As I continue to attend to family matters and rest, I’m bringing you yet another group of writing friends. I know they will encourage you and uplift your hearts. If you enjoy their content, subscribe to their posts, as you have to mine in the sidebar, so that their blogs will arrive each week in your inbox.

Continuing from last week, the little typewriter will be used to introduce each of these incredible writers and their rich and helpful content.

Linda Samaritoni

Linda Samaritoni is a writer of deep insight and wisdom. She writes with humility and kindness, as a fellow believer undergoing transformation. I’m always blessed when I read her blog posts, especially during this pandemic and this year’s hard times. Her words have often brought great comfort.

Linda writes about her journey: “For years, I tried to be perfect wife, perfect mother, perfect teacher, and I crammed so many activities into my days, twenty-four hours couldn’t possibly hold them all – perfectly. Once I became an empty-nester, I discovered the motto, ‘relentlessly eliminate hurry.’ Where were those three words when I juggled full-time teaching, attended every sports event in every season for each of three sons, and still tried to find time for extras like, say, date night with my equally busy husband or lunches out with the girls, or a quick trip to visit my parents six states away?” Find out more about Linda on her About page HERE.

Linda’s blog post, 300,000,000 Minutes: Helping Our Country to Heal is one of the most powerful posts I’ve seen during this pandemic. This post has a call to prayer for our country that spans across all of our society. Find it HERE.

300,000,000 Minutes: Helping Our Country to Heal is a powerful post by @LindaSammaritan, Christian #Writer. This post calls for #prayer for our country. Meet the #Author. Find the link here: Click To Tweet

In My Imperfect Journey on the Golden Slope, find it HERE, Linda shares actionable steps of application in our walk with the Lord as we grow closer to him and walk of his steps. She holds up Jesus as our model: “Our God left heaven and put on a frail body of flesh and bone. While He walked back and forth from Galilee to Jerusalem He loved every person He met.”

You’ll find Linda to be a kind and humble writer, who considers herself to be a fellow sinner, as we all are, on a journey toward growth and deeper intimacy with God.

Anne Mackie Morelli

I am a student of Anne Mackie Morelli’s new book When Grief Descends, a study of the life of Job and his experience with miserable comforters, making it the perfect book release for life during a pandemic, with all of our disasters and life altering changes. And yet, there are so many miserable comforters, so many worthless physicians who think they have all the answers, but do not, whether about actions in this coronavirus or in racial injustice. Find my earlier piece about Anne’s work HERE.

Jeanne Takenaka, another writer friend tackled the subject of Anne Mackie Morelli’s book. Jeanne’s review is one of the best I’ve seen for she ties the book where it should be tied at this time, right into the middle of this pandemic.

Meet @JeanneTakenaka Lover of Jesus, one husband, two active boy-men and coffee. Friend, #writer. #Blogger. Learning to live with passion. Looking for #alittlebitofpretty in each day. Find more here: Click To Tweet

Grief: One Author’s Lessons From the Book of Job

Find Jeanne’s full review of Anne Mackie Morelli’s excellent book HERE.

Jeanne states: “We are feeling besieged and exhausted as we have relinquished our familiar routines and activities, faced the loss of some personal freedoms, and learned how to navigate all that is unfolding. We have had to deal with not being able to attend church, social gatherings, or being in our physical workplaces. Many have lost their jobs and their income.”

These opening words we know in the core of our very selves, for we are still living them, and the book Anne Mackie Morelli has written takes us deep into the realities of our changed world and how it is impacting us.

“When Grief Descends invites the reader to sit alongside Anne, Job, and the ‘miserable comforters’ on the ash heap outside the ancient city gates. To also witness their conversations with God and with each other, and learn how to:

• navigate loss and process grief,
• become a more consoling comforter
• acquire the communication skills and practical strategies essential in providing consolation, 
• and build an understanding of suffering through the lens of the Christian faith.” (Jeanne writes of Anne’s book)

Meet #Author @EAnneMorelli and her incredible book, "When Grief Descends," perfect for your encouragement as the writer dissects life when everything falls apart and all is lost. A look at Job. More here: Click To Tweet

Anne Mackie Morelli, BPE, MA, RCC:

From Anne’s Bio on her WEBSITE: “Anne is a former Canadian National Track and Field Champion, Olympian, educator, clinical counsellor, and pastor, who is now spending her time writing and speaking. She is a woman of faith who has been profoundly impacted by God’s radical love and grace. Anne is currently enrolled in the Seminary at Trinity Western University, in Langley, British Columbia, Canada, where she is completing a Masters’ Degree in Christian Studies and Leadership. 

“Her first solo book, When Grief Descends: Suffering, Consolation, and The Book of Job, became an international bestseller when it was first published in June 2020 by As You Wish Publishers.

“Anne and her husband have been married for 43 years. They have three grown sons, now all married, and four grandsons. Anne is passionate about empowering others to use their talents, strengths, and leadership abilities for the greater good and to effect positive change in their families, communities, and the world around them. She believes that with encouragement and support every individual has the capacity to contribute and to lead wherever God has placed them.” 

Follow or contact Anne through:

• her website, Anne Mackie Morelli, Writer https://www.annemackiemorelli.com,
• through Twitter at https://twitter.com/EAnneMorelli, 
• or Facebook at Anne Mackie Morelli, Writer

Melissa McLaughlin

Truthful Grace

Melissa and I have been friends for several years. Three years ago we met through a writers’ group and began following one another’s blogs, commenting regularly on one another’s content. I’m always blessed by Melissa’s posts.

One way to learn about an author is to look at their About page, or their Bio page. Please take a look at Melissa’s About page, where you’ll see her journey of faith, the trials that impacted her life, and how she came to be an extremely successful blogger with over 42,415 subscribers and 42,000 Twitter followers @MMcLaughlinsong.

Discover Melissa’s journey through difficulty and loss here: About Melissa. The outcome of that journey resulted in her current ministry as a writer.

Meet @MMcLaughlinsong, a well known on Twitter with over 42,000 followers. Look at her weekly #blog and the story of how she came to have her current ministry as a #Writer. Find it all here: Click To Tweet

About Me – God Used it For Good
“My spiritual heart and mind grew deeply through this process. As the sorrow of my heart began to subside with daily Bible-based prayers, I began to realize this prayer process might be a lifeline for someone else whose life had taken an unwanted and painful twist. Around this same time, God led us to a new church. With the support and encouragement of my husband, family, church family and most of all the inspiration of the Holy Spirit and God’s Word, I was eventually able to put that pain-driven, Bible-based prayer process into words and complete my first book:”

In two different churches, Melissa has taught classes on Scripture-based prayer using her book as a guideline. Might this be a need in your church?

In Dark of Night When Words Fail, Voice of Jesus Pray For Me

Melissa has written many superb blog posts. Lately I’ve been impressed by her work explaining Old Testament festivals and celebrations that point toward Christ.

• What is the Feast of Trumpets in the Bible? (click here)
• What is the Feast of Tabernacles (Sukkot) in the Bible? (click here)
• What is the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur) and 10 Days of Awe? (click here)

Most recently, she wrote about the Sons of Korah. You’ll enjoy her insights and her emphasis on the gift of Messiah Jesus, God’s eternal plan.

Who were the Sons of Korah in the Bible?

“If you have been blessed with Godly, Christlike parents, then this is a great gift. But what about those who have not been given this precious blessing? What about those whose parents struggle with drugs or alcohol, parents who are in jail for theft or murder, parents who abused or abandoned them. What about them?

“Enter the grace of God.

“Enter the sons of Korah.

“Who were the sons of Korah?

“The events surrounding the sons of Korah, found in Numbers 16 (and Numbers 26:9-11), offer a strong warning and ray of hope. This story involves terrible sin, resulting in fearful consequences. All of which is followed by God’s grace.

“How the grace of God speaks so loudly.

“How the grace of God echoes on and on. . . .”

Click here to read the rest of Melissa’s post about Korah’s sons.