Wow! Is it really December? Where has the time gone?

I am very happy to say I successfully finished NaNo (Look for A Different Kind of Purpose coming in July 2017) and am getting ready to take off some time to enjoy the Christmas season. What better way to kick off the month than with some amazing music?

Like most other bookworms, great books make their way onto my "things I'm thankful for" list every year. It's hard to choose favorites, but I went ahead and picked five books I read in 2016 and am thankful for.

1. <Flight School>, by <Jason McIntiregt;: <This book both inspired and challenged me
2. <Me, Myself and Bob>, by <Phil Vischer>: <This is such a powerful book about dreaming big and following God>
3. <Let Me Be a Woman>, by <Elisabeth Elliot>: <This book really encouraged me in my study on Biblical womanhood>
4. < Sufficient Grace>, by <Jessica Greyson>: <iThis story is amazing and it touched my heart>
5. With Every Letter>, by <Sarah Sundin>: <I was going through a hard time and this book encouraged me>

I don't know about you, but I'm looking forward to another great year of reading!

Speaking of more reading, here's one more thing to be grateful for. Books on sale! In honor of Thanksgiving and Black Friday, a group of independent Christian authors banded together to offer over seventy discounted books on Nov 25-28. There's literally something for everyone. Every single book listed on Indie Christian Books is on sale in one or more ways. Find discounted paperbacks, dozens of books offered with free shipping, $0.99 ebooks, package deals and more. Even if you have a budget of $0, new reading material awaits you. Don't know what to pick? The fearless Indie Christian Books team created a quiz that will generate a book list perfect for you! Check it out!

What awesome reads of 2016 are you grateful for? What books are you looking forward to reading in 2017?

A note on the Ebooks Only page. All books are listed as "Sold Out." This only refers to paperback copies of these titles. Please click onto the product pages to find descriptions and links to discounted or free ebooks. Also, some of the authors this year chose to not sell their paperbacks directly through the site. Those books are also marked "Sold Out" but if you click them open, you'll find a link to the site where they are on sale and a discount code for you to use at check out.

Acknowledgements: Thanks to Leah E. Good and Kendra E. Ardnek for their work organizing this sale, and Hannah Mills for her fantastic design work on the website graphics. Hannah can be contacted at hmills(at)omorecollege(dot)edu for more information about her design services.

You are falsely accused of a crime - maybe you didn’t commit it or what they are accusing you of isn’t a crime at all. What do you do?

Paul and Joseph both give us two responses that I stand in amazement of and pray for that kind of courage. They had the courage to face corrupted governments and still bow to the authorities God had placed over them.

Paul was imprisoned for a crime that was no crime at all. He stood before Agrippa and shared with him the good news of the Gospel. Paul used this miscarriage of justice to carry the message of Jesus to palaces and even hoped to share it with Ceaser. Paul took what the corrupted authorities had given him and used it to share the gospel. How amazing is that?

Joseph was accused of rape and thrown into the dungeon without a trial. While he did ask those he helped to tell the king about him, he continued to serve God in the jail. He served his jailor and helped him to run the same prison that was keeping him in the walls. He didn’t try to escape, he didn’t tell everyone that he had been wronged, he served God and others from where he was.
Over the last few weeks, we have been looking at authority. We have looked at how David treated Saul, how God calls us to treat those in authority, and Peter’s stand against authority. Armed with all this knowledge, how are we to respond?

I think both Paul and Joseph point us toward the conclusion that is easy to miss: We are Christian’s first, citizens to our country after. Both Paul and Joseph suffered horrible miscarriages of justice. Yet, both of them responded not with anger or disrespect, but by turning their adversity into something that glorified God.

In this world, we will have trouble. Our enemy, the devil, is corrupting the world and its governments.  We are the light of the world. We are to let our light shine before men. We are not to do that by shouting against our leaders, but by carrying the Good News to every corner of the earth. We cannot overcome evil with disrespect, hatred, anger, and dishonor; we can only overcome it with good.

I want my response to mirror Paul, Joseph, and Jesus. I want to stand before authorities without fear, and boldly speak of the gospel. I want to be faithful to respect them, even when they don’t deserve it. I also want to be filled with this knowledge: greater is He who is in me, than he who is in the world. He is the King of kings, the Lord of lords, and holds the ultimate authority in my life.