Author Archives: Janet Sketchley

About Janet Sketchley

Janet Sketchley is an Atlantic Canadian writer whose Redemption’s Edge Christian suspense novels have each been finalists in The Word Awards. She's also the author of the devotional collection, A Year of Tenacity. Janet blogs about faith and books. She loves Jesus and her family, and enjoys reading, worship music, and tea. Fans of Christian suspense are invited to join her writing journey through her monthly newsletter: bit.ly/JanetSketchleyNews.

Retraining our Minds

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We tend to believe our emotions or thoughts–they’re inside us, they must be true. But believing them often means not believing God.

This catches me every so often. I’ll be sure I’m right, and then I realize that this feeling or thought is directly opposed to what God says.

I may put too much stock in my own understanding (He’s working on that!) but when I bring it down to “me or God” I have to admit He’s more likely to be right!

The trick is to catch those pesky thoughts/feelings and retrain them by replacing them with God’s true Word. Different verses help different people in their circumstances, but here are a few of mine:

When I despair of ever changing: “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!” 2 Corinthians 5:17, NIV*

When I’m feeling down: “Let him who walks in the dark, who has no light, trust in the name of the LORD and rely on his God.” Isaiah 50:10b, NIV*

When I feel inadequate: “His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.” 2 Peter 1:3, NIV*

What are some of the verses that help you?

*New International Version (NIV) Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Attitude Check

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But Samuel replied [to King Saul]: “Does the LORD delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the voice of the LORD? To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams. For rebellion is like the sin of divination, and arrogance like the evil of idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the LORD, he has rejected you as king.”
1 Samuel 15:22-23, NIV* (emphasis mine)

When I read these verses the other day at Other Food: Daily Devos, four words jumped out at me:

Obey… Heed.

Rebellion… Arrogance.

It all comes back to attitude, doesn’t it? God asks for a trusting, obedient heart, for a person who will love, listen and live under His authority.

Contrast this with King David’s prayer:

Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.
Psalm 51:10-12, NIV*

I wonder from his word choices if David isn’t remembering God’s words to Saul. The difference in the two men’s hearts is what pleases God:

David has committed a series of sins that we might judge as worse than Saul’s. But David pleads for God to renew their relationship, and I think his prayer for “a willing spirit” is key.

What will enable us to make the ongoing choice to heed and obey God? To trust His character enough to do it His way rather than our way? A willing spirit.

Father, I can’t thank You enough for saving me—and for Your promise never to leave me. I confess it’s easier to walk by sight than by faith, to follow my own understanding rather than trusting You. In Your mercy, please keep working to change me. Because of Your Son, forgive me. Restore to me the joy of Your salvation, and grant me a willing spirit, so that I can follow You.

Let “Draw Me Close to You,” sung here by Michael W. Smith, be our prayer today:

*New International Version (NIV) Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Review: She’s in a Better Place, by Angela Hunt

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She’s in a Better Place, by Angela Hunt (Tyndale House Publishers, 2009)

“One of the surest ways to know you’re ready to be a full-time funeral director is when you start talking to clients.” (p. 2)

So says Gerald Huffman, Jennifer Graham’s gentle mentor, when he catches her reassuring the corpse she’s working on.

Jen is a single mom with two school-aged sons and an unusual occupation: she owns a funeral home. She also shares her mother’s tendency to interfere—er, “help”—if relationships need mending, and so when Gerald becomes ill, Jen contacts his estranged daughter, Kirsten. Contact is one thing, but reconciliation proves to be another.

I like Jen, and one reason is her humanity. She’s a good mother and friend, who doesn’t always get it right. This lesson about trusting God to work things out is one she’s faced before. she may face it again, but she’s learning. Sound like anyone you know?

She’s in a Better Place is written in the present tense, which I find jarring. It’s by turns funny, sad and thoughtful, and it’s a good read. Don’t start here, though, if you haven’t read the previous books in the series.

You’d have no trouble picking up the ongoing story of Jennifer and her family, but where each novel builds on the previous, starting with book 3 would ruin the surprises in the first two. If you can, take time to begin with Doesn’t She Look Natural and then She Always Wore Red.

She’s in a Better Place brings the series to a satisfying conclusion, but there’s definitely room for another story. I hope we get one!

Best-selling, Christy-award winning author Angela Hunt has written over 100 books and is a favourite of many readers. You can learn more about Angela on her website, and she has a readers’ page on Facebook.

Memory Aids

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Last week at Other Food: Daily Devo’s, Violet Nesdoly talked about actions and images that remind us of God’s faithfulness and encourage our faith. The Old Testament is full of times when God told His people to set up a monument or hold a feast to honour Him and to remember what He had done. He knows how quickly we forget!

Deuteronomy 6 even says that God’s law and stipulations for His people are to remind them they’re His and He has miraculously delivered them.

I’m an at-home Mom, and when our kids were little and money was scarce, I poured a little oil into a glass container and left it on the table where I’d see it. Remember the story of Elijah and the widow of Zarephath? Elijah promised her, “For this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: ‘The jar of flour will not be used up and the jug of oil will not run dry until the day the LORD gives rain on the land.'” (1 Kings 17: 14, NIV)

I needed a tangible reminder of God’s provision to strengthen my faith. Now that our circumstances are easier, I still need reminders to stop regularly and look to God in praise. I have some Scripture verses posted around the house, but I’m challenged to create some new visual memory aids.

What do you use to keep turning your eyes to Jesus?

Listening to Our Shepherd

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My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand. John 10:27-28, NIV*

Today my congregation is doing something new. Individuals have set aside extra time throughout the day to seek God’s direction for our church, and we’ll gather this evening to share what we’ve each heard.

I’m really excited about this, and I hope we’ll do it regularly, maybe once a quarter. As a body, we’ve spent too long letting the leadership listen for us. The problem then is that we have less motivation to follow what’s heard.

“Was it really God, or is that a human idea? I don’t like it, so it must not be God.”

The business world talks about “ownership” and it’s true that if the whole group has input there’s more commitment. In the church, it’s also true that God speaks to each of us. I think as we each learn to hear His voice and share what He gives us, we’ll end up with a richer, clearer picture of where to go.

Father, give us ears, hearts and spirits to hear You. Protect us from other voices. Help the church—local and global—help us as individuals—to grow up into Christ.

Todd Agnew’s song, “Shepherd” is really about people who’ve done their own thing and strayed way off-course. I don’t believe that’s true of my congregation at this point. We’ve been trying to be obedient, but we definitely need to hear—and follow—God. The chorus of this song is my prayer today.

*New International Version (NIV) Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Review: Beautiful Things Happen When A Woman Trusts God, by Sheila Walsh

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Beautiful Things Happen When a Woman Trusts God, by Sheila Walsh (Thomas Nelson, 2010)

I love the cover art on this book. The little girl, swinging so high, looks… free. Carefree, even. Happy.

Beautiful Things Happen When a Woman Trusts God reminds us that it’s God pushing the swing—and that we can trust His heart. Trust is a choice, and the personal experiences and Scriptural examples Sheila Walsh includes are chosen to prove God’s trustworthiness. It’s up to us to take the step (daily) of trust, but in these pages we’re reminded that God knows our weakness and is incredibly patient.

I admire Sheila’s transparency with her own struggles to trust, and it’s through her stories—one human being’s vulnerability—that readers find they’re not alone, that there is hope. It’s risky to admit our frailty, and I’m sure some “upright” people will judge her and turn away. That’s their loss, and they’re missing the whole point.

The message of this book is crucial to all of us who are wounded and weary in the journey. Men need it as much as women, but Beautiful Things Happen When a Woman Trusts God is clearly written for a female audience.

Perhaps because the message is so important, I was disappointed with the quality of the words themselves. This is not something I’ve noticed in the author’s previous books, and it felt to me as if the publication process had been rushed. I found myself mentally editing, tightening sentences, correcting typesetting—all of which distracted me from the subject matter.

I even noticed a couple of spots that escaped Bible fact-checking. (For example, page 217 talks about Abram building the altar to sacrifice Isaac, and how the boy asks where the sacrificial animal is. The text says, “Scripture doesn’t tell us if Abraham replies or weeps or what he is thinking.” According to Genesis 22:8, NIV, “Abraham answered, ‘God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.’ And the two of them went on together.”)

The book does contain some powerful sentences, like this one: “Wherever you stand at the moment is your holy ground, and grace is available there,” (p. 175). I think I’ll be putting that one on my bulletin board.

It’s the trend for books to have perhaps 10 discussion questions at the end. Beautiful Things Happen When a Woman Trusts God has 26 and they’re all worth thought. I would have preferred them to refer to the author as “Sheila” rather than “Walsh”. To me that sounds formal and faintly disapproving.

There’s also an in-depth Bible study, with a session for each chapter. If that sounds intimidating, it really isn’t. Each one is 2-3 pages long and I like the format: “Find, Feel and Follow.” Find and read selected short passages in your Bible, think through your responses, and begin to act on what you learn.

In Beautiful Things Happen When a Woman Trusts God, Sheila Walsh writes with an easy-to-read and at times humorous style. Despite my wishes for better editing, this is a book I’d recommend to any woman who’s in need of learning to trust (or trust more) God’s heart.

Check out the book trailer (unfortunately, the audio and video are a bit out of sync). Beautiful Things Happen When a Woman Trusts God is available through your local bookstore and from chapters.indigo.ca,  amazon.ca, amazon.com and Christianbook.com.

You can find Sheila Walsh on Facebook, Twitter, or her website.

Review copy provided for free by Thomas Nelson Publishers as part of their BookSneeze.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review, and the opinions I have expressed are my own.

Chile and Haiti

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Are you still hearing news coverage of the situations in Chile and Haiti? I’m not hearing much, but I know the needs for relief and for prayer are still great. Here are a few links to let us know what it’s like:

Chile: Colleen Shine Phillips lives in Quilpué, Chile, and has begun posting her experience of the earthquake. Start with “A Shaky Experience” and continue on to her newer posts.

Haiti: Hands Across the Sea operates an orphanage and school in Deschappeles, Haiti. The HATS blog keeps us up-to-date with the ministry, facility repairs and the wider Haitian community.

I’m thankful for these and other ways we can stay connected to the needs in these countries. They make it so much easier to pray, don’t you think?

Convinced

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For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 8:38-39, NIV*

God will never leave us, nor forsake us. He promised. Songs like Matt Redman’s “You Never Let Go” and David Crowder’s “Never Let Go” help us internalize and respond to this amazing truth.

But sometimes, don’t you catch yourself wondering? Circumstances and the enemy of our souls whisper otherwise, and sometimes we listen: not me… not this time… not after what I did…

Our heads know the truth, but our hearts are prone to believe the lie.

Last week for the first time I really heard the lyrics to “Shadows,” from the David Crowder*Band’s Church Music CD, and something clicked in my spirit.

The price was too high for God to ever let us go. Jesus went to the Cross for us and defeated death. He’s not going to give up on us after that, no matter how troublesome we are.

Father, You knew what you were getting in the transaction, how stubborn and slow of heart we are, and You still loved us enough to pay a horrific price to rescue us. You’ve promised never to let go of us, and yet at times we doubt that. Forgive us, and help us to trust You and to stand amazed and secure “in the shadow of the Cross”.

Here  is a very cool video of “Shadows” from David Crowder*Band.  Take time to listen to the lyrics.

*New International Version (NIV) Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Review: Storm Warning, by Linda Hall

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Storm Warning, by Linda Hall (Steeple Hill, 2010)

Nori Edwards doesn’t feel at home anywhere since her husband’s tragic death. In search of a fresh start, she buys a tourist property on scenic Whisper Lake, Maine. She plans to fix up Trail’s End before her teen daughters return from their volunteer stints at summer camp. She and the girls will live in the main building, an old hunting lodge, and rent out the cabins.

Finding workers is only her first problem. Except for the attractive Steve, the local workforce wants nothing to do with Trail’s End. Rumour is, the place is haunted—by the ghost of its original owner, and perhaps by a crazy killer lurking in the woods.

Strange events multiply until Nori begins to think there really is a ghost. Or is it someone very much alive?

Steve Baylor hopes helping with Nori’s renovations will let him find traces of the two teens who vanished there two summers ago. The fact that the new owner is attractive is a nice plus, but Steve has secrets of his own and needs to keep his distance.

As always, Linda Hall’s characters are realistic and their struggles resonate with our own. Both Nori and Steve carry hurts that still need healing and that make it hard to trust and love again. Steve is learning to depend on God, and Nori needs to re-learn the same thing.

Nori is a muralist, another of the interesting careers Linda investigates for her heroines. We don’t learn a lot about it in this book, but it adds to the story’s appeal.

Award-winning Canadian author Linda Hall can be counted on to deliver a good read with strong characters. Storm Warning is her 16th novel, and I think I’ve only missed reading one. Her next novel in the Whisper Lake series, On Thin Ice, releases in April 2010. You can find Linda online at her website and at the Craftie Ladies of Suspense blog.

Review copy purchased by reviewer (from Chapters.ca).

Review: Beguiled, by Deeanne Gist and J. Mark Bertrand

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Beguiled, by Deeanne Gist and J. Mark Bertrand (Bethany House, 2010)

Rylee Monroe is a dog-walker and pet-sitter for the elite in Charleston, South Carolina. Unfortunately she’s also a key suspect in a rash of thefts by the “Robin Hood burglar,” since most of the victims happen to be her clients.

Journalist Logan Woods wants an inside scoop on the burglar for his paper, but it’s even more important for the book he’s writing on local criminals.

The two meet when one of Rylee’s charges mistakes Logan for an attacker and chases him. Despite first impressions, the two team up to catch the thief, since the police don’t seem to be making much headway. But faced with a growing attraction, can Rylee and Logan trust the other’s motives?

The authors deliver a page-turning mystery that’s not too scary to read before bed. The one problem might be putting it down to get your sleep. I’m unfamiliar with Charleston, but they claim to have reproduced the South of Broad neighbourhood with only very few touches of artistic license.

Rylee, Logan and their friends are sympathetic characters that I was rooting for from the beginning. The opposition is strong as well, and interesting.

I chose this book because of the back-cover blurb, before seeing the cover art. Based on sight and title, I’d have passed it up as a straight romance and missed a good read. (Not that romances aren’t good reads! I just like something extra thrown in.)

Deeanne Gist and J. Mark Bertrand are each novelists in their own right. Deeanne’s most recent historical romance is A Bride in the Bargain, and Mark’s first crime novel, Back on Murder, releases July 2010. Beguiled is their first collaboration, and I hope they’ll do more.

Beguiled is available now at your favourite bookseller from Bethany House, a division of Baker Publishing Group. For reviews, audio and video interviews and all kinds of reader tidbits, visit the Beguiled page at Bethany House.  You can read an excerpt here, or if you’ve already read it you may want to check out the discussion questions here.

Review copy provided by Graf-Martin Communications Inc.