As I sit down and think about all the ways that God has blessed my writing this year, I stand in awe. What’s remarkable is that last summer I seriously contemplated letting writing go. There were so many other things clamoring for my attention that I wasn’t sure what God wanted me to do. Balance is so difficult—especially when life seems to move in the “fast lane.”

I’ll be the first to admit that I don’t have what it takes to be a writer. However, that’s all the more reason for me to realize that it is God at work. All I need to do is put one foot in front of the other, and learn, learn, learn… just like Samantha does in this coming Friday's release. Life’s not about living in the past, but seeking God and His will for us today.

Smuggler of the Heart
Rosette $2.00
Release Date: 9/4/09

Blurb: Disheartened and tired, Samantha Warren returns to Vermont during the winter break. Her passion for history rekindles after finding an old smuggler’s chest hidden in her grandparents' attic. Will she be able to return to New Jersey without her heart being smuggled like the chest once was? Or is it already too late?

Excerpt:
Samantha’s bright smile made Tim’s heart thump. He could stay here all day, content just to be with her. The Samantha he remembered was finally back. Not the fidgety woman he sat with on Sunday, but his Sammy. He’d dated other women off and on since she left, but the relationships never went deeper than a social level. Now he knew why—talk about Ah-ha moments. Even after all these years, Samantha still held his heart. The million-dollar question was, did she feel the same?
What had he missed in the seven years she was gone? Was her favorite ice cream still Ben and Jerry’s Cherry Garcia? Did she still have the stuffed bear he won at the fair their senior year of high school? Was she dating anyone? Had she fallen in love? God, please tell me you didn’t bring her back just for me to lose her again.
Tim softly asked, “Why’d you come back, Samantha?”
“I was homesick.” Samantha called over her shoulder as she pushed off. She’d caught his eye just for a second before she was gone with a whoosh of skis on snow, and just that tiny glance warmed him from the center out.
He shook his head. Ice and snow, he had to keep his cool. Ice and snow. What had she said, anyway? Homesick? Now he had the whole run to be held in suspense over what exactly that meant. In his fantasy, she’d say she was homesick because she missed him, but that was wishful thinking. If she’d missed him, wouldn’t she have kept in touch?

And the Winner is .....

Elizabeth Pina!

Hello Friends,

If you remember, I said that I would pick one person who commented on my last post about fully depicted love scenes to win a copy of one of my titles.

Elizabeth chose A Hero for Jessica as her prize.

I thank each and every one of you for participating in this discussion.

I had another equally challenging question for you, but for the life of me I can't remember what it was right now.

Until later....take care, be blessed and remember....life & love are a gift - enjoy both to the FULLEST because you never know when the opportunity will slip away.

Special Guest - Peter Lundell

Hello Friends!

The White Roses in Bloom Authors is pleased to introduce to you author Peter Lundell and his book, Prayer Power 30 days to a Stronger Connnection with God.

About the Author: Peter Lundell, a former missionary to Japan, is a pastor at Walnut Blessing Church in Walnut, California. He has an MDiv and DMiss from Fuller Theological Seminary and is the founder of the Walnut Valley Pastors' Prayer Network. Lundell is the author of two books, and his articles have appeared in magazines such as Guideposts and Pray!

About the Book: In the crazy world around us, our prayers may too often seem ineffective. Do you want to connect with God when you pray and receive more direct answers? PRAYER POWER is the tool you need to build a more powerful and dynamic life of prayer.Intensely practical and straightforward, PRAYER POWER helps you improve on thirty essential facets of prayer such as passion, routine, fasting, praying with others, listening to God, handling distractions, and spiritual warfare. In each brief chapter you'll be inspired by stories of people whose lives of prayer give us powerful examples.PRAYER POWER can be used as a month-long devotional, a prayer guide, or a reference for help in specific areas. Whether you're a new believer or think you've heard it all, this book's refreshing and honest insight will guide you to a deeper connection with God.

Interview with Peter Lundell

1. Many Christians don't talk about hardships with prayer. Why do you open up about the struggles you have had drawing close to God in prayer?

My first draft of the book read like an instruction manual of all the things you ought to do to be spiritual like me. I realized that the more spiritual I tried to sound, the less honest I was being. I was hiding behind my words. No reader should have to put up with all that. And besides, it was boring.

So I determined to be totally honest. I rewrote the book and openly shared my doubts, struggles, and failures, because everybody goes through the same things. And if I’m not honest with readers, how can I expect readers to be honest with others or even themselves?

I take sort of an “I mess up and you mess up, but God loves us anyway, so let’s connect with him” approach. Readers often tell me how much they identify with that. And when they read about how God still worked amazing things in my life and in others’, it gives them hope.

I’ve discovered two things: First, honesty is liberating, and I don’t want to live any other way. Second, when we stick with prayer and don’t give up, answers and victories rise from our struggles. Answers and victory never rise from pretending.

I hope to connect with readers so that they’ll in turn connect with me and the victories I’ve experienced—so that they will experience their own victories.

2. What are some of the things God has taught you about prayer over the years - especially from the perspective of your leadership roles?

It’s good to listen before I talk. If I always dive into prayer and never spend time listening, I only dump my own “give-me list” on God. But his word says in 1 John 5:14–15 that when I seek and pray according to his will, my prayer will be answered. So the key is to first get in sync with God.

We’ve got to have a hunger, or thirst, for God. Without hunger, no program or technique or anything we learn will go anywhere. But with hunger for God, we could know almost nothing and still have a great prayer life. Hunger is singularly important—which is why it’s the first chapter.

When I pray with faith and don’t get what I ask for, God will soon show me why. There is always something to learn in unanswered prayer.

3. What do you mean by "praying boldly" and how can Christians learn to do that?

Praying boldly is the opposite of excessively polite prayer and of—I’ll just say it—wimpy prayer. Praying boldly is praying without intimidation, not caring what other people think, expressing ourselves to God without concern for being appropriate or religiously correct but rather with a passion from our guts that pours out, unashamedly. Bold prayer is not arrogant. It’s humble and faithful, because of its self-abandoned focus on God and expectation of what God will do.

People often assume they must be polite or solemn before God. Nowhere does the Bible teach this. Two thirds of the Psalms are complaints, and they are not polite. Most prayers in both Old and New Testaments are bold, expectant, and to the point. When Jesus teaches on prayer in Luke 11:5–10, he talks about an obnoxious guy who bangs on his friend’s door at midnight. Then he says we should bug him the same way by continually asking, seeking, and knocking. I often wonder if God gets tired of diplomatic prayers. Why else would he actually tell us to be bold and persistent—and use examples that, if we were on the receiving end, most of us would say are obnoxious.

There’s no real method to doing this. It’s a mindset that chooses to free itself from previous assumptions and uses the Bible as a model of how to pray.

4. How can we practice the presence of God and include him in everyday tasks?

Practicing the presence of God primarily has to do with developing an attitude, a continual awareness that God is always with us, and that in turn, we always incline our attention toward him.

The first thing most of us need to do is to slow down or cut unnecessary activities from our calendar. Busyness is an enemy to practicing the presence of God. Jesus repeatedly blew off other people’s agendas for him and continually focused on his purpose for being here. Pastors who do the same are always happier, closer to God, and more effective. And when we practice the presence of God, we increase our ability to be intimate with him when times do get busy.

Here are some practices that may help develop that attitude: My last thought before I sleep and my first thought when I wake up is centered on God. When I get mad or stressed, I try to see things from God’s perspective. When I am waiting for someone, I use that time to pray. I do menial tasks with an awareness and love of God. I often have a praise song on my mind as I go through the day.

5. You're a proponent for creating a place of prayer and establishing a time of prayer. Why are these important elements for prayer?

These two disciplines are the most important external helps for maintaining a strong prayer life. Without them, our good intentions eventually drown under the assaults of busyness and distractions.

A place of prayer helps us concentrate in the face of distractions. That place could be the church sanctuary, an empty room in the house, a spot in the back yard, or even a rug laid out on the floor, on which the only thing we do is pray. The physical surroundings of a location devoted to prayer tell our brains, “Focus on God.” And if we ever feel bored or in a rut of over-familiarity with a place, a change of location can be stimulating.

Establishing a set prayer time engrains a habit of prayer into our minds, such that if we miss it, we feel anxious because something is missing or wrong—and it is! A set prayer time is not to force ourselves to pray as much as to create a boundary of protection from busyness. That boundary of time is like a protective fence around a garden, where we give ourselves freedom from intrusions to spend unhindered time with God. Preferably we’ll do this as early as possible in the morning, so we can lay the whole day before the Lord. And unlike a prayer place, I have never found benefit in changing my prayer time, so I highly recommend keeping it sacred, especially if we’re travelling or really busy. Whether short or long, this protective fence of a set time must be intentional, because no one else can do it for us.

6. What advice would you give to people who struggle with God when they pray?

True men and women of prayer will sometimes struggle in prayer, as did many figures in the Bible, like Jacob’s symbolic wrestling with the angel and Jesus’ wrestling over his fate in Gethsemane.

Like anyone else, I struggle with unanswered prayer or major decisions to do something by faith, when tragedy strikes, problems of injustice, and healings that take a lot longer than I’d like. The key is to keep struggling—don’t give up and too quickly assume something is God’s will before you know for sure. The angel commended Jacob for not giving up until he got a blessing. God the Father actually sent an angel to help Jesus wrestle in Gethsemane. Sometimes wrestling in prayer is God’s will for us.

Wrestling in prayer is actually a good thing. It draws us closer to God. And it changes us in the process. And that’s what most of us hope for!

Get your copy of Prayer Power today!

Prayer Power is on a virtual book tour through Kathy Carlton Willis Communications and sounds like something we all should read! In fact, I've already begun reading it.

Hope you've enjoyed our special guest. Check back often and see what the Roses are up to!

Until later.....take care, be BLESSED and remember....prayer should be a two-way conversation with God.

Pamela S. Thibodeaux

"Inspirational with an Edge!" (TM)

Contest winner!

Congrats to Sarah Ellen Coiner, the winner of my WINDOWS INTO HEAVEN contest! WIH is on sale NOW at http://www.whiterosepublishing.com --- please check it out!

Hugs,
Julia K. Moore

Fully Depected Love Scenes

Hello Fellow Roses and Friends & Fans of White Rose Authors!

*Warning - the scenes below may be considered too riske' for some readers *

I'm on a quest.....

Many read Inspirational/Christian/Sweet romances because they don't want/need the graphic details of intimacy between a couple. Some, however, bemoan the fact that most of these books are too chaste. Thankfully, at White Rose Publishing, we have a bit more freedom in what we write - but the door is still basically closed when it comes to fully depicted love scenes.

This scene from The Inheritance is about as sensual as I get.....

Rebecca closed her eyes, marveling at the way his heart thundered against her palm, matching rhythm with the blood thrumming through her veins. Mesmerized she slipped her hand inside his shirt, felt him shudder, and heard his soft moan of pleasure. Before she could jerk away, he covered her hand with his.

“It’s all right,” he whispered. “Don’t be shy or afraid.”

She lifted wide, pleading eyes to his. “But I am afraid, Ray. Afraid of where all this will end, afraid that I’ll forget every scrap of morality I ever taught my children and even more afraid that I won’t care if I do.”

“I promise it won’t go that far. I’ll let you know when it’s time to stop,” Ray insisted. She allowed him to shift her slightly so that she was cradled against his side. Murmuring soft words of love and praise, he urged her to relax and to trust him. Slowly, he unbuttoned his shirt and tugged it free from the waist of his jeans. Cupping her face in his hands, he covered her lips in a breathtaking kiss before pulling her in his arms once more.

As though in a trance, her hand moved across his chest to trace circles of fire over the sleek expanse of muscle and flesh. She felt him tremble, heard his sharp intake of breath and jerked her hand away, marveling that she was capable of eliciting such a response. It was obvious that by Jim always being the one to initiate intimacy between them, she’d been robbed of the simple pleasure of cuddling and caressing. And, oh, how she wanted to now.

When Ray didn’t move or speak or open his eyes, she placed her hand over his heart once more. Propping up on one elbow, she ran her fingers up his throat, let them walk over his chin and sweep across his lips to cup one cheek as her lips brushed across the other. Rolling into a sitting position, she placed a hand on each of his shoulders and let them slide slowly and gently down his chest, thrilling at his soft groan of pleasure.

Ray grabbed her hands and stopped the sensual torture, afraid that if she so much as thought about touching him again, he’d surely die from lack of oxygen. His breathing came sharp and painful. His knuckles were white from clenching his fists in order to keep from crushing her to him and ravishing her on the spot. His jaw hurt from grinding his teeth so hard that it was sheer wonder—or a miracle—they weren’t mere dust in his mouth.

“Now, Rebecca,” he rasped in a voice so harsh it sounded, and felt, as though he’d swallowed a Brillo pad. “We have to stop now, before there’s no stopping at all.”

This wedding night scene from my novel Tempered Fire may be considered by some 'fully depicted' .....

His mouth covered hers in a scorching embrace, hands shook when he undid the tiny buttons along her back. “I love you so much,” he whispered, the words punctuated with feathery kisses across her cheeks, eyes and mouth.

“I love you, too,” Amber assured, swallowing the lump of emotion clogging her throat. “Hold me, Stanley, make me your wife,” she invited.

In answer Stanley swung her up into his arms and laid her on the bed. His hands trembled as he undressed her, covering inch by inch of precious skin with kisses. With the tenderness born of love and control he didn’t know he possessed, he kissed and caressed her, mumbling soft, sweet words of love and longing. He nearly lost control when, with trembling hands, she finished unbuttoning his shirt and began placing whisper-soft kisses on his skin; nipping gently at the tender flesh of his broad chest and circling patterns of fire over his skin with her touch.

Amber forgot everything she’d ever heard when he took sweet possession of her body, and felt nothing but the incredible heat, the glorious ache, the delirious need building to a shattering crescendo within her. The heat of his touch circled through her leaving scorching brands on her flesh wherever he stroked her with gentle hands and followed with hot, possessive kisses. Their vows were consummated in a tender celebration of love.

However, many still consider this chaste compared to secular romances.


You may wonder what this has to do with my quest - so I'll tell you... I queried a publisher about another project - an obviously secular publisher that has an 'inspirational' line and was told that even though the story is inspirational, they expect fully depicted love scenes. So now I wonder.....

Would you read a Christian/Inspirational novel if it DID contain fully depicted love scenes as long as the couple is married - more fully than above? Is what I've shared too much or not enough to be considered "fully depicted"?

I've always written "Inspirational with an Edge!" and explored the sensual side of romance more than most Christian/Inspirational authors, but I'm tempted to take this a step further....to show the beauty of physical love, yet I hesitate, wondering if doing so will turn away or disappoint my readers. Of course I can always warn them if I do write one of these LOL!

Seriously though....It is NEVER my intention to offend anyone and if I have by sharing these scenes with you - the PLEASE accept my SINCEREST apologies.

Your opinion on this matter is valued and greatly appreciated.

Leave a comment and you just may win your choice of one of my E-books.

Pamela S Thibodeaux
"Inspirational with an Edge!" (TM)

Enduring the Storm

Today is the release day for It Happened One Hurricane, a short inspirational story I wrote last fall during the five days I was without electricity following Hurricane Ike. This got me thinking about storms. Not the natural ones like Ike and Katrina, but the “life storms” some of you may be enduring at this very moment. Perhaps a relationship has died, or someone is sick. Maybe someone has failed to meet your expectations and let you down in a way you could never have imagined. Or maybe this recession is finally getting the best of you. Please let me remind you of a couple facts:

First: God has not forgotten you. It is often hard to find God or even pray when certain storms have swept us into deep waters. Never fear. God has a plan, God has peace to impart regarding the situation, and God always has the answer. So hang on. What’s that old saying? God may not come exactly when you call, but He’s always right on time. Count on it.

Second: You are not alone. Yes, I know you feel alone. Yes, I know you don’t know how you’ll ever feel right again. Yes, I know you’ve been forsaken by earthly people with limited earthly abilities. I know your heart is broken. Refer to my first point above.

The challenge: Though in the midst of your storm, take two minutes as often as you can to lift your arms above the raging water and say “Thank you, God, for calming the storm” and believe He is doing it. It really helps!

More on It Happened One Hurricane:
Here’s the blurb:
When Pittsburgh native Amber Kensington moved to the Texas Gulf coast to take a job, hurricane season was the last thing on her mind. That is until a massive storm named Ike appears destined to make a direct hit just miles from her apartment. Evacuation is the answer, but what happens when your car won’t cooperate?

Alex Clarke has seen his share of tropical weather, but it never gets any easier. A childhood experience with lightning has left him fearful of storms. Still, his greatest desire is to participate in his church’s outreach program and assist hurricane victims. Now he’s discovered his new neighbor is stranded. Can he convince her to go with him? And can Amber and Alex find God’s comfort and healing despite the raging storm?

Pop over to my blog and leave a comment for a chance to win a free copy of It Happened One Hurricane. Winners announced Sunday evening the 9th! http://authorcarlarossi.blogspot.com/

The Sister Pact

The Sister Pact is now in bookstores.

Savannah Compton is devastated when her sister and best friend, Allison, falls into a coma after a tragic accident. Or was it an accident? Even with a charming and handsome detective at her side, it seems Savannah may never discover the truth. But if she doesn’t her family could be in even more danger. And Savannah’s past holds its own secrets that could change everything.

Now she must prove her innocence to the one person who is beginning to matter most. Join Savannah as she struggles to summon faith and rely on hope, even in the darkest of circumstances, and learn how the bond between sisters can overcome anything.

The Sister Pact is a thrilling romantic mystery, full of unexpected twists. Cami Checketts delivers an exhilarating new novel that will keep you guessing to the very last page.

To win a free copy, please visit my blog - http://camicheckettsbooks.blogspot.com.

www.camichecketts.com