New This Month: Links, Quotes, Books

Spring is my favorite season. All the new life renews my hope. It’s not exactly spring-like weather here as we just had more snow, but it will come! More birds are hanging out here – always a good sign. 🙂 More of God’s gifts of love.

I care about each and every one of you who stop in here, whether you comment or not. It comforts me to know that God KNOWS where each of you is and His power can reach you anywhere. He cares so much and feels your pain. He understands even when you feel like no one does. He loves you with an unconditional love.

Well, here are the new books, links, videos, and quotes for this month. May hope, healing, and freedom stamp out your despair, woundedness, and whatever holds you back from experiencing Jesus and His love.

Books

♥ Still Alice by Lisa Genova

This novel leads us into the life of a 50-year-old woman who has early onset Alzheimer’s disease. The author tells the story from Alice’s point of view in such a powerful way that I actually felt transported into Alice’s surreal world. What I especially loved in this story is how the author shows a side of this debilitating disease that many people don’t realize or understand. Somewhere in that vacant stare, there still remains a living soul with feelings. And even when the ability to express words or to communicate deteriorates, there is a heightened sense of emotional awareness above and beyond our own. Thinking ability may spiral downward, but no matter how far, each uniquely created person cries from within, “I’m Still Me!”

♥ Rush of Wings Series by Kristen Heitzmann

• A Rush of Wings (A Rush of Wings Series #1)

“Running from terrors both recent and remembered, Noelle flees her New York mansion for the Rocky Mountains, seeking a place to hide from the men who betrayed her. Her sanctuary is a horse ranch, where she discovers solace in the breathtaking scenery she paints. But as the attentions of two brothers slowly soften the wall she hides behind, the past she yearns to escape becomes a menacing threat she cannot deny. Will Noelle find courage to give her broken heart to the One whose perfect love casts out all fear? Kristen Heitzmann skillfully creates a story resonating with emotion and a poignant spiritual journey.”

• The Still of Night (A Rush of Wings Series #2) –

“Kristen Heitzmann’s characters leap from the page with a balance of strength and fragility as they face anguish from the past. Jill and Morgan, once high school sweethearts, had loved and lost–each other and the baby whom Jill gave up at birth. Years later, Morgan is outwardly successful, but he is still haunted by the memory of the tiny child. And then Jill shows up again in his life with very disturbing news. With her trademark dramatic storytelling, Heitzmann takes readers on an unforgettable journey with two wounded souls as they struggle toward healing and restoration.”

• Breath of Dawn, The –

“Corporate turnaround specialist Morgan Spencer, dubbed the “success guru,” has a Midas touch in business. But losing his wife sent him to the brink, and his two-year-old daughter, Livie, is all he’s living for–until they encounter a woman whose trouble just might draw him out of his own.

Four years ago Quinn Reilly did the right thing. Now the man her testimony put in jail is getting out. Though she has put up barriers to protect herself and those around her, she has come to care for the Spencer family, especially the winsome Livie and her mercurial father. Unwilling to put them at risk when the threats begin, she requests something she hopes the super-successful Morgan might be able to deliver.

Fixing problems is what Morgan does best, but his counter proposal takes them in a direction neither is equipped to handle. Determined to confront the past, will they survive to build a future?”

Hope Harbor

♥ Secret Angel Ministry – “A blog reaching out to victims of abuse and others in need, providing insight about abuse, hope for the future, and guidance to see THE LIGHT that led Secret Angel out of the darkness of her own abusive situation and helped her to not only survive but to overcome.”

♥ After Steubenville: 25 Things Our Sons need to know about Manhood – One of Ann Voskamp’s posts at “A Holy Experience”

Some excerpts of truth are:

• “To stay silent is to let perpetrators perpetuate.”
• “When the prevailing thinking is boys will be boys — girls will be garbage. And that is never the heart of God.”
• “Unless a man looks to Jesus, a man doesn’t know how to treat a woman.”
• “… that’s the jolting truth of how God loves His daughters with His honor.”
• “Because if Christ is The Truth — then where there isn’t Truth, there isn’t Christ. Why ever be afraid of the Truth? Because if you’re at peace in Christ, you fight injustice.”

Nature Retreat

Let your heart calm as you view God’s phenomenal creations. This month’s nature links are from Flickr sites:

♥ Vicki’s Nature Photostream – Nearly 3000 amazing nature photos including beautiful and rare close-ups of God’s creatures

♥ Spettacolopuro’s Photosets – Though not all nature pics, still many awesome photos of underwater marvels, interesting critters, flora, and more

Quotes

♥ “When Jesus took on the weight of your sin and carried it to the cross, He also carried the sins committed against you. When you insist on holding on to the hurts inflicted on you, you deny the power of His crucifixion.” – Jennifer Kennedy Dean in He Leads Me Beside the Still Waters

♥ “In order to show the world that we believe in a God who fixes the broken things, we need to bare our scars in our art and in our lives.” – Rachel Haltiwanger

♥ “To know what you prefer instead of humbly saying Amen to what the world tells you ought to prefer, is to have kept your soul alive.” – Robert Louis Stevenson

♥ “Only in the darkness can you see the stars.” –Martin Luther King Jr.

♥ “Though my soul may set in darkness, it will rise in perfect light;
I have loved the stars too fondly to be fearful of the night.” – Sarah Williams