I rarely post about children’s books, but this one sounded super cute, and I expect some of you readers have sweet little ones that would be encouraged by the story of Phooey Kerflooey by Kristen Joy Wilks. Welcome, Kristen!
My husband (Scruffy) and I live and work off-grid at a remote Bible camp. The peaceful setting alternates between calm and chaos as herds of campers come to play and then rush home to be with their families once more, leaving us surrounded by the quiet of the forest and the rustling emptiness of our mountain meadow.
Maintaining the camp facilities adds its own brand of chaos even when the campers are gone. We don’t have water if the pump breaks or power if the generator has an issue, and when pipes freeze, water can flood the buildings.
When I was writing Phooey Kerflooey and searching for a theme that would truly push my young characters to their limits, helping them grow into their strengths, I settled on peace amidst chaos. I didn’t realize it at the time, but that theme is such a clear reflection of our own life here at the camp.
The protagonist wants a puppy to help calm down his daredevil brother, chase away an invading squirrel, and bring just a bit of peace to their chaotic home.
Our Newfoundland dog, Princess Leia Freyja, was such a comfort during the eight beautiful years that we were her people. Now, she was a crazy puppy. But she matured into a calm and loving dog who did therapy visits with me to local schools and always watched out for my husband.
One time, Scruff had to climb onto the roof of the camp’s main lodge to break away large chunks of snow and ice that wouldn’t slide down. With a worried slant to her ears, Leia watched him work. He was standing in the wrong spot when the last chunk started to slide and Scruffy barreled off the roof along with a small avalanche of snow! Leia was horrified!
She galloped over to where Scruffy lay atop a pile of snow, laughing. She did not think it was funny. Our worried dog leapt on top of his chest and licked and licked and licked him. Scruff could barely breathe for all her urgent care. He tried to sit up, and she slammed a paw down on his chest and pushed him back down. Then she licked him some more. Our girl wouldn’t let Scruff move until she was satisfied that he was both unhurt and well-washed.
Leia was such a gift from God. She brought us so much comfort during the chaos of camp work. When days were long and the needs of the people who were under our care were heavy, Leia always greeted us with a wagging tail and kind, understanding eyes. Stroking her soft fur brought us a moment of peace and her joy was contagious.
Losing Leia
Our three sons asked that I base a book character on our sweet Leia and thus Phooey Kerflooey was born. Before I could get the book polished and published, we lost our gentle dog to a brain tumor.
Both my husband and I have lost so many people over the years, but the loss of a dog is an especially difficult kind of pain. Dogs show love in a way that us humans can only aspire to with Jesus’ help. They love completely and with absolute forgiveness. Losing that made the chaos of ministry overwhelming.
Honestly, Scruff and I didn’t know if we would make it through that summer after Leia died. But with the Lord’s care, we limped along and He did amazing work in the lives of kids and staff despite our pain. Even using our pain for His work.
Comfort in a surprising place
You will keep in perfect peace those whose minds are steadfast, because they trust in you.
Isaiah 26:3
For the entirety of our twenty-three-year marriage, my husband has refused to get a cat. But this fall, on a wet November day, someone dumped a half-grown cat into the forest near our mountain home. The neighbors found her and wonder of wonders, my husband, the man who couldn’t abide cats for any amount of time, suggested that we take her in.
What a gift from God as we struggled with the loss of our Leia. Whisper Persnickety is a gentle soul with a soft meow and velvet paws. She curls up on Scruffy’s lap while he works on his computer and she twines around our feet all day, just wanting to be close. Her soft coat and gentle purrs bring that glimpse of God’s peace into our chaos once more.
Isn’t it just like God to answer our prayer for peace with the very kind of fuzzy friend my husband refused to consider? But God is like that. The peace He gives doesn’t have to wait for the roar to die down. It is stronger than whatever kind of chaos we find swirling around us. A gentle whisper in the storm, such is the peace of God.
The LORD said, “Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the LORD, for the LORD is about to pass by.” Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake came a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper
I Kings 19:11-12
Kristen Joy Wilks writes from a remote mountain meadow that alternates between quiet and chaos. She can be found tucked under a tattered quilt at 4:00 a.m. writing a wide variety of implausible tales or at www.kristenjoywilks.com. Sign up for her newsletter and enjoy a free book!
It’s hard to imagine a more powerful and incomprehensible truth than that the God of the universe sees, knows, and loves us intimately. Whenever I think of it, I echo King David’s words from Psalm 8:4, “What is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him?”
Two Sparrows for a Penny series
This idea, that God is always with us and sees and knows us, is the theme threading through all my romantic suspense novels, maybe none more so than my series two sparrows for a penny. This series follows the stories of three foster sisters—Tala, Rose, and Jae—who make a rash decision to run away from the foster mother they love, Felicity, after finding out she is dying. Convinced Children’s Aid will separate them, they throw together a plan to leave home in the middle of the night and find a place to hide out for a few months, until Tala and Rose turn eighteen.
The plan does not go well. A few blocks from home, a white van pulls to the curb and four men jump out. Tala and Rose are taken and spend the next eight years being trafficked (not spoilers – all of this happens before the series begins). Jae manages to get away, but she then disappears, and no one sees or hears anything from her during those eight years.
Tala manages to hold on to her strong faith during this horrific time. As she says later:
“I felt him. He was always with me—every time a man came into my room or Brady hit me or another girl disappeared. And God spoke to me, too, through beauty. There were always moments of beauty, even in the midst of all the horror.”
“Like what?” Cole couldn’t imagine beauty surviving in a place like that.
“My room had a window, high up. I couldn’t reach it to look out, but I could see the branches of a tree outside. Every season brought a gift—buds bursting out of their shells, thick green leaves with birds flitting between them, the stunning colors of fall, snow drifting softly from the sky to land on the bare branches and glisten in the moonlight. All of it even more breathtaking in contrast to the ugliness on my side of the window. The beauty of creation resonated deep inside me, as though God was using it to reach through the glass and let me know he saw me, that he hadn’t abandoned me. It gave me hope that one day there would be beauty in my life again, and that hope helped me to survive.”
In contrast, Rose struggles to hold on to her faith, to believe that God has not abandoned her. After she is rescued, she and Tala have this conversation:
They propped their elbows on the top frame of the lower pane of glass and gazed at the moon, the silent fields below glimmering silver. As far as Rose could see, those tiny flickering candles in the sky pushed back the darkness of the night. Tala nudged her gently. “What would you wish for tonight?”
The last prayer-wish Rose had made—for freedom from captivity—had come true. What were the desires weighing most heavily on her heart tonight?
“Peace. Healing. Joy. Hope.”
Tala kept her gaze fixed firmly on the heavens. “Love?”
“I have that already. From you and Felicity and Tag. My family.”
“What about from God? Can you feel his love?”
Rose gazed up at a star twinkling more brightly than the rest. “I think I’m starting to, yes. And maybe, when I look back, I felt it during those years at Brady’s too. Only I wasn’t sure what it was. Or I was scared to trust it.”
Two Sparrow for a Penny: books 1 & 2
The first two books in the series, Every Star in the Sky and Every Flower of the Field, are stories of healing in the aftermath of human trafficking. What Tala and Rose both come to see is that, even in the darkest, most evil circumstances imaginable, God was there, watching over them like He did the flowers of the field. And He saw them and knew their names like He did every star in the sky. That truth allows them to begin their journey of healing and finding love.
Two Sparrows for a Penny: book 3
Book three, Every Bird That Falls, tells the story of Jae, the third foster sister. Jae was not raised with a faith. When she comes to Felicity’s home, she sees faith in God in action for the first time and is deeply impacted by the love and grace her new foster family shows her. What happens to her during those eight years also tests her faith, but looking back she can see that God’s eye was on her, that, as no bird falls without his knowledge, He saw everything that happened to her and He was watching over her.
The awareness that in the midst of their horrific circumstances they were never alone allows all three women to begin to heal, to open their hearts to trust and love again.
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Takeaway from Two Sparrows for a Penny
And that is what I hope and pray for every story I write—that readers will take away with them the reassurance that they are never alone. That whatever they are going through, whatever they may have done or others have done to them, God is faithful and has promised to never leave them or forsake them. And, as Lia, my heroine in another of my stories, The Color of Sky and Stone, reminds the hero, Tane, “What can separate us from the love of God? Nothing. And what can tear us out of his hand? Nothing. Those are promises straight from the Word of God, and he cannot break his promises and still be God.”
Let’s Chat
What verse or passage of Scripture reminds you most powerfully that God is with you and will never abandon you?
Sara Davison has a passion for writing stories that keep readers on the edge of their seats—and maybe swooning a little. A finalist for more than a dozen national writing awards, including the Christy Award, Davison is a Cascade, Word, and two-time Carol Award winner for romantic suspense. She lives in Ontario with her husband, Michael. Like every good Canadian, she loves coffee, hockey, poutine, and apologizing for no particular reason. Get to know Sara better and subscribe to her short, monthly newsletter at www.saradavison.org.
The world could use some peace. It longs for a silent night. A single night without bombing, attacks, or viruses. It needs calm, and the whole world groans with longing.
Instead of quiet we hear shouting. We feel rage and anxiety. We live in chaos and anguish. It’s on the news. In the papers. Social media. Groaning.
So much anger and fear.
Our souls sure could use some peace. We long for the sweet rest of the beloved. But this present time keens with suffering, aching to usher in hope’s conclusion that began one bright and holy night.
This peace arrived with the moaning and pains of childbirth. It slipped out of a womb and into our sorrow, unassuming and humble. Heavenly peace.
How is it possible for heavenly peace to arrive amid political turmoil and religious unrest? How is it possible for heavenly peace to soothe our souls amid instability and sectarian conflict? Yet, this is how the Prince arrives. And He sleeps, so the song says, in heavenly peace.
He sleeps in a manger, completely secure that teenaged Mary and inexperienced Joseph will fulfill their roles in His earthly story. He sleeps in peace as the heavens declare the glory of God in an angelic display and shepherds fall to their knees in awe. He sleeps in peace as the Maji set out on a two-year journey that will change their lives. He sleeps in peace as a massacre meant to destroy Him begins, and those wide-eyed teenagers follow supernatural instructions to flee.
Heavenly peace. And He offers it to us.
Peace, not as the world gives, but the kind only He can give. A peace that looks backward in order to look forward. A peace that anticipates a holy day when creation will be set free from its bondage to corruption. A peace that knows the glory that is to be revealed will surpass all the hardship.
Until then, our bodies ache. Our souls yearn. Yet, we can sleep in peace because the Babe slept in peace. He slept in peace because He knew that the world now twisting in agony would be redeemed because He would redeem it.
We sleep in peace despite the wars, despite the viruses, despite all that is wrong in this Genesis 3 world because our King has promised us one day the groaning will end. One day, the babe that came in peace, died in violence, and rose in victory will return in triumph. This Prince of Peace will bring the peace of God to every knee that bows and tongue that confesses Jesus is Lord.
Oh, come, Lord Jesus, come. Come again. Come in victory. Save us from our sorrow.
Thank you for the promise of that holy and glorious day foretold in a garden and birthed in a barn. Thank you for making a way for sinful people to find peace with God through the Prince of Peace. Thank you that in a world of chaos the heart can rest, singing, “all is calm, all is bright” because Peace makes all things well in my soul.
The Bible tells us all who live godly in Christ will suffer. Trials are inevitable. As Christians, we should expect them. If you are not facing a trial now, I can guarantee at some point, you will encounter one. In my Christmas romantic suspense novella, 12 Days, the hero, Scott Newton, has trust issues stemming from growing up in a home with an alcoholic father. With God’s help, Scott’s faith grows.
Trials in 12 Days
Scott works as a deputy with the fictional Chanckoc County Sheriff’s Office in Blanchardville, Ohio. He and his partner, Cole Linville, are shot by a suspect. Scott is injured and recovers, but Cole dies. Cole’s death tests Scott’s faith again. As the story progresses, Scott will have to learn to trust God again as he faces yet another trial—the disappearance of his girlfriend.
Trials in my Life
In my own life, I have faced many trials, including experiencing infertility. Trusting God can be hard because unlike some Bible characters, like Hannah, for instance, we may not have a specific promise from God. We do have wonderful promises such as God’s promise never to leave us or forsake us. But when we pray about a specific situation, we usually don’t know the outcome. We have to trust God no matter what. When we read the Bible, we find sometimes God was there with His people and rescued them miraculously, like with the parting of the Red Sea. At other times, God didn’t provide a rescue, like with Stephen being stoned to death. Stephen died, but even in the face of death, God was still with him. Sometimes, when we feel let down by God, it’s because we trusted God, but only to provide the outcome we desired. We have to make sure our faith is in God regardless of the outcome of our situation.
“Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”
Hebrews 11:1
12 Days by Heidi Glick
Scott Newton retires from the sheriff’s office after a fellow officer is killed. Wracked by sorrow and the need for justice, Scott grows distant from his girlfriend, aspiring crime writer, Lindsay Billings. But, when Lindsay goes missing, and Scott discovers her research on the missing person cases thought to be the work of a serial murderer known as the Christmas Killer, Scott vows to find her at all costs. Police have never found the bodies of the people who went missing many Christmases ago, and Lindsay won’t become just another statistic.
Then, someone kills again in Blanchardville. Police locate a corpse atop one of seven inflatable swans on a pond, and another body in a pear tree. Scott receives odd texts from Lindsay’s phone and deduces they’re from the killer.
In order to save Lindsay, Scott agrees to meet the madman and play his game. As time runs out, Scott must learn to trust in God again, no matter what.
Author Karen Malley writes on adjusting our expectations, even at Christmas.
We’ll decorate the house with lights, I’ll make a ridiculous number of Christmas cookies, we’ll attend the candlelight service on Christmas Eve, we’ll set up a tree and exchange presents, we’ll gather with family…
We set expectations for Christmas, and frankly, for most things in life. We think we know what life is going to hand us, but sometimes God surprises us. In my new Christmas release, the main characters attend a church service where the pastor says the following:
“How many of you have certain expectations for Christmas?” Pastor Micah took a moment to gaze around the congregation. “I’m sure Mary and Joseph did, too. I can’t imagine Mary ever expected to deliver the Savior of the world amongst animals. She certainly didn’t expect shepherds to be the first to greet her newborn child, or for him to be laid in a feeding trough miles and miles from home.” “We have certain expectations about Christmas as well. And some of those are good. But keep in mind, God’s plans for you might be different. Life isn’t always about our plans. I encourage you this Christmas to open your heart to what God has planned for you.”
Unmet Expectations
There have been many times in my life when things didn’t go according to my expectations. Losing my dad, job loss, a cancer diagnosis, dear friends announcing a divorce… None of these were things I expected to happen. But God is faithful. He never says He won’t give us more than we can handle. But He does say He’ll be with us in the midst of it all.
The LORD himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.
Deuteronomy 31:8
Sometimes, we have certain expectations, and God goes beyond them. I’m on the other side of my diagnosis, I’m in a job I love, and I’ve been blessed to be able to write multiple books! We don’t know the future, but God does. There’s such comfort in that. He knows exactly how to guide us because He knows the way. He’s never surprised by what happens to us. So why do we fight to try to figure it out for ourselves? I’m so grateful God is willing to stand by our side. Not only that, He wants to be there with us. The Creator of the universe wants to walk with us through our struggles and our blessings. I don’t know about you, but that’s pretty amazing, in my opinion!
New Christmas Release
In my latest Christmas book, Lucy has to adjust her expectations of what Christmas will look like. I hope you are blessed by the story, and maybe learn a thing or two about God along the way!
Lucy loves her familiar Christmas traditions. Why shouldn’t she? At sixty years old, they’ve become a part of her. But this year, they’re all thrown out the window when she drops everything to drive across the country to care for her sister in Arizona. So much for a white Christmas! Between her anxious dog, her sister’s thieving kitten, and a way too attractive ice cream truck driver, will she learn that trying something new might just be what God has planned for her?
Cactus for Christmas is on sale for only 99 cents! Purchase at Amazon
