Amish Religion

Take one thoroughly modern gal with a recessionary income problem, mix with the practices of a culture that has proved to be recession-proof, and what have you got? A financial planner in a straw hat. When writer Lorilee Craker learned that the Amish are not just surviving but thriving in the economic downturn, she decided to find out why.

Desperate to find a job, Rachel Hurst accepts the position of housekeeper for a wealthy elderly woman in her isolated mansion. When odd near accidents threaten the elderly woman’s well-being, her relatives are quick to point fingers, but Rachel suspects someone is intent on harming her employer. When no one believes her, the only person she can turn to for help is Jacob. With danger deepening, Rachel faces a situation that could cost her life...and will certainly break her heart once again.

From best-selling author Beth Wiseman come four sweet stories centered around celebrations in the Amish community: rumschpringe, baptism, weddings, and Christmas.

The day expectant Amish widow Sarah Hersler buried her husband, her estranged mother landed on her doorstep announcing she was there to be taken care of in her old age. With no energy to argue, Sarah agreed to travel to Ohio to sell her mother's house. When she finds the house in need of repair, she meets builder Isaac King, a widower. Sarah finds that she has many things in common with Isaac, and the pair quickly strike up a friendship.

Growing up Amish, Abigail Bontrager often felt like a square peg in a round hole. Her pie crusts always turned out tough. Her stitches always ran crooked. She was clumsy. Not ideal for an aspiring Amish wife and mother, but her faith and love of her family, which are so much more important, are solid. Plus, her relationship with the attractive and kindhearted Owen Kurtz is moving in the right direction.

In An Amish Family, beloved author of Amish romance Kathleen Fuller invites listeners into the lives of four Amish families. Building Trust: Grace Miller and Joel King are in love. They’ve dated secretly for the past year, and when he proposes marriage, Grace eagerly agrees. But when she tells her parents about the wedding, she’s shocked when her father tells her she can’t marry Joel. Can Grace get to the bottom of her father’s animosity toward Joel so they can have the happily ever after she’s always dreamed of?

Shocking secrets are revealed when Florence finds out about the English neighbor from next door. Will she feel the same when she learns the truth? Will Florence risk losing everything, her faith and the apple orchard, for a man who's kept the truth covered for so long? Could a surprise visitor change everything?

My story is not about my past, but about your future, says Marie Roberts Monville. In the startling tragedy of the Amish schoolhouse shooting at Nickel Mines, one story has never been told; Marie Roberts Monville, the wife of the man who created such horror, tells her story for the very first time. It is a story of sorrow and destruction, but also one of majestic deliverance, unending compassion, breathtaking forgiveness, and grace-filled redemption. Within a solitary moment, Marie Monville realized that life, as she knew it, was over.

From best-selling authors Beth Wiseman, Amy Clipston, Kathleen Fuller, and Ruth Reid comes An Amish Home, a beautiful collection of four novellas that spread the warmth of Amish living with every moment.

Think No Evil is the first insider account of the tragic events, the personal victories and the daily Amish life in Nickel Mines, written by a native of the Amish community who still lives and works where most of his relatives are Old Order Amish. Against the rich and fascinating backdrop of Amish culture, Beiler reveals the best of the human spirit in the midst of the worst, and leaves us all drawn heavenward, the richer for it.

Lizzie Engel is used to running away. At 18, she left her Mennonite hometown, Kingdom, Kansas, with plans never to return. But five years later, the new life she built is falling apart. Lizzie knows she's being followed, and she's certain the same mysterious stranger is behind the threatening letters she's received. Realizing she'll have to run again, the only escape Lizzie can manage is a return to the last place she wants to go. Once she arrives in Kingdom, Lizzie is confident she’ll be safe until she comes up with a new plan.

When advertising executive Jane Walker, finds herself widowed and expecting her first child, she sinks into a severe depression. Her boss and co-workers surprise her with a vacation, forcing her from the safety of her office. She's too embarrassed to tell anyone her late husband was leaving her for another woman when he was killed in the accident. When Jane arrives at the vacation destination, she's most upset to find that the bed and breakfast is run by an Amish family.

After a son does the unthinkable, how can a mother go on? On October 2, 2006, a gunman entered an Amish one-room schoolhouse, shooting 10 girls, killing five, then finally taking his own life. This is his mother's story. Not only did she lose her precious son through suicide, but she also lost her understanding of him as an honorable man. It was a trauma that no one should ever have to face.

It was the early 1900s when Obadiah (Oba) and Merriweather's (May's) parents died tragically, leaving them orphans at ten and eleven years old. When none of their nearby relations volunteer to take them in, they are set on a train to Arkansas to go live on their Amish aunt and uncle's cotton farm. Once there, it didn't take long to discover they would be treated cruelly, no matter what they did. May, always anxious to be a godly young lady, took on more and more responsibility, trying desperately to keep the peace and convince her older brother not to run away.

All the color and variety of a quaint Amish shop in a charming collection of novellas by four of your favorite authors. Feel free to come in and browse!

Will love and faith guide a lost son back home for good? Can he mend the shattered hearts he left behind? Abel Bontrager returns to his Amish roots in Cedar Creek seeking solace from a tragedy that shattered his Englischer life to pieces, only to find himself face-to-face with Ruth Yoder, the woman he left behind. As old feelings resurface, Abel must prove his commitment to the community and to Ruth, while navigating the skepticism and disapproval of those around them, especially Ruth's brother Ezekiel. As a devastating barn fire tests Abel's resolve and shifts perceptions, love blossoms ...

Can a heart once torn by love's rejection find a new beginning? Titus Fisher has often made poor choices. When he lived in Pennsylvania he chose the wrong girl, who broke his heart. When he moves to Kentucky, he finally discovers that he possesses woodworking skills. Will he stick with it or return to the old comforts—and love—from his life in Lancaster?

Back in the 16th century, the Protestant Reformation took Europe by storm. The havoc wreaked saw the split of churches and the emergence of the Amish, led by Jakob Ammann. By the 18th century, a group of Amish had crossed the seas to the United States, where they made their home, and today the Amish are now one of the fastest-growing populations in the world.

Clinton has died and May is left to fend for herself in a city where she knows almost no one and has no way of earning a living. Not knowing where Oba had wound up and realizing she can't return to her uncle's home after all he'd put her through, she decides to journey to the Amish community where she spent her first years, before her parents' died. Perhaps the relatives who once turned her away had had a change of heart and would be willing to take her in or help her get settled on her own.

Nineteen-year-old Tessie Miller is the youngest of her Old Order parents' five daughters--and the only one yet to marry. She has her heart set on Amishman Marcus Smucker, and come wedding season, they plan to tie the knot and start a family together. But Tessie's father disapproves. Ammon Miller has his reasons, and he has put his foot down. The marriage will not go forward. Impetuously, Tessie and Marcus take matters into their own hands, eloping to exchange their vows in the fancy, English world.