Do you believe in miracles

We are all familiar with the idiom extending an olive branch. But what does it mean? This term has Biblical origin dating back to the Old Testament and is an offering of peace. In ancient Greek and Roman times, the olive branch was offered literally. In Rome, defeated armies carried an olive branch to indicate surrender.




In today’s modern society, the olive branch is used metaphorically rather than literally to convey the message of peace. Peace negotiations are used to settle differences between nations and in our personal lives.



LASTING LOVE is one of my earlier publications, an Easter story about death and resurrection. It is also a story about peace and forgiveness. There’s a lot of heartache and conflict packed into this short ebook. But the message it delivers is huge. Before Abbey Jordan can find happiness with Brady Jones, her fallen angel, she must find it in her heart to forgive him and offer an olive branch.



When Vermont florist Abbey Jordan’s nursery manager quits a few days before Easter, she is left up the proverbial creek without a paddle. But when she places it in God’s hands, she finds Lasting Love in a garden of roses.



Brady Jones has a daughter to raise, is out of work, and knows more about cultivating roses than anyone in rural Vermont. And when Abbey hires him as the horticultural manager of her floral shop, it seems like the answer to her prayers. But just on the brink of a budding romance, a fire destroys the nursery and buries all hope of love.



And when all fingers point to Brady for starting the fire, he falls from grace and off the pedestal Abbey has placed him on.



With its old fashioned classic appeal, the Lasting love rose is beautiful and timeless. It’s dark red with vibrant green leaves and big beautiful blossoms. It shimmers with a striking boldness and is a hearty climber. Bearing this in mind, I used a Lasting Love branch as the peace offering between Abbey and Brady.



Without giving the story away, a miracle occurs in Abbey’s life through Divine Intervention. Using a Lasting Love branch, Abbey extends it to Brady in the hope of reconciling their irreconcilable differences.



Upon checking the status of Lasting Love today on Amazon, I was rather shocked to find several customer reviews that were not there the last time I checked. More shocking, some were downright insulting, the worst of them advising it should have been a freebie! On the flip side of the coin, some were equally flattering.





What do I think about this? As with all things in life, you can’t please everyone. I just know that even after two years and two publishing houses, people are still buying Lasting Love. It was initially contracted by The Wild Rose Press for their White Rose line, the inspirational line. Not long after its release, the inspirational line branched into its own publishing house White Rose Publishing.



Even though the miracle in Lasting Love is purely fictional, the miracle evolving around the Lasting Love in my life is very real. The rose intrigued me so that I bought one of these shimmering jewels for my garden. I planted it with great expectation, confident it would sprout up to its promised Jack in the Beanstalk height, showering me with dozens of fragrant crimson blossoms that would make my neighbors pea green with envy.



To my dismay and great disappointment, my Lasting Love rosebush was a dud, a joke, a real lemon. In spite of the numerous accolades by customers who raved about their Lasting Love rose climbing the stairway to heaven, mine neither blossomed or bloomed or grew an inch.



I continued to nurture my little midget through autumn, losing hope when winter set in. We had a particularly frigid winter with lots of snow which buried my little pet. After a particular heavy snowstorm, the awning caved in and collapsed on my precious rose.



With the dawning of spring, much like the Lasting Love rose in my book, my rose resurrected with a vengeance. But even though the foliage was green and glossy, it remained a bud less three inch plant all summer long.



In late August, I suffered a massive heart attack and was not expected to live. Doctors saved my life through open heart surgery by implanting a heart pump in my chest. My own heart had failed perilously and permanently. When I came out of my four day coma, my cardiologists informed me that I was alive due to a miracle through Divine Intervention.



When I returned home three weeks later, it was a sunny fall day. My Lasting Love rose bush was as small as ever. But popping its head out of the glossy green foliage was one beautifully fragrant red rose.



I’ve just read Lasting Love again and got chills. Miracles happen every day. Do the insulting Amazon customer reviews bother me? Not in the least. Obviously, they never experienced the miracle of life.



Read customer reviews here

www.amazon.com/Lasting-Love

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Purchase Lasting Love

www.whiterosepublishing.com



Watch trailer by Hywela Lyn

www.amazon.com/Lasting-Love

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What is Hope?

Yesterday, I spotted a yellow daisy, a perfect bloom among a bush of dying flowers. With the early frosts, our flower beds are full of brown and wilted blooms. This one tiny daisy defied the elements and smiled at me.

To me this is what hope is all about. These are trying times for many throughout the world. The media plays upon these events through television, newspapers, magazines, and radio. Experiencing second hand tragedies through the media can be very depressing. So, how do we keep hope? And what is hope?


There is a wonderful passage in the Bible which truly speaks to my heart about hope.

Romans 8:22-25 "We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what he already has? But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently."

Hope is the faith within our hearts and souls, the belief in Christ Jesus that God is with us and will provide. God's word through Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, tells us that in order to have hope, we must learn to be patient. We must be still, have faith, and wait without grumbling to keep hope alive.

Hope is one tiny yellow daisy amid bushes of dying blooms. Hope is always looking forward to a brighter tomorrow, a dream within reach, with an attitude of humbleness, and never, ever giving up.

In my novel, Joshua's Hope, the heroine, Hope, learns what her name stands for when she finally lets go and lets God take control.

Like the withered daisies in my flower bed, Hope's soul withers when her life hits bottom, but when she opens her heart to God's healing love, her spirit rises and shines like the beautiful single yellow daisy.

Joshua's Hope purchase link

Smiles and Blessings,
Carol Ann Erhardt