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!
In 1893, when Isabella’s books were at the height of their popularity, a newspaper article about her mentioned that if forced to choose one word to describe Isabella’s work, that word would be “Help.”
The writer of the article made a very insightful observation. Typically, the main characters in Isabella’s books were, indeed, helpers. No doubt Isabella made them so as a reflection of her own belief that every effort counts. In her stories, no contribution was too small, and no effort was too little, as long as her characters did their best and made the most of what God had given them.
Today’s free read reflects that theme, when Mrs. Burns (one of the story’s main characters) asks the question, “How can I turn a small donation to help missions into a large and meaningful contribution?”
When Mrs. Burns is given a five-cent budget with which to help the cause of church missions, she can’t believe her ears. Five cents! What could she possibly accomplish with a small, insignificant nickel?
But with God’s help and a little imagination, Mrs. Burns soon discovers that her five-cent investment can accomplish great things.
Or you can select BookFunnel’s “My Computer” option to receive an email with a version you can read, print, and share with friends.
Reader Tip: As you read the story, be on the look-out for one of Isabella’s most beloved characters from The Chautauqua Girls series to make a brief “cameo” appearance!
This post is part of our 10-Year Blogiversary Celebration! Join us every weekday in September for another 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!
What would you do if a man—a stranger—walked into your town and claimed to be the Son of God? Would you believe him?
And what if he could heal the sick and perform astonishing miracles? Would you give up your life to follow him?
That’s the premise of Isabella’s 1898 novel Yesterday Framed in Today: How would you react if God’s Son came to your home town today?
The new stranger in town is David Holman’s last hope. An old injury has confined David to bed for years; but David has heard rumors about a stranger in town—a stranger who can perform miracles and heal the sick. If David can only get close to him, he’s certain the stranger will heal him, too. But David’s family doesn’t trust the stranger, and they search for logical explanations for the miracles they see. Is it possible the stranger truly is the Son of God? Or is he the evil enemy of man, who must be stopped at all costs?
The Giveaway:
We’re giving away three paperback copies of Isabella’s thought-provoking novel Yesterday Framedin Today.
To enter the drawing, just leave a comment below or on Isabella’s Facebook page no later than midnight (EDT) on Thursday, September 21. (Unfortunately, we can only mail books to readers who live in the United States.)
The three winners will be announced on Friday, September 22. 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!
Isabella Alden and Theodosia Foster were not just best friends—they were writing partners, too.
Like Isabella, Theodosia was a prolific writer, and published her work under the pen name “Faye Huntington.”
When they got together to write a story, their styles were so similar, and they were so in tune with each other’s talents, it’s impossible for us to tell which of them wrote what chapter or scene.
Today’s free read is a novel they wrote together about the love of money and how it can change (or reveal) someone’s true colors.
Lawrence Brenholz always knew he would inherit his grandfather’s millions once he satisfied the provisions of the will. But on the eve of that momentous day, when all the Brenholz millions would be his, Lawrence’s ornery old Uncle Amos—long thought to have died in the wilds of Colorado—makes a shocking appearance that threatens Lawrence’s inheritance.
With Uncle Amos’ unreasonable demands disrupting every area of his life, how can Lawrence ever again find peace for himself and those he loves?
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!
In past blog posts we’ve share some of Isabella’s advice columns that appeared in Christian magazines in the early 1900s. Sometimes humorous, sometimes serious, but always straightforward, Isabella answered reader questions on a variety of topics, from unwanted marriage proposals to a fear of praying in public.
Cathy and Elaine—two longtime readers of this blog—mentioned they would love to be able to have a booklet that contained all of Isabella’s advice columns.
What a great idea!
Thanks to Cathy and Elaine, today’s giveaway is an e-book collection of Isabella’s most popular bits of advice.
Isabella often wrote about God’s love and His promises to protect and guide those who follow Him. In her stories and novels, she regularly included short Bible verses, like this:
Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. (Matthew 28:20)
And she often shared God’s promises in the pages of The Pansy magazine, as she did in this poem:
As a teacher and a minister’s wife, she probably had a lot of experience in seeing the positive impact such little reminders could have in the life of a person who needed encouragement.
In fact, she—as well as the characters in her stories—handed out calling cards or pieces of paper on which was written a “promise verse” meant to encourage someone who was facing challenges in their life.
People don’t often use calling cards today, but those Biblical words of encouragement are still important to those in need!
The Giveaway!
We’re giving away sets of “Promises from God for Women” cards to three U.S.A. readers of Isabella’s blog!
The front of each card has a beautifully illustrated Bible verse of promise.
Each card has room for you to add your own personalized message of love or encouragement.
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 7.
The three winners will be announced on Friday, September 8. Good luck!
This post is part of our 10-Year Blogiversary Celebration! Join us tomorrow for another fun giveaway!
Reviews and giveaways for Christian fiction and sweet, clean fiction. Bringing readers information on great stories and connecting authors with their readers.
Isabella Alden 