An Uncommon Grace

Upon moving to a farm in rural Ohio to distance herself from memories of war, former military nurse Grace Connor meets the conservative Levi Troyer, who struggles with reconciling his feelings for outsider Grace with his Amish faith.

When Amish widow Claire Shetler is attracted to the man who caused her fiancé’s death, they must both heal deep wounds to discover God’s hidden mercies. At seventeen, Tobias Miller smashed his cousin’s car into a tree, killing his brother only four hours before he was scheduled to marry Claire Shetler. Unable to live with his father’s bottomless grief and anger, Tobias left the Amish church and ran away to join the Marines. Twenty-seven years later, Tobias, now called Tom, returns to Mt. Hope, Ohio, a wounded, decorated Marine helicopter pilot, and rents an apartment over Claire’s workshop. A widowed Amish midwife, Claire is struggling to support her family. When Tom rents her room she does not recognize the disfigured soldier as the boy she once knew. She only sees the money as a godsend, though she is nervous about having a strange man so close by. Claire never dreams that she will end up falling in love with a battle-scarred soldier. As Claire and Tom fight their way through the traumas of the past, they discover the tender mercies God has hidden along the way—including a loving father who has been praying for his prodigal son to come home and a God who makes all things new.

A moving and inspirational novel about the power of faith, family and above all, love, as a young Amish man must turn to his Englisch neighbor for help after a devastating tragedy. Grace Connor, a military nurse formerly stationed in Afghanistan, hopes that moving to a farm in rural Ohio will help her recover from the ravages of war. Levi Troyer finds his pacifist beliefs challenged when he discovers his stepfather has been killed and his mother wounded by an unknown intruder. Levi and Grace are thrown together when she comes to his family’s rescue and saves his mother’s life. A deep attraction develops—even though a relationship between them is strictly forbidden. Levi belongs to the most conservative and isolated of all Amish sects—the Swartzentruber Amish. Even before meeting Grace, Levi had begun to question some of their teachings. He has considered leaving, but knows he will be banned forever from contact with his younger siblings and widowed mother—who need him to survive. He is torn between his love for Grace and his responsibility to his family. Grace considers leaving her beloved farm and reenlisting rather than continuing to live near the man she loves but cannot have. Levi must confront the Bann if he pursues Grace. And a murderer must be caught. When lifelong allegiances are tested, can love and justice prevail?

Even before meeting Grace, Levi had begun to question some of the teachings of his ultra-conservative Amish sect. If he leaves, he will be banned forever from contacting his family. Meanwhile, a murderer must be caught. Will love and justice prevail?

Julian, I have a brain tumor. Julian Schlusberg and his partner, Ort, were sitting on the couch in their den, when Ort made this announcement. And then Ort told Julian the rest of the storyhow he went to the doctor for a flu shot and casually mentioned that he had been having dizzy spells. The doctor sent him for tests, and the results were badvery bad. Ort had a large, aggressive brain tumor, a glioblastoma multiforme grade four that would cause his death within a year. In the years since Orts death, Julian has been a traveler on the grief journey. In Uncommon Grace: Revelations in the Place Called Mourning, he recounts the life he has lived in those years. He has learned how brutal and merciless grief can be, but also how it can have the ability to alter our awareness and enable us to see and feel things we had never experienced before. Even in the face of insurmountable sadness and tragedy, it can lend some order to a world of heartbreak where nothing seems to makes sense. All of our sadness, anger, and frustration may ironically enable us to be more perceptive, insightful, and understanding.

Uses photographs to trace the life of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis

When an Amish woman falls for the New York crime writer who buys her family farm, she must decide whether to follow the longings of her heart or the rules of her faith. When an Amish woman falls for the New York crime writer who buys her family farm, she must decide whether to follow the longings of her heart or the rules of her faith. When Hope Yoder loses her husband, she is left trying to support her two small children—and one on the way—however she can. She ends up taking a job as a part-time housekeeper for the Englisch man who has bought the farm that once belonged to her family. Logan Parker is a bestselling crime fiction writer from New York City who accompanies his fiancée on a trip to Holmes County, Ohio, but the trip takes a strange turn when he sees an Amish farmhouse for sale. Intrigued by a strong sense of familiarity, he enters the house and is overcome with a feeling of deep peace. He’s never been to Ohio before, but something in this house feels right, and he purchases the farm to use as a retreat. Something about the peacefulness of the house frees him from the crippling writer’s block that threatens to ruin his career, and something about the quiet Amish woman who comes to clean his home makes him less and less excited about returning to New York and the woman he is supposed to marry. Slowly, Logan and Hope are drawn together, and when they discover that they share a strange past, they must decide how that affects their future. Will Hope overcome her fear of embracing love again?

As a senior pastor, John Vawter examines character traits and attitudes that bring dignity to human relationships, injecting grace into the day-to-day dehumanized society in which we find ourselves.