The Gentleman Spy by Erica Vetsch {review + book tour + giveaway}

This past weekend, I experienced the joy of reading yet another Erica Vetsch book. I've read several of her titles now, and this new one has only built up my admiration of her style of writing. I can hardly wait for the upcoming novella and the following full-length novel, both additions to the Serendipity & Secrets series.

Here is my review, as it appears on Goodreads, NetGalley, and Amazon.

FTC Disclosure: I received a complimentary copy of this book from Read with Audra and NetGalley. These are my honest thoughts.

Prostitution is a reality for many people. It’s scandalous and not spoken of in most of society. But what would happen if a loved one was caught up in it due to circumstances they could not control? How personal do you suppose it would become then? And to what ends would you go to help this loved one, and others, escape from that dark and miserable life, to show them that they have more worth than the “fortune” and abuse they earn in that fashion?

The Gentleman Spy by Erica Vetsch answers those questions for one of its characters. The prostitution was never shown on-page, for which I was grateful, and it was clearly shown as a life not to be desired and for the sin it is. What the beautiful writing in this book did was showcase the leading character’s heart for rescuing the brokenhearted and lost souls who got caught up in a rough life. I can’t help but think that’s how Jesus sees all of us before we’re saved. That we’re caught up in our own sins, whatever they might be, and that He’s got a huge heart to rescue us all.

This book brought to mind Rahab from the book of Joshua in the Bible. She was a prostitute who was saved for her bravery in saving the spies when they were sought after by people who wanted to kill them. It’s clear she changed her lifestyle after that, because she joined the Israelites in their journey deeper into the Promised Land and later became a member of the genealogy of Jesus Christ. The redemption stories Jesus has in store for each of us are amazing, and I pray we freely step onto that path that will lead us to the best sort of healing in Him.

Marcus’ and Charlotte’s story is one of refining. It’s about learning to let God purify your heart and redeem your soul. It’s got such depth of heart that I can’t help but gasp to think about it. As tough as this story was to read at times—because it broke my heart in a dozen ways and opened my eyes further to the lost and aching souls around me—it was refreshing and uplifting at the same time. The journey down Redemption Road is unique to everyone, and it’s always encouraging to me to read fiction that leaves me with the impression that discovering the rich love of God goes fathoms deeper than any of us could ever comprehend. I’ve personally found that to be true, and it’s wonderful to see that others are on similar journeys of discovery.

A Dash of Hope {Focus on Jesus}

Who needs a dash of hope heading into the weekend?

All week, I've come back to these verses. They've inspired me and lifted up my heart when I felt overwhelmed by the negativity of being in pain more often than not recently. These verses have helped me hold on to hope. I pray they do the same for you.

If you're like me, you'll want to read these beauties out loud and pray they soak into the walls of your heart as you do.

2 Corinthians 4:7-18

(HCSB)

7. "Now we have this treasure in clay jars, so that this extraordinary power may be from God and not from us.

8. We are pressured in every way but not crushed; we are perplexed but not in despair;

9. we are persecuted but not abandoned; we are struck down but not destroyed.

10. We always carry the death of Jesus in our body, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body.

11. For we who live are always given over to death because of Jesus, so that Jesus' life may also be revealed in our mortal flesh.

12. So death works in us, but life in you.

13. And since we have the same spirit of faith in keeping with what is written, 'I believed, therefore I spoke,' we also believe, and therefore speak.

14. We know that the One who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and present us with you.

15. Indeed, everything is for your benefit, so that grace, extended through more and more people, may cause thanksgiving to increase to God's glory.

16. Therefore, we do not give up. Even though our outer person is being destroyed, our inner person is being renewed day by day.

17. For our momentary light affliction is producing for us an absolutely incomparable eternal weight of glory.

18. So we do not focus on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal."

What Bible verses have given you hope lately?

Opportunities to Practice Virtues

Friends, this week is a bit rough for me, with some lower back pain, which is why I'm late on posting this week. However, I'm determined not to completely miss the week, as I've posted something every week for the past six years, so here I am, aches and all.

This will be short and will not contain pictures, because I'm conserving as much energy as possible for my tutoring job these days. I'll try to get at least one graphic done for you next time.

While I've been in pain, I've been reading and listening to music and thinking on verses of Scripture. Because of these things and the blessings of parents who understand back pain and are willing to lend me a helping hand when I need it, my heart has been light, my spirits lifted, and my thoughts mostly positive.

I say mostly because there have been black moments where the pain seemed too big to conquer. But then the Holy Spirit reminds me that Jesus is bigger than all my pain. He has suffered more, so He can take the bulk of the burden from me. It's like He Himself said once: "My yoke is easy and My burden is light." (Matthew 11:30 HCSB) That verse has held me steady in the worst of the annoyance that has been this trial.

Trust is a Choice

Trust.

It’s not always easy. Being human, we very often like to have “control” of our lives. Funny thing is that it’s only a façade. True control of circumstances is not ours to have. But something we can control is our perspective during anything we face.

Will we be afraid and angry and aggressive and violent?

Will we choose kindness, encouragement, compassion, mercy, forgiveness, and faith?

Will we choose to trust God even when life falls apart around us?

Hold Out for Hope {Focus on Jesus}

Over the last week, I've been listening to the audio version of a memoir about a girl who was kidnapped at age eleven and was sexually, mentally, and emotionally abused for nearly two decades. It's a tough, tough read, and it broke my heart from the first chapter. I've got less than half the book to go, and I'm sure it will continue to be an emotional read for me.

The thing about stories like hers is that they are often robbed of hope.

When a person has been kidnapped and/or abused for years and years on end, it's incredibly difficult to keep holding out for hope. Everything seems dark, lonely, and painful.

Even if you've never been abused in such a brutal, destructive way, I'm sure we can all relate to feelings of loneliness or hopelessness or despair. Life doesn't always go the way we want it to, and sometimes it seems downright cruel to us. In those moments, hope is extremely hard to find and even harder to hold on to.

That's where Bible study comes into play, at least for me.

Memory Work Techniques {Focus on Jesus}

The best part about a challenge like the Focus on Jesus Scripture Memory 2020 event is that it gets us digging deeper into the Word of God. Our personal devotion time is where we will discover our newest verse to study, and this quiet time with God will uplift our hearts and renew our joy. We will discover peace and comfort in the pages of our Bibles as we listen for God's direction for our daily lives.

The Focus on Jesus challenge also brings back memories of studying for spelling tests back in grade school.

Do you remember writing your spelling words ten times each day leading up to the big test? Or maybe you were one who was quizzed audibly by siblings or a parent. Perhaps you did a combination of things to learn the trickiest of words.

The repetition and focus of that study time are what helped your young mind to learn the words so that on the day of the spelling test, the correct spelling would come back to you so you could score a decent grade.

The same study techniques apply well to Scripture memory work. Writing your verse down in a notebook several times a day is a great way to practice the correct order of the words. Repeating the verse aloud can help train your ears and mind to "hear" the verse in your head as you're trying to recall it when you look away from your notes.

Focus on Jesus {Scripture Memory 2020} - Part 1

During these unsettling times when an illness has shut down the world for an indeterminate amount of time, there is only one place to look for peace and comfort.

Jesus Christ.

Let's focus on Jesus together by memorizing Scripture that encourages us. You may choose your own verses. You may go at your own pace.

Lessons Learned from... the Garden

Scripture reference: Matthew 26:36-46

Further reading: Mark 14:32-42; Luke 22:39-46

Easter, or Resurrection Day, as I like to call it, was yesterday, and that put me in mind of the Garden of Gethsemane. There is so much to learn from the time Jesus spent there just prior to his betrayal and arrest (which came just before his crucifixion, burial, and rising from the tomb). Our focus today will be specifically on the prayers of Jesus in the Garden, though there are a couple of other things I’ll be pointing out.

Once Jesus and his eleven disciples (by this time, Judas had already separated himself from the group in order to betray Jesus) came to Gethsemane, He left most of them there but pulled aside Peter, James, and John to go deeper with Him into the Garden.

“Then He said to them, ‘My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even to death.

Stay here and watch with Me.’”

Matthew 26:38 NKJ

Mark says Jesus “began to be troubled and deeply distressed” (Mark 14:33 NKJ).

Exceedingly sorrowful, even to death. Troubled and deeply distressed.

Seeking a Sign

"But [Jesus] sighed deeply in His spirit, and said, 'Why does this generation seek a sign? Assuredly, I say to you, no sign shall be given to this generation.'"

Mark 8:12 NKJ

We all want to see signs to know we're on the right road. Vacations don't happen without a map, GPS, or app on our phones, and road signs declaring highway numbers, street names, and exits are crucial for reaching our destinations. The only problem with becoming accustomed to relying on signage is that we might forget that faith requires no sign.

Faith is believing that Jesus came down from Heaven to be born on Earth in order that He might minister to thousands of people, then sacrifice Himself to save us from eternal death. He died and rose from the tomb to bridge the gap between God and us that our sin (beginning with the sin of Adam and Eve, but going all the way through each human being who ever has and will live on this earth) created. Faith is believing in Jesus though we have not seen Him in person.

Thinking About...

Here's what I'm thinking about this week:

Borrowed from Google Images.

Grace is something we can receive or give.

Both are tough.

They aren't meant to be easy.

They're intended to stretch our souls and grant us a new type of strength.

Change of Plans

I was going to talk about fitness goals today.

Friday night changed that.

As I was watching the Dallas Stars' penultimate game of the 2017-18 season, I was devastated to hear the news from Kathryn Tappen (sports hostess on NBCSN) that a semitruck and a bus carrying the Humboldt Broncos, a Junior A hockey team, had crashed into one another in Saskatchewan, Canada. My immediate thoughts of shock turned into instant prayers for comfort and peace for the families of everyone involved.

The next day, I found out that fifteen people had lost their lives: ten players, the bus driver, the head coach, an assistant coach, a volunteer statistician, and a play-by-play broadcaster, all with the Humboldt Broncos.

My heart is broken for the lives lost, even as I wonder if they knew my Jesus.

I pray they did.

I pray that their souls were saved.

Merry Christmas!

by Andrea Renee Cox

As we gather with our families to celebrate our Savior, Jesus Christ, let us remember our heavenly Father's divine design to bring us back home to His Presence.

The Fellowship

"So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him;

male and female He created them."

Genesis 1:27

"And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day."

Genesis 3:8a

A Bittersweet Friendship

by Andrea Renee Cox

Easter is just around the corner, and this time of year always has me thinking on Jesus’s great sacrifice in order to save me from eternal death. It is with deep gratitude and a humble heart that I recall the immense suffering my Savior went through in order to fulfill His Father’s will. I am forever in His debt and want to always remember His finest hour.

Yes, I believe it was, up to today, His finest hour. I believe He will have an even finer one when He returns to fetch God’s children home, but until then, Jesus’s death on the cross, burial, and resurrection will remain, in my view, His finest hour, for it was through those three events that He conquered death for all eternity.

 

Jesus has conquered death.

Half-Empty? Or Half-Full?

by Andrea Renee Cox

There's a glass sitting on a table. The water inside kisses the midpoint.

Would you consider that half-empty or half-full?

Is the glass half-empty or half-full?

There was a time when I argued with my cousins about this very thing, and I kept insisting that the glass was half-empty.

Half-empty?

Why was I so insistent upon that?

A Little Church

by Andrea Renee Cox

Since I'm on a tight deadline (due on Monday!) and I've worked late tonight (Sunday), I'm cutting this article way short. So sorry about that, but this was the one thing I could put on the back burner this week and get away with it.

So, in lieu of a full-blown article, let's do a little church this evening (or morning or afternoon; whatever time of day it happens to be for you).

What do you think of when you see this picture?

I think of a couple of verses I recently read.

Spiritual Battles

by Andrea Renee Cox

Asking for patience (as I talked about last week) or to better see what God is doing in my life might be easy prayers to say, but the living out of the answers that come is hardly ever easy or comfortable. I knew that going into those prayers, but it didn’t dissuade me. The answers are coming now, and boy, are they ever hard. But still I am not discouraged.

Even when the lessons are hard and break me, I refuse to give up the fight for God’s will. He is always worth it. My prayer through those toughest moments is usually, “God, help me.” But I’m finding out that I may add a little something else to that prayer. My prayer is becoming, “God, help me. I cannot do this without You. I need You. More than that. I want You. More than anything or anyone, I want You.”

When the answers God sends aren’t what I thought or were harder than the “hard” I imagined, the choice is mine. Will I decide to give up and settle for less than the best God has in store for me? Or will I choose to step out in faith, no matter how difficult things get, in order to walk in the will of God?

Need a Hero?

by Andrea Renee Cox

On a recent commercial several ladies sing, “I need a hero!” Superhero movies, comic books, and television programs are always popular, it seems. (I’m a fan of most of the Marvel Universe movies, actually.) From these things and others, it could be surmised that the world is searching for, longing for… perhaps even desperately yearning for a hero to swoop into our lives and save us from the mundane moments and difficulties that often plague our days.

What I’ve come to realize and truly cherish is that I already have a Hero. This Hero never went through that awkward “how do I use my superpower” phase. He never struggled with the desire to use His power for selfish gain, forsaking or using those around Him.

Grace Wins

by Andrea Renee Cox

“For you are saved by grace through faith, and

this is not from yourselves; it is God’s gift”

Ephesians 2:8 (HCSB)

Grace has been on my mind lately. The need to receive it. The call to give it out.

According to dictionary.com, grace is “mercy, clemency, pardon.” It could also be said that grace is giving someone the benefit of the doubt. The most important definition of grace I’ve learned through personal experience is that it is receiving kindness and compassion when you don’t deserve it at all (or giving kindness and compassion to someone who doesn’t deserve it at all).

Redeemed!

by Andrea Renee Cox

Yesterday was Resurrection Day, so of course I was thinking about how Jesus took my place up on the cross. It's a very difficult thing to face, that Someone would choose to take on my sin and suffer an excruciating death in my place. But when I think about how innocent He was... and how imperfect I am... Words cannot properly express how much that sacrifice blows my mind and whispers oceans of peace into my heart.

Who Do You Want to Be?

by Andrea Renee Cox

Each day is a blessing, and every new year presents fresh opportunities. One of the opportunities I particularly look forward to is working with God to improve my character. Sometimes there are things I need to work on (okay, so that's pretty much all the time), but the amazing thing is that God is the One leading the way. He shows me my weaknesses, often to my great embarrassment, so that we may work on them together.

Now, this work isn't always easy. Most of the times it's the toughest challenge of my week. Or day. It's hard to look in the mirror and understand that I'm in the place I'm at and that I still have so far to go. That I am not perfect (and never will be on this earth). That my weaknesses and faults show themselves way more often than I'd like.