| AHW MINISTRIES NEWSLETTER About His Work with Janet February 2017  |
Taking The Gospel Viral!
The Lord's message rang out from you not only in Macedonia and Achaia--your faith in God has become known everywhere.-
1 Thessalonians 1:8
Recently someone thanked me for my boldness and passion and encouraged me to keep sharing the words she felt the Lord was giving me: "You're a voice in the wilderness." I thanked her, but jokingly reminded her of what happened to John the Baptist who was the real voice in the wilderness and ended up with his head on a platter. I asked her to please pray for me as I continue to write blogs, books, speak, and have a presence on social media for presenting the conservative Christian voice.
But I also remind everyone: Go be a voice in your wilderness. I can only reach the people in my sphere of influence, and maybe a few extra when someone shares my posts, blogs, or books; but God is speaking to each of you just like He speaks to me. And you have an audience all around you. You don't have to write a blog or books, or have a website or speak, or even be on social media. You have friends, neighbors, family, co-workers, mentees, mentors, a community, church . . . where you can speak boldly to support our Savior, our Gospel, our country, and take a stand against lies and atrocities.
When I wrote Forsaken God? Remembering the Goodness of God Our Culture Has Forgotten encouraging Christians to make a difference in our culture, I had no idea who would become our next president. I could see
that
the atheistic direction the progressive liberals were leading our nation was festering a great divide between conservatives and liberals. President Trump did not create the division; he revealed it. Conservatives found their voice and finally feel empowered to take the initiative to push back on liberal progressives trying to push God out of America. The divide is now blatantly over good vs. evil. It's time for a revival of God in America!
This is not a political battle, but a spiritual battle: the door is opening to regain the religious freedoms we've lost. We could actually see Roe vs Wade reversed and Planned Parenthood defunded. With a conservative Supreme Court Judge like Neil Gorsuch, we have an opportunity for less Christian persecution. The liberals were on the trajectory to removing God completely from the public square! No one knows how long this door will stay open.
This is our time. This is our moment. Don't waste it. Let your faith in God and the Gospel go viral. Let revival begin with you!
Then Jesus came to them and said,
"All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.
Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age." Matthew 28:18-20
About His Work,
Janet
PS: Starting to write Get Your Brave On, but could still use stories of God asking you to be brave or a time when you couldn't have been brave without God's help.
Contact me
for more information. I'd love to hear your story!
Should Christians Be Political?
PSSSS: Read the Author Interview with
Jocelyn Green
about her book,
The Mark of the King
and a chance to win a free copy.
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FEATURED BOOK OF THE MONTH
$14.99 $13.00
A BOOK FOR WOMEN whose husbands are home for whatever reason-layoffs, out-of-work, retirement, home office, illness/disability, or military deployment. Except for military deployment, my husband and I have experienced-and survived-each of these scenarios.
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I Would Love to Speak at Your Event!
about your event
call or email to discuss availability.
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TALK TO US
This Months featured
Woman To Woman Mentoring Ministry Testimony
Hi Janet,
Just wanted to let you know in April we will be having our 18th Mentoring Ministry Event, 16 years and counting. We are PRAISING THE LORD!!
God Bless You,
Peggy
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Mentoring Tip
Sometimes a mentor just needs to be a listening ear.
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"GRAMMIE'S CORNER"
Happy 12th Birthday Brandon
Our grandson turned twelve in January. We had given him his first Adventure Bible when he was six, and so he definitely needed a more mature Bible. Or so we thought. I was very excited about the one we picked out as it was specifically for tween boys. He dutifully took pictures with it on his birthday, but didn't even open it up to look through it.
Several weeks later, I asked if he had read anything. His response was not what I expected: "No, we don't use Bibles at our church."
They have a great youth program at their church with lots of "God time." I think they might hand out Scriptures on pieces of paper, but the kids do not take their Bibles to church, which means they're not learning how to study the Bible.
I was disappointed and surprised. I would like to hear from some of you. Are the youth programs with tweens and teens at your churches teaching kids how use their Bibles? Do the kids take their Bibles to church and do they open them and read from them?
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Meet An Author
What drew you to tell the story of The Mark of the King?
First of all, the history was both fascinating and new to me. There are many excellent books set in the British colonies, but the French colony of Louisiana seems to be much lesser known. The years of forced immigration, whereby Paris cleaned out its prisons to populate a floundering wilderness, was just too rife with story potential to ignore. It's a story of incredible hardship and courage, fear and hope, judgment and redemption. It also offered an opportunity to unlock a slice of American history most of us know little about, which appeals to me a great deal.
What is the "mark of the king"?
The mark of the king, as referenced in the title, has two meanings. The first is very literal. It's the fleur-de-lys symbol of the French monarchy that was branded on certain criminals during the time the novel takes place, to permanently mark them with judgment. In the novel, this mark plays a big role. But there is a spiritual layer to the phrase, as well. As believers, we serve a higher King than any authority here on earth. Our lives are marked by His grace, no matter how scarred we may have been by judgment from others-whether that judgment was deserved or not. God's grace covers all of it. Grace covers all of us.
What was your favorite part of the process when it came to writing this novel?
Research breakthroughs literally make me shout for joy. For instance, my French sister-in-law translated a document I found in New Orleans for me, giving me a critical piece of the puzzle. Another challenge I ran into was just understanding the topography of the region. Visiting New Orleans still left me with questions as to what my characters would have encountered, geographically, in the year 1720.
When I found an article online that hinted at the information I was looking for, I emailed the author, a professor at Loyola University. I jumped up and down when he wrote me back, with a goldmine of details! We ended up exchanging about six emails, question and answer style. With his help, I finally got a handle on the lay of the land between New Orleans and Lake Pontchartrain in the 1720s, with all its sand ridges, bayous, swamps, marches, including types of trees and vegetation that grew in each region. Being able to paint the scenes with accurate details is really important to me, so this was definitely a research highlight!
Did anything surprise you during your research?
Oh, plenty. The biggie, and one that readers will see depicted in the novel, was a mass wedding ceremony in Paris, in September 1719, between 184 female convicts and the same number of male convicts who had only just met. I was also shocked to discover that
of the seven thousand Europeans who entered the Lower Mississippi Valley between 1717 and 1721, at least half of them either perished or abandoned the colony before 1726.
Why do you write historical fiction?
History still matters today. We can learn so much from the people who lived before us, and how they shaped and were shaped by the events of their generations. Not only can we find inspiration from them, but also a much better perspective as we look at the world today. Unfortunately, so often, history is distilled into a list of dates and names-not interesting at all. The vehicle of historical fiction allows us to explore segments of the past through the lens of the people who lived it. We get to explore the full spectrum of the human condition through the novel.
Personally, I love learning while being entertained with drama, and studies show that when we're curious about something-such as what will happen to our heroine in the next chapter-we're far more likely to remember surrounding details, such as the historical context. To me, that's the icing on the cake. When readers care about characters and learn about history at the same time, I'm thrilled.
To learn more about Jocelyn, her books and her writing/speaking ministry visit her website.
If you would like to enter a drawing to win a copy of Jocelyn's book The Mark of the King, please contact me.
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