Happy New Year

Today is the only day all minors will be born in the 2000s and all adults in the 1900s.

A Baby Changes Everything - Faith Hill

If you want to know what really happened when Jesus was born, check out my book which is like a diary from His mother's viewpoint. You can get it free on Kindle but if you prefer a hardcopy that is also available. www.marilynshistoricalnovels.com

Wishing You A Blessed Christmas

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free ebeeks

What Will I Find?

Let Christmas come alive for you this year in a breathlessly exciting way! Do you believe that Jesus really walked this earth and lived and breathed just like we do? Do you think He ever got weary, angry, happy or sad? Do you think He played like other children or would He have piously strode around with His head tilted just so so that His halo would remain at the perfect angle?
If this book doesn't leave you enthralled with what an incredible Man Jesus was then let me know. If you can convince me that you truly weren't impressed and aren't just pulling my leg, I'll refund you the money.

Oh, by the way, if you hurry you'll still get a chance to win a free night at our Bed and Breakfast. (You choose the date.) Check out the details on my website.

www.marilynshistoricalnovels.com

Something's Happened to Mommy!

This is the part of the sequel to Two Mothers, Twin Daughters I am working on. Don't forget the contest closes at Christmas, but free ebooks will still be available if you have Kindle.

“Mummy,” Emily sounded troubled so Marita looked up from the sock she was mending. “When did you allow me to wear my bangs cut and my hair in curls?”

Marita dropped the yarn and sock back into the mending basket and reached for the photograph Emily was studying. Emily handed the picture to her mother but her eyes widened when she saw the stricken look on Marita's face.

“Oh, Alice, my little Alice,” Marita moaned as tears sprung to her eyes.

Emily was shocked to see her mother kiss the picture repeatedly. After staring at her for an instant she whirled out the door.

“Daddy!”She shrieked as she flew across the freshly fallen snow.

Randall ambled slowly towards his daughter. He was used to her excitability.

“Daddy!” she shrieked again, “Come quickly! Something happened to Mummy!

“Emily, where are your boots?” Without slackening his stride,

he scooped her up into his arms and strolled through the wide open door.

Randall was startled by his wife's expression. “Marita, are you alright?”

Marita smiled at him, her face radiant in spite of the tears.

“Oh, honey, do you know who this is,” she asked, showing him the picture.

“Em—No. No! This is Alice! Our Alice! Where did you get this?”

Without waiting for an answer, he continued; “ They're identical! They really are! Except for the fancy ringlets on this little girl's head, and,” he glanced mischievously as Emily, “this one's eyes are so huge!”

“Do you know that girl?” Emily asked.

Marita hesitated; “I saw her as a baby,” she replied.

“How come she looks so…. terribly… much like me?”

Oh, if only something…anything would happen to disrupt this conversation

. I’m not ready for it!… Will I ever be?

Marita swallowed the lump in her throat and knelt beside the child. She cupped the solemn little face with gentle hands. “She looks so much like you, honey because she’s your twin.”

“My twin? My very own twin?” Tears of understanding slowly filled Emily’s eyes. “I always wanted a sister. Now I have one and she’s far away.” She turned away and looked unseeingly out the window. Slowly, strange new questions came to her mind. But why is she gone? Why doesn’t she live with us if she’s my sister? How come I don’t remember her? Will they send me away, to? Out loud she announced, “I’m going to write my twin and tell her I love her.”

Was there a hint of defiance in that voice, or a quiver of loneliness?

“Not right now, dear. It’s time to set the table for supper.”

As Emily carried the stack of plates to the table, her lovely blue eyes were round and sad. “Why didn’t you tell me I had a twinnie?”

Marita studied her expression, “Because you were too little to understand.”

“But why isn’t she here with me? I want to play with her. I want her to sleep in my bed.”

Marita's eyes pleaded with her husband to help. Surely he would know what to say.

“We’ll get her as soon as possible,” he said tickling her nose with the end of her braid.

Emily didn't smile. The plates made a quiet thud-thud sound as they were placed on the table. When she was done, she stood looking out at the cloudy sky.

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“Where is ‘Swizzerland’ Mummy?” she asked. “Is it very far away?”

“Very far, honey. But we want to get Alice back as soon as possible.”

“Did they kin-nap her?”

“Kidnap? Oh no. They took care of her for Mummy.”

When Emily didn’t answer, Marita wondered how she was processing the information. When she merely played with the food on her plate, Marita worried but didn't pressure her to eat.

Falling Rocks

When you drop a stone into the water, it disappears, right? No matter if it was a grain of sand or a diamond it sinks and sinks never to be seen again. Kind of discouraging, I'd say. Especially with the diamond. Maybe it seems the same way when we try to reach out in kindness to others. We want to be a Christian witness, we want others to know the joy our salvation brings so we smile at strangers, listen to their stories and go on our way. Did it do any good? The deed sank like a rock. But wait, look at those ripples, they are spreading out so far. What does that mean? The one poem says 'down a long eternity'. Can our random acts of kindness make a difference in someone's life forever? I sure hope so, and let's keep praying that someone will be drawn to Christ and reach Heaven because of our simple, easily forgotten (by us) gestures.

Too Much Cheese!

Hanzel was a jolly Dutchman with a white shirt and a vest who liked to make cheese almost better than anything else in the world. He liked it so much that Hanzel was positive that his cheese was by far the best in the whole county of Leyden. Problem is every farmer for miles around insisted that their own was superior to any other made in all of Holland and that lead to quite a hullabaloo on market day. There were rows and rows of stalls in the cheese section of the market, and the competition was fierce. Many if not all of them had banners in varying colours advertising their wares. The bolder ones went even farther and hired drummers which added to the din. Even the shyest had to resort to calling out the virtues of their special product.

And what was the result? No one got very much business. Friends, I feel very much like that bewildered Dutchman. Since the market has been opened wide to thousands of authors through the advent of self-publishing we are being drowned in a cascade of literature just at the time when technology is causing the interest in paper books to wan. Tell me, what should I do? If you have any advise, anything at all, please let me know. www.marilynshistoricalnovels.com

MARY Did You Know

And Hey, whoever you are, did you know you can download my books for free on Kindle?  Do me a favour and write a review if you feel https://youtube/JPsgIhlYQmM

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Happy holidays! How many times have you said that or had someone say that to you? Did it bring a smile to your face? Sure probably, but did it bring warmth to your heart as you thought of the true reason for the season? 

Or do you even know why so many people all over the world have a celebration right in the middle of the shortest month in the northern hemisphere? 

 Have you ever heard of the tiny baby whose birth was heralded by a whole choir of angels? It looks as if all of Heaven couldn’t contain the joy that a Savior had come down to rescue fallen man from their sins. Did you know those wise men, possibly very wealthy ones at that, had travelled a very great distance to come and see this newborn baby, and give Him wonderful gifts? That, by the way, is the reason why we exchange presents at Christmas. 

Travelling wasn’t so easy in those days and we are given reason to believe they journeyed over a vast desert to see the Son of God. This infant was created in the form of man, not only so He could save us, but so He could totally identify and have compassion for us even on our worst days!

Okay, this isn’t just a wonderful mythical story from long ago like the one about Santa Claus. This honestly happened: Jesus truly is the Son of God and millions have gotten to know and love Him to this day because we know that after He died, He rose again and eventually went back to Heaven and sent a Comforter who gives us joy, peace, and guidance.

So are you going to have a Happy Holiday or a Blessed Christmas? I don’t care for the word ‘Merry’ because it suggests a frivolity that could lead to grief. See the word Christmas? It is announcing for all the world to see that Christ—that tiny baby, Jesus Christ—is supposed to be the centre of the season. 

Are you going to invite Christ to your home, or better yet have Him the centre of all you do?  Go for it! He is the most awesome Guest you will ever have.

I Can't Die, I Won't Die!

I hope you have the time or will take the time to read this to the very end because it has a surprise ending.  I do not know the name of the main character in this true story, so for simplicity sake will call her Melissa. Melissa was like many of us in that she went to church and enjoyed the social and spiritual aspects of it, but she didn't think the Bible needed to be taken literally when it spoke of being separate from the world in word and action.  1John 2: 15-17,  Romans 12:2. https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/She would occassionally make fun of more conservative Christians and went on her merry way. Although she endured a slow and lingering death, cancer perhaps, she rejoiced in the assurance in being swept up to Heaven immediately after departing this life.

Now I will quote directly from this ancient book Dying Testimonies of Saved and Unsaved: https://www.amazon.com/Dying-Testimonies-Saved-Unsaved-Shaw/dp/1933304324
"respiration grew shorter and shorter and at last ceased and they deemed the spirit already in the embrace of blissful messengers who were winging it to paradise. A fearful shriek! and in a moment they beheld her that they had looked upon as the departed sitting upright before them with every feature distorted.
"Horror and disappointment had transformed that placid countenance so that it exhibited an expression indescribable fiendish. "I can't die," she shrieked, "I won't die!"

Her pastor walked in just then and she screamed, "Out of the door, thou deceiver of men!"
Then died.
Not everyone that saith unto me, Lord, Lord shall enter into the kingdom of heaven, but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in Heaven. Matthew 7:21https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/

One of the Most Disturbing Stories Becomes a Favorite

 You've got to picture the background to understand what this woman was up against.  The Jews were God's Chosen People and they knew it. Most likely the neighbouring 'gentiles' were quite aware of this opinion also. But mother-love surpasses even racial barriers if the mother is desperate enough. This mom sure was. This Canaanite Woman knew Jesus was a teacher and a healer, she probably assumed He was in their country to preach to the Jews living among them but she didn't care. Her daughter was sick, really sick because of a demon that was causing terrific suffering. Jesus could deliver her, she knew it, so she pleads with Him to do so. www.marilynshistoricalnovels.com
Now here comes the puzzling part, not only did Jesus not do it, but He ignored her and later implied that she was a dog. (Probably a common racial slur at the time.)

Why did she persist? Because she saw something the disciples didn't. She saw the love in His eyes, and He saw her faith. He saw a tremendous opportunity to teach those hoity-toity Jews that God loved everyone. So why did she run off to beg the disciples to do something? Maybe she figured Jesus thought it would jeopardize His position if He healed her daughter so out of respect tried to give Him a break. But they weren't helpful so Jesus honoured her request--and her faith. I love it!

Mother