Kirjahaku

This study on the workings of the inner heart, understanding, and wisdom is intended to go with the allegorical book, Secrets of Gwenla, but can be used by itself, since most of the questions are unrelated to the book. In Secrets of Gwenla, the characters live in their hearts as much as in the world around them. This Bible study was written to see how much God uses the symbol of the heart in the scriptures and to learn how much we need to pay attention to the understanding of the heart.

What single disease is like having arthritis, heart failure, dementia, fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue, a bacterial infection, and a thyroid disorder, all at the same time? Or was I suffering from several of the above? Struggling through eight months of health issues that three doctors couldn't decipher, I knew something was wrong with me, but there were no positive tests to prove it. Travel with me through my mysterious array of symptoms, some as humorous as they are deadly, in my search for the correct diagnosis. After months of doctors, labs, and physical therapy visits, I had nothing left to go on but my faith, compassionate friends, and what was left of my mental abilities to search online for some disorder that sounded right. At last a friend steered me toward a specialist that could help me, before I mentally slipped off into a place where I could no longer help myself.

Living in the shadow of her beautiful sister, Amy grows up hidden away by her mother due to a large birthmark covering the right side of her face. Amy looks for an office job in the rapidly changing technical era of 1980, hoping to make her own way in the world. When she meets good-looking Zach on the job, Amy can't help falling for his attentive, friendly manner. Her gorgeous sister is a more compatible and attractive companion for this man, so Amy can't blame him when he obviously comes to the same conclusion. As friends, Amy and Zach uncover plans to embezzle money from their employer but are not able to find out who all is involved or how to prove anything will come of it. When their amateur investigation leads to a catastrophe, the result is devastating for Zach but brings out the best in Amy.

If you find yourself in severe personal trials, wondering where God is, this book is for you. Do you have a pile of insurmountable problems, a tragedy about to happen, or maybe a pattern in your life that goes on and on, never seeming to change or improve? It's another trip around the mountain, and the mountain is getting steeper and rockier every time. Huge obstacles keep blocking your way; death lurks around the next bend; a black cloud follows you wherever you go. What are we willing to endure in order to be changed by God? While the disciples expected to see greater victory, comfort, and excitement from their Master, Jesus talked more and more about dying, giving all, and taking up your cross. While they wanted to celebrate and make Him king, He told them He was going to suffer and die, and they were too. Why? Because suffering is the scriptural price of drawing closer to Him.

Someone's stalking her. Invading her house. Poisoning her dog and threatening her with the same. Sarah Lynn Jones was enjoying her office management job, until she had to fire her process engineer. But it can't be him. He has a strong alibi, and so does everyone else she can think of. A new quality manager at work offers to watch her house at night in exchange for overnight lodging until he can buy his own place. This upsets the sales manager since he's been pursuing Sarah Lynn romantically for some time. When Sarah Lynn discovers that her husband left her an antique worth millions of dollars, the clues zero in on more than one perpetrator, and a clever switch results in the item's disappearance. But she and her friends discover its location before the police do, drawing everyone into a wild off-road chase for its recovery.

After the fortress walls of Victory Valley fall, Julyiah and Delwyn Sarroll travel on their disappearing horses, encountering new dangers and wonders on the Outside. Coming back to the valley with exciting opportunities, the Sarrolls find their home fraught with turmoil. Valley dwellers are again divided over how to hear the Music, while young women are disappearing, presumed taken by the evil Underground lord, Darse. Leader Zuriel urges all to listen for the true Music, but a popular new leader, Lansel, teaches how to hear music at will and remain in good places. Zuriel's good friend, Dawnli, keeps remembering her wretched childhood in the Underground, so she follows Lansel's tempting ideas to find joy. But when Zuriel organizes a group to help the Underground poor, Dawnli feels drawn to the effort, which brings her under Darse's watchful eye and her own personal danger.A few valley men and Underground residents scramble to rescue the missing girls from the lower realm, but conflict grows as Darse targets those who betray him. Worse, the dark lord carries a weapon that gives him extraordinary power no one else has. When key members of the community also disappear, additional valley forces must gather to wage a battle in the Underground, but who will lead the inexperienced men in real combat, and will they succeed?