Meet author Jodie Wolfe and read what she has to say about finding that peace we all desire. Jodie’s latest book was released last week, and in it, her main character faces some tough decisions. But she, like us, can choose peace.
Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.
John 14:27 KJV
Have you ever found peace to be elusive? Fleeting? You pray and ask the Lord for peace but all you experience is a constant reminder of the storm you’re going through. You can’t see past your current troubles. Every time you think you’re making some headway; you get slammed with something new that’s even harder.
You begin to question whether God is really with you. Is He really listening, or is He busy doing something else? You pray for direction, but no answers come. Or so it seems.
I’ve found myself going through trials through the years that tested my peace in God. Sometimes I floundered and didn’t do so well. Sometimes I recalled His faithfulness. What made the difference?
I need to make a choice of where I focus my attention. Am I going to keep looking at the problem and mull over the ‘what ifs’ and ‘if only’, or will I choose to focus on the truths of God? I choose to remind myself of all the answers to prayer He’s provided through the years. To study His Word to find His faithfulness. To dwell on His promises. Deuteronomy 31:6 reminds me, “Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the Lord your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you.”
Peace is an active choice we can make, even in the middle of a storm. This is something my character, Gertrude Miller, discovers in my new release, Wooing Gertrude. When her life falls apart, she’s faced with some tough decisions.
Will you choose God’s peace today?
Check out Jodie Wolfe’s latest book!
Enoch Valentine has given up finding peace for his past mistakes. He throws everything he has into being the new part-time deputy in Burrton Springs, Kansas while maintaining the foreman position at a local horse ranch. But when trouble stirs on the ranch, he questions whether he’s the right man for either job.
Peace has been elusive for most of Gertrude Miller’s life, especially under the oppressiveness of an overbearing mother. She takes matters into her own hands and sends for a potential husband, while also opening her own dress shop. Gertrude hopes to build a future where she’ll find peace and happiness.
You only have to watch the news once to know that we live on a fallen planet, a planet filled with darkness and suffering. It’s easy to become overwhelmed by the amount of evil in the world, especially as it seems to be flourishing. So, what are we to do? Stop watching the news is one way to combat the “darkness fatigue,” and that’s not a terrible strategy. If you’re like me, however, you want to keep up with world events. Personally, I have compromised by cutting back on the number of times I watch news programs, from every day to only a couple of times a week.
Another strategy is to watch the news with a different perspective—to observe events unfolding and consider how they might line up with Biblical prophecy or God’s unfolding plans for humanity. And to watch with a deep desire and commitment to pray for the people involved in the stories being told—both victims and perpetrators—as well as for wisdom for world leaders and all those in authority. Ultimately, we pray for peace and justice, even as we know that perfect peace and justice will only be achieved when Christ returns.
My latest romantic suspense series, two sparrows for a penny, delves into one of the darkest issues prevalent today—human sex trafficking. Although this is a difficult topic to read—and write—about, it is an important one for us to be aware of and to be thinking and talking about. After all, unless we acknowledge the existence and extent of the darkness, we cannot comprehend the healing, redemptive power of the light.
The series title comes from Matthew 10:29, “Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground outside your Father’s care.” And that is the theme of these books, that God sees these precious women (and some men and children). He has not abandoned them. He loves and cherishes them and, one day, He promises that perfect judgment will be meted out against those who perpetrate such evil against the weak, the vulnerable, and the exploited.
Join me in praying for that day, and for all those caught up in this heinous practice, that they might personally experience the truth of John 1:5, that “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”
Sara Davison is a Word, Cascade, and two-time Carol Award winner of romantic suspense. She resides in Ontario with her husband, Michael, and their three mostly grown kids. Like every good Canadian, she loves coffee, hockey, poutine, and apologizing for no particular reason. Get to know Sara better at www.saradavison.org
At some point in life, most of us have asked ourselves one or all of these questions:
Who am I?
Why am I here?
What is my purpose?
When do I do what is required of me?
How do I go about that task?
Did you recognize the age-old five for writing? I laughed when I saw my newest license plate. It begins with “WWH,” and I thought, how appropriate for a writer. At the beginning of a new writing project, I also return to the reminder that if He calls, He equips. So I get on with the task at hand.
First of all, I didn’t evolve, I was created by the breath of God. He chose and bought me with a price, the death of His Son Jesus. The line from Victory in Jesus says, “He sought me and bought me with His redeeming love.”
God engineered in me specific and unique skills or talents, along with an individual blueprint, to obey and glorify Him through whatever work I carry out. There is no doubt in my mind that I was called to encourage through what I write. What a journey that calling has been.
As a new believer, I wrote a testimony as to how special my name is. The words were rejected by a wise editor. It took years of growth to understand why. I am not special. My name is not special. I am unique, but that only reveals how sovereign God is. He knew my name before I was born, but He gets credit because He is God. I did nothing to earn that name any more than I “earned” salvation in Christ.
A.W. Tozer once wrote, “A real Christian is an odd number anyway. He feels supreme love to the One whom he has never seen, talks familiarly every day to Someone he cannot see, expects to go to heaven on the virtue of Another, empties himself in order to be full, admits he is wrong so he can be declared right, goes down in order to get up, is strongest when he is weakest, richest when he is poorest and happiest when he feels worst. He dies so he can live, forsakes in order to have, gives away so he can keep, sees the invisible, hears the inaudible and knows that which passes knowledge.”
I don’t mind being viewed as an eccentric writer or an odd duck. I know Who planned my life. I know Who died to give me life. 1 John 1:1 says That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched—this we proclaim concerning the Word of life.
Our world appears to be a hopeless mess. But God’s got it. We have hope because the Bible tells us to hope in Christ. We are called for a purpose. Cling to God for the answers of life.
Christmas House
Pepper Rainwater has just bought the first real home she’s ever had, and she’s decorating and celebrating Christmas with everything she has. The neighbor’s miniature donkeys and meeting Foxx interrupt her life. Can she turn from all she’d been taught and trust strangers? A startling discovery after his father’s death forces Foxx Haven to face an unknown past. His life has been a lie. He’s distracted from work for the first time— by his heritage and his new neighbor. Can he fight his attraction to an unbeliever and discover his new life chapter at the same time? Miniature donkeys and learning about Christ have a profound impact on Pepper. But God has a mighty work to bring her hurting soul and Foxx’s new perspective into alignment. Can hope override hurting souls and enable a happily-ever-after?
Author Erin Stevenson shares about life while she was writing A Dream for Christmas.
When I was asked to write a devotional about my 2022 Christmas book, A Dream of Christmas, this page sat blank for a long time. I wrote the book about a year ago when I was in a different place in life. The past several months have brought some major changes, and in my recent personal time with God, I’m discovering that I’m too driven, too focused on planning out all the details, and too lacking in trust. He has allowed some pretty significant boulders to land in my path. I’m praying for wisdom on whether and how much to change course. Above everything, I want His will.
In A Dream of Christmas, the main female character, Charity, is in much the same boat. She made some mistakes in her past, but once she became a mother, her laser focus became doing whatever was best for her children—which is why she took the bold, risky decision to go on the run with them. But she continually second-guesses herself. She’s a relatively new believer, learning how to seek God’s will and how to recognize when He’s working in her life.
All my books, while different, center on a few common themes: the love between a man and a woman as God intended it, the family as He designed it (including blended families), forgiveness, second chances, and grappling with life’s problems according to scriptural guidelines.
If you’re by nature a planner, I invite you to sit back, close your eyes, take a deep breath, and just rest. Our world is filled with noise 24/7. You’ll hear God’s voice in the silence. Trust that He will take care of the details of your life. He’s promised it in His Word (Matthew 6:29-34).
When Finn Donovan answers a late-night knock at the door, there stands Charity Sullivan, the only woman he’s ever loved. He hasn’t seen her since the night nearly seventeen years ago when they shared a magical kiss after a months-long friendship.
But Charity isn’t alone, and her last name is no longer Sullivan. Her four children are with her, and she’s looking for a place to hide. Her marriage just ended, and her former father-in-law, a powerful, dangerous underworld boss, will stop at nothing to keep her from leaving with his grandchildren.
As Finn and Charity’s friendship rekindles, Finn’s protective instincts go on high alert. He’s never stopped loving her, but as an upright, God-fearing man, doesn’t want to take advantage of her vulnerability. Charity is drawn to Finn. She dreams of a future for them, but unanswered questions from the past stand between them.
When Charity receives a phone call telling her that her former father-in-law has discovered her whereabouts, she decides to go on the run again. But Finn isn’t having any of it. He has a Christmas dream of his own, and it won’t come true without Charity and her children.
Author Carol James visits today and shares a bit about her newest release and its connection to an earthquake.
“Though the mountains be shaken and the hills be removed, yet my unfailing love for you will not be shaken nor my covenant of peace be removed,’’ says the Lord, who has compassion on you.
Isaiah 54:10
Mountains symbolize strength and constancy. But what happens in your life when the constants are destroyed?
Georgia’s known for peanuts, peaches, and humidity. Not earthquakes. Yet, the Atlanta area sits along the Brevard Fault Zone. I still remember being awakened in the predawn hours one morning by the shaking of my bed and the clanging of the handles on the armoire in our bedroom. After a few seconds, silence returned, and in the fog of sleep, I wondered if what I felt and heard was real or simply a dream.
The following morning, Atlanta news confirmed it. Overnight, we’d had an earthquake.
Our little rumble was nothing compared to the major earthquakes experienced in other areas of the world. No buildings fell. No mountains crumbled. But the minor shaking and confusion it caused were disconcerting.
Several years ago, our church suffered an emotional earthquake. A group had gone on an international mission trip (as numerous teams of volunteers did many times a year) to share the gospel. During that trip, one of the team members was killed in a tragic accident. This loss tore through our church, threatening to crumble our faith and peace. Our pastor reminded us, much more eloquently than I can, that serving the Lord can be dangerous on many levels. And while we’re not guaranteed safety, we are guaranteed God’s love and peace.
Isaiah 54:10 reminds us of that. No matter what tragedy befalls us, or what part of our world is shaken and crumbles to dust, God’s love and peace are constant and steadfast. Nothing—absolutely nothing—can overcome them. And not only that, but our Father, in His compassion, feels and shares our pain. He assures us that, during the times in our lives when tragedy befalls us and everything around us seems to be crumbling away, two things remain: God’s unfailing love and His covenant of peace.
In Choosing Christmas, both Angela Taylor and Adam Thornton have had their lives shaken to their cores. They struggle to overcome the physical and emotional scars of past tragedy and loss. Believing his choices are responsible for his father’s death, Adam battles both guilt and physical pain. Angela struggles with forgiving a mother who deserted her as a child. And the only way they know to do that is by choosing to draw strength from the gift of God’s unfailing love and peace in Christ Jesus.
Heartbroken over the unfair loss of a position in the school where she teaches, Angela Taylor is determined to find an AP position.
Adam Thornton has struggled for years to overcome the physical and emotional effects of a devastating accident that occurred when he was a teenager. A successful real estate attorney and part-time handyman, Adam uses his gifts and talents to serve others.
When Angela is hired as an AP at the school where Adam’s mother is the principal, Angela and Adam find they share a past… an unexpected connection. And they must choose whether to surrender to the pain of that past or find hope for the future in the spirit of Christmas.
