Some people select a word for the year as a personal focus for their new year. I selected Steadfast as my word for the next twelve months. I desire to remain steadfast and jump any hurdles that come my way with a positive attitude, unwavering in my actions and faith. Then, on January 4, as I surfed social media, I ran across a post by DaySpring inviting people to take their word for the year quiz. I do not participate in quizzes like this, but it captured my interest. I clicked on the post, and it took me to their…
January 2025 New Book Releases
January 2025 New ReleasesMore in-depth descriptions of these books can be found on the ACFW Fiction Finder website Children/Middle-grade: Feather by Susan Page Davis — Feather is snatched by a fierce tribe and forced to work for them. Her younger brother, Karsh, vows to find her. When Feather learns the arrows she makes will be used against her own people, she and her friend Tag decide to escape and warn the peaceful tribe of the coming attack. (Children/Middle-grade, Tea Tin Press) Cozy Mystery: The Edge of Knife by Marissa Shrock — The summer of ’88 in Wildcat Springs, Indiana, was…
December 2024 Releases
December 2024 New ReleasesMore in-depth descriptions of these books can be found on the ACFW Fiction Finder website Contemporary Romance: Always In My Heart by Iola Goulton — Broke solo mother Maya Allen is raising her daughter, Sarah, as well as her dead best friend’s daughter … who just happens to be her own daughter’s half sister (thanks, cheating college boyfriend). When her lowlife landlord doubles her rent, she realizes it’s time to make a new plan and return to New Zealand with her children. First she has to do the unthinkable: make contact with her ex and compel him…
ACFW’s October 2024 New Releases
October 2024 New ReleasesMore in-depth descriptions of these books can be found on the ACFW Fiction Finder website General Contemporary: I’ll Be Home by Darlene L. Turner, by Sara Davison, Helena Smrcek, Melanie Stevenson — With chaos and confusion all around them, can they find their way home this Christmas? The people in these four stories are all searching for something—an escaped convict, a job promotion from a love interest, connection to a lost parent, answers across time. Christmas should be a time of wonder and celebration, but the obstacles each faces seem insurmountable. Perhaps they will find what they…
Inviting Laughter Into Seasons of Despair by Karisa Moore
“A joyful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones” (Proverbs 17:22, ESV). Not long after my oldest son’s death, I needed a laughter reality check. I am a solemn person, and grief intensified my lack of humor. Winter had set in, and we were cooped up in the house. I kept getting sick, and the discs in my lower back weren’t staying in place. My bones literally ached with sorrow, and I gave into bitterness over my loss. Little things that I would have previously shrugged off weighed heavier on me. I sunk inward. My…