CAPTURE THE MOMENT: Near Death Experience

This moving, powerful book has accolades from almost 50 reviewers! (4.7 Stars!) And today ONLY, you can get an e-book copy of SAVING ERIC for only $2.99. That's 40% off the regular price.

Get SAVING ERIC!

Templetons don't break down. Even when their worlds are falling apart. 

Eric Templeton's well-ordered life as a top CIA agent is shattered when a traitor within the agency plots to have him eliminated. Sent on a bogus mission to Africa, Eric is ambushed and critically wounded. A helicopter pilot flies him to a remote mission hospital where Dr. Brock Whitfield and his daughter, Ellie, work to save his life. 

If Eric survives, his life may never be the same, and he still has to deal with the traitor who wants him dead. Eric wants justice, but Brock and Ellie know that Eric's survival is the least of his worries. What he needs most is mercy and truth.

 Here's what readers are saying about SAVING ERIC:

"What a blessing! This book came highly recommended by my daughter who read it in two days so I took the ebook on my flight to Israel. Altough I have over 2,000 book in my library, I NEVER read fiction books. However, this book sure passed the time much faster than all of the heavy reading to which I am accustomed."


"I loved this story! Joan Deneve combines the elements of betrayal, suspense, romance, and redemption beautifully into an exciting read that kept me turning pages to find out what happened next."


"Saving Eric is captivating! It catapults the reader from CIA Headquarters to an African mission hospital with stops in-between. Its characters are believable. Its plot is engrossing. Its message is profound. Having read it quickly to find out what happens next, I will read it again slowly to reflect on redemption. Definitely hope Joan Deneve has another work in progress!"


"What a powerful, heart touching story Joan Deneve has crafted in Saving Eric. I picked up the book after seeing it recommended by a friend and I have not been disappointed. Just the opposite actually. I am thoroughly impressed with Joan's storytelling gift and completely in love with the characters she's created. Except for the bad guy of course."

Enjoy your reading getaway with this outstanding book, but don't miss this sale. SAVING ERIC won't be on sale again this year! Get it TODAY before you miss your final chance!

And while you're in the mood to get a good deal on a great book, pre-order THE SECRET HEART by Marie Wells Coutu (the 3rd stand-alone story in her Mended Vessels series) for only $2.99 - a 40% discount! AND get a free book - THE DIVIDED HEART - a prequel to her third story. (Send your Amazon confirmation to freebookforpreorder@gmail.com.)

Capture the Magic: Saving Eric: The Birth of a Novel by Joan Deneve

Congratulations to Paula for winning yesterday's copy of THE HEART SEEKER SERIES! Will you win the next one? Simply leave a comment with your email address to enter for today's free copy!

One of our outstanding romances that will be discounted next week, SAVING ERIC has a beautiful story about its beginnings, even beyond the novel itself.

***

July 18, 2016

I'm still surprised when God answers prayer. Don't get me wrong. I've been a believer and practicing woman of faith for over forty years. I've seen God do some amazing things, and yes, even miracles, in answer to prayer. On the other hand, I've experienced times when God remained silent to my anguished cries.

My mouth will tell you that I believe God can do anything, but sometimes my heart counters, "But will He?" At such times, I try to fall back on what I know to be true: That God is a good God who is also wise and all-knowing; That our God is sovereign, which is a fancy way of saying He is God and I am not; that He gets to call the shots.

It was out of these thoughts, feelings, and questions that my first novel Saving Eric was born. I wanted to illustrate that God's plan is sometimes bigger than what we can presently see, and that we can trust God to always do what is needed and right.

Through this character-driven novel, three basic truths about God come to light:

1. God is able to do exceedingly, abundantly, above all that we ask or think. These words, taken from Ephesians 3:20, are the foundational truth behind Brock Whitfield's faith. Brock's faith is strong because it was forged in the crucible of deep failure, disappointment, and loss. He passes on what he has learned about trusting God to all the staff at the mission hospital he started in Angola.
2. God sometimes lets us be the answer to our own prayers. This is probably my favorite truth. Brock had prayed for Eric Templeton for years, but he never dreamed God would allow him to be part of the answer. What an exciting thought! God not only gives us the desires of our hearts, but He also lets us be part of the answer! 
3. God uses broken people to help other broken people. We are all broken. That's why we need a savior. God is in the business of changing lives. Brock, Ellie, Eric, and Bob—all are broken and in need of God's truth and God's grace to turn their lives around. 

These fictional characters struggle with things we all struggle with. Using Brock as spiritual mentor, I take the reader down the path of some of my own spiritual battles and questions. My goal was to portray God realistically and faithfully. He is a God who does not always answer the way we think He will or should, but His answer is always the best one. It's a hard lesson to learn, and one that must be relearned many times in one's life.

I wrote the book, tweaked, re-wrote, and tweaked some more, and after three long years, I doubted that I would ever get my book published. So in 2014, I did the unthinkable. I gave God a deadline. Granted, I gave Him a year, but it was still a deadline. I asked for two specific requests. Big requests. Not the generic, "God bless my children and keep them safe." (Nothing wrong with that either)
I prayed on January 1, 2014 for God to come through and answer the two requests I had been praying for three years. I committed to prayer that 2014 be the year both requests would be answered. At every prayer meeting, everybody knew my hand would go up, and I would mention two unspoken prayer requests.

Did I ask in faith? You bet. Did I really believe the requests would be answered? Sort of. In September, fully nine months after asking that original prayer, I was thrilled beyond words to finally have a contract for my novel to get published! Check off first request!

I'll tell more about the second request after the photo

The second request was more of a challenge. Okay, I'll go ahead and tell you, I prayed for God to let my son find a good, godly wife. I still had hope, but I had already decided to let God off the hook in case it wasn't His timing or His will. (Like He needed for me to let Him off the hook.)

The answer came on Christmas Eve. My son visited and announced that he had met a girl, a special girl, who just might be "the one." Unfortunately, like Rhoda who refused to believe Peter was actually out of prison and knocking on the door, I responded with "You're kidding."

How's that for faith?

I'm thankful God answers even weak faith! My novel was published on February 14, 2015, and I like to think of it as God's Valentine to me. My son was married in October of 2015, probably not just because of my prayers, but because God is so good!

Let me sum it all up. God is real. God is good. God is able to do exceedingly, abundantly, above all that we ask or think. Our God loves us and delights to show Himself strong on our behalf. But His ways are not our ways. Sometimes He says, "No." Sometimes He says, "Wait." Sometimes He is silent, and at such times, we must do as the song says, "When we can't trace His hand, we trust His heart."

***

What a touching post. Have you waited on the Lord? Maybe you're waiting now. Please share your

thoughts when you leave your email address.

Last but not least, our Capture the Magic continues on February 14-21 with a book on sale every day. One book per day will be discounted 60% or more. Look HERE on our website, for more information and a schedule for the when the books will be on sale.

Come back tomorrow to see our winner listed and enter again by leaving another comment! Super-simple!

And learn more about Joan Deneve and her books at her author page on the Write Integrity Press website.

Two Winners in the Grace Awards

Congratulations to Betty Thomason Owens and Joan Deneve for winning a Grace Award!

Annabelle's Ruth won in the Women's Fiction/General Fiction category, and Saving Eric won in the Action Adventure/Western/Historic Epic Fiction category.

        

TV Interviews

This evening, October 7, 2015, I have the honor and privilege of being a guest on WATC-TV 57's Atlanta Live program, 7-8:30 PM (Eastern). The program is available by live stream here.

I would greatly appreciate your prayers - I tend to enjoy being a hermit, so being interviewed on TV is a huge step outside my comfort zone. But we're talking about books, about faith, about my walk with Jesus - and that THRILLS me. Just pray I don't make a fool of myself or embarrass my Lord.

I'm so proud of our other authors who've recently been interviewed on both TV and radio. You can view and listen to those at the links below:

TV Appearances:

(YouTube links)

Deborah Harper - WATC-TV 57 Atlanta

Elizabeth Noyes - WATC-TV 57 Atlanta

Joan Deneve - WATC-TV 57 Atlanta

Radio Interviews:

(SoundCloud links)

Betty Thomason Owens - The Dottie Coffman Show - Victory Radio

Cynthia Toney - The Dottie Coffman Show - Victory Radio

Elizabeth Noyes - The Dottie Coffman Show - Victory Radio

Fay Lamb - The Dottie Coffman Show - Victory Radio

I'll keep the PRESS page (see tab above) updated with new interviews as they're available, so stay tuned. 

The Road Trip Miracle

Today, we welcome Joan Deneve sharing one of her road trip adventures.

The Road Trip Miracle

by Joan Deneve

I’m afraid to fly. There. I said it. And your well-meaning platitudes or statistics of how much more likely I am to die in a car crash won’t sway me. My husband is actually a pilot, and he gave up a long time ago. So don’t even try.

Besides, my husband loves road trips as much as I do. At least, he says he does. Maybe it’s because he loves me and gets a big kick out of seeing me jump over hedges to claim the front seat the minute he jangles the keys. Okay. Slight exaggeration. But you get the point.

There’s something about gassing up the car and stockpiling junk food the night before. We usually leave before the sun comes up. I stumble bleary eyed to the car and make my nest complete with pillow, blanket, and carry-on bag loaded with things to amuse me.

But I never seem to dig anything out of the bag. Except food, of course. I usually don’t even make it out of the city limits before ripping into the bags of chocolate. Or the gummy worms. Then when we cross the county line, I rummage for the chips to get the sweet taste out of my mouth. Thus, the whole trip is a vicious contest of sweet versus salty.

But the magazines or books never make it out of the bag. The trip is amusement enough. Like the first streaks of the sunrise. Or a bird swooping down on a lake.

Even on a road I’ve traveled a hundred times, I won’t read or let myself go to sleep. I’m afraid I’ll miss something.

And the best thing about a road trip? Time. Glorious time. A precious and rare commodity meant to be treasured and appreciated. Road trips are God’s little time-outs: To ponder the meaning of life or to mull over a problem like your tongue worries a sore spot in your mouth. 

It’s also a great time to pray. And if you’re paying attention, you might even get a road trip miracle.

My husband and I were traveling back from a weekend trip. We were both enjoying the companionable silence, lost in our own thoughts. It was almost dusk in late January. Cold, dreary. I stared to my right, past my own faint reflection to the blurred images of the bare trees whizzing by. 

My mind drifted to the passage I’d read that morning from one of my favorite chapters in the Bible. John 11. It’s the story of how Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead. One phrase played like a broken record in my mind. “Now Jesus loved Martha, and her sister, and Lazarus.”

I pondered that for a few miles. How special, to have it documented in black and white that Jesus did in fact love these three people. And like a needy child, my heart cried out to Jesus and I said something like this: “I know you’re real, and I know you love me. I really do know that, but sometimes I really wish I had it written down. Not just to the whole world, but singled out, to me personally.”

It wasn’t a real prayer. More like a wish. I remember I was looking down at the floorboard when I was thinking those thoughts. And the moment I raised my eyes, a billboard to my left, across the median lit up as dusk settled into night. And the only three words on the billboard were JESUS LOVES YOU.

My mouth gaped open. I stared even as my vision blurred with unshed tears. We passed the sign, and I craned my neck around to keep it in my sight as long as I could. And I could feel Jesus smiling.

I gasped to my husband, “You’ll never guess what Jesus did for me just now.”

My husband, now hungry, disregarded the wonder in my voice and replied, “Do you think this is the exit to Shoney’s?”

Not to be deterred, I repeated more emphatically, “I just told Jesus I wish I had it in writing that He loved me, and there was this sign back there. Didn’t you see it?”

He barely shook his head. “I’m taking this exit. I think there’s a Shoney’s up here on the right.”

“Honey,” I angled my body toward him. “It was like I got my own personal sign from Jesus telling me He loved me. Don’t you see how special that was?”

“Ah. There it is.” He turned down the service road to Shoney’s and then replied, “Honey, I don’t need a sign to know Jesus loves me.”

Okay. I’ll give him that. Maybe I don’t need a sign either. But it’s nice to know that sometimes God goes out of His way to orchestrate the mundane details of our lives to let us know He’s listening and that He loves us.

And if you’re ever riding south on I-65 from Huntsville to Montgomery, Alabama, you might just see my sign. It’s okay. I’ll share it with you, 'cause He loves you too.

****

Joan Deneve teaches English in a Christian school and has a passion to help young people fall in love with Jesus and equip them to become all God wants them to be. Joan began her walk as a Christian when she accepted Christ as her savior two weeks before her sixteenth birthday. She graduated from Tennessee Temple Bible College in 1975.

Joan and Rene’, her best friend and husband of forty-plus years, reside in Prattville, Alabama, a charming city in the Heart of Dixie. They count their son and daughter, son-in-law, and seven phenomenal grandchildren to be their greatest blessings on earth.

Joan enjoys time well-spent with family and friends, but finds equal joy in quiet moments of solitude on her back porch. There, surrounded by bluebirds and yellow butterflies, she began writing her debut novel, Saving Eric, which was published earlier this year by Pix-N-Pens.

An active member of her church, Joan enjoys singing in the choir. She is a member of American Christian Fiction Writers and is currently working on the second book in the Redeemed Side of Love Series. She enjoys chatting with fellow writers and readers.

Saving Eric

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Jennifer Hallmark: Interviewed by Janet K. Brown

Tuesday, July 7

Write Integrity Press: Three People on a Journey

Monday, July 6

Write Integrity Press: If I Could Take Three People on Vacation

Sunday, July 5

Write Integrity Press: Summer Recipes SweetPepper Relish

Saturday, July 4:

Write Integrity Press: Summer Recipes Keeping it Simple

Fay Lamb: Who Wrote Whom: Meet the Authors of Unlikely Merger: Betty Thomason Owens

Friday, July 3:

Write Integrity Press: Summer Recipes Potato Salad and Cucumbers
Fay Lamb: Who Wrote Whom: Meet the Authors of Unlikely Merger: Raelee May Carpenter

Thursday, July 2

Write Integrity Press: Summer Recipes Kazak Samsa
Fay Lamb: Who Wrote Whom: Meet the Authors of Unlikely Merger: Phee Paradise

Wednesday, July 1

Write Integrity Press: Book Release Day – Free on Kindle!
Jennifer Hallmark: 3 Questions Wednesday with Jennifer Hallmark

Fay Lamb: Who Wrote Whom: Meet the Authors of Unlikely Merger: Suzy Moore

Betty Thomason Owens: Unlikely Merger’s SAM List

Monday, June 29:

            

Fay Lamb: Who Wrote Whom: Meet the Authors of Unlikely Merger: Jennifer Hallmark