Guest Author, Sherri Stewart

I’ve always been interested in stories about World War II, and I thank Sherri for being here today to tell us about her new book.

 

Goedemorgen. That’s Dutch for good morning. I’m Sherri Stewart. I’m not from the Netherlands but my newest book takes place there, so I’ve been immersing myself in the country and the language. I love writing clean novels, sprinkled with romance and a strong message that hopefully challenges your faith. I spend my working hours with books—either editing others’ manuscripts or writing my own. My passion is traveling to the settings of my books, sampling the food and visiting the sites. My trip to the Netherlands to research this book was everything and more than I could have dreamed of. I’m a recent widow and live in the Orlando area with my lazy dog, Lily, and my son, Joshua, who can fix anything. I share recipes, tidbits of my books’ locations, and pix in my monthly newsletters. Subscribe at http://eepurl.com/gZ-mv9

 

A Song for Her Enemies is my first attempt at a World War II romance. My faith hero has always been Corrie ten Boom, so when my publisher asked us to pick a female hero and write a fictional account of the person from another’s point of view, I jumped at the chance. Little did I know that the book would consume me for two years. It took on a life of its own. Corrie passed away in the 80s, and many of the survivors of the holocaust have left us, but I don’t want them to be forgotten. I want people to know what happened over there—to learn from it, or we’ll make the same mistakes again.

 

For those of you unfamiliar with Corrie, I’ll tell you a bit about her. She was a middle-aged watchmaker who lived with her father and her older sister, Betsie. Her family had a heart for the Jewish people in her Haarlem neighborhood, so when families started disappearing and Nazis looted shops and houses, Corrie opened her home to Jewish refugees. My story is told from the point of view of a young Jewish singer named Tamar, who sought refuge in her house. I couldn’t get permission from the ten Boom estate to write a fictional account about Corrie, so I wrote about violinist Neelie Visser instead. Since she’s made up, I don’t need to get permission from her estate.

 

Here’s a bit about the book. After Nazi soldiers close the opera and destroy Tamar Kaplan’s dream of becoming a professional singer, she joins the Dutch Resistance, her fair coloring concealing her Jewish heritage. Tamar partners with Dr. Daniel Feldman, and they risk their lives to help escaping refugees. When they are forced to flee themselves, violinist Neelie Visser takes them into hiding.

Tamar’s love for Daniel flowers in hardship, but she struggles with the paradox that a loving God would allow the atrocities around her. When Tamar resists the advances of a Third Reich officer, he exacts his revenge by betraying the secrets hidden behind the walls of Neelie’s house. From a prison hospital to a Nazi celebration to a concentration camp, will the three of them survive to tell the world the secrets behind barbed wire?  

A Song for Her Enemies is the story of a talented young opera singer and the bittersweet love that grows amid the tyranny and fear of World War II. Set against the backdrop of neighbors willing to risk their lives in the German-occupied, war-torn Netherlands, A Song for Her Enemies is an inspiring and beautiful novel celebrating the resilience of the human spirit and the determination of Christians in the face of persecution. It is a novel for everyone seeking to understand the pain of the past and be inspired to embrace hope for the future.

Although atrocities occurred during this shameful period of history, I believe it is possible to tell the story without being graphic or maudlin. God promised Jews and Christians a crown of beauty instead of ashes, festive oil instead of mourning, and splendid clothes instead of despair. (Isaiah 61:3) https://amzn.to/2PoCxMV

 

 

 

  

Guest Author, Carol McClain

I'm glad Carol has joined us this morning. This book sounds delightful. And hopeful.

 

JOY COMES IN THE MORNING

BUT UNTIL IT DOES …?

SIN’S NOT ALL IT’S CRACKED UP TO BE—BUT AFTER SORROW, COMES JOY.

 

Numbers 14:18 and similar scriptures always caused me to stumble.

“The Lord is longsuffering, and of great mercy, forgiving iniquity and transgression, and by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation” Numbers 14:18, KJV. (emphasis mine).

 Of course, it wasn’t the fact that God is longsuffering and of great mercy that gave me pause.

That he forgives me and brings me joy.

But why would he hurt the offspring of the iniquitous? They didn’t cause the sin of their parents.

I’ve come to see in my life how this happens. My parents had been alcoholics (past tense—forgiven and forgotten). However, my siblings and I mimicked their pattern of behavior. I won’t reveal the foibles of my siblings or the specifics of my own. I had dabbled in alcohol and drugs. Then, I accepted Jesus and swore off anything bringing inebriation.

Throughout my life, though, I’ve battled the consequences of my youthful foibles.

In similar patterns, we see children of abuse, abusing their children. Offspring of cheaters, cheat. Even as they despise what happened to them, these individuals repeat the process, unless something breaks the cycle.

Recently, I moved to a county which, at one time, had the third-highest opioid use in the nation. I involved myself with mentoring and sadly watched so many fervent individuals relapse into addiction.

Why? Patterns learned enthrall us. And, sin has consequences.

Oh, aren’t you glad you’re reading this blog?

Here comes the good part.

SALVATION AND MENTORING WORK.

Through my time working and mentoring addicts, I heard many horror stories of those who have been conquered by sin. Despite overwhelming odds, I’ve rejoiced with many who had conquered their past.

From this, Borrowed Lives was born. From this, I know the issues confronting people and the wonderful way they’ve conquered them—whether it be from drugs or human cruelty. (You’ve never faced a miserable human, have you? I didn’t think so. Although I believe most people are good-hearted, miserable humans thrive. Surprise!).

Borrowed Lives

Tragedy broke Meredith Jaynes, then she found three abandoned children.

 

This novel creates a world where things aren’t perfect, even for devoted Christians. As sin is overcome and as we walk in God, we may not get our “happily ever after.” With dependence on Christ and His ways, we will live happily.

SO, WHY SHOULD YOU READ THIS NOVEL?

1.    Humor. Even when I’m not trying to be funny, I am. I can’t help it. Move over Carol Burnett. This Carol’s taking over.

2.    Spiritual truth. Even when I’m entertaining, I’m guided by Scripture. By now it’s in the very fabric of my being.

3.    Local color. I’m still enamored of my new home in Tennessee, so I set the book in Jacksboro—my new hometown. Hopefully, you can see Tennessee’s beauty.

 

Borrowed Lives:

God Only Lends Us Those We Love for a Season 

Distraught from recent tragedy, Meredith Jaynes takes pity on a young girl who steals from her. Meredith discovers “Bean” lives in a hovel mothering her two younger sisters. The three appear to have been abandoned. With no other homes available, Social Services will separate the siblings. To keep them together, Meredith agrees to foster them on a temporary basis.

Balancing life as a soap maker raising goats in rural Tennessee proved difficult enough before the siblings came into her care. Without Bean’s help, she’d never be able to nurture these children warped by drugs and neglect—let alone manage her goats that possess the talents of Houdini. Harder still is keeping her eccentric family at bay.

Social worker Parker Snow struggles to overcome the breakup with his fiancée. Burdened by his inability to find stable homes for so many children who need love, he believes placing the abandoned girls with Meredith Jaynes is the right decision. Though his world doesn’t promise tomorrow, he hopes Meredith’s does.

But she knows she’s too broken.

 

This is available on Amazon at: https://www.amazon.com/Borrowed-Lives-Carol-McClain-ebook/dp/B08Z3HL2FZ/ref

Keep up with all the latest news at: carolmcclain.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/author.Carol.McClain

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Instagram and Twitter: @carol_mcclain

  

Thank You, Jesus

I love reading Psalm 53 around Easter time, and I decided to share the whole passage.

 

Good Friday is a day of sorrow, and it is important for us to remember what Jesus suffered to spare us punishment. Verse 6 touched me this time, that because I went my own way, Jesus died for me.

 

But on Sunday, and every day, we can celebrate, with Jesus, his victory and the joy he has with us.

 

Hebrews 12:2: fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

 

Isaiah 53

Who has believed our message and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?

He grew up before him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of dry ground.

He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.

He was despised and rejected by mankind, a man of suffering, and familiar with pain.

Like one from whom people hide their faces he was despised, and we held him in low esteem.

Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering, yet we considered him punished by God, stricken by him, and afflicted.

But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities;

the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed.

We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way;

and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.

He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth;

he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth.

By oppression and judgment he was taken away.

    Yet who of his generation protested?

For he was cut off from the land of the living; for the transgression of my people he was punished.

He was assigned a grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death,

though he had done no violence, nor was any deceit in his mouth.

Yet it was the Lord’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer,

    and though the Lord makes his life an offering for sin, he will see his offspring and prolong his days,

    and the will of the Lord will prosper in his hand.

After he has suffered, he will see the light of life and be satisfied;

by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many, and he will bear their iniquities.

Therefore I will give him a portion among the great, and he will divide the spoils with the strong, because he poured out his life unto death, and was numbered with the transgressors.

For he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors. 

John 10:1-10 Grace and Truth

Verse 10: The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.

 

The Thief, Satan, comes only to steal and kill and destroy. His purpose is to make our lives and our eternities hell. That is no surprise to most of us.

 

But what about the rest of verse 10? Jesus came to give us life, full, abundant life.

 

How often do I think about that?

 

What is the abundance of life Jesus wants to give to me?

 

In verse 9, he says I will be able to go in and out and find pasture. To me that says that as I stay close to Jesus, not only will I have my needs met, but also I have freedom to move about and find even more of what is available to me in life.

 

Verses 3-5: The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes on ahead of them, and his sheep follow him because they know his voice. But they will never follow a stranger; in fact, they will run away from him because they do not recognize a stranger’s voice.

 

Jesus knows us so well, he calls us by our names. He wants us to recognize his voice, and he promises to lead us. The closer we stay to him, and the more we listen to what he says to us, the harder it will be to hear the voice of any who want to steal and destroy us.

 

Jesus, you want to keep me safe from those who would harm me. Teach me to listen to you and to open my eyes to the lavish delights of life you want to give me. 

Sweet Memories, Some Thoughtful Words

February 3, 1998: Sarah fell at school last week and banged up her mouth and loosened a couple teeth. This morning, her mouth started bleeding again, and it didn't stop for a long time. She asked worriedly, "Do I have enough blood?" A little later she said, "It's never going to stop!" I was holding her later when she was sad, and I reminded her of a book we have called, "It's No Fun to Be Sick." I said, "It's no fun to be hurt either, is it?" She said, "Right now, I think hurt's worser than sick."

 

February 5, 1998: At lunch yesterday, Sarah went into the kitchen to get something. While she was in there, she said, "When I walk around in the kitchen, I feel proud, like I'm a lady."

 

February 10, 1998: The kids are going to a participatory theater this weekend, and Murray was showing them what it might be like, kind of growling at each of them. Sarah asked, "Do it again, use that stern voice."

 

February 16, 1998: This evening Murray and the three middle kids were coming home from the store. Rebecca said something mean to Murray, and then said in a mean way, "Oh, please forgive me." Murray said that he would if Rebecca really meant it, but she was just being mean. Sarah exclaimed, "Oh, Daddy, you're disforgiving."

 

February 16, 1998: Last night we were having hotdogs for supper. I was sitting in my rocking chair, Benjamin was at my feet, and Ping-Hwei was in the kitchen. I told Ping-Hwei to call Benjamin to come to him. He said, "Benjie, come here. Benjie, come here, I give you hotdog, eat."

 

This morning, Ping-Hwei was trying to scare me with the toy animals, like he always does. He showed me a turtle, and I pushed it away, like I was scared, like I always do. He said, "You love turtles. God made turtles."

 

This afternoon, when Murray got home, Sarah said, "Daddy, admire the house! We vacuumed it!"

 

March 2, 1998: We stayed at Jimmy's house this weekend, and all four big kids were sleeping in his living room. After everyone but Caleb was asleep, he said, "The girls are snoring." "I know honey," I said. "Like pigs," he finished matter-of-factly.

 

March 7, 1998: Last night the kids were talking about the circus, and what elephants do in the circus, and Rebecca talked about some tricks she saw at the circus, and then she asked, "Do you know what the tiger did?" "Eat people," Ping-Hwei suggested.

 

This morning Sarah was running between rooms talking, and she said, "I like to gallop when I'm happy, when I talk excitedly."

 

March 15, 1998: Rebecca and Sarah went for a little walk today. When they got back they were telling us all about it, and about how somehow Rebecca's shoe fell off, and Sarah said, "And it made me burst out laughing!"

 

One day last week Ping-Hwei was telling me how his computer wasn't working at school, and he said, "The computer no go to work."

 

Sarah had a substitute teacher one day last week, and when she came home, she said, "It was a much unnormal day." 

A Writer's Prayer

Lord, use me, my words, to touch people and show them your amazing grace, your real truths which can heal their hearts.

Throughout most of my Christian life, I have struggled between God’s grace and his wrath. I believe the Scriptures, that he is both a God of justice and a God of love.

 

Often, however, it has been hard for me to look at the Old Testament Laws, and the violent justice that was done in those times, then look at my sin and believe that God can forgive me.

 

I believe that Jesus died to forgive my sins, but I’ve often found it hard to let that give me peace. To truly believe that God has chosen to forget my sins and remove them as far as the east from the west, according to Psalm 103.

 

A book by author Tessa Afshar, A Pearl in the Sand, came at just the time I needed it.

 

I have been reading in the books of Exodus and Leviticus. In these books, I read about god’s wrath against sin. I also read about many laws which overwhelmed me. I’ve read these books a number of times before, but right now, they’ve particularly bothered me.

 

A Pearl in the Sand is about the army of Israel taking over the city of Jericho, as well as Rahab and Salmon’s love story. In this book, which is fiction, Rahab’s family is being taught the law so that they can join the Israelites.

 

During the lessons, a lady who weaves beautiful garments learns that she can no longer make garments of two kinds of material, such as linen and wool. The lady who teaches her about this says that Israel has many laws which are hard to understand. She says that God wants them to set themselves apart for himself. He doesn’t want them to fall into the habits and practices of the nations who worship false gods.

 

He has given them laws to make themselves different, separate to him, so they won’t be caught up in the sins of the other peoples. She said maybe someday, God would write his truths of being different on their hearts, and they wouldn’t need all of these laws anymore.

 

As I read this fictional account, I knew a peace from my struggles of reading the books of the law.

 

I have been a student of the Bible for over forty years. I have heard all these truths again and again, and I believe them.

 

I know about God writing his law on our hearts.

 

Romans 2:15: They show that the requirements of the law are written on their hearts, their consciences also bearing witness, and their thoughts sometimes accusing them and at other times even defending them.)

 

I know Jesus said he finished the law, completed it.

 

John 19:30: When he had received the drink, Jesus said, “It is finished.” With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.

 

I believe God loved us so much he sent his son to die for us.

 

John 3:16: For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

 

I know he planned this from the beginning of time.

 

2 Timothy 1:9

For God saved us and called us to live a holy life. He did this, not because we deserved it, but because that was his plan from before the beginning of time—to show us his grace through Christ Jesus.

 

And yet, my fears come to me. The devil knows how to hurt me personally in ways that work especially on me and my fears and sorrows.

 

But if this fight comes to me again, I have a new tool to use against it, the words of this precious story. The work of this gentle author who has used wisdom given to her by God.

 

This motivates me even more as a writer to put into words for others things that will teach them about God’s love and grace, personally, in their special fears and doubts.

My Birthday Gift

Last week, I turned 60. First gift, my new book, Gifts of Grace, was released:

 

https://www.amazon.com/Gifts-Grace-Kathy-McKinsey-ebook/dp/B08T7ZHLMZ

 

But that was hardly the end.

 

My middle kids—Caleb, Rebecca, and Sarah—planned and prepared a great surprise for me. An “Author’s Treasure Box.”

 

They collected quotes by writers, for writers, prompts to jump-start your writing on a dry day. They brailled them and cut them in strips, then stuffed them in a pretty little box.

 

I was delighted, sitting at the dinner table, reading through all of them.

 

“There is nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at the typewriter and bleed.” Ernest Hemingway

 

“Good fiction’s job is to comfort the disturbed and disturb the comfortable.” David Foster Wallace

 

“I can shake off everything as I write. My sorrows disappear, my courage is reborn.” Anne Frank

 

“Write a story from an inanimate object’s perspective.”

 

Write about your favorite daughter.” (Wonder who came up with that one?)

 

“A professional writer is an amateur who didn’t quit.” Richard Bach

 

“A shoe falls out of the sky. Why?”

 

“Write about your favorite son.” Hmmm.

 

“There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you.” Zora Neale Hurston

 

Fifty treasures.

 

I kept looking up at Sarah saying, “You guys, you guys.”

 

She said they wanted to do something special for my 60^th.

 

Ping-Hwei and Murray listened as I read. Murray grabbed onto the prompts and took off to make up stories.

 

What a special time. Such a lovely reminder of what a precious gift my family is to me.