Just A Second

Sunday, February 28

Scripture and a Snapshot - Like a Watered Garden

"Is this not the fast that I choose:

to loose the bonds of wickedness,

to undo the straps of the yoke,

to let the oppressed go free,

and to break every yoke?

Is it not to share your bread with the hungry

and bring the homeless poor into your house;

when you see the naked, to cover him,

and not to hide yourself from your own flesh?

Then shall your light break forth like the dawn,

and your healing shall spring up speedily;

your righteousness shall go before you;

the glory of the LORD shall be your rear guard.

Then you shall call, and the LORD will answer;

you shall cry, and he will say, 'Here I am.'

If you take away the yoke from your midst,

the pointing of the finger, and speaking wickedness,

if you pour yourself out for the hungry

and satisfy the desire of the afflicted,

then shall your light rise in the darkness

and your gloom be as the noonday.

And the LORD will guide you continually

and satisfy your desire in scorched places

and make your bones strong;

and you shall be like a watered garden,

like a spring of water,

whose waters do not fail.

And your ancient ruins shall be rebuilt;

you shall raise up the foundations of many generations;

you shall be called the repairer of the breach,

the restorer of streets to dwell in."

~Isaiah 58:6-12~

Scripture & a Snapshot is hosted by A Glimpse of Our Life.

Weekend Whispers is hosted by Barbie Swihart.

Verse of the Week is hosted by Counting Pinecones.

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Saturday, February 27

Recent Reads - Miriam

This post contains affiliate links.

Miriam: A Treasures of the Nile Novel by Mesu Andrews - I've greatly enjoyed a couple of previous novels by Mesu Andrews, so I was very excited to be able to read an advance copy of her newest novel, Miriam. Miriam is not mentioned often in the Bible, and is rather an enigmatic figure. We know her as the older sister of Moses, and associate her with watching over her baby brother as his basket floated in the Nile. But she's also mentioned as a prophetess helping to lead the Hebrews out of Egypt during the Exodus. This novel picks up her story right about the time Moses returns to Egypt from Midian with God's instructions to lead his people. So it's an unusual novel because its heroine is eighty-six years old!

Miriam's role in her Hebrew village and in her extended family is the viewpoint from which the story of the plagues and the Exodus is told. We meet her parents, her brothers Moses and Aaron, and Aaron's sons, and well-researched and believable details are woven into their characters and story. Aaron's third son Eleazar plays a large role in the story, as he is sort of a foster son to his never married aunt (or Doda) Miriam. Miriam has held the honor of being the prophetess of El-Shaddai to the Hebrews, but when Moses comes home with a bold calling from God and a new name they are to know him by, Miriam often feels that El-Shaddai has abandoned her. She struggles to find her new role and to learn to hear from Yahweh in a new way. Meanwhile Eleazar and his new wife are also wrestling with whether they should fully trust a God that they can't understand, and believe that Yahweh really can break the powerful grip of Egypt and lead them to true freedom.

I was drawn into this wonderful retelling of the story of the Exodus right from the first page, and sympathized with Miriam as she yearned for a freedom she could hardly imagine, and to find her place to belong and be useful as everything she had known for her whole life was changing.

By the same author: Love's Sacred Song, Love Amid the Ashes.

Miriam: A Treasures of the Nile Novel is scheduled to be released on March 15th, but can be pre-ordered at Amazon.

I received this book from Waterbrook Press, a division of Penguin Random House, in exchange for an honest review.

Friday, February 26

Book Blogger Hop - February 26, 2016

Today - another Book Blogger Hop question from Ramblings of a Coffee Addicted Writer.

Do your children, siblings, or other family members enjoy reading as much as you do?

My husband does love to read, but isn't weak at the knees about books the way I am. Of our four children, only our daughter truly loves to read. She is very much like me - we love the smell of new books! My sister and my mom love to read too. And I have one aunt who probably influenced my love of books more than any other family member. She is a collector of books and loves reading, and I used to go with her to used book stores all the time hunting for treasures. Unfortunately, her eyesight is not good at all any more and she is no longer able to read.

Monday, February 22

What I'm Reading - February 22, 2016

This post contains affiliate links.

This weekly reading list meme is hosted at Book Date. Join in to see what others are reading and maybe get some ideas of what to read next! I'm also going to be linking up with Tales of a Pee Dee Mama for D.E.A.R. Monday (Drop Everything And Read).

I recently finished reading...

I didn't finish anything this past week. Between a busy schedule and not always feeling well, I didn't read as much as usual.

I'm currently reading...

Miriam: A Treasures of the Nile Novel by Mesu Andrews - I'm very close to finished this one though!

White Nights and Other Stories by Fyodor Dostoyevsky - This is for the Back to the Classics Challenge.

David and Bathsheba by Roberta Kells Dorr - This one is more or less on the backburner, at least until I finish Miriam.

Empty Nest: What's Next?: Parenting Adult Children Without Losing Your Mind by Michele Howe

Next on the stack...

A Beauty So Rare (A Belmont Mansion Novel) by Tamera Alexander
The Prophetess: Deborah's Story (Daughters of the Promised Land)
Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte

On my blogs last week . . .

Here on Just A Second:

Scripture and a Snapshot - Light to the Nations
Teaser Tuesdays/First Chapter First Paragraph - Miriam

And on my homeschool blog, Homeschool Coffee Break:

From the High School Lesson Book/Homeschool Weekly
Virtual Refrigerator - Fan Art
A Day In Our Homeschool - Then and Now
A Homeschool Memories PhotoJournal

What are you reading?

Saturday, February 20

Scripture and a Snapshot - Light to the Nations

"Listen to me, my people. Hear me, Israel, for my law will be proclaimed, and my justice will become a light to the nations. My mercy and justice are coming soon. My salvation is on the way. My strong arm will bring justice to the nations. All distant lands will look to me and wait in hope for my powerful arm."

~Isaiah 51:4-5~

(Cape Enrage Light Station, New Brunswick, Canada)

Scripture & a Snapshot is hosted by A Glimpse of Our Life.

Weekend Whispers is hosted by Barbie Swihart.

Verse of the Week is hosted by Counting Pinecones.

Tuesday, February 16

Teaser Tuesdays/First Chapter First Paragraph - Miriam

This post contains affiliate links.

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by Jenn at A Daily Rhythm. To play along, just do the following:

Grab your current read
Open to a random page
Share two "teaser" sentences from somewhere on that page
Be careful not to include spoilers!
Share the title and author, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR lists if they like your teasers!

She stared into the pleading eyes of a man she'd known since he was a baby in a basket among the bulrushes. He looked like any other shepherd -- strong, tanned, weary -- but the brother she knew best was an Egyptian master. She lifted her sleeve to reveal the branding scar. "Do you remember this?"

~Miriam: A Treasures of the Nile Novel by Mesu Andrews, page 76 (ARC)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

First Chapter/First Paragraph/Tuesday Intros is a weekly link-up hosted by Bibliophile by the Sea. To participate, share the first paragraph (or two) of a book you're reading, or thinking about reading soon.

PROLOGUE

I am Miriam, old but of use. I am a slave, a midwife, a healer with herbs. This is what I do, but El-Shaddai makes me who I am.
The Hebrews call me prophetess; the Egyptians, a seer. But I am neither. I am simply a watcher of Israel and the messenger of El-Shaddai. When He speaks to me in dreams, I interpret. When He whispers a melody, I sing.
During my eighty-six inundations, His presence has swelled within me like the Nile's waters, quenching my thirst, meeting every need. No relationship imprisons me. No task consumes me. No despair conquers me. I'm His alone, free to love others as He loves me.
But as I dab my parents' brows, creeping dread crawls up my arms like a living thing. Last night's dreams have shaken our divine union. El-Shaddai, Your messages have always been so clear. Why not give the meaning with the dreams?
I know they portend death. But whose? Fear coils around my heart like a serpent. . .

Miriam: A Treasures of the Nile Novel by Mesu Andrews

Here's the blurb:

At eighty-six, Miriam has devoted her entire life to loving El Shaddai and serving His people as both midwife and messenger. Yet when her brother Moses returns to Egypt from exile, he brings a disruptive message. God has a new name -- Yahweh -- and has declared a radical deliverance for the Israelites.

Miriam and her beloved family face an impossible choice: cling to familiar bondage or embrace uncharted freedom at an unimaginable cost. Even if the Hebrews survive the plagues set to turn the Nile to blood and unleash a maelstrom of frogs and locusts, can they weather the resulting fury of Pharoah?

Enter an exotic land where thousands of pagan deities are worshiped, Pharoahs rule, and the Israelites cry out to a God they only think they understand.

What do you think? Would you continue reading?

Monday, February 15

What I'm Reading - February 15, 2016

This post contains affiliate links.

I recently finished reading...

The Hound of the Baskervilles by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle - a classic detective story for the Back to the Classics Challenge. (Read my review HERE.)

Into the Whirlwind by Elizabeth Camden - once I started this one, I found it difficult to put down, so it didn't take me long to finish! (Read my review HERE.)