Just As I Am by Virginia Smith

Review by Cheyenne Fowler. Cheyenne and her husband, Barry, are pastors of a church plant called Emerge Church. They have two little boys and are expecting their third in 6 weeks. She has been involved in full-time ministry for 12 years.

A few months ago I began looking for a good Christian book for a ladies book study. I was looking for something that would grab the attention of young and old alike. Well, I found just that in the character of Mayla Strong.

We first meet Mayla as she reluctantly attends a Sunday morning church service with her momma. As the service draws to a close she feels drawn to the altar.

We follow our unlikely heroine from the altar at Salliesburg Independent Christian Church into all the twists and turns along the way as she learns what following Christ is really all about. From her nose ring and purple hair to her plain spoken demeanor, the reader slowly begins to be drawn into this young woman’s world.

Granted, Mayla would probably be someone we would all give a second look if she came walking down the aisle of our church. As the reader, you slowly begin to see what it means to “live it” through Mayla’s eyes.

Within a few weeks of starting our book study, most of our class had already finished the book. They said they couldn’t help themselves. We are now two weeks away from beginning the second book in this series, “Sincerely Mayla.” Our discussion group is eagerly anticipating the next leg of Mayla’s Christian journey.

This is a rewarding and stirring read. This is our first attempt at fiction as a book study. I can truly say, “Mayla has changed us forever.”

Visit Virginia Smith's Web site for more information or to purchase books.
Smith is on faculty for Kentucky Christian Writers Conference, June 19-20, in Elizabethtown, KY. Check it out!

Glimpses of Grace: Stories of Hope by Lettie Kirkpatrick Burress

Guest blogger for this post is Melissa France, publisher of Hometown Magazine of the KenTenn Area (Obion and Weakley Counties in TN and Fulton, KY). She lives in a log cabin near Rives, TN, where she writes humor and Christian drama.

Glimpses of Grace is a collection of Burress's most reprinted stories. Her writing has appeared in more than 40 publications and seven books.

This collage of life-changing events and the lessons etched onto the heart while living through them will stay with the reader long after the book is set aside. Lettie freely shares her very personal seasons of deep despair and grief and the revelations of God’s presence in the midst of them. Her stories run the gauntlet of trials and imperfections--surviving a parent-less childhood, forgiving an alcoholic father, the life and death of a special needs daughter, parenting four sons, losing a spouse to cancer, opening her full house to an aging grandmother, finding love again, and more. The book also shares a few turning-point experiences of other families.

The scripture says God’s grace is sufficient. The accounts in Glimpses of Grace are testimonies to this truth that go beyond having the question “Why?” answered. Before the reader’s eyes, Lettie braids her experiences of despair, joy, and grace into an unbreakable life of hope.

Visit Lettie's Web site for more information.

Lettie is on faculty for Kentucky Christian Writers Conference, June 19-20, in Elizabethtown, KY. Check it out!