Guard My Mouth, Lord by B J Bassett

 Guard My Mouth, Lord

Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this should not be. James 3:10 NIV

“You look tired,” my friend said.

What?

Why do people, even those closest to us, feel it’s okay to say what they think, not considering how the other person will take it? Her words brought me low. I thought I looked well-rested. What did she see that I didn’t observe when I looked in the mirror?

My friend is outspoken and says what she thinks without filtering her words.

Some of the filters to ask ourselves before we speak include: Will my words encourage or discourage? Will what I say uplift or cast down?

Before we speak, we need to guard our mouths and be encouragers.

Guard my mouth, Lord. Put a sentry over my lips. Help me filter my words so they encourage and don’t discourage someone. Amen.

Reprinted from

The King’s Daughters

                                                                                  By BJ Bassett

 

B. J. Bassett encourages others as an author, teacher and speaker. Her books include a contemporary novel, Gillian’s Heart; a historical novel Lily; Sweet Charity; A Touch of Grace—The G.R.A.C.E. Ministries Story; and coauthor of a children’s devotional My Time with God, Focus on the Family, Heritage Builders, with over 55,000 copies sold.

 

As a contributing writer, publications consist of Writer’s Handbook 2000, The Writer, and The Focus on the Family Guide to Growing a Healthy Home, Wolgemuth& Hyatt, Publishers, Inc.—consistently on Bookstore Journal’s Best-selling Christian Books List from November 1990 - February 1991, and voted the 10 Best Books for 1990 by Today’s Christian Woman.

 

Magazines, devotional booklets, curriculum and newspaper publishers include Focus on the Family, Woman’s World, The Quiet Hour, Pathways to God, Devotions, Harcourt Brace, WordAction, Gospel Publishing and Times Standard (newspaper).

 

She teaches writing workshops at Umpqua Community College, Roseburg, OR and at writer’s conferences. As a speaker for Stonecroft Ministries, she tells her story of rejection and acceptance, not only in life, but as a writer as well. She also offers book talks, including discussion questions and shares the journey -- from the seed of an idea to a published book.

 

She enjoys reading, jigsaw puzzles, knitting, munching warm scones oozing with butter and strawberry jam and sipping earl grey tea.

Welcome to the Rocky Mountain Promise Celebration Tour!

 

About the Book

Book: Rocky Mountain Promise

Author: Misty M. Beller

Genre: Christian Historical Romance

Release Date: November 21, 2023

Lorelei Collins possesses a soft heart for any animal in need, so when she finds a buffalo calf bawling beside its mother’s lifeless body, she can’t help but bring it home to raise on the ranch she and her sisters are building in the Rocky Mountain wilderness. Little does she realize that its white coloring is rare and considered sacred by Native Americans, which makes it highly valuable to them and the European trappers alike.

A flood of men visit their ranch to regard the marvel, some trying to woo Lorelei into marriage so she’ll bring the buffalo calf along as dowry, and others trying to steal the calf outright. When the men’s advances become more sinister, she approaches Tanner Mason, the quiet and mysterious owner of the new trading post, with an idea: She and the calf will move to his post, along with her family’s trusted Blackfoot friend. This will solve both their problems, bringing customers to his trade room and protecting her family from the trouble brought on by so many strangers. Yet as the danger travels with her, Lorelei and Tanner are faced with a threat greater than anything they’re prepared for–one that will test the limits of both their abilities and the love growing between them.

USA Today bestselling author Misty M. Beller delivers an exhilarating addition to the Sisters of the Rockies series fraught with peril, adventure, and romance amid the majesty of the Rocky Mountains.

 Marilyn's thoughts:   

This second book in the Sisters of the Rockies is filled with intrigue, drama, suspense, history in the rugged west along with faith and a budding romance. The Collins sisters are unique with their own personalities with Lorelei being a compassionate animal lover as well as a caring sister to her sisters. Lorelei firmness to save the buffalo calf brought more danger to the Collins’ ranch. Tanner Mason knew the dangers and sought a way to aide them.

 

The plot was filled with unexpected twists and turns to keep the pages turning until the end to see if and how the sisters were going to survive. Their persistence, loyalty and faith brought answers and directions. I cannot wait till book three is released to see if their mission into the rugged west is fully accomplished.

 

I received a complimentary copy of this book from Celebrate Lit Bloggers tour and Bethany House without any obligation to write a positive review. I have expressed my own thoughts.

Click here to get your copy!

 

About the Author

Misty M. Beller is a USA Today bestselling author of romantic mountain stories, set on the 1800s frontier and woven with the truth of God’s love.

Raised on a farm and surrounded by family, Misty developed her love for horses, history, and adventure. These days, her husband and children provide fresh adventure every day, keeping her both grounded and crazy.

Misty’s passion is to create inspiring Christian fiction infused with the grandeur of the mountains, writing historical romance that displays God’s abundant love through the twists and turns in the lives of her characters.

Sharing her stories with readers is a dream come true for Misty. She writes from her country home in South Carolina and escapes to the mountains any chance she gets.

 

More from Misty

My latest release, Rocky Mountain Promise, follows the four Collins sisters who traveled west to accomplish their father’s deathbed request, and stayed on to run a ranch in the Wyoming Rockies. This particular book is Lorelei’s story, the third sister by age.

I loved writing Lorelei! She LOVES animals and has a heart to heal and nurture. Growing up on a ranch in the early 1800s, she understands that animals are important to survival, but she loves taking in any injured or orphaned creature she finds.

Like the orphaned buffalo calf with beautiful shades of white fur she discovered on the plains. The creature was only a couple weeks old, far too young to survive on its own in the wild, so she took it home to nurture until it could be released back into a herd.

Little did she know, white buffalos are extremely rare and considered sacred by the Indians, which puts them in high demand. I first learned about this belief when I was reading the non-fiction book My Life as an Indian, a memoir of James Willard Schultz, a white man who married into the Blackfoot tribe and lived among them for many years.

The respect for the white buffalo originally began with the Sioux, and they have a legend about the White Buffalo Woman that I won’t take time to share here (though you can read about it in Rocky Mountain Promise!). The deep respect for a white buffalo spread quickly among all the tribes and the trappers who lived in the Rockies and the surrounding plains, and such a creature (or even its hide) became one of the most sought after treasures in that day!

In Lorelei’s story, trapper and Indian alike show up in their cabin yard to see the remarkable white calf, some trying to woo her into marriage so she’ll bring the buffalo calf along as dowry. Others try to steal the calf outright. She ends up taking drastic measures to protect both the calf and her family. Any guess what she did?

I pray you love Rocky Mountain Promise as much as I do!

Blessings!

Misty

Blog Stops

Babbling Becky L’s Book Impressions, November 29

Life on Chickadee Lane, November 30

Pens Pages & Pulses, November 30

Betti Mace, December 1

Wishful Endings, December 1

Lighthouse Academy Blog, December 2 (Guest Review from Marilyn Ridgway)

Debbie’s Dusty Deliberations, December 2

Texas Book-aholic, December 3

Splashes of Joy, December 3

Locks, Hooks and Books, December 4

For Such A Time As This – Miriam Jacob, December 4

lakesidelivingsite, December 5

Library Lady’s Kid Lit, December 5

Happily Managing a Household of Boys, December 6

Truth and Grace Homeschool Academy, December 6

Life, Love, Writing, December 7

Avid Reader Nurse, December 7

Cover Lover Book Review, December 8

Tell Tale Book Reviews, December 9

For Him and My Family, December 9

Jeanette’s Thoughts, December 10

Exploring the Written Word, December 10

Holly’s Book Corner, December 11

Blossoms and Blessings, December 11

Lily’s Corner, December 12

Pause for Tales, December 12

Giveaway

To celebrate her tour, Misty is giving away the grand prize of a $50 Amazon gift card!!

Be sure to comment on the blog stops for nine extra entries into the giveaway! Click the link below to enter.

https://promosimple.com/ps/2909a/rocky-mountain-promise-celebration-tour-giveaway

Part 1 of an #Interview with Camille Cates, Author of Moving Forward After Abortion

 

Part 1 of an Interview with Camille Cates, Author of Moving Forward After Abortion Even though each woman’s story is different, the challenges that follow an abortion can be similar. Counselor Camille Cates has spent nearly three decades counseling women and helping them to answer these questions. In Moving Forward after Abortion: Finding Comfort in God, she speaks to women who may be facing hurt, confusion, and unanswered questions after an abortion, helping them find grace and mercy in God’s love. She helps readers to see that God is forgiving, gracious, merciful, and loving and offers comfort to those who come to him to experience restoration instead of brokenness.   Q: Could you share a little bit of your own story and why you have such compassion for women who have had an abortion?   I was twelve years old when I came to know Christ while I was at a summer church youth camp. But I went home after that experience and didn’t have any one-on-one discipleship. My family life wasn’t really centered on Christ and no one taught me how to cultivate my relationship with Christ.    When I got into high school, I began dating and became sexually active. Midway through my junior year, I became pregnant. The young man with whom I became pregnant didn’t want anything to do with me or the baby, so I was on my own. My parents eventually found out that I was pregnant and my mom asked me if I wanted to have an abortion. I told her, “No. I want to keep my baby.” Thankfully, my parents were supportive, I graduated a year early, and two weeks after my baby was born, I began college full-time.   I was trying to get my life back on track but still craved a romantic relationship and wanted my daughter to have a father. I began dating another young man who seemed to care about me and my daughter, and our families had similar values. We became sexually active, and I became pregnant again. We were considering getting married, but when my parents found out, they began pressuring me to have an abortion and questioned how we were going to raise two children while we did not even have stable careers yet.   However, we never came to a decision together as my boyfriend next did something that turned my world upside down. One evening, he was watching her while I was at work. My mom came up to my workplace and told me that I had to come to the hospital because something had happened to my daughter. I found out that he had sexually assaulted her and had shaken her to death. She was gone. He was arrested, and I was alone . . . and pregnant.   We hadn’t even left the hospital yet and my parents started pressuring me to have an abortion. The days after my daughter’s death were a blur. I really wrestled with the Lord and was drowning in grief and confusion. I succumbed to the pressure and had an abortion four days after burying my daughter.   My life spiraled for a few years, but God brought me back around to him and his faithful love. I ended up getting married, but my previous abortion was wreaking havoc on our marriage. God evidenced his love and grace to me again when he helped me to find biblical healing through a Bible study written to help women who have had an abortion.   Seeing God work so incredibly in my life through his Word really fostered compassion in me for other women who have had an abortion to experience hope and healing in Christ. I began to share my story with others as well as how the gospel of Jesus radically transformed my ashes into beauty for God’s glory.   Q: Each chapter addresses a common question that women ask following an abortion. What are some of those questions you cover in the book?   There are seven chapters, and each chapter title asks a different question that so many women I have counseled have asked: Who Can I Turn to after My Abortion? is meant to guide women on the importance of seeking help first and foremost from God, then being able to share their thoughts and struggles with a trusted friend, pastor, or counselor.   Is God Going to Punish Me for My Abortion? is a prominent question in the hearts and minds of women who have had an abortion. This question is answered by looking at God’s nature, his care for his children, and his goal to change us to be more like Christ, not punish us in anger.   Why Can’t I Just Move On? was meant to address why many people who have experienced abortion feel stuck. The reason this happens is often due to trying to justify their decision to abort. I explore what God’s Word says about the desires behind their abortion so that they can begin moving forward.   Will I Ever Stop Feeling This Way? discusses the complexities of emotions a woman (or man) feels after an abortion and how to work through and respond biblically instead of either being driven by their emotions or feeling numb in trying to suppress them.   What Do I Do with These Thoughts about the Baby? guides the reader to biblically process their grief and aids them in acknowledging and celebrating the personhood of his or her aborted baby.   Why Am I Struggling with Forgiveness? exposes the myth of self-forgiveness, which many women have believed is essential to moving forward after abortion. Instead, it helps them to believe in and accept God’s forgiveness. Additionally, this chapter encourages the reader to extend forgiveness to those who were involved in the abortion decision.   How Do I Leave My Abortion in the Past? Helps the reader identify how the past might be affecting the present, especially within marriage, parenting, and sexual purity. It also leads them to discover the importance of sharing their testimony of what God has done to heal (sanctify) them from their abortion.   Q: Of course, we focus on the stories and emotions of the women who have had abortions, but what about the men you refer to as the forgotten fathers?   Abortion impacts men too, the forgotten fathers of an abortion decision. Whether they pressured the mother of their child to have an abortion or they were helpless as she made the choice without considering how it would affect him, men need to biblically process their abortion experiences too. They are often hurting and live with incredible guilt and shame, and many have the same questions that the women do but they have never been able to voice them to anyone. It’s important to remember that both the mother and father are impacted by the sin of abortion.   Q: Many women who become Christians after having an abortion fear that God will punish them for what they did. What encouragement do you offer them in letting go of that fear?   In Moving Forward after Abortion, I challenge the reader to consider the nature of God. It’s important to understand that God doesn’t punish us as our sins deserve because judgment fell on Jesus on the cross. It’s vital to understand the difference between punishment and God’s design for discipline in our lives. He disciplines his children because he loves us. “Is God Going to Punish Me for My Abortion?” is a great chapter to dig in to find comfort from God’s Word by looking at his loving nature and discovering how he sees us in spite of our sin.   Q: Can you talk about the importance of acknowledging and grieving your baby?   Some women and men who have experienced abortion never acknowledged their baby. They seem to think only of the abortion as an act that occurred. It’s as if they have never stopped to reflect on the nature and personhood of their baby or even the fact that it was their baby that was aborted. For those who had abortions further in the past, it could have been harder to think about abortion as ending the life of their child because ultrasound technology was not very advanced and it was not as easy to see the personhood of their unborn child (especially when they were coached to believe it was a simple cluster of cells). Now we have advanced technology that enables us to see the features of a baby in the womb and know that a heartbeat, brainwaves, and more occur at a very early age of gestation. Not only that, but from Scripture we see that life begins at conception. The Bible relates conception to personhood. In the Old Testament, the word conception means to be “with child.” In the New Testament, the word root word for conception means “to receive a person.”    Acknowledging that abortion caused the death of your baby brings the freedom of being able to grieve the loss of that child. For many who chose abortion, they don’t believe they have a right to grieve over their loss because they caused it. But it is good and right to grieve over what God grieves over and he grieves the loss of your baby. He welcomes you to grieve with him over that loss and to let him comfort you as only he can. Moving Forward after Abortion: Finding Comfort in God Ask the Christian Counselor Series By Camille Cates September 5, 2023 / Retail Price: $11.99 Print ISBN: 978-1-64507-312-3 RELIGION/Christian Ministry/Counseling & Recovery

Click here for the full interview.

Read a Preview

About the Author

Camille Cates is a biblical counselor and a public speaker with a passion for ministering to women in crisis. She has written and spoken extensively on the topics of pregnancy care ministry, post-abortion trauma counseling, sexual abuse, and God’s design for sex and sexuality.    She is the author of Moving Forward after Abortion and the minibook Pregnancy Crisis: This Wasn’t the Plan.    Cates and her husband, Troy, have three adult children and reside in the metro Cincinnati, OH area.    Learn more about Camille Cates and her story at www.agrittygospellife.com. You can also find her on Facebook (A Gritty Gospel Life) and Instagram (@agrittygospellife).

Fractured Lies (Lantern Beach Exposure) #RomanticSuspense

 

Fractured Lies 

(Lantern Beach Exposure) 

March 29, 2023

by Christy Barritt (Author)

Lantern Beach has seen its fair share of trouble. But the danger isn’t over yet . . .

As security agent Jonah Gray zeroes in on his current mission, he finds scientist Rachel Atwood in his crosshairs. Right before his foster brother died, he handed Jonah a slip of paper with the woman’s name on it and muttered the word “killed.” But the more Jonah gets to know Rachel, the more he’s uncertain if she’s a killer or a target.

Rachel Atwood hopes to leave trouble behind when she takes a new research position at a cosmetics company located on Lantern Beach. But things aren’t as idyllic on the coastal island as she’d assumed. Something fishy is going on at the waterfront lab, and Rachel is unsure who to trust.

When lies are exposed, Jonah and Rachel's newfound trust is shattered. Can they pick up the fractured pieces of truth in time? Or will a killer’s devious plan destroy them both?

A suspenseful mystery full of romance, forced proximity, hidden identities, secrets, and danger around every turn.

My thoughts:   For an island with a low crime rate, Lantern Beach certainly has more than its fair share.  Jonah follows a lead to the island but he's not sure if the name written on the slip of paper is a suspect or the next victim.  I enjoyed reading FRACTURED LIES and especially their nightly scrabble games. This was a fun suspense and it kept me guessing who-dun-it.   If you like romantic suspense you'll want to read this book.  Even though it is part of the series it easily stands alone.  Recommended.  

A Family for the Orphans: An Uplifting Inspirational #Romance (Triple C Ranch, 2)

 

A Family for the Orphans: An Uplifting Inspirational Romance

 (Triple C Ranch, 2) 

November 28, 2023

by Heidi Main (Author)

Three little hearts have been broken.

Now they must find a way to heal them…

Tragedy turned Walker McCaw from bachelor cowboy to guardian of his late best friend’s three children. Now they’re living on a new horse farm—and it’s a disaster. Trisha Campbell’s arrival couldn’t come at a better time. Together, they’ll need to work to save the struggling farm. But it takes more than hard work to make a family. It takes courage and love…

From Love Inspired: Uplifting stories of faith, forgiveness and hope.

Marilyn's thoughts:   

 

This inspirational romance gripped my heart with the cover and title. It was a touching story from the heartbreak with the children to a delightful heartwarming tale.  Heidi Main penned just the right amount of drama, emotions, and characters that were realistic. There is a theme of wanting the best for the orphans along with letting go of personal dreams to fulfill what God truly called Walker and Trisha to do. The faith message is clear that with God at the center of a life the impossible can happen. I look forward to the next visit at the Texas ranches Main has in her stories.

 

I received an early copy of the book without any obligation to write a positive review. I have expressed my own thoughts.