Empathy or Ownership?

What can we learn from God's handiwork, his gem of wisdom, the opal?

Opal: Empathy is the ability to understand

another person’s feelings or difficulties.
(From Gems of Wisdom: For a Treasure-filled Life, chapter 3.)

Common opal earrings from the Gems of Wisdom line of jewelry that helps support the Sanctuary of Hope Orphan Homes
www.MyGemOfWisdom.com

 Proverbs 17: 17 says, A friend loves at all times, and a brother was born for a difficult time.

It's so easy to want to fix things for the people we love. But in reality, the beauty of sharing another's burden isn't that we take it from them but that we walk through it with them. We love, listen, and are present when that friend needs someone to hear their pain. It's especially comforting to walk along side when you've "been there, done that" before. That experience is exactly what gives you empathy, understanding for their pain or stress. Don't try to steal away those problems from your friend. You'll be pirating their blessing of empathy to later share with someone else. 

May you be full of empathy and aware of the friends that need it.

Angie

He Said, She Said: A Devotional Guide to Cultivating a Life of Passion

I'm presenting this new release with great pleasure for my friends Eddie and Cindy. They have hearts to serve and do that with love and joy. It's a true honor to share their newest with you here.

~Angie

We're pleased to announce the release of our new book

He Said, She Said: 

A Devotional Guide to Cultivating

a Life of Passion

By Eddie Jones and Cindy Sproles

Do you sense something vital missing from you relationship with your spouse, children and God?

Try He Said, She Said: A Devotional Guide to Cultivating a Life of Passion. This compilation of 54 devotions includes scripture verses, space for journaling, individual prayers and words of wisdom from two of today's funniest and insightful Christian authors. This heart-warming collection of stories will inspire you to reach for the true source of joy: a life lived for and through God. These deeply personal devotions offer biblical insights and spiritual truths from the perspective of one man and one woman.

Perfect for your quiet time. No matter if you are newlyweds or newly retired, this book of devotions will help you put the spark back into your love life and explore the precious relationships God desires for you. Begin this new year committed to spending a few moments each day connected to God. He Said, She Said: A Devotional Guide to Cultivating a Life of Passion touches the heart, tickles the funny bone and brings you to your knees in worship.

The concept of He Said, She Said devotions introduces the readers to looking at one scripture, from two perspectives—his and hers. The beauty in this unique type of devotion come when a man reads the perspective of a woman suddenly grasping a new outlook on the scripture; likewise the same for a woman to read the thoughts and views from a man’s perspective. The reader can then mesh the two together for a deeper and more intimate learning experience.

Eddie Jones and Cindy Sproles have captured the essence of scripture through the heart of a man and a woman, addressing the passions of loving your spouse, your children and ultimately loving the Father deeper than ever before.

He Said, She Said: A Devotional Guide to Cultivating a Life of Passion is available on Amazon Kindle, Nook e-reader and in Paperback. 

Reviews:

From Gina Holmes, author of Crossing Oceans

Cindy and Eddie are not only good friends of mine, but a regular source of my spiritual renewal. It's a great idea, the he-said/she-said concept and I always enjoy their devotionals. Both are not only grounded spiritually, and super nice people but they both keep me laughing. It's that humor and heart that makes the spiritual more relatable in the most practical sense.

From Ane Mulligan, Editor of Novel Journey

I've know Eddie Jones and Cindy Sproles for a few years. Each has a way of tickling my funny bone, so I wondered what a devotional book by them would be. I can heartily recommend it. The humor is there, but it's coupled with deep truths that go straight to the heart of the problem. You'll find a path that winds closer to God through He Said, She Said.

From Scott McCausey, Radio host, Christian Devotions Speak UP!

This devotional series is how I discovered God's gift through Christian Devotion Ministries and all the talented writers who grace their web site, [...]. The relationship between Eddie and Cindy will remind you of the brother or sister you grew up with, full of bantering and love for His word; they will guide you on a spiritual journey full of incite and humor. Don't miss the next He Said She Said, I know I won't!

 From Reader, Nancy Dutton

I enjoy the male and female approach to the heartfelt, refreshing and thought-provoking devotionals. Reading these devotionals helps me draw closer to God. "He Said, She Said" is available and may be delivered to you in various formats, for your convenience.

 From Reader Matt McCurry

My Mom and I both have read the book which is a great collection of devotionals and it's not just for married people; I'm single and can use it in my life as a Christian man. Great reading, I really enjoyed it!

 Please take time to watch our book trailer then pass this along to your friends. Click the link below for Book Trailer:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kq8x8zNS3B4

You may purchase the book at the link below:
http://www.amazon.com/Said-She-Devotional-Cultivating-ebook/dp/B004EEOGZS/ref=sr_1_10?ie=UTF8&qid=1299799494&sr=8-10

He Said, She Said is available in Paperback, on Amazon Kindle and Nook e-reader.


Cindy Sproles
www.christiandevotions.us/
www.devokids.com.
www.cindysproles.com

HE SAID -- SHE SAID
One Scripture -- Two perspectives
(represented by Hartline Literary Agency)

Negative Experiences Can Be Sweet Blessings

How does God's wisdom relate to the gems he created? Check out the common Opal and what it means.

Gems of Wisdom line of jewelry supports the Sanctuary of Hope Orphan Homes and is available at www.MyGemOfWisdom.com

Opal: Ask the question:

How could I make a difference in this world with what I know, from what I’ve survived?

 Proverbs 16: 24 says, Pleasant words are a honeycomb: sweet to the taste and health to the body.

There's no way anyone gets through life without negative experiences. When we focus on how negative, how awful, and how they hurt those experiences become constant festering wounds. But it's amazing how inspirational those experiences can be when we use them to come along side others as they battle those hurts. 

Several years ago, I was asked to share with another woman about my mom's mental illness and how I became her full legal guardian. Over coffee, I heard the terrible hurt she was feeling with her own family member's mental illness. I couldn't have offered her anything had I not already been through what she was experiencing right then and there. But I had. And because of that I could offer her pleasant, helping words. I watched her face transform. She went from stress wrinkles and teary eyes to relaxed and comfortable in our conversation. By the end of our coffee chat, we'd agreed on some mentoring appointments to help her begin to manage the situation instead of being managed by it.

After several of those appointments, her life load had lightened. The situation was still acute. But my lovely friend had a new outlook and sense of purpose in her challenges. I learned that sharing my hurts as a place for others to rest was healthy to help others. But I also learned a special sense of joy and purpose in making a difference in the world with what I've survived.

What one difficulty have you survived that might be a blessing to someone else?

FYI: The opal is easily shattered. But opal dust still holds a shimmer and is often used to create beautiful benches and artwork. Sometimes it's that dusty shimmer that draws attention to the piece. It's an amazing element that can fill in between the cracks and hold things together. But it has to be shattered first before it can become an opalescent filler.

May you shimmer so someone else can rest in your care.

Angie

What's It Like To Be Married To Me? by Linda Dillow

Book Review: Also, I'll choose a winner on Friday of this book and send it out. Post a comment. Make sure I have a way to contact you :-)

Best –selling author Linda Dillow offers up a challenge to Christian women everywhere. Asking honest and real questions such as:  

What’s really important to me?
What does it feel like to be my husband?
What’s it like to make love with me?
Am I willing to change my attitude?
Why do I want to stay mad at him?


A book every married woman should own, mark up, and reread. Loved the practical advice and the direct actions I can take as a married woman to improve my marriage. What's It Like To Be Married To Me? gave me a sense of empowerment, not failure. I started to understand those things I had not been taught. Becoming a godly wife is not simple. It's a journey. But having Linda Dillow's book helps that journey become an easier trek. I loved page 181where Natalie asks God if she can leave her husband. I think so many of us go through difficult marriages and then want to give up. But what if we do what Natalie did when she heard God say, "But I wonder, Natalie, if you'd be willing to stay and see what I will do?"

I think it's hard to be married. I think it's harder to be married in this time because the definition of marriage is changing and it doesn't seem to matter anymore. But it does. And we all instinctively know it does. Broken marriages cause broken hearts in the people, their children, and extended family. Those broken hearts wear that pain for their lifetime. Are you close to a broken marriage? Would you read just one more book? If you have nothing to lose, then why not? What if a little thing changed from reading this book? Would that give you hope to try one more? A bunch of little things strung together create huge change when you look back. Come on, give it a try. You just might have a different choice to make than you thought originally. You might be choosing a second honeymoon.
~Angie


-  www.ChristianBook.com

-  www.FamilyChristian.com



About the book:
Women everywhere wonder if there is more to marriage than what they have. Best-Selling author Linda Dillow, helps women shape their marriage by design rather than letting circumstances shape it by default. What's It Like to Be Married to Me? And Other Dangerous Questions, is a book about knowing the difference between having a desire for a better marriage and setting the goal of having a better marriage—as women look in the mirror to see how they can change. Extremely intimate and honest, Dillow shares the best and worst things she has done in her nearly fifty years of marriage, guides women to make their own Marriage Purpose Statement, and leads them into God’s heart for what their marriage could be.

About the author:
Linda Dillow is no stranger to publishing and adventure. She's the author of Creative Counterpart, Calm My Anxious Heart, The Blessings Book, Satisfy My Thirsty Soul, and co-author of the Best-Selling book Intimate Issues. Linda and her husband Jody lived in Europe and Asia for 17 years training Christian leaders in closed countries with Biblical Education by Extension, during this time, Linda traveled extensively in Romania, Russia, Hungary, Poland and Asia. She taught women and helped them launch women's ministries. She is a mother of four children, as well as a grandmother.

Hearts Aglow by Tracie Peterson

This week, the Christian Fiction Blog Alliance introduces  Hearts Aglow  Bethany House (March 1, 2011)  by  Tracie Peterson  

Angie's Take: I'm loving this story where friendship between women is strong and supportive while they journey through life. Tracie's writing is warm, inviting, and rich. I'm still reading it, but I know I'm in for a wonderful story and a satisfying ending. That's the promise in Tracie's writing: Warm, wonderful, and filled with friends I hate to leave behind.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Tracie Peterson is the bestselling, award-winning author of more than 85 novels. She received her first book contract in November, 1992 and saw A Place To Belong published in February 1993 with Barbour Publishings' Heartsong Presents.  She wrote exclusively with Heartsong for the next two years, receiving their readership's vote for Favorite Author of the Year for three years in a row.

In December, 1995 she signed a contract with Bethany House Publishers to co-write a series with author Judith Pella.  Tracie now writes exclusively for Bethany House Publishers.

She teaches writing workshops at a variety of conferences on subjects such as inspirational romance and historical research.

Tracie was awarded the Romantic Times Career Achievement Award for 2007 Inspirational Fiction and her books have won numerous awards for favorite books in a variety of contests.

Making her home in Montana, this Kansas native enjoys spending time with family--especially her three grandchildren--Rainy, Fox and Max.  She's active in her church as the Director of Women's Ministries, coordinates a yearly writer's retreat for published authors, and travels, as time permits, to research her books


ABOUT THE BOOK

The future should be bright for Deborah Vandermark, who is now pursuing her interest in medicine alongside Dr. Christopher Clayton, who is courting her. But the lumber town is resistant to the idea of a woman physician, and she feels thwarted at every turn.

A more devastating blow occurs, however, when Christopher breaks off their relationship to return home to his troubled family. Despite her own love life going awry, Deborah is still intent to be a matchmaker for both her widowed mother and her brother, who has caught the eye of the spit-fire daughter of the local pastor.

But what will Deborah do when faced with the truth about Christopher's family? Is there hope for the two of them...or will Jake Wyeth's attentions finally catch Deborah's eye instead?

If you would like to read the first chapter of Hearts Aglow, go HERE.

Yesterday's Tomorrow by Catherine West

Yesterday's Tomorrow is a book that pulled me into the story of Vietnam through Kristin Taylor's eyes. A female war correspondant on a mission to discover the missing elements in her life from spiritual to relational. Ms. West has a powerful sense of place in her writing that envelopes the reader completely into the sights, sounds, and experience of Vietnam and the war from a unique angle. I love the mix of action, adventure, mystery, and romance. In her book, Catherine West has the makings of a great movie because that's exactly what it was in my head as I read it. Bravo! ~Angie Breidenbach

About the book:

Yesterday’s Tomorrow
It’s 1967 and Kristin Taylor wants to go to Vietnam to report on the war, and honor her father’s memory by becoming an award-winning journalist like he was. But no editor will send her. So she strikes out on her own and steps into a world more terrifying than she’d imagined.
As she encounters the horrors of war, Kristin struggles to report the truth while desperately trying to keep tabs on her only brother who enlisted some time ago, but both tasks seem impossible.
When she meets photographer Luke Maddox, Kristin knows she’s found a story. The mystery beneath his brooding eyes triggers her curiosity. She’s convinced he’s hiding something and determines to discover his secrets. The only trouble is, he won’t let her within three feet of him.
In an unexpected twist, Kristin and Luke are forced to work together. With war raging all around them, they engage in their own tumultuous battle of emotions. Headstrong and willing to risk it all for what they believe in, they’ll do whatever it takes to fulfill their own private agendas. Kristin is after a story that might get her the Pulitzer. Luke wants retribution from the enemy that took away his family. In the face of death, Kristin and Luke must decide if they’re willing to set aside selfish ambition for the love that seems to have ambushed them and captured their hearts.

About the author:



For longer than she can remember, Catherine dreamed of being a writer.Blessed with a vivid imagination that sometimes got her into trouble as a child, she began to see her dreams take shape as a young adult when she began writing seriously, and her first few books were birthed.
Educated in Bermuda, England and Canada, Catherine is married, the mother of two almost grown children, and spends her time at home writing, gardening and playing with her Border Collies, one of whom she is training for Agility Competitions. Catherine enjoys an active life in the church and community. She volunteers at Windreach, Bermuda’s Theraputic Riding organization.She and her family live on the beautiful island of Bermuda.
As a writer of Christian romance, she hopes not only to entertain her readers, but also to share the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ through her books. Catherine is a proud member of American Christian Fiction Writers, and is currently serving as the Beyond the Borders Zone Director.
Catherine is represented by Rachelle Gardner of Wordserve Literary.





Want to learn more about Catherine J. West? Check out her blog:
http://catherinewestblog.blogspot.com/
and website:
http://www.catherinejwest.com

Create Chatter TV Show Tonight

Come join us on http://createchatter.tv/ March 3,2011 8p.m. Central for a fun webtv show featuring Creative Cooking for Simple Elegance!

I'm excited to try this new television format on the web. We'll be using Skype. I worked on my connection today with my daughter-in-law and grandsons. Found out that I can't have my email running in the background because it slows down the camera and causes freezing. I'm so glad we had the time to figure that all out.

So all should be well for a show all about Creative Cooking for Simple Elegance: How to create simple, elegant, and inexpensive meals on webtv! It just blows my mind that this is possible.

Greg Hennis- Not the Way I Thought It Would Be

Please welcome my guest today, Greg Hennis. His interview about his broadcasting career is found on thefaithgirls.com but I've asked him to share his testimony on God Uses Broken Vessels in order to reach out and help others who might have experienced something similar or need encouragment. Greg is a broadcaster in New Jersey with the radio show, Second Chances on LiftFM 98.5, and on television. His heart and talent are to help others understand that God is a God of second chances. Please enjoy my new friend, Greg, and his testimony. ~Angie

Greg's testimony: Not the Way I Thought It Would Be

My first paying job in the broadcasting field at 16 was in itself a blessing from above. After spending my first couple of years in local radio, in 1990, God opened a door for me to get in on the ground floor of local cable TV. I thought it would be short term. I'd married, and life seemed good, until my marriage came to an end. I wasn't living for the Lord and God was not the center of my marriage or my life. 

Several years following I began to feel a tug to own a broadcasting company. I talked many times over the next 8 years with the owner of the company I worked for about buying his business. He always seemed like he wanted to talk about it but never really moved forward. I even did a extensive business plan and spoke to area banks about a loan, but it never went any further. I felt stalled out.

God began to get my attention for the first time since I was a child in Sunday School. I met my wife Carrie, and through her, I rededicated my life to God. One of the first things God did through prayer was take away my 15 year habit of smoking. I tried every trick know to man, but God spoke to me and said, "Greg I can't take them from you if you don't put them down." It took me a week but I did what God said. From that day forward I have not even had a desire to smoke. Praise God!

    

Back to my desire to own a broadcast business. As the calendar rolled to 2008 I was entering my 18th year of working for a local company, making a great living but inside I felt more and more depressed about continuing. The signs of change were all around me but they hadn't directly affected me. The owner of the company had left his wife and the economy was quickly going down. Finally we lost too many customers due to the economy. Approaching Thanksgiving things in the industry seemed hopeless and dim. A week or two prior, I spoke to the owner and felt in my spirit this time would be the final time I asked. He blamed the lack of desire to sell on his estranged wife, but I knew inside it was just to keep me with the company. I was the top salesman and brought in most of the revenue. 

The first day of work following the Thanksgiving Holiday, I was more down than ever. While I was out of state that day doing a project for a customer, the bookkeeper, a former employee, and a saleswoman (who kept watch) were in my office trying to steal information from my personal laptop. I found out when I returned. I was shocked. Loyalty is important to me, but I knew that after 18 years I was leaving and not looking back. Ironically, it was in the worst economy and I wasn't even nervous. 

I went on a 17 day fast, I became closer to God than ever. On January 1, 2009 Advantage Broadcasting and  Advantage Radio Ministries began operations. In 2005 while I was looked into starting a company, I thought I would need a minimum of $500,000 to secure equipment, office space, etc. The miracle? I started it for under $30,000 when I cashed in my 401k and God did the rest.

Throughout the next several years, God has blessed me. I've grown and learned many things. In the begining of 2010 business was great. My business was doing well. God even opened a door to get my church on TV every Thursday night in prime time in over 2 million homes in the Philadelphia market with many people being saved and set free. 

But life was about to throw me another curve. In May, my largest customer began to bounce large checks and fall behind. Soon he owed us thousands. Next thing I know the state closed down his business. Then my former employer attempted to bring a personal law suit against me. What else could happen? Things were tough! My business was in debt and I had an angry ex employer trying to bring me down anyway he could for things that werent true. Finally, after weighing my options, I realized the only way to get myself out of this financial mess and was to declare personal bankruptcy. 

It was a hard thing to decide. I had a great credit score and never had a late payment on my credit report. But I knew what had to be done. In early 2011 it became public knowledge that it was filed. My former employer learned there'd be no suit due to the bankruptcy and he was angry. He began notifying broadcast outlets who did business with me, customers, and anyone who would listen that I had personally filed. He always gave the impression it was the business to try to hurt me. 

Not only do I all this stress, but I have to start calling all my customers and business contacts and tell them myself. Very Humbling. After the first few it got easier and then in February, I was doing a interview on my Christian radio show, "Second Chances", and the guest said something that made it all seem worth while. She said the things in life that we try to hide are the things that God wants us to share to be a blessing and help to others. Since then I haven't stoped encouraging people by sharing what I just shared with you. They all say the same thing, "WOW, God Is Good."

And I say to that, "Yes he is."

What my ex employer doesn't know is that because of God's love for us, he gives us the strength to forgive. I have forgiven him and even feel pity for him dealing with the bitterness he has. I hope God's love will one day heal him.

I'm clearly not out of this yet, as you read this today, but what I can say for sure without question, if you live for God he will NEVER leave you or foresake you and he always provides. It's not always how we think he will, but he does. He's never let me down. He will never let you down either.