I first met Jill Marie Stengl through the most awesome fiction writers group, ACFW – better known as American Christian Fiction Writers. But it was my kids’ sitcom, What The Muffins? that brought us together as friends.

Jill Stengl has been writing fiction for fourteen years and has thirteen published books and novellas. She is a native Southern California girl who now lives in the Northwoods of Wisconsin with her husband, Dean, their two younger children, Jim and Peter, and three cats. Oldest son, Tom, is a senior cadet at the US Air Force Academy, and daughter, Anne Elisabeth, is a sophomore at Grace College, IN. Aside from writing, Jill enjoys home schooling Peter, playing guitar for the worship team at church, reading, canoeing, and sometimes quilting.

Jill’s book Faithful Traitor published by Heartsong Presents won first place in the short historical category in the 2005 Book of the Year Contest put on by ACFW. It also won first place in its category in the 2005 Inspirational Readers’ Choice Contest hosted by the Faith, Hope, and Love chapter of Romance Writers of America.

Faithful Traitor is a marvelous tale of love and betrayal set in pre-Revolutionary War New York. Heroine Georgette Talbot longs for love and marriage with a man who will be faithful to her and share her faith. But her parents want her to marry Mr. La Tourney, a man of wealth and position. Love, if it is to be found, will come later.

Mr. La Tourney, though respected, is a man whose reputation worries Georgette. While she contemplates a relationship she cannot abide, a mysterious stranger enters her life, who speaks of faithful love, the kind Georgette craves.

Will Georgette be able to forget her mysterious admirer and marry a man she cannot trust? Worse, when evidence surfaces that threatens her masked stranger, can she bring herself to turn him in to save her own reputation? Who then will carry such faithful love to the end?

Faithful Traitor swept me away, not only because it is a delightful romance, but because of the rich history and attention to detail. This is one romance you won’t want to miss!

You can find Faithful Traitor at Amazon or CBD (Christian Book Distributors). So hurry on over to one of those sites and

buy this book!

I asked Jill to give us some insight into the calling behind her writing ~ (for the sake of clarity, since we share the same name and even the same initials, I will refer to Jill Stengl as Jill Marie and myself as Jill Eileen.)

Jill Eileen: When and how did you know that you wanted to be a writer?

Jill Marie: I started trying to write down a story in 1991, after my husband bought our first computer, and quickly became addicted. I had tried to write before that, by hand, and only became frustrated. The computer helped me organize my cluttered thoughts. I had so much fun with it, and my friends actually seemed to enjoy reading my early efforts, so I kept writing until I completed a book.

Jill Eileen: Tell me a bit about what you write now and what you hope to write in the future.

Jill Marie: I write romance books and novellas, mainly historical stories. I would love to write larger historical works, probably set in Great Britain. Another dream would be to write a fantasy story.

Jill Eileen: If and when did you realize your writing was a calling?

Jill Marie: Gradually, as I began searching the Scriptures for truth not only for my own life but also for my imaginary characters, to help them grow and develop along with me. Whatever life lessons I am learning seem to find their way into my books, and God uses these imaginary situations to minister to real people who read the books. I find this fascinating!

Jill Eileen: What means did God use to confirm in your heart that this is exactly what He has prepared for you to do for Him?

Jill Marie: My joy in creating the stories, and my readers’ joy in reading them. Often I am blessed and encouraged by letters from readers who write to tell me how they have been blessed and encouraged by my stories.

Jill Eileen: When and how did you come to realize that writing meant more to you than a means to meet physical monetary needs or fulfill your dreams?

Jill Marie:

Jill Eileen: How would you say that God has used writing to change you – to strengthen your faith and to make you more like Christ?

Jill Marie: Learning to write involves lessons in discipline, and the responsibility involved in sharing God’s message through the written word pushes me to study and learn so that, ideally, I don’t write anything dishonoring to the Lord. I take this responsibility seriously—even fiction works can make an impact on impressionable teenagers or hurting women.

As a fellow writer, I heartily agree. And as a reader of Jill’s books, I can attest to the fact that she does her best with each work, big or small. I have come away blessed by each of her stories.

For a list of Jill’s books you can visit her website here. You can also keep up with Jill’s frequent happenings and general musings on her blog.

Jill’s newest release:
Masquerade, Barbour Publishing, Dec. 2005. Jill’s story, Liberty, Fidelity, Eternity is a tale of romance, adventure, and sacrificial love set during the early days of the French Revolution. I had the privilege of critiquing this book, and I can assure you the tale is wonderful!

If you haven’t read any of Jill’s books yet, don’t wait! These short romances are not always what they appear. They will fool you by their depth and by their stirring characters. This is one author I will definitely keep reading!

Tomorrow I’ll be posting a new Spotlight – an interview with a truly fine writer who has a heart for mentoring, whether she knows it or not. :) This author has encouraged a number of unpublished authors in their efforts to see publication. One, in fact, has gone on to sell at least six books this year!

This author is not a big name in your local Christian bookstores – yet. But her talent exceeds her fame, and I have no doubt that one day you will see more of her with bigger trade books to her credit. She has lived on at least two continents and traveled extensively. She is charming and sweet, and I can’t wait for you to meet her. But that’s for tomorrow…

On another note, I can’t say that we’ve made a final decision, but I do believe our furry little munchkin will likely keep his name Tiger. Why, you ask, when it is so uncreative? Well, because he’s a tiger. He has the cutest golden tiger eyes, tiger paws, tiger face, and tiger stripes. In essence, he’s a miniature tiger. I call him Tiger Toes.

One of these days I’m hoping to post his pictures on my links page, but my webmaster is facing another computer crisis at our house since my husband’s computer died this morning. Jeff is our resident computer fix-it man, and unfortunately, that stretches him pretty thin at times. Not to mention work and school…

So for now, imagine the cutest tiger you’ve ever seen, and you’ll have our new furry companion. Our Shadow is getting used to this intruder, and I dare say he is starting to like him. :)

All for now…check back for Spotlight tomorrow. And in case I don’t post again before then – Happy New Year!

We have a new member at our house. He is about 16 weeks old and walks on four paws. He is cuddly and warm and moves like a drunken monkey (not that I’ve seen one) when he first wakes up. He is polite and potty-trained, though he’s had a few excitable accidents. (Translate – never hold a kitten against his will when he is afraid, even to comfort him. He’s not crazy about loud scenes in movies.) I hope to have his picture in my gallery soon, but for now, imagine a black and brown striped tiger kitty with golden eyes. A cute little munchkin.

The trouble is, we have yet to name him. He came from the shelter with the name Tiger Boy, but frankly, that sounds so non-creative. So as we’ve done with our kids and our older cat, Shadow, we are mulling around various names. Unfortunately, we’ve had him for five days, and we can’t seem to agree. (It’s easier to name characters in my books.)

Some of our choices will end up his nicknames, like Pickle Toes, Schnookey, Munchkin, Skitch Patterson, Hobbs (of Calvin fame), Spartacus, and Saber Tooth Tiger, Defender of Worlds. Or as my kids prefer, Scratch Fury, Destroyer of Worlds. I just can’t picture this cute little bundle destroying anything, but of course, we’ve only just begun to get to know him. :)

Our “first born” cat, Shadow (see gallery), was a bit put off – okay, offended is a better word – when we first brought Schookims home. The lady at the shelter where we got him was very helpful in teaching us how to ease the new cat into our house without overly upsetting Shadow. By the third day, Shadow was more accepting, and today he actually got “the jabs” (going crazy) and decided maybe that new kitty would be fun to play with after all. I suspect that in time they will be the best of friends – and probably drive us completely crazy. :)

Before Christmas Randy and I talked about whether we really wanted to bring home another cat. After all, we will probably have the cats longer than our kids will live at home. So we were the ones who had to accept the extra cost and work the most. The sedate, easy thing to do would have been to stay with the status quo. But we’re too young to become set in our ways. :) My goal this coming year is to embrace the changes God brings our way, even if it means stepping out of my comfort zone. A furry present for Christmas was the first step, I suppose, if I want to look at it that way.

On the other hand, this new kitty is just plain fun. He loves my laptop though, and wants to walk all over the keyboard when I surf the net. I may never write in peace again!

Fox News anchor John Gibson wrote a book called The War on Christmas, documenting the liberal attack on the holiday, which he concludes is really a secularist desire to eradicate Christianty. (I haven’t actually read Mr. Gibson’s book yet, but I read an interview with him on CitizenLink here)

I find this idea interesting, but not the least bit surprising. Why not? Well, because Jesus offends people.

If you look at the world today, you will find that most people (despite what secular humanists want us to think) believe in God. When a tragedy strikes some part of the globe and in particular if it affects them personally, people cry out to and pray to God. Even Hollywood produces TV shows and movies that will show characters with some sort of belief in God. The question that always arises in my mind is “what god are you praying to?”

Like the ancient Greeks and Romans, our global culture has embraced a multiplicity of gods. Some religions such as Islam, Judaism, and Christianity are monotheistic, following one God. Others are pantheistic, believing in many gods, or that everything is god, or that we are all gods. Only one religion claims the belief that Jesus Christ is God incarnate. And that offends people.

Why? Because of the cross. You see, Santa Claus, trees, and presents aside, Christmas isn’t just about a baby in a manger. It’s about why that Baby came. He came into the world with one purpose. To save His people from their sins. And people down through the ages don’t like to be told that they are sinners in need of a Savior.

So it doesn’t surprise me that liberals or secular humanists or whatever label they hang their hat on want to take Christ out of Christmas. Seasons Greeting and Happy Holidays, Santa Claus and snowmen, materialism and greed at its best are poor substitutes for the Christ of Merry Christmas and “Peace on Earth Good Will to Men”. But I understand why they want to think it is.

Romans 9:33 quotes Isaiah 8:14 in this: “As it is written: ‘Behold, I lay in Zion a stumbling stone and rock of offense, And whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame.’”

And Galations 5:11 says: “And I, brethren, if I still preach circumcision, why do I still suffer persecution? Then the offense of the cross has ceased.”

The reason Jesus offends men and women is because He came as that little baby to show us our sin and how impossible it is for us to ever do anything that will make us good enough to be like God. All people deep down want to be God. Why else do little children (and some adults) act like the whole world revolves around them? Some religions even have ways to work our way up to godhood. Jesus, who was and is God, came to earth and stooped to become man – imagine! He did that to show us a better way – the only way.

And His way is very narrow. “I am the way, the truth, and the life, NO MAN comes to the Father but by me.” (John 14:6, emphasis mine).

And that offends us. Jesus’ death on the cross offends because it stripped us of our need to keep the law, to try to work our way to becoming godlike or for the more pious among us, being accepted by God. Instead, Jesus offered us a place with Him in glory, but at a very high cost. Our pride.

And most people don’t want to give that up. So we take offense at the cross (because we don’t want to humble ourselves and repent and accept what Jesus did for us there), and if we think about it long enough, we take offense at Christians who do believe such things because their belief suggests that our beliefs may be wrong, which logically trickles down to becoming offended over Christmas – particularly the Christ of Christmas.

So is there a war on Christmas? Yes. And it has been going on since the very first one. Why else did King Herod kill all of the babies of Bethlehem in his attempt to eradicate the “one born King of the Jews”? Satan was waging war on Jesus then, and he is waging war on Jesus now.

Will it ever end? Oh yes. And soon. One day the Victor will reign over all the earth. Because you see, the manger was just the beginning. The cross and the empty tomb were the middle. The kingdom is the climax, the conquering apex of this story.

“For to us a child is born,
to us a son is given, (This was His first coming.)
and the government will be on his shoulders.
And he will be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
Of the increase of his government and peace
there will be no end.
He will reign on David’s throne
and over his kingdom,
establishing and upholding it
with justice and righteousness
from that time on and forever.
The zeal of the LORD Almighty
will accomplish this.” Isaiah 9:6-7 (This is His second coming.)

“Jews demand miraculous signs and Greeks look for wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.” I Corinthians 1:22-24

May God grant you wisdom to understand and grace to accept it.

Merry Christmas!

There is something built within each of us that makes us want people to like us. It’s what causes peer dependence in both young and old, making us do things to please people, to fit in with the crowd of our choice. And most of the time we manage to find at least a few friend we can connect with, people who understand us or for some reason seem to like us in spite of ourselves, and we like them in return.

But there are also those difficult people who rub us the wrong way, who act irritated and offended in our presence. For one reason or other we just don’t get along. Maybe we didn’t look at them the right way, or we said something that offended them, or we have something that they don’t – something makes them dislike us and they are quick to let us know it.

We’ve seen examples of this played out on television and in real life where school children bully other children, or those in the “in” crowd snub those who aren’t. The haves ignore the have nots. The popular kids snub the geeks. It’s so common we almost accept it as normal behavior. However, we expect them to outgrow it when they reach maturity.

That doesn’t always happen.

I had lunch with my mom yesterday, and we got to talking about this very issue. I was sharing with her about a woman who has issues with me, and I have no idea why. I expected my mom to sympathize and perhaps give me an example of something similar she had experienced long ago with difficult people. But my mom doesn’t dwell in the past all that much. Instead, she related an incident that she was dealing with right now. Someone who she is forced to interact with who turns a cold shoulder and gives her the silent treatment for no good reason. My mom has an idea why the woman acts like this, but like I said, it is not a good reason. It is something you might expect of a child, not a woman in her 70s or 80s.

I thought about that yesterday and realized that difficult people don’t get better with age. If I’m difficult to be around now, that’s not going to change just because I pass another calendar year. We change when we recognize how we are acting, how others perceive us. When we grow less selfish and “me” focused, to more God centered and “others” focused.

I relized too that I may consider some people hard to be around. In those situations, I need to ask God for the courage to see beyond my own perceptions and see them as Jesus sees them.

It starts with realizing who we are in God’s eyes, and seeing others as more important than ourselves. I know I’ve failed at that in the past. But today is a new day and a new year is dawning.

I pray that I will not be one of those difficult people.