Sunday, November 17, 2019

The Freedom Challenge

About the Book

Book: The Freedom Challenge

Author: Dawn Scott Damon

Genre: Christian Living, Women’s Interest, Personal Growth, Devtional

Release Date: March 22, 2019

Be free from toxic mindsets, destructive patterns of behavior, and lies that keep you bound.

The truth behind seven little words changed Dawn Scott Damon’s life when she heard a man from a small country church sing “I am who He says I am!” Her life was transformed as she began to believe what God’s Word says about who she is in Christ, and she started her journey out of betrayal, abandonment, and deception.

She shares compelling truths in a sixty-day interactive Bible study that identifies and confronts eight cords that keep many believers bound. These practical and powerful biblical tools are designed to give you a new mindset, a fresh beginning, and a clear direction for a positive future.

Take the Freedom Challenge and become an active participant in your own emotional and spiritual transformation. Through a guided, intentional, and interactive daily process of putting God’s Word into practice, the strongholds of destructive and bondage-making behavior in your life can be broken. Choose to take that first step to live free from deceptive self-talk, fear, depression, toxic mindsets, and debilitating lies, among others.

Thought-provoking questions, journaling space, confessions, and affirmations are included to help guide you toward freedom.

My Thoughts: The Freedom challenge is just that a challenge. I knew going into it that I would have to make myself do the work. I liked the fact that the book is interactive, with journaling space and thought provoking questions, you're not just reading about freedom you're an active participant on your own journey! I enjoyed this book much more than I thought I would and although I found some topics more challenging than others, I'm glad I took the challenge and I'm recommending this book to everyone I know!

About the Author

Dawn Scott Damon is an award-winning author, speaker, singer/songwriter, and “freedom coach.” An ordained minister with the Wesleyan Church, Dawn is the lead pastor of Tribes, a multicultural church in Rockford, MI, ministering to every generation. The founder of FreedomGirl Sisterhood conference and radio broadcast, she blogs at freedomgirlsisterhood.com. Dawn and her husband, Paul, have five children between them and eleven grandchildren. They live in the Rockford area.

More from Dawn

As a little girl, I can remember singing in church with all my heart “Blessed Be the Ties That Bind.” Those ties that bind our hearts to one-another in love and to Jesus himself, are indeed blessed. But what about ties that aren’t blessed?

Hi I’m Dawn and I’m super glad you stopped by today!

I’m a survivor of childhood sexual abuse. At 19 years old, I became a wife and very soon after, a mother. After years of abuse, I was also a victim of rage and bitterness. The childhood sexual trauma was over, but the abuse aftermath—anger, pain, and depression—continued to destroy me. The cords of unwanted bondage choked joy and life out of me.

Today, I live fierce and free and serve as a freedom-coach to help others do the same. I’ve been on a journey for over 25 years, seeking God’s freedom through his truth and learning how to empower others to do the same. The Freedom Challenge: 60-Days to Untie the Cords that Bind You, is the map God gave me to find my way out of bondage, and now I’m sharing it with you! I pray you will also experience God’s glorious deliverance.

And now some fun facts about me:

I have a wonderful husband named Paul. Together we pastor a church called Tribes—but here’s the deal, he’s the “Pastor’s Spouse,” not me.

I am a grandma of 11! It’s the awesomest—a word I use to describe it! I especially like what my grandson Colton calls me…Jam’ma.

I love animals—all kinds—and I’ve determined there are absolutely no germs in dog kisses.

I also have to admit, I adore anything that glitters or sparkles and someday hope to have a bling store.

Lastly, I love Jesus and I still sing my heart out in church!

Blog Stops

Book Reviews From an Avid Reader, November 4

Spoken from the Heart, November 5

Genesis 5020, November 6

Truth and Grace Homeschool Academy, November 7

Godly Book Reviews, November 7

CarpeDiem, November 8

Moments, November 9

Library Lady’s Kid Lit, November 10

For Him and My Family, November 10

Older & Smarter?, November 11

Empowermoms, November 12

Debbie’s Dusty Deliberations, November 13

Texas Book-aholic, November 14

Mary Hake, November 14

janicesbookreviews, November 15

A Reader’s Brain, November 16

Inklings and notions, November 17

Chas Ray’s Book Nerd Corner, November 17

Giveaway

To celebrate her tour, Dawn is giving away the grand prize of a $50 Amazon gift card!!

Be sure to comment on the blog stops for nine extra entries into the giveaway! Click the link below to enter.

https://promosimple.com/ps/edeb/the-freedom-challenge-celebration-tour-giveaway

Friday, November 15, 2019

Significant

About the Book

Book: Significant

Author: Carol McLeod

Genre: Christian Living, Women’s Interest

Release Date: November 5, 2019

In the midst of our busy, stressful lives and the increasingly chaotic state of our world, we can lose sight of—or never really discover—our personal significance. We desire meaning and fulfillment but battle the stress and loneliness that often push their way into the forefront of life.
What makes you significant as an individual? As a woman? As a wife, mother, daughter, or friend? No matter what your age or current course in life, you can come to know your remarkable significance and eternal value. As you thirst for relief from stress and loneliness, you can build a foundation on what is divine and eternal, while also immensely practical for this life on earth. The truths God says about you as a woman are powerful and glorious!
In Significant, you will discover that you are the steward of your own self and will be challenged to embrace every season of your life. What is God calling you to do through the power of His Holy Spirit? The days of cowering in fear, hiding behind insignificance, and wallowing in lack of opportunities are over. God is blowing doors wide open for women as never before. It is time for women to march forward in grand anticipation of all that God can do through even one woman submitted to the call of God and filled with His Spirit.
So often we look for identity, purpose, and comfort in all the wrong places. We have sought lasting meaning from temporary fixes, immature voices, and cultural Band-Aids. This book is a call to women who possess a relentless desire to discover their unique purpose, to embrace their true identity, and to be comforted by irrepressible hope.
Significant reminds women from every generation that identity, confidence, and purpose come from who God is—not from how we feel at any given time. How wonderful to know that we are allowed to be both God’s masterpiece and a work in progress at the same time!
You never know your true self until you know yourself in God.

My Thoughts: This is not your normal "self -help" book! I'm not normally a self help book type of person. To me, they usually come of preachy or patronizing. I'm proud to say this one isn't like that, it's like sitting down with your most trusted friend and receiving advice you never knew you needed. It's a call to action book that will have you "on fire" to discover what makes you, you. My copy looks like it's been to war. I've highlighted, dog eared pages, and put sticky notes throughout. It is jam packed with helpful and insightful information. This is a book you will read again and again. I recommend it to anyone who is feeling stuck, worn out, or just looking for something that is missing.

About the Author

Carol McLeod is a popular speaker at women’s conferences and retreats through Carol McLeod Ministries. She is the author of ten books, including Guide Your Mind, Guard Your Heart, Grace Your Tongue (Whitaker House, 2018), Joy for All Seasons (Bridge-Logos, 2016), Holy Estrogen (Harrison House, 2012), and Defiant Joy(Thomas Nelson, 2006). Carol hosts a daily podcast, A Jolt of Joy! on the Charisma Podcast Network, and a weekly podcast, The Joy of Motherhood, which is listened to by thousands of moms around the world. Her blog, Joy for the Journey (formerly A Cup of Tea with Carol), has been named in the Top 50 Faith Blogs for Women. After her 2013 devotional 21 Days to Beat Depression had nearly 100,000 downloads in the first month, YouVersion picked it up, where it has been read over 500,000 times in five years. She also has ten other devotionals on YouVersion, including Guide Your Mind, Guard Your Heart, Grace Your Tongue. Carol writes a weekly column for Ministry Today and often writes for Charisma magazine. She is also a frequent guest on and has cohosted 100 Huntley Street. Her teaching DVD The Rooms of a Woman’s Heartwon a Telly Award in 2005 for excellence in religious programming. The first Women’s Chaplain at Oral Roberts University, she currently serves on the university’s Alumni Board of Directors. Carol has been married to her college sweetheart, Craig, for over forty years and is the mother of five children in heaven and five children on earth. Carol and Craig are now enjoying their new titles as “Marmee and Pa” to seven captivating grandchildren! She and her husband recently moved to Oklahoma, where Craig serves as the North American Director for Global Partners, a missions organization that plants churches in remote areas of the world.

More from Carol

Significant is the book that I have yearned to write ever since I was a young woman in college and was deeply impacted by Elisabeth Elliot’s classic work Let Me Be a Woman. That book, which Elisabeth wrote in the form of advice to her daughter, Valerie, on the brink of her marriage, taught me, in every way that mattered, how to be a woman of value and purpose. Elisabeth knew that the only way a woman could exert any lasting influence on her culture was to embrace the truths found in the Word of God.

I remember longing to have a profound influence on a generation of women the way Elisabeth did on the young women of my own generation. I aspired, even at the naive age of twenty-two, to be a voice of wisdom and purpose for the women who would come after me.

The years flew by, and soon I was a young mother who was homeschooling her brood of five creative, active children. Every school-day morning at ten, I sent the children off to read alone or to go outside to play so that I could turn on my little transistor radio and listen to Gateway to Joy, the thirty-minute program that Elisabeth Elliot hosted for many years. In that season of my life, I was smitten by her knack for calling me out of the daily routine of dishes, laundry, and little sleep to a sacred place of loving and serving the Savior. Elisabeth reminded me time after time that even the mundane can be transformed into a place of beautiful worship. Even today, I can still hear her voice saying, “Anything, if offered to God, can and will become your gateway to joy.”

Isn’t it interesting to realize that a person you have never met has the ability to change your life? As I have learned from so many people whom I have never met in person, I hope that my voice will not just be static in your world, but that you will clearly hear and take to heart the life-changing truths I present in this book. You can be assured that these truths have been gleaned by a real woman who has embraced the fulfillment and joy that comes from submitting her life to God’s abundant calling.

Blog Stops

Genesis 5020, November 13

Through the Lens of Scripture, November 14

Chas Ray’s Book Nerd Corner , November 15

Sara Jane Jacobs, November 15

CarpeDiem, November 16

Moments, November 17

Truth and Grace Homeschool Academy, November 18

For Him and My Family, November 19

Mary Hake, November 19

Abba’s Prayer Warrior Princess, November 20

For the Love of Literature, November 21

Texas Book-aholic, November 22

Debbie’s Dusty Deliberations, November 23

Happily Managing a Household of Boys, November 23

Inklings and notions, November 24

A Reader’s Brain, November 25

janicesbookreviews, November 26

Giveaway

To celebrate her tour, Carol is giving away a copy of Significant and a $20 Starbucks gift card!!

Be sure to comment on the blog stops for nine extra entries into the giveaway! Click the link below to enter.

https://promosimple.com/ps/f0bc/significant-celebration-tour-giveaway

Wednesday, November 6, 2019

Deadly Christmas Pretense

About the Book

Book: Deadly Christmas Pretense

Author: Dana Mentink

Genre: Christian Suspense, Mystery, Romance

Release Date: November 4, 2019

A cowboy to her rescue…but she’s not who he thinks she is.

Posing as her sister for Christmas is the only way to save her, but Maggie Lofton needs help—even if it means working with her twin’s cowboy ex-boyfriend, Liam Pike. But between the bull’s-eye on her back and the dangerous connection she’s forming with Liam, Maggie’s mission is harder than expected. Will their tenuous partnership be enough to shield her when the killer closes in?

Book #2 in the Roughwater Ranch Cowboys series

My Thoughts: This book will grab you from the start and won't let go until the story ends. Dana Mentink has a way of writing stories that make you forget you're reading fiction! I have to admit this book wasn't what I was expecting, it was so much more! I love to figure out the plot twist as I'm reading and usually I can figure out how it's going to end but not this time! She kept me guessing right until the very end. I highly recommend Deadly Christmas Pretense!

About the Author

Dana Mentink is a two time American Christian Fiction Writers Carol Award winner, a Romantic Times Reviewer’s Choice Award and a Holt Medallion winner. She is a national bestselling author of over forty titles in the suspense and lighthearted romance genres. She is pleased to write for Harlequin’s Love Inspired Suspense, Harlequin Heartwarming and Harvest House. Dana was thrilled to be a semi-finalist in the Jeanne Robertson Comedy With Class Competition. Besides writing, she busies herself teaching third grade. Mostly, she loves to be home with Papa Bear, teen bear cubs affectionately nicknamed Yogi and Boo Boo, Junie, the nutty terrier, a chubby box turtle and a feisty parakeet. You can connect with Dana via her website at danamentink.com, on Facebook, YouTube (Author Dana Mentink) and Instagram (dana_mentink.)

More from Dana

I just love Christmas, don’t you? In our area we have a lovely holiday train. It’s an old steam type train which is decked out in lights for festive holiday tours. I was so thrilled that this cover features just such a train. Of course, in the novel the train is the scene of hair raising danger! Maggie, our heroine in this novel, is a cook. She serves up some mouth watering dishes (when she’s not dodging a killer.) I thought perhaps you might enjoy a Mentink holiday family recipe! God bless you as we enter this holiday season!