Live These Words – Lucinda Secrest McDowell – Inspirational Devotionals

Posted on by July 8, 2015
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Deb’s Dozen: Forty Words – Forty Days to Actively Live More Intimately with Jesus Christ.

Each morning as she spends quiet time with the Lord, Lucinda, or “Cindy” as her friends call her, invariably finds herself drawn to one particular word in the scripture she is reading. After years of “doing”—trying assiduously to do enough for Him, she discovered that He wanted her to “be,” He wanted her to sit and contemplate His word—she finally realized that her best “doing” came out of her “being.”

In Live These Words, Cindy takes us through forty words—forty days if you study one word each day—a meaningful number. After all, Moses and the Israelites spent forty years wandering—the Lord Himself spent forty days in the wilderness. Cindy suggests following her example and spending our quiet time for that period of time on one word a day. To assist us, Cindy has provided the word, a devotional about the word, actions we can take to implement that word in our lives, and prayers we can pray to draw us ever closer to God.

Many of the words in these inspirational devotionals spoke to me:

Trust—Cindy quotes from Scotty Smith, “Even when I try to look at some things through the eyes of faith, I’m still smitten with astigmatism of the soul …”

Wait—Cindy’s friend, Jennifer Kennedy Dean, points out, “When it appears from earth that God is delaying, He is really putting pieces together that you and I had not thought of. He is engineering circumstances so that His power and glory will be on display. When God builds a waiting period into the course of your affairs, it means what He is doing requires it. His apparent delays are loving, purposeful, and deliberate.”

Praise—Cindy says, “It is no accident that today I discovered 365 different admonitions in the Bible to praise—one for every single day of the year. What if each of those days was filled with our own words of gratitude, praise, and thanksgiving? Do you think our lives would be transformed …?”

Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over, will be poured into your lap. Luke 6:38 I myself have always tried to live this way and know this verse to be true.

Look—we should look to the Lord and not be distracted. Cindy quotes Leighton Ford, “… a distraction can be an amusement or diversion that relaxes us. But more seriously, a distraction is a pull away from what deep down we know is our most fundamental goal, purpose, or direction.” Ouch! That one hit home—I’ve deleted from my computer all the solitaire games with which I’ve allowed myself to be distracted from my tasks for hours. I need to be “being” for Him, not for mindless activities.

Encourage—Cindy relates, “as C.S. Lewis once said, ‘Friendship is born at that moment when one person says to another, What! You too? I thought I was the only one.’ Sharing words of encouragement shows others they are not alone.”

Live These Words: an active response to God is a five-star devotional well worth your time.

At the International Christian Retail Show recently, I had the opportunity to sit with Cindy and chat. We’ve been friends for years, but seldom have the opportunity to talk face to face. She told me that as she’s matured time with God has become richer—more contemplative—and that God often lifted up one word, which she would then study and learn how to live that word.

Live These Words contains forty verbs from the Bible, which are practical and easy to understand. Written as a forty day devotional, they draw us deeper and into more intimate knowledge of and fellowship with God.

Cindy loved English in school and got her college degree from Furnam University and a Masters of Theology from Gordon Conwell in 1979. Besides writing and speaking, Cindy has worked as a substitute teacher for six years in a public high school in Connecticut where she lives.

She lives the word encourage—thank you for being faithful to your calling, Cindy! To learn more about Lucinda, and to follow her blog, click the link: Visit Lucinda Secrest McDowell online at Encouraging Words – Lucinda Secrest McDowell

To obtain your copy of Live These Words, click the link: Live These Words: An Active Response to God

Bold Vision Books gave me a copy of Live These Words in exchange for my unbiased review.

Maggie Bright: A Novel of Dunkirk by Tracy Groot

Posted on by July 8, 2015
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Deb’s Dozen: A war, a girl, a yacht, a day of prayer – Dunkirk Rescue

England, 1940. Clare Childs unexpectedly inherited the Maggie Bright, a two-masted, fifty-two foot yacht, sixteen feet at the beam. When Clare signed the transfer papers “she knew something sacred had been turned into her keeping—as if a spray of oath-taking fairy dust had erupted at the last scratch of the pen.”

Clare felt the sacredness of the bequest—the trust the previous owner had for her—why, she didn’t know—she hardly knew him. But she was determined to honor the gift—and the Maggie Bright. Clare decided to turn the yacht into a bed and breakfast and even had her first guest, the outspoken Mrs. Shrewsbury.

One of the first nights onboard, the women are startled at the break in by what turned out to be an American vicar searching for something. Mrs. Shrewsbury is certain he is a German spy. Clare doesn’t believe so, but can’t keep Mrs. Shrewsbury from contemplating the atrocities he might have committed if she hadn’t whacked him with the teapot.

Captain John, their neighbor, appears with the address of the gaol where the vicar is being held. Despite Mrs. Shrewsbury’s protestations, Clare decides to go see their burglar to see what it is he was looking for onboard. After visiting the vicar and finding out that he was searching for documents hidden there that could shed light on some of Hitler’s darkest and most dastardly schemes. Clare is pulled into a Scotland Yard investigation of a German spy in the area who is also on the hunt for the documents.

At the same time, Hitler’s Blitzkreig across the channel has the entire British army in retreat. They are all headed toward the shallow beaches of Dunkirk—though they have little hope of rescue. The King of England calls for a day of prayer—and Churchill calls for all civilian watercraft to join in the rescue, including the Maggie Bright.IMG_20150704_0001

Tracy has crafted an odd but believable lot of characters: from the somewhat ditzy Clare, the overbearing but kindly Mrs. Shrewsbury, Captain John whose son, Jamie, fights on the Continent with the army, a Scotland Yard detective seeking to uncover the truth, to an American who has refused to join the war effort until now and has secrets of his own.

I chuckled my way through the first chapters of the book greatly amused by the antics of Mrs. Shrew, as Clare calls her, and Clare herself as she tries to find out more about the ship, the documents, and herself. Then the tone of the book turns to the seriousness of the war and the conditions the Brits faced at home and abroad. I knew about Dunkirk and the rescue that had taken place there, but I’d never properly visualized the enormity of the effort until I read Maggie Bright. You will be captivated by the characters, entranced by the writing, and heart sore at what took place as the army struggles, individual by individual, toward Dunkirk. Tracy well-deserves the Christy Awards she has won for her writing—five stars!

To purchase Maggie Bright, click the link: Maggie Bright: A Novel of Dunkirk

I interviewed Tracy Groot at ICRS in late June and asked her why this topic. She told me her research goes way back. She had written Flame of Resistance about the French resistance in World War II. Steven Ambrose, the historian who wrote Band of Brothers, was the bridge from her previous novel to Maggie Bright: A Novel of Dunkirk. What she read about Dunkirk floored her. Churchill called the flotilla of boats of all sizes the Mosquito Armada.

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Tracy was impressed with the heroism of the civilians and the power of prayer—she learned the beautiful simplicity and power of prayer when believers gather together to pray in one accord. On May 23, 1940, King George VI called for a day of prayer to be held on May 26, 1940. All of England gathered in their churches and cathedrals to pray for the deliverance of the army. Winston Churchill remarked about that day that when believers gather, more angels are there—that he could see a glow in the cathedral.

Tracy grew up in Wyoming, MI, as small town near Grand Rapids. She has an older sister and a younger brother. She has always loved to write, but when she became a Christian at age sixteen, she thought she had to swap her writing for her new life in Christ. Not until her late twenties did she understand that God had given her the gift.

When I interviewed her, Tracy had won two Christy Awards—one for Madman: A Novel
and one for Flame of Resistance.

Later in the evening of the interview, Tracy won her third Christy—for The Sentinels of Andersonville

She told me later that she was absolutely floored to have won given the competition.

For her research for writing about Jonah, she actually jumped into the Mediterranean Sea at night to simulate drowning—the crew of the ship she’d chartered actually used the jump for a training video of rescue at night. She needed to talk to the sailors to get their views of the sea and asked the captain how to get them to talk with her. He told her to take them out for a beverage which they did. They wouldn’t talk until she “bottomed up” her glass—so she did! And then, slightly tipsy, continued the interview.

Note from Deb: Inexplicably, on the brink of the total annihilation of the British Army, Hitler stopped the Blitzkreig for three days—from the day the king announced the day of prayer to the actual day of prayer itself—May 23-26, 1940. “Two events immediately followed. Firstly, a violent storm arose over the Dunkirk region grounding the Luftwaffe which had been killing thousands on the beaches. And then secondly, a great calm descended on the Channel, the like of which hadn’t been seen for a generation, which allowed hundreds of tiny boats to sail across and rescue 335,000 soldiers, rather than the estimated 20-30,000.” (See more at: National Day of Prayer)

Picture Perfect Love – Contemporary Romance (by Melissa McClone)

Posted on by July 8, 2015
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Deb’s Dozen: No picture perfect love for Jenna who’s jilted on her wedding day

After being rejected at the altar with her groom-to-be asking for the ring back, Jenna Harrison wants nothing to do with her ex-fiancé, Ashton Vance. To her unwelcome surprise, Ash unexpectedly appears on the doorstep of her home-based business, Picture Perfect Weddings, to apologize for his actions.

Asking God for the grace and strength to listen, she hears him admit she hadn’t done what he accused her of doing, then incredulously hears him ask her to photograph his sister’s wedding! He, in turn, is appalled at the expense and hardship his callous action cost her. After they both get over the shock of the meeting, he offers to pay for the expenses of their wedding and to pay double her price if she’ll photograph Amber and Tony’s wedding. She’s tempted, but turns him down.

Ash makes Amber and Tony come to Jenna’s so Amber can apologize to Jenna personally. Tony tells Jenna that he’s the one who wants her to photograph their wedding because he’d seen her work at another wedding. Finally, Jenna agrees—IF they’ll all three volunteer at her church youth outing AND pay her double her usual fee.

Will they come? Ash did pay the expenses they’d incurred with interest, so maybe this will work. Jenna is not sure that she should get mixed up with the Vances again.

Picture Perfect Love is a nice piece of contemporary romance. The characters are fairly simplistic and the plot straightforward with only one minor twist. You know from the beginning what will happen to Jenna and Ash, but the journey to the ending is enjoyable. Three Stars.

To purchase Picture Perfect Love, click the link: Picture Perfect Love: A June Wedding Story (A Year of Weddings Novella Book 7)

Zondervan Publishing and the Litfuse Publicity Group allowed me access to a NetGalley proof of Picture Perfect Love in exchange for my honest review.