LONGWOOD, FL-As a chart-topping single by '60s rock band The Byrds recalls, in God's time there is a season for all things: a time for repentance, a time for celebration, a time for new birth, a time for seeking, a time for resurrection, a time for power living, and a time for ordinary living. In Stephanie Harms Smith's For Everything There Is a Season in God's Time ($11.99, paperback, 978-1-60477-224-1), these special verses of Ecclesiastes are brought to life via a collection of stories: an Inuit woman named Ida Edwards and her journey into adulthood; a Christmas story in an Alaskan village; a story of a Christian/Jewish family dealing with tragedy; a monk's story of repentance; an Easter tale of devastation and resurrection; a story of joy and gladness on Pentecost; and a story of love and forgiveness in Watts, California. These tales are of ordinary people dealing with life situations not unlike those people in the epic tales of the Bible.
Says Smith, "Because of my many and varied life experiences I have been inspired to write about people on a journey with God. I am a listener; I can hear the stories of people's spiritual journeys. I listen not only to the obvious, but [also to] that which is found in the seemingly empty spaces."
This humble book with stories about ordinary people having extraordinary experiences will prove to readers that God is always present and is with us through it all-during both times of joy and sorrow, peace and unrest. "In this book we find God not dead, but alive, weaving a bold spirit between the warp and woof of life's fabric," the author says.
Xulon Press, a part of Salem Communications Corporation, is the world's largest Christian publisher, with more than 3,900 titles published to date. Retailers may order For Everything There Is a Season in God's Time through Ingram Book Company and/or Spring Arbor Book Distributors. Salem Communications is the country's leading Christian communications company with interests in radio, Internet, and magazine publishing.
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2007