Happy New Year readers!

Since last April, I’ve been working with a team of authors to promote Faith Focused Women’s Fiction for one year. With each Book Blast I’ve given you a link to a free book by another author. This month I’ll tell you how to find more clean, wholesome Christian books on a regular, but manageable basis. Find out more at the end of this Book Blast. I hope you’ll keep reading my newsletters as they come out. In March, I’ll finish the year by giving all my subscribers a free book by me.

Unprecedented attendance at Tay Street Baptist Church for our Christmas service/dinner and our farewell Sunday.

If you’re a fan of the Monk show, you might remember Adrian Monk, the defective detective, saying, “I don’t mind change. I just don’t want to be there when it happens.” Sometimes I feel the same way, but since my last Book Blast, my normal routine has been seriously challenged. Transition by definition  means change. And I’ve had heaps of it in the last month.

Since my December Book Blast I’ve:

• Left our home, the house we loved and decorated for 25 years, and left New Zealand to prepare for retirement in the US.
• Said goodbye to all our NZ friends and our church ministry that has been such a huge part of our lives, not knowing if or when we will see them again.
• Traveled 30 hours from an airport in NZ to an airport in Des Moine, Iowa.
• Broken a tooth the morning we began that trip, and seen a brand-new dentist within 12 hours of landing.
• Signed up for a dental plan on day one in the US and begun to work through medical plans and insurance for a medical system that is completely different than what we used in NZ.
• Fried my computer in NZ and got almost everything off the hard drive to put on a “new” computer in the US. (As Monk would say, “The word ‘almost’ is the most interesting part of that last sentence.”)
• Joined our family in the US for Christmas for the second year in a row!
• Found a new home to buy and set the settlement date at January 30.
• Begun to visit new churches to find a new church home.
• Begun to drive a car I’m not used to, on the opposite side of the road than I’m used to, in a place I don’t begin to know my way around.
• Begun to learn about new products and new brands in new stores for all the basic needs we have. (Including gluten free options.)
• Started gathering and buying furniture for a house we’ve only been inside a few times.
• Made key moves on our journey from full-time, active missionary service to retirement late in 2024.

I knew this period of transition would be filled with changes. But I just gotta say, sometimes change can become downright inconvenient. Funnily enough*, somehow the change that has chafed the most has been my computer problems. So much of my life has revolved around ministry and writing that I get rather antsy when my computer is having problems. So, I guess I shouldn’t be surprized at how traumatic this has been.

Thankfully, due to the help of my husband and two computer techies, I have my computer problems almost resolved.

In the last month, several key people in our lives, strangers or people we don’t know well, have shown us amazing generosity in helping us leave one home and get into another.

In spite of some transition difficulties, my husband and I are still talking to each other. 😊

And then there’s God. Except for the computer problems, we’ve seen God’s hand constantly making this process so much easier than usual. We’re so thankful for the blessings we are receiving every day.

Brammer family at Christmas time.

Maybe you’re going through a period of transition that leaves you scratching your head. Why is God allowing the problems you are encountering? While we’ve seen God work in amazing ways in our lives, we’ve also had times when we couldn’t see him working. Other times we’ve been surprised to find out that, during the dark times, God was working in ways we couldn’t see.

When have you gone through periods of great change? How have you found God faithful? As you enter the new year, I hope you can leave your worries and concerns in God’s hands. As we delight to do His will, He will lead us through every problem and trial. Praise God for his unending grace!

Free ebook, news about featured deals and authors!

This month’s Faith Focused Women’s Fiction offering isn’t just a book, but a place to find lots of books. Sheepgate Publishing’s weekly magazine comes to your inbox each Friday and features deals and information on 5-7 Christian books each time, along with an interview of a featured author. When you subscribe, you’ll be offered a free ebook called Where to Look in the Bible, a topical reference to where to find Scripture about various topics.

Get your free ebook and find out more about new releases, deals, and freebies on clean, wholesome, fiction books when you subscribe.

Sheepgate Publishing also offers daily deals on their Facebook page.

Free book by Lynn Dean!

Each month from now until March 2024, I’ll give you a link to a free book by another author. During one month of that time, one of my books will become free for my subscribers. Scroll down to find out more about this month’s free book: More Precious Than Gold by Lynn Dean. You’ll also find links to two of my books that are in Kindle Unlimited and the price reductions that are available until after Christmas.

I’ll be home for Christmas – for a change.

This Christmas we will do something that we haven’t done since 1999. We will be with our daughters and family for Christmas for the second year in a row! Since we are full time missionaries in New Zealand and they live in the States, we’ve only been able to be with them at Christmas every 3 or 4 years or so. This year, however, we’ve bought our first one-way ticket from New Zealand. We will arrive in Iowa homeless, preparing to buy a home to retire in. Even though we spent last Christmas with family, and had a great time, we get to spend Christmas with them again. We may now have many Christmases together. What a treat!

From 1980 to 1999 we had daughters at home, but were usually away from parents and extended family. Art and I and our two daughters followed many simple traditions that made the season special. I asked my daughters for help in writing this blog, and I realize that, for us, crafts were the biggest part of the fun. We cut out snowflakes, decorated cut-out cookies, decorated the house and the tree. Special ornaments and music added to the fun.

As missionaries, we were prepared to leave our parents and live in some far-off country. Years later we had to be prepared to have our own children leave us. So how did we keep the joy in our Christmas when we were away from home and family?

My daughter Lisa nailed the answer to the wall. “I think a big part of what made separation from family okay for us,” she writes, “was that you chose to be happy at Christmas time and serve others whether or not we were able to visit family that year or not. I think Lori (her sister) and I have both inherited that attitude. Also, Christmas is a family holiday because we’ve made it that way. But it is certainly in keeping with the real meaning of the holiday to be apart from family because of where you serve Him or to use being apart as a chance to reach to others.”

Choose to be happy at Christmastime.

Wow! That made me think. She was right. Over the years, we chose to make Christmas fun as well as meaningful.  There were a couple difficult years, however, when being happy at Christmas was a definite choice. Before she was married, Lisa spent many Christmases apart from family. How did she cope as a young adult?

“Other favorite things” she writes, “include going caroling, singing in choirs, sending and receiving cards,” she writes. “I look forward to hearing recordings of Handel’s Messiah each Christmas. I try to reflect on the Christmas story and perhaps write a little reflection for myself. I send cards to people who have blessed me that year. I get involved at my church. When I do all that stuff, it’s hard to find time to be lonely at Christmas. (This was true even in my single days.) I like to think back to the various places I have spent Christmas and who I’ve spent them with. I appreciated the hospitality of others, several of whom were also MK’s before me. I like the years I’ve been hosted by other family members or friends, but I think I enjoy even more thinking about years I’ve been the hostess.”

During her single years, Lisa reached out to international students or lonely people with simple holiday dinners or invitations. She continues to do this as a married woman.

Jesus was away from home on His first Christmas too.

Jesus left His home in heaven where he was worshiped and adored to begin the life of a servant on earth. He gave up so much to provide salvation for us. If serving him takes us far from home, is that too much for Him to ask? I would never want my desire to be close to family keep me from serving Him. His birth is certainly the main reason for Christmas. But I think he is also pleased when we use the occasion to build family memories and enjoy the many good gifts He gives us.

What are you doing this Christmas? Whether you are far away from home or with family and friends, I hope you can find a good way to celebrate. If the Christmas season is a difficult time for you, may you draw close to Jesus and find comfort and encouragement. Whatever your situation is, you can still choose to make it a happy time. And making good choices is an important key to living the Christian life.

 As a teen, I lived near the beautiful Sangre de Christo mountains in southern Colorado and northern New Mexico. “Sangre de Christo” means “blood of Christ,” something that is precious to me. So, when I saw a series of Christian historical novels with the same name, that really piqued my interest.

Growing up in Texas, Lynn dictated her first stories to her mama before she was old enough to write them down herself. She’s been telling stories in one form or another ever since. After her children were grown, Lynn found she had a slew of characters living in her head, all clamoring to tell their stories and insisting that she write them! Now she writes about the things she knows and loves–God, family, history–and how those things fit together to demonstrate timeless truths.

The bullet that killed Eliza Gentry’s fiance shattered her dreams as well. Clinging to her battered faith, she heads west to escape her grief and runs headlong into the man who caused it. Tall and headstrong, Eliza expected to remain an “unclaimed treasure.” Devastated in the wake of the Civil War, she leaves her home in Texas and sets out for New Mexico’s Sangre de Cristo mountains in search of peace and new purpose but discovers a wild western frontier where former enemies–Yankees and Rebels, Freedmen and Indians–square off in the quest for land and gold. Eliza must confront her prejudices and fears, and Jacob Craig embodies that conflict. The mountain man wins her trust with his gentle strength, but he harbors a secret. As a Union sharp-shooter, he met her fiance on the field of battle and cost him his life. Can she forgive him? To find peace and the future she yearns for, Eliza must first find in God a faith more precious than gold. A real ghost town comes to life in this award-winning story of love, forgiveness, and the sovereignty of God. Christian historical fiction readers will love the way this story combines the adventure of classic historical western fiction with a dash of romance.

Get More Precious than Gold, in exchange for subscription to her newsletter.

Last month I told you about the 10^th anniversary of Edges of Truth: The Mary Weaver Story and its companion Bible study, I Survived! Both books can be used as stand-alone books. Now that Christmas is just around the corner, let me remind you that some editions of this book are on sale until after Christmas.

Get Edges of Truth: The Mary Weaver Story

• Free on Kindle Unlimited
• $2.99 for Kindle (price reduced 40%)
• $11.95 for paperback (price reduced 15%)

Get I Survived! – the companion Bible Study

• Free on Kindle Unlimited
• $ .99 for Kindle
• $6.95 for paperback

Forget what these books are about?

Edges of Truth is the true story of Mary Weaver. When a baby in her care had a seizure, Mary called 9-1-1 and did CPR, but later in the day, the baby died. Mary was charged with first degree murder and had to fight to clear her name.

I Survived! looks at 5 Bible characters who survived disasters. Each of the 11 chapters uses an illustration from Edges of Truth, but can also be used independently.

If you’ve actually read all the way to the bottom of this post, I hope you have a wonderful, Christ-filled Christmas.

Free book by Michelle Massaro!

Each month from now until March 2024, I’ll give you a link to a free book by another author. During one month of that time, my book will become free for my subscribers. Scroll down to find out more about this month’s free book: Better Than Fiction by Michelle Massaro, but as you scroll down, don’t miss other freebies and reduced prices on my books.

November 22, 2013 was a night I’ll never forget. Book launches and signings can be disappointing, even embarrassing when few attend, but this book launch was different. I was launching my book Edges of Truth: The Mary Weaver Story, in Marshalltown, Iowa. As an author, I was known to very few in the area, but Mary Weaver was a celebrity—for all the wrong reasons.

Twenty years earlier, Mary was providing childcare for a baby who had a seizure. Mary called 9-1-1 and performed CPR on the baby, but later in the day the baby died. From brain injuries. Medical experts believed Mary had to have shaken and slammed the baby during the 42 minutes she had spent with the baby that day. In time, this innocent babysitter faced charges of first-degree murder and child endangerment. The shocking case made headlines for months, then years. But while some medical experts testified against Mary, others testified in her defense. Steve Brennecke, her friend and lawyer, was convinced of her innocence and fought to prove it. Frank Santiago, a prominent reporter in the area, kept her case alive. The Mary Weaver Support Group wrote letters, ran car washes, and marched in the rain, supporting her innocence. When the unthinkable happened and all hope seemed gone, God was still working in her case.

Twenty years after the baby’s death, people came early and lined up at the door of the book launch to get in. Some had come four hours or more to buy a signed book. Mary’s family was there. Frank Santiago, the reporter, stood beside Paul Rosenberg, Mary’s appeal lawyer and traded stories with Steve. The one jury member who voted “not guilty” in her first trial also spoke to Steve. Members of the Mary Weaver support group viewed photos of their earlier activities in her behalf. The venue filled with over a hundred people who, twenty years after the baby’s death, still supported Mary. No one was going away soon. Mary, Steve and I all spoke about the amazing way God had worked in Mary’s murder case.

This month is the 10^th anniversary of that momentous book launch. I count it an honor to be Mary’s friend and to be entrusted with a story that spoke to me over and over again during the two years that I gathered information from Mary and Steve, wrote the story, and brought it to print. To celebrate this special time, I’m sharing these things with all of my subscribers, including links to two of my books that are in Kindle Unlimited for the first time. Feel free to share with others and think Christmas.

Read a Thanksgiving story

“Prison Blues: A Thanksgiving Story,” a free chapter from Edges of Truth that will melt your heart and challenge you to be thankful. Can be read as a stand-alone story.

Watch the book trailer

Click anywhere on the photo to view this video.

Access information from the MaryWeaverStory website

Read book reviews, copy sharable quotes, find more of the inside story about this true story and its pathway to publication.

Get Edges of Truth: The Mary Weaver Story

• Free on Kindle Unlimited
• $2.99 for Kindle (price reduced 40%)
• $11.95 for paperback (price reduced 15%)

Get I Survived! – the companion Bible Study

• Free on Kindle Unlimited
• $ .99 for Kindle
• $6.95 for paperback

Now for the book by Michelle Massaro you can get for free in exchange for subscribing to her newsletter.

Novelist Meghan Townsend’s book is a stirring love story, spun from the depths of her own personal longing. In an effort to rekindle her husband’s affections, she takes up an exercise regimen and meets a charming and friendly personal trainer – who soon begins to appear in her story as the leading man. But as Meghan finds herself captivated by the passionate scenes she pens, she descends into a perilous trap of romantic fantasy – losing sight of the messy, yet genuine, love that awaits her in reality. How far will Meghan fall before discovering what lies at the heart of true love?

Michelle Massaro writes contemporary fiction soaked in grace. A Southern California native, she and her husband now proudly make their home in East Tennessee. When she isn’t busy pondering wordsmithy, this homeschooling mom enjoys board games with the family and snuggling her Pomeranian. She also loves exploring new creative hobbies like painting, resin crafting, photography, and graphic design. Fuzzy socks and a good French roast always make her happy.

Get Michelle’s book here.

I like to think of this meme as a step of faith instead of a broken promise.

I planned my New Beginning series, Books 1-3, a few years ago. The books would feature Americans partnering with New Zealanders in church planting ministry. I wrote a pretty good rough draft of all three books, one right after another. During the tightened restrictions of Covid in 2020, I worked with a designer to create covers for all three. All was going according to plan. Short Poppies released in September of 2021. Give It a Go released September of 2022. So even though we were planning a six-month furlough starting in November 2022, I posted a meme announcing Pop In for a Cuppa was “coming in 2023!” I didn’t see any reason I couldn’t release this book by the end of 2023. After all, at that point I had it all written in fairly good shape and just needed to fill in some things and give it a final polish.

That was before we located a potential local pastor and wife who could take over our mission ministry in 2023. And before we knew that 2023 would be a pivotal, transition year when we would leave our church planting ministry of 25 years in New Zealand to begin our transition to retirement in America.

During this transition, in the last 7 months of 2023 we would need to:

• Return from a busy furlough in America
• Pass on all the ministry responsibilities we are currently doing at our church, a bit at a time
• Work out the details of an employment contract for the church’s first salaried pastor
• Sell our house, car, furniture and most of our household goods
• Say goodbye to all our New Zealand friends, not knowing if we will ever see them again
• Return to America, ready to spend Christmas with our family

After all that we will have to buy a house and make big changes in practically every part of our life. But I’ll save that for 2024.

Back to my book 3, Pop In for a Cuppa. Announcing its release in 2023 was a step of faith for me.

Some people think that a step of faith means I have the faith, so God will deliver. If he doesn’t, either I’m a failure or He is. But I don’t see it that way. Faith isn’t about manipulating God to do my will. To me, a step of faith is just that. One step. I don’t know what the outcome will be, but as I take each step I think God has for me, I ask the Lord to lead me forward into His will for my life.

So I had planned to publish Pop In for a Cuppa in 2023, but God had a better plan. A plan for our church, our retirement, our family. Working with a new pastor and winding up our 25 years of our current ministry became more important than releasing my book on schedule in 2023.

God’s timing is always right. I now plan to publish Pop In for a Cuppa in 2024, but only God knows the future. As far as I can see, retirement should be a time when I can devote more time to write, publish, and promote my books—along with different kinds of ministry and much more time with family. It will be a different season of life for me.

Since I began writing for Christian publication since 1979, I’ve gone through many seasons of life. Some seasons of life I had more time to write than others, but God has given me opportunities to write throughout that whole time. Maybe you’re in a season of life when you have dreams, but not the time or resources to pursue them. If God is really leading you to do these things, he will show you the way.

In the past few months, I’ve been claiming this promise from God. “The Lord will fulfill his purpose for me.” (Psalm 138:8 NIV) What plans have you put on hold because your present season of life doesn’t allow you to pursue it? Have you given those plans to God? What can you rejoice in during your current season of life?

As I began to communicate with Ruth Whong a few months ago, I found several things we have in common.

• Ruth grew up in Hong Kong and Taiwan. My husband and I served as missionaries to Taiwan for sixteen years.
• Ruth is a pastor’s wife, and so am I. She and her husband served together at three churches from 1987 to 2020. My husband and I served in a couple of churches in Taiwan from 1980 to 1996 and have now served in our current New Zealand church since 1998.
• Of course, we’re both writers. Both of our husbands encourage our writing ministries.

Ruth’s pathway to publishing novels went down different roads than mine did. Ruth works for a small biotech company and has published 120+ scientific books and papers (under a different name). She’s a latecomer to creative writing, but has published four books in the last two years. The Way We Forgive is loosely based on events in Ruth’s life but is written like fiction. Her recent release, Blazing China, reached Amazon’s #1 new release in Asian Literature in August.

During her husband’s last sabbatical, he and Ruth worked as volunteers at the Garden Tomb. She has incorporated her experiences there into Love at the Garden Tomb.  This book takes place at the same time as The Way We Forgive.

You can get this contemporary Christian romance for free when you sign up for her newsletter here.

Lily Young is content to leave love to others more qualified. Betrayed and kicked out of her family home in Taiwan at sixteen, she can’t afford to get hurt again.

Josh Ying has his own share of life’s adversities. Growing up in Hong Kong with a sick older brother, he is the invisible child until he makes a bold demand that leads to a dire consequence.

Constant interactions at Ohio State University bring two desolate souls together. Yet personal hardship and circumstances beyond their control, plus unresolved guilt and resentment, scatter them in different directions.

Years later, they run into each other again at the Garden Tomb in Israel. Under the spell of the Jerusalem Syndrome (a set of mental phenomena that involves religious, psychosis-like experiences), will they jeopardize their hearts again?

Get your free book here.