Drawing fresh insights from timeless biblical principles, Chapman presents poignant stories of real people who have discovered the joys of living out the seven characteristics of authentic love: kindness, patience, forgiveness, humility, courtesy, generosity, and honesty. Enhanced with eye-opening self tests, practical ideas for building daily habits of love, and inspiring examples of love’s power to change lives, this book guides readers in putting love to work in all of their interpersonal relationships.

Convinced that in a world of constant conflict people desperately need authentic love, Chapman paints a compelling vision of how life can be richer and relationships more satisfying for anyone who practices Love As a Way of Life.

Gary Chapman is the author of twenty-five books, including the New York Times bestseller The Five Love Languages, with more than 4 million copies in print. His daily radio program, A Love Language Minute, is broadcast on more than 100 stations nationwide. Chapman, a graduate of Moody Bible Institute, Wheaton College, Wake-Forest University, and Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, serves on the pastoral staff at Calvary Baptist Church in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.

http://www.amazon.com/Love-Way-Life-Transforming-Aspect/dp/0385518587/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1215792028&sr=1-1

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Enjoy more about this book in this interview with Gary D. Chapman:

1.  Describe some of the everyday situations that can be changed if a person has a foundation of love. 

            When love becomes the focus of ones life it will change every encounter we have with people.  In the family, the husband is thinking, “what can I do before I leave for work that would be helpful for my wife?”  Such thinking may lead him to take the trash out, put his breakfast plates in the dishwasher or feed the baby while his wife takes a shower.

            In the workplace, employees are asking, “on my break, what might I do that would help someone else?”  They will also make time to listen to a co-worker who seems to be having a hard time with a personal issue. 

            At the bank, post office, or cafeteria, the lover will look people in the eye and smile, perhaps opening the door to a conversation.  They will express interest in what is going on in the lives of those they encounter.

            The focus is not on “it’s all about me.”  But, rather on “It is all about others.”

2.  What is the take-away message of Love as a Way of Life? 

            Love as a Way of Life is designed to help the person who sincerely wants to make a positive impact in the world.  I believe that is ‘most of us.’ Our biggest problem is that we don’t know how and we keep getting tripped up by our own selfish ambitions.  The purpose of the book is to help us break free from the prison of selfishness and come to experience the satisfaction of truly loving others as a way of life. It is little acts of love that build up to a lifestyle of service.

3.  Why do you need a foundation of love before you start figuring out our love languages?  

            The five love languages give information on the most effective way to express love in a meaningful way to a particular person. But, if you are not a loving person – don’t have the heart or will to focus on others – the information is of little value.  Most of us must make a conscious change of focus from self to others if we are going to genuinely, and consistently enrich the lives of others.  Love as a Way of Life is designed to help people make that change.

4.  When did you realize the need for this book?

            I first recognized the need for Love as a Way of Life when in a counseling session a husband said to me, “I’ll tell you right now, if it is going to take my washing dishes, and doing the laundry for my wife to feel loved, you can forget that.”  I had just explained to him the concept of the five love languages and that his wife’s primary love language was ‘acts of service’ and that these acts would deeply communicate his love to her.  I realized that he lacked the will to meet his wife’s need for love.  He was locked into his own perception of what his role was to be and it did not include washing dishes and doing laundry.  I knew at that moment that there was something more foundational than simply knowing a person’s love language.

5.  What are the seven characteristics of lasting love?

            I view love not as a single entity, but as a cluster of traits, which if developed will enhance all of life.These traits are:

            Kindness: discovering the joy of helping others

            Patience: accepting the imperfections of others

            Forgiveness: finding freedom from the grip of anger

            Courtesy: treating others as friends

            Humility: stepping down so someone else can step up

            Generosity: giving your time, money, and abilities to others

            Honesty: caring enough to tell the truth

6.  Why do you think it’s so hard for people to embrace these characteristics?

            All of us have some of these characteristics to some degree.  Most people see love as being better than hate.  But most of us are comfortable to live somewhere between love and hate in a lifestyle that is fundamentally focused on self.  We feel good when we are making money, accumulating things, gaining status, but in time these things do not ultimately satisfy what I call the ‘true self’.  The true self longs to make the world a better place to live.  To do something to help those less fortunate than we.

             However, we all suffer from the malady of being ego-centric.  I call this the ‘false self’.  It is that part of man that pulls him to focus on self-preservation and a self-centered lifestyle.  This is not all bad.  Indeed we must meet our own physical and emotional needs in order to continue life.  It is when we never get beyond this self focus, that life becomes a ‘dog eat dog’ world where everyone is out for self even at the expense of others.  Such a life never brings long-term satisfaction.  However it is often later in life that people discover the emptiness of selfish living.  I’m hoping that Love as a Way of Life will help people discover the satisfaction of developing the ‘true self’ earlier in life.    

Do Hard Things

Cheryl from Kansas

 Fred "Fritz" from Virgina

 A Mending at the Edge

Tina from Michigan

Jean from Arizona 

Healing Promises

Trisha from Texas

Erica from New Jersey

Skid

Rebekah from California

Tonia from Minesotta

With Endless Sight 

Christy from Tennessee

Jessica from Texas

Congratulations to all and keep reading!

 Allison Pittman

Belleville, Illinois and Wyoming Territories, 1861

Born into a life of privilege, fourteen-year-old Belinda never questions her security, even as she leaves Illinois with her family to discover new adventures in the Oregon Territory. But when disaster falls, Belinda is left wounded, weak, and alone. Her faith in God gives her the only strength she knows in a harsh new world.

Belinda’s journey takes her to a snow-covered mining camp and a red-roofed brothel in the Wyoming mountains, but not before she must spend a lonely winter with the man who took away the life she knew. Throughout the grief and hope of a strange land, Belinda must decide if her faith is big enough to allow her to forgive.

The satisfying conclusion to the Crossroads of Grace series, With Endless Sight offers a rich story of family, new beginnings, and the freedom that grace can bring.

 
Allison Pittman is the award-winning author of Ten Thousand Charms and Speak Through the Wind. Before her recent success in fiction writing, Allison spent seventeen years teaching high school English. Now a full-time writer, Allison serves as the director of her church’s Theater Arts Group ministry. She lives in Texas with her husband, Mike, and their sons.

Although I have not read the first two books in the Crossroads of Grace series, this third book is easily enjoyable by itself.  Belinda experienced so many unknowns and tragedies and she survived with a strength that she recognized as a God given ability.  It's the really hard times in our lives where we learn how strong we really are and with God's help, we can survive the worst of times and rejoice in those times of growth. 

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Libby Burton longs to be close to her twin sister, Tori, but their lives have taken them in different directions. Forced to share Aunt Stella’s old Philadelphia home in order to receive their inheritance, Libby hopes for a change, but it isn’t looking good so far.
 
First, Tori tries to steal the affection and allegiance of Libby’s thirteen-year-old daughter, Chloe. Then when a crossword puzzle with a hidden warning shows up on their doorstep, Tori refuses to take it seriously—in spite of the dead man who delivers it.

Libby finds comfort in neighbor Drew Canfield, but he hesitates to trust her after his disastrous marriage. As Libby struggles to act faithfully in the midst of these confusing relationships, she must also deal with a stolen diamond and a botched kidnapping. The answer to her problems lies in the riddles of the crosswords, if only she can solve the puzzle before it’s too late.

Gayle Roper has been writing mystery and romantic suspense novels for more than thirty years and is the author of over forty-five books. She is a three-time Christy Award finalist, the winner of three Holt Medallions, and the recipient of a Lifetime Achievement Award from Romantic Times magazine. Her novel Autumn Dreams won Romance Writers of America’s RITA Award for Best Inspirational Romance. She and her husband, Chuck, divide their time between Pennsylvania and Ontario, Canada.

This is a great story that will lead you on quite a journey.  Just when I thought I had everything figured out,  there was a new twist.  This book was  a great read where even in all the bad situations and happenings, the good and those who believed finished stronger than they were in the beginning. 

Get a copy today or post a comment about this blog, have a US shipping address and you may be the winner of a copy of Fatal Deduction.

Blissfully unaware that Atlantica Flight 1945 from Atlanta to Amsterdam is about to make aviation history, First Officer Danny McSweeney focuses his energies on navigating the turbulent personalities of an eccentric female captain, a co-pilot with a talent for tactless comments and conspiracy theories, and a lead flight attendant with an out sized attitude that definitely exceeds the limits for carry-on baggage.

On the other side of the cockpit door, the unscheduled in-flight entertainment includes a potbellied pig, a jittery diamond courier, and the recently jilted Lucy Meredith, whose personal mantra of “What Would Oprah Do?” will be challenged by the sudden appearance of her ex and his new traveling partner. On her left sits Hank Hazard, whose unusually polite but constant requests–prompted by his covert role as a spy for the airline–test the limits of the crew’s customer service.

But as Lucy and the rest of the crew discover, Hank’s odd behavior is linked to a quiet faith that may play a key role in the fate of everyone on board. Especially when an unexpected traveler sets this already bumpy flight on a course toward the unfriendly skies.

Rene Gutteridge is the author of twelve novels, including the Boo series, the Storm series, and the novelization for The Ultimate Gift, as well as Scoop and Snitch, the first two Occupational Hazard novels. She lives with her husband, Sean, and their two children in Oklahoma City.

Just when you think nothing else could possibly happen on this flight, it does.  Not a flight that I would want to be on.  To find out all the many bizarre things that happen, you will have to read the book.  This book was an easy read, pure enjoyment.

 By:  Amy Wallace

Facing a new threat.
When FBI Agent Clint Rollins takes a bullet during a standoff, it might just save his life. But not even the ugly things he’s seen during his years working in the Crimes Against Children Unit could prepare him for the overwhelming powerlessness of hospital tests revealing an unexpected diagnosis. If only Sara weren’t retreating into doctor mode…he needs his wife now more than ever.

Frozen in fear.
Sara Rollins is an oncologist with a mission–beating cancer when she can, easing her patients’ suffering at the very least. Now the life of her tall Texan husband is at stake. She never let the odds steal her hope before, but in this case, the question of God’s healing promises is personal. Can she hold on to the truth she claimed to believe?

Faith under fire.
As Clint continues to track down a serial kidnapper despite his illness, former investigations haunt his nightmares, pushing him beyond solving the case into risking his life and career. Clint struggles to believe God is still the God of miracles. Especially when he needs not one, but two. Everything in his life is reduced to one all-important question: Can God be trusted?

Searching for a kidnapper, lives touched by cancer, and people dealing with everyday life as they are healing from past hurts.  This is a great book that will take you on an emotional roller coaster.

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My Soul to Keep

By Melanie Wells

As nasty as I knew Peter Terry to be, I never expected him to start kidnapping kids. Much less a sweet, funny little boy with nothing to protect him but a few knock-kneed women, two rabbits, and a staple gun…

It’s psychology professor Dylan Foster’s favorite day of the academic year–graduation day. A day of pomp, circumstance, and celebration. And after all the mortar boards are thrown, Dylan and some of her best friends will gather around a strawberry cake to celebrate Christine Zocci’s sixth birthday. But the joyful summer afternoon goes south when a little boy is snatched from a neighborhood park, setting off a chain of events that seem to lead exactly nowhere.

Police are baffled, but Christine’s eerie connection with the kidnapped child sends Dylan on a chilling investigation of her own. Is the pasty, elusive stranger Peter Terry to blame? Exploding light bulbs, the deadly buzz of a Texas rattlesnake, and the vivid, disturbing dreams of a little girl are just pieces in a long trail of tantalizing clues leading Dylan in her dogged search for the truth.

The suspense of this book grips you from Chapter 1 with every parents nightmare and keeps you coming back for more to the end of the book. 

Some things I really liked within the story:

1.  Dallas Metroplex setting - I know the area well

2.  Dr. Pepper - my favorite drink

3.  Elliot's Hardware - they always have whatever you need with that "old school" customer service.