Want something to get you in the mood for Easter? I have four books for you!

If He Lives Free 15 -19

An Easter Canticle on Sale 16-23

Father, Forgivie Them $0.99

Joseph of Amamathia $0.99

Also, enjoy an Easter episode of The Weekly Marcies of Pam Ellis coming on Monday!

Easter and spring always make me joyful. There have been times when happiness wasn't at the front, but joy has always been in the season. There is something about celebrating the resurrection of Jesus as the trees that have looked dead for months burst forth in fresh green leaves. In Texas, the roadsides are covered with wildflowers and everyone is taking pictures in the bluebonnets.

I needed the reminder this year that all things will be made new.

I'll be honest. I'm tired. I'm weary. I feel like my emotional and physical energy have been pushed toward my limit for far too long. My head might know that this is not true, that life is getting easier and I'm becoming stronger. However, there are times when I just want to lay on my pillow and weep, sleep, and spend the next day in bed doing nothing. I want to know that tasks are being accomplished without me. I want to know that the things I'm struggling with will be miraculously dealt with.  I want the pain and suffering around me to stop. Easter reminded me that I should long for those things.

C.S. Lewis said that if we find ourselves with longings this world cannot satisfy, then it was obvious that we were made for another world. All the longings that I have are normal because sin has corrupted this world. This isn’t how it was supposed to be. The good news Easter reminds us of is that it won’t always be this way.

On Good Friday, I was blessed to celebrate Easter together. All my siblings and I got to take this fun picture:

Our family had an awesome time together on Easter. My brother, who is working nights, was unable to join us as he was sleeping.

Together, we remembered Christ sacrificial death and resurrection. Death and sin were trampled. They no longer have the same power. Christ stands in victory, and one day soon, there will be an end to it. I may be weary now, but I know that it won't last.

I still remember it so vividly. I was twenty, and I was sitting with a group of girls who were in their late teens and early twenties. They were struggling with singleness, wondering when Mr. Right would show up. They sounded so desperate, trying to figure out how to get guys to notice in a godly way.

Inwardly, I was laughing.

I might have been only twenty, but I knew that it wasn’t likely that any of them would marry right out high school. I knew that most girls don’t marry before twenty-five. I wasn’t ready to get married myself I always said that I wouldn’t even consider getting married until I was twenty-five. I had too much to do, and too much of life to figure out. However, I was not without compassion for these girls. Their whole focus was on becoming wives and mommies, something they couldn’t do without a guy. I tried to tell them (though I don’t think I did it well) that God created us for a purpose. That purpose didn’t start when I guy came along.

A few years ago, when I was about twenty-four, I got into an online discussion about how hard Valentine’s Day was. Grateful they couldn’t see me, I rolled my eyes. I then, in more compassionate words then I felt, talked about focusing on the good works God has set before us. We could live courageously because we know that God has a wonderful plan for our lives. I didn’t add that I thought these were being a bit dramatic and focusing on the wrong things.

Well, If you don’t remember my age, I’m twenty-seven, almost twenty-eight. My twenty-fifth year is almost three years behind me. In January, I came face to face with some things that until then I had dismissed as being far in the future.

• The ‘what if you don’t get married?’ question was always dismissed so quickly for years. At twenty-seven, approaching twenty-eight, it is harder to dismiss.

• My family won’t stay the same. My siblings will get married, my parents won’t always be around, and everyone continues to grow up.

• The ache to have a family has become very real and strong at times.

I get it now

All those times girls came to me, and I either gave little help or wasn’t as compassionate as I should have been, I’m sorry. I just didn’t get it. I just didn’t understand, but now I do. I’ve felt the ache that watching your close friends marry and start families while your left hand and womb remain empty. In the last three months, I’ve cried those tears of the pain singleness that I had only watched others shed before. I’ve handed a toddler back to their mother, and my arms have physically ached for the emptiness for a child to fill them. I get it now.

Yet, in the midst of my understanding, I also know that I have been reminded of these truths:

• God hasn’t changed. Just because I’m experiencing a new ache, doesn’t mean he has stopped holding the future.

• Jesus sees all my tears, and He is there for me in the midst of my pain. He has wonderful plans for me, even if they aren’t what I hope for.

• It is normal to want and even ache for a family of our own. God built that desire into us. There will be times when that ache is strong. It is okay to feel it, to cry, and even to seek friends to help us stay strong. We should never comprise God’s standards or our own to seek a solution to dull that ache (look at Sarah’s story in the Bible. My namesake went around getting a kid the wrong way).

This is my Valentine’s Day message to each of you:

“We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed.” 2 Corinthians 4:8-9 NIV

Rebekah Morris is one of my favorite authors. I've read and reviewed her books At the Christmas Lodge, Dylan's Story, and Unbroken to name a few. I'm excited about these new books coming out!

Christmas time is here! Okay, so not quite yet. It's still over a month away, but that doesn't mean we can't start celebrating early, right? So today, we're celebrating the release of not one, not four, but eight new Christmas books! All written by Rebekah A. Morris. I'll be spotlighting two of her books today and you can find out more about the others as you follow the tour.

About the Books

About the Author

Rebekah A. Morris is a homeschool graduate, an enthusiastic freelance author and a passionate writing teacher. Her books include, among others, Home Fires of the Great War, The Unexpected Request, Gift from the Storm, and her bestselling Triple Creek Ranch series. Some of her favorite pastimes, when she isn't’ writing, include reading and coming up with dramatic and original things to do. The Show-Me state is where she calls home.

Excerpt/Interview/Review

Tour Schedule

Because of everything that has been going on I didn’t post on my blog for my ninth year of blogging. It is pretty awesome to see that I have been able to keep up this blog for this long. Twenty-seven years of life and nine of them have been somewhat chronicled on this blog.

I started this blog on the day I turned eighteen.

Now I am twenty-seven
I started this blog as an aspiring author with a couple of articles published
Now I am about to publish my tenth full-length book
I’m truly blessed with all that God has allowed me to do through this blog and my life. I pray that the next nine years are even better.

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Description: When Desirae Richey agrees to go home with some college friends for Christmas, she expects a small family gathering. Instead she is taken to the Christmas Lodge in the snowy mountains of Canada to a noisy, fun loving, adventurous group of family and friends who welcome her as one of their own. Everything seems to be going as planned until an unexpected snowfall occurs.

My sister, Mikayla, read this book first and told me about it. I agree with her that it is one of the sweetest and best Christmas stories I have ever read.

They style and the feel of the story made me think of Louisa May Alcott or Grace Livingston Hill. The story didn’t try to be anything other than a sweet Christmas story. So many stories today try to be super romantic, or very deep, or add an unexpected plot twist. It was nice to read a nostalgic story that was just sweet.

Desirae was a sweet character who never really had a homey Christmas and now is given the gift of being part of a large group of family and friends for the holidays. Seeing everything through her eyes gave me a new appreciation for what I have.

There is a hint of a future romance and some sweet gestures from the boy, but nothing that even the youngest family member would mind hearing about.

I highly recommend this book for those who love nostalgic books, looking for a family book to read aloud, or want a sweet Christmas story.

It had happened again. Yet another delusional man claimed to be the Messiah. Jonathan moved with the crowd, his anger pulsing with his heartbeat. If only Israel was not controlled by Rome. This radical man would not have been allowed to teach as long as he had, Jewish law would have stopped him long ago. Yeshua of Nazareth had claimed to be so many things, like the son of God, King, and Messiah.
 “Blasphemer!” someone shouted as Yeshua was dragged out onto the stage, bloodied from the whipping he had received. Pilate stood not far away looking across the crowd.
Jonathan's hands balled into fists and he felt anger surge within him. They should not have to be groveling to a Roman ruler to carry out justice. Yet, as long as this blasphemer died, justice would have been done. He saw that his anger was mirrored on many of the faces in the crowd. He had seen a man or woman here who supported this Yeshua, but they had been silenced hours ago. He peered around trying to look for one face. Somewhere in the crowed, he knew that Tabitha would be there with her family. He had seen them earlier, but the press of people had separated them.
The anger ebbed a little as he thought of Tabitha. They had become betrothed a few months before, and he was grateful. She was a devout and sweet girl who would make a good wife. If Adonai smiled on them, they and their children would see the restoration of Israel.
Pilate raised his hands, and the crowd quieted. “I tell you, I find nothing wrong with this man!”
Jonathan shook his fists and yelled along with the other men in the crowd at Pilate’s words. How could he find no fault with this man?
“He should be crucified,” someone next to him whispered.
Jonathan had heard this spoken of before, but now he allowed his anger to carry him away. He shouted along with the crowd, his anger burning.
“Crucify him! Crucify him!”
“Why? What crime has he committed?” Pilate asked.
Jonathan was barely able to hear the words between his own shouts, and he only shouted louder when he did hear. Pilate would not understand; the man was Roman, not a Jew. He had no fear of God in his heart. Justice must be served. This Yeshua of Nazareth must be punished.
Suddenly, everyone around him grew quiet. He felt almost as if he had plunged beneath the water, so sudden and heavy was the silence.
Pilate washed his hands in water and held them up toward the crowd.
“I am innocent of this man’s blood,” Pilate yelled. “He is your responsibility.”
The silence ended with a wave of noise that started from the back of the crowd. The cry was picked up and repeated over and over again. Jonathan heard it and picked up the chant.
“May his blood be on us and on our children! May his blood be on us and on our children!”
The Romans grabbed the troublemaker, Yeshua, and dragged him away. Jonathan cheered and moved with the crowd, his blood pumping. This was justice. Adonai was at work, even through these Romans.
“Jonathan!”
He looked up and saw Tabitha in the crowd. He moved toward her, moving against the press of people. Her father and brother were with her, yet she still looked frightened. It was not surprising, the crowd, having had their way, were becoming angrier and violent.
“Are you going with them?” Tabitha shouted above the crowd.
Jonathan nodded. “This is a glorious day! Today, justice will be served. Adonai will use the Romans to carry out His justice.”
Tabitha’s father put his arm around her shoulder. “I think I will take my children back to the house.”
Jonathan nodded. Tabitha had no doubt seen her share of crucifixions. Rome had often lined roads with crosses when rebellion had come. Yet it was a sight that, if a woman could avoid, she should.
Without another word, he moved along with the crowd, letting the tide of people carry him along. There were a few who sympathized with this man, Yeshua, and Jonathan was ashamed. This should be something that all Jews were united against! Blasphemers like this should not be tolerated, yet there was a woman crying over Yeshua’s fate. Someone spat on the woman and shoved her aside.
“You do not know what you are doing!” a man shouted, looking straight into Jonathan's eyes. “He is who he claims to be. You have cried out that his blood is on you and your children.”
Jonathan grabbed the man’s arm and pulled him along. “Come and see how powerful your king is!”

While Jonathan was happy to see justice done, the blood and horror of a crucifixion was sickening. This was never what it was supposed to be like. The Jews were supposed to stone people like this, not have them die like this, exposed to the world without any clothing, struggling for each breath as blood poured out of their body.
He looked at the ground as men taunted Yeshua. All the anger had evaporated from him when he had watched Yeshua offer no resistance as the men took his clothes, and then he had lain down on the cross himself, without fighting. Shouldn’t he have fought? Shouldn’t he be angry and shouted at the Romans?
Jonathan’s head shot up as a cry escaped Yeshua.
“Father, forgive them, for they don’t know what they are doing,” Yeshua cried out.
Jonathan winced and looked away. The words disturbed him deep within himself. Who was this Yeshua? What kind of man asked for forgiveness for those who called for and carried out his execution?

I had a lot of fun with my month off. I took part in a live Nativity production.

Visited San Antonio.

Celebrated the holidays with my awesome family

Watched my brother graduate from Nursing School


And watched a lot of Star Trek: Next Generation, rearranged some things in my room, and ate way to much sugar. It was awesome. But now, it is the time to get back to work. What am I up to right now? For those of you who follow me on Instagram (@thedestinyofoneauthor), you already know.

That is right. Kate’s Case Files book three is happening right now. Actually, as I write this post, I am in the middle of a heated argument between Kate and Logan.
This is the time of year we look toward the goals for the New Year. So here is my publishing schedule for this year:

January: Two Tales of Taelis short stories
February: Emmeline
March: Dreams and Devotion
April: Easter short story and There was Always Laughter in our House
May: Tales of Taelis short story and Escape and Endurance
June: Kate #3
July: A Different Kind of Purpose
August: Logan’s Notebook (a short ebook)
September: Kate #4
October: Publish Tales of Taelis F book (yet to be titled)
November: Kate #5
December: Christmas short story.

What do you think? Which project are you most excited about?