When the Myrtles Begin to Sprout: A Final Post

“You will live in joy and peace. The mountains and hills will burst into song, and the trees of the field will clap their hands! Where once there were thorns, cypress trees will grow. Where nettles grew, myrtles will sprout up. These events will bring great honor to the LORD’s name; they will be an everlasting sign of his power and love.”

Isaiah 55:12-13 (NLT)

I’ve had the title of this post in my mind for quite some time. I know I’ve tried at least once before to write it, a year or more ago, but I couldn’t, the timing didn’t feel right. But now I feel free to do so, and I think it is a fitting title for what will most likely be the last post on Thorns and Myrtles. When I started this blog, I was trudging through thorns, but now, Praise God, I believe I am beginning to see the first glimmers of green.

God has been good to me. A year and a half ago it felt as though I was surely in the pits of Hell with no hope, no future, no possibility of change. After that came a period of confusion and uncertainty, but hope started to shine. And now…now everything seems to be warmed by the golden light of joy. Despair has been usurped by hope and expectation. Not everything is perfect, some days are difficult and I am still waiting on God for some things, but I feel confident that they are closer than ever before, and that God will do what He says He will do.

So then, what am I up to now that I am no longer keeping up Thorns and Myrtles? Last spring I became seriously interested in photography, and started a blog in which I posted my pictures.  I was blessed with many visits, comments, and suggestions through that blog, and eventually came to the point where I thought I could begin selling prints (I focus on fine art photography: flowers, sea shells, things people might want to hang on their wall). I am enjoying learning about the art form, as well as being inspired by other blogging photographers.

Whether He wants it to be an end in and of itself, or only another stepping stone, I am thankful God had brought photography into my life. It is a wonderful outlet for creativity, and helps me see beauty where I may otherwise have missed it. Starting my little photography “business” has given me something to work at and towards as I continue to wait for God to bring what’s coming. He’s given me little encouragements along the way, and blessed me with super supportive parents (who, by the way, were very kind in getting me a Canon EOS Rebel XS camera for my birthday/Christmas last year), and friends (both online and off).

If you would like to keep up with me from now on, please do consider subscribing to my photography blog, Eden’s Captures. I’ll be blogging there from now on. Or if you would like to see my online photography portfolio, have a look at my site, Eden R. Ellis Photography.

I want to say a big thank you to all of you who have been so kind in visiting and commenting on Thorns and Myrtles. Your kindness and prayers humble me. Some of you have truly become friends, and I know that even if we never meet here on Earth, we’ll be dancing and praising our Savior together in Heaven.

I’d like to say one last thing. The last six months or so have really brought home a truth that before I only knew mentally, but now know from experience: No matter how dark it seems, no matter how deep your Hell, no matter how hopeless, how terrible, how frightening, how stagnant, God will bring you through it. Pilgrim, IT DOES NOT LAST.

May God bless you all with joy and peace,

Eden

*Photograph Copyright Eden R. Ellis. All rights reserved*

New Photo Blog

I recently started a photo blog. If you clicked here looking for it, here is the address:

https://adventuresinpointingandshooting.wordpress.com/

Thorns and Myrtles Has Moved

I’ve recently decided to move Thorns and Myrtles over to Blogger. Here is the new address:

http://thornsandmyrtles.blogspot.com/

I want to send out a big thank you to all of you who read and have subscribed to this blog. If you are a subscriber, please consider “following” me on the new site. If you have graciously added Thorns and Myrtles to your blogroll, please consider updating it with the address above.

If you are a contributer on Idylls For the King, please be assured that it will be staying right where it is and nothing will change there.

I will be keeping an eye on comments for this post, so if you would like to leave one here that is fine, but please do have a look at the new site as I do not intend to continue posting here.

Thank you for all of your comments and support, I look forward to blogging in this new arena. God Bless you,

Eden

 

The Daughter’s Walk by Jane Kirkpatrick, A Review

It is 1896 and the Etsbys, Swedish immigrants living in Spokane, Washington, are about to lose their farm. With her husband recovering from illness and unable to work, Helga Etsby accepts an epic offer: sponsors will give her $10,000 dollars if she will walk from Spokane to New York City modeling the new and scandalous woman’s reform dresses. Clara, the family’s eldest daughter, unwillingly goes along on the journey, a walk that will change her and her family’s lives forever.

Based on real people and events, The Daughter’s Walk is a happy deviation in the potentially sickly-sweet genera of Christian historical fiction. Kirkpatrick engrosses you with her epic tale of Clara Etsby, following her from a nineteen year old girl forced into a situation she does not want to be in and on through the ups and downs of its consequences. The historical framework lends the book the authority and detail it needs to make you feel as though you are reading not a novel, but an autobiography. Though I was skeptical through its first few chapters, I found The Daughter’s Walk to be an enjoyable read that pulled me in, and would indeed recommend it to those who enjoy legitimately historical fiction.

I received this book for free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for this review.

To see a video of the author discussing this book and download a sample chapter, go here.

The Fight Of Our Lives: Knowing the Enemy, Speaking the Truth & Choosing to Win the War Against Radical Islam by William J. Bennett & Seth Leibsohn, A Review

Every now and then you come across a book whose message you feel is so important you wish you could buy cases of its volumes and pass them out on street corners. The Fight Of Our Lives was, for me, one of those books.

Using the response to Nidal Hasan’s massacre of his fellow soldiers at Fort Hood in 2009 as a starting point, authors William J. Bennett and Seth Leibsohn make the case that America has, in her zeal for political correctness, rolled over and submitted to a dangerous enemy by a refusal to define exactly who that enemy is. With an overwhelming repugnance to label terrorism for what it is and discussing how Islam feeds it, we have, as a country, given those who would see our end free reign. The authors also include an excellent chapter that does a great job of differentiating between violence committed in the name of Judaism and Christianity, and violence done in the name of Islam, a much needed explanation in our times. The Fight Of Our Lives is a call to the honest observance of events taking place around us, and an encouragement to regain our country’s backbone that guarantees freedom for all but does not suffer violence against it.

I cannot recommend this book highly enough. It is not long (one hundred fifty pages), but its message is acute. The Fight Of Our Lives has the potential to be an important read for Americans of all faiths, as well as those with none.

For more information about The Fight Of Our Lives, go here.

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher through BookSneeze®.com in exchange for my honest review of this book.

**Note to other bloggers: This book is still available on the BookSneeze® website for review. If you are willing to do a short review after reading the book, you can get it FREE if you sign up here.**

The Shape of Mercy By Susan Meissner, A Review

Lauren Durough was born into privilege. As the only child of her wealthy parents, Lauren feels the weight of bearing the Durough name and rebels by attending a state school and living in the dorms. As a further bid for individuality, Lauren decides to take a job to earn her own spending money. When she is hired by a wealthy matron to transcribe the diary of a young girl accused of witchcraft in Salem Massachusetts during the infamous witch trials, she is unprepared for just how much her perspective will be changed.

Susan Meissner has a quality in her writing that gives it an edgy sincerity. Her word choice and style make her easy to read, and are a credit to the genre. I did, however, feel that style waned a bit towards the second half of the book. Some of the characters are well developed, though some other characters feel a bit shallow. Somehow I was left wanting a little something more from some of them. The point Meissner is trying to make with her story is quite clearly stated, though a little too much for my tastes, as I tend to like excavating a story’s lesson rather than have it served to me on a platter. But over all, The Shape of Mercy is a decent read.

I received this book for free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for this review.

Read an excerpt from this book here.

Tandem by Tracey Bateman, A Review

Hold up a copy of Tracey Bateman’s book Tandem next to Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight, and you will notice some similarities. Both authors’ names appear to be in the same font (though it looks like Meyer chose to go bold), and both titles are scripted entirely in lower case. Coincidence?

Covers aside, Bateman and Meyer have chosen different plots, though both books begin with quotes and a prologue/preface that hints at the novel’s ending. Whereas Meyer chose to write about the teenaged affair between girl and vampire, Bateman writes about a slightly older girl taking care of her Alzheimer’s stricken father in a small town shaken by murder.

Lauryn McBride grew up helping her father with his auction business, and now she has the responsibility of auctioning a local Victorian home and the pricey antiques of a man who died mysteriously in a fire. After sending some old family letters found among the items to be auctioned to who she thinks is a decedent of the letters’ writer, Lauryn is inadvertently pulled into a mystery where the main participants are vampires. Along the way she is reunited with her childhood crush, the preacher’s son who is back from serving as a missionary in Haiti.

After Stoker, King, Rice, and Meyer, the vampire theme has been tapped to the point that it is going to take a lot to make an original vampire novel. Being Christian fiction, Tandem does have the distinction of being redemptive, but that only brings up a problem for the author.

Christian fantasy seems like a difficult genre. If you want to write a fantasy book with God in it, it would be a plus to explain how the fantastic elements of the story and an Almighty God can coexist, even just on paper. Bateman offers no explanation for why vampires and God are in the same small American town.

All in all, the story in Tandem was okay, though not something I think I would read again.

I received this book for free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for this review.

To download the first two chapters of Tandem, go here and scroll down to the bottom of the page.

The Charlatan’s Boy By Jonathan Rogers, A Review

Its festive cover labels it a young adult novel, but anyone who has read C. S. Lewis knows books intended for the consumption of those younger than you are nothing to snub. The Charlatan’s Boy is delightful.

Orphaned and pitifully ugly, Grady is in the care of Floyd the charlatan and performs in his traveling show. Dressed as a mythical feechie to entertain crowds, Grady is the main attraction of the two man spectacle until disbelief in feechies causes the audiences to dwindle. After trying Grady out in other unprofitable roles, Floyd decides to give the people of Corenwald a reason to believe in feechies again, while all the while Grady longs to know who he is and where he comes from.

Dealing with the desire to know who you are and where you come from, The Charlatan’s Boy is a book about finding where you belong. It will make you grin and nudge your heart. Jonathan Rogers has succeed in writing a book that takes you to another place and has that little something extra that makes it worth keeping on the shelves.

I received a free copy of this book from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group in exchange for this review.

To download a free chapters of this book, go here and scroll to the bottom of the page.

To read an excerpt of this book, go here.

Soul Print By Mark Batterson, A Review

We are each unique, we each have a destiny to fulfill, and Mark Batterson’s book Soul Print wants to help its reader do so.

Batterson draws from the life of King David to illustrate his points throughout the book. The opening and first chapter start off fairly well, citing some interesting instances in the lives of King David, Michelangelo, and Korczak Ziolkowski. The opening pages are encouraging, and give the reader hope that times of waiting, apparent unsuitableness, and impossibility, can all be redeemed by God to help them discover who they are and accomplish their appointed destiny. The book’s middle chapters make some convicting assertions, causing you to examine your motives, integrity, and relationship with God.

All in all Batterson has made some good points, though for me it has done little to distinguish itself from the sea of Christian Living/Self-help books. I learned and was reminded of some truths, but ultimately I cannot say that it is one of the best books I have ever read.

*I received this book for free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for this review.*

You may download a sample chapter of Soul Print and watch a video about the book on the WaterBrook Multnomah websight here.