Sadly, our Blogiversary party must come to an end. Thank you to everyone who helped make this celebration bright by leaving comments and liking posts!
Here are the names of this week’s winners of a “Power of Prayer” journal set:
Bethany Griggs
Shannon Sims
Ruthann Fernandez
Bethany, you’ll receive a Facebook DM. Please reply with your full name and mailing address so we can send your item out right away.
Shannon and Ruthann, you’ll receive an email from Isabella Alden. Please reply with your full name and mailing address, and your item will be on its way ASAP!
Congratulations, everyone!
This post is part of our 10-Year Blogiversary Celebration! Join us every weekday in September for a fun drawing, giveaway, or free read!
Isabella was a strong believer in the power of prayer. She once wrote:
Prayer is the pulse of the renewed soul; and the constancy of its beat is the test and measure of the spiritual life.
One of Isabella Alden’s talents was creating characters who discovered for themselves the power of prayer in their lives. Some of her characters turned to prayer in times of trouble or to heal a loved one of illness; other characters spoke to God as naturally and as often as they would speak to a close friend or family member.
As wealthy Miss Mary Brown discovered in The Browns at Mount Hermon:
“I would give—oh, what would I not give!—to be able to talk to God as those girls did this afternoon, with the assurance which they evidently had that he heard and cared!”
In her own life Isabella knew the power of prayer. It was through the prayers of her sister Marcia that Isabella chose Christ as her Saviour (read more about that here).
As a busy author and public speaker, Isabella began each day with prayer “to ask God’s help and blessing on the work to be done.” (You can read about that here.)
And in her journal she regularly wrote down prayer requests, notes about sermons, favorite Bible verses, and lessons learned.
The Giveaway:
We’re giving away three “Power of Prayer” journal packages to readers of Isabella’s blog!
Each package includes a lovely prayer journal with . . .
. . . a daily two-page spread that includes a verse of Scripture, space to record your meditations and prayers, and a generous area to reflect on God’s goodness.
The set also includes a coordinating sticker pack to help inspire your quiet moments of reflection.
To enter the drawing, just leave a comment below or on Isabella’s Facebook page no later than midnight (EDT) on Thursday, September 28.
The three winners will be announced on Friday, September 29. Good luck!
This post is part of our 10-Year Blogiversary Celebration! Join us every weekday in September for a fun drawing, giveaway, or Free Read!
It’s been a busy week for giveaways here on Isabella’s blog! Thank you to everyone who left a comment to enter one of the drawings. Without further ado, here are this week’s winners:
Winners of a Grace Livingston Hill Cookbook:
Judy Pringle
Marie Schlabach
Tammy Teapot Brown
Winners of a “Yesterday Framed in Today” paperback:
MrsSmithCreations
Micah Day
Karen L. Landin
Winners of a “Let Your Light Shine” card pack:
Rebekah A. Morris
CutePolarBear
Barbara Powers
Tammy, Micah, Karen, and Barbara, you’ll receive a Facebook DM. Please reply with your full name and mailing address so we can send your item out right away.
Judy, Marie, MrsSmithCreations, Rebekah, and CutePolarBear, you’ll receive an email from Isabella Alden. Please reply with your full name and mailing address, and your item will be on its way ASAP!
Congratulations, everyone!
This post is part of our 10-Year Blogiversary Celebration! Join us every weekday in September for a fun drawing, giveaway, or free read!
Before Isabella published a new novel, she often shared the story in chapter-by-chapter installments in magazines. One example is her novel Christie’s Christmas. Before it was published in 1885, part of it appeared in The Pansy magazine under the title “Christie at Home.” Then the magazine’s publisher advertised the story in newspapers across the country:
From The Perry County Democrat (Pennsylvania) newspaper, November 5, 1884.
When Isabella’s niece, Grace Livingston Hill began her writing career, she followed suit. Several of her short stories and novels first appeared as serials in magazines before the complete story was published in book form.
In 1905 Grace’s novella The Governor’s Son was published as a serial in a Christian magazine. Then, in 1909, the same story appeared as a serial in a British magazine. Both publications included lovely pen and pencil illustrations of some of the story’s key scenes.
The Governor’s Son is about a young woman named Leslie who spends the summer with her sister and cousin at a seaside resort. Here’s one of the magazine illustrations showing Leslie befriending an elderly woman while on the train to the resort, as her sister and cousin look on.
That small act of kindness earns Leslie a new friend, and she and the elderly woman spend quite a bit of time together on the seashore.
The Governor’s Son was never published in book form, but all the complete magazine issues survived, so the story could be pieced together; and it’s now available for purchase on Amazon.com.
The Giveaway:
We’re giving away five e-book copies of The Governor’s Son by Grace Livingston Hill!
Shy, lovely Leslie Graham would rather spend her summer at home reading a book, but her parents insist she accompany her sister Anna to a seaside resort, where the sisters’ differences quickly come to light. While Anna tries to mingle with the resort’s most fashionable and wealthy inhabitants, Leslie makes friends with sweet, elderly Mrs. Hamilton, who likes to watch the ocean, quote Bible verses, and talk about her son. And when Mrs. Hamilton’s son arrives, Leslie realizes Chauncey Hamilton is just as thoughtful and handsome as his mother described. In the face of such kindness, Leslie can’t help but prefer to spend her days and nights with Chauncey and his mother, even as Anna plots to pull her in a more worldly and dangerous direction.
To enter the drawing, just leave a comment below or on Isabella’s Facebook page no later than midnight (EDT) on Thursday, September 14.
The five winners will be announced on Friday, September 15. Good luck!
If you love Grace Livingston Hill stories and can’t wait until Friday to read The Governor’s Son, you can purchase your copy of the novella by clicking here.
Remember: You don’t have to own an Amazon Kindle to read The Governor’s Son. Just download Amazon’s e-reader app to read the story on any electronic device.
This post is part of our 10-Year Blogiversary Celebration! Join us every weekday in September for a fun drawing, giveaway, or Free Read!
Our Blogiversary celebration continues with another free read by Isabella Alden!
As missionaries, John and Mary Randall and their daughter Rachel live hard lives. So when Rev. Randall is asked to speak at a conference of churches, he welcomes the chance to make a case for more support. His only regret is that he must leave Mary and Rachel behind.
But Rev. Randall’s speech touches more than a few hearts, and one lady in particular takes steps to ensure he and his family have all the support they need.
In Isabella’s novel Making Fate Miss Marjorie Edmonds accompanies Leonard Maxwell as he makes New Year’s Day calls on some of the poorest people in town. One of their calls takes them to a small tenement apartment belonging to an elderly woman who is severely disabled.
Poor old Mrs. Baxter can do little but sit beside her window and watch the world go by until her son Jim comes home from work at night. She tells Marjorie:
“Yes, he’s my only one. I buried the others when they were babies; but Jim lived; and what I should have done without him, I can’t even guess; it makes me tremble sometimes, merely to think of it. You see, ma’am, I’m a cripple. I have to be lifted from the bed to the chair, and from the chair back to the bed again. It is going on four years since I’ve taken a step. He fixes me up like this every morning before he goes away; and here I sit until he gets back at night. Jane, next door, comes in at noon and gives me my bit of dinner, and she fixes it almost as nice as Jim could. She works nearby, so she can run home at noon, but Jim doesn’t. I don’t deny that I get pretty lonesome before six o’clock sometimes. Still, my eyes are a good deal of use, for I can see the folks passing, and I can watch the sun setting. We have beautiful sunsets out of this window. Oh, I’ve lots of blessings.”
Hearing Mrs. Baxter joyfully count her mercies was something Marjorie had never experienced before. It gave her an entirely new understanding of how even a small act of kindness could be a blessing to others. That’s the theme of today’s give-away.
The Giveaway:
We’re giving away three “Be a Blessing to Others” prize packages to readers of Isabella’s blog!
Each prize package includes:
A lovely “Be a Blessing to Others” journal, where you can write about the blessings you’ve received, the different ways you’re a blessing to the people in your life, Bible verses that uplift you, or anything else you feel inspired to write …
… a set of coordinating fine-tip pens …
… and a booklet of notepads and stickers you can use to decorate your journal, write reminders, and highlight important entries.
To enter the drawing, just leave a comment below or on Isabella’s Facebook page no later than 11:59 p.m. (EDT) on Thursday, September 14.
The three winners will be announced on Friday, September 15, 2023. Good luck!
You can read Isabella’s novel Making Fate by clicking here.
This post is part of our 10-Year Blogiversary Celebration! Join us every weekday in September for a fun drawing, giveaway, or Free Read!
Isabella Alden’s classic Christian novel Links in Rebecca’s Life is now available in print, and we’re giving away 3 free copies!
Rebecca Harlow is an eager and tireless worker for the church. She never misses a prayer meeting, and even schedules social calls to encourage friends to attend church. But when her careless words spread like wildfire through town, Rebecca must learn that it’s her everyday actions that have the power to influence others for Christ.
One of Isabella Alden’s most popular novels, Links in Rebecca’s Life is a wonderful book to have on your bookshelf or to give as a gift to someone you love.
The drawing is open to all U.S. residents. To enter, just leave a comment below or on Isabella’s Facebook page no later than 11:59 p.m. (EDT) on Thursday, September 7.
The three winners will be announced on Friday, September 8. Good luck!
This post is part of our 10-Year Blogiversary Celebration!
Reviews and giveaways for Christian fiction and sweet, clean fiction. Bringing readers information on great stories and connecting authors with their readers.
Isabella Alden 