Tuesday, August 7, 2018

When You Do It Right and It Turns Out Wrong


Please meet a new friend and prolific author, Rebecca Price Janney. I'm featuring her latest novel on Hope Splashes today, because the story is full of hope in the  midst of troubles. Here's a short synopsis:


What was going on? Erin made key decisions about her future after much prayer and counsel. God even broke through with a rousing forward, march!

            Likewise, Peter jumped into a crisis on the brink of retiring from years of public service. He couldn’t see himself resting before his own hearth when his country needed him.

Why, then, is Erin struggling so hard in her new job? And why is Peter being maliciously slandered and slighted, wounded in battle, and a POW?

            Erin Miles and Peter Kichline are the two main characters in my latest novel, Easton at the Crossroads. They live over 250 years apart in Easton, Pennsylvania, and their lives bear striking parallels. (Peter is Erin’s, recently-discovered, six times great-grandfather.)

In the first book in my Easton Series, they’ve both just lost their spouses. In the second, they’re trying to discern the right path. In the third novel they’re reaping what they’ve sown, but why are there so many thorns? Weren’t there supposed to be roses?

We can relate. When we do what’s right, isn’t life supposed to reciprocate? Shouldn’t we receive a cosmic pat on the back?

Here’s something we don’t necessarily like to hear—God’s highest purpose for us isn’t to make us happy or our lives perfect. He wants us to be holy, like Himself, to fit into His plans for the fulfillment of His kingdom. If we follow all the rules, we won’t necessarily become wealthy, have a nice home, well-behaved children, doting spouses, and rarely need a doctor.

            God doesn’t owe us a smooth ride, even when we do everything we know to be right. Paul followed God’s plan and ended up beaten, imprisoned, shipwrecked, and martyred. Corrie Ten Boom rescued Jews from the Nazis in World War II, and got sent to a concentration camp. Jesus was crucified.

            “In this world you will have tribulation.” Even when you do what is right. God’s purposes aren’t always accomplished on paved roads. Sometimes they happen in the midst of teeth-rattling potholes.

As Erin and Peter learn in Easton at theCrossroads, God can be trusted on bumpy rides without satellite coverage. He uses the stuff of earth, weeds, heartache, the annoying and mean-spirited, to achieve His glorious purposes. 

        Rebecca Price Janney is the author of 21 books including Easton at the Crossroads, the third installment in her Easton Series. She’s also written Harriet Tubman, Great Women in American History, Who Goes There? and hundreds of newspaper and magazine articles. She speaks at schools, churches, synagogues, libraries, historical societies, civic organizations, and the Daughters of the American Revolution, as well as on radio and TV.
          A native of Pennsylvania’s Lehigh Valley, she’s a graduate of Lafayette College and Princeton Theological Seminary, and received her doctorate from Biblical Seminary. Rebecca invites you to know her heart-warming characters and a town you’ll want to visit again and again. She lives in suburban Philadelphia with her husband, teenage son, and a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel. 

If you're thinking "Rebecca sounds like a fascinating person," I agree! And if you'd like to connect with her, find her here: ww.rebeccapricejanney.com
To order her new book, go here: Easton at The Crossroads


 

2 comments:

  1. Thanks for sharing Rebecca's latest book synopsis. Sounds interesting. We are praying our son Justin and his wife Erin as they find another place to live. Hard as apartments are expensive for 5 people and buying a house is a hard option. Praying God finds something for them in the time limit. We know God's got this!

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  2. Corrie ten Boom once said God never comes too soon or too late. I know His timing in my life has constantly amazed me. May He astonish you as well!

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