And she is usually able to overlook her husband’s moments of quiet sadness. If only God would give them a child … Pierce wants a child as badly as Laurie and has spent years praying alongside her. But he has no idea that a "yes" from God will unearth long-buried memories and bring their marriage to the brink of catastrophe. In The Barn Church trilogy's first novel, The Spindle Chair, Shellie Arnold explores what happens when "happily ever after" becomes more than one couple can handle.

    Broken. Suffering. Learning to survive. These are not the clients Katie Collier expected to help when she went to work at the mental-health clinic.But Katie and her husband can't have children of their own, so her natural compassion flows. Still, Katie wonders why God gives babies to some women who seem unwilling to care, feed, love, shelter—even hold, and leaves other women barren.Then one day it happens. A little girl named Bailey walks into Main Street Clinic … walks straight into Katie’s broken heart.Forced to choose between her husband and her career, Katie fights to hold onto both in order to save Bailey. When her husband gives her the ultimate ultimatum, Katie finds the children of Main Street are not the only ones feeling cast out and lost.Written for the General Market (G): Contains little or no; sexual dialogue or situations, violence, or strong language.

    She resolved to hope . . . and to fight for them to her last breath.Kara and Lizzie are heiresses to one of the largest fortunes in the country. But when their father dies suddenly, the toddlers are taken from the arms of Amanda, their loving stepmother, and given to relatives who only want the children’s fortune for themselves.Kara and Lizzie grow up questioning their worth . . . until the day when they learn the truth.Intensely involving, emotionally charged, and infused with hope, Covenant Child is an inspiring story that challenges us to embrace the life God holds out to us.“Blackstock is a masterful writer . . .” —Christian Retailing

    Eighteen-year-old Jenny is under no illusions—it’ll take a miracle to survive, much less thrive, in the unforgiving wilderness, particularly when twelve-year-old David fights her every attempt to prepare. Unexpected help arrives when John Beck—once a close friend of their father’s—arrives at their cabin. The tough-as-nails bounty hunter reluctantly agrees to stay through the winter. He owes it to his murdered friend to help Foster’s children build a working ranch, even if it’s the last thing he wants to do. Their uneasy alliance is fraught with hardships, danger, and back-breaking work that still doesn’t guarantee anyone will survive until spring. Especially with their father’s killer still on the loose.

    Determined to get in and get out of the abandoned property, she finds the valuable land tangled in a trust, and wonders who she can really trust, Not the property manager and affable southern gentleman, Taylor Simpson. Caught up in the mechanics of a farm, a legal document she can’t break, and pressure from her company for money, Evelyn turns to her own wiles and willpower…but can she resist the South’s wooing?

    Ten years before, the family quit coming to the exclusive Millionaire’s Club after a series of freak accidents. Her mother believed God cursed the island. Locals say it’s haunted. Russell Parker, whose family has worked at the Jekyll Island Hotel since it opened in 1887, knows many secrets. For the past ten years, he has kept his promise to Lexie’s brother to conceal the incident that ended the Smithfield’s resort vacations. When Lexie and Russell meet again as adults, familiar feelings of friendship mix with new ones of attraction. Set at a time when the resort’s popularity has waned due to the Depression and World War II, many of the cottages have been abandoned, casting a cloud of gloom over the island. Lexie and Russell face threats from the outside such as German U-boats offshore, as well as their own fears of exposure and rejection. Is Lexie’s destiny cursed by the family’s history, or will Russell help her learn the truth and find peace? Or does the truth threaten someone else, putting both their lives at risk?

    Her peace is short lived when a flat tire strands her on the other side of South Dakota with nothing but her high heels and a speeding ticket. State Trooper Travis Wilkins offers to keep her company while she waits for a new tire, but the quick fix turns into an overnight stay which turns into an extended stay. She soon finds herself in the middle of a foster child’s kidnapping case helping the handsome law man. His presence doesn’t quite settle her anxious heart. With the support of her new friends and her blossoming relationship, Natalia starts to believe she could finally experience a peaceful life … until an armed madman threatens it all.

    How could God grant her the desire of her heart, then do nothing to prevent it from being taken away? Can she wait for God’s perfect timing, or will she take matters into her own hands…again? About to age out of a Missouri orphanage in 1858, shy Rachel listens with terror as the orphanage matron tells her she’s practically auctioning her off to the highest bidder for her hand in marriage. Rachel prays, asking God to help her and her younger brother Charlie escape, but how? When God provides what Rachel believes to be her liberator, the seed of an idea sets in motion an adventure that will bring happiness and heartbreak and nearly cost Rachel her health. When trouble comes, it comes in a big way and those who care for Rachel wonder if she will ever recover. Rachel and Charlie face danger and sorrow, see new territory, and grow in their faith. They just might even find the desire of their hearts and realize God had bigger plans than they ever imagined.

    It's impossible not to, what with Claire's zany antics and Patsy's self-appointed mission to keep her friend out of trouble. And trouble abounds. During an early morning discussion at Dees 'n' Doughs bakery with their ladies group, all Chapel Springs entrepreneurs, attention is drawn to the slackened tourist trade. With their livelihoods threatened, they join forces to address the town's revitalization in hopes of drawing back the tourists. No one could have guessed the real issue needing restoration is their marriages. Claire, a pottery artist, stumbles through life with her foot in her mouth. When she became a Christian, she thought life and her marriage would be included in the new creation part. But her thighs are just as big and her husband, Joel, is as ornery as ever. She's become nothing more than a sheet-changer, a towel-folder, a pancake-flipper. Her life is humdrum and she's tired of being taken for granted. Patsy has plans for her empty nest, plans that include a cruise ship. However, her husband, Nathan, continues to work long hours, and he's not talking about slowing down. In fact, he's not talking much at all. She's asleep long before he comes home each night. At first she thought it was just because of tax season, but now she's not so sure. Something other than work seems to keep him late at the office every night. With the lines of communication closed, she'll have to find another way to reach him. With their marriages as much in need of restoration as the town, Claire and Patsy embark on a mission of mishaps and miscommunication, determined to restore warmth to Chapel Springs —and their lives. That is if they can convince their husbands and the town council, led by two curmudgeons who would prefer to see Chapel Springs left in the fifties and closed to traffic.

    But she yearns to find her anonymous rescuer. Unfortunately, her health and intellect prevent it. Both repel suitors and cause Annette to doubt God's existence, at least until He answers her prayers in an unusual way ... Mr. Peter Adsley is joining the clergy, and he desires a godly wife by his side. After his failed attempt to obtain one, he engages in a clandestine meeting with the bewitching young woman who keeps crossing his path. But she is so unsettling. Destined for disappointments, Peter and Annette endure disgraceful situations. Will Peter's faith sustain him through overwhelming setbacks? Can Annette overcome her doubts? Or will their starving hearts yield to the machinations of a mad man?

    Essentially trapped, Adah must plan an escape.But when she develops feelings for the one person essential to her plan’s success, she faces a painful choice: Will she choose to risk everything saving Daisy or take the new life offered by a loving man?

    R. Haldeman and John Ehrlichman are found guilty of the Watergate cover-up, the Weather Underground bombs the U.S. State Department, and Bill Gates founds Microsoft in Albuquerque, New Mexico. As Communist forces take Saigon and the Vietnam War winds down, Tray Dunaway, an ordinary teenager from a poor Southern family, longs to become part of the popular clique at school.Tray's mother, Evelyn, lies in bed most days with her bipolar tendency toward extreme highs or desperate lows. Meanwhile, Tray's grandmother Ginny, still grieving over the loss of her husband, would love to move out and find a place of her own. Maybe even a bit of romance to replace the loss she feels. But given the sorry state of the family's finances that's not possible.Then the Dunaways' luck changes. Or so it seems.Tray's father drives a down-and-out friend of the family, Pee Wee Johnson, to Hazard, Illinois, so Johnson can buy lottery tickets. As a gesture of thanks, Johnson gives a ticket to Tray's father. And what do you know? The Dunaways' are suddenly rich.When Johnson demands his cut of the winnings, Tray's dad refuses. As Evelyn's illness spirals toward madness, Johnson threatens the family. Out of time, Tray makes one poor decision after another until what initially seemed like a stroke of good fortune quickly becomes a dangerous game of life and death for the Dunaways.

    A woman who can’t even kill a spider, Hadley soon finds herself pushed to the limits as she fights to protect her family.Grace, new mother of baby Miles, desperately wants to put her rough past behind her for good, but she finds it impossible when her path crosses with Hadley’s, and her quest for a new start quickly spirals out of control and turns into a terrifying flight for survival.Stronger together than apart, the two find their fates inextricably entwined, and as the danger closes in, each must decide how much she is willing to risk for the other.A powerful story of self-discovery, Hadley and Grace is the heart-racing tale of two women facing insurmountable odds, racing to stay one step ahead of the trouble that is chasing them, and discovering new kinds of love and family along the way.

    Only days after settling into their new home, they are surprised to find the previous owner, Tillie Monroe, on their front porch reading the newspaper. Though her sons have sold the house and sent her to a facility for the aged, she is determined to die in the place she lived her life, and somehow manages to find her way "home" day after day. Feeling sympathy for the elderly woman, Roz's mother allows Tillie to move back in. Mara Nightingale becomes Roz's first friend in Mills River. In spite of their many differences, the girls discover they have something in common that binds them together--both are hiding secrets. So they make a promise--"cross my heart and hope to die"--never to tell anyone else.When danger stalks the Anthonys, Tillie exhibits unimaginable courage and selfless love in her determination to protect the family she has adopted as her own.

    A devastated daughter. Can one woman’s faith in the Almighty’s plan right a string of wrongs?Tonya Mendell has really tried her best. Desperate to be a model pastor’s wife and mother, she’s shocked when her thirteen-year-old daughter pranks the reclusive woman next door. And when Tonya discovers her husband is having an affair, her heart sinks when her only child flees the house in response.Knowing the scandal could rock the town and cost her husband his job, the faithful woman clings to the remnants of her tattered marriage. But seeing her relationship with her daughter and her own dignity at stake, Tonya’s only hope is to put her trust in God to make things right.Can this tortured soul follow the path the Lord intends and discover the healing she needs?Knocking is the heartfelt first book in the New Beginnings Christian Fiction series. If you like relatable women, strong believers, and tales of redemption, then you’ll love Robin Merrill’s uplifting story.