'No other gods' finalist for the 2025 CIPA Awards

It is a little more than a year ago, that I finally finished the writing and publishing of the tenth and final book in my series about the Ten Commandments in the 21st century.

Quite a relief, I might add. It took me nineteen years to finish this book series.

I have received news that No other gods is a finalist for the 2025 Christian Indie Awards. Yeah, that is an honor in itself, if you ask me.

Looking at the shortlist I noticed that there are twenty-one categories and a little over seventy finalists in the Christian Indie Awards.

Read more HERE (my new blog) and make sure to sign up! 

Ten Core Values for the christian life (1)

'Going from commandment to core value is, in essence, going from theory to application', I wrote in my previous blog.

If you have read one or more of my books in the series about the Ten Commandments you will have noticed that the books are not about what we can or cannot do, but about what the Holy Spirit wants to do through us.

So, let's start with the first commandment: You shall have no other gods before Me (Exodus 20:3).

The first commandment is more than just a rule, a law, a decree, or even a mere prohibition. In essence, it is a call to holiness. My free interpretation comes down to ‘No compromise’, which is quite radical in a world full of compromises, choices, and alternatives.

We want it all and we can have it all, but in the process we are becoming more and more disoriented and less and less focused. Major confusion, whether mentally, emotionally, physically, or spiritually, is the disease of our time.

As Christians, we should never mix our faith in God with the enticements of this world. This is dangerous ground… unstable ground and the Bible warns us repeatedly not to go that way. ‘You shall have no other gods before me’ means much more than just refraining from worshiping idols. Of course, we have no other gods besides the Lord in our lives, if all is well.

But let’s be honest here; how big is the influence of the world in our lives? Are we refusing to let the world corrupt us? It seems this evil world is closing in on us, which can be quite a frightening feeling. All the more reason to stick with Jesus! The first commandment is therefore a call for undivided loyalty towards the Lord.

👉The core value I have attached to the first commandment is LOYALTY.

Our loyalty is to God alone and we will not be distracted by the concerns of this world. 

🕂🕂🕂🕂🕂

For more on this topic, read my book 'No other gods' (Why undivided loyalty to the One and only living God matters in these days). The book is available on Amazon in your country.

Expand my territory!

"I like the idea of expansion, as long as it is not my waist or weight 😁", I wrote in my blog post on January 4th of this year. The post was about my #oneword for 2024: EXPAND. You can read that post HERE.

Expand as in the prayer of Jabez: Oh, that you would bless me and expand my territory! (1 Chronicles 4:10).

Expand as in Psalm 119:32: I will pursue your commands, for you expand my understanding.

Europe Teen Challenge Conference

We're talking territorial as well as spiritual expansion. I like that idea. This past weekend, we attended the Europe Teen Challenge conference in Warsaw, Poland. With our non-profit organization Traveling Light, we support Teen Challenge programs (faith-based rehab and discipleship programs) in more than 30 countries in Europe. So, the annual conference is always a great opportunity to meet with staff and students from all over Europe.

Book table

We are always present with our book table, which is a blessing as well. Several of my books have been translated into other languages (German, Italian, Spanish, Russian, Farsi, and Polish, to name a few). This time I had two new books/editions on the table:

• No other gods, which is the tenth and final book in my series about the Ten Commandments in the 21st century, and
• Duch Prawdy, which is the Polish edition of my book Spirit of Truth.

Ten Core Values

While writing that final book in the series, the idea came to me that the Ten Commandments are basically the Ten Core Values for a dedicated and fruitful Christian life. I wrote a book about each commandment, and each book represents a core value that we live out in our daily lives.

👉I decided to do a blog series about those Ten Core Values. I surely hope you will take the journey with me. Along the way, the Holy Spirit will expand our understanding of a proper balance between law and grace.

PS: My books are available on Amazon in your country!

Travels, Jesus, and other gods

Last week I posted two pages from chapter one of my new book 'No other gods' on Facebook. Why?

First of all, to kindly introduce potential readers to my not-so-complicated writings 😁 Second of all, to give potential readers a taste of the journey they will travel when reading that book.

Each chapter in 'No other gods' starts with a memory from my own travel experiences over the past decades. India, Thailand, Egypt, Peru, and Bolivia.. each country with its own specific culture and religion (s).

And then there's the Bible. A book that describes a lot of traveling as well. Travels of the ancient Israelites throughout hostile lands, each with its own specific culture and religion(s).

In 'No other gods' I have woven all of this into a story about God, the Creator of the universe, the God of Israël. 'A warm story of truth', as someone on FB called it.

I am not saying anything negative about other cultures and religions but... I am saying a lot of positive about our God!

👉And then, I posted a giveaway last week. I collected your comments on FB, Instagram, and other social media outlets. The winner is: Colinda.

I will send you a free copy of 'No other gods' and I hope the book will encourage and inspire you in your own faith walk, for we are all sojourners, aren't we?!

Giveaway 'No other gods'

Let's start the new year with a giveaway. Why not? Hopefully, it is on your wish list for 2024 to read more books 😁

Why not read my latest release 'No other gods', especially now that you have a chance to win a free copy. I think a new book release is not complete without a blog giveaway, so let's do it.

Last month 'No other gods' hit the shelves. It is the tenth and final book in a series (all books can be read separately) about the Ten Commandments in the 21st century and it is based on the first commandment: You shall have no other gods before me.

‘You shall have no other gods before me’ means so much more than just refraining from worshiping idols. It is a call for undivided loyalty towards the God of Israël and to honor Him as the supreme God, the Creator of heaven and earth. It is also a call to not be ignorant about the destructive influence of principalities and powers, demons and deities, false religious practices and forces of darkness.

I am calling all readers to stand up and take back what the enemy has stolen from us. Let’s make it our aim to live life as God intended it, which is for us to be:

• blessed and fruitful,
• content and encouraged,
• thankful and inspirational for generations to come.

👉So, how do you enter this giveaway? Simply like this post when you see it on social media. Leave a comment if you can, and share the post! Yep, that's it. I'll put your name in the hat and next week I'll ask my husband to draw a winner.

No other gods is available as e-book and paperback on Amazon in your country.

Core values of a Christian life

With the publication of 'No other gods', the book series I have been working on since 2004 has been completed (yeah!) Ten books, each book dealing with one of the Ten Commandments.

While working on 'No other gods' the idea came to me to compose a set of ten core values, based on the topics of my books. You can find them in the back of 'No other gods'.

I have called them the Ten Core Values of a dedicated and fruitful Christian life and of course, they can be summed up in one word: LOVE.

I believe these values sum up what it means to fulfill the Law in love. Mind you, we don't live by rules, we live by the leading of God's Spirit as I have described in each book practically and simply.

Core values are fundamental beliefs that we live out in our daily behavior. As I have explained in this book series, it is one thing to say we are not thieves but it is another thing to be a generous giver. It is one thing to not give a false testimony but it is another thing to always speak truth. It is one thing to say we are not killers but it is another thing to love and value life.

Well, you get the point, right? Of course, the Ten Commandments have not changed, but the way we make them come true is totally different under the New Covenant. Merely obeying or keeping a set of rules can turn into legalism. Fulfilling the ancient writings in a life of love is a different story, as Jesus showed us by the life He lived.

👉It is my prayer to see a Christianity based on these biblical core values with love (God) as the motivator and inspiration behind everything we do!

Final book in Ten Commandmentseries series

It was on a summer's day, back in August 2004, that I heard the Holy Spirit speak to me about writing a book series. It wasn't an audible voice but at the same time, it was loud and clear.

We were living in Southern California at the time, on a beautiful ranch where my husband worked as a racecar technician. Just a few years earlier we had come to faith in Jesus Christ. An event that radically changed our lives. The fact that it was possible to hear God's voice had never occurred to me.

I am forever thankful that He spoke exactly the way He did because I never doubted what I had heard. I was still a rather young believer back then and, although I enjoyed writing since I was a little girl, I had no plans of writing such books.

And here we are, nineteen years down the road. I finally finished the tenth and final book in the series about the Ten Commandments in the 21st century. To be honest, I have longed for this day. Why? Because I have so many other ideas for writing books. Ideas that I didn't want to work on as long I had not finished this series. Yeah, that's called discipline 😁 

No other gods is the tenth and final book in this eye-opening series and it deals with the first commandment: You shall have no other gods before Him. Each chapter starts with a travel story, travels we made throughout the years all over the world. Travels that introduced us to other religions than the one we grew up with, to other cultures, and to other gods...

The subtitle says: Why undivided loyalty to the One and only living God matters in these days

Curious? The book is available on Amazon in your country.