I've been studying the life of King David and Solomon for my upcoming Christmas story. I ran across several interesting facts, so I thought I would share them with you this week.

Historians believe that David was born in Bethlehem sometime between 1040-1030 B.C.

David was probably around 10-13 years old when Samuel anointed him as the next king of Israel.

David was probably 15-17 years old when he slays Goliath. His youth is probably one of the reasons that Saul delayed giving his daughter to David as a wife like he had promised to the man who would kill Goliath.
Jonathan was much older than David.

King David made his sons Royal Advisers in Jerusalem when they were probably between the ages of 14-18. This apparently caused them to become prideful judging by their actions.

King David is one of the most amazing Biblical examples of God's grace. Though he sinned many, many times even murdering the husband of the woman he took in adultery, yet because of his repentant heart, God called him a man after God's own heart. (I Sam 13:14, Acts 13:22)

Welcome Ada! Tell us a little bit about yourself.

I have been writing for Christian publications since age 15 and spent much of my life as a daily newspaper reporter. I have a B.S. degree in Mass Communications and worked most of my career at The Pueblo Chieftain in Colo., where I spent the last seven years as a medical writer. After moving to Springfield, MO in retirement, I continue to free lance for Christian publications and write non-fiction and fiction books. I am critique group leader of Ozarks Chapter of American Christian Writers.

How did you discover your calling to be a writer?

I was the youth leader in our church and had lots of ideas for unusual services so I sent them to the Assemblies of God’s youth leader’s magazine and they were published. Then we moved to the Utah desert to a town of 100 and no church. God did a work in me and I began writing, both for Christian publications and as a newspaper correspondent.

What books have influenced your life most?

The Bible (it still amazes and thrills me); The Greatest Thing in the World by Henry Drummond; Catherine Booth’s biography; Luther’s biography. Fiction: Nightmare Academy by Peretti; Desert Rose series by Catherine Palmer, and many other great writers.

If you had to choose, which writer would you consider a mentor?

My first editors, Richard Champion and Robert C. Cunningham. By example and teaching, Janette Oke, Janice Thompson, Davis Bunn, and many others.

What is your favorite time in History?

Now—2013—because God is working powerfully throughout the world despite great wickedness and the Lord could return to catch away the church at any moment. For my reading, I love historical set in the 1850s to the turn of the 20th Century. I hope to write a novel someday set in the 1950s because I lived then and my husband was a railroad telegrapher.

What was the most outstanding thing you learned while researching for your book?

For Imagine the Future You, I enjoyed learning the history of amplification and the first bass guitar, a great illustration of how an ordinary person can create amazing things. Another was a true event that illustrated the seriousness of bad habits. Someone leaned a bicycle up against a young sapling tree and left it there for years. The tree grew around the bike and in order to remove it, the tree would have to be cut down. Of course they left it there as an oddity.

Please tell us about your book.

Imagine the Future You should be released in a few weeks. I just received a proof.

Will you be the person you dream of being—or someone from your nightmares?  Today is the time to IMAGINE and to create an action plan for your future.

·         How harnessing your will can make you a champion

·         How to make valuable deposits into your mind, detoxify harmful substances in the brain, and avoid brain washing

·         How to look and be your best

·         How to connect with Someone who will make a difference in your life

·         How who you marry changes everything

·         How to avoid traps that jeopardize your future

·         Where you want your name to appear

·         Why you can believe God is there and interested in your future

·         Examples of people who grabbed their future and held on

This book will show how to make the right connections, how to grow you talents, and how to begin believing in yourself and things greater than yourself—for a wonderful Future You!

What do you want readers to take away from your book?

Determination to do and be their best as they work toward the future with faith in God to take them to heaven for eternity.

Any fun tidbits about you you'd like to share with us?

I was the eighth child in our large financially destitute family. Yet because my parents and older siblings came to the Lord about the time I was born, I was rich in love and joy. Every one of us became achievers and a large percentage made a positive impact on a portion of the world and their commitment is  extending into the next generation with doctors, attorneys, musicians, pastors, missionaries, church workers, business men and women, writers, high-level educators and much more. Our house vibrated with  live music because we all sang and played instruments. One day as my friends and I washed dishes, just for fun we started a trio with each of us singing at the top of our lungs in a different key. I don’t know how my mom kept from running out the door with her ears plugged.

What is the next project you're working on?

My historical novel, The Lady Fugitive, is written and should be on the market in three months.

How can readers find you on the internet?

Joe the Dreamer: The Castle and the Catapult http://buff.ly/XeqTvH

Swallowed by LIFE: Mysteries of Death, Resurrection and the Eternal: http://amzn.to/Jnc1rW

Confessions of a Pentecostal: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0088OP460

    Blog: http://inkfromanearthenvessel.blogspot.com

 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/#!/AdaBrownellWritingMinistries

 Twitter: @adellerella

 Blog: http://inkfromanearthenvessel.blogspot.com Stick to Your Soul Encouragement

    Amazon Ada Brownell author page: http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B001KJ2C06

Joe the Dreamer: The Castle and the Catapult

By A.B. Brownell

Enter an area where people are missing and radicals want to obliterate Christianity from the earth. After Joe Baker’s parents mysteriously disappear, he finds himself with a vicious man after him. Joe and an unusual gang team up to find his mom and dad. The gang is dedicated to preventing and solving crimes with ordinary harmless things such as noise, water, and a pet skunk instead of blades and bullets. Joe reads the Bible hoping to discover whether God will answer prayer and bring his parents home. In his dreams, Joe slips into the skin of Bible characters and what happened to them, happens to him—the peril and the victories. Yet, crying out in his sleep causes him to end up in a mental hospital’s juvenile unit. Will he escape or will he be harmed? Will he find his parents? Does God answer prayer?

We've been discussing a lot of the earliest church martyrs, so I thought it would be good to give a little background on how all these persecutions got started.

The very first persecution of the followers of Jesus Christ came shortly after Pentecost when the Jewish leaders began arresting them, flogging them and threatening them. This persecution was mostly in Jerusalem, but spread when Saul of Tarsus began his campaign. This was probably around 35AD. However, the authority of the Jews was limited, so few were actually killed during this persecution.

Then, in 67AD, what is referred to as the First Persecution under Nero began. Nero had a horrible temper, and was crazy to boot. One of his diabolical whims was to set the city of Rome on fire. While sitting in his tower playing  his harp, he watched the city of Rome be consumed while thousands of his people died in the flames or rubble to which he said "I wish the ruin of all things before my death."

After the fire, Nero saw that the people condemned him for the tragedy and his popularity so declined that he decided he needed a scape goat. That of course, was the Christians, and the first persecution began.  Many terrible tactics were used to persecute the Christians, such as putting them in a wax shirt before burning them in his garden, or sewing them up inside the skins of wild beasts before releasing hungry dogs on them. However these intense persecutions didn't discourage the growth of the church, in fact, it flourished.

Paul and Peter were killed during this persecution. The chamberlain of  Corinth, Joseph called Barnabas, and Ananias bishop of Damascus were also killed during this time.

What do you think you would have done if faced with such harsh persecution?

Today I'm blogging over at the Stitches Thru Time Blog! Be sure to leave a comment to be entered in a drawing for some awesome prizes!

Howdy Friends! Amber Schamel here with our Tuesday History Tidbit. :)
Did you know that quilts may have been used as a secret code system?

The Underground Railroad was an amazing system. They used all sorts of methods to relay information, send signals, hide the 'passengers', and get them to freedom. Recently, a new method has come to light.
Click Here to read full post.