An Interview with the Authors of The World Rejoices

 

An Interview with the Authors of The World Rejoices

Holiday activities and gatherings. Trying to align family schedules and expectations. Shopping, baking, cooking, and decorating. Now combine all of that on top of the usual busyness and demands of life. It’s no wonder that we often come into the Christmas season tired, anxious, and overwhelmed. For anyone who can relate, authors Eliza Huie, Cyndi Logsdon, Brook Taylor, and Ashley Arey invite you to take twenty-five days to focus on God’s promise that brings lasting peace, comfort, and joy.   The World Rejoices: The Good News of Christmas Devotional​is a practical resource for individuals and families, encouraging a slower December pace while counting down the days to Christmas. Each short daily devotional thought and Scripture reading from the first two chapters of the Gospel of Luke guides readers toward a deeper connection with Jesus and a meaningful understanding of the Christmas story.    Q: How did the four of you come together to write The World Rejoices?​   Brook: Each year our church puts together an Advent devotional for our congregation in an effort to orient our hearts towards Christ during the Christmas season. Two years ago, I was tasked with the responsibility of putting the entire project together within a fairly short amount of time. I could not complete the project alone given the timeframe, so I reached out to three of my closest friends (who are also co-workers) and asked if they’d be willing to team up on the project. They all agreed, and we began the process to write, edit, design, and print the devotional as a gift to our faith family at McLean Bible Church.    Q: What makes The World Rejoices unique from other Christmas devotionals?   Brook: The World Rejoices is particularly unique in its appeal to a wide variety of audiences, which sets it apart from other Christmas devotionals. Its family friendly content, multi-denominational appeal, intergenerational approach, and inclusive language make it a great resource for a diverse audience.    Each of us is writing from a different season and situation in life, which makes The World Rejoices a more robust and applicable resource for all readers. It was written with all believers in mind so a single Christian, married couple, family, or any individual of any age can find the content relevant and engaging.   Q: What is the format and what can readers expect each day?   Eliza: Each day of this 25-day Christmas devotional invites readers to explore the Christmas story from the first two chapters of the book of Luke. This thoughtful approach of unpacking the significance of the story of the birth of Jesus will encourage individuals and families to focus on the true meaning of Christmas in an enjoyable way.   This book is also packed with activities to provide an engaging experience during the Advent season. Readers will be guided to engage with the narrative through these simple activities, fostering deeper connection, while reflection questions encourage personal application. This journey gives readers the space to not only reflect but also to celebrate the true meaning of Christmas.

Q: What are some of the activities interspersed through The World Rejoices?   Eliza: Some of the activities include prayer prompts, reflection questions, and direction for further reading. Other activities involve the whole family in word searches, I Spy, Ad-libs (an Advent version of Mad Libs), and other Christmas activities for young and old.    Q: The Advent season is busy for all of us. What are some tips for slowing down and enjoying the season?   Ashley:​ There are a lot of events, people, and things to do leading up to Christmas that are all important and fill our calendar; the goal is not to eliminate busyness entirely but to create balance and find quiet moments amidst the hustle and bustle. A few ways to sneak in some quiet moments would be to schedule an appointment with yourself every day or set an alarm to take a few minutes to walk through a devotional, write down things you’re grateful for as the year comes to an end, or pray.   Using an Advent guide is a great way to set up a rhythm of doing so yourself, with your family, or with friends. Consider adding it to something you’re already doing, like doing a devotional during dinner time, bedtime, or in the morning instead of reading the news. Ultimately, our intimacy with Christ is more important than anything else we could fill our time with, so my encouragement to you would be to fight for it. Say “no” or “wait” to more things this season, and “yes” to what’s most important here, now, and forever.     Q: How does taking a few minutes each day of December to focus on God’s promises help alleviate the hustle and bustle of the Christmas season?     Ashley:​ Taking a few minutes each day to focus on God’s promises offers a powerful antidote to stress, feelings of inadequacy, grief, and more. It’s the light that illuminates the lies we believe: “You’re unloved,” “You’re alone,” “You’re not doing enough,” or “This [insert: thing in my shopping cart/person/position] will finally make me happy.” A heart focused on Jesus brings truth into sharp focus, exposing these lies for what they are. Jesus says, “I love you,” “I am with you and will never leave you,” “You don’t have to earn my love,” and “Simply rest in my presence, and you will be filled with joy.” As the hymn says, “Turn your eyes upon Jesus. Look full in His wonderful face, and the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace.” Q: A person could easily read through the first two chapters of Luke in a day, which is what readers are invited to do on Christmas. What are the benefits of slowly walking through this passage over twenty-four days?   Cyndi: There is a sweet beauty that comes from building habits and rhythms of slowly meditating on God’s Word. His Word is living and active; it changes us. And, we aren’t meant to only be hearers or readers of his Word. We are meant to submit to the authority of his Word in our lives and be obedient responders to what it says.    We want our readers to remember that this passage has a context. It fits into a beautiful story of what God has been doing since before time began. We hope they will savor the beauty of the gospel of Christ and be transformed by it. So, we invite readers to take some time to delight in and treasure the words of Scripture. We break the passage into smaller sections so that every section of this passage is prayerfully considered both on its own, and in light of the bigger story.

Q: We often think in terms of the promises made in the Old Testament being fulfilled by the arrival of Jesus. However, the promises didn’t end there. How does God continue to fulfill promises to us today?   Cyndi: Today Jesus both fulfills promises to us, and he fulfills promises through us. One promise that he continues to fulfill is his promise to always be with us (Matthew 28). And we read of a promise he fulfills through us in Luke 24 when we read that he is working today so that the forgiveness of sins will be proclaimed to all nations. We are invited to join into that great work as his witnesses. He fulfilled the promise to send us his Spirit who empowers our witness. So, we celebrate what he has done, join in what he is doing, and trust in his promises yet to come.    Q: What is one of your favorite devotionals from the book and why?   Ashley: While I don’t think I can truly pick my favorite, I do like the twenty-fourth devotional. It’s truly worshipful to look back over the year and remember God’s goodness, grace, and provision. The Bible calls us to do so because we are all so prone to forget. In addition to looking back, I also like the opportunity to look ahead. Sharing the good news of the gospel is what we are here on Earth to do after all. Heaven is our home, let’s recruit as many people to come with us as possible!   Cyndi: I enjoy the reminder in Day 15 of the change in the life of Zechariah. This man who once couldn’t speak because he didn’t believe the Lord’s message is now blessing God and prophesying. Oh, the hope that brings to my own feeble unbelief! May we read this devotion and bless the Lord together.   Eliza: For me the words from Day 2 are words I need all year long. It starts with the words “How long...” and it goes on to talk about how two people prayed for a child for so long and saw no answer to their prayers. We all long for the words of the angel, “Your prayers have been answered,” to be true in areas of our lives. This devotional reading is an encouragement to me to not give up on praying for things because God hears, and he will answer in his timing.    Brook: Each of the devotionals impact me differently, depending on when I read it and what is going on in my life. However, Mary’s Magnificat in Luke 1:46-56 has always been a favorite part of the Christmas story, so I’d have to choose Day 13. Mary’s immediate response to praise God in the middle of uncertainty and the reminder that God sees her is a message I never tire of hearing.    Q: If a church would like to get copies of The World Rejoices for their members to read together like your own congregation did when you first wrote the book, what is the best way for them to be able to do that?   Our publisher, New Growth Press, has five and ten packs of the book available for up to 40% off so that you can purchase as gifts, for a book club, or your congregation. For larger orders, you can contact their customer service department for details on bulk pricing (customerservice@newgrowthpress.com).

The World Rejoices: The Good News of Christmas Devotional by Eliza Huie, Cyndi Logsdon, Brook Taylor, and Ashley Arey Foreword by David Platt August 19, 2024 / Retail Price: $16.99 Print ISBN:978-1-64507-423-6 Religion / Holidays / Christmas & Advent

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About the Authors

Eliza Huie, MA, LCPC, is the Director of Counseling at McLean Bible Church in Vienna, VA, and teaches biblical counseling at Metro Baltimore Seminary. She is the author of several books, including Raising Emotionally Healthy Kids, the minibook Teens and Anxiety, and is coauthor of The Whole Life. Eliza and her husband, Ken, have three grown children and two daughters-in-law. (Website ~ Facebook ~ Twitter ~ Instagram)   Cyndi Logsdon and her husband have spent the past twenty years loving and serving the church around the world. They currently live in Istanbul, Turkey, where her husband serves as the pastor of an English-speaking church in a vibrant megacity. Cyndi and her husband have two grown daughters and a son-in-law.(Facebook ~ Twitter ~ Instagram)   Brook Taylor obtained a BA in Early Childhood Education before moving overseas with her family to plant churches in the Middle East. She’s a pastor’s wife, mom of five spirited boys, and a children’s ministry director at McLean Bible Church. (Facebook ~ Twitter ~ Instagram)   Ashley Arey is a business owner who provides branding, and visual and strategic communication services to businesses, ministries, and churches. She currently resides in the DC area with her husband and two sons. (Website ~ Facebook ~ Instagram)

Dead End: (Truth Seekers Book 3) by Susan Sleeman

 

Dead End:

(Truth Seekers Book 3) 

September 25, 2019

by Susan Sleeman (Author)

Evaluating trace evidence is her job…

When Sierra Byrd’s father needs a kidney transplant, despite her parents’ protest claiming they could never ask for her help, Sierra insists on being tested for the transplant. But when results prove it is physically impossible for her father to be her biological father, her family finally confesses their long-held secret. She was conceived in an affair her mother had the summer before her parents’ wedding. The man she’d come to know as father is named on her birth certificate, but he truly isn’t her father.

But the job just turned personal.

Shocked and hurt, Sierra goes in search of her biological father in the small coastal town where he owns a property management business. But when she arrives in town to find her father has recently disappeared, and she starts asking questions, FBI Agent Reed Rice delivers her second shock in as many days. Her father is wanted for embezzling money from the properties he manages. Despite the evidence staring her in the face, Sierra holds out hope that her father isn’t the criminal that Reed believes him to be. But as Sierra’s desperate search for the truth unearths long-buried secrets and she runs into dead end after dead end, she ignites a killer’s fury, and suddenly her own life is on the line.

My thoughts: Dead End is about a woman who finds out that her father is not really her father when she attempts to donate her kidney to save his life. When she goes to meet her biological father she walks straight into a crime scene. Her father is missing. It is assumed that he has stolen a lot of money and may have murdered somebody or somebody might have murdered him. The details are unclear and the FBI has been called in. Sierra decides to stay and help investigate because some of the things are right up her alley. This was a story with a lot of details and surprising twists and turns.  I wasn't really surprised by who done it the other details surprised me. If you like romantic suspense you will love Dead End or any of the other books in this series. I was given a copy free and all opinions on my own.

Dead Silence: (Truth Seekers Book 2) by Susan Sleeman

 

Dead Silence: 

(Truth Seekers Book 2) 

July 8, 2019

by Susan Sleeman (Author)

A child she'll do anything to keep.

After Kelsey Moore's husband dies, she wants only one thing. To adopt her husband's son who she has come to call her own. But as she begins the process that her husband had dragged his feet on, she learns a secret so shocking she begins to question everything she knows except for the love she feels for her son. The child is not her husband's biological child, her former husband never had legal custody of the boy, and no one knows where he got the child. Fearing she might lose her son, Kelsey must find his birth mother and convince her to give up her parental rights.

A danger she's never known.

But when Kelsey starts asking questions, she runs into a brick wall named DEA Agent Devon Dunbar. Devon has been investigating an adoption/human trafficking ring with drug connections for the last six months, and he's not about to let Kelsey interfere in his investigation. But even if Devon brings out feelings she never thought she'd experience again, and he asks her to trust him, Kelsey can't even give him the benefit of the doubt. Not with the way her husband had lied to her and not even when her own life is on the line. If she doesn't succeed, she could lose the one thing that means everything to her - her five-year-old son.

My thoughts: Dead Silence by Susan Sleeman  is an action packed story about a drug enforcement officer and a woman who finds herself the target of criminals who wanted her son for some reason. Kelsey is desperate to find the proof she needs to keep her son from going to foster care but what she finds might destroy her.  I enjoyed getting to know the main characters in the story and for those who like criminology and romantic suspense readers will absolutely love this book and the previous two books in the series.   I was given a copy  free and all opinions on my own.

A Healing Touch: (Amish Fiction about a Small Town Community Doctor and an Abandoned Baby) by Suzanne Woods Fisher

 

A Healing Touch:

(Amish Fiction about a Small Town Community Doctor and an Abandoned Baby) 

October 1, 2024

by Suzanne Woods Fisher (Author)

Ruth "Dok" Stoltzfus is the kind of doctor who still believes in house calls, addressing not just her patients' physical needs but their emotional ones too. When newly widowed Bee faces a breast cancer diagnosis, Dok connects her with Fern Lapp for support. When her painfully shy assistant Annie finds herself drawn to a new calling, Dok goes to great lengths to help her achieve her dream. And when an abandoned newborn mysteriously appears at her office one frosty morning, Dok's world takes an unexpected turn as ripples of change touch several lives.

A Healing Touch is a captivating tale of compassion, resilience, and the bonds that form in surprising places. Bestselling and award-winning author Suzanne Woods Fisher invites you into a new story that's like medicine for the weary soul. Join Dok, Annie, and the tight-knit Stoney Ridge community as they navigate the twists of fate, discovering that sometimes the greatest healing comes from the heart.

 Marilyn's thoughts:   

“A doctor can treat, but only God can heal.” “Faith should infuse grief.”

It was nice to return to Stoney Ridge with Ruth “Dok” Stoltzfus story as a doctor to the Amish community as well as Englishers. Growing up Amish she understood the beliefs of her patients which was a plus. There were a variety of characters with issues in this story that Dok was in touched with. Dok’s own life was challenged in this tale where she had to release her own situations to the Lord knowing best. I would like to see Fisher write Annie’s story who is Dok’s office assistant in this read.

Fisher has a way to draw her readers in from the start till the story is finished. Her creativity with humor, plots, Amish proverbs, strong characters and faith brings life to her books.

 

“A doctor can treat, but only God can heal.” “Faith should infuse grief.”

It was nice to return to Stoney Ridge with Ruth “Dok” Stoltzfus story as a doctor to the Amish community as well as Englishers. Growing up Amish she understood the beliefs of her patients which was a plus. There were a variety of characters with issues in this story that Dok was in touched with. Dok’s own life was challenged in this tale where she had to release her own situations to the Lord knowing best. I would like to see Fisher write Annie’s story who is Dok’s office assistant in this read.

Fisher has a way to draw her readers in from the start till the story is finished. Her creativity with humor, plots, Amish proverbs, strong characters and faith brings life to her books.

Saved From The Pit By Sharon Musgrove #Devotional

 

Saved From The Pit

By Sharon Musgrove

“Did you eat from that tree I told you not to eat from?” Genesis 3:11b (MSG)

 When I was a little girl, my family moved into a newly constructed home in which the yard had yet to be landscaped. In fact, we had a large pit in the mud that was our backyard. This was a time before fences divided and the neighbors had sightlines into the business of every home.

Mom laid down the law, stating that we could play anywhere except near that hole. The entire subdivision was my playground... the old weeping willow tree with its tire-swing, the open field of the high school across the street, the heap of rocks belonging to the old couple with the dog... all of this was acceptable territory.

And yet curiosity piqued.

At the bottom of that forbidden cavity a puddle resided. Its shiny surface creating a mirror to the sky above. My young mind did not understand water tables but could conjure up mysteries beyond and below the water’s surface. This very crater could have been the passageway to China!

And while I knew the boundary that had been set by my parents, I wanted to know what secret lay at the bottom of that well. So, one day, alone, I went to peer into the ditch and into it I fell.

I screamed in terror of falling to the other side of the world and forever away from home. Mother came running.

Once saved from the pit, unharmed, her interrogation began. What was I thinking? Why had I disobeyed? Did I not know she was protecting me from harm? Out of the garden and into the shelter of the house I was disciplined. At four years old I had no answers to mother’s questions, but the guilt and shame I felt in my wrongdoing stuck like tar on my skin for years.  

Eventually I understood this to be a “fall of man” experience. I was Adam with clear boundaries, and I was Eve, seduced to take part in the forbidden. And I did the one thing I was told not to do, thinking that somehow the end would justify the means.

Reading mankind’s original sin story found in Genesis 3 of the Bible, is not meant to be an exercise in learning how life could have been if “those people” hadn’t messed up. Rather it’s the telling of our everyday decision-making, and how God interacts with us continually in those choices. Each pass through this scripture gives us opportunity to honestly answer the pointed questions about our behavior.

“God said to the Woman, ‘What is this that you’ve done?’” Genesis 3:12b (MSG)

When we make choices that are counter to God’s caring instructions, He gives us every opportunity to be forthright about where we are and what we’ve done. The questions asked are not asked to induce shame, but to stir up truth. For what does God do when we repent of our sin?

He saves us from the pit and into His loving arms.

If you find yourself battling guilt and shame for decisions you wish you had made differently, all you need to do is cry out to our Heavenly Father and lift your arms up to him for escape. Surrender the striving to get yourself out of the mud and accept that He is the One who puts you back on solid ground. 

 

Author Bio:

 

Sharon has been writing and teaching biblically based curriculum, Bible studies, and devotionals since 2007.    

 

She has had the unique position of writing curriculum and teaching for two private, Christ-based, residential recovery programs. Both programs primarily served women in the homeless community.

 

Sharon has traveled multiple times to Kenya, serving on medical teams and teaching in the rural Maasai communities. She’s been privileged to speak in Leadership camps intended on encouraging and empowering the impoverished, underprivileged, and often abused young women.

 

Within these ministries, Sharon has witnessed the transformative power of loving words spoken to the broken-hearted. Sharing God’s love and witnessing its transformative power has become her passion.

 

Sharon and her husband, divide their time between Oregon and Hawaii. They have two grown children. 

 

Currently, Sharon is encouraging others via her inspirational blog, but prefers sharing face to face. Additionally, she is working towards a degree in Ministry. 

 

~*~

Connect with Sharon:

Website: Sharonmusgrove.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/Sharon-Musgrove-Untethered-102208978041060

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sharonmusgrove_untethered/

One Last Stand: (A Romantic Suspense Alaskan Adventure) by Susan May Warren

 

One Last Stand: 

(A Romantic Suspense Alaskan Adventure) 

October 8, 2024

by Susan May Warren (Author)

As a member of the Air One Rescue team, pilot London Brooks has built a new life--one far away from her clandestine past as an operative tasked to take down a branch of Russian terrorists. She has no desire to reenter that world or endure the grief of losing everyone she loved, including her fiancé. But the past won't stay past. When she finds herself falsely accused, her reputation tarnished, and her life in danger, she has no choice but to plunge back into the treacherous world she left behind. Even if she must surrender everything--and everyone--she loves in her new life.

Shep Watson will never forget the day he saved London Brooks from the avalanche that nearly killed her. He knows there is more to her story, but he's intent on keeping her secrets. Just when it seems she's finally ready to let him into her heart, her past comes knocking. But he can't bear to lose her again, which means, somehow, he'll have to enter her world, keep up with her, and figure out a way to bring her home. But when the danger comes home to Alaska, what will it cost the Air One Rescue team?

Join bestselling author Susan May Warren in the final, thrilling journey through the majestic Alaskan wilderness and beyond, where love defies danger and second chances are won with courage and determination.

My thoughts:  One Last Stand by Susan May Warren is the fourth book in a series of the air rescue team in Alaska. It was fascinating what the crew had to do in rescuing people and even in their own personal lives. Shep was a real sweetie and I loved how much he loved London.  You will definitely want to read all four books in this series. This was a great action filled romantic suspense that kept the pages turning. I can't wait to see what Ms Warren has coming up in the near future. I bought this book and all opinions are my own. I was not required to write a review.