Seeking Beta Readers

I have finished the final draft of my fourth young adult novel. I need some fresh eyes to check for errors and give me feedback on plot, characters, etc., and give me your opinion on the title. If you're interested in being a beta reader please email me at bigpinelodge at gmail dot com. Here's the synopsis:

Moms in the Bible - Leah

Chapter 13 – Leah

Jacob loved Leah’s sister, Rachel, and served her father seven years in order to marry her. But when the time was finished and the marriage feast began the father brought a veiled Leah to Jacob’s tent instead. Put yourself in Leah’s place; she was obedient to her father, but she knew that her younger sister and Jacob were in love. She must have been conflicted, hopeful, afraid. She endured (enjoyed?) the honeymoon week and then her new husband abandoned her to quickly marry Rachel and work for his father-in-law another seven years.

The Bible tells us that Leah was hated.

The Miracle of Being Forgiven

It is hard to wrap our finite brains around God’s infinite forgiveness, but give it a try. He sent His son to pay for your/my sins. All of our sins. Past. Present. Future. EVERY SINGLE ONE.

Being forgiven is who I am. Because I accepted this gift I am forgiven. There is no condemnation. None. If I never do or say another wrong thing (unlikely) or if I commit the most horrendous act imaginable: I AM FORGIVEN. Already. Done deal.

When I have trouble forgiving myself I must remember that if God has forgotten my sin then so should I.

For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more." Jeremiah 31:34

Yet dwelling on my past mistakes has become habit. And I must remember that

Moms in the Bible - Judith and Bashemath

Chapter 12 – Judith and Bashemath

Remember Esau, Jacob’s twin? He was the older brother who sold his birthright to Jacob for a mess of pottage. Foolish, foolish man. He didn’t marry well either; he waited until he was forty and then took two wives.

Genesis 26: 34 says “When Esau was forty years old, he married Judith daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and also Basemath daughter of Elon the Hittite.” But the next verse is a shocker: “and they brought grief to Isaac and Rebekah.”

Why were his parents upset?

4th Annual Spooktacular Giveaway Hop

Find a list of all the participating blogs HERE

Enter to win one of 5 digital copies of the spooky book SHELTERED
or
1 paperback copy (US mailing only).

Five troubled teens confront demonic forces and are compelled to deal with their problems in distinctly different ways. One by one strange and mysterious occurrences stretch the teens’ beliefs in the supernatural. How they deal with demons, real and imagined, has tragic as well as redeeming consequences. 

a Rafflecopter giveaway
a Rafflecopter giveaway

Moms in the Bible - Jochebed

Chapter 11 – Jochebed

This mom is more famous than you think. Do you recognize her name right off the bat? It’s very unusual and should be familiar, but if it’s not, here’ clue #1: this mom married her nephew. Yuck, you say, well I’m thinking that since child-bearing years covered many decades (and multiple wives) that Jochebed was not necessarily older than her husband, Amram. Marrying a relative was not prohibited until later.

Clue #2:

Do You Feel Sad or Unloved?

Do you feel sad or unloved?

Don’t be sad. Don’t let things get you down. Trust God. Trust Jesus. I’ll let you in on a secret: Jesus is preparing a place for those of us who believe in Him. I really love my current house, but the mansion He is building will outdo anything I can imagine.

He told us (John 14) that He is coming back for us. He will take us to meet the Father. The only way to meet the Father is through Jesus. That’s the ONLY way. Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”

Do you doubt that God loves you? He does and there is nothing, NOTHING, that can come between you and His love for you. Not death or life or angels or demons or the present or the future or any power or any height or depth. Nothing in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. These are strong words, straight from the Bible. Read them again.

Moms in the Bible - Jedidah

Chapter 10 – Jedidah

Jedidah, mother of King Josiah, is mentioned in only one verse in the Bible so a few suppositions have to be made based on the history presented in 2nd Kings. First of all, her husband, the father of Josiah, was only king for two years before his officials conspired against him and he was assassinated. The Bible tells us that he did evil in the eyes of the Lord, as did his father before him.

God’s Answers To Our Complaints, Part 2

Do you complain about these things? I do. Then I look to the Bible for the answers. Here are some complaints and God’s response:

I feel depressed and alone.
God says in Deuteronomy and Hebrews that He will never leave us or forsake us.

I worry about everything. What can I do?
Cast all your anxiety on the Lord because He cares for you (1st Peter 5:7).

Moms in the Bible - Herodias

Chapter 9 – Herodias

There’s a woman in the New Testament who was about as low-class and immoral as they come, and yet she was the wife of a King. I’m talking about Herodias, who was first married to Herod Philip, her father’s half-brother, and had a daughter by him. She left her husband and had an affair with his half-brother Herod Antipas. They then married. I guess she had a thing for half-uncles. Her new husband, King Herod, was the one responsible for beheading John the Baptist. Herodias had a major part to play in that tragedy.

God’s Answers To Our Complaints, Part 1

Do you complain about these things? I do. Then I look to the Bible for the answers. Here are some complaints and God’s response:

 Life is too hard. [groan] Things are out of hand. This is impossible!

God’s answer is found in Luke 18: 27: Jesus replied, “What is impossible with men is possible with God.”

Nobody loves me, everybody hates me. Guess I’ll go eat worms.

God’s answer is

Moms in the Bible - Hannah

Chapter 8 – Hannah

There was a man, Elkanah, who had two wives, Hannah and Peninnah. Peninnah had children, sons and daughters, but Hannah had none. Oh boy, I can just imagine that household in a time when child-bearing was the main worth of a woman. The husband, Elkanah, used to give double portions of meat to Hannah because he loved her and she was barren, but he may not have made things any better by doing that. The Bible tells us in 1st Samuel that her rival, Peninnah, kept provoking her in order to irritate her. This went on year after year.

Wednesday's Random Thoughts

If you can't see something, do you believe it exists? 

I believe in many things that I can't see. I've never seen the wind. I've never seen history. (I've never seen most of my blog readers.) But I see the effects of the wind, though the wind is invisible. We have historical records, but it is by 'faith'  that I (and most people) believe that certain events happened.