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What I'm writing in YEAR OF THE DOG

I just finished writing Year of the Dog ! It had a massive plot hole that I had to fix which turned out to be more work than I expected. Here’s a snippet: “Hey, Auntie Nell.” He wrapped his arms around her, bussing her on the cheek and breathing in pikake flowers and shortbread cookies. And suddenly he was nine years old again, and her solid presence had made his chaotic world stable once more. “What are you doing here?” He usually took her to dinner on Wednesday nights, but today was Tuesday. The edges of her smile faltered a little before brightening right back up again. “What, I can’t visit my nephew?” She angled around him to enter his home. “Is this your new house? Looks lovely.” Which was a blatant lie, because the fixer-upper was barely livable, much less acceptable to a neat-freak like his aunt. She also left four matching pink and purple floral suitcases on the stoop behind her. Only then did Ashwin notice the cab driver standing slightly to the side of the walkway. “Can ...
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Isaiah – week 5

Captain’s Log, Supplemental

Blog book giveaway:
To enter, go to the blog links below and post a comment there.
My Monday book giveaway is Scoop by Rene Gutteridge
My Thursday book giveaway is Blind Dates Can Be Murder by Mindy Starns Clark.
You can still enter both giveaways. On Monday, I'll draw the winner for the Scoop and post the title for another book I'm giving away.

Win an iPod Nano! Exclusively for my newsletter YahooGroup subscribers, I have a huge contest running until January 31st! Get more info on my contest page!

Blog Bible study: Isaiah 7:1 – 8:22

In the face of danger, King Ahaz did not trust God and didn’t want to risk hearing what He’d say or command for him to do. He didn’t truly believe in God’s power to save or His prophet/prophecy.

“Unless your faith is firm, I cannot make you stand firm.” Isaiah 7:9b

God offers His help to me, and it’s up to me to believe Him and take it.

This week’s sections also talked about fear of God. This is a theme I’ve been thinking about lately from this Bible study. I need to fear God more—I take Him for granted and think of Him like a chum, forgetting that He is holy, powerful, and mighty.

If I properly fear and respect Him, that means I believe in His incredible power as real and holy.

If I fear Him and believe in His power, then I can more completely trust Him no matter what circumstance I’m in, or my friends are in. I can pray with more faith, more trust, more certainty in Him hearing me.

“Make the Lord of Heaven’s Armies holy in your life.
He is the one you should fear.
He is the one who should make you tremble.
He will keep you safe.”
Isaiah 8:12-13a
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