Uplifting discussions to help cultivate the fruit of the Spirit. A study guide designed to promote discussion and interaction within a small group. Profound reflections expressed compatible with the thinking of followers of Christ while allowing the members of a group to examine their own beliefs.

Cultivating the Fruit of the Spirit

Religion & Spirituality

Cheatham, Mary Lou

Christian Books & Bibles

Independently published

God loves you more than any other human being can love you and more than you can love God or any one else! Do You Know How God Loves You? Here's daily inspiration for growing in God's love.

Do You Know How God Loves You?: Successful Daily Living

BookSurge Publishing

It is 1907 as Caroline Clemons watches her town’s newest bachelor, Jake MacGregor, tie his horses to a post outside her window. Moments later as he enters her home to meet her eligible sisters, he mistakenly believes Caroline is a servant instead of one of Senator Chad Clemons’ daughters. Immediately mesmerized by Caroline’s beauty, Jake has no idea she is committed to fulfilling a promise she made years ago, even if it means living a Cinderella existence. Caroline, who derives her only satisfaction in life from her teaching job in Taylorsburg, Mississippi, cannot help but be attracted to Jake who just inherited a store in town. As an internal battle rages within her, Caroline busies herself with serving her family and the Lord, even as Jake haunts her dreams and she fastidiously guards her family’s secrets. But as fate intervenes, a romance develops that leads both Caroline and Jake to rely on prayer and laughter to survive. Will they ever be able to overcome their obstacles to find their happily ever after? A young woman must rely on faith as she struggles between honoring a long-held promise to her family or following her heart.

Secret Promise

Literature & Fiction

United States

WestBowPress

Manuela Blayne, a novella, is the fourth book in the Covington Chronicles. It is a complete story that stands alone. To understand some of the characters fully, however,  it would be beneficial to read The Dream Bucket first.   Manuela Blayne is the story of one suffering for another.  A new day dawns for Trudy Cameron. She develops a heightened sensitivity to others around her who endure the hurts brought on by circumstances she tries to influence. Trudy starts to realize she cannot change everything, she cannot fix all the bad in her world. At the same time she develops a streak of mischief. Sometimes she is shocked by her own behavior. As she grows up fast, she finds emotions within herself she didn't expect.    In the summer of 1910, Trudy Cameron witnesses the aftershock of an event that will disturb her the rest of her life.  It is more than the consequences of the crime that concern her. Cruelty dominates the evolving social system of the South, the only home she knows.  Never will she comprehend all the hurt suffered by her friend Manuela Blayne, but Trudy wants to understand.   She witnesses firsthand what forgiveness can be. She observes hardships she has never imagined.    In a world that denies mercy to her friend, will Trudy’s faith shrink or blossom?  She is always honest with herself about her emotions.   Trudy tells her story in first person.    Come spend some time with the Bentons and Camerons. Delight in the parenting skills of Samuel Benton, as he tries to distract Trudy from her anguish over Manuela Blayne.   Have a dish of ice cream in the Covington and float on a watermelon in the swim hole at Hot Coffee. Witness the mischief Trudy dares not confess to her parents.

Manuela Blayne (Covington Chronicles)

Genre Fiction

CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform

--Two decades after the birth of Christ Abi, a Nubian archer of Jewish background, resides in Meroe, a city-state in the general vicinity of Ethiopia. Once a member of a group of archers in training for the royal army, she has been dismissed from the palace because she is considered too attractive to be a good soldier. In her family’s home, she receives abuse from her father and unkindness from her stepmother. Melech, a eunuch slave, loves her the way a gentle father would love his daughter. Abi helps him take care of the goats.--Negasi, Abi’s father, swaps treasures with travelers. Merchants come from far-away places in the Roman world to trade with him. To reach Meroe, boats travel on the Nile when the water is high enough to pass over the rapids. --Simon, a Jew of mixed racial heritage, takes four boats as far south as he can go on the Nile until a waterfall forces him to stop. A group of the Candace’s men assist him by supplying camels, horses, and carts to complete the journey to Meroe.--Negasi, tired of supporting Abi, takes her to the palace and instructs her to attract the attention of the rich traveler, Simon of Cyrene. Along with her former fellow soldiers, she dances, sings, and plays the flute at the banquet the Candace gives to welcome Simon. --That night, Abi’s friends lead her to a mound, where they thank the Lord because the rain has stopped. The next day, Simon arranges with Negasi to take Abi as his wife. They make vows of betrothal. Although she has no kinsman or chaperone to travel with her, she goes without protest.

Abi of Cyrene

It is the early 1900’s in rural Mississippi along Cohay Creek, where people are scarce and stately virgin pine timber is plentiful. Caleb Smitherlin, a talented blacksmith, has a wife dying of cancer and a teenage son who tries every way possible to please his critical father. Caleb is torn. On the one hand, he loves Mathilda with every bone in his body, but on the other, he needs the company of another woman. The Gypsies he allows to camp on his land near Cohay Creek receive hate and distrust from the people of Taylorsburg. Walthere, the Gypsy leader, and Rosalie, his wife, become close friends of the Smitherlin family, even though Gypsies rarely mix with people outside their clan and especially not gentiles. Esmeralda, the Gypsy fortune teller, encourages Red Felty’s idea that his wife Ruby and Caleb Smitherlin are having an affair. The old Mayhew house on the edge of the slave cemetery is the perfect place for Ruby and her lover to meet. This story is filled with intrigue, adultery, drunkenness, bitterness, fights, sweetness, friendship, and some history—all woven together with phrases that will make you feel you are walking deep into the southern swamps of the Cohay Creek. You will find yourself listening for the sounds of the Cohay Swamp panther, wondering if there really is a slave cemetery and sharing the anger and desperation that Jeremy Smitherlin must feel with a dying mother and a father he cannot trust.

Travelers in Painted Wagons: On Cohay Creek (Covington Chronicles)

Gorrell, Sarah Walker

In the summer of 1910, Trudy Cameron witnesses the aftershock of an event that will disturb her for the rest of her life. It is more than the consequences of the crime that concern her. Cruelty dominates the evolving social system of the South, the only home she knows. Manuela Blayne is the story of one suffering for another. Never will she comprehend all the hurt suffered by her friend Manuela, but Trudy wants to understand. She witnesses, firsthand, what forgiveness can be. She observes hardships she has never imagined. Trudy is always honest with herself about her emotions. She speaks about her story from the eyes of a child who has not been poisoned by social constructs of racial inequality. But in a world that denies mercy to her friend, will Trudy's faith shrink or blossom? In this poignant and gripping novella, a new day dawns for Trudy Cameron. She develops a heightened sensitivity to others around her who endure the hurts brought on by circumstances she tries to influence. Trudy starts to realize she cannot change everything; she cannot fix all the bad in her world. At the same time, she develops a streak of mischief. Sometimes she is shocked by her own behavior. As she grows up fast, she finds emotions within herself she didn't expect. Manuela Blayne is the fourth book in the Covington Chronicles. It is a complete story that stands alone. To understand some of the characters fully, however, it would be beneficial to read The Dream Bucket first. Come spend some time with the Bentons and Camerons. Delight in the parenting skills of Samuel Benton, as he tries to distract Trudy from her anguish over Manuela Blayne. Have a dish of ice cream in the Covington and float on a watermelon in the swimming hole at Hot Coffee. Witness the mischief Trudy dares not confess to her parents.

Manuela Blayne: A Life Apart (Covington Chronicles)

Southeast Media

In the early 1900s, Lena Harvey, a bright-minded farm girl, wants to graduate from high school. She hopes to attend nursing school or become a midwife. Having no interest in complicating her life with intimate relationships, she plans to focus her efforts toward her calling. But in a country where people believe they can grow up to become anything they want to be, her dream is crushed. Discover how Lena resolves to make the best of what has been thrown at her, hoping that she can make a difference in the world. As she struggles through the frustrations of her life, can she ever find blessings that bring her joy? Will she ever know true love? Lena's story is an inspiration for those of us whose lives have gotten in the way of the plans we made. For us all, there is hope....

Lena's Hope

These ten adventures will take you to places you have never been. C.D. Sutherland's Nowhere Near Heaven transports you to West Virginia during World War II. There, you'll experience young Marion Dunrobin's challenge to fit in a broken family struggling against poverty and conflict. Judy Burford's Step In will plunge you into the hard life in a wagon train with young Jake Johnson's family, seeking a better life in Oregon. Wanda Bush's One Rock will put you behind the eyes of a twelve-year-old boy coming to grips with how to respond to life's tragedies. Beverly Flanders' The Assignment puts you with Brian Jennings, facing his first day as a freshman as a new kid in town. Next, Donna M. Copeland's Intentions will place you with Jordie and Bronlynn in their multi-generational lesson on intentions, choices, and consequences. Carole Lehr Johnson's Defiant Devotion puts you with Hodge as he responds to the conflicting calls of country, family, and self, all pulling him in different directions. Susan Hiers Foster's Tougher puts you in the circumstances of a jail ministry volunteer, learning the depth of her role in the welfare of the people she works with. Internationally published author Tammy Kirby's His Grace Forsaken sends you back to the beginning of Viscount Greyson Brennen's character-building adventure. Discover what molded him into the man you've probably read about in her best-selling novel of the same title in her Haven House series. Marguerite Martin Gray's A Promise Shared sends you back to before the American Revolution. You get a glimpse of sixteen-year-old Tom Engle, a character in her best-selling Revolutionary Faith series, dealing with loss and duty to family and God. Finally, the talented and prolific author Mary Lou Cheatham uses Rhoda to teleport you back to the first century Promised Land as seen through the eyes of a young girl.When you return from these experiences, chances are some will have left you wanting for more. If so, then check out that story's author page in the back of the book. They might have something else you'll like.

Coming of Age: A Collection of Diverse Short Stories

Sutherland, C. D.

Bush, Wanda

Gray, Marguerite Martin

Flanders, Beverly

Foster, Susan Hiers

Burford, Judy

Kirby, Tammy

Copeland, Donna M.

Short Stories & Anthologies

Narrow Way Press LLC

Second Chances: A Collection of Diverse Short Stories

Johnson, Carole Lehr

Copeland, Eileen K.

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