BJU Press Blog

JourneyForth

A Father’s Faith in Pulling Together

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I thought at first glance that Pulling Together by beloved children’s author Dawn L. Watkins might be just another and-the-ranch-was-saved story. But I was delighted to find rare elements that raise it to a much higher plane. Although told from the perspective of Matthew, the younger of John and Addie Briggs’s two sons, the real hero of Pulling Together is a strong, God-fearing father figure. John Briggs’s faith comes to light in his family’s severe trial and radiates in some way from every page.

book cover of Pulling Together by Dawn L. Watkins

When the family barn─one of the most essential elements to their early-twentieth-century sustenance─is struck by lightning and engulfed in flames, this father immediately takes the reigns. With the brave command of a modern superhero, Mr. Briggs saves what he can and resigns to God, without complaint, what he can’t. But young Matthew despairs when he finds out that to offset their losses they may have to sell one of the family’s two beloved workhorses.

Reflecting his father’s resourcefulness and strength of character, Matthew hatches a plan that, if successful, will enable them to keep the horses. He works hard and hopes big. With an eye to entering his well-matched team in the horse pull at the Cherry Springs fair, he sets the stage for the story’s dramatic conclusion.

Competition day finally arrives, and nerves are put to the test. In contrast to the humble integrity of Matthew’s horses is a flamboyant team of large, muscular show horses. The “Baily Grays” don’t appear to be workhorses as specified in the entry guidelines, and reflecting the temperamental nature of their owner, they present a formidable foe. But Matthew sees his father’s calm trust remain steadfast in spite of all that is at stake.

The story’s exciting ending raises yet another interesting question about the impact of one man’s faith. Are John Briggs’s strength and patience so powerful that even his horses reflect their influence? In an age starved for positive role models, this novel published by JourneyForth decidedly delivers. It’s a rare treat for young boys everywhere.

Click on “Look Inside the Book” to read Chapter 1 from Pulling Together.

Meeting Him: One Conversion at a Time

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Meeting Him by Beneth Peters Jones published by BJU PressFew spectacles bring more joy to the Christian woman’s heart than beholding the first expressions of faith in a fellow human being. There is hardly an experience on earth to parallel, let alone exceed seeing God’s work of grace in a soul to convict, woo, soften, and finally convert.

Just as she experiences physical birth in a way a man never could, perhaps a woman’s ability to respond emotionally to someone’s new birth is heightened as well. Just when I was hungry for such a soul-refreshing view, the Lord sent Meeting Him my way.

Showing us how women looked at Jesus and how Jesus looked at them is this author’s gift. Without criticism, comparisons, scolding, or sentimentality, Meeting Him by Beneth Peters Jones shows how the radiance of even the most saintly disappears in the brightness of Christ’s perfection and how the smudges of the most tarnished can by His forgiveness take on His brilliant luster.

Perhaps, like the Canaanite woman whose daughter was demon-possessed, you cried out to the Savior in desperate need. Or maybe like the woman with the prolonged issue of blood, you  approached Him timidly and reached out with a trembling hand. Are you like old Anna, who waited a long time for Him in God’s house? Or, as with the woman at the well, did He meet you in your daily routine and silence all your arguments?

What sets the sixteen vignettes in Meeting Him apart are depth and detail. Each woman in this diverse cast of gospel characters comes to life with equal vitality. Every transformation is complete, every work of grace, irreversible. And every single encounter with the Savior has a blessed ending.

With a study guide to enhance the reading experience, Meeting Him is abundantly satisfying reading for both teens and adults.

View the table of contents and the opening pages of Meeting Him.

Life Lessons from Roses on Baker Street

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If you’re looking for a story with characters that communicate depth of feeling without a trace of melodrama and that successfully portray the genuine conflicts of a young heart with candor and authenticity, you’ll be richly rewarded by Roses on Baker Street by Eileen Berry. Roses takes its place in your heart like gently falling snow—quietly, subtly, softly.

book cover for Roses on Baker Street by Eileen Berry. published by BJU Press

It begins when we are introduced to a missionary family returning to the States from France for a year-long furlough. Their youngest daughter, a third grader named Danae, enters her new, un-France-like world with caution and unavoidable comparisons. The streets are different. The houses are different. The language is different. Even the bread is different. And the hardest part of all to grasp is her father’s advice to his homesick daughter: “Look for the roses—not the thorns.” Danae combs the neighborhood and doesn’t find a single rose. In France they peppered the landscape, gracefully climbing the walls of her village.

In school, Danae’s teacher tries her best to make Danae feel welcome, and in the classroom, the children show some interest in their new classmate’s home on the other side of the ocean. But after observing giggling and whispers in the lunchroom, Danae returns from her first day of school feeling friendless. And it is here—in my favorite scene in the story—that her father steps in and enters into his daughter’s feelings of loneliness in a special way.

Roses on Baker Street ends in a surprising blaze of color that will linger with five- to nine-year-olds long after they close the covers of this touching tale. With its lessons in patience and contentment, its beautiful color illustrations by master artist John Roberts, and Berry’s characteristically gentle style, Roses waits to take its place on your library shelf and in the heart of every child who reads it.

Hope for a Weary Soul

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young girl standing in front of a wall with magenta hand paintI knew we were in trouble as soon as I heard the sound of my daughter’s cackling laughter. When the sound of a toilet flushing joined the laughter only a heartbeat later, I was already heading toward the stairs.

My daughter stopped laughing. She called out a worried “Mommy?” that was hardly reassuring.

I felt the crisis, quite literally, when I reached the top of the stairs. There was water on the floor. This was bad.

When I finally reached the scene, I discovered that my daughter had unrolled almost an entire roll of toilet paper and had tried to stuff it all down the toilet. Now the toilet was seriously clogged and was overflowing.

The moments that followed my discovery were not some of my best moments. I frantically called my husband, and he told me how to turn off the water. That solved the most pressing crisis. But I was still left with a mess. And a very frustrated heart.

By the time my husband got home that evening, I was in tears. I felt like a failure, not an “I-tried-a-new-recipe-that-was-a-complete-flop” failure, but a soul-crippling one. I was battle-weary, not just from dealing with three disobedient children all day, but from dealing with my own sinful self. I felt like I had utterly failed at being a mom. I was sure that I was ruining my children.

This sense of failure hung on for a while. I would feel it when I would go to church and see other moms who, from my perspective, had it all together, or when I checked my social media accounts. Clean houses. Fancy dinners. Little girls in gorgeous, hand-sewn dresses. Fun (and educational!) activities. These perfect pictures of seemingly perfect families taunted me and cultivated my own sense of personal failure.

book cover of The Battle Within: What Being a Mom Taught Me About Myself by J. Robin Wood

Then one Sunday morning, my husband gave me a copy of The Battle Within by J. Robin Wood. That book, which I started reading the very day I received it, was a balm to my battered soul. Even the forward gave me hope:

I am convinced that marriage and motherhood are extreme tests of  selflessness. I am also convinced that every woman who enters these responsibilities is unprepared for the extent of the selflessness required, and that we are doomed to failure if we try to succeed by ourselves, in our own strength, and for our own happiness.

But there is hope—an absolute rock-solid truth. God is faithful. His Word is powerful and full of comfort. And there is help—real, credible support.

We have everything we need in His Word and through His Spirit to defeat the power of our personal Supermom—our own sinful nature.1

The author of this book is very much like me. She’s a stay-at-home mom with three very young children and is trying to juggle the responsibilities of helping her husband, training her children, and ministering to the body of Christ. She’s very transparent—from the very first pages of the book you realize that she’s not perfect in any of those roles. That transparency was very comforting to me. It helped me realize that I’m not alone in my struggle.

But the author didn’t just offer me a sympathetic “I’ve been there too” pat on the back. She pointed me to the only path to victory, God’s Word. She urged me to look deep within my own soul, to confess my sin, and to renew my mind continually with Scripture.

For as long as I am in this world, I’m going to struggle against my sinful flesh. I’m going to fail. But, as Robin Wood reminds readers, I’m not alone. God truly has given me all that I need—not just to defeat sin but to encourage my heart day by day.

If you or someone you know is struggling under the weight of responsibility that motherhood brings, I would strongly recommend The Battle Within.

1 J. Robin Wood, The Battle Within: What Being a Mom Taught Me About Myself (Greenville, SC: JourneyForth, 2015), i–ii.

Mice of the Herring Bone: The Triumph of Civility

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TWP-Mice-Herring-Bone-12-2015he mouse-duo of Charles and Oliver scamper across the pages of Tim Davis’s adventure tale being clever, brave, and comical. Their first perilous encounter is with some rough-hewn pirate canines, who convincingly flaunt their lack of class. At first unaware of the presence of mouse spies, the undignified and impetuous sea-dogs spill their plot to steal a sunken treasure after her majesty’s ship—the Nine Lives—has done all the work of bringing it up. Excitement follows when Charles and Oliver are discovered and captured by the motley crew. But through a series of unfortunate and fortunate events, the mice escape from the Herring Bone and resolve to take their chances aboard the Nine Lives, which—as its name indicates—is “manned” by a mouse’s worst real-world enemies.

Spoiler Alert!

Where “rough and rude” was the order of the day on the Herring Bone, by contrast, the Nine Lives proves to be a place of polite decorum. And Charles and Oliver’s brave risk and cleverness save the day for the patient felines. The Nine Lives crew gets to hang on to the treasure, the crusty canines get marooned on an island, and the mice sail off into the sunset with the prospect of reward from the queen herself. As civility triumphs, Charles and Oliver are likely to become your child’s new heroes.

Few fictional characters delight young readers more than well-personified animals. Believable personalities combined with a stellar plot easily draw listeners/readers into a satisfying fantasy experience. Charming ink illustrations pepper the pages. Kick off this JourneyForth series with Mice of the Herring Bone and then continue your delightful midwinter romp with Mice of the Nine Lives, Mice of the Seven Seas, and Mice of the Westing Winds Books 1 & 2.