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Everyone gets a freebie today! Scroll down to get afree Thanksgiving short story that is sure to touch the heart.
Then go into the draw to win these twofree ebooks! Edges of Truth: The Mary Weaver Story and I Survived! 5 Bible Characters Who Survived Disasters. The first book is a memoir that will inspire you and the second is the companion Bible story that goes with the memoir. With each Book Blast I usually give away a book written by a different author, but this time the books are by me, Deb Brammer. Scroll down for more details.
Have you ever gone through a difficult period of time when it seemed God was watching your life go by with his hands in his pockets? Maybe you did your best, only to experience failure, unfairness or unrelieved suffering. You prayed fervently but God didn’t seem to be listening.
It can be hard to trust God at times like these, but God does see and care for us, even when it doesn’t seem like it. Sometimes God is workingout his plan, but we can’t see any evidence of it yet.
Steve Brennecke can testify to this. When his friend from church, Mary Weaver, was charged with the murder of a baby she provided care for, Steve, a young lawyer, did his best to defend her. He knew Mary was innocent, but at the end of her second trial, the judge declared her guilty of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison without parole. How could God allow this sweet mother of two young children to receive such a sentence?
Steve worked with an appeal lawyer, Paul Rosenberg, to find enough evidence enough to warrant a new trial, but God seemed to be observing the process with his hands in his pockets. Steve’s best work had produced his worst nightmare. His failure had sentenced an innocent client to life in prison. God hadn’t prevented the unfair verdict. Steve had resigned himself to the reality that Mary would die of old age in prison.
Then one day, one ruling changed everything. Steve could finally see the fingerprints of God.
I was privileged to write this true story, Edges of Truth: The Mary Weaver Story, with the help of Mary and my friend, Steve Brennecke. With the help of my husband, Art, I also wrote a Bible study book, I Survived! 5 Bible Characters Who Survived Disasters, to go with Mary’s story. Mary, Steve and I launched both books on November 22, 2013. God blessed the book launch when Mary’s supporters filled our beautiful venue in Marshalltown, Iowa. Mary, Steve and I had the opportunity to each tell what amazing things God had done to bring Mary out of prison and then bring these books to print.
In 2013, when the books were launched, Art and I lived in New Zealand where Art pastored a mission church. Twelve years later, we live in Iowa, just a ten-minute drive from the prison in which Mary was incarcerated for two years. We now visit an inmate there that had also been incarcerated when Mary was there for two years. And currently I’m teaching a ladies’ Sunday School class using I Survived! Our home and church are no longer ten thousand miles away from the prison. Now all three are within a ten-minute drive of each other.
As I teach this class week by week, I remember Mary’s simple faith in God and the way he worked in her life. But as I look at the years from 2009-2013, I realize God was preparing me to write the Bible study before I even heard Mary’s story. Two years before I heard Mary’s story, I went through a very difficult time in my own life. That situation helped prepare me to write I Survived! in a way that would really help readers. God also brought a book to my attention that helped me in the writing process. On Being a Servant of God by Warren Wiersbe really helped me know how to respond to personal conflict in a way that honored God. As I wrote chapter 6 in the Bible study book, I could present a good picture of what forgiveness looks like. That helped some of the ladies in my class.
But God’s timing was perfect in other ways as well. As I taught the Bible studies, I realized how many events had to fall into place at just the right time to enable us to write Mary’s story and launch it. From 2011-2013 God worked things in our lives so I could come back to the USA twice, one time to interview Steve and Mary in person and the next time to launch the book. Steve also came to New Zealand twice, one time when I heard Mary’s story, and next time to bring a huge box of court transcripts with him on the plane.
Perfect timing doesn’t always look perfect going forward. Looking back, however, often shows how God is working all things according to his plan. I hope you can see the fingerprints of God in your own life today.
Now for the freebies.
Your free Thanksgiving story, Prison Blues: A Thanksgiving Challenge, is here.
Enter the giveaway for the free ebooks, Edges of Truth: The Mary Weaver StoryandI Survived! 5 Bible Characters Who Survived Disasters. To enter, simply leave a comment below telling what you are thankful for this Thanksgiving. You have a much higher chance of winning this drawing that most other drawings, so why not take a few moments to share your blessings?
Christmas is coming!
Books make a great gift for the readers in your life. I’ve posted links to buy all 12 of my books below and have even given you tips about the best places to purchase them. If you need a last-minute stocking stuffer, ebooks work great for that as well. All of my books are distinctively Christian and challenge the reader to live for Christ.
Whatever your plans are for Thanksgiving and Christmas, may the Lord open your eyes to his great love and many of the blessings he gives his children.
Deb
Books for Adults
(The New Beginnings Series and the Art Spotlight Mysteries are also very suitable for ages 15 and up.) My adult books are only available on Amazon. They are all available as paperbacks, Kindle, and Kindle Unlimited.
Edges of Truth: The Mary Weaver Story: When a baby dies from head injuries, an innocent babysitter is accused and uncertainty forces experts to define the Edges of Truth.
Short Poppies: New Zealand sounds more like a tourist destination than a mission field, but when Levi is thrust into a short-term ministry there, things aren’t as easy as he expected.
Give It a Go Pastor Greg needs a new wife, but how can he begin to date when he lives in the goldfish bowl of a mission church, ten thousand miles away from his home in America?
Pop In for a Cuppa: At fifty-two, Jennifer has never felt called to missions, but dating veteran missionary Greg Fischer makes her rethink almost every area of her life.
Art Spotlight Series:
Broken Windows: Running away to Boise makes sense until a shadow from the past commits weird crimes to destroy Jordan’s credibility in the art community.
Déjà Who? : Jordan never dreamed an innocent promise could coast him his career, but new accusations pull him into the past, forcing him to ask, “Who am I?” all over again.
I Scream: A child’s simple painting enters the world of contemporary art, challenging Jordan to re-examine his principles and to market art he can’t understand.
JourneyForth Books for kids and teens
My JourneyForth books (BJU Press) books are available from BJU Press, Amazon, and Christian Book Distributors (CBD.) I don’t have price control over these books, but I can tell you where to get the best buys.
Tips on choosing a distributor to buy my JourneyForth books from:
Only JourneyForth (BJU Press) has the newest cover and illustrations for Peanut ButterFriends in a Chop Suey World as a paperbackand this is the most attractive version of the four versions they’ve printed. (Not that the old covers weren’t nice, but this one is especially nice.)
JourneyForth doesn’t sell the Kindle version of these four books, but Amazon and CBD does.
As I write this, CBD now is offering the lowest price ($5.59) on the Kindle version of these four books.
As I write this, CBD is also offering the paperback version of Two Sides to Everything for $5.19, saving 42%!
Buy kid/teens books directly from JourneyForth:
Peanut Butter Friends in a Chop Suey World(age 8-12) (paperback only): Amy finds herself in a whole new world when she moves to Taiwan with her missionary parents and brothers.
Two Sides to Everything (age 8-12): Going to New Zealand while his mom recovers from a serious accident, Josh experiences another side to all kinds of things he thought he understood.
Moose (teens): Cody finds that living with a miracle can take a lot of patience—especially when that miracle is a new, struggling Christian friend.
Careful Enough? (uses my pen name, Dillon Forbes, as author): Daniel spends his senior year moving to a Chinese city with his parents to help start a secret house church.
Two Sides to Everything (age 8-12): Going to New Zealand while his mom recovers from a serious accident, Josh experiences another side to all kinds of things he thought he understood.
Moose (teen): Cody finds that living with a miracle can take a lot of patience—especially when that miracle is a new, struggling Christian friend.
Careful Enough? (uses my pen name, Dillon Forbes, as author): Daniel spends his senior year moving to a Chinese city with his parents to help start a secret house church.
Buy kid/teens books from Christian Book Distributors (CBD):
Peanut Butter Friends in a Chop Suey World (age 8-12): Amy finds herself in a whole new world when she moves to Taiwan with her missionary parents and brothers. (Right now CBD seems to only be selling this book with the older cover.)
Two Sides to Everything (age 8-12): Going to New Zealand while his mom recovers from a serious accident, Josh experiences another side to all kinds of things he thought he understood.
Moose (teen): Cody finds that living with a miracle can take a lot of patience—especially when that miracle is a new, struggling Christian friend. (Right now CBD seems to only have the ebook for this one.)
Careful Enough? (uses my pen name, Dillon Forbes, as author name): Daniel spends his senior year moving to a Chinese city with his parents to help start a secret house church.
Today all my subscribers can get two free books from me as well as free books from nine other authors! You can find Christian cozy mysteries and suspenseful thrillers here. See details at the end of this Book Blast for a second free book you can get, just for being my subscriber.
If you’ve been a subscriber to Deb’s Book Blast for any length of time, you probably know that my husband Art and I spent about 45 years serving in Taiwan and New Zealand in church planting ministries. In New Zealand, many internationals came to our church. Connecting to them gave us lots of contact with significantly different cultures. We feel so blessed to have extensive multi-cultural experience.
Now we live in Altoona, Iowa where many of our church friends have lived in Iowa all their lives. Living near a Bible college, however, gives us opportunities to hang out with international students. Our cross-cultural experiences help us:
Understand the missionary kid who doesn’t know what country to call home and is struggling to fit into American culture
To relate to the American who has just finished an extended time in a foreign country and suddenly sees his home country in a different light than he ever has before
To give ear to the person who has hidden the multi-cultural part of herself deep inside, waiting to meet someone she can share her stories with
Our cross-culture experience has also helped us teach new concepts to mono-cultural Iowans. In June, Art and I got to serve as camp missionaries at a smallish junior camp in rural Iowa. Each day we presented a different mission field and taught the juniors a few phrases in the corresponding language. We talked about our experiences in Taiwan and taught campers how to eat with chopsticks. As we shared the need to reach the world with the gospel, we explained the practice of animism in Taiwan and how similar it is to the Maori stories in New Zealand. We shared incidents from the lives of Hudson Taylor and Amy Carmichael and the way they changed the way they dressed to look more like the culture around them and have a bigger impact on their lives.
Best of all, we brought some Bible college students from South Africa to our Friday session. Azola Nqulequ and Ntutu Maseyimane shared the unique sounds of their Xhosa language. I can’t even pronounce the name of this language because Xhosa is filled with distinctive clicks like no other language I’ve heard before. Azola and Ntutu held the campers spellbound as they shared their testimonies and cultural differences from our American culture. They enabled us to bring a bit of black African culture to white rural Iowa kids and broaden their worldview a bit.
So, our cross-cultural experience has given us a special ministry with people we meet. But it also colors so much of my writing. Many of my books have strong cross-cultural themes or elements. Throughout the month of August, I’m giving away my book Broken Windows, the first in my Art Spotlight Mysteries. My lead character in that series has grown up as an MK in Taiwan.
Since you’ve already subscribed to my Book Blast, you may have already read Broken Windows, the book I’m featuring in this group promotion, but I encourage you to go to the promo anyway. That will allow you to see books from nine other Christian writers who write cozy mysteries and suspense. If you like my book, you may like theirs as well. Each author is offering a free book in exchange for joining their newsletter.
Because some of you may have received Broken Windows in an earlier promo, and because I want to reward my subscribers who get my newsletter and read it, I’m going to give away another free book. I’ve never given this book away before. Déjà Who? is the second in the Art Spotlight Mysteries. You can get your free copyhere. Please don’t share this link with others. It’s for my subscribers only.
Leave a comment. If you’ve spent time in a foreign country, how has that experience changed you? Leave a comment to share with my readers.
It’s great to have Kindle Unlimited and have access to so many books. Sometimes, however, too many options can make it hard to know which books to choose. From now until the end of April, I’m partnering with other Christian fiction authors to share our books which are free to KU subscribers. I haven’t read all these books, but they should all be both clean and Christian. Why not try one out and find out about a Christian author who is new to you?
My books Short Poppies and Broken Windows are both featured in this promo. Due to a mistake that can’t be corrected, it looks like Broken Windows is no longer offered, but you can still find it on Amazon KU.
Many of my books are also now offered in Kindle Unlimited. Here’s a list of them:
New Beginnings Series:
Short Poppies
Give It a Go
Pop In for a Cuppa
Art Mystery Series:
Broken Windows
Déjà Who?
I Scream
True Story and Companion Bible Study:
Edges of Truth: The Mary Weaver Story
I Survived! :5 Bible Characters Who Survived Disasters
On a personal note, the most exciting thing that’s happened in our family since my last Book Blast is getting a new family member. Benji Barnabas Brammer is our new dog!
Since we got married 47 years ago, we’ve travelled a lot. Being missionaries meant leaving our fields of service for regular furloughs and extensive travels during those furloughs. That made owning a dog complicated. About 30 years ago, when we lived in Taiwan, we did have Muffin, a white toy poodle. Sadly, after two years, Muffin was killed in an accident. Other than those two years, we were completely dogless. By Christmas of 2024, however, we had settled down in our Iowa home for retirement. No more excuses. I really needed a dog!
Benji, a black miniature poodle puppy, became our dog! He stole our heart from the first moment. Since our two daughters currently don’t have a dog, Benji became the dog for the whole family.
While we love him dearly and can hardly keep our hands off him, we had never raised a puppy before so we weren’t quite prepared for the parenting job he would require. While human babies go through some stages of development one at a time, our puppy was going through potty training, teething (chewing), and crying (barking) through the night all at one time. Thankfully, he is mainly potty trained now and doesn’t bark much throughout the night. Whew! What a relief!
So, a couple of weeks ago, I had a great idea. “How come churches don’t allow dogs to come?” I asked. Benjie loves to meet people and dogs and I could imagine going to a church that allows dogs, showing Benji off and getting to know the dogs of my church friends.
It seemed like a good idea at the time!
Then we took Benji in for what we thought was a free nail trim at one of our local pet stores. He met a leashed dog in an aisle. Suddenly, the other dog snapped at our sweet little Benji! Another dog barked loudly from the grooming section. In the grooming area a large basset hound displayed serious signs of stress while a groomer gave him a bath. I realized then that dogs often feel stressed in unfamiliar places, especially while they are being groomed or have different restrictions they are used to. Can you imagine the pandemonium with a church full of dogs?
So much for dog church.
Spring is just around the corner, at least for those of us in the Northern Hemisphere. May this be a joyful time for you wherever you are today. If you’re feeling stressed, I hope you have opportunity to read an uplifting Christian book.
Do you ever wonder if God is smiling on you?Sure, you know God loves you, but do you wonder if He is pleased with you? Maybe you try to please him but you feel you fail more than anything. You confess every sin you can think of, but you still sin occasionally. … Continue reading →
I’ve posted this story before but I’m posting it again now, especially for my newer subscribers. Mary Weaver was a godly caregiver for a baby in Eldora, Iowa. When the baby died, Mary was charged with first-degree murder and child endangerment. She was considered guilty until proven innocent and had to fight to clear her name. Steve Brennecke, her lawyer and personal friend, was convinced of her innocence and worked hard to defend her. But after her second trial, Mary found herself in prison.
This Thanksgiving story is an excerpt of the book Edges of Truth: The Mary Weaver Story by Deb Brammer and Steve Brennecke. As I wrote this story I was continually challenged by Mary’s thankfulness in a very difficult situation. I hope this story will be a blessing to you during this Thanksgiving season.
Prison Blues: A Thanksgiving Challenge
Mary Weaver sat on her prison bunk and slipped a family photo from the pages of her Bible. It pictured her with her husband and two children, before she was sentenced to life in prison without parole. She caressed her red-headed son John and his blonde sister Catherine in the picture. For sixteen months she had only seen them once a week when her husband brought them to the prison visiting room.
It all started January 22, 1993 when Mary was providing childcare for 11-month-old Melissa. Mary was putting the baby’s snowsuit on when Melissa quit breathing. Mary called 9-1-1 and performed CPR until the ambulance came, but the baby died within a day. The autopsy found a two-inch skull fracture and other severe injuries that were seven to ten days old. Some doctors ignored these older injuries and believed Melissa’s death was caused by acute injuries from shaking and possibly slamming the baby just before she quit breathing. Since Mary was with Melissa during the forty-two minutes before she quit breathing, they believed Mary must have caused the fatal injuries.
Mary had never done anything to hurt Melissa but opinion on her guilt was divided. She was eventually sent to prison for murder. Her lawyers were seeking to appeal her case, but over a year had passed and they still hadn’t been able to get a new trial. Meanwhile Mary was separated from her husband and kids who were now five and six years old.
Mary felt sure God would eventually free her and clear her name. She was a Christian and she knew God would get her through prison one day at a time. But she grieved for her children and unsaved husband. Months had passed into a year and more and her children were growing up without her. She would never get those years back.
As Mary sat in her cell worrying about her family, a guard appeared at the door. “Mrs. Weaver? You got a visitor.”
Mary set her Bible aside and preceded the guard down the prison corridor. Who could this be? As she stepped into the visitor’s room Catherine skipped up to her in a pink tutu and leotard.
“Mommy, Mommy, I’m going to my dance recital! Aunt Lisa brought me so you could fix my hair.” Catherine jumped around until Mary could hardly get a hug from her.
Mary smiled her thanks at her friend, Lisa Murphy, who had figured out this creative way to include Mary in her daughter’s special occasion.
Mary drew her daughter close. “I’d love to fix your hair. Shall we do French braids?”
“Yes, yes, yes, with pink ribbons!” Catherine bounced with every word.
Mary removed ribbons and elastic bands from Catherine’s ponytail and pulled long blonde strands into sections with her fingers.
“Hold still,” she reminded her daughter as she started one braid. Mary breathed in the fruity fragrance of the superfine hair as she began to weave the strands into identical braids on either side of her daughter’s head, then tied perfect pink bows at each end.
Catherine shook her head to feel her new hairdo. “Thank you, Mommy! I can’t wait to see myself in the mirror.”
Mary surreptitiously wiped tears with one sleeve. “You look beautiful. Can you show me your dance?”
Catherine performed several ballet steps, ending with a lopsided pirouette. Mary clapped loudly. “Good job! Just remember, when you’re in that recital today, I’m going to be thinking about you.”
Catherine gazed at her mom with pleading eyes. “I wish you could come to my recital.”
Mary blinked some tears from her eyes. “Me too, sweetheart, but Aunt Lisa will take pictures and I’ll study them carefully. Just remember that your mommy is very proud of you!”
Mary gave her daughter a quick, prison-acceptable hug and watched the two walk away. Satan whispered, “You are missing her recital and all the other important moments in her life.”
Mary lifted her chin. But God allowed me to fix her hair. God gave me that precious moment. God is good.
She thought of other ways God had allowed her to mother her children as well. God had given Mary a prison job, and her wages had been raised from thirty-eight to forty-one cents an hour. So what if it was only ten percent of minimum wage? The job made her time pass more quickly, and she could use the money in the commissary or craft store. Supporters could also add twenty dollars a week to her prison account. The activities directors had been especially kind to use this money to purchase fabric and patterns for her. Mary had been able to sew outfits for the kids, paint T-shirts, and buy presents for them.
Mary returned to her cell, sat on her bunk, opened her Bible, and prayed. Lord, help me to be thankful for what I have, not to complain about what I don’t have.
A prison sentence made it easy to slide into self-pity. Unfairness could defeat her but only if she let it. Instead she thought about The Hiding Place, a prison library book she had recently read. Corrie ten Boom had hidden Jews in Holland during World War II. The Nazis had caught her and thrown her into a bitter cold prison for four months, then a women’s extermination camp in Germany. Except for her sister, who was imprisoned with her for a time, Corrie had almost no contact with her family. She and her sister existed in overcrowded, filthy cells with little regard for sanitation and little to eat. They were allowed no exercise or fresh air.
Like Mary, Corrie was unfairly imprisoned, yet Corrie’s sister challenged her to focus on what she had. Corrie accepted the challenge. In solitary confinement she hungered for human contact, but she thanked God for an ant that crawled into her cell and provided a bit of company. In one of her prison cells, for one hour a day, she could stretch herself out tall and feel the sun shine on her head and chest. She thanked God for the sunshine. Later, at the extermination camp, she slept piled on a straw-covered platform with many other prisoners, sandwiched between other crowded platforms. Fleas infested the stinking straw, but Corrie even learned to thank God for the fleas. The tiny insects kept the guards away from the overcrowded bunk, where she hid her precious Bible.
Mary closed her eyes to shut out the conversation of the other inmates lounging right outside her cell. Her prison cell was the Ritz Carlton compared to the ones in the book. “Thank you, Lord, that my family is safe and that I can see them every week. Thank you that I have other gals to talk to. You’ve even given me a roommate who seems to be a true Christian. Thank you that I can feel safe in prison, that other inmates haven’t given me trouble, that the guards treat me with respect. Thank you that I have a Bible and I can read it openly, whenever I want. Thank you that I’ve grown closer to you in prison.”
The State had stolen her family. The first year they seized all her possessions, even her clothes. Only now they allowed her to keep a few things of her own. The State could separate her from her home and family, but they couldn’t take God away from her and they couldn’t take her away from God. She would focus on him and the things she was allowed to enjoy. Today that meant fixing her daughter’s hair for a special occasion.
