For a change, I thought I’d post the following devotional on my blog. My online writing friend, Lillian Duncan, tells us that our faith in God is all we need for salvation – works, being good people, serving others, etc. does not guarantee your salvation. Read on:<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
REDEMPTION\u2014A DEVOTION<\/p>\n
Romans 3: 22-24<\/i><\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/i>This righteousness from God<\/i>\u00a0<\/i>comes through faith<\/b><\/i>\u00a0<\/i><\/b>in Jesus Christ<\/i><\/b>\u00a0<\/i>to all who believe.<\/i>\u00a0<\/i>There is no difference,<\/i>\u00a0<\/i>for all have sinned<\/i>\u00a0<\/i>and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified<\/i>\u00a0<\/i>freely by his grace<\/i>\u00a0<\/i>through the redemption<\/b><\/i>\u00a0<\/i><\/b>that came by Christ Jesus<\/i><\/b>.<\/i>\u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The title of my newest book is REDEMPTION so it seemed to me a good topic to write about in a devotion. Dictionary.com defines redemption as an act of atoning for a fault or a mistake; deliverance or rescue; deliverance from sin; salvation; atonement for guilt.<\/p>\n
The title came about as a result of Jamie, the main character being ashamed of things she\u2019s done in her past as a consultant to the FBI. As a result she feels God can\u2019t love her the way she is. So she seeks redemption by putting herself in dangerous situations to help other people.<\/p>\n
But the redemption part of the story doesn\u2019t stop there. Enrique, the tall, dark, and handsome FBI agent seeks redemption as well. From Jamie. Then there\u2019s the bartender Jamie meets on her quest to find a friend\u2019s missing child. He\u2019s trying to overcome a lifetime of criminal acts. More redemption.<\/p>\n
And then there\u2019s the father of the kidnapped child\u2014who is the kidnapper! Talk about needing redemption. No wonder this book is named REDEMPTION!<\/p>\n
That makes for a good plot in a suspense novel, but it\u2019s important to know that we can\u2019t save ourselves through good acts, through helping others, or even being really good people. There is only one way to receive redemption: meaning salvation; meaning going to heaven to live with God forever!<\/p>\n
We are saved through our faith in Jesus\u2014and only through our faith in Jesus.<\/p>\n
No amount of good works can earn us a ticket to heaven! It doesn\u2019t matter how \u201cgood\u201d we are, how much money we give to good causes (including the church), or how kind we are to others.<\/p>\n
Only our belief in Jesus as the Son of God can save us.<\/p>\n
And the reverse is true as well as Jamie discovers in my novel, REDEMPTION. Your past doesn\u2019t matter. God loves you just the way you are. He won\u2019t turn his back on you because of your past, present, or even your future mistakes.<\/p>\n
And that is more awesome than I can say, but 2 Corinthians 9:15 says it best: \u201cThanks be to God for his indescribable gift!\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
To celebrate the release of REDEMPTION, I\u2019m giving away a $25 Amazon Gift Card. So hop on over to TIARAS & TENNIS SHOES at www.lillian-duncan.com<\/a>\u00a0 to enter. Leave a comment on the post entitled REDEMPTION and you\u2019ll be entered to win.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n BLURB:<\/p>\n Others may think Jamie Jakowski is a hero, but she knows differently.<\/p>\n Haunted by her past, she seeks redemption by helping others in spite of the danger to herself. However, after almost orphaning her daughter, Jamie opts to retire. When a friend needs her, Jamie agrees to one last undercover operation.<\/p>\n She is determined to reunite a heartbroken mother with her kidnapped son. Used to working alone, Jamie\u2019s not happy when she\u2019s assigned a partner. And after a failed operation and their failed romance, Enrique Rodriguez is the last person she wants to work with\u2014ever.<\/p>\n To succeed, Jamie must confront her past as well as the people who want her dead.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n BIO:<\/b><\/p>\n Lillian Duncan: stories of faith mingled with murder & mayhem!<\/i><\/p>\n Lillian is a multi-published writer with several Amazon bestsellers, including The Christmas Stalking and Betrayed. Lillian writes the types of books she loves to read\u2014fast-paced suspense with a touch or two of romance that demonstrates God\u2019s love for all of us<\/p>\n Whether as an educator, a writer, or a speech pathologist, she believes in the power of words to transform lives, especially God\u2019s Word.<\/p>\n To learn more about Lillian and her books, visit: www.lillianduncan.net<\/a>. Tiaras & Tennis Shoes is her personal blog at www.lillian-duncan.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" For a change, I thought I’d post the following devotional on my blog. My online writing friend, Lillian Duncan, tells us that our faith in God is all we need for salvation – works, being good people, serving others, etc. does not guarantee your salvation. Read on: REDEMPTION\u2014A DEVOTION Romans 3: 22-24 \u00a0This righteousness from […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1,19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2567","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fiction","category-mystery-and-suspense-titles"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paovYP-Fp","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/ceceliadowdy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2567","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/ceceliadowdy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/ceceliadowdy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ceceliadowdy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ceceliadowdy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2567"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/ceceliadowdy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2567\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2568,"href":"http:\/\/ceceliadowdy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2567\/revisions\/2568"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/ceceliadowdy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2567"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ceceliadowdy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2567"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ceceliadowdy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2567"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}