It's beautiful. It's perfect proof of an eternal truth and light. . . . This is not the usual story. This is the tale of a mute boy who is born and abandoned in the shadows of life. He carries with him two things-his dead mother's shawl and her promise that someday he will find a king who will give him a voice. Like Reuben in The Promise, may you sing of Light, even when no one else can hear.

    They had intended to name the baby Lucy, if it were a girl; but they had not expected her on Christmas morning, and a real Christmas baby was not to be lightly named - the whole family agreed in that.

    Eliza is confident that he will return home, and she helps pass the months making a special quilt to keep Will warm during his winter in the army. When the unthinkable happens, she takes in a woman and child who have been left alone and made vulnerable by the war, and she finds solace and camaraderie amongst the women of her quilting group. And when she is asked to help hide an escaped slave, she must decide for herself what is right, and who can she can count on to help her.

    What are you willing to pay? That's the question explored in "Bonhoeffer: The Cost of Freedom." Chronicling the life of German theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer, this provocative Peabody award-winning dramatization shares the story of one man's battle against the evils of Nazism, a decadent culture, and compromising church—something that's not so foreign to society today. Challenging and compelling, it's entertainment with a message!

    . . A Holiday Mystery At SeaAmerica's Queen of Suspense -- Mary Higgins Clark -- joins forces with her daughter Carol -- bestselling author of the Regan Reilly mysteries -- in this fast-paced novel set on a special holiday cruise that sets sail from Miami the day after Christmas. Alvirah Meehan, the lottery winner turned amateur sleuth; recently "hitched" private detective Regan Reilly; and their husbands Willy and Jack, are guests on the Royal Mermaid's maiden voyage, the Santa Cruise. The cruise is Commodore Randolph Weed's gift to a select group of people who in the last year made the world a better place. What he doesn't know is that his ne'er-do-well nephew, Eric, has smuggled two escaping criminals on board. As the Royal Mermaid sails through troubled waters, Alvirah and Regan uncover clues that lead them to the dangerous men who were not on the original guest list! Filled with suspense and humor, Santa Cruise is a holiday mystery you won't want to miss. Join the Clarks' as they bring this unpredictable voyage to a hair-raising and heartwarming conclusion and ring in the New Year.

    They’ve experienced all kinds of things but with each other, their families, prayer, and God; they’ve made it through 2019, to the month of December. But not every relationship salvaged will make it to the future. In this Holiday Short Story, Special Edition of When the Vows Break, you’ll get to peek into the lives of these friends and see how they’re spending their Christmas holiday. Will the past they’ve endured affect their present, attempting to shatter their future? Or has the past given them instruction to treasure the present while preparing for the future? You’ll have to read to find out.

    One thing is certain, it is not written in any other book, nor is it to be found among the ancient lore of the East. And yet I have never felt as if it were my own. It was a gift, and it seemed to me as if I knew the Giver."--Henry Van DykeLong, long ago, a wise man named Artaban, a priest of the Magi, discerned from heavenly signs that the time was at hand for the fulfillment of an ancient prophecy--the birth among the Hebrews of a holy Prince and Deliverer of Man. Hastening to join three fellow Magi for the long journey into Judaea, he paused to help a dying man and was left behind. And so Artaban began his pilgrimage alone, striking out not toward the realization of his life's deepest longing, as he hoped, but only toward misfortune and suffering. Or so he believed until one blessed, radiant moment.With an introduction by Leo Buscaglia

    I was the wife of Jesus.” Raised in a wealthy family in Sepphoris with ties to the ruler of Galilee, Ana is rebellious and ambitious, a relentless seeker with a brilliant, curious mind and a daring spirit. She yearns for a pursuit worthy of her life, but finds no outlet for her considerable talents. Defying the expectations placed on women, she engages in furtive scholarly pursuits and writes secret narratives about neglected and silenced women. When she meets the eighteen-year-old Jesus, each is drawn to and enriched by the other’s spiritual and philosophical ideas. He becomes a floodgate for her intellect, but also the awakener of her heart.Their marriage unfolds with love and conflict, humor and pathos in Nazareth, where Ana makes a home with Jesus, his brothers, James and Simon, and their mother, Mary. Here, Ana’s pent-up longings intensify amid the turbulent resistance to the Roman occupation of Israel, partially led by her charismatic adopted brother, Judas. She is sustained by her indomitable aunt Yaltha, who is searching for her long-lost daughter, as well as by other women, including her friend Tabitha, who is sold into slavery after she was raped, and Phasaelis, the shrewd wife of Herod Antipas. Ana’s impetuous streak occasionally invites danger. When one such foray forces her to flee Nazareth for her safety shortly before Jesus’s public ministry begins, she makes her way with Yaltha to Alexandria, where she eventually finds refuge and purpose in unexpected surroundings.Grounded in meticulous historical research and written with a reverential approach to Jesus’s life that focuses on his humanity, The Book of Longings is an inspiring account of one woman’s bold struggle to realize the passion and potential inside her, while living in a time, place, and culture devised to silence her.

    But when his latest book, 'Martin Chuzzlewit', is a flop, his publishers give him an ultimatum. Either he writes a Christmas book in a month or they will call in his debts and he could lose everything. Dickens has no choice but to grudgingly accept ...

     After five years of hard work, Elliott Maitland has succeeded to make profitable the ranch he bought on a whim from a gambler who had no interest in working with cattle. A frosty winter day finds Elliott in town, hoping to conclude his business before the blizzard starts in earnest. Sam, the owner of the mercantile, asks him to give shelter to the new schoolteacher, who just arrived in town and has nowhere to stay. Celestine Tillman is in desperate need of a job and a place to live. Being hired as a teacher in Wyoming is a blessing. Discovering that no one is waiting for her at the train depot and no room is available in town so close to Christmas is distressing. Going home with this rancher could be dangerous, but what choice does she have? This adventure packed fictional story is set in Laramie, Wyoming at the end of the nineteen century and presents a true picture of the western town with all the good and the bad, the modern and the old west mixed together. An enduring town moving forward and changing with the times.

    Little does she realize, when she falls deathly ill on the journey there he will abandon her, leaving her stranded and sick on the station platform. Even the small town doctor refuses to take her in for fear that she will infect his other patients. Help comes in an unexpected guise, a humble mercantile owner named Abe Graham, once a physician, nurses the ailing Collette. And Collette’s body is not all that finds healing – Abe’s heart discovers a renewed purpose. Will Collette’s dream of a Thanksgiving wedding still take place? And can Abe shake off his past disappointments and embrace a new future? Brides For All Seasons Vol. II is a beautiful historical holiday romance series. Each book in the collection is a standalone story designed to warm your heart with seasonal love and romantic adventure.

    This is not to say that all is sugar candy. The mother in the title story faces a lonely Christmas in an empty house—but then something quite ordinary but miraculous happens. In "The Drum Goes Dead," a small-town bank cashier, a solid citizen and sterling friend, is dispirited by hard times until he discovers, through his own resources, that it is indeed a wonderful life. Here are nine other holiday stories, by turns dramatic, humorous, and inspirational. The closing piece recalls the author's childhood in Iowa. Bess Streeter Aldrich is well remembered for A Lantern in Her Hand, from which Christmas on the Prairie is reprinted, and Spring Came On Forever.

    It's a down-home Christmas story about tradition, family, and the shared experiences of women. Here, in a letter of her own, Lee Smith explains how she was inspired to write this celebrated epistolary novel:Dear Friends,Like me, you probably get Christmas letters every year. I read every word and save every letter. Because every Christmas letter is the story of a life, and what story can be more interesting than the story of our lives? Often, it is the story of an entire family. But you also have to read between the lines with Christmas letters. Sometimes, what is not said is even more important than what is on the page.In The Christmas Letters, I have used this familiar format to illumine the lives, hopes, dreams, and disappointments of three generations of American women. Much of the story of The Christmas Letters is also told through shared recipes. As Mary, my favorite character, says, "I feel as if I have written out my life story in recipes! The Cool Whip and mushroom soup years, the hibachi and fondue period, then the quiche and crepes phase, and now it's these salsa years."I wrote this little book for the same reason I write to my friends and relatives every holiday--Christmas letters give us a chance to remember and celebrate who we are.With warmest greetings, Lee Smith

    He determines to tell his daughter a Christmas story—one that conveys the true meaning of the holiday. And he knows just the story.The year is 1968 and Jesse's father is serving a tour in Vietnam. Jesse and his mother are struggling to make ends meet. He gives little thought to the approaching holidays. That changes however, when he is befriended by Ardella Calder, an elderly customer on his paper route. During a visit, the woman shows Jesse her Christmas Tin. Inside it are gifts from her most memorable Christmases. As she tells Jesse the heartwarming stories behind the gifts, he slowly comes around. But just when things are looking up, the Macleans receive a telegram with dire news about Jesse's father.It is during this time that Ardella tells Jesse a final story, a poignant, war time holiday story. A story to guide Jesse through his grief and show him that sometimes faith and hope can bring light to even the darkest of places.

     Mare Internum. Mesogeios. The Mediterraneus. That sea has been known by many names since the creation of the world. To the people living around its shores, it was the entire world. Myron had no use for the myriad of gods that the people of his village worshiped - and cursed. And it was obvious to himself that those immortals, in turn, had no interest in a young man whose future would be bound by the reed pools and swamps of the Nilos delta. His disinterest was such that he seldom even bothered to bash the ears of whichever deity was supposedly responsibility for the daily misfortunes of an orphan. Then came the evening when the marauders struck... Had he been given even a glimpse of his future from that moment on, he would have dismissed it as the ravings of a drunken myth weaver. In fact, the story might have been similar to the tales that were told on occasion, around the evening fires, by an itinerant bard who entertained the village in return for a bone to gnaw and a jar of bitter beer to quaff. But, sanctioned by the gods or no, his future would take him to the far reaches of the known world. And his rise from the lowest drudge to the command of men was certainly not derived from bending his knee to some vaporous deity, but by innate skill and the ability to take the measure of a man. Indeed, his story was the kind of tale that a bard loved and would cause his listeners sit in total silence to hear. After all, why would a man in reality, who had fought his way to power and riches, would give them up for a mere woman and an uncertain future? Of course, only the gods knew of his unique gift...