Book Spotlight: Beyond Belief by Abby Kelly

 

Genre: Bible Study

Christian Non-fiction 

ISBN-10: 1632131145 

ISBN-13: 978-1632131140

 

Abby Kelly is a nomadic, military spouse writing from wherever she momentarily finds herself with her husband, their wonderful dog, Brave, and two tolerable cats. Abby began writing in the process of recovering from a more-than-decade long eating disorder. She credits Jesus Christ for her full recovery and for filling her with a passion to encourage others to seek freedom from their own addictions and struggles. Now, Abby is the senior editor for two online Christian publications: www.tblfaithnews.com and www.mydailyarmor.org. She is a freelance editor, as well. Abby continues to write for numerous Christian publications as well as maintains her personal blog, www.predatory-lies.com. In her free time, she and Brave enjoy volunteering in hospitals and schools as a pet therapy team through Pet Partners.

   

Does your life look the same as it did the day you put your faith in Jesus Christ? Or have you discovered the power of the Spirit within you enabling you to live a holy, righteous life? For that matter, is it even possible to be holy? Many Christians today are wading in the shallow end of the infinite relationship God desires to have with His children. They are strangled by addictions and idolatry, or distracted from the pursuit of spiritual maturity by a cheap imitation of moralism.

Whatever the reason, their spiritual growth has been stunted; they’ve never gone beyond mere belief in Jesus Christ. Beyond Belief: Jesus Saved You ... Now What? explores what God has in store for you and what He wants from you. With a firm foundation on the centrality of Christ, this book will help you see exactly who you are and what you are called to, based on, and enabled by, His righteousness alone. Through intense study and humbling application of both the Old and New Testaments, Beyond Belief, will show you what a mature Christian life looks like and what it takes to get there.

 

 

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Book Review: Nappy and the first day of kindergarten by Arnitris Strong

Nappy and the first day of kindergarten: Nappy Tornstockings series vol 1 by Arnitris Strong
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Nappy and the First Day of Kindergarten is a short and great read for little kids. Although Lynn was scared on the first day she was able to help someone and made a new friend.

LaToya Murchison Author of A Praying Heart: Learning How To Pray Your Way Through

I was given a free copy of this book to review by the author.

View all my reviews

Book Review: The Loose End by Tesa Erven

The Loose End by Tesa Erven
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The Loose End is a well written book that dealt with many different issues. From marriage, love, cheating and lies just to name a few. The Loose End also leaves you with these questions. What do you do when you are in love with someone that belongs to another person. How do you walk away from the misguided love to embrace new and unconditional love. Looking forward to reading more of Tesa Erven work

This book was provided for me free for a honest review.

LaToya Murchison Author of A Praying Heart: Learning How To Pray Your Way Through

View all my reviews

Author Spotlight with Sarah Weathersby

Sarah Weathersby is a self-described “retired geek and card-carrying-radical Old Broad.” She was born in the rectory of St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church in Petersburg, Virginia during the time that her Daddy was rector. She attended segregated public schools in Petersburg until her Mother died, and she was sent to live in Washington, DC with her brother and his wife. Sarah graduated from high school in Washington, and went on to college at Drew University, Madison, New Jersey where she majored in German Literature and spent a junior year in Munich. She met her first husband while he was a student in the Theological School at Drew. They settled in North Carolina and raised two sons. Sarah earned her MBA from Meredith College in Raleigh, NC. After the death of her husband, she found her long-lost daughter who inspired her memoir, Motherless Child, stories from a life, her first published work. She lives in Raleigh with her second husband, when they are not traveling from Agadir to Maui, riding camels or bicycles.

I like to read a variety of genres, from literary fiction to speculative fiction; thrillers to romance. My favorite authors are Toni Morrison, Alice Walker, Tananarive Due, Beverly Jenkins, Walter Mosley, Dean Koontz. I write because I can't help myself. I write about the things that keep me awake at night.

Motherless Child - stories from a life 

Imagine you gave a baby up for adoption forty years ago, and after years of trying to find her, she finds you. Now come the hard questions. She's healthy, beautiful, and successful, but she wants to know why you gave her away and why you didn't marry her father. And there is also the unspoken question of "What kind of black woman gives her baby away?" How do you explain to her that giving her away was the best gift you could offer? This is Sarah Weathersby's first published work, a coming-of-age-in-the-sixties-single-black-pregnant and on the way to Germany, memoir.

The Excerpt

Prologue

I never thought I would find Teal’s father almost forty years after I last heard from him. Jimmy is such a common name that I didn’t even try searching on the internet until the last remaining volume of my journal fell out of a box of tax receipts. I had written in the journal that he had married Paula. That turned out to be just enough information to find him as an associate with a full page on the Howard University website that had his photograph and enough other information for me to find a phone number as well. I was trembling when I left the message, “You will remember me as Sarah Gordon. I have some exciting news to tell you.”

He returned the call the next day, but he needed his teenaged son to help him with the call. He had had a stroke that affected the speech center of his brain. His speech wasn’t at all slurred, but it was difficult for him to put the words together especially over the phone. He remembered me, of course, and he seemed happy to hear I had found our daughter. Paula came on the line to explain that he might understand it all better if I wrote him a letter. That was going to make it easier for me as well; I was shaky, trying to say the right things, since I didn’t want to lose this contact. Teal wanted to meet her father.

It had been only three months since I had met our daughter, the child I gave up for adoption so long ago. I had tried many years to find her, and even signed up with the Adoption Registry, but until she decided to look for her birth mother, they would not give out the contact information. The idea of looking for her birth parents never crossed her mind until she became a mother herself. And now she wanted to know why I gave her up.

I called Teal to tell her that I had found her father. She seemed relieved that another piece of the puzzle was completed, and happy to know there was more family for her to meet. She had already developed a strong connection with my son Joshua through regular phone calls, and she hoped to have that same connection with Jimmy’s daughters. I wrote to Jimmy, and sent photos to Paula and their daughters by email. The following month she met all of her long-lost family on both sides, giving her the brothers and sisters and uncles and aunts as she had never had and always wished for.

The experience of finding Teal has been such a blessing, but also caused me to replay that time through my memory. I hardly remember the girl I was back then, and it’s difficult to sort out all the thought processes and reasons I gave myself. When I looked back over my life, I often wondered if I should regret giving a child away. How could I regret, when I didn’t know how the story ended? I knew that at the time, I could not have provided for Teal what two loving parents could give her. Now that I know they gave her more than I ever could have, I know it was the right decision for that time, and I have no regrets.

You can contact with Sarah at: 

Facebook:Sarah Gordon Weathersby 

Facebook: Books by Sarah Gordon Weathersby

Twitter: https://twitter.com/saraphen

Instagram: https://instagram.com/saraphen98/

Amazon Author Page: Amazon

Website: www.sarahweathersby.com

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Book Review: You’re The One For Me by W. Parks Brigham

You’re The One For Me by W. Parks Brigham
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
What an awesome love story from the beginning to the end. Dana and Fletcher’s showed us that you should never judge a book by its cover because you never kow what you will be missing if you don’t take the time to see what s on the inside. I could not put this book down and looking to read more f her books
This book was provided for me free as part of of contest.
LaToya Murchison Author of A Praying Heart: Learning How To Pray Your Way Through
View all my reviews

Transforming Your Prayers Into Praise

Are you looking for a closer walk with God?  Need answers to your life questions. Then I invite you to join me for the Transforming Your Prayers Into Praise 90 Day Prayer Warrior Challenge. It takes at least 21 days for an activity to become a habit. Prayer should be a lifetime habit and something you practice every day.

Matthew 18:20 (NIV) For where 2 or 3 are gathered in my name there I am with them.”

God desires for us to come together in unity. Which is why I challenge each of you to join me with the challenge and to share it with others. God has a process set for how and when he will answer or prayers. It is important to remember that we must pray without ceasing even when we do not receive immediate results.

The challenge will include the following:

Thanking God: Began with thanking God for what you already have. By thanking him your heart remains open to hear from him and shows your appreciation for him and unlocks the fullness of life.

Prayer: Prayer is the simplest form of communication with God and it shows that we trust and have faith in his word.

Praise: Praise is the joyful thanking and adoring of God, the celebration of His goodness and grace.

Study the word: Working though the books of Psalms and Proverbs for wisdom and encouragement.

Final thought: This highlights one main idea or verse and will help tie your time back to your prayer life.

Go Deeper: This allows you to thank for your blessings. You should have at least 270 blessings listed after these 90 days.

Journal: Journal your prayer request and what you are experiencing through the challenge.

If you’re looking to jump start your prayer life or take it to the next level then I invite you to join the challenge. I desire for you to email me what you are looking to receive as you work through the challenge and when you have finished it to please send me an email and share your story of what you have learned.

I love hearing how prayer has blessed and changed someone’s life. With your permission I would like to share your prayer testimony on my site with others as inspiration on why it is important to prayer. If you have any questions please contact me at: prayerchallenge@latoyamurchison.com .

Day 16