God's Hostage: A True Story of Persecution, Imprisonment, and Perseverance by Andrew BrunsonMy rating: 5 of 5 starsWhen Andrew Brunson and his wife answered a request to come to the police station in Izmir Turkey on October 7, 2016, Andrew didn’t realize that he wouldn’t see the inside of his home again for almost two… Continue reading God’s Hostage – review
This cozy mystery quickly turns chilly with a murder and an attack in the opening pages. Main character, Landon Smith, still shaken from her adventures in Hidden Secrets, (Book 2 of the Green Dory Series), is determined not to get involved. However, she soon finds herself in the thick of the investigation despite how events… Continue reading Bitter Truth – review
When presented, by my writing group, with the challenge to write about my experience during the pandemic, my first thought was to do it in poem form (seeing as how it’s April and National Poetry Month). “Pandemic Lifestyle” is a snapshot of some of the things that have characterized the last months for me and… Continue reading Pandemic Lifestyle – a poem
The Minister's Wife: A Memoir of Faith, Doubt, Friendship, Loneliness, Forgiveness, and More by Karen StillerMy rating: 5 of 5 stars I first discovered this book when I attended a webinar on writing spiritual memoir hosted by an Ottawa writing group, where the author, Karen Stiller, was the presenter. I was intrigued. Watching a later… Continue reading The Minister’s Wife – review
Here, on Good Friday, the last day of Lent, Laurel and I conclude our Lenten conversation with one more poem and image. Laurel’s poem prompt, “Quicken,” articulates the restless dissatisfaction and the sense of “dare I hope that things can be different?” characteristic of us in our human state. Those feelings have only been amplified… Continue reading Lent Conversation — Conclusion
We are in the season of feasts—Passover and Easter. Isn’t it wonderful that God instituted landmark feasts—meals of special food filled with the ingredients, tastes, colours, and smells that bring spiritual realities to mind? As we’ve been reading through the Gospels at our supper table, I was moved a few weeks ago when we came… Continue reading A Lent Conversation – Week 6
In years past we have attended the PNE (Pacific National Exhibition) and visited the barns on the fair grounds. However, I will never view them with the same casual attitude I have till now, after reading Sumi Kinoshita’s book Shikataganai—It Can’t Be Helped. That’s because those barns at Hastings Park became the home of Canadians… Continue reading Shikataganai–It Can’t Be Helped (review)
Fresh Joy: Finding Joy in the Midst of Loss, Hardship and Suffering by Heidi McLaughlin My rating: 5 of 5 starsWhen the sudden and unexpected death of a partner hit Heidi McLaughlin for the second time, it would not have been surprising if she’d have become bitter and joyless. But she was determined not to… Continue reading Fresh Joy – review
Storm: Hearing Jesus for the Times We Live In by Jim Cymbala My rating: 4 of 5 stars Jim Cymbala, who experienced Hurricane Sandy in 2012, likens it to the storm he expects will soon hit the evangelical church of North America. In Storm he gives advice to pastors and lay people about how to… Continue reading Storm (review)
Secrets and Lies: A Redemption's Edge Novel by Janet Sketchley My rating: 5 of 5 stars Carol Daniels has moved with her 16-year-old son Paul from Calgary to Toronto at the beginning of Secrets and Lies, Janet Sketchley’s second book in the Redemption Edge Series. It wasn’t a move of choice but of necessity, to… Continue reading Secrets and Lies (review)
Violet Nesdoly 