Sarah Price's Blog, page 25

As a Christian, I approach books like Imagine Heaven with a heavy dose of skepticism. Although I am curious to read what the author has to say, the Bible is my primary and ultimate authority on all things, including Heaven, so I read with caution.

Now, with all of those qualifiers aside, I will say this was a very intriguing read. Author John Burke does an excellent job of incorporating accounts of people who have had a Near Death Experience (NDE) alongside scriptural accounts and details of Heaven. It is quite a compilation. He includes excerpts of Don Piper’s 90 Minutes in Heaven, Todd Burpo’s Heaven is for Real, as well as other peoples’ NDEs – some who believe in God, others who did not …even some who claim to have glimpsed hell.

Imagine Heaven is a gripping read. One of Burke’s reasons for writing this book is to encourage people to be excited about what awaits those who believe. His view is that these NDEs give back-up to the scriptures and even deepen the scriptural accounts. I believe he accomplishes that. Since reading Imagine Heaven, I have certainly reflected more about Heaven…and I have to say: I can hardly wait!

Susan Ferrell and her husband make their home in the Atlanta Metro area. Although Susan struggles with chronic migraine headaches, she stays very busy as a stay-at-home mom to one very precocious little girl. While catching her breath, she feeds her Amishaholic tendencies by reading vast amounts of Amish literature! Susan is a book reviewer for Destination Amish.

The post Imagine Heaven – A Gripping Read ~ Review by Susan Scott Ferrell appeared first on Sarah Price.

We walked into the restaurant for breakfast. The room was lined with people. Our “greeting” from the host was, “There is a wait.” (I know…the friendliness was amazing **insert sarcasm**). After being told it was a five minute wait, we decided our day wouldn’t be ruined (sarcasm again) and waited. Once we were seated our waitress walked toward us rolling her eyes, shaking her head, and letting out a huge sigh. But, as any good waitress does, the second she got to our table, she smiled and welcomed us. My husband and I both giggled as she walked off because we had both witnessed her approach. I watched her do this over and over at each table. She obviously was having a horrible morning.

John and I were careful to thank her for every cup of coffee that was poured and every time she checked on us. We watched as the table across from us was particularly nice to her as well. We listened as the man behind us asked for her name and greeted her sweetly.

I looked at my husband and said, “Isn’t God good? He knew exactly which people to put in her area right when she needed it.”

It reminded me of my hostess at Panera. My dad and I go to there ever Wednesday at 6:00 a.m. for coffee. Every Wednesday we are greeted by Jen. The second time we went, she noticed my name on my debit card and asked how I was related to four of my family members. You see, she remembered them from waiting on them at another restaurant that she had worked at for years. And THEN she said, who is the gentleman that is with you? I told her he was my dad. She said, “He used to come in there also. He is a pastor, right?”

In a world full of hostility, abuse, neglect, self-centeredness, hate—kindness makes a deep impression on people. I’m thankful for missionaries who God calls to go to the ends of the earth to reach the lost. I’m thankful for “world-changers” and “world-shakers”. BUT—each one of us can share the love of Jesus. We can share it in a kind word—a smile—a touch—a helping hand—many times the little things make a huge impact.

I have to ask myself if I am always letting His Light shine in my life. Am I leaving a ray of light after I walk away from my waitress, grocery store clerk, bank teller, child’s teacher, neighbor…?

Life is about relationships. Jesus came and made relationships. It’s about touching one another with hope, with love, with Joy.

Matthew 5:16 (VOICE)

You are like that illuminating light. Let your light shine everywhere you go, that you may illumine creation, so men and women everywhere may see your good actions, may see creation at its fullest, may see your devotion to Me, and may turn and praise your Father in heaven because of it.

Lisa Bull sees her life as a journey along God’s divine plan. While considering herself an expert on nothing, she enjoys laughing and has made “choosing joy” her motto. Lisa has experienced God’s unfailing love and grace in her life and wants nothing more than for others to enjoy that same gift in their lives.

Lisa is the daughter and granddaughter of ministers. She has multiple relatives in ministry on both sides of her father’s family including several pastors, pastor’s wives, and missionaries. In fact, ministry in her maternal grandmother’s family can be traced back several generations. She loves being a wife and mother of two terrific young men.

Visit Lisa at Walking Bare Souled in the SONshine and JoyGurls.com

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During my Thursday video, I broke down. It’s hard to talk about some of the things occurring in my household as well as in my past. The two are intricately connected, like a complex mathematical problem:

There is a long term ripple effect in families from dysfunctional relationships—whether from parent to child or parent to parent or even child to child. We cannot control these relationships and they often account for many (if not most!) of our personal problems.

Have you ever listened to Harry Chapin’s song, “Cat in the Cradle?” If you have, I bet you cried. I do. The father continually ignores the son when asked to play ball or do other things. Then, when the boy grows up, the father wants to spend time with the son but he’s too busy. And the father realizes, too late, that his son learned this behavior…from him.

Sad, right?

Especially when you realize that the father probably learned it from his father and his son will certainly repeat it to his son.

Hey, I’m not pointing fingers; I’m guilty of it, too. I get into a writing zone and the house could implode around me. But I’ve also noticed that, over the years, my children have been “Cat Cradled” and the net swings wide to catch a lot of fish—if you know what I mean.

It creates unnecessary stress, doesn’t it?

I’m hoping to break the cycle and I see it working with one of my little sheep who started to wander out of the paddock but came running back. Let’s pray that I can keep that one free from wolves.

Meanwhile, I will continue working and praying and battling for my other little sheep so that Harry Chapin’s song is just that: a song and not a universal truth for generational dysfunction.

The post A Math Formula for My Household appeared first on Sarah Price.

Sarah Price continues talking about her experiences with breast cancer, focusing on the power of positive thinking.

The post Breast Cancer Awareness Episode 2 appeared first on Sarah Price.

I declared Tuesday the official Plain Return Day. Yes, a whole day devoted to our favorite couple! I want to give a big thank you to everyone who followed along as we celebrated the release of Plain Return. Thank you for sharing this special day with me! I know fans have waited a long time to reconnect with Amanda and Alejandro. I sincerely hope you enjoy Plain Return!

What readers are saying:

Opening Plain Return, I was anxious to re-visit Alejandro and Amanda. I am happy to say that Sarah delivered another excellent book that now has me anxious for the next! Happiness, unease, annoyance and heartbreak have left me in a state that I’m sure will drive my husband up the wall! ~ Karen L. Stevens

 I felt like I was right there with Amanda and Alejandro. Sarah Price made both of them seem so real, as always in all her books.~ Francesca Bechtel

Amanda and Viper are back! As Alejandro gets ready for his South American tour, the gap between his world and Amanda’s widens, and intensifies under the pressure. When his past starts to catch up with him, it puts a whole new spin on the “for better or worse” part of their marriage vows. You won’t be able to put this down! ~ Angela S.

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Do you write in your Bible? Why it’s important…

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About Sarah Price and the upcoming re-release of the Plain Fame series (an Amish girl and Cuban rockstar).

The post About Sarah Price – Podcast appeared first on Sarah Price.

I headed toward the main entrance of the hospital thankful they had the twirly-merry-go-round doors because my hands were full of food. (Hospital food can get old fast (like immediately…don’t eat it) so I was making a food run for my friend whose son was ill.) Back to the doors…you know the doors I’m talking about, right?

They don’t actually open to the outdoors. They just go around in a circle—you kind of just step in and it rotates you in or out depending on where you start.

This particular merry-go-round door is very large. I suppose it’s made that way so that wheelchairs will fit. If no one is inside, it sits idle. But, when people step in, in starts to move you around to the other side of the glass.

Are you getting this mental picture?

So—I walked up to the merry-go-round door and stepped inside. There was another couple going in, but they chose to go through the “doors”. I remember thinking how they chose the less energy efficient route and mentally patted myself on the back for being a better steward of nature than they were. There was a teenaged boy sitting on the other side of glass. He looked up at me, and then back down at his phone. Inside with me was a plant. I thought it was strange to put a plant in there only to have it turn circles all day long…

Wait. I’m not moving. I’m just standing here on the wrong side of the glass. Maybe I’m supposed to move to trigger this thing.

I stepped forward. Nothing.

Two steps forward. Nothing.

Two steps backward. Nothing.

I stood still and stared at the glass. (Apparently I thought telepathy might work.)

The boy looked up at me again. I smiled. He looked back down at the phone completely unamused. (Whew. I was worried he might think I was stupid, but he obviously didn’t care that I was alive.) I looked around.

No one seems to be watching. I’ll just nonchalantly step out of here and use the regular non-efficient door.

I stepped out of the merry-go-round door and swung around to the regular door and there stood a man holding the door for me.

Great. He saw me. I’m sure I looked foolish…but it wasn’t MY fault the door wasn’t rotating. Was it? Maybe I didn’t know what I was doing. Was I supposed to do something? He probably thinks I’m a dumb blonde. Best to just laugh…

“The door wasn’t working.” I said with a shrug and let out a nervous goofy sounding giggle.

He looked at me with the same look as the teenaged boy (what is the deal with that look??!!!) and walked on.

Several years ago, that situation would have been extremely traumatic for me. I would have been terribly embarrassed and dwelled on the situation for hours afterward. I would have beat myself up for being dumb—and worried about what other people thought of me.

Now? Now I assume they thought I was silly—or they simply didn’t care at all. And, I look at it for it is—a funny situation. It was funny. I was funny. I looked silly! Hopefully the security guards that watch the cameras got a good laugh. Because, let’s face it, there isn’t much to laugh about at the hospital.

And, you know what else? It reminded me that the way that looks easy—it’s not always the easy way.

Sometimes I think, “Oh yah. This is what I’m supposed to do. I’m just going to walk through this door and life is going to be a breeze. I’ll just step in and God will just swing me to the other side.” And then—Nothing.

Nothing happens. Life just stands still. I try doing this. I try doing that. Nothing.

In those times I have to step out. Reevaluate. Ask God if that was really the door He wanted me to go through. And, sometimes, He has an entirely different direction for me. It may be a little more difficult or it may be humbling. But, it still gets me to the other side.

Be willing to go with the flow a little bit more. Be able to laugh at yourself. Be open to stepping back and asking God if He has a different plan. And, when He shows you that plan, walk forward and don’t look back.

Proverbs 3:5-6 (AMP)

Trust in and rely confidently on the LORD with all your heart

And do not rely on your own insight or understanding. In all your ways know and acknowledge and recognize Him,

And He will make your paths straight and smooth [removing obstacles that block your way].

Lisa Bull sees her life as a journey along God’s divine plan. While considering herself an expert on nothing, she enjoys laughing and has made “choosing joy” her motto. Lisa has experienced God’s unfailing love and grace in her life and wants nothing more than for others to enjoy that same gift in their lives.

Lisa is the daughter and granddaughter of ministers. She has multiple relatives in ministry on both sides of her father’s family including several pastors, pastor’s wives, and missionaries. In fact, ministry in her maternal grandmother’s family can be traced back several generations. She loves being a wife and mother of two terrific young men.

Visit Lisa at Walking Bare Souled in the SONshine and JoyGurls.com

The post Merry-go-Round Door by Lisa Bull appeared first on Sarah Price.

In May 2013, author Sarah Price learned that she had breast cancer. From hearing “we caught it early” to almost having Stage 3 breast cancer that had spread throughout her lymph nodes, she fought it with humor and acceptance, her faith in God’s plan stronger than her fear of cancer. Join Sarah as she discusses what life is really like living with breast cancer.

The post Breast Cancer Awareness Episode 1 appeared first on Sarah Price.

When you have horses, you inevitably have flies. For the past two weeks, I’ve been battling with two lingering pests that will.not.die.

Now, that might sound really cruel, but they are in my house and landing all over the place. Like gerbils, two flies will quickly equal two hundred. So I have been on the warpath to rid my house of these pesky insects.

It’s not easy.

To begin with, I don’t have a flyswatter. So I use towels, rolled up magazines, even my hand. I can spend an hour battling these two fellas. But I have learned that they are complete ninjas and like to fight back. When I go for one fly, the other one will daringly land on my arm (which tickles in an annoying sort of way). And when I finally get one, a new companion seems to arrive out of nowhere!

Isn’t that like life?

Whenever one bad thing disappears, another comes in its place…or so it seems.

Just yesterday, I said to my mother that the time is coming for me to have a break of yucky things of the devil. While I am happy to strengthen my back by carrying burdens for others—the more I have, hopefully the less YOU have…at least statistically, it would seem that way—my shoulders are beginning to hurt.

For the last eighteen or so years, it has been one thing or another thrown at me. There were times when I succumbed to wanting to throw in the towel (similar to giving up on the stupid flies) while other times I pulled myself up by the bootstraps and smiled my way through it.

But it isn’t always easy.

Of course, I should remember all of the good things: my husband and children, my parents, my cyber-sisters and my friends. I have been blessed with a lot of good in my life and need to remind myself that life has a balance. It cannot be all good…otherwise, we’d never really appreciate it, would we?

I suppose I am a little frustrated right now. I still have one last fly who will not leave my kitchen. It’s definitely symbolic for the one thing that is lingering in my life that I cannot seem to eradicate…a problem in my household that we all want to fix but the health care system is poor equipped to assist us.

One of these days, I will swat that fly and no longer have to wield my rolled up magazine as I prowl through my kitchen. Perhaps on that same day, there will be inner peace for my entire small family. With God on my side, I have faith that will happen.

In the meantime, I will continue battling on both fronts with only one outcome acceptable in my mind: defeating the bad things so happiness, health, and harmony reigns once again for my household!

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