An Amish Year by: Beth Wiseman GIVEAWAY on Goodreads! Enter today!

Enter to win one of ten copies of An Amish Year, four novellas by Beth Wiseman on the GoodReads giveaway program between now and December 11th. Click here http://bit.ly/1I18PNS

and then click Enter Giveaway. Good Luck!

A True Delight! Huckleberry Hearts, By: Jennifer Beckstrand

Huckleberry Hearts (Matchmakers of Huckleberry Hill series) by Jennifer Beckstrand. This is the best book yet in the Matchmakers of Huckleberry Hill series. I so love the antics of Anna and Felty. Anna and Felty are at it again trying to match make with one of her grandchildren without their knowledge. I laughed so hard that I cried at times. This story is a true delight. There are so many twists, turns and unexpected happens in this most delightful book. This story has so much in it love, laughter, heartache, pain, hope, faith and devotion. There are characters that you will absolutely love and others that will frustrate you almost to the very end. I was so didn’t want this book come to an end. Be sure to order your copy of Huckleberry Hearts today! 5 stars!

 

 

Huckleberry Hearts by Jennifer Beckstrand is a 352 page novel in the Christian Amish fiction genre. It is published by Zebra Publishers and was released on November 24, 2015. To purchase your copy, click http://www.amazon.com/Huckleberry-Hearts-Matchmakers-Hill-Book-ebook/dp/B00U7LIZ7M/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1448325417&sr=1-1&keywords=jennifer+beckstrand

About the Book

Young-at-heart octogenarians Anna and Felty Helmuth never miss the chance to find a perfect match for one of their grandchildren. And when their beloved Cassie returns to Huckleberry Hill, Wisconsin, Anna has a feeling they might soon have a doctor in the family…

Though Cassie Coblenz left her Amish community to go to college, Mammi and Dawdi’s farm will always feel like home. It’s the ideal place for an extended study break—at least until her grandmother’s handsome Englisch doctor becomes a regular distraction. Zach Reynolds is the kind of heartbreaker Cassie has learned to avoid, no matter how charming he may be.

Unlike every woman Zach has met in recent years, Cassie doesn’t fall at his feet. Strong, generous, beautiful within and without —she’s everything he could want. Yet the gulf between them deepens when a tragedy shakes his faith. Now the good doctor has one goal—to become a man who could be worthy of Cassie’s love…

Jennifer Beckstrand is the bestselling Amish romance author of The Matchmakers of Huckleberry Hill series for Kensington Books. Huckleberry Summer was nominated for the RT Book Reviews Reviewer’s Choice Award and the 2015 RITA® Award, and Huckleberry Hill won the 2014 LIME Award for Inspirational fiction. Both Huckleberry Hill and Huckleberry Christmas appeared in Examiner.com list of top ten inspirational books for 2014.

Jennifer has always been drawn to the strong faith and the enduring family ties of the Plain people and loves writing about the antics of Anna and Felty Helmuth. Jennifer has a degree in mathematics and a background in editing. She and her husband have been married for thirty years, and she has four daughters, two sons, and four adorable grandchildren, whom she spoils rotten.

Giveaway

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Book Information:

Young-at-heart octogenarians Anna and Felty Helmuth never miss the chance to find a perfect match for one of their grandchildren. And when their beloved Cassie returns to Huckleberry Hill, Wisconsin, Anna has a feeling they might soon have a doctor in the family…Though Cassie Coblenz left her Amish community to go to college, Mammi and Dawdi’s farm will always feel like home. It’s the ideal place for an extended study break—at least until her grandmother’s handsome Englisch doctor becomes a regular distraction. Zach Reynolds is the kind of heartbreaker Cassie has learned to avoid, no matter how charming he may be.
Unlike every woman Zach has met in recent years, Cassie doesn’t fall at his feet. Strong, generous, beautiful within and without —she’s everything he could want. Yet the gulf between them deepens when a tragedy shakes his faith. Now the good doctor has one goal—to become a man who could be worthy of Cassie’s love…

“Full of kind, sincere characters struggling with the best ways to stay true to themselves and their beliefs.” –Publishers Weekly

Jennifer Beckstrand is the bestselling Amish romance author of The Matchmakers of Huckleberry Hill series for Kensington Books. Huckleberry Summer was nominated for the RT Book Reviews Reviewer’s Choice Award and the 2015 RITA® Award, and Huckleberry Hill won the 2014 LIME Award for Inspirational fiction. Both Huckleberry Hill and Huckleberry Christmas appeared in Examiner.com list of top ten inspirational books for 2014.

Jennifer has always been drawn to the strong faith and the enduring family ties of the Plain people and loves writing about the antics of Anna and Felty Helmuth. Jennifer has a degree in mathematics and a background in editing. She and her husband have been married for thirty years, and she has four daughters, two sons, and four adorable grandchildren, whom she spoils rotten.

Pre-Order the Forgotten Recipe by: Amy Clipston to Unlock Exclusive Content!

I’m so grateful for all my readers, that as we approach Thanksgiving and the season of giving, I want to do something special for you. In honor of the release of The Forgotten Recipe, if there are 100 new pre-orders of the book by Dec. 6, I will release exclusive bonus content that’s never been seen before! Have a Happy Thanksgiving!#AmishFiction #Preorder

The Forgotten Recipe Photo Contest!

Have you heard about the Forgotten Recipe Photo Contest? You can enter a photo or you can VOTE for the current photo submissions! And you can win a PRIZE PACK including my books, Amish goodies, and other swag! Tell your friends! More info here: http://ow.ly/UE6bd #forgottenrecipephotocontest #giveaway

 

Julie Klassen’s ‘The Painter’s Daughter’ Coloring Contest

 

Grab your colored pencils because Julie Klassen is hosting a coloring contest! Stop by the contest page to download and print The Painter’s Daughter coloring page and channel your inner artist. One master colorist will receive a signed copy of The Painter’s Daughter, two grown-up coloring books (Enchanting English Garden and Live Loved), and a set of 24 Prismacolor colored pencils.

Scan and email your entry to Amy Green with the subject line “The Painter’s Daughter Coloring Contest” to enter the first round of judging by December 8. Then stop by Julie’s Facebook page beginning December 10 to vote for your favorite (and tell your friends to vote, too)! The winner will be announced at Julie’s Facebook event on December 15 at 7 p.m. CST. Ready? Set. Color!

Help Unlock bonus scenes with your pre-order of An Amish Year!

Beth Wiseman Fans – Reader Challenge: Pre-order An Amish Year.  http://bethwiseman.com/

http://tnzfiction.com/books/amish/an-amish-year/

If the pre-order count is above 200 on December 4th, Beth will release a special surprise – bonus content not published in the story A Love for Irma Rose.

 

Rose.

Civil War Meets Romance in Andrea Boeshaar’s New Book (Plus a Kindle Giveaway)

The search for her runaway sister goes awry when Carrie finds herself arrested during the Civil War for impersonating an officer in Andrea Boeshaar’s A Thousand Shall Fall. Soon, though, she finds herself drawn to the handsome, gallant colonel who arrested her. Carrie Ann discovers that her foe has become her ally—and more than that, someone she could love. Will she protect someone who has been like family or be loyal to this stranger to whom she wants to offer her heart? When her world is being torn apart around her, whom should she trust?

Andrea is celebrating the release of A Thousand Shall Fall with a Kindle Fire giveaway!

 

One grand prize winner will receive:

• A copy of A Thousand Shall Fall
• A Kindle Fire HD 6

Enter today by clicking the icon below. But hurry, the giveaway ends on December 10th. The winner will be announced December 11th on Andrea’s blog.

(Giveaway) Refreshing! Change of Heart, By: Molly Jebber

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Change of Heart by Molly Jebber is a 288 page novel in the Amish historical fiction genre. It is published by Zebra Publishers and will be released on June 30, 2015. To pre-order a copy, click here.

Overview

Ohio, 1899. Soft-spoken midwife Becca Yost lived by her Amish faith’s strict rules—until her fiancé jilted her before their entire community. She’s never been away from home, but the bustling Englischer town of Massillon, Ohio, is a welcome unexpected refuge. Especially when she goes to work for Dr. Matt Carrington, who shares her passion for healing those in need. His outgoing spirit and gentle strength show Becca a surprising new world of choices—and irresistible love. But there is one formidable obstacle: Matt’s wealthy mother is determined her son will marry a society woman.

With her newfound resolve challenged, Becca decides that she and Matt must not be destined for each other…

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Wonderful! An Endless Christmas, By: Cynthia Ruchti

Wow Cynthia Ruchti has done it yet again! She has written a book that is a masterpiece. A delightful story about an uncomfortable situation.  This is a book that is bound to help you get in the mood for Christmas. A place in the middle of nowhere, lots of snow and a whole lot of family. What a most wonderful way to spend a few hours reading.

Be sure to get your copy of An Endless Christmas today! 5 stars!

 

About the book:
An Endless Christmas (Worthy Inspired, October 2015)

Too many people, too much snow, and too little room should be a recipe for disaster.

Christmas takes a very different turn when the guests of honor break up instead of announcing their engagement. Trapped with his family, they learn that love looks different than either imagined. Both in their eighties, Dodie and Wilson Binder celebrate every Christmas as if it were their last. This year, their grandson Micah is planning to ask his girlfriend, Katie, to marry him so they can celebrate with the whole family. But things go very wrong when she says, “no.” Now they are stuck. Too many people, too much snow, and too little room should be a recipe for disaster. But sometimes too much is just enough. Especially when it’s Christmas.

Purchase a copy: http://bit.ly/1PmF69N

You can connect with Cynthia at the following sites.

http://www.cynthiaruchti.com/

https://twitter.com/cynthiaruchti

https://www.facebook.com/CynthiaRuchtiReaderPage

 

About the author:

Drawing from 33 years of on-air radio ministry, Cynthia Ruchti tells stories of hope-that-glows-in-the-dark through her novels and novellas, nonfiction books and devotionals, and speaking for women’s and writers’ events. Her books have been recognized by Romantic Times Reviewers’ Choice Awards, Selah Awards, the Gayle Wilson Award of Excellence, Christian Retailing’s BEST Awards, and Carol Award nominations, among other honors, including a Family Fiction Readers’ Choice Award. She and her plot-tweaking husband live in Pittsville, Wisconsin, not far from their three children and five grandchildren.

Every Life Matters | Evangelicals for Life

 

Focus on the Family and The Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission will host Evangelicals for Life, a major pro-life conference held in conjunction with the March for Life event.

The event will take place January 21-22, 2016, in Washington, D.C., at the Hyatt Regency Washington on Capitol Hill. Evangelicals from across the country will gather to hear from leading speakers, such as David Platt, Russell Moore, Jim Daly, Kelly Rosati, and others—to be equipped and encouraged to become a voice for life! The event will also be simulcast for FREE so individuals, churches, and organizations from coast-to-coast and around the world can take part.

Speakers will encourage evangelicals to engage the culture on issues of abortion and end-of-life decisions, and the event will affirm the evangelical belief in the sanctity of life, that every life matters to God and is created in His image.

For more information, visit http://evangelicals.life/.

Readers of this blog will receive 15% off their registration by using the code FocusLife.

Kelly Rosati will be one of this year’s speakers. Kelly is the vice president of Community Outreach at Focus on the Family where she oversees the Adoption & Orphan Care Initiative and the Sanctity of Human Life department. In the article below, she speaks to how we can and should be both pro-life and pro-justice Christians.

Pro-Life Christian or Pro-Justice Christian? Yes.

Are Christians supposed to be pro-life or pro-justice? Kelly Rosati shares: We ought to be both.

Do you consider yourself a member of one of these two camps? The news about the gruesome harvesting of fetal organs by Planned Parenthood prompted some interesting discussion in this vein. 

It’s important to consider how you ended up in one of these categories in the first place. As followers of Christ, our hearts become more like His as He transforms us from the inside out. We care more about people and life and justice as we meditate on His word and spend time with Him. As we grow in grace, it becomes impossible to be indifferent or complacent to the suffering of human beings God made in His image and whom He loves with an infinite love.

Verses such as Proverbs 31:8 (“speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves”) and Micah 6:8 (“to act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God”) burn in our hearts as we join God in His redemptive work on behalf of preborn babies, victims of human trafficking, war refugees, orphans, those with disabilities, racial minorities, those without access to clean water, families living in extreme poverty, homeless, dying and lonely elderly neighbors, and many others who qualify as what Jesus called “the least of these.”

We’re changed as we seek to minister to the vulnerable. We listen to them and learn from them, and in them we see the face of Jesus, the one who admonished us that “whatever we’ve done to the least of these, we’ve done to Him” (Matthew 25:40).

In my role at Focus on the Family I’m blessed to meet and work with people in both the Christian pro-life and pro-justice communities. I’ve noticed they have much in common: They love Jesus, they love their families, they share a deep sense of calling and are led by the Holy Spirit, and they take Scripture seriously and find in it the inspiration to advance the Kingdom and to participate in God’s redemptive work. They all want to be careful to worship Jesus first and only, who called them to His work, rather than make an idol of the calling itself. They’ve sacrificed the American dream, many of them, to give their lives away like the One who gave His for them. 

Yet . . . it often seems as if pro-life and pro-justice Christians come from two different planets. Their leaders don’t tend to know one another. All of their conferences are separate. They lean in different political directions, and each thinks the other should prioritize the issues differently. Yes, most would grudgingly agree they serve the same God and their passions come from the same Holy Scriptures. But at the end of the day, they have little interest in working together—in fact, they can often seem “at odds” with one another.

This is tragic because both communities have much to offer and much to gain by listening to and learning from one another. For the average Christian seeking to love and serve his or her neighbors, life and justice should not be an either/or proposition. Together, the life and justice communities can offer a both/and approach that is truly biblical and comprehensive.

I have personally gleaned much from Christian sisters and brothers in both communities. From the pro-life perspective, I have learned about perseverance and faithfulness to the truth, even when it’s the most unpopular position in the world. I have been moved by their conviction that God’s word won’t return void and that He loves both moms and their babies (and dads and everyone else!). I have been impacted by the conviction that abortion stops a beating heart and that life is always the better choice. I have encountered the breathtaking beauty of Christ’s forgiveness for those suffering grief and shame post-abortion. And I have come to understand the hope and optimism that can only come from Christ in the face of the discouraging reality of 57 million lives lost to abortion. And I know I have so much more to learn from this passionate group.

From the pro-justice community, I have learned about systems of oppression and injustice that must be challenged in order to love and serve our neighbors well. I have a deeper understanding of the solidarity of suffering and the ministry of presence. I have also learned about perseverance, patience, and the simple beauty of loving and serving those who suffer. I’ve been reminded about new life in Christ and the transforming power of His love for individuals and families. I’ve seen the beauty of humility and the freedom that comes from eschewing power, money, and privilege on behalf of one’s neighbors. I know I will continue to learn and be challenged by this group as well.

But . . . the division remains. Pro-life Christians tend to view their cause as primarily moral in nature—as if speaking up for oppressed populations, combating human trafficking, and addressing the root causes of poverty are not inherently issues of profound moral concern. And pro-justice Christians tend to view their cause as primarily a matter of justice—as if speaking out in defense of preborn babies as the most helpless and vulnerable members of society was not quintessentially a question of biblical justice.

 

Together, pro-life and pro-justice Christians have so much to offer a world that is buckling under the effects of sin. So here’s a short list of what I think each community could offer the other that would enhance the work of both:

• When the pro-life community advances the dignity of every human person, it is at its best when making clear that along with the essential concern of innocent preborn lives lost to abortion, every sex trafficking victim, orphan, and victim of preventable death is worthy of the same defense. We must help the Church understand that all of these issues are biblically connected and directly tied to what it means to be “pro-life.” They are all related to the God-given sanctity, dignity, and intrinsic worth of every human life, and therefore they cannot be segmented or pitted against one another.
• When the pro-justice community boldly and compassionately advances the cause of justice for victims of sex trafficking, racial hatred, failing schools, extreme poverty, or lack of access to clean water, it is at its best also to include the absolute necessity of justice and human rights for preborn children. Again, advancing biblical justice, promoting the common good, and enabling human flourishing must be for all people, born and preborn. There can be no neglecting of the cause of justice in the human right to life. They should not be separated.
• Each community should endeavor to rise above easy (and sometimes valid) criticism of the other. Pro-lifers often lament that being pro-justice is “popular” in the broader culture whereas being pro-life is not. As a result, they can be tempted to view the pro-life cause as somehow more “noble” than the social justice cause. At the same time, the pro-justice community often suggests that the pro-life community cares only about life in the womb, but not life outside it, making it a myopic single-issue cause. Of course, in both communities (just like in every community) there are those doing it well and those doing it not so well. But by and large, both groups are motivated by deep conviction and the love of both Christ and neighbor.

What if, instead of marching resolutely down two different paths, we made a commitment to learn from each other, forge meaningful relationships with one another, and seek creative ways to help the Church learn about the comprehensive approach to life and justice reflected in the totality of the Scriptures? Can pro-life conferences address abortion and end-of-life issues as well as human trafficking and poverty? Can social justice conferences make room to embrace the cause of justice for preborn children? These are issues that transcend political parties and point directly to the heart of God Himself. Let’s step outside our comfort zones and work together for the common good, for life, and for justice—all because of the love of Christ.

This article was adapted from the original article posted on Ed Stetzer’s The Exchange blog on ChristianityToday.com.