Showing results by narrator "Lauren Pedersen" in All Categories

Mark and Elias Hammond are brothers in bustling Boston. The two brothers have been very close from childhood, and especially since they made a promise to their dying mother years before that they would never be separated.

Mrs. Jane Lewis, a widow, wants to marry again. But because her in-laws had been nasty people, she has promised herself that never will she marry a man with a mother, father, brothers, or sisters. She goes west because there are many single men there who are alone. She travels with the Jones family, a sprawling friendly tribe. She’s attracted to Caleb, the eldest son, but having immediate relatives seems to disqualify him. What about Mr. Tremblay who, like her, is alone? Maybe beneath his hard exterior is a broken heart just like hers?

Englischer Marcy Sutton flees her home in Ohio when problems caused by her husband Scott’s gambling addiction wreak havoc. She takes her two young children to stay at a friend’s lakeside cabin in Indiana, but on the way, the car breaks down, and they are stranded in a blizzard. Marcy and her children seek shelter with Hester and Gideon’s Amish family, whose simple way of life reminds Marcy of the true meaning of the Christmas season.

Big-hearted Dre Rustin fled her small Nebraska hometown to distance herself from her brother’s troubled past. Texas seemed like a good place to start a new life. Now she’s looking forward to graduating from college, but first she’s got to handle Thanksgiving break. She’ll head home for the first time in years.

Former wild child Katrina Bouvet longs to be taken seriously. So when she’s commissioned to create a garden honoring her late estranged stepsister, she vows to make it serve as her redemption. But her high hopes are threatened after she’s forced to work with the grieving widower–the man who broke her heart.

"Love is patient, love is kind, love is . . ." The words are so familiar they almost lack meaning, a Christianese version of "live, laugh, love." Even non-Christians are familiar with the Love Chapter of 1 Corinthians, read at weddings, painted on decorative signs, and preached regularly from the pulpit. But what happens when these verses are taken seriously? What would it take for someone to live out the Love Chapter as literally as possible?

A thousand eyes were watching me. Nobody in the room was talking, and the only sound was a muffled cough from the darkness in the back of the auditorium. Why wasn’t everyone whispering to their neighbors? Shouldn’t they be playing on their cell phones or even sleeping—like normal teenagers? I quickly thought back to high school when I was sitting where they were today. I couldn’t tell you the name of one person that came to speak, nor could I recall one subject matter that he or she would have even talked about.

"What is it," you ask? I tell my friends who are curious about it that mystery shopping is when companies pay you to act like a “normal” customer and evaluate their business. The idea is that companies want to know what’s really happening in their retail stores, restaurants, and other establishments, so they pay mystery shoppers to go in and evaluate their experiences while acting like a regular customer. The “mystery” is that the companies being evaluated don’t know about it.

The COVID-19 pandemic is a test of our allegiance to the God we serve. Rosemarie Downer will engage you in a thought-provoking discussion of why some lost connection with God or declined spiritually during the COVID-19 restriction on congregate church gatherings. She will engage you in addressing this question: How does your relationship with God before and after the COVID-19 lockdown compare?

We have all heard of post traumatic stress, but few of us think about the possibility of post traumatic growth—the positive ways in which we can be transformed by our trauma. Yet this is precisely what can happen when we face our hurts, struggle through the rubble of our broken relationships, and unearth the ways God wants to use our trials to refine and mature us.

Lucy Lavender loves exploring. After Dad dies, Mom pieces jobs together and struggles to provide for Lucy. When Mom is offered a job in Sea Rock Cove, the coastal town where Dad grew up, Lucy hopes this is her chance to pursue her dream of becoming a marine biologist. On Lucy's first day at her new school, she is excited to go to Sea Rock and see Dad’s beloved sea stars. When Lucy learns the sea stars are dying, she becomes determined to save them. But as Lucy gets involved with the people of Sea Rock Cove, she learns there is a lot more beneath the surface of the town.

A threatening letter. Hidden clues. A woman on the run. Alisa Gosling finds a piece of a letter under a desk in an office she cleans. Curiosity has her locating the other pieces. Putting the puzzle together, she discovers a threatening letter best left hidden. As danger increases after she turns the letter over to the police, she flees to Misty Hollow and the Leaning O Ranch. Trouble follows her, as the bad guys believe she has something they want. Local law enforcement can’t be trusted.

Pastor Zeal Cooley lifted the crate and looked in the direction of the wooded area around the side door of the church. He nearly called out, "Anybody there?" But he decided against it. He carried the crate inside, past the pulpit and into the office, and set the wooden box on Tillie's desk, then waited for her to finish her phone call.

Duncan McCammon receives a text for help from his sister. When he arrives at her house, he discovers her gone and her husband murdered. Detective Kennedy Sparks arrives on the scene. As the two investigate, they are drawn into a deadly game of cat and mouse where Duncan's long ago rock-climbing buddies are killed off one by one. The killer is following the plot of one of Duncan's books based on an unfortunate accident that had happened years before - a plot that would result in the woman Duncan loved being murdered.

When her sister, the only family she had left, is murdered by a serial killer stalking the women of Misty Hollow, Madison Everton is determined to find the killer’s identity. Women are being abducted and held for three days before their bodies are dumped, and the women all hold a strong resemblance to Madison. Will she find him before he finds her?

A new job as nanny turns deadly. Darcie Thayer needs to find what her late husband hid before she is killed. The package may be her only means of survival. She accepts a job as nanny to a best-selling author in hopes of having the time to continue her search in the last place she ever thought she would go back to. Her hometown.

Misty Dawn has inherited her grandmothers old house in Small Town USA. There she meets up with Carl, her new realtor and others who learn that childhood teachings were more than just stories! As a freak lightning storm ravages the city, Misty learns the Rapture has taken place before her very eyes and she has been left behind. The group struggle to survive the End Time as plague after plague is unleashed upon the Planet. Only faith will get them through as they endure the pain and agony of the Apocalypse. Misty mourns loss after loss until she comes to her breaking point.

Do you want a life full of meaning, security and peace? I’ve got good news - there is someone who can give that to you, and he’s standing very close to you right now. The world around you may say God isn’t real, and nobody matters - we’re all here by chance. But deep inside, you feel your life does have meaning. You matter. And you are right! The good news is this - God is real and he loves you more than you know.

Matt heaved a forkful of hay down just as the barn door opened, and a shadowed figure entered. He heard an unfamiliar cry of bewildered irritation that did not belong to one of his seven younger brothers or sisters. This was a woman’s voice - young, and most definitely annoyed. In an instant, Matt was brushing hay off a young woman’s shoulders. She wore a pale yellow dress dotted with yellow and green flowers with stylish puffed sleeves and a nipped-in waist that flattered her petite figure.

Sarajane Giere offers a uniquely intimate glimpse into the life of a military wife, as she tells the story of her fighter pilot husband, Bernie, a Vietnam Veteran who flew 214 combat missions in the Vietnam War and served 25 years in the Air National Guard's world-class 106th Rescue Wing.