Book picks similar to
The Light Within by Rebecca L. Matthews
first-reads
advance-copy
christian-fiction
contemporary-christian
A Redesigned Life: Uncovering God's Purpose When Life Doesn't Go as Planned
Tracy Davis Steel - 2019
We adore plans and perfectly staged rooms. But what happens when we discover we are living a life we did not design? When our dreams lie in tatters or when we experience loss of any kind? What happens when life feels like one big Pinterest fail? Where is God in the midst of what doesn't make sense? Does he care?Drawing from time-honored design principles such as movement, contrast, and pattern, former interior designer and Bible teacher Tracy Steel offers frustrated and discontented women the assurance that God is their ever-present, caring Designer. With a mix of wit and wisdom, Tracy proves through biblical examples and personal testimony that God remains true to his plans and purposes, accomplishing them in and through us in every season of life. She helps us recognize God's design principles, enabling us to embrace our sometimes messy lives, especially when they're ones we never would have designed for ourselves.
Ornamental Graces
Carolyn Astfalk - 2016
Just when his life seems to be back on track, he meets Emily Kowalski, younger sister of his new best friend.Emily’s the kind of girl he’d always dreamed of—sweet, smart, and sincere. But he’s made a mess of his life and ruined his chances for earning the love and trust of a woman like her.Could Dan be the man Emily’s been waiting for? How could he be when every time they get close he pulls away? And will he ever be free from his shady past and the ex-girlfriend who refuses to stay there?
In Search of Love
Piyushi Dhir - 2014
Nursing a broken heart, she decides to visit her parents in Ahmedabad for a short reprieve. Even as she struggles to resign herself to a marriage ‘arranged’ by her parents, she runs into their neighbour’s attractive son.Parth is more than happy to spend time in his own company, in the comforts of his ‘resort’. His plan to take some time off before he plunges head long into his career lands him in front of a lovely girl. The pain in her eyes belies her warm smile and he finds himself irresistibly drawn to her. Yet he knows that this cannot end well, for any intimacy with her is forbidden.Fate plays a cruel trick with Ayesha when it ends her search for love in a cul-de-sac, a point of no return. Ayesha is distraught when she realizes that the one person she has finally fallen in love with, is not hers to be had. They part ways with memories that will return to haunt them and questions that will remain unanswered, until another tryst, seven years later on the other side of the world.
The Temptation of Demetrio Vigil
Alisa Valdes - 2013
Coronado Prep student Maria Ochoa, 16, is near death after crashing her car on an isolated stretch of New Mexico Highway 14 during a blizzard. When the only person to show up to help her is a teen gangbanger named Demetrio Vigil, Maria fears she’s doomed, until the young man manages, miraculously, to heal her nearly fatal wounds with nothing but the warm energy radiating from his hands. Maria is grateful for the help, and seeks to thank Demetrio by returning to the tiny ghost town of Golden, where he said he lives, to find him and give him a gift. What she discovers out about Demetrio along the way, however, not only defies logic and belief, but puts Maria’s very life in terrible danger.
Across the Street
Laurie Lisa - 2013
For Sam, years of infertility, followed by an unthinkable tragedy, have left her despairing of ever having a child. Money is tight, and IVF is expensive. Sam’s only hope may be to ask her sister to be a surrogate. Alex will do anything for Sam, but when the sisters embark upon an unorthodox route to surrogacy, jealousy, guilt, and legal complications soon follow.As the limits of sisterly devotion are tested, the family’s hidden wounds and secret addictions come to light, shaking the foundation of their marriages and their lives.An emotional story of a woman’s struggle with infertility and a riveting book about the complexities of family, Across the Street makes an excellent selection for book clubs.
The Beech Tree
Don Phelan - 2011
We follow Johnny and Margo, Johnny's lifelong, albeit socially taboo, friendship with his friend, “Bullet Joe” Rogan, a pitcher in the Negro Leagues.Johnny introduces his granddaughter, Debby, to the tree in 1957, an era of bobby socks, roller-skating carhops and Elvis music, and Debby meets Mason in 1967's Summer of Love, just before Mason is drafted to fight in Vietnam.For 30 years, Debby wonders whatever became of the boy who changed her life. Then she finds out.
Charlie (Recovering Commando, #1)
Finn Og - 2019
He must also provide for her. His extraction from special operations at sea leads him to form a clandestine company. 'CHARLIE' helps Sam appease his desire for vengeance, to deal with his grief, and to cleanse his conscience of some of the questionable things he's seen and done. Until he's asked to do a job which throws their healing, and safety, into doubt.
Lady Joe
Mark Saha - 2015
“This book touched my heart." - GoodreadsSomebody left Lee Estes in charge of the Walker place while the trainers are on the road and he manages to lose a champion cutting horse scheduled to be picked up by a buyer. The unsophisticated buyer only wants Lady Joe as a trophy horse to impress clients at a prestigious law firm, so Lee buys a cheap no-talent blue roan lookalike. When the buyer tells Lee to enter the animal in a weekend cutting for photographs, he must scramble to find a blue roan cutter to substitute for the bogus horse. By chance, the only blue roan cutter around belongs to Jim Harrison’s wife, who has no use for Lee and is about to divorce Jim. Lee persuades his best friend since high school days that there is opportunity here for Jim to save his marriage. Things go haywire from there in this humorous misadventure that takes an affectionate glimpse at the sport of cutting and becomes a trenchant comment on the future of the horse in a world where it is no longer essential to everyday life.
The Mayflower Bride
Kimberley Woodhouse - 2018
William Lytton embarks on the Mayflower as a carpenter looking for opportunities to succeed—and he may have found one when a man from the Virginia Company offers William a hefty sum to keep a stealth eye on company interests in the new colony. The season is far too late for good sailing and storms rage, but reaching land may be no better as food is scarce and the people are weak. Will Mary Elizabeth survive to face the spring planting and unknown natives? Will William be branded a traitor and expelled?
Open: Get Ready for the Adventure of a Lifetime
David Gregory - 2016
Are you ready to take the next step?From the New York Times bestselling author of Dinner with a Perfect Stranger, Open will forever change the way you think about faith.It wasn't the end of the world. It was just the end of Emma Jameson's world. Fresh off the heels of a devastating breakup and floundering in her career, Emma is struggling to come to grips with why God allows so much pain in our lives, why He seems so absent when she needs Him most, and why the Gospel accounts--our supposed guide for how to lead a contented Christian life--feel so completely irrelevant.Then one day, a mysterious envelope arrives in Emma's mailbox with the word Open written on the outside. Inside the envelope is a card bearing the following message: "For a real adventure with Jesus, go through the nearest open door."Skeptical, but having absolutely nothing to lose, Emma steps through the pantry door, only to find herself instantly transported back to the first century, where she is taken on a personal tour of various Gospel accounts by none other than Jesus himself--an experience that radically challenges Emma's perception of the Gospels and what it really means to be a Christian.
Lady Maybe
Julie Klassen - 2015
Then, the pain. The freezing water. And as all sensation drifted away, a hand reached for hers, before all faded into darkness… Now she has awakened as though from some strange, suffocating dream in a warm and welcoming room she has never seen before, and tended to by kind, unfamiliar faces. But not all has been swept away. She recalls fragments of the accident. She remembers a baby. And a ring on her finger reminds her of a lie. But most of all, there is a secret. And in this house of strangers she can trust no one but herself to keep it.
Outlaw
Ted Dekker - 2013
Some places dwell in darkness so deep that even God seems to stay away.There, my mind was torn in two by the gods of the earth. There, one life ended so another could begin.Some will say I was a fool for making the choices I made. But they would have done the same. They, too, would have embraced death if they knew what I knew, and saw through my eyes.My name is Julian and this is my story. But more, it is the story of my son who was born to change the world.From deep in the impenetrable jungles where New York Times bestselling author Ted Dekker was born and raised, comes OUTLAW, an epic adventure of two worlds that perhaps only he could write. Full of harrowing twists, sweeping violence, and wild love, Outlaw takes us beyond the skin of this world to another unseen.
Catching the Wind
Melanie Dobson - 2017
They survived a harrowing journey from Germany to England, only to be separated upon their arrival. Daniel vowed to find Brigitte after the war, a promise he has fought to fulfill for more than seventy years.Now a wealthy old man, Daniel's final hope in finding Brigitte rests with Quenby Vaughn, an American journalist working in London. He believes Quenby's tenacity to find missing people and her personal investment in a related WWII espionage story will help her succeed where previous investigators have failed. Though Quenby is wrestling her own demons--and wary at the idea of teaming up with Daniel's lawyer, Lucas Hough--the lure of Brigitte's story is too much to resist. Together, Quenby and Lucas delve deep into the past, following a trail of deception, sacrifice, and healing that could change all of their futures.A 2018 Christy Award finalist!
South of Good (Hardin Steel #1)
Randall Reneau - 2014
Twice divorced, with a bit of a drinking problem, he’s now dating Rory Roughton, a fiery sixth-generation Texan who’s as rich as she is beautiful—and hell-bent on keeping Steel on the straight and narrow. But then his best friend, Wes Stoddard, is nearly shot down flying in a load of pot, Rory is kidnapped by a Russian mercenary working for the most dangerous cartel in Mexico, and the Cuban Mafia decides they’d like the former DEA agent—dead. Steel is forced to take unsanctioned, unconventional—and mostly illegal—action in order to save himself and those closest to him . . .
Grounded
Neta Jackson - 2013
Exhausted and unwilling to continue her current tour, she books a flight home. Traumatic events result in a paralyzing fear of flying. Stuck at home due to a major snowstorm, Grace begins, for the first time, to connect with the residents of Beecham Street. Will she recover her faith and overcome her fears, or will she give up her career? Grounded is an uplifting, contemporary tale in an urban setting featuring characters courageously wrestling with the real spiritual and practical issues of average people.