Synopses & Reviews
A perfect Christmas for Lela Edwards this year would include the presence of her husband, her three daughters, and her favorite granddaughter, Darcie. They would each be happy, healthy, and properly married. But life doesn't always unfold in a perfect way, even for God-loving, churchgoing people like these. Lela's husband of fifty years, Walter, has recently passed, and the daughters now live in towns and states far from the Chicago neighborhood where they were raised.
Darcie is traveling to Missouri City, Texas, to be with her mother, not to Chicago to be with her grandmother, whom she expects to come down hard on her for deciding to divorce her husband and the father of her unborn child. Lela is upset and annoyed with Darcie and herself for breaking her own time-honored tradition of making a quilt to celebrate each family wedding. The quilt is still in separate pieces, and apparently so is the marriage of Doug and Darcie.
The Christmas season is about celebrating the birth and meaning of Christ; about the hope and inspiration that the story we revisit each year offers. So, as the days of the season progress, Lela participates in a Bible study group that focuses on the Virgin Mary. This is the cold season in Chicago and rough weather, literally and figuratively, is ahead for Lela, her family, neighbors, and fellow church members, but in the Scriptures are messages and guidance. If they heed the lessons of the Virgin Mary, they will learn from their mistakes and misjudgments of each other and find favor with God.
Review
…[Jakes] stitches the story of the Virgin Mary into a modern-day tale that's inspiring and warmhearted…sharp, sassy Lela is the real draw here. And as she stumbles and rights herself, Jakes achieves his purpose: teaching the Bible, gently. -- Kristi Lanier, The Washington Post
Synopsis
Time magazine and CNN referred to T.D. Jakes as America's Best Preacher. He is pastor of The Potter's House, which has 30,000 members, and his sermons are broadcast live on BET every Sunday.
Jakes's twenty-fourth book, Maximize the Moment, reached number three on the New York Times bestseller list. Jakes's TV show The Potter's Touch reaches 67 million households per month.
Visit T.D. Jakes online at www.tdjakes.com.
Synopsis
One of America's most beloved spiritual leaders takes 10 life lessons from the virgin birth story to help people enjoy Christmas and find favor in unfavorable moments.
Synopsis
T.D. Jakes’s first Christmas story features a grandmother seeking inspiration from the Bible as she prepares to create a quilt.
Grandmother feels as if her life and loves have all passed, leaving her alone to reminisce about the joy of yesteryear and the real Christmases she celebrated. But as she opens her heart to the stories of the Virgin Mary, the truth of what really matters to her comes to light. At the end, she folds up the quilts she has made and ventures off to share their joy and warmth with the children in a local shelter, leaving them with something to keep them physically and spiritually cloaked.
With ten life lessons divined from the story of Jesus’ birth, A Christmas Story for Our Times is a charming, thoughtful treat for those who consider the Christmas season to be the most special time of the year.
About the Author
T.D. Jakes is the CEO of TDJ Enterprises, LLP; founder and senior pastor of The Potter's House of Dallas, Inc.; and the New York Times bestselling author of Making Great Decisions (previously titled Before You Do), Reposition Yourself: Living Life Without Limits, and Let It Go: Forgive So You Can be Forgiven, a New York Times, USA TODAY, and Publishers Weekly bestseller. He has won and been nominated for numerous awards, including Essence magazine’s President’s Award in 2007 for Reposition Yourself, a Grammy in 2004, and NAACP Image awards. He has been the host of national radio and television broadcasts and is regularly featured on the highly rated Dr. Phil show. He lives in Dallas with his wife and five children.