Secrets of the Blessed: Quiet Meditations for Troubled Souls

by C. A. Lemaster

Overview

No one ever promised life had to be fair, but does it have to hurt so much? Is there any hope that this pain will ever end?

Wherever Jesus went, he was surrounded by a multitude of hurting peoplefolks that needed someone to care about and for them. He saw them as harassed, scattered sheep in desperate need of a shepherd. To each of us, he has brought hope for deliverance, healing from our sorrows, and forgiveness for our sins.

Whether we investigate the heartbeat of the Psalmists, the trials of the patriarchs, or the pains of the apostles, we find people who faced the abuse life arbitrarily hurls our way. These saints found healing through their relationship with their God. They wrote fearlessly of their experiences so we might learn from them.

Secrets of the Blessed takes us on a journey of faith through our pain. There is truly hope for a blessed, happy life when we learn to believe God even when he seems unfair to us. There really are no secrets, but there are nuggets of wisdom we can mine from Gods Word.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781973600343
Publisher:	WestBow Press
Publication date:	09/27/2017
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	256
File size:	372 KB

About the Author

Charles Lemaster writes from the perspective of someone who has been there. In his folksy writing style, he illuminates Bible truth from the viewpoint of personal transparency. He is an alumnus of Cedarville University, Ohio, and a graduate of Appalachian Bible College, West Virginia.

He served as a pastor and conference speaker for fourteen years in Ohio and western New York State. Most recently, he leads the Hope Sunday school class in his home church, as well as small-group Bible studies. He regularly conducts worship at a local assisted-living retirement center in Miamisburg, Ohio, and periodically preaches in his home church.

Diagnosed with bipolar disorder, he has spent almost twenty years learning how to manage his mental illness from a biblical perspective. He describes himself as “one beggar showing other beggars where to find bread.” His burden and desire is to help encourage other folks with bipolar disorder and their families to live blessed lives through their commitment to Christ.

He and his wife, Pam, reside in West Carrollton, Ohio.

Editorial Reviews

2018-02-01
A debut Christian memoir aims to impart hope in hopeless times."No one ever promised that life would be fair," Lemaster writes in his approachable book. "We live in a fallen world; should we expect anything different?" The dark realities of that world are never far from the author's ruminations on the life of the Christian faithful, but his account is nevertheless charged with hope and optimism that derive in large part from the promises he sees in Christian Scripture. Lemaster first came to receive Jesus as his savior as a teenager at his family's Baptist church in the mountains of eastern Kentucky and has felt himself called and recalled over the following years, a rough spiritual relationship that the author describes with affecting honesty and directness. The most active part of that rocky relationship is Lemaster's lifelong struggle with depression, which was "a constant companion" and often disrupted his walk of faith and filled him with sorrowful questions that should resonate with many of his readers: "Why did God make me the way I am? My pain and despair drove me to question: If God was real, why didn't he hear me? Why didn't he answer my prayers? Why didn't he care?" Inner grappling like this could make the book a bleak and dispiriting slog, but even when he's writing bluntly about the trials and heartaches facing his fellow Christians, he's an unfailingly upbeat and optimistic companion who's focused on the redemptive potential of his faith. "I wish I could give each of us three Bible verses and a prayer to overcome whatever failures have plagued us in the past," he asserts, pointing out that life offers no quick fixes but then adding: "Whatever our moral failures may be, God desires to change us." This positive strand running through the volume is based on very straightforward principles (as Lemaster writes at one point, it all boils down to "praise God!"). The combination of that simplicity and the conversational tone adopted throughout should appeal to a broad Christian audience.An account that effectively touts the basic promises of Christian salvation.

Kirkus Reviews