Nothing But Trouble is a most appropriate title for this book, as the reader quickly finds out. PJ Sugar is an extremely likeable, well-meaning young lady who seems to walk around under a perpetual “Murphy’s Cloud” – if anything can go wrong for her, it usually does! Her return to her hometown is filled with adventure and misadventure, but she perseveres and takes the reader right along with her as she solves a mystery and gains a new understanding of herself and those closest to her. I came away from this book hoping to see more of PJ Sugar in future stories!  ~ Lori

About the Author ~

Susan grew up in Wayzata, a suburb of Minneapolis, and became an avid camper from an early age. Her favorite fir-lined spot is the north shore of Minnesota is where she met her husband, honeymooned and dreamed of living.

The north woods easily became the foundation for her first series, The Deep Haven series, based on a little tourist town along the shores of Lake Superior. Her first full-length book, Happily Ever After, became a Christy Award Finalist published in 2004 with Tyndale/Heartquest.

As an award winning author, Susan returned home in 2004, to her native Minnesota after serving for eight years with her husband and four children as missionaries with SEND International in Far East Russia. She now writes full time from Minnesota’s north woods and the beautiful town that she always dreamed of living in.

You can sample a chapter of each and every one of Susan’s novels, on her website, HERE. Read the rest of this entry »

It’s very easy to be fooled by the title and description of this book, fooled into believing that BoneMan’s Daughter is a dark and repulsive horror story centered on killing people and serial killers. Truth be told, none of these myths even touch on what Ted Dekker’s latest epic work is about. Sure, a few people die, but not in graphic detail, and not in huge droves. The better description of BoneMan requires pretty much just five words: God saved man from this. To find the other sixty gazillion words, read the book. No matter what you may think or predict when you begin this book, it will not remain the same when you finally put the novel down, and neither will you! Start now, and discover the ultimate heartpounding story, told in the way that only Dekker could do.  ~ Caleb A.

About the Author ~

Ted is the son of missionaries John and Helen Dekker, whose incredible story of life among headhunters in Indonesia has been told in several books. Surrounded by the vivid colors of the jungle and a myriad of cultures, each steeped in their own interpretation of life and faith, Dekker received a first-class education on human nature and behavior. This, he believes, is the foundation of his writing. Read the rest of this entry »

This morning a dear friend sent me a YouTube clip that reminded me how precious are our dreams. As a child, I had so many dreams of what life might be like when I grew up. I remember sitting on top of the corncob pile with my friend, Marlae, and planning my family-t0-be, career-to-be, and home-to-be. Can I just tell you that most days I am overwhelmed by all that God has done in my life and I find myself saying, “I never dreamed …”

Our dreams come from the Dream Giver. Some are small, but many of us have big dreams. I love a song called “Dream Big” by the Martins. Here are the lyrics:

I believe that anything is possible
if we understand who Jesus is
I believe there’s nothing that can
stop us
if we learn to dream like Jesus did
So don’t limit your ambition
to what’s commonly defined
God has a special heart
for those who walk outside the line
Don’t be afraid to spread your wings
and fly
It doesn’t hurt to try
If you’re gonna dream… Read the rest of this entry »

This morning, as I was spending time in the Word, God opened my eyes to a truth about myself that I’ve longed to understand for the last thirty years. I’m going to share it with you now, because I wonder if it might be true for you too. I was reading in 2 Corinthians 5:1-9

Now we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands. Meanwhile we groan, longing to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling, because when we are clothed, we will not be found naked. For while we are in this tent, we groan and are burdened, because we do not wish to be unclothed but to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. Now it is God who has made us for this very purpose and has given us the Spirit as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.  Therefore we are always confident and know that as long as we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord. We live by faith, not by sight. We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord. So we make it our goal to please him, whether we are at home in the body or away from it.

You may already know that Paul’s reference to our “earthly tent” is speaking about our physical bodies. Not many of us live in actual tents in the twenty-first century, but in those days many people were nomads, living in tents, and Paul was a tent-maker (Acts 18:1), so this was a reasonable metaphor for him to use. While a tent is temporary, unstable, and unsure, the resurrected, glorified body of a believer is secure, solid, and permanent. I can’t help but wonder if the reason why so few of us are content with our physical bodies is because God created us in such a way that somewhere, deep in our heart, we know that there is a better body waiting for us when we get to heaven – and THAT body will reflect our transformed lives. Read the rest of this entry »