A Simple Prayer By Amy Clipston #BookReview

July 22, 2015November 29, 2022 EllyFilhoLeave a comment

A Simple Prayer
Series: Hearts of the Lancaster Grand Hotel
By Amy Clipston

As if it was ” The return home of a prodigal son.” The difficulty he faces when he returns. The fear of not being excepted. The start of a love story. An Unhappy brother with his return reveals that he has kept all his contact letters over 17 years from his mother, that now just had a stroke, which cause for Aaron’s returned home. Forgiveness seems to be the main case here. It would have been nice to start reading from book one. A Simple Prayer is Book Four of the Hearts of the Lancaster Grand Hotel series. But over all a great story.

Book Description

Linda Zook, 32, works part-time at the Lancaster Grand Hotel. As the sole survivor of a buggy accident that left her orphaned at age four, she was raised by her unwilling Uncle Reuben. Linda longs to be worthy of someone, but the life-long effects of her injuries and her upbringing under the care of her embittered uncle have destroyed her self-worth. .
Aaron Ebersol, 32, left the Amish community 17 years ago when he could no longer bear the restrictions or the constant tension with his father. He’d written too many unanswered letters to his mother and found himself incapable of putting down any roots in his new home in Missouri. Success in work could not replace the family that denied Aaron, even after all of these years. .
Aaron hastily returns to the Amish community of Paradise, PA, after receiving word of his mother’s stroke. Hesitant to get too close to the family he was once a part of, he decides to stay at the Heart of Paradise Bed & Breakfast. He soon encounters Linda, working there part-time, and they begin to develop a friendship. .
Aaron’s return allows him to reconnect with his family as he jumps into home improvement projects, hoping to make his parents’ house more accessible to his handicapped mother. But before long, he is enraged to learn that his brother, Solomon, had hidden all of Aaron’s letters to their mother. .
Linda and Aaron must each learn to forgive the family members who have deceived and forsaken them. And Aaron must also show Linda that she is worthy of his love.
About the Author
Amy Clipston is the award-winning and best-selling author of the Kauffman Amish Bakery series. Her novels have hit multiple best-seller lists including CBD, CBA, and ECPA. Amy holds a degree in communication from Virginia Wesleyan College and works full-time for the City of Charlotte, NC. Amy lives in North Carolina with her husband, two sons, and four spoiled rotten cats. Visit her online at Facebook: AmyClipstonBooks Twitter: @AmyClipston

I received this book free from the publisher through the BookLook Bloggers <http://booklookbloggers.com> book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 <http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara/cfr/waisidx_03/16cfr255_03.html> : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

7 Days #Photography challenge

July 13, 2015November 29, 2022 EllyFilhoLeave a comment

What’s something special you see daily, but never paid attention long enough to really appreciate what you’re looking at? In this case, it’s not my husband. It’s myself 🙂 I’ve lived a life that I know many people wouldn’t survive it. I know half would give up at the beginning. The other half would maybe try and last halfway. I’m sure there are many and many women’s out there that has suffered or is suffering all or worse than I have. I pray to God to give you strength. It’s not easy. I know!
My mother today at 68 stills has to work to take care of herself otherwise she doesn’t have the income to live on. She has 2 daughters that can’t afford to pay for her living. Sad story.
She has worked so hard her whole life ever since she was little and for what? Today she is still working and not living. That’s why I always say live now if you can. This time will never come around again.
Today’s picture inspired me because I’ve been a fighter.

I’ve fought child abuse.
I’ve fought mentally and verbally abuse
I’ve fought my fears
I’ve fought self-esteem
I’ve fought depression
I’ve fought suicide
I’ve fought PTSD
I fought drugs
I fought alcohol
I fought an alcoholic father
I fought murder
I’ve fought adultery
I’ve fought unfaithfulness
I’ve fought being sick
I’ve been fighting my weight
I’ve been fighting my sickness
I’ve been fighting this world

This world will not bring us better things, from here on it will only be worst. Some of these things I’m still fighting daily like PTSD. Depression. Etc. Some stuff you can never get rid of it. It’s a constant battle.

photography · Wordless

What Will Wednesday Be Like With No Words? #Photography

May 20, 2015November 29, 2022 EllyFilhoLeave a comment

Devotion · Family Share · reeding

What Experts Are Saying About Love to The End

May 6, 2015November 29, 2022 EllyFilhoLeave a comment

Loved to the End

People sometimes ask, “Do you think God would hear the prayer of some wicked person who called upon Him even in the very last moments of his life–if that person had done horrible things? Would God pardon a person like that?” Absolutely He would.

Sometimes we have loved ones who died and never made a profession of faith. And we may conclude they did not go to heaven. But we don’t know that. Were you with these loved ones in the last moments of their lives? Were you there when they took their last breath? How do you know that he or she did not call on Jesus?

Here is what you do know. God loved them and wanted them to be saved. As 1 Timothy 2:4 says, God “desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.”

When Judas arrived in the Garden of Gethsemane to betray Jesus, Jesus said to him, “Friend, why have you come?” (Matthew 26:50). Jesus was giving Judas one last chance to repent. And I believe that if Judas had stopped right there and said, “Lord, I messed up. I don’t know what I was thinking. Forgive me,” then Jesus would have pardoned him. Why? Because God says, “I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live. Turn, turn from your evil ways!” (Ezekiel 33:11). Jesus loved Judas to the very end. He was His friend. But His friend betrayed Him, and this broke His heart.

I don’t want to give false assurance and suggest that everyone is in heaven, because they are not. But I am saying that if they called on the Lord in the last moments of their lives, He pardoned and forgave them.

Summary sentence: If you call on the Lord, even in the last moment of your life, He hears you!

For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour, who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth. (‭1 Timothy‬ ‭2‬:‭3-4‬ KJVA)

Copyright © 2012 by Harvest Ministries. All rights reserved.

Devotion · Family Share

“Seek First the Kingdom”

April 22, 2015November 29, 2022 EllyFilho1 Comment

“Seek First the Kingdom”

If our mission from Christ is to “seek first the kingdom of God,” how can a successful, God-honoring marriage not be marked by mission? We’re not told to seek first an intimate marriage, a happy life, obedient children, or anything else. Jesus tells us to seek first one thing, and one thing only: His kingdom and His righteousness (the two words define and build on each other, creating one common pursuit). A successful marriage is not only supported by a kingdom pursuit, but in many ways the pursuit is a prerequisite for post-infatuation intimacy.

Life without this aim, and marriage without this purpose, is going to lose a lot of its luster. “We hunger for this today: cooperating together, meshing, working like a mountain climbing team, ascending the peak of our dream, and then holding each other at the end of the day. God has planted this hunger deep within every married couple. It’s more than a hunger for companionship. It’s more than a hunger to create new life. It’s a third hunger, a hunger to do something significant together. According to God’s Word, we were joined to make a difference. We were married for a mission.”

Being “married for a mission” can revitalize a lot of marriages in which the partners think they suffer from a lack of compatibility; my suspicion is that many of these couples actually suffer from a lack of purpose. Jesus’s words given to individuals in Matthew 6:33 are perhaps even truer in marriage. When we give away our life, we find it. When we focus outside our marriage, we end up strengthening our marriage.

But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. Matthew 6:33

Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal,20but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Matthew 6: 19-21

* Is your marriage one with mission? How can you and your spouse more fully live a life of mission as a couple?

* Ref: The Bible & Breath Spiritual Passion into your Marriage

Devotion · Family Share

“Divine Dependence”

April 20, 2015November 29, 2022 EllyFilhoLeave a comment

“Divine Dependence”

If your marriage and family feel like a joke or as if they’re bordering on chaos, it’s not anything that God hasn’t seen or isn’t capable of redeeming. So much of Christian teaching today is about us developing “our” gifts, improving “our” talents, reaching “our” potential, yet so much of Jesus’s teaching and modeling is about surrendering to the work of the Holy Spirit. Let’s allow marriage to teach us to trust this Holy Spirit. He’s proven Himself. If we truly want to transform our marriages, we must learn the glory of divine dependence.

God will never call us to do something without giving us everything that is necessary in order for us to finish the task. It may not be all that we think we need, but it will be all that we do need. This is not to say the job will feel easy. But God promises through Isaiah, “He gives strength to the weary, and to him who lacks might He increases power” (Isa. 40:29 NASB).

Don’t pass over this thought, because it’s crucial: Isaiah 40:29 assumes that God will call us to various tasks for which we lack enough power on our own.

The “secret,” then, to a truly sacred marriage is actually a person, God’s promised Holy Spirit. Because God is such a relational God (meeting our need for salvation by sending His Son), it shouldn’t surprise us that He meets our need for transformation by also sending Himself in the person of His Holy Spirit.

Since marriage is one of the most profound acts of worship any two believers can ever share, it is impossible to be married in a sacred manner without the Holy Spirit being active in our lives, helping us to understand what it means to love, giving us the power to love, convicting us when we fail to love, renewing our hearts when we grow weary in love, and pouring out hope when we grow discouraged in love.

The Lord gives strength

to those who are weary. Isaiah 40:29

But the Holy Spirit will come upon you and give you power. Then you will tell everyone about me in Jerusalem, in all Judea, in Samaria, and everywhere in the world.” Acts 1:8

* Do you lean on the Holy Spirit to strengthen you and your marriage? What is a specific situation where you lacked ability, but were strengthened by the Holy Spirit?

____The Bible & Breathe Spiritual Passion into Your Marriage.

Devotion · Family Share · love

Loving The Unloving

April 17, 2015November 29, 2022 EllyFilho3 Comments

Our reward will be great, Jesus said, not when we love people who love us back, but when we love “the ungrateful and the evil” as God does.

If you are married to the godliest, kindest, most giving and thoughtful spouse who ever lived, that will be your reward. There will be no extra credit in the heavenlies for having enjoyed an easier marriage than most. So, you’ll have some very pleasant decades, while someone else may be storing up for eternity.

If, for instance, your spouse takes you for granted, you may never be appreciated on this earth, but the day will come—Jesus promises it!—when you see your heavenly Father-in-Law face-to-face and He says to you, “You loved My son (or daughter) so well, even though I know he never understood how blessed he was to be married to you. Now, let Me show you how I spend all of eternity rewarding those who love in My name. Receive your rewards, enter into your rest!”

You see how believing in that day changes how we define what is a good day in the here and now? We’ll look for opportunities to love, serve, notice, encourage, and appreciate, instead of being obsessed with how well our spouses are loving, serving, noticing, encouraging, and appreciating us. This is encouraging for those of you who are taken for granted. Let’s be honest: some of you married fools. I don’t mean to be flippant, but the Bible says there are fools, right? It seems to me; somebody must marry them. Maybe you picked one. From an earthly perspective, that’s a wasted life. From an eternal perspective, you have the opportunity to set yourself up for a particularly thrilling and fulfilling conversation at the judgment seat of Christ.

For if ye love them which love you, what thank have ye? for sinners also love those that love them. And if ye do good to them which do good to you, what thank have ye? for sinners also do even the same. And if ye lend to them of whom ye hope to receive, what thank have ye? for sinners also lend to sinners, to receive as much again. But love ye your enemies, and do good, and lend, hoping for nothing again; and your reward shall be great, and ye shall be the children of the Highest: for he is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil. (‭Luke‬ ‭6‬:‭32-35‬ KJVA)

For which because we faint not; but though our outward man perishes, yet the inward man is renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory; while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal. (‭2 Corinthians‬ ‭4‬:‭16-18‬ KJVA)

* How do these passages encourage you to love you spouse even when it’s hard? How will this lesson impact the way you live out your daily life with him or her?

Devotion · Family Share · love

Looking For The Life To Come

April 16, 2015November 29, 2022 EllyFilho2 Comments

Looking For The Life To Come

Ask yourself: in my marriage, how often do I get trapped into fighting over things that, in the end, don’t really matter? How many marital problems would be solved if couples would simply read the Sermon on the Mount once a month together?

This isn’t to disdain the things of the earth—no need to do that—it’s to exalt the things of heaven. Jonathan Edwards wrote like a poet: “Fathers and mothers, husbands, wives or children, or the company of earthly friends, are but shadows; but the enjoyment of God is the substance. These are but scattered beams, but God is the sun. These are but streams; but God is the fountain. These are but drops, but God is the ocean.”

All of this means we have to work at keeping our focus, our magnificent obsession; otherwise, we might put all our focus on lesser (but still important) aims—trying to improve our communication, get our finances in order, keep our romance fresh and fun, and so on. We have to remember that these are not the stuff of life, and they are not the end goal. After all, as Edwards reminds us, “

If our lives be not a journey towards heaven, they will be a journey to hell.”If you truly desire to live this out, talk with your spouse and/or a group of good friends on a monthly basis. Ask one another: “How is the hope of heaven influencing the way we love one another, the way we raise our kids, the way we spend our money, and the way we focus our time?”

For here have we no continuing city, but we seek one to come. By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to his name. But to do good and to communicate forget not: for with such sacrifices God is well pleased. Obey them that have the rule over you and submit yourselves: for they watch for your souls, as they that must give account, that they may do it with joy, and not with grief: for that is unprofitable for you. Pray for us: for we trust we have a good conscience, in all things willing to live honestly. But I beseech you the rather to do this, that I may be restored to you the sooner. Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make you perfect in every good work to do his will, working in you that which is well-pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ; to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen. (‭Hebrews‬ ‭13‬:‭14-21‬ KJVA)

For our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ: who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself. (‭Philippians‬ ‭3‬:‭20-21‬ KJVA)

* How are you and your spouse daily living out your hope of heaven? If you were able to keep an eternal mindset, how would this affect your day-to-day life?

Family Share

Different From the Rest

April 14, 2015November 29, 2022 EllyFilhoLeave a comment

Let me put a saying by nineteenth-century churchman Horace Bushnell in the language of marriage: “No married couple is ever called to be another. God has as many plans for married couples as He has couples; and, therefore, He never requires them to measure their life by any other couple.”

You comprise one-half of a unique couple. No other couple has your gifts, your weaknesses, your history, your dynamics, your children, you’re calling. There is great freedom in accepting our couple identity as it is: we might be strong in this area, weak in that, vulnerable here, impenetrable there, excelling in this, often failing in that, but we are a unique couple called forth by God to fulfill our unique purpose in this world.

God has established your home and your marriage, and that’s the life He wants you to live. Never look to other couples to measure your worth; look to God to fulfill your call. Don’t compare yourself with other couples to measure your happiness; compare your obedience with God’s design on your life to measure your faithfulness.

Become comfortable with your story, your identity as a couple. Relish it. Never compare it. Just be faithful to the unique vision God has given to the unique you (and that’s a plural you). God doesn’t need another couple just like one He already made. He is so much more creative than that. Rather, He wants to release and bless the unique couple that is you.

Reading. Romans 8:37 Psalms 139:13-16

* What couples do you often compare yourselves against? Do you believe God has you both on a special journey for His purposes? How do you live that out?