LIBRARY CORNER
FEBRUARY, MARCH, APRIL 2009
FEBRUARY
If you are ready to be challenged and driven to self-examination, check out Nancy's selection for the month. Have you ever imagined what it will be like to stand at God's feet on judgment day? Rescued by John Bevere and Mark Olsen will put you there...and perhaps you will rethink your choices as you live your life today. The majority of this story takes place in a submarine as a church-couples' excursion nears its end. The sub is attacked accidentally, and the pastor and his group face certain death. Will they be saved by man, by God, or not at all? This story is very suspenseful with honest looks at life, faith and dying, and it is a powerful allegory of what happens when believers "spin the sin" into something else. Though the character flashbacks can cause the reader some confusion, it is definitely worth reading this wonderful story to the end.
Fans of Lori Wick, rejoice! Have you discovered the Big Sky Dreams Series: Cassidy, Sabrina, and Jessie? Token Creek, Montana Territory, 1880-Cassidy Norton is a fine seamstress who makes her living sewing for others. What time her business doesn't take, her friends and church family fill. But Cassidy hasn't always lived in Token Creek, and few people know her full story. Will she choose to share herself with the people she's grown to love and have the strength to make her dreams come true?
The other two books in this series have equally compelling characters and stories. Sabrina Matthews was a young prostitute in Denver until she is befriended by a couple and introduced to Christ. When she is ready to make a fresh start in a new town, she heads to Token Creek in the Montana Territory. Welcomed by her new church family, she knows God has forgiven her sins, but will her new friends?
Jessie Wheeler is abandoned by her husband just before the birth of their second child. As a single, working mother, her hands are full and her heart is broken. When her prodigal husband returns claiming he is changed by faith, can she trust him again?
"Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart." Psalms 37:4.
In Delana's pick for the month, Cathy Marie Hake's Bittersweet, Laney McCain claims this as a promise from God that He would make Galen O'Sullivan fall in love with her. Through many twists of fate, she finally learns that she must give up her own desires and trust in God and His plan. Set in California in 1860, this story has dynamic characters and a story line that draws you in until the very last page.
MARCH
Nancy and Delana both recommend The Penny by Joyce Meyer and Deborah Bedford. Jenny Blake recalls the summer of 1955 as "the summer of the penny." Stopping to pick up one grimy penny in a St. Louis street begins a chain of events that has a lasting effect on young Jenny's life. Although daily events conspire to drag her down, she continues to hear a persistent voice saying she has a great destiny and the little things can make a big difference. Jenny begins to view all the pennies that drop into her life as reminders of God's love. She passes many of the pennies on to others so they think to look for "all the good things that keep dropping into your life." While her abusive home life threatens her belief in a loving God, she gradually comes to see that, just like the inconsequential penny, God drops His love right in your path and He can change your life if you stop to pick it up.
Joanna Weaver's non-fiction book, Having a Mary Heart in a Martha World, was recommended to us by several people, and it is finally available in Large Print. This book parallels women's lives today to those of Mary and Martha in the New Testament. Like Mary, you long to sit at the Lord's feet, but the daily demands of a busy world just won't leave you alone. Like Martha, you love Jesus and really want to serve him, yet you struggle with weariness, resentment, and feelings of inadequacy. Then Jesus comes right into the midst of your busy Mary/Martha life. He extends the same invitation to you that he issued long ago to the two sisters of Bethany. He invites you to choose "the better part"---a joyful life of "living-room" intimacy with him that flows naturally into "kitchen service" for him.
One of our new family DVDs you should check out is Facing the Giants. This movie has received high marks from nearly everyone who has seen it. The tagline on the front cover says it all: "Never give up. Never back down. Never lose faith." After six consecutive losing seasons, high school football coach Grant Taylor believes things can't get any worse. He's wrong. With fear and failure defeating him in football and in life, the downtrodden coach and husband turns to God in desperation. Trusting that God can somehow do the impossible, Coach Taylor and his Shiloh Christian Eagles soon discover how faith plays out on the field.
If you are looking for a light-hearted book that will keep you smiling, Cathy Marie Hake's Fancy Pants may fit the bill. After traveling from England to America to fulfill a promise to her dying father, Lady Sydney Hathwell finds her "intended" sorely lacking in both manners and morals, so she telegraphs a Texas uncle she has never met. Misunderstanding her name, Uncle Fuller invites his "nephew" to his ranch while making no qualms about having "no use" for a woman. When Sydney arrives during her uncle's absence disguised as a boy, boss Tim Creighton determines to turn this "mincing fop" into a man before Fuller returns! What happens when her true identity is revealed? Although the storyline is somewhat predictable, this amusing book is worth your time.
APRIL
The new books we added over the past few months have been flying off the shelves, but we want to call your attention to a new 7-volume collection we recently acquired: The Complete Sermons of Martin Luther (don't worry, they're not in German!). This set is currently on display in front of the lobby windows, though it may eventually join the other reference books on the top shelf of the library's north wall. Boasting 4,700 pages and hundreds of sermons, these books offer Lutherans a glimpse of Luther's lessons from nearly 500 years ago. While you may not wish to sit down and read these tomes cover-to-cover, open one to any excerpt and you will not be disappointed.
Prolific author Gilbert Morris has begun a new series, the Lady Trent Mysteries, which are quick, fun reads and completely different from his other historical pieces. The first book, The Mermaid in the Basement, introduces Lady Serafina Trent, a wealthy nobleman's widow and daughter of a famous scientist. Lady Trent is not your typical Victorian lady---schooled by her father in analytical thinking, she has definite opinions and is not afraid to voice them. When her brother is sent to jail for the murder of an actress, it is up to Serafina to prove his innocence. Against her better judgment, she must enlist the help of actor and believer Dylan Tremayne to assist her in her quest. In the second book of the series, A Conspiracy of Ravens, Lady Trent and Dylan are engaged by her neighbors to locate the heir to their estate before the lord of the manor is murdered. As they work together, Serafina asks more questions about Dylan's faith and tries to reconcile his unquestioning acceptance of God's power with her upbringing of always needing proof. Delana is eagerly awaiting late spring when the third book, Sonnet to a Dead Contessa, is due to be released.
Another favorite author who again finds herself on our "New Books" shelf is Karen Kingsbury. This Side of Heaven is a stand-alone title based loosely on her own brother's death. In the novel, Kingsbury tells the story of a strained relationship between picture-perfect Nate and Annie Warren, whose son, Josh, has been a disappointment to them. Even though Josh's mistakes are now history, his current joblessness - owing to a drunk driver's recklessness - serves to ratchet up his parental disapproval rating. When Josh's life is struck again by tragedy, his immediate family must come to grips with the recognition that they never really cared enough to ultimately know their son. As always, Kingsbury does a fine job communicating the emotional struggles of individuals, and readers will resonate with her characters' sorrows and losses.