 3 beautiful Christian daughters. I have 4 grown stepchildren whom I love.   I have the wonderful partners of my children and stepchildren to love and spend time with! I have 11 stepgrandchildren whom I love and adore. I have a beautiful home to live in. I have a caring church family. I have spirit-filled friends on internet and in person! I am able to crochet and sew and do other crafts. I have my prayer shawl ministry. I have my "notes of love" ministry where I send cards and notes and gifts to others. I have food to eat. I have doctors to care for me. My mom is still living and a joy to me. I was able to...

Abba, Daddy,        I come to you humbled tonight by your love, by your gift of your life to us.   How precious you are!  How wondrous!    How        marvelous!   I love you and I long to know you more!   I want my husband, my children, my stepchildren, and grandchildren, and all my family to know you more....to serve       you.....to live in your perfect will.  If any that I love do not know you, I pray that you would convict them and they would bow before you and say "yes, Lord."         When I look at the ocean and the mountains, I can't help but be awed at your creation and your artwork!  Truly you taught Picasa !    You have given us inspiration to be daring as we mix our colors.   You have given us inspiration to dare to reach for the sky.  ...