Day Four: God's Healing Power...

Have you not known? Have you not heard? The everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, does not faint or grow weary; there is no searching of His understanding.
He gives power to the faint and weary, and to him who has no might He increases strength [causing it to multiply and making it to abound]. ~Isaiah 40:28-29
He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds [curing their pains and their sorrows].
He determines and counts the number of the stars; He calls them all by their names.
Great is our Lord and of great power; His understanding is inexhaustible and boundless. ~Psalm 147:3_5
  

Have you ever had a really bad day, one that you can't wait to end? Oh yes, we all have. These kind of days suck. How about a bad week, or a bad month? What about a hard year? Now this is a different story.  I remember one year that seemed to be filled with nothing, but heartache. Three people that I personally knew and was close to, died in just a few months apart. I had never had any one die before, this was such a painful shock. They all had so much more life in front of them.
I couldn't help, but look at God differently that year. I felt like I and the people around me, were being punished for something and I couldn't understand why. Why would God, who is love, allow good people to die? I was mad and hurt.
I know now we weren't being punished and God did not cause, nor want any of this heartache for us, but at the time it was hard to see.
God sees things differently than us humans, He sees the whole picture, where we only see, a little of it. He sees how it will end and when we ask, He will bring beauty from the pain. Sometimes it takes longer than when we want and sometimes we have to open our eyes to see it, but it will be there...no doubt.
Heartache is inevitable, but God has many special band aids to heal those hurts. The greatest of His healing powers... love.


Are you ready to have your heart healed?

Are you tired of feeling weary and weak?


Bring all you hurts to God, healer of broken hearts and renewer of those weak and faint.
His loving hand will guide you through the battle and raise you to victory.

Day Three: So Blessed Are We...

Enter into His gates with thanksgiving and a thank offering and into His courts with praise! Be thankful and say so to Him, bless and affectionately praise His name! ~ Psalms 100:4

Let there be no filthiness (obscenity, indecency) nor foolish and sinful (silly and corrupt) talk, nor coarse jesting, which are not fitting or becoming; but instead voice your thankfulness [to God].~ Ephesians 5:4

Today my mom and I went grocery shopping. I usually hate to go grocery shopping... it's a bit boring and sometimes a pain to go do. Oh I do enjoy getting a coffee at Starbucks and of course having more food in the house.

Here is some food for thought, something I need to remind myself on. Less than 200 hundred years ago we didn't have the "grocery store" we have now. There was no easy convenient way of buying fresh prepared meat, any kind of fruit and veggie you want, and caned goods that can last you for years. What a HUGE blessing this all is! I don't have to raise and kill my own livestock... thank God. I can have and try practically any kind of fruit or vegetable of my hearts desire... think about that! I am blessed beyond words and It's not just from the grocery store...

Take a look at this. I don't know who wrote it, but they did a wonderful job. Thank you mom for posting this on your fb... made me stop and think. Us Americans and first world countries are so blessed!
If you have food in your refrigerator, clothes on your back, a roof overhead and a place to sleep...
you are richer than 75% of the world's population...Think about that for a second or two. You are among the top 25% that means.

If you have a little money in the bank or spare change in a dish someplace...
you are among the top 8% of the world's wealthy....I may not have much money in the bank, BUT it doesn't say how much you have to have in the bank it just say IF you have any at all, even just a few bucks, you are among the top 8% of the worlds wealthy. So stop whining if you're not among the top 1% you CRAZY "Occupy Wall Street" NUTS!! You're still among the top 8%!!

If you can drink from your kitchen faucet whenever you want...
you are more fortunate by far than 1.5 billion people who have no access to clean water at all...That's billion with a "B"!!

If you can attend a church or a political rally without fear of harassment, arrest, torture or death...you have the kind of freedom denied to more than three billion people in the world...I'll go a step further here and say if you have a Bible in you house you are more blessed then those three billion people, so why don't you count your blessings and open it up and take a look inside sometime??

If you can read this message, you are more blessed than two billion people who cannot read at all...Two BILLION people can't even read this!

If you are an woman reading this and you were blessed to born an American, think for a minute or two about all the other women in other parts of our world who were born into country's where women are still treated like someones property. Think about how blessed you are to be able to pick and chose what you want to do with your life and if you have daughters think how blessed they are as will to have been born with our kind of freedom...

If your everyday problems are weighing you down, there are millions, no BILLIONS, of people on Earth who would gladly trade places with you right now--problems and all--and feel they have been royally blessed.

Remember: "From those to whom much is given, much is expected."

 

 What are you grateful for?

Is there a way for you to bless others less fortunate?

Day Two: Live for today.

This is the day which the LORD hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.
~Psalm 118:24  

 Last month I had a near death experience... no joke! I am blessed to be alive and breathing at this very moment. Through this scary incident it woke me up to something we all truly need to act on. We never know what each day may bring... tomorrow is never promised.  To often we live in our yesterdays or our tomorrows, making us miss what today is really about!

Love your family. There is no greater lost, than never saying, "I love you." Hearing it is better than believing, 'they should know it.' Saying it as often as possible, is better than saying it too few of times.

Cherish your friends. Good friends are a treasure. When you find one, always treat them well.

Care for yourself. You are more precious than you will ever know. Special and unique beyond words.

Bond with your Heavenly Father. He likes it when you talk to him throughout the day. Most of the time he doesn't reply back in the normal way, but you will start to see and hear His voice in other ways. Oh and you can talk to him about anything.

Live for today. Not yesterday. Live in the now. Not tomorrow.

  Is there something holding you back from living for today?

What can you do to help you enjoy today?

Day One:The everlasting resolution.

It is because of the Lord's mercy and loving-kindness that we are not consumed, because His [tender] compassions fail not. They are new every morning; great and abundant is Your stability and faithfulness ~Lamentations 3:22-23

I love the beginning of a new year. Another fresh year filled with new growing, new blessings, and new challenges.
Most of us look at the new year as a fresh start to a new beginning. A start to fix something bad or start something good. I will admit it, I make resolutions every year and a lot of times, I fail at them. It can feel pretty disappointing to fail or not fix something you so intended to. You loose heart when you fail and it’s hard to start again, after all there is always next year... right.
God’s mercies are new every morning, not just every new year. You may find them and ask for them anywhere and anytime. It's a guarantee non- fail! How's that for a New Year resolution?

What are you looking forward to this year?

What newness do you want or seek for your life?

CSFF Blog Tour: Corus the Champion by D. Barkley Briggs

Hey fellow bloggers, this month for the CSFF blog tour we are touring on a book called, Corus the Champion by D. Barkley Briggs. It is book two of the epic, Legends of Karac Tor series.

 He was once the greatest champion in the land.
Then he disappeared.

With Nemesia's defeat, the Barlows have helped turn the tide in the Hidden Lands. But the victory is short-lived. An even greater evil stirs in the north with a fierce new army bent on destruction. As the twins, Gabe and Garret, discover their own special powers, a thin thread of hope emerges: long ago, a fabled king was rescued from death on our world and hidden on Karac Tor. Who is he?

Each brother has their part to play. Hadyn must travel north to warn the land barons, which leaves Ewan with a bitter choice. Will he sacrifice what is most precious to discover whether Corus lives? Even more important, if Corus is alive, can he wake the Sleeping King of legend...before it's too late?


~About the Author 
Dean Barkley Briggs is an author, father of eight, and prone to twisting his ankle playing basketball. He grew up reading J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lews, Patricia McKillip, Guy Gavriel Kay, Stephen R. Donaldson, Ursila K. Leguin, Susan Cooper, Madeline L'Engle, Terry Brooks, Andre Norton and Lloyd Alexander (just to name a few)...and generally thinks most fantasy fiction pales in comparison. (Yes, he dabbled in  sci-fi, too. Most notably Bradbury, Burroughs and Heinlein).

After losing his wife of 16 years, Briggs decided to tell a tale his four sons could relate to in their own journey through loss. Thus was born The Legends of Karac Tor, a sweeping adventure of four brothers who become enmeshed in the crisis of another world and along the way, must find their courage, battle overwhelming odds, face their pain, and never quit searching for home.

In God's timing, beauty and joy arose in the real world, too. Briggs remarried a lovely redhead named Jeanie, who previously lost her husband in an auto accident. Together with her four children, their hands are quite full, and they spend each day grateful for their eight blessings.

~My Review 
Now I haven't read all of this epic book... so crazy busy around the holidays and this past week has been rather hard for me... I didn't finish it like I planned on. I can tell you though, that I have highly enjoyed what I have read. I'm not going to do my full review until I finish the whole book... it for sure deserves it! (My next post in a few days will be a full review) For now I'll say great characters, unique epic story line... a different blend and twist to the story of King Arthur, and the author's style of writing is nice... I haven't read book one, but I definitely plan on getting it. I think I would enjoy this even more if I had read book one first... I knew the story line and all, but I know I missed out on a few things.The book itself is rather cool too! AMG publishing keeps getting better with their covers. The books name, along with the authors name are lifted, giving it a nice feel. The swords hilt is also popped out and the spine looks pretty in your book shelf. Ha, ha, I know don't judge a book by it's cover. ;-)

Since my review is short here is something some of you might enjoy.
Below is a great post from the author himself from his wonderful blog http://deanbriggs.com it gives you a total different understanding to his fun names in his book series. I love creating my characters names :-)

WriterTips: A Primer on Names in LoKT (Legends of Karac Tor)

By D. Barkley Briggs

For any novelist, many factors go into choosing a good name for each character, including: Culture or ethnicity, Physical appearance, Personality, Temperament, History, and Rank within the story. These comprise the broad swath of identity which a name is meant to convey. Sometimes, an author will want to run counter to stereotype with a name that intentionally defies the conventions. Even so, the character “Maximus” is unlikely to be a shy, effeminate pacifist of eastern origins, with nothing but a small role in the latter part of the story. Rather, he’s likely to be the brawny warrior/general from an imperialistic nation who’s probably stern, short-tempered, has two broken bones at any given time, and is perpetually threatening to take over the whole story.
As a linguist and scholar of ancient languages, Tolkien was unmatched in name selection, creating evocative new words that imprinted so deeply in the reader’s mind it soon seemed hard to imagine that character being called by any other name. I generally determine names in one of two ways: phonetically or visually. They must strike the right tone and have the right texture or nuance, either to pronounce or to read, though preferably both. There must be balance and meter between syllables or words. One word or two? Or three? If there is an ethnic implication, the tone must suggest something larger than the name itself. This applies to place names, given names, object names, etc. Let me give you some examples from The Legends of Karac Tor:
Faielyn is a city of romance and charm. Dinglet is not. The former, with extra vowels and lack of hard consonants, has an air of sophistication and mystery. Dinglet sounds trivial by comparison. Likewise, Aventhorn is a fortress of classic strength, while Stobnotter is more appropriate to a remote village. Rake Hightower runs the risk of caricature, I’ll admit, but it sure beats Mort Frogswallow as the arrogant High Constable of the King’s army, unless of course the constable was not heroic, but sniveling and political. And what do you do when you need to name a new monster? Choices abound, but orcs, trolls and vampires are a bit used up. Care must be given to creating a totally new class of monster. Choosing a new word that sounds like an old word can help. What about Goths? For those who remember 8th Grade History, you might recall that the Visigoths and Ostrogoths were fierce Germanic hordes that swept across Europe as part of the destruction of Rome. Such a term, bearing history within itself, may already trigger an image in the mind of the reader, even if they don’t know why. By association, my Goths benefit, as brutal marauders. There’s a connection for non-history buffs, too. Drawing on the term “gothic,” I’m able to borrow something familiar from our language–suggestive of graveyards and creepy medieval architecture. By extension, a Goth is something fearful. Nobody would fear the Pinklets. I don’t care how large their army or sharp their teeth, it won’t sell. The name is too disconnected from the thing it is meant to embody. Name and identity should have synergy, so that every time the name is read, it reinforces principle character attributes without having to restate them. Flogg makes a good gnome name, as might Worr and Wurt and Gorker. But for my taste, Dag Boneswallow or Hali Throckmorton start to try too hard, become too cumbersome. And Tubby just doesn’t work at all, unless the story is told with a winking sense of humor! Finally, there’s Nemesia, the witch who is stealing the memory and identity of an entire generation. Can you identify her name? It’s a combination anagram: Amnesia (forgetfulness) and Nemesis (enemy). Pretty cool!
Over the course of five epic books, The Legends of Karac Tor unfolds the story of four brothers—based on my own sons—thrust into the crisis of another world in the wake of their mother’s untimely death. It is thoughtful, gritty, magical fiction. If you read it, let me know what you think. But here I must part with the Bard. While “a rose by any other name” would smell as sweet, would you want to smell it—would you even give it a chance—if it it were named Scumleaf? 

 


To purchase, Corus the Champion, go to -  http://www.amazon.com/Corus-Champion-Legends-Karac-Tor/dp/0899578640/ 
 

Check out the author's fun website  - http://hiddenlands.net/index.php?Itemid=49&id=19&option=com_content&task=view





To find out more about this great book and author, check out the other tour members for this months tour.  
http://ofbattlesdragonsandswordsofadamant.blogspot.com/ Gillian Adams
http://noahsreads.blogspot.com/"> Noah Arsenault 
http://rbclibrary.wordpress.com/"> Beckie Burnham 
http://morganlbusse.wordpress.com"> Morgan L. Busse 
http://csffblogtour.com/"> CSFF Blog Tour 
http://carolcollett.wordpress.com/"> Carol Bruce Collett
<http://tweezlereads.blogspot.com/"> Theresa Dunlap 
http://projectinga.blogspot.com/"> April Erwin 
http://vicsmediaroom.wordpress.com/"> Victor Gentile 
http://www.thehahnhuntinglodge.com/"> Nikole Hahn 
http://realmofhearts.blogspot.com/"> Ryan Heart 
http://www.brucehennigan.com/"> Bruce Hennigan 
http://www.christopherhopper.com/"> Christopher Hopper 
http://www.spoiledfortheordinary.blogspot.com/"> Jason Joyner (He is doing a giveaway for book three)
http://www.molcotw.blogspot.com/"> Julie 
http://carolkeen.blogspot.com/"> Carol Keen 
http://krystisbooks.blogspot.com/"> Krystine Kercher 
http://mharvireads.blogspot.com/"> Marzabeth 
http://www.shannonmcdermott.com/?page_id=189"> Shannon McDermott 
http://rebeccaluellamiller.wordpress.com/"> Rebecca LuElla Miller 
http://www.questwriter.blogspot.com/"> Eve Nielsen 
http://www.sarahsawyer.com/blog"> Sarah Sawye 
http://reviewsfromtheheart.blogspot.com/"> Kathleen Smith 
http://www.mindsinger.com/"> Donna Swanson 
http://www.rachelstarrthomson.com/inklings/"> Rachel Starr Thomson 
http://christiansf.blogspot.com/"> Steve Trower 
http://frederation.wordpress.com"> Fred Warren

http://christian-fantasy-book-reviews.com/blog/"> Phyllis Wheeler  
http://www.theravenquill.blogspot.com/">  Nicole White
http://finishedthebook.blogspot.com/"> Rachel Wyant

 

In conjunction with the CSFF Blog Tour, I received a free copy of this book from the publisher.  I was not required to write a positive review. Thank you AMG.