Non-fiction book by Mary E. DeMuth; review by Patti Richter Mary DeMuth is an organized thinker and writer. The staff at Harvest House Publisher likely knew this before hearing—and accepting—her idea to write a book about spiritual warfare. How many women write books about spiritual warfare? Probably not many, especially the stay-at home kind. Theologians […]
It poured rain on the spring Saturday that I drove across town on a mission of motherhood. But I was less than half-hearted to fulfill it. My more enthusiastic, 13-year-old son sat in the middle seat of our minivan as we plowed down a waterlogged road, looking for street signs. The small plastic bin next […]
By Cecil Murphey and Twila Belk; book review by Patti Richter Cecil Murphey and Twila Belk have worked together for years. He is the author of more than 125 published books, while she is a writer and speaker and also works as his assistant. But they have something more in common—both are long-term caregivers. Now […]
My friend has experienced God’s very present help in trouble. But Ann has a problem. After seeing so many signs and wonders, she worries that people might not believe her testimony. Last year proved the most difficult one of Ann’s life. A corporate calamity loomed overhead for months on end. Meanwhile, both her parents’ health […]
It seems I picked the right year to nix the idea of making my annual list of resolutions. Fortunate too that I stocked up on boxes of tissue, antihistamines and expectorant. My first week of 2012 was spent depleting those supplies, not thinking a whit about any personal goals beyond getting well and back to […]
Non-Fiction Review by Patti Richter 150 Quick Questions to Get Your Kids Talking Written by Mary E. DeMuth Trying to get our children to open up and talk often proves futile. Seemingly overnight they can go from endless chatter and questioning to quiet reserve and disinterest in parental perspectives. How do we share our values […]
Some people trim their Christmas tree after Thanksgiving dinner. They head out early on Black Friday and do all their Christmas shopping by day’s end. They have their family-photo-Christmas-cards in the mail by Dec. 1. Then there are the rest of us. We pull out our Christmas boxes and let them incubate for days, as […]
A depressed soul and a holiday make a poor pair. I sat down to pray about my unhappy condition on a mid-November morning. I had my health, my family, and a new home. I could have written a turkey-size list of things to be thankful for. But instead, complaints ran through my mind like newsfeed […]
Our Texas porches want pumpkins in autumn, temperatures notwithstanding. There might not be color in the trees yet, so we depend on pumpkins and chrysanthemums. I’ll set my favorite yellow and deep orange mums atop a weathered bench on the front porch and add a few pumpkins to accentuate their glory. I’m only a fair-weather […]
God knows what he’s up to, and it’s for our good So this is a drought. Many of us have never really seen one. We’ve seen images of drought in world news and in magazines from relief organizations. It’s not life-threatening here in Texas, except to livestock and poor creatures of the field. But even […]