Tag Archives: christian devotionals

living with purpose

New devotional will help you understand God’s blessing in your life

Leave a reply

FAITH NEWS SERVICE – A new devotional book Living with Purpose, has just been released and is aimed at unlocking the blessing of God on the lives of the readers.

Dawn Barrie’s Living with Purpose, which essentially takes one through her life with God, including both the cliff tops and the valleys, will encourage readers in their walk of faith.

From having written encouragement verses and words to her family and friends over many years, as well as having journaled incidents in her walk with God, she decided to put her words into devotions for her family as a legacy, inspiring each to know that they too could have a fulfilled relationship with Jesus. Her desire is that long after she is gone, her family will still be blessed by her words.

Having achieved this, she realized that her words could help far more people if released to the outside world. Upon contacting publishers and being successful in securing a publishing contract with Ark House, she says that she realized that she could help many others.

Dawn grew up in a Christian home on a farm, where she learnt love and understanding in her life, whilst also knowing what it meant to work hard and achieve her goals, making her a resilient, determined and independent person. She accepted Christ as her Saviour in her teenage years and at 15 started working, firstly as a private secretary before becoming a nurse until she got married.

She says, “My husband and I were a team and supported each other in everything we did for 53 years, before he passed away. He always allowed me to follow my goals and encouraged me in everything I did. He would give his opinion, but allowed me to make my own decisions, which he then supported me in.”

Whilst maintaining a busy career in different fields of employment and ministry, the church has always remained a big part of her life. She has been involved in church leadership in the fields of children’s ministry, women’s ministry, working with youth and often speaking at functions. Today she is still actively involved in the church.

Dawn says, “Each experience and challenge in life has taught me the importance of spending time in God’s presence every day, from which I have gained wisdom and encouragement to enrich others. I am truly humbled that God led me to write these words for Him.”

Living with Purpose has been written from Dawn’s lifelong experiences of learning to listen and follow what God’s Word teaches and will help you experience the joy of having a meaningful relationship with Jesus Christ. God wants each person to live in freedom, walking in His perfect love, so that our fears no longer torment us, as His love drives out all fear.

These devotions, having been written in a way that anyone can relate to, giving you wisdom as you apply the truths of God’s Word to experience the infilling of the Holy Spirit more deeply each day. You will find that you want to read them again next year and in years to follow, for God will continue to speak through them to bless your life.

Living with Purpose is now available globally.

New Redemption Press release offers fresh perspective on discipling others through your everyday actions

Leave a reply

FAITH NEWS SERVICE – According to the Pew Research Center, at least a quarter of Americans say their faith grew during the pandemic*—and devotional writer Matt Simon believes there’s no better time than now to exercise that faith and be an authentic example of Christ to others.

More than ever we live in a world in constant conflict, and Christians are not exempt from the battleground. In fact we are as broken as the next person, our own tragedies, mistakes, and bad choices shaping us, leading us to rely on Christ even more. As believers walking out our faith daily, facing our own challenges, we travel a road with weary and even lost souls—but that route is a target-rich environment for those who would use Christ’s message to revive God’s mission of grace on earth.

Blogger Matt Simon believes there’s a track to healing, and it begins with believers choosing to encourage, uplift, and offer words and acts of kindness to those who cross their paths. In his debut devotional Catching Broken Fish, based on Matthew 4:18, the author inspires each of us to step out our comfort zones and to embrace being examples of God’s love. Using illustrations drawn from his own life as a farmer and school bus driver, Matt takes the reader on a humble trek of discernment and serving—products, he discovered, of his own failure and growth.

“I invite you to practice discipleship with me,” Matt says. “No matter where you are in your life journey, in the belief that by uniting together in a goal to catch broken fish, we can change the destiny of the world.”

Each devotional includes a deeper “Casting the Line” section and a heartfelt prayer for change. Matt calls on Christians everywhere to search for opportunities every day to disciple those they come into contact with.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Matt Simon and the love of his life, his wife, Jeana, own a farm in western Michigan and raise Angus beef. While farming, Matt often spends hours in isolation in the cab of a tractor, where inspiration often strikes and from where he pens most of his devotionals. He also drives a school bus and finds that children inspire him to show what God’s love and grace look like. He and Jeana have three children. In his spare time, Matt enjoys writing, fishing, hunting, and camping.

 

From front line human rights activist to dance therapist, this author aims to share the Joy of Jesus

Leave a reply

FAITH NEWS SERVICE – Yumi Schaefer is one amazing woman. Born and raised in Japan as a third generation Korean, she had a vision to change the world.

While Yumi had a carefree upbringing as a child in the beautiful town of Miyazu in Kyoto prefecture, which has beaches in front and mountains in the back, being a Korean in Japan saw her face a series of difficulties and heartbreaks as she hit her teen years.

Yumi became a front line human rights activist for social justice that led her to complete her BA (hon,.) study in social justice in USA.

“My goal was to become an international public speaker for social justice, conducting speaking tours around the world,” Yumi stated. “Then, I had severe burn-out, which incapacitated me physically and mentally. I found out that I couldn’t change the world in my own strength, which was exactly how I was operating.

“In my darkest point, Jesus became real and I became a born-again Christian. I started to reclaim what I had forgotten – JOY in life. God gave me an audible direction to become a dance therapist. I moved to Australia with His divine leading in 1998 to study and attain a qualification in dance therapy, which has been my passionate profession for 20 years, using dance and creative arts.

“The joy of the Lord has become my strength and life force. It is my calling to spread the joy of the Lord! The Christian life is the most exciting and joyful way of living above all and I want the world to know it.”

Yumi has just released a new book titled Sparking Joy, in which she shares the joy of the Lord through creative expressions of faith. Her vision is to see Christians enjoy God and have joy as their birthright.

“I have been a born again Christian for about 25 years,” she said. “I have discovered worshipping and praising God in creative expressions like dancing, drawing, painting… even pottery art is joy and happiness giving to our life. I felt it is my calling to create a book in which fellow Christians discover fun and the joy of the Lord through their own creative and artistic expressions.

“I feel I am the happiest, healthiest and fittest person for my age group. Doing what I love and loving what I do, I am passionate about joyful and healthy living. If there is a book that makes you happy by holding, this book is it.” The message from the book is positively contagious. It is a Christian mindfulness book, which draws us to the Father. This book will lead you to enjoy God and enrich your Christian life.

“Light the spark of praise and thanksgiving – that is what this book is about. It is not a skill or talent-based book; it is about playfulness and spontaneity, which will keep the readers captivated. One is the Joy of discovering your own dormant creative energy and playfulness given from our Creator and the other is the Joy of discovering God in an intimate and fun way.

“It has been set out as a 30 day devotional journal which captivates the readers over time of 30 days… or more however long people want to take to go through it. Each day also has a ‘Gratitude’ page to have Emmanuel time – “God is always with us” with thanksgiving.  It will enrich Christians’ daily life across all age range – children, teenagers, adults and the elderly.”

Yumi believes that it will also be an ‘ice breaker’ to introduce Christianity to new people.

This, however, is not her first book. Her first book is titled ‘Renew Me – The Art of Living Well – 7 Steps to your Optimal Wellness’. It was self-published in 2009, with a second edition released in 2015. It is a fruit of her study, research and her own experience from her healing journey to a life of optimal health and fitness. She told me that this book is “God’s guided content as to how to take care of our temple and enjoy our precious life”.

In a serious world, where our media consumes us with depressing story after story, Sparking Joy offers a refreshing Christian experience. So often, we think of Christianity as ‘picking up our Cross’ needing ‘, when there is in fact so much freedom in the Christian life. As Yumi told me, “Have fun with Jesus!!  Find gems of sparking joy in your daily life.”

Sparking Joy is now available globally.