‘Amish Proverbs: Words of Wisdom from the Simple Life’ by Suzanne Woods Fisher – Book Review and Giveaway

The Amish community has been an interest/passion of mine since I visited the Lancaster, Pennsylvania area as a young person. So when I am near an Amish community or have the opportunity to learn more about them, I take advantage! One of my favorite new authors, Suzanne Woods Fisher, has just released a beautiful new book, ‘Amish Proverbs: Words of Wisdom from the Simple Life.’ Favorite author + Amish community = I’m there!

Here’s a synopsis of this lovely book:

          Simplify your life with Amish wisdom.

Through firsthand research and personal relationships, Suzanne Woods Fisher has collected more than 200 proverbs that cover the rich heritage, folklore, faith, values, history, and essence of the Plain People. These proverbs serve as teaching tools and maxims for practical living – but they’re not just for the Amish. They’re for anyone who seeks God’s wisdom and truth for everyday circumstances.

Ranging from the simple to the profound, from the serious to the humorous, these sayings will stick with you through life’s joys and sorrows. With beautiful full-color photos throughout, Amish Proverbs is the perfect gift for any occasion.

Here is the biography of the author:

Suzanne Woods Fisher first became interested in the culture of the Plain People through her grandfather, W.D. Benedict, who was raised in the Old Order German Baptist Brethren Church in Franklin County, Pennsylvania. She had a warm relationship with her Dunkard cousins and asks them many questions, which they patiently answer.

Fisher is the author of Amish Peace: Simple Wisdom for a Complicated World and the bestselling novel, The Choice, the first in her Lancaster County Secrets series. Her work has appeared in many magazines, including Today’s Christian Woman, Worldwide Challenge, ParentLife, Christian Parenting Today, Marriage Partnership, and many others. Suzanne  lives with her family in the San Francisco Bay area. She loves to hear from her readers.

In the Introduction, Suzanne explains that we all need wisdom:

These sayings and proverbs, dear to the Amish, can help the English (non-Amish) better understand them. For example, here are two proverbs that reveal how the Amish value the virtue of patience: “Only when a squirrel buries and forgets an acorn, can a new oak tree come forth,” and “Adopt the pace of nature; her secret is patience.”

Proverbs are just as useful in our life today as they are to Old Order Amish families. They’re just as relevant to us as they were to the Israelites in King Solomon’s day. They help point us toward wisdom, toward good judgment, towards God’s teachings. To please God, we must know what he values; what does he care about? What does he love? What does he hate? Proverbs teach us about God. (p. 13)

This book is divided into several categories: Time, Money, Faith, Children & Family, In Word & Deed, Work Ethic, Handling Adversity, Education, Community, Character and Just for Fun.

Here are a few from the Faith section:

·         Bibles that are coming apart usually belong to people who are not.

·         It may be difficult to wait on the Lord, but it is worse to wish you had.

·         He who bows lowest in the presence of God stands straightest in the presence of sin. (p. 47)

And here are a few from the ‘In Word & Deed’ section:

·         All that you do, do with your might. Things done by halves are never done right.

·         Swallowing words before you say them is so much better than having to eat them afterward.

·         When you speak, always remember that God is one of your listeners. (p. 86)

And these are from the Community chapter:

·         It’s nice to be important, but it’s more important to be nice.

·         Swallowing pride rarely gives you indigestion.

·         Many things have been opened by mistake, but none so frequently as the mouth. (p. 180)

And, finally, from the Just for Fun chapter:

·         Every family tree has a little sap.

·         Age is a question of mind over matter. If you don’t mind, it doesn’t matter.

·         Those who have no children know best how to raise them. (p. 197)

This is the second book from Suzanne that I have read; the first was ‘The Choice,’ Book One in her Lancaster County Secrets series (you can read my review here). Book Two in the Lancaster County Secrets series is ‘The Waiting;’ I am waiting until it releases on October 1, 2010!

I appreciated the fact that Suzanne and the publisher honored the wishes of the Amish, who do not believe in having their faces photographed. There are many photos in this book, but they all show the Amish from the side or back views.

I highly recommend this book. It is full of wisdom, and so beautifully written and designed! It would be perfect for a gift for anyone for any occasion – everyone needs more wisdom!

You can order this book here.

This book was published by Revell Publishers and provided by them for review and giveaway purposes.

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I have a copy of this absolutely beautiful book that I would love to send along to one winner! 

There are several ways to gain entry:

1) Leave a comment here on the blog, sharing with us a proverb that has reverberated in your family. Please make sure to leave your email address in this format – sample[at]gmail[dot]com.

2) Follow me on Twitter; I will more than likely follow you back!  If you are already a Twitter follower, that counts, too!  Please leave a new comment to that effect.

3) Follow me as a Google Friend on this blog; if you are already a Friend, that counts, too!  Please leave a new comment to that effect.

4) Become my Facebook friend.  Please leave a new comment to that effect.

5) Follow this blog as a NetWorked Blog Follower after you’ve become my Facebook friend.  Please leave a new comment to that effect.

So there are five chances to enter!  Please limit one entry per option.

This giveaway is for U.S. residents only.  The deadline for entry is Tuesday, September 14, 2010 at 11:59 p.m. EST.  A winner will be chosen via the Random Number Generator on Wednesday, September 15, 2010 and will be contacted via email.  The best to all of you!

‘Transformed by Desire: A Journey of Awakening to Life and Love’ by Patty Mason – Book Review

I love it when the Lord directs me to a book that captures the love He has for His people, and conveys it very well. That book is ‘Transformed by Desire: A Journey of Awaking to Life and Love’ by Patty Mason.

Here is the synopsis of this touching book:

          What Are the Desire of Your Heart?

What do you yearn for? What are the longings that you ache to fill? What have you kept buried within your soul that needs to be uncovered?  The journey of a lifetime begins with desire. Desire that will stir your heart and awaken your soul. Desire that will thrust your life into new levels of meaning and purpose. God longs for you to open your heart and mind. To ask – seek – knock, to take a journey of longing and desire. God has implanted desires within you; let them come alive with new life and love. Dare to dream; dare to embrace the truest desires of your heart. Dare to answer the question: What are the desires of my heart?

Here is the biography of this author:

Patty Mason is an award-winning author, speaker, Bible teacher, women’s ministry leader, and the founder of Liberty in Christ Ministries. For many years she has been teaching and inspiring women of all ages through her writings and her talks. Patty has reached audiences all over the world through Sisters on Assignment, Christian.tv, CWebtTV, Sermon.net, and WLGT Blog Radio Live. Beginning in August, 2010, you can view her weekly program on the SOA channel every Friday on Light Source.  

Patty lives in Nashville, Tennessee, with her husband and children. She is also the author of the Bible study, Know That I AM God, and the devotional, God’s Heart: Drawing Close to the Heart of God.

Patty shows us how Jesus wants us to spend a lot of time with Him, and be in an intimate relationship with His children. She begins the book by including ‘A Prayer for Our Journey.’ Here is a portion of it:

With each of you in heart and mind, I pray that you will experience a spiritual awakening. I ask for each of you to be given eyes to see and ears to hear all of what Christ desires to communicate to you. May you not close this book untouched or unchanged. Earnestly, I pray that the Holy Spirit will use the words in this book to woo your heart in new ways, paving the way for a turning point in your relationship with Jesus. May you be granted glorious revelation and abundant wisdom to grasp how wide, how high, and long, and deep His love is for you.

It is important that we understand the answer to the question, ‘What are the desires of my heart?’:

I pondered the question; and the more I thought about the possibilities, the more excited I became. Suddenly my mind began to fill with thoughts and dreams. Like a powerful wave crashing on the shoreline, the desires of my heart began to flood my soul. Some were childhood desires I had long since forgotten, others were fresh; still they were longings I had never shared with anyone. It was a secret part of me just waiting to be shared with anyone. It was like a secret part of me just waiting to be revealed. Until that day, I had no idea how I had repressed the desires of my heart; but now, God was touching a place within me that begged to get out, to be set free, to spread its wings and fly. (p. 2)

In Matthew 7:7-8, Jesus invited us to ask-seek-knock:

Ask-seek-knock. I love these intriguing words, because they awaken desire. They invite you to come and open your heart and experience the promise of something more. When God created you, He implanted specific desires in your heart that only He could fill. He longs for you to open your heart and ask, so that He can help you discover those desires, bringing them out into the light of His love. For example, in the story of the two blind men, Jesus said to them, “What do you want me to do for you?” (Matthew 20:32). Jesus already knew what these men needed, but He wanted them to express their desire to receive their sight.

Just like these blind me, you, too, need to express to Jesus the desires of your heart, even the ones you may have kept buried since childhood. Jesus longs for you to open your heart and offer Him your deepest desires. Like a little child, He beckons you to come and freely give Him that part of yourself. (p. 5)

The Lord’s reaction to your request will vary from person to person:

For some, once they made the decision to ask, seek, and knock with their whole heart, the transformation came rapidly. For others, the changes and revelations came slowly – more gradually. That’s ok. Don’t get frustrated. Christ knows your heart, and He understands the longings of your soul. Give Him the room to move freely; unhindered and without any preconceived notions of what this journey is supposed to look like, or how it will turn out. Let go and let God reveal to you the desires of His heart, as He births the desires in yours. (p. 9)

Patty’s prayer life has changed dramatically as He has drawn closer to Him:

Now, unlike before, I long to meet with God every day in prayer. I don’t come out of obligation, but out of the love in my heart, simply desiring to be with Him. Once I understood what God desired to receive and how He longed to share times of closeness with me, my attitude about prayer changed dramatically. As a result, my prayer life increased in volume and passion; this new approach deepened the bonds of relationship between us to unparalleled levels of intimacy. (p. 26)

We do have the freedom to reject Him, but it comes at a price:

If you are not taking time to nurture a loving relationship between yourself and the Lord, you are robbing both Him and yourself. Ask the Lord to help you to be creative with your time. Set up regularly scheduled appointments when the two of you can meet privately. Allow Him the access to your heart that He deserves and craves. Permit Jesus to fill your heart with His love (see 1 John 4:19). When you come to Jesus and allow Him to fill you and care for you, you then will begin to receive the wholeness that you so desperately crave. (p. 36)

As do many of us, Patty suffered from a deep depression. Her relationship with the Lord rescued her:

When I was going through the depression, I lost hope. I felt like everything had been taken from me, and I was completely alone. No one understood; and no one could help. And in that make-it-or-break-it moment, on the day I was planning on committing suicide, I cried out to the Lord in complete desperation. Then, without warning, like a knight in shining armor, Jesus heard and answered my cries for His healing hand. In the blink of an eye, He graciously and mercifully healed me from the darkness that had consumed my life. And when I came out of that pit of depression, I came out a different person – zealous and so utterly grateful for what God had done for me that I gave Him my heart and began to return His love (see Psalm 116). (p. 45)

We must not allow our past hurts to stop us from falling in love with Jesus:

Don’t be afraid. Do not be one who cannot seem to draw near to Christ because of fear of rejection, past hurts, or bitterness. Remember, only Christ Jesus can fill the needs, true desires, and longing of your heart. Only He can fill the emptiness and bring satisfaction to your soul. When you are alone with Him, totally submitted to Him, restorative healing begins, and little by little you become whole. (pp. 66-67)

As she grew more in love with the Lord, Patty’s eyes opened:

For me, new love was stirring my heart as passion gripped my soul. I went from what I would call a good relationship with God, to where I simply fell in love with Jesus. From that moment on, I began to feel alive. Suddenly, everything was better. I began to look at the world around me with the inquisitiveness of someone young at heart (see Matthew 18:3). Now, unrestricted in my new adventure, I began to see things I had never seen before. The whole world simply came to life.

The trees and fields began to dance before my eyes, as if they were moving to the music of the wind (see Isaiah 55:12; Psalm 96:12-13). Streams of water began to sing to me as they traveled along their path, shimmering and reflecting the light of God as the water swayed to the rhythm of its journey (Psalm 98:8). And the voice of the birds became sweet as they seemed to sing the tune of my heart (see Psalm 40:3). (p. 91)

We need to learn to look at ourselves as the Lord does:

When God looks at you, He no longer sees your sin and unworthiness. When God looks at you He sees the blood of Jesus. Jesus took your filthy rags and exchanged them for His robe of righteousness and garment of salvation. You are righteous because He is righteous. You are worthy because of His sacrifice. When God see you He sees the sacrifice of Jesus and He calls you, “Beloved.”

What you think is how you live. If you believe you are unworthy, then these feelings will keep you from experiencing what God desires to shower upon you. Stop looking at yourself. It’s not about what you’ve done; it’s what He’s done. Focus on Jesus and what He has done for you – that is what will bring you the greatest freedom (see John 8:34-36). (pp. 112-113)

Another desire of God for us is to be set free. We need to be aware of how the enemy tries to prevent that:

Another area that delayed me in the reprogramming process was believing the lies of the adversary. Be informed, and learn to recognize the tactics of the enemy. In the early stages of new love, the enemy will try to come into the picture by attempting to distort the relationship between the bride and Bridegroom by bringing confusion, fear, and doubt. There are many paths the enemy can take to cause the bride to feel unclean… (p. 128)

We need to be aware of bad attitudes:

Be aware of the demons of bitterness, unforgiveness, doubt, fear, disapproval, impatience, gossip, slander, rejection, criticism, a condemning spirit, pride, jealousy, false doctrine and self-righteousness that will bring about confusion and division in the church and will drive a wedge between Jesus and you.

Please indulge me for a minute; I need to vent. My heart aches because there are so many people today who are not experiencing freedom in their relationship with Christ. Thousands are suffering under the weight of oppression, depression, and other demons that have attached themselves to their precious lives. The enemy is stealing our freedom, and holding us captive; not allowing us to enjoy our God-given right to experience the life we were born again to live. (p. 131)

Another desire of God for us is that we be a Warrior Bride:

Now also understand that just because we are not told to fight the enemy, this does not mean that we do nothing. It is vital that you pray every morning, before you begin your day, to be covered in the blood of Christ and equipped with the armor of God so that you may “stand firm with the belt of truth buckled around your waist” (see 2 Corinthians 10:14), undergirded with God’s holy truth, guarding the seat of your emotions. Beloved, the more you trust in the truth of God, the less you will suffer emotionally. The more you cling to the truth of the Spirit, the less likely you will be to take the bait of the enemy’s lies. Then ask the Lord to protect the work He has begun in you with “the breastplate of righteousness” (v. 14). Put it in place over your heart, so that you may be sheltered by His uprightness and shielded from sinful desires. (pp. 205-206)

At the end of each section of the book are spaces for Journal Responses, with thoughts for reflection, and an opportunity to reflect on ‘The desire of my heart is….’ I would highly recommend this book for personal study or to work through with a very close friend or two.

This book has reminded me how much God wants to love us and be our Bridegroom. It is obvious from what I know about Patty that she spends lots of time with her Groom, and loves Him with all her heart. She is a good friend of Charlotte Hunt, author of ‘Damaged Goods’ (you can read my review here). I hope to meet both of these lovely ladies in person some day in the future. I thank Patty for exposing her heart to us and for showing us how we can grow closer to the Lover of our souls!

You can order this book here.

This book was published by Forever Books and generously provided by the author.

‘Licensed for Trouble: A PJ Sugar Novel’ by Susan May Warren – Book Review and Giveaway

I love it when a character captures my imagination and heart. That happened to me with apprentice private investigator PJ Sugar in Susan May Warren’s latest, ‘Licensed for Trouble.’

Here is the synopsis of this entertaining novel:

          “You, PJ Sugar, have inherited the Kellogg family fortune.”

PJ Sugar has no idea why she is the sole beneficiary of the town’s wealthiest widow, a woman she barely even knew. But the timing doesn’t be more perfect – PJ has clearly worn out her welcome at her sister Connie’s house. Even if there’s barely enough in the inheritance to pay the real estate taxes, at least it will be a roof over PJ’s head.

Unfortunately, the place has seen better days, and PJ is short on cash to make the necessary repairs. Rescue comes in the form of Max Smith, a mysterious handyman who is willing to trade his skills for PJ’s help in investigating his past.

But between trying to catch a bail jumper, working toward her PI license, and nurturing a budding romance with her boss, Jeremy Kane, PJ’s caseload is full. If she’s not careful, she’ll inherit more trouble than she knows what to do with.

Here is the biography of this author:

Susan May Warren is the RITA award-winning author of twenty-four novels with Tyndale, Barbour and Steeple Hill. A four-time Christy award finalist, a two-time RITA Finalist, she’s also a multi-winner of the Inspirational Readers Choice award, and the ACFW Book of the Year.
Susan's larger than life characters and layered plots have won her acclaim with readers and reviewers alike. A seasoned women’s events and retreats speaker, she’s a popular writing teacher at conferences around the nation and the author of the beginning writer’s workbook: From the Inside-Out: discover, create and publish the novel in you!. She is also the founder of www.MyBookTherapy.com, a story-crafting service that helps authors discover their voice.

Susan makes her home in northern Minnesota, where she is busy cheering on her two sons in football and her daughter in local theater productions (and desperately missing her college-age son!)

The character of PJ Sugar is adorable! Here is an interaction between her and her boss (and potential love interest), Jeremy Kane, regarding her attempts to make contact with her mother:

          “Have you heard from her yet?”

“No. I left a number of messages at her house and a few on her cell, although she barely knows how to turn it on. My mother has the technical acuity of a gecko. Still, she should be able to answer her phone. I might need to do a drive-by today.” (p. 20)

Here she is getting ready to head over to her newly inherited Kellogg estate, which she lovingly refers to as the mushroom house:

If a gal had inherited a house, it wouldn’t hurt to look around the place, would it?

PJ tapped her brakes as she drove up to the mushroom house on the hill, past the icy-laced stone walls. The house overlooked the glistening waters of Lake Minnetonka, and the afternoon sun poured over the rolling thatched roof, throwing thick fairy-tale shadows into the overgrown yard. The place could have been read aloud into existence straight from the storybook pages, the ones with witches and goblins and ogres prowling through dark forests. (p. 45)

Jeremy has his opinion on why PJ inherited the home, and why she is reluctant to live there:

“…I have a theory. You won’t even consider moving into the house…because you don’t think you belong. You’ve longed for this your entire life, yet when it’s offered to you, you see yourself as homeless, the girl who lives in her car, with only a ragged duffel bag to call her own. You might consider that there’s a reason God gave you this house.”

“You think this money pit is a gift from God?”

“I think God could have big plans for you with this house, if you have the courage to say yes. You have always dreamed of living in it – God often gives us our dreams to also show us something we didn’t even know we needed.” (p. 71)

Max Smith, the man who comes into PJ’s life looking for her to help him find his own life, explains amnesia is a manner understandable to his handyman self:

          “So you have no memory at all”?

 “Snatches – mostly sounds or smells that I know connect to something. But it’s like – well, it’s like a fuse is out. Something should be working, but there’s no connection. I can’t help but think if I can recognize something from my past, it might jump-start the entire system…” (pp. 112-113)

Later on, PJ reflects again on what Jeremy said about perhaps God giving the Kellogg home to her for a specific purpose. This is a terrific example of Susan’s amazing writing talent:

And why had God given her this house? The question did laps in her brain until she finally turned on her light. It bathed the stacks of books she’d unpacked – a dog-eared novel she’d been trying to finish, her journal, her Bible, perilously unread in recent weeks.

She picked it up, opened to her bookmark. 1 Peter 2. She scanned down to her last-remembered stopping place.

…for you are a chosen people. You are royal priests, a holy nation, God’s very own possession. As a result, you can show others the goodness of God, for he called you out of the darkness into his wonderful light.

Oh, sure, her eyes would wander there, sitting in the middle of the fairly-tale house. “God often gives us our dreams to also show us something we didn’t even know we needed.” She still didn’t figure out what she might need, but it did feel as if God has suddenly turned His full wattage on her. Limelighted her in some fanfare of blessing.

Chosen. Royal.

Heiress.

She’d like to believe that, really she would. As she closed the Bible, she let that thought drift upward, then listened briefly for a reply.

Only the wind, knocking some branch against her window.

She turned off the light. “You can show others the goodness of God…for he called you out of the darkness…”

Darkness…

Dark… (pp. 127-128)

Jeremy and PJ had another conversation with spiritual significance. Jeremy begins:

“Remember how after Peter betrayed Jesus, he returned to fishing? He panicked…and despite all the change God had done in him, all he’d learned about Jesus, the Messiah, he went back to what he knew – the simple life of a fisherman. He only saw him as a fisherman.

“But he wasn’t supposed to be there, and Jesus went after him. He called him back from his past, forgave him, reminded him that He had a new life in him, and then empowered him to go to be that person.”

Jeremy hiked up the collar on her jacket. “You’ve been forgiven and renamed, PJ. Don’t slip into your default mode and start thinking of yourself as only trouble. You’re going to have to start thinking of yourself as someone else.” (p. 201)

PJ had the opportunity to do something I WILL do one day – skydive. PJ was reluctant at first - then she jumped:

And then she was flying. The wind battered her ears and sucked away her breath, cold and angry. But she drank it in, her arms out.

Flying. Like Supergirl.

She put her legs together, spread her arms, barely aware of Windchill [her tandem partner] over her, his own arms spread wide. She might have screamed, might have whooped, but the wind ate the sound as they hurtled toward the earth. She gulped in the freedom, the exhilaration sweet on her lips.

Flying.

And for the space of seven seconds, she forgot who she was, who she’d been. Forgot Boone and Jeremy and Max and why she’d hurtled herself from a plane….

Flying.

It scooped her up whole and filled her with a new breath, tingling in every pore. Tears whisked her eyes, and inside she heard a voice.

Princess. (p. 263)

In the Author’s Note at the end of the book, Susan explains that we can understand ourselves better when we look at the person of Jesus:

I think that Christians, despite the transforming power of God in our lives, can be trapped by who we were, the identities of our past. What does it look like to be adopted by God and then live today, with that new identity, in this world? It’s just not that easy.

And if we’re adopted by God, what does it mean to be coheirs with Christ?

If you’ll indulge me for a moment, I believe the answers are found through a journey of looking who Christ is, a look at His Sonship. Throughout the Gospels, Jesus points out that He and the Father have a unique relationship. The Son and the Father are in close communion, so much so that if you’ve seen Jesus, you’ve seen God. God empowered Christ to do miracles, to obey, to live sacrificially. More than that, because of their relationship, God’s love for us poured out through Jesus, so much so that our entire destiny was changed.

…When we become Christians, our adoption changes us fundamentally. We are given a new identity as children of the King, with all that entails – access to our Father, all the Kingdom powers on our side, God’s love’s transforming our lives so much that we could also impact our world. That is what it means to be a coheir; this is our earthly inheritance. (pp. 372-373)

That is indeed Good News!  

This is the second PJ Sugar novel I have read; the other one is ‘Double Trouble’ (you can read my review here). Book # 1 is 'Nothing But Trouble.' I found both books (# 2 and # 3 in the series) to be equally funny and uplifting! I am not sure what Susan’s plans are for future PJ Sugar Novels, but I will be first in line when the next one comes out! Susan is a wonderful writer who comes up with some pretty entertaining plot twists.

You can order this book here.

This book was provided by Tyndale House and the LitFuse Group for review and giveaway purposes.

I am happy to be participating in the blog tour of ‘Licensed for Trouble’ with these other bloggers in association with the LitFuse Group.

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I have a copy of this book that I would love to send along to one winner! 

There are several ways to gain entry:

1) Leave a comment here on the blog, telling me what which Susan May Warren titles you’ve read, and what you think of them. If you haven’t read any, this is your chance to do that! Please make sure to leave your email address in this format – sample[at]gmail[dot]com.

2) Follow me on Twitter; I will more than likely follow you back!  If you are already a Twitter follower, that counts, too!  Please leave a new comment to that effect.

3) Follow me as a Google Friend on this blog; if you are already a Friend, that counts, too!  Please leave a new comment to that effect.

4) Become my Facebook friend.  Please leave a new comment to that effect.

5) Follow this blog as a NetWorked Blog Follower after you’ve become my Facebook friend.  Please leave a new comment to that effect.

So there are five chances to enter!  Please limit one entry per option.

This giveaway is for U.S. residents only.  The deadline for entry is Tuesday, September 7, 2010 at 11:59 p.m. EST.  A winner will be chosen via the Random Number Generator on Wednesday, September 8, 2010 and will be contacted via email.  The best to all of you!

We Have a Winner for Marybeth Whalen's 'The Mailbox'!

The Random Number Generator has done it again, and chosen a winner for Marybeth Whalen's 'The Mailbox.'


That winner is - drum roll, please!....




Jackie Smith!


Congratulations, Jackie! I will be sending you an email shortly requesting your mailing address.


For those of you who'd like to read 'The Mailbox,' you can order it here.


Thanks to everyone else who entered - we had an overwhelming response to this terrific book! Please come back soon for more reviews and giveaways!