Christian Fiction Carnival hosted by My Friend Amy!

Why do you read and review Christian fiction? Do you exclusively read Christian fiction or do you also read general market books?

I have always been a prolific reader. I remember being introduced to Christian fiction more than 20 years ago, and at the time there were very few choices. I remember waiting almost a year between the publication of the Thoene's Jerusalem novels! There wasn't a lot to choose from, but I was so thrilled with what I was discovering!

For me, reading was my lifeblood. I earned an English degree from a women's college in Georgia, and I read a smattering of everything. Pat Conroy, Ann River Siddons, Stewart Woods, Harry Crews....all of these authors (and many more) were guests at our college, and I've had dinner with them, listened to them read from their upcoming novels...it was pure magic. However, by the time I reached my senior year, the only consistency I noticed in their personal lives was that their writing came first in their lives. For some of them, it cost them their families, their friends ect...a great price to pay and all for what?

I married right after college, and my husband and I became active members of a local church. The Lord really began a work in my heart, and I became deeply convicted that I was to really guard my heart and my heart's desires. If God wasn't the center of things, if He wasn't receiving the glory from my life, then I needed to make an adjustment. Part of that adjustment was turning away from hours and hours of reading bad language, failed marriages, gratuitous sex and imoral lives. They all lived among the pages of my novels, and they were filling my mind and heart with things that were anything but God-honoring. I boxed them all up and gave them away.

I have never looked back. As the Christian fiction market has grown, and long before there were blogs, internet, email ect... I was writing letters to the authors and thanking them for their novels and for their testimonies. When I finally began blogging over a year ago, it was like my fondest dreams were being realized. I was reading the books that I loved, but I was coming away challenged in my own faith, encouraged to serve God better and more fully, and to cherish the gifts God has so filled my life with here in this world.

My blog is just a continuation of my obedience to God. I praise Him for all He has done and continues to do in my life through His great novels. I've mentioned this before, but I volunteer at a women's rehab facility, and I am now using Christian fiction to reach out to these ladies and discuss the love and forgiveness of God. It continues to be an amazing journey!

Thank you, Amy for this carnival. I now have something new and fun to look forward to on Saturdays!

Visit Amy's site here and join in the fun!