Goodness and Mercy by Lynnette Bonner

Today I am pleased to give the reins to Lynnette Bonner. Please help me in welcoming her to A Bed of Roses...Thorns Included.

Welcome Lynnette.

Goodness and Mercy

I love the title of this blog, “A Bed of Roses...Thorns Included.” It fits perfectly with a theme I explored in my recent release, Spring Meadow Sanctuary. The Shepherd’s Heart series has taken a couple verses from Psalm 23 as the focus of each book. Spring Meadow Sanctuary’s verse was number 6: “Surely your goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.” But as I wrote the book I got to thinking that we don’t always FEEL like goodness and mercy are following us. So how do tragedies and trials translate into goodness and mercy?

Sometimes, like the quote at the top of the page, we find the goodness and mercy in the fact that thorns have roses. But other times we can see how, even through seemingly difficult circumstances, God brought about that perfect goodness and mercy in our lives.

Here is a description of the story:

He broke her heart.Now he’s back to ask for a second chance.

Heart pounding in shock, Sharyah Jordan gapes at the outlaw staring down the barrel of his gun at her. Cascade Bennett shattered her dreams only last summer, and now he plans to kidnap her and haul her into the wilderness with a bunch of outlaws…for her own protection? She’d rather be locked in her classroom for a whole week with Brandon McBride and his arsenal of tricks, and that was saying something.

Cade Bennett’s heart nearly drops to his toes when he sees Sharyah standing by the desk. Sharyah Jordan was not supposed to be here. Blast if he didn’t hate complications, and Sharyah with her alluring brown eyes and silky blond hair was a walking, talking personification of complication.

Now was probably not the time to tell her he’d made a huge mistake last summer….

Two broken hearts. Dangerous Outlaws. One last chance at love.Step into a day when outlaws ran free, the land was wild, and guns blazed at the drop of a hat.

Born and raised in Malawi, Africa. Lynnette Bonner spent the first years of her life reveling in warm equatorial sunshine and the late evening duets of cicadas and hyenas. The year she turned eight she was off to Rift Valley Academy, a boarding school in Kenya where she spent many joy-filled years, and graduated in 1990.

That fall, she traded to a new duet--one of traffic and rain--when she moved to Kirkland, Washington to attend Northwest University. It was there that she met her husband and a few years later they moved to the small town of Pierce, Idaho.

During the time they lived in Idaho, while studying the history of their little town, Lynnette was inspired to begin the Shepherd's Heart Series with Rocky Mountain Oasis.

Marty and Lynnette have four children, and currently live in Washington where Marty pastors a church. 


Me again: Thank you for the compliment on my blog. I invite you all to come back on Monday to read my review of Spring Meadow Sanctuary.

How has God changed your trials and tragedies into goodness and mercy?

Blessings,
Ginger

O is for Opportunity

O is for Opportunity

Everyone has the opportunity to make the most of whatever situation they've been placed in.

Opportunity to smile.

Opportunity to give with sincerity.

Opportunity to receive with thankfulness.

How often do we forget how blessed we are, being grateful for the things we have instead of bemoaning the things we don't have?

I know I often forget how blessed I am. I bemoan the work my large family requires and forget the blessings they give in return. Someone is always available if I need a hug.  :)  I have lots of helpers with cleaning, dinner and dishes. Even if I'm in a bad mood, someone else is smiling.

Take the OPPORTUNITY today, right here in the comments section, to be thankful for something you've been blessed with. And remember throughout today to be thankful for even the little things.

Blessings,

Ginger

"I will be sure--always" guest blog by Jodie Bailey

Today I have the awesome privilege of welcoming Jodie Bailey, author of Freefall, to my blog. She has come to tell us a little about her findings while researching for her novel.

About Jodie:

Jodie Bailey is Tarheel born and bred. After fifteen years as a military spouse, she's proud to be a retired military spouse settled back in North Carolina with her husband and daughter. She is the author of the military suspense novel Freefall and is a contributor to Edie Melson's devotional for military families, Fighting Fear: Winning the War at Home. While not working on her next novel, she teaches middle schoolers to love writing as much as she does (if she's lucky that day and they're actually listening...). Jodie loves to bake, ride the Harley with her husband, and fish the Outer Banks with their daughter. You can find her on the web at www.jodiebailey.com.

Please help me welcome Jodie.

I Will Be Sure--Always

“I will be sure--always.”  -The Rigger’s Pledge

Freefall takes place on Fort Bragg among the parachute riggers who keep the 82^nd Airborne Division’s paratroopers safe under canopy.  My husband was Airborne qualified his entire Army career and later became a military freefall jumpmaster.  Trust me.  Properly working parachutes meant the world to him. 

Until I researched Freefall, though, I’d never really thought about what a rigger actually takes on every day.   These men and women hold a life in their hands every time they inspect and pack a chute.  That’s major.  It’s part of the reason the Rigger’s Pledge ends with the words, “I will be sure—always.”  They can’t take chances or shortcuts.  They can’t skip a step or leave any little thing undone.  After all, they hold lives in their hands.  Not many of us can say that about the work we do every day.

Or can we? 

What would the world look like if we lived by the same creed as a parachute rigger?  If we lived our faith as though we were always sure of our God instead of getting all wishy-washy?  If we never walked away from a person until we were sure we’d left their lives better than we found it?

We encounter dozens of people a day.  Some of us, depending on our jobs, interact with many, many more.  What if we were to look at each encounter—no matter how short—as a God encounter?  If we looked at the face of God and asked, “What do you want me to do here?” and then we did it?  Being sure to step in His footsteps and do exactly what He would do?  Leaving not one thing to chance or undone?

Think the world would change?

Think, maybe, in some small way, we’d “save a life”? 

It makes you wonder, doesn’t it?

Book blurb:

With one accusation, army officer Cassidy Matthews's name, reputation—and life—are on the line. A Special Forces soldier insists that Cassy's Fort Bragg-based unit is smuggling drugs. And the accuser? It's Cassy's handsome, stubborn ex-husband, Major Shane Logan. Shane knows Cassy is innocent, which is why he's sure she's being set up to take the fall. Proving it, though, means working together…and trying to ignore the feelings they still share. The closer they get—to the truth and each other—the more the danger grows from a ruthless criminal who'll stop at nothing to destroy them both. 

Me again: Thank you, Jodie, for encouraging us to be sure about what God would want us to do.

Now, my precious readers, Jodie is offering to give away a copy of Freefall to one lucky commenter, but you have to say something to be eligible. So...answer one of Jodie's questions above (drawing will be 11/18) and be entered to win.

To find out what I thought about Freefall, check here.

For more about Jodie, go to http://jodiebailey.com/.

To purchase Freefall, click here.

Blessings,

Ginger