A WONDERFUL HERITAGE Deborah Raney

Wedding Day, August 11, 1974

After a rebellious year during high school, I gave my life wholeheartedly to the Lord. One of the first things I felt God asking me to do was break up with my boyfriend, who wasn't a Christian. I was heartbroken, but at peace because I knew I was being obedient to God. Still, I'd always dreamed of marriage and a large family (I wanted 12 kids!) so I prayed that God wouldn't make me wait too long to find a husband.

The summer before I went off to college, my best friend was dating a guy from a neighboring town. This guy just happened to have an older brother who'd recently broken up with his girlfriend. He was heartbroken, and my friend and her boyfriend figured the two of us may as well be heartbroken together, so they set us up on a double date with them. I'm not sure I believe in love at first sight, but it was definitely "intense like" at first sight. One of the first things I discovered about this guy was that he'd given his life to the Lord about the same time as I had. So we had much in common, and just really liked each other from the get-go.

 

Even though Ken and I parted ways at the end of the summer to go off to different colleges, we kept in touch through daily letters and occasional visits, and at Thanksgiving, 6 months after we met, we got engaged. We were married 10 months later. Best decision I ever made!

 

Ken and Deborah now

Ken and I have raised four amazing children and now God has blessed us with four precious grandchildren! (All under 5!) We celebrated our 37th anniversary in August and if we match Ken's grandparents' long, long marriage, we still have 45 more years to go!! His grandparents fell 18 days short of celebrating their 83rd wedding anniversary before Grandma died this year at the age of 100. God willing, Grandpa will turn 102 later this year. They've left us quite a legacy!

 

 

 

Next May, on the weekend that would have been Grandma and Grandpa's 84th anniversary, our youngest daughter will get married. Ah, the circle of life. : )

 

Thanks for sharing your story, Deb.

 

A Paralegal Christian Romance Writer

Who could resist a story about a gal with an irresitible smile and a yellow rose between her teeth? JoAnn Durgin-author.

I like to say I’ve been around in the nicest sense. Meaning that I’m a native of southern Indiana, but have also lived in Texas, California, Pennsylvania, and Massachusetts. More specifically, I lived in Big D when J.R. Ewing sat on the wall outside our downtown office building at noon and ate lunch with us lowly working types. I met my husband, Jim, when he was a student at Dallas Theological Seminary, wore a Stetson, answered to J.D. and swaggered – just a little. By the time we married in 1987, it was a case where the girl from Indiana met the guy from Rhode Island in Texas, married in Kentucky, honeymooned in Hawaii and then settled in California.

I started writing full-length fiction and enjoyed being a stay-at-home mother and youth pastor’s wife for six years. Then on to cold but quaint Burlington, Massachusetts, where my husband became a senior pastor of a lovely white church on a hill. I counted it a blessing to drive by Louisa May Alcott’s girlhood home on my way to my part-time legal position in historic, gorgeous Concord.

 In November 2005, we made the move back home to my roots, home in my heart. We call it Kentuckiana where the Ohio River separates Indiana from Louisville, Kentucky. It’s home, and the people are usually friendly and mannerly – except when behind the wheel of a car. I work as a full-time paralegal and part-time at the local arts theater for Broadway productions, the orchestra, opera and ballet. Jim and the children are all thriving here, and still laugh when school is called off for one spotting of a snowflake. But they love it as much as I do. Thank the Lord.

And thank you, JoAnne, boots and all! You can follow her at www.joanndurgin.com

SIGNED SEALED DELIVERED - The Background Story

This Historical Romance has been some years in the making. I've come to really know and understand why my characters act the way they do. As in real life, their past has so much to do with their present.

As an art student I'd wander through the cell-blocks of the Old Darlinghurst Gaol wondering about its previous inmates. I'd heard about The Bloody Code and how it was enforced. Incidentally, the famous 19th century actress, Sarah Bernhardt was given a tour and it highly amused her to discover the jailor's cat was in reality a cat-o'-nine-tails!

Years later, after simmering away in my subconscious, the idea for this story had me scrambling to do some thorough research. Scrolling through various Ticket-of-Leave documents, I found my heroine, and as they say, "the plot thickened". I knew it was a real saga and only a trilogy would capture all the various twists and turns in her life and the life of those she loved. Also, in a marvellous God-incident one eventful day I "happened" to attend a High Court hearing of a murder case. The court room had apparently been built early in the 19th century which gave it the exact atmosphere I could have wished for. I hung on every word of that judge and from notes taken, I was able to quote much of the judge's manner in the handing down of his verdict.

As in so many historicals, the story begins in England. And on our return from an evangelism conference in Amsterdam, my husband and I spent 3 short days in London. We traipsed the back streets, lanes, parks, and famous landmarks all part of 19th century London Town. We visited the British Museum and Windsor Castle and the details I gained from soaking up the atmosphere in those particular places I  used to great advantage in Books II and III. Being there is great, but if you can't manage the travel, an author's fabulous 21st century tool, the Web, is a far cheaper and more convenient alternative.

Signed Sealed Delivered, released  by Ark House Press, is Book I of the Watermark Women Trilogy. Pre-order from your Christian Bookstore or Koorong.

*Read the prologue at www.ritastellagalieh.com and click BOOKS.

Placing Our Spouse's Needs Before Our Own - Jennifer Benson Schultz

If you think it's possible to love your spouse too much, you probably haven't loved enough.

What can you do to serve the one you love?

The apostle Paul understood the significance of humility and how it holds us together. This is especially important in marriage. Paul said to reject "me-first" urges : "Let nothing be done through selfish ambition" (Phil. 2:3). Instead, we should value our spouses more than ourselves, and look out for their interests.

Humility in action means serving our spouse and no act of service is too small or too great. After all, "Jesus humbled Himself ... to the point of death, even the death of the cross." His selflessness showed in His love for us.

So what can you do to truly serve the one you love? What really proves to them that your love is steadfast and not subject to the storms of life?


Maybe it's as simple as giving him his favourite dinner, or as difficult as helping him or her through a long illness. Letting them know you'll stick through "thick and thin." Giving them the confidence you'll always be there for them no matter what. Of course this takes a lot of physical and emotional effort.

But whatever we do, placing our spouse's needs before our own confirms our commitment to them through Christian humility.

In marriage we will honour Christ by following His lead 
Of sacrificial love and care to meet the other's need.  - Sper.




Maybe

AUTHOR TAMMY BARLEY'S VIEWS on Christian Romance

We authors constantly immerse ourselves in God’s Word

 so that our Christian message inspires a blessed faith walk in our readers. That’s the “Christian” part of the equation.

That leaves the significant question of what we’re inspiring with the “Romance” part of the equation. How are we presenting the “Romance/courtship” message so that it, too, is a blessing to our readers?

We all love a classic Cinderella story. Girl meets wonderful boy. Wonderful boy cares for girl. The lovely glass shoe fits the heroine’s foot. Wonderful boy and girl marry and live happily ever after.

Over the years, that same premise has increasingly become a romance novel staple. Unfortunately, so have young couples, quick courtships, and marriages based primarily on the emotion love. Real life has mirrored this fictional path, and high divorce rates and broken lives have resulted.

Critics of the genre have called romantic fiction idealistic, unrealistic, and misleading of readers’ viewpoints on courtship, love, and marriage. Are they right? Do some Christian romances’ portrayals of romance, courtship, love, and marriage skew readers’ viewpoints of real life? Does repeated exposure to unrealistic portrayals ingrain fictional expectations in unmarried readers’ minds?

God has gifted us—and charged us—to write Christian Romance, to guide readers in both their Christian lives and their romantic lives. So how can we craft our Christian Romance ministries to guide readers in their romantic lives?

Young Couples

The current real-life trend: finish high school, start college, get married, have kids. The problem here is often age, but perhaps more often the problem is maturity. Despite couples’ levels of maturity, or lack thereof, countless weddings takes place, and kids usually come fast on the heels of “I do.”

Does it occur to young people to wait to marry until they mature, or to first discover who they really are, so that they can discover what they really want in life?

Oftentimes, no.

Does it occur to young people to wait to marry until they first discover what they really want in a spouse, and discover if they want to be married at all?

Oftentimes, no.

Why not? While pondering this mystery, I asked my mom, “Why did you and Dad get married and have kids?” Her expression went blank. Then she answered, “That’s what everyone did. You got married and had kids.” Many young people continue this trend today because they don’t see, hear, and read enough examples to show them there’s another way . . . perhaps even a better way.

One of my lifelong friends (also in her forties) married for the first time two years ago. I have zero doubt that she found the right man, because she took her time searching to be certain she picked the right one. Today, she is a college graduate, and she and her sister are both highly successful in their careers, and both took their time picking good men.

To read more of Tammy's commonsense views, see http://christiancowgals.blogspot.com

HOPE UNSEEN - A story of a man of true vision & a wife who wouldn't quit

A story of faith & courage. 

   

"I love you, but I really don't like you now."
Those words were wrenched from Tiffany Smiley, Scotty's hurting wife.

Captain Scott Smiley lost the use of both his eyes when a suicide bomber blew himself up thirty metres in front of Scotty's Stryker vehicle in Iraq.

Doctors told him he'd never see again. Scotty said he was so shocked and disillusioned that he blamed God. He was so mad that he quit praying and fell into a deep hole of depression. He refused to communicate except by proclaiming the unfairness and cruelty he'd been subjected to. Why him? A good soldier. It was then that Tyffany, who'd stuck with him throughout his agonising trial, challenged him.

Finally, though blind, he saw " light at the end of the tunnel" and asked God's forgiveness for hurling accusations against his Maker. It was then that God's peace flooded his heart and soul. Sympathetic to his war wounds, the Army said, "You've done your work and made your sacrifice. You can retire. But Scotty was adament he still wanted to be productive and serve his country.

A recipient of the Bronze Star and the Purple Heart, he recently taught the core course in leadership at West Point and now commands the Warrior Transition Unit at West Point's Army Medical Centre. Scotty, a true man of vision, and Tyffany, a nurse, are the proud parents of two boys.

You can read about their story at www.hopeunseen.com  and purchase the book, pictured, from Amazon.

Author Lisa Harris' Personal Story

For as long as I can remember, I had my life completely planned out. From who I was going to date, to when I was going to get married, to where I was going to live. And for a while, my plans seemed to be perfectly on track. Another part of my plan was to travel the world as a missionary. So when I met this good-looking French major with an accent to boot, it didn’t take long for me to be completely hooked.

We’d been dating about nine months when we spent a summer in Africa on a mission trip. While we weren’t a part of the same group, we both were convicted that summer that God was calling us back to Africa—together. My future husband proposed a couple months later and the next summer we married in a beautiful ceremony in Colorado.

I couldn’t have been happier, and things continued to go according to my plan. We moved overseas to work as missionaries. I learned French, taught Bible classes, and loved our life. It didn’t take long, though, for me to discover that the control I thought I had over my life was simply an illusion.

One of the things I wanted more than anything else was a child. But year after year went by and that long-awaited child didn’t come. We tried infertility treatments, but doctors couldn’t find anything wrong. Finally, after several years of marriage the pregnancy test came back positive. I was ecstatic. But at three months, we lost the baby, and I was left devastated, wondering where God was.

Looking back, it’s still amazing to me at how God can take grief and pain and turn it into strength and renewal. Which is exactly what He began to do with my life. It was a long process that took many years, but He took me from the depths and taught me to trust Him. He taught me that I couldn’t rely on my own strength, but only on His. And that my plans were rarely His plans, but if I allowed Him to, He would be my strength.

Is it always easy? No, and there are still times when I try to take the reigns back. In the process, though, I’ve stopped (for the most part) planning out my life moment-by-moment, allowing instead Him to lead. His time, His way. His purpose.

After twenty-one years I’m still married to my best friend. Together

we’ve traveled the world and served side-by-side on the mission

field through the good and the not so good. We have three lovely

children, two by adoption, and a third ‘surprise’ gift from God.

The future might be unknown, but when things get tough, I can look

back and remember that He is always faithful.   

“Commit everything you do to the LORD. Trust him, and he will

 help you.” Psalm 37:5  (NLT)

Thank you, Lisa. Be sure to read her fascinating website and blog

www.lisaharriswrites.com   and

http://myblogintheheartofafrica.blogspot.com

LISA HARRIS

Step Away From the Ordinary