Letting love cover all offenses is not as easy as it sounds. Proverbs 10:12 points out why it’s easier said than done. “Hatred stirs up strife, but love covers all offenses” (Proverbs 10:12) What an important and powerful word picture Proverbs 10:12 gives about anger toward others. We can “stir up” wounds or “cover” them with love and understanding. If we choose to “stir up,” we put the spoon of rehearsing hurts and misunderstandings into a pot of boiling mud and grime. Then we stir, stir, and stir causing any moisture of grace and mercy to evaporate. Then the mass solidifies into…
Hope Deferred by Maureen Miller
Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a dream fulfilled is a tree of life (Proverbs 13:12 NLT). “…Void a miracle.” What had the doctor said? I shook my head, attempting to wrap my mind around his words. “Pardon?” “It’s unlikely you’ll have children biologically, void a miracle.” His furrowed brow spoke his concern. My husband Bill leaned in, then pulled me close. Always my resolute protector, even when his heart, too, was hurting. My hope for children seemed nothing more than smoldering embers, and, for a season, all passion waned. I lived in grays. But… God didn’t leave me in…
August 2024 New Releases
August 2024 New ReleasesMore in-depth descriptions of these books can be found on the ACFW Fiction Finder website Biblical: A Certain Man by Linda Dindzans — Mara is a young Samaritan beginning to discover her love for Samuel—and his for her. Soon she will be deemed mature enough to marry. Her hopes are dashed when her greedy father brokers a match with the cruel son of the wealthy High Priest of Shechem. When her loathsome betrothed is killed, her beloved Samuel must run for his life. Mara and Samuel struggle to survive and reunite during the treacherous and scandalous times…
A Woman Who Fears the Lord by Shadia Hrichi
The story of Rahab has fascinated Bible students and laypersons for centuries. Her story appears in a mere two chapters in the book of Joshua, and the events are curious right from the start. The book opens with God commissioning Joshua to lead the Israelites after the death of their leader Moses. Yet no sooner do the people come to the edge of the Promised Land than God puts the whole drama on hold to tell us the story of a Canaanite prostitute. This interruption of the conquest story is not an accident, and it gives us our first glimpse into…
Trust in the Lord by Patty LaRoche
Proverbs 3:5-6, perhaps one of the most often-quoted scriptures, is loaded with nuggets of wisdom: Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight. The first four words are weighty ones. “Trust in the Lord…” Not your Ferrari or your size-four body (although that would be sorta special) or your knack for rhubarb pie winning the blue ribbon at the county fair or your ability to enter a room and turn heads or your Martha Stewart table setting with real…
