Positive Grace by Deb Haggerty

Deb’s Dozen: Billy Graham: An Evangelist, A Legend. Above all—faithful servant of God.

Billy Graham is a name known by almost any person living today throughout the world. No other man has had the impact on souls finding life in Christ than he. Terry Whalin has been diligent to present Graham honestly, straightforwardly, and to show us the man behind the legend.

William Franklin Graham, Jr., was born November 7, 1918, near Charlotte, North Carolina. Called Billy Frank by his mother, he grew up like most farm boys of the era did. The family had a three-hundred acre dairy farm and expected all members of the family to pitch in and help. Billy told Terry that he’d get up at 2:30 a.m. to start his chores and milk the twenty cows under his care. Around 5:30 a.m., they’d all head in for breakfast. Prayer and Bible-reading were a part of every day’s activities as his parents were deeply devout.

Billy, perhaps because of fatigue, was a middle-of-the-road student in high school, carrying a C average. However, he loved sports and was an avid baseball fan—one of the high points of his life was meeting Babe Ruth. He started college at Bob Jones College, but transferred to the Florida Bible Institute after his first semester.

Providentially, at FBI, he met and listened to some of the great pastors of the era—from a multitude of denominations. The lesson he learned was “that people could come together in unity around the Bible and Jesus Christ rather than dwelling on a specific denomination or theology.” After attending FBI, he went to Wheaton College outside Chicago for further education. There he met Ruth Bell, the beautiful woman who would later become his wife.

Terry Whalin leads us through Graham’s growth from gangly farm boy to student to preacher to evangelist par excellence. Through vignettes and stories he heard from Graham himself, Terry lets us see the mischievous boy and man behind the legend. Billy Graham’s life has been God-driven as he’s dedicated himself to reach the masses with the love and redemption available from Jesus Christ. If you’d like to learn more about the boy and man and his journey, you’ll want to read this book.

W. Terry Whalin is an editor and author of over sixty books who has also written for more than fifty magazines. He’s a former editor of Decision, the Billy Graham Evangelistic Associations’ magazine. Terry and his wife live in Colorado.

To purchase this book, click the link: Billy Graham: A Biography of America’s Greatest Evangelist (Morgan James Faith)

Terry graciously gave me a copy of Billy Graham: A Biography of America’s Greatest Evangelist in exchange for my candid review.

Deb’s Dozen: False accusations spur change in family life—long-held dreams come to fruition.

Two Roads Home, the second book in Deb Raney’s Chicory Inn novels, focuses on Grant and Audrey Whitmire’s daughter Corinne and her husband, Jesse Pennington. Jesse has a friendly, outgoing personality that serves him well and makes him popular with his clients. His sales ability has earned them a handsome living and a comfortable lifestyle.

Neither of them is happy, though, and for some of the same reasons: too many business trips and lack of the closeness they used to have. Then a coworker threatens to file a harassment suit which disrupts their marriage and puts their three daughters at risk.

At the same time, Grant and Audrey are finding that running a bed and breakfast is more work than they thought they’d have—and they’re getting older too. They’re not booked with the kind of clients they’d like and the bookings are not steady. When they do have guests, they always seem to interfere with the Tuesday night family dinners.

God is working in all their hearts and they come to some hard decisions. Will the coworker triumph and destroy their marriage? Will their daughters recover from a scary happening? Read Two Roads Home to find out.

Although I loved the writing and the characters are very real, I found myself depressed at many times while reading. This is not a good times book, but the story does mimic real life—perhaps why the depression. The takeaway I had is that when I trust God with my whole life I have peace. When I don’t, chaos and unhappiness follows. Having said all that, you’ll still want to read Corinne and Jesse’s story to see how they resolve all the issues. Four stars.

Deb Raney has won numerous awards including the RITA, National Readers Choice Award, the HOLT Medallion, and the Carol Award. She has finaled in the Christ Awards twice. Find out more about Deborah on her website, Deborah Raney

To purchase Two Roads Home, click this link: Two Roads Home: A Chicory Inn Novel – Book 2

Thanks to Litfuse Publicity Group and Abingdon Press for giving me a copy of Two Roads Home in exchange for my candid review.