Inkwell Inspirations

Come join me over at Inkwell Inspirations today!

A Sunday Psalm

I love the Lord, for He heard my voice;
He heard my cry for mercy.
Because He turned His ear to me,
I will call on Him as long as I live.

Psalm 116:1-2

My Silly Waiting Ditty

(Sung to the tune of the theme from Rawhide. I watched the reruns—along with The Rifleman—almost every Saturday afternoon when I was growing up.)

Waiting, waiting, waiting,

Oh, anticipating,

Day and night I’m waiting,

How long?

Imagination soaring,

Oh Lord You get the glory,

Or maybe I’ll be left

High and dry.

Trying to keep busy

But not forgetting, really,

That sometime my fate

They will decide.

Yes or no, no or yes,

No or yes, yes or no,

Yes or no, no or yes

Which one?

Waiting day, waiting night,

Waiting night, waiting day,

Waiting day, waiting night,

How long?

clip art courtesy of www.webweaver.nu

For a nice history of St. Patrick, check out Niki's post on Inkwell Inspirations today!

Spring has Sprung

This week the Bradford pear trees burst into bloom, white flowers covering them like a shy bride arrayed in her finery. It’s always a very noticeable sign of spring around here—and it seems to come almost in an instant. That first day I noticed the bits of white clinging to bare branches, the sun appeared and the temperature hovered in the 60s. Suddenly I have hope that I won’t be cold forever. Warm is on the way. 

Then They Will Know

One of the things I’ve learned from years of doing Precept Upon Precept Bible Study is to pay attention to repeated words in a book (or chapter) of Scripture. It makes sense. If God wants us to get it, He’ll repeat it. Over and over. For He knows we are but dust.

So on my last reading of Ezekiel, I kept running across the same phrase: then they (or you) will know that I am the Lord. Somewhere in the neighborhood of 54 times in 48 chapters. I guess it was important to the Lord that we hear that.

He said it after revealing hard things that would happen, like being defeated and taken captive, and after good things, like restoration from captivity. Through all of it, one of His purposes is for us to know that He is the Lord.

Can you look at things that have happened or are happening in your life through that lens? I’m trying to. Because the more I know that He is the Lord, the less I worry about my circumstances, the less I feel the need to figure out how to make it all work.

My knowing is still far from perfect or consistent. Sometimes I sweat the small stuff while I have great trust for the looming doom. Sometimes it’s the other way around. But if His intention is for me to know that He is the Lord, He won’t hide it from my view. I simply have to pay attention to things going on around me.

Easier said than done!

Inkwell Inspirations

Come join me over at Inkwell Inspirations today!

Zits

I don’t know about you, but sometimes I find it hard to laugh at the situations in which I find myself. I tend to take life too seriously, missing the joy—or even just the cathartic nature of a good laugh. So I look to others to help me see the humor.

Like cartoonists.

When my kids were small, I found Baby Blues. Every morning I’d read the three or four frames and chuckle, because I found it so true to life. When my kids grew past the ages of the characters, my enjoyment waned. But in the past few years I’ve found a replacement. What's funny is that both are collaborative comic strips, and one of the guys is involved in both!

If you have teenagers, or even remember having teenagers, check out the Zits comic strip. I don’t think you can help but be amused. It never fails to hit close to home—be it with a teenaged boy or girl. In fact, I’ve been known to laugh until I’ve cried! And for this parent of teens, a functioning sense of humor is absolutely necessary to survival.

Decisions, Decisions

There are moments when a strong-willed child is a joy. I think the college search can be one of those moments. Child numero uno knew exactly what she wanted to do, where she wanted to look. It was a painless (though expensive) process.

Child number two, the compliant one, is proving to be much harder. We don’t want to make the decisions for him. We want his future to be his. But he refuses to make decisions about even where to look. And time is winding down. Yes, we have a whole year and two months until graduation, but with not wanting to miss days of school before finals in May, a summer of work, and senior seasons of football and basketball on the horizon, we know there will no be time to make campus visits. So we have to go now. But we have to choose some places to visit.

We’re driving him crazy. He’s driving us crazy. I think he’d just prefer us to make the decision for him, but I won’t give him that out. He has to learn to decide, to know what HE should do, not simply let others’ opinions sway him. It’s when you worry about that child that you’ve always been thankful was “the easy one,” for sometimes their later days are paved with hard lessons they sidestepped in their younger years.

I’m sure things will all work out in the end, for we continue to do the one thing that works—we pray. I just wish I could see that end a little more clearly in the now.

The Soggy Middle Ground

I’ve never had trouble starting a new project before, but this time it’s different. I’m not sure why it’s different. It just is.

I have an idea. I have some characters. I even have a bit of research done and a couple of fun opportunities for research in the next few weeks. But I can’t seem to write that first word because I can’t seem to get a good picture of things in my mind.

Is fear holding me back? Fear that this one won’t be as good as the last? Fear that I’ll spend all that time and energy only to have another book to put on the virtual shelf? Maybe it’s the anticipation that the year of writing will be my son’s senior year of high school. My second child, my oldest boy. One I will miss terribly.

Maybe it is simply a lack of faith on my part. A worry that I’m wasting precious time. A look at the waves lapping my feet instead of walking with my eyes fixed on Jesus. All I know is that I’ve been floundering for about a month now, and it has to stop. I have to move forward or lay it down. That soggy middle ground simply won’t hold my weight much longer.

Finding the Right Fit

I tried to go clothes shopping the other day. But clothes shopping depresses me. Clothes are not made for long-legged people. They just aren’t. Just like shoes aren’t made for skinny-footed people. Especially sandals. So after trying on a dressing room full of rejects, I hung the clothes back on a rod, turned to my mother and said, “This is why I prefer shopping for books. They always fit.”

So there you have it. One of these days I’ll only own pjs and books. And I’ll be quite happy. As long as the kitchen is stocked, that is. Of course that might be difficult in the pjs. Perhaps this plan needs more work.

Inkwell Inspirations

Come join me over at Inkwell Inspirations today for part three of our five part serial story!

The Young Victoria

I’ll admit that I have a lifelong fascination with royalty. And truly, if I trace it back, it probably began with checking out Jean Plaidy’s The Queen’s Husband back when I was 11 or 12. It told the story of Victoria and Albert. And I was hooked.

So it really isn’t any surprise that I’ve wanted to see the new movie The Young Victoria. But it was only showing at one theater around us—and that one was over 30 miles away. I thought it a long shot, at best. But lo and behold, we actually found ourselves in that area of town on Sunday and went.

While I understand that movies (and books) based on lives of historical figures often skew the historical fact, I didn’t mind. When the credits rolled and the lights went up in the theater, I was still wiping my eyes.

“That may be the most romantic movie I’ve ever seen,” I told my husband.

The screenplay wove the story well. The actors were topnotch. And the fact that it has been nominated for Academy Awards in art direction, costume design, and makeup tell you it was beautiful to watch as well. Definitely a film that will reside among my DVDs when it becomes available.

A Serial Story at Inkwell Inspirations

Have you ever read a serial story? We're doing one at Inkwell Inspirations this week. It's a story that continues for five days and it is written by five different people. This is the second time I've been involved in such a thing. It is very fun for both the writer and the reader! Read the first installment here.

Anticipation

I don’t do anticipation very well. Anticipation of something bad has always led to fear in my life. Anticipation of good has often led to disappointment. So how do we walk through days full of anticipation of something looming on the horizon of our lives? Of something we know, for better or worse, is coming?

Lately I’ve been remembering the days of anticipation before the birth of my first child. The anticipation wasn’t so strong the day I learned I was pregnant. Or even a few months later. I knew I had to wait at least nine months, so the anticipation heightened as the time drew near. I quit my full-time job two weeks before my due date. Every day of those two weeks was filled with anticipation—and little else. I remember feeling restless, eager for something besides the impending birth to occupy my mind and yet unable to settle into anything else for long.

I feel that way these days, too. And yet, nearly twenty years later, I’m thinking that anticipation shouldn’t rule me. I should be able to move forward, to accomplish all that is required of me on a daily basis without succumbing to the inactivity and indecision of anticipation. Isn’t that what it means to not worry about tomorrow? To be able to live each day, each moment without that cloak of anticipation binding my hands and feet?

So I’m trying to do better, trying to live in the now, trying to anticipate only what the Lord would have me to do, not what lies ahead to experience. Help me, Lord!

Inkwell Inspirations

Come join me over at Inkwell Inspirations today!

A Sunday Psalm

Come, let us sing for joy to the Lord;
let us shout aloud to the rock of our salvation.
Let us come before Him with thanksgiving
and extol Him with music and song.
For the Lord is the great God,
the great King above all gods.
      --Psalm 95:1-3

It's In the Details

I’m a detail person. I didn’t always know this about myself. In fact, at a crucial job interview when I was twenty-one, my prospective boss said, “Are you a detail-oriented person?”

           

“No,” I replied, very matter-of-factly. Maybe almost with a bit of disdain. After all, everyone knows that “detail-oriented” means “boring” or “nerd.” And I was determined to be neither of those things.

The Lord graciously let this woman see past my words to my personality and I got the job. It did indeed involve myriad details, all of which I juggled with aplomb. Whether I liked it or not, I recognized that I am wired for detail.

But lately it seems like I’m drowning in a sea of details. I’m not talking about saying “no” to things. I’m just talking about the details of life that must be attended to by someone. Things like when a bill isn’t correct and you must call customer service to get it straightened out. Or when one doctor’s appointment leads to another. Or when you change your provider of ___________ (you fill in the blank) and the list of who needs to know this snowballs until you feel like Indiana Jones running from a giant boulder. Sometimes it’s just the weekly or monthly task of making a grocery list and figuring out what you are going to feed the family or taking care of the car registration, inspection, oil change, tire rotation.

I don’t want to spend every waking moment dealing with the details. I want to read or write or spend time with the people I enjoy. But I have a hard time doing those things when the details of life become all consuming.

The Pastor's Wife

Have you or your spouse ever put your job or ministry before your marriage? Have either of you ever felt like you couldn’t find your place—and your spouse didn’t fully understand? Have you or your spouse ever held to yourself a hurt that needed to be shared?

If you answered yes to any of the above questions—and my guess is that if you’ve been married more than a few days or weeks, you did—then you will be able to identify with Maura and Nick Shepherd, the main characters in Jennifer AlLee’s novel The Pastor’s Wife. I know I did! My husband and I struggled at the beginning of his career with the balance of work and family.

I met Jennifer over three years ago at an ACFW conference, and now she and I both contribute to the Inkwell Inspirations blog. She is a lovely person and a great writer. And I’m glad I can also call her my friend.

But I have to admit, when I agree to accept a free book before publication, I do it with a bit of trepidation. What if I hate it? What do I do then? Just a few pages into this book, I knew that wouldn’t be a problem!

Real without being raw, this engaging romance warmed my heart. Here’s the back cover blurb:

Maura Sullivan thought she knew what she was getting into when she married son-to-be-pastor Nick Shepherd. But when “the other woman” in her marriage turned out to be her husband’s congregation, she ran.

Six years later, she’s back in the small community of Granger, Ohio, for the reading of a will that names both her and Nick as beneficiaries.

Now Maura must face the husband and the congregation she left behind.

I hope you find as much pleasure in their story as I did!

Thank You, Tekeme Studios!

I've long admired the work of George and Ashley Weis at Tekeme Studios. Then I met Ashley face to face at the 2009 ACFW Conference. If our common callings as writers didn't unite us, the fact that she was pregnant with her third child in three years would have. After all, I've lived that life.

But imagine my thrill when the Lord dropped a bit of money in my lap and then nudged me to take the plunge and ask Ashley and George to redo my website/blog! So here it is, the debut. I hope you like it as much as I do.

Thanks, Ashley and George, for managing to put me on the page (or the screen) in a way I could never have articulated but which fits me perfectly. Y'all are awesome!

Olympics

Are you watching the Olympics? In spite of the influx of professionals into the venue, I still love the pageantry and the stories of athletes from around the world that overcome great odds. Like the lone participant from Ghana—that country’s first ever winter Olympian. He’s a skier. His nickname is The Snow Leopard. Or the young American ski jumper that received his trip to the Olympic qualifying trials as his Christmas present from his family. He didn’t even make the medal round, but I imagine that didn’t much matter. Of course there is tragedy, too. Like watching the faces of the other athletes from Georgia as they paraded into the arena after losing their teammate to the luge accident.

More stories will surface in the next few days. We’ll cheer for those who have persevered through hardship or loss. We’ll watch as some favored to win their events will, indeed, win. We’ll watch as others, considered long shots, rise to the occasion and end up on the podium with a medal circling their necks and the emotion of watching their country flag ascend flickering across their faces. It’s a good thing the Olympics only come every two years. I’m not sure I could stand the suspense or emotion any more often than that!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Ask

Are you ever afraid to ask God for something? I am. I find myself afraid I’ll ask for the wrong thing and then God will give it and I’ll be in a mess. Or I get afraid that if I ask, I won’t get an answer. Or the answer won’t be what I want to hear. Or I don’t ask because I think I don’t deserve to recieve anything. Or because asking might mean I haven’t yet conquered self.

But is any of that really true? I’ve been reading in the book of Mark lately. In Chapter 7 the Syrophonenician woman came and asked Jesus to heal her daughter. She wasn’t even deterred by His not immediately saying yes or no. She persisted. And Jesus healed her daughter.

In Chapter 9, the disciples become confused by Jesus’ words about what will happen to him, about his impending death and resurrection. Verse 32 says “But they did not understand this statement, and they were afraid to ask Him.” They didn’t understand, yet they were afraid to ask.

Chapter 10 closes with the story of blind Bartimaeus. He called to Jesus, asking for mercy. When Jesus stopped and took him aside, Jesus said, “What do you want me to do for you?” Bartimaeus asked to receive his sight, and he received it.

As all three of these stories swirl together in my mind, I remember Jesus, who even knowing the Father’s plan for him, asked in the garden, “If it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; yet not as I will, but as You will.” (Matthew 26:39) He asked for the cup to pass, but also asked that the Father do as He pleased.

Then I remember the verses that I’ve pondered since my teenaged years. “Now suppose one of you fathers is asked by his son for a fish; he will not give him a snake instead of a fish, will he? Or if he is asked for an egg, he will not give him a scorpion, will he?” (Luke 11:11-12)

So many times I am like the disciples. Afraid to ask. Afraid, maybe, to hear the answer—even sometimes afraid Jesus will grant my request. And yet—of all the examples above the only one turned down flat was Jesus’. But He didn’t mind, for He’d qualified it with “not as I will, but as You will.”

If the Word of God is to be taken as a whole, then I must conclude that God wants me to ask. That He will not give me something to my detriment if my heart is seeking that which is good in His sight. That while He may not say yes to my request, He is not offended by it. Indeed, while He knows my need or my desire before I ask, He sometimes deems it necessary for me to voice the question. I just need to ask.

Sunshine Award

So how fun is this? Steena over at Chocolate Reality gave my blog a Sunshine Award. Here's the cool part about this for me--Steena often reads and comments on my "Critique per Week" post I do at the Wanna Be Published blog. But I had no idea she'd found this blog! Anyway, part of the point of this award is to pass it to other bloggers I know. So here goes.

• Relevant Blog 
• The Reads in Rockwall 
• Has Anyone Seen My Purse
• Carla's Writing Cafe 
• Random Jottings 
• Kisses From Katie
• Fallible

Rules to Accept the Award:
Put the logo on your blog in your post.
Pass the award onto 12 bloggers. (Yeah, I didn't manage 12. Time crunch)
Link the nominees within your post.
Let the nominees know they have received this award by commenting on their blogs.
Share the love and link to the person from whom you received this award.

Freezing Toes, Eating Woes

I thought I was crazy. Or at least completely lacking in self-control. But today I found a scientific explanation for my behavior of late. And that was comforting.

You see, until December, I’d been doing so well eating right. At first I blamed my lapse on my chef daughter being home from school. And that was part of it. But she’s been gone a few weeks now and I’m still struggling. The most frustrating part was that I could do fine for several days—even weeks. Then I wanted to (and did) eat everything in sight. I literally couldn’t help myself. But then I noticed something: my binges came as the temperature dropped.

I’m very cold natured as it is. And we’ve had an unusually cold winter this year. The result? I eat. Not just food, but carbs and sweets. So today I looked up cold weather and appetite and found an interesting article on WebMD. It said that when the temperature drops outside, our body temperatures drop. (Boy does mine drop!) One way the body knows to raise that temperature is to increase the appetite. Food helps the body increase its temperature again. Especially carbs and sugar.

Now, being the biology boycotter that I am (I took Life Science in 7^th grade, but no Biology beyond that.), I had no idea my body worked like that. I only knew I couldn’t quit eating this winter. I still need to have a bit more self-control in what I consume. And I need to find a way to get warm enough to exercise, which wouldn’t be a problem except that I’m too cheap to turn up the heat in the house! But at least now I know I’m not crazy.

Reading vs. Writing

Catching up after Christmas and doing another round of edits on my book didn’t leave much time for reading in January. In fact, I only read two books. I can’t remember the last time that’s happened. I tend to average 4-5 books per month. I have for years and years. Yet here am I with February half-gone and I have yet to close a back cover and wish the story hadn’t ended.

It’s a hard thing, I’m learning, to balance the reading and the writing. I love to read. I hate not to read. And yet there are only so many hours in a day. And this coming from one who always reads at least a chapter before bed and carries a book with me at all times for those “unexpected” free moments! My “to read” stacks are growing higher, even as I’m longing to re-read some old favorites. How did I get in this mess?

Oh, yeah. I wanted to write. Isn’t every dream a double-edged sword? And here is mine. Maybe I need to talk my husband into a beach vacation this summer, even though neither of us cares for the beach. At least it would be time with nothing to do but read. Unless, of course, we found a historical site to visit.

On second thought, maybe a research trip would be as fun as a reading one!

Inkwell Inspirations

Come join me for a devotional over at Inkwell Inspirations!

My Epiphany

I thought I had this writing thing down. The real writing. Like at the request of a professional who expected to see it in her inbox.

All through the summer and fall I’ve written and edited by faith. Truly. I trusted that Lord would make a way to get it done in a timely manner. That I could take Sundays completely off. That I could put down my work and engage with my family and friends when I needed to.

But when January and a different request arrived, it was as if I hadn’t learned anything at all! I plunged in, starting with an unrealistic deadline for myself. With that date fixed in my head, I figured I had to work constantly to get there. I started in the morning and worked late into the evening with few breaks. I only took time off to attend my sons’ basketball games.

For ten days I worked. Then, as I lay in bed, jittery, frantic, unable to sleep, I had an epiphany: I wasn’t made to work 24/7. You’d think I’d know that, but I guess I didn’t. Not really. I thought if I used all the hours available to me in a day, I’d finish more quickly. But it doesn’t work like that. Not when you don’t eat right or sleep right or exercise. Not when you have no down time and no interaction with others.

So on the 11^th day, I stopped. Not stopped working, but stopped working non-stop. I took regular breaks, ate regular meals, exercised. And in doing so, I accomplished as much or more than when I pushed myself over the limit. And the end result was better work. My husband concurred when I told him my plan. His support helped me give myself “permission” to take breaks.

I really hope this lesson has taken root now. And I hope it is a lesson I needed to because deadlines imposed by others and not myself hover on the horizon. But whatever the case may be, I know that by pushing myself to the brink of exhaustion and frustration, I’ve also pushed to a new level of trust in the Lord. I work hard in the time I have to work but I have to trust Him not only to give me the time to work but the creativity and freshness of mind I need for that time.

Gleaning Historical Tidbits

I love learning about history. Not the history you learn in textbooks, necessarily, although knowledge of those things is an important background. I love the little things. The obscure things. Things important to the people of a specific time and place but not noted by the country or the world. That’s why I love the Dallas History Conference.

This year we learned all kinds of cool things—about the fact that SMU had a medical and pharmaceutical school that opened and closed its doors before the undergraduate liberal arts school had its first class, about the red light district in Dallas from 1910-1913 and the efforts that brought about its demise, about the outlaw Shilo Scrivnor, about the long-forgotten Long’s Lake pleasure park, and about “Dad” Garrett and his inventions. What? You haven’t heard of most of that?

Precisely! Isn’t that fun? While none of those actual topics may find their way into my stories, I learned lots of little things—like the name of one of the biggest employers in Dallas in the early 1900s, several bank robberies that occurred in Dallas in the late 1910s and early 1920s, what hospitals were up and running in Dallas in the early 1900s and some of early medical men whose legacies remain today. I learned some of the history of traffic signals and radio stations and fire and police alarms and an African-American newspaper. Tidbits that can enhance a story and that are just plain fun to know!

Here’s a bonus for you: Did you know that the first car in Dallas was delivered by train to Terrell then driven to Dallas? It took 5 hours and 10 minutes to make that drive!

Someday I’ll have more time to research on my own, but gleaning from the research of others is an amazing thing, too. I’m so glad I live in a place where I can take advantage of that!

Inkwell Inspirations

 I'm hosting a guest blogger at Inkwell Inspirations today. Come take a peek!

Living the Dream

My husband has always been a far-seeing man. When I met him, he was nineteen. Unlike most college students, he wasn’t living for the next day or the next party. He was living for forty. The perfect age, he told me. You’ve paid off your education and are seasoned in your career. You have a family and a house. Life is good at forty, he told me.

And he was right. Almost.

In spite of reaching those goals for forty that he set way back at eighteen (or earlier), he wasn’t quite living his dream. Two years later, he thought he’d found it, entering into a partnership with a godly man and a great lawyer. For two years we've loved that situation, one he had envisioned long ago that combined Christian lawyers and good legal work. Even so, something still niggled at him. A new judicial seat was created in the area. A public servant. Not his ultimate dream, but something that had always appealed to him. So he pursued it, even knowing it was a bit of a long-shot. And then the unexpected happened.

Out of the blue, he was offered his dream job.

What, might you ask with bated breath, could that possibly be? When my husband made his plans for law school all those years ago, his dream was to practice Constitutional law. Of course as time passed, he realized that such a career doesn’t often pay the bills, especially student loans that covered a private college education and a private law school education. So he plunged into the world of business litigation. He enjoyed it and he was good at it. But on the side he indulged his true love, using his pro bono hours to write letters and briefs and argue cases for causes of religious liberty. And he loved it. He felt he was using his talents in the service of the Lord and others.

As of today, he takes the helm of legal activities at the Liberty Institute. He will get to live his dream—practicing Constitutional law on a daily basis. It’s quite a shift, going from private practice to working for a non-profit entity. But we are so proud of him and so excited for his new adventure, even if we are sobered by the thoughts that he is moving to the front lines of a huge spiritual battle. 

Sometimes you really do get to live that dream that the Lord has dropped into your heart, even if it takes a few years longer than you imagined.

Three Forms, One Story

It isn’t often that I can embrace other forms a book I love, though on occasion, it happens. Such as Emma by Jane Austen and the movie Emma with Gwyneth Paltrow. Or the book Les Miserables and the musical Les Miserables. Sometimes it’s nice to enjoy a story in its shorter form when time doesn’t allow for re-reading the entire book. And that is especially true when it is a book that inspires.

Like Little Women. I love that book, but don’t often have the time to sit down and re-read the whole thing. That’s why I love the movie, the Wynona Rider version. But in times such as now, as I’m editing like crazy, two hours is a precious commodity. That’s why it was so wonderful the other night, as I traveled to a business dinner with my husband, to put in the cast recording of Little Women: The Musical.

We saw the show a few years ago when it came to Dallas Summer Musicals. I went with trepidation, afraid I would hate it. But I didn’t hate it. In fact, I really enjoyed it! Then last year, my daughter’s school performed it. We bought the CD the minute it was announced, and I remembered again how much I loved the music. The songs not only capture the characters, but they are songs you will sing in your head, the music as inspiring as the story.

It’s nice to have different, sometimes more convenient ways to experience a story as timeless as Little Women. But then again, each of the other makes me long to experience the book once more.

Connection Interrupted

We made some changes to our Internet service last week. No provider change, so no big deal.

“It’ll go off one afternoon and come on again the next morning,” he told me. “Is there a day that would work best for you?”

I picked a Friday, because I knew I’d be gone all evening. It would be painless. Or so I thought.

Thursday morning I woke up to no Internet. No a good day. I had posts up at two group blogs and I needed to respond to comments. And I moderate an email loop on Thursdays. Needless to say, I wasn’t happy.

Long story short, it came on again about Friday noon. A day and a half. I thought I’d lose my mind—even with email on my phone! And as I stewed, I remembered the birthday my husband decided to “give” me AOL service, probably 12 or 13 years ago. This Internet thing was all brand new. We put the kids to bed then dialed up via the free trial CD. After an hour or so of trying to figure out what in the world we were supposed to do “on line,” we gave up. I told him, “Thanks, but no thanks.”

It took another two or three years—until my sister moved overseas—to get us connected, first via dial-up, then cable, then DSL. Now we have it our phones, can find it in various places with our laptops. In a few short years it has gone from enigma to necessity.

I’m just glad to be connected again!

A Sweet and Bitter Providence

If you’ve been hanging around here very long at all, you know that I seldom do non-fiction. Long ago I realized that my mode of learning is through story. I can name several novels that have changed my life because I “saw” the spiritual truth illustrated by the story. It’s also the reason I love history (the “story” of God and man.) But last week, when mulling over how to spend a Barnes and Noble gift card, my friend Cheryl posted on her blog the book trailer for John Piper’s new book—and I was hooked.

My husband has read John Piper for years. I confess I have not. But this book, A Sweet and Bitter Providence, caught my attention because it expounds on the Biblical book of Ruth. I love the Word of God, especially when it is combined with story. And his premise, that the story of Ruth, Boaz, and Naomi shows how God’s providence in our lives, personally and globally, is both sweet and bitter, intrigued me. So I bought it.

It’s a small book. After all, Ruth only contains four chapters. But the truth packed into this “little” story is amazingly big. Some things I’d never considered before. Some things I’d felt but never been able to put into words. A Sweet and Bitter Providence is a book I wish I’d read when starting out in life, instead of coming to learn things the hard way. It’s a book I intend for my children to read, to at least plant in their minds the truth of how God works in our lives, for our good and His glory.

Pick this one up. I think you’ll be glad you did.

Inkwell Inspirations

Come join me over at Inkwell Inspirations today!

The Prayers of My Heart

I have a tough two weeks coming up. I need to finish editing a book before it heads to the final evaluation. That presents two problems: time and confidence. And each of those affects the other.

But last night I walked into the church service, the first one in several weeks due to travel and school events, and the Lord met me in the music. I was able to sing the prayers of my heart. Things like:

            Take my life and let it be, all for You and for Your glory,

            Take my life and let it be Yours

Or:

            I need you, Jesus

            I need clean hands, I can’t, You can,

            I need you, Jesus

Or even:

            In Your presence we find strength to face the day,

            In Your presence all our fears are washed away

I know I will walk a fine line over the next few days, balancing writing tasks, physical well-being, and others’ needs. But my prayer is that the Lord would manage those through me. That when each day is done, He would be glorified and I would be changed.  

The Raven Saint

Don’t you sometimes just get in the mood for a swashbuckling, adventurous, romantic tale? I do. And when that happens, I reach for M. L. Tyndall. I have especially enjoyed the Charles Towne Belles series, which culminates with the recent release of The Raven Saint. This series began with sister Faith, the lady pirate in The Red Siren. Then sister Hope stowed away on a ship chasing after a man in The Blue Enchantress. And while I have loved those stories, I have to admit I’ve been waiting to see what happened to sister Grace.

Grace was the “good” sister, the one concerned with the things of the Lord and with her care for the poor and downtrodden. But when she is kidnapped by the French rogue Captain Rafe Dubois and learns she is to be sold to a Spanish don as revenge on her father (a British admiral), her faith endures its greatest test.

In a romantic adventure worthy of her sisters’, Grace discovers grace—what it means to give it and to receive it. And along the way she finds she has the heart of a woman, as well. I loved this story for exploring what we seldom like to talk about, our own pharisaical attitudes and actions. But as God loves the “sinner,” He also loves the “saved,” and will not let us remain in our sin, whether overt or disguised.

The Raven Saint provides a very satisfying ending to this trilogy of adventure on the high seas of the eighteenth century.

My Civic Duty

My husband has been a lawyer for twenty years now. I’ve never really known what he does. In the courtroom, I mean. He is a litigator and spends a good bit of time on that stage. But today I received an inkling. I got called for jury duty and, for the first time ever, didn’t qualify for an exemption.

Granted, this was a criminal case and my husband does civil cases, but I still saw the process from the other side. And what did I find? I found it boring! We sat there while both the assistant DA and the defense lawyer droned on and on, occasionally asking a question to which we must respond. They nitpicked words and other things, sometimes twisting the meaning of someone’s answer, as lawyers often do. (I know. I live with one.)

The most interesting part was watching the others on the jury panel. I noticed that some people liked to talk and were more than happy to jump in with a whole story in response to a simple question. I also noticed those determined to be argumentative. Not sure if those were trying to get on the jury or get dismissed from it! But mostly I watched a group of normal citizens (and one police woman) trying to do their civic duty to the best of their ability.

No, I didn’t get picked. I think it never quite got to me, but if it had, I feel sure I would have been stricken by the defense for my answer to the question (specifically directed at me): So you are telling me that if a police officer knocked at your door and said they’d come to arrest your child, you wouldn’t assume your child is innocent? I took an oath to answer truthfully, so I said no. I’ve never assumed innocence. We are all sinners and given the right circumstances and state of mind, can do things we never imagined we’d do. Besides, while my child might not be guilty of the charge, I’m sure I would find them almost certainly guilty of something—even just of poor judgment.

Doing my civic duty was an interesting though not altogether pleasant experience. In the end, I find myself hoping I don’t have to repeat it soon. Then again, maybe it would be different on the civil side of the courthouse.

Out of My Comfort Zone

Usually when we talk about “comfort zones,” we mean doing something we wouldn’t normally do. We aren’t really talking about physical comfort—the kind of bed we like to sleep in, our favorite pillow, our personal space. But lately it seems that the Lord has been prodding me from my physical comfort, and it hasn’t been, well, comfortable.

Besides the discomfort of the body, though, I’ve discovered that I don’t like being uncomfortable. I’ve gotten used to things the way I like them, and I don’t enjoy when they get disturbed. And yet, when things have required enduring less than ideal conditions lately, every situation has been tied to relationships.

I know the Lord desires me to sacrifice my personal, physical comfort in order to love others, but that really came home to me during a church service during this past Advent season. As we sang a hymn about baby Jesus in the manger, the fact of his physical discomfort struck me. We know He gave up the glory of heaven to walk with us in the dust of earth. But He gave up the comfort of heaven, too. Gave it up to be wrapped in a coarse blanket, laid on prickly hay in a hard manger. Not my idea of comfortable! But He considered His comfort of far less importance than our eternal souls.

People are important to the Lord. And they should hold the same importance for me if I am growing to reflect His nature. I know that. So I sacrificed my comfort in several very different situations over the past few weeks. And while I congratulated myself for enduring, I did not endure with grace or joy, as Jesus did. Yes, I didn’t throw a fit and demand my definitions of comfort be met, but I sacrificed with many sighs and much complaining. I have a feeling I’ll get to do this lesson over again until I get it right.

When My Mind Works Best

Picture the scene:

The blue sky deepens to black. The house darkens, room by room, and grows still. Quiet settles. It is time to sleep.

Or is it?

Precisely at that moment when everyone else in my house drifts into dreamland, my mind kicks into high gear. I’ve thought out amazing plot lines in those hours. Written countless blog posts that wax eloquent on a myriad of topics. Met characters. Created the perfect opening or closing line of a story. Finally, deep into the night, my mind shuts down, my eyelids shut, and I sleep.

The tragedy comes in the morning, when I can’t remember a single thing I thought out! I know, “get up and write it down, silly!” But that is easier said than done. There’s the eye thing. My contacts are out. My glasses don’t correct well enough for me to see words on a page (or screen) unless it is just 2-3 inches in front of my face—and even then they aren’t clear. And there’s the fact that I invariably wake up my husband as I slip out of bed or back into it. He hates that. He needs his sleep. And in the winter there’s the whole cold issue. I hate getting up once I’m toasty warm.

So there you have it. My mind works best when I can do the absolute least about it. I guess I’ll just have to keep muddling through.

Help Me, Lord!

It occurred to me recently that I spend my days sending up “Help me, Lord” prayers. Help me, Lord, to be patient. Help me, Lord, to know what to say. Help me, Lord, to hold my tongue. Help me, Lord, to endure this circumstance. And so on, and so on, and so on.

As I pondered this situation, I found an uneasy guilt creep in and tangle around me. Shouldn’t I be worshipping more than petitioning? Praying continually for others instead of myself? I considered these questions, anxious for the Lord to search and know me, to reveal any wickedness and lead me in the way everlasting. Then other questions surfaced in my mind. Isn’t this a good thing? Isn’t a lifestyle of “Help me, Lord” prayers a far different thing than the occasional “Help me, Lord”?

Yes, I believe it is. When moment-by-moment my first response is “Help me, Lord,” it is an indication that I recognized His continual presence in my life and that I realize my complete dependence on Him. Conversely, when I shoot a “Help me, Lord” prayer only on occasion, it reveals that I only look to the Lord in a crisis and think myself sufficient for the living in-between times.

So I’m content with my “Help me, Lord” lifestyle. In fact, I can now pray: “Help me, Lord, not to forget to ask Your help in everything, everyday.”

La's Orchestra Saves the World

Alexander McCall Smith’s newest book doesn’t go with any of his previous series, but as is his signature strength, he drew me into a specific time and place with strong, memorable characters.

La’s Orchestra Saves the World is a charming story of La, who moves from London to a small village at the beginning of World War II. Her life has taken turns she never imagined and she suddenly finds herself living a rural life with very little to occupy her time. The things she finds to do seem very small and insignificant in her eyes, and yet by the end of the book, we understand, along with La, that what seemed small to her meant the world to others.

This charming, poignant story should definitely be on your “to read” list for 2010.

A New Year Awaits

Sometimes I think New Year’s Day is my favorite holiday. I guess maybe that’s secretly true for all of us list-making, record-keeping types. I love the totaling out of my writing work for the year, and the blank spreadsheet set up for the coming one. I love slim, empty file folders, waiting to become the bulging ones of December. Everything is fresh and new, full of promise and possibility.

Maybe that’s why I never get into a spring-cleaning frenzy. That itch tends to arrive for me in January, too. Wanting to rid my house of the useless or worn out. Seeking order in closets and cabinets. I don’t always get to these tasks in January, but the impetus begins then.

The New Year also brings the anticipation of return to schedule and routine from the freewheeling holidays, and a time to reevaluate the structure of my days. And while I am ordering the my exterior world, I can also look ahead to new vistas in my relationship with the Lord, especially as each day brings us closer to a new season in our lives. Just 3 ½ years left of children in the house on a daily basis. And I know how fast those years will pass by.

So I welcome 2010, with its fresh, innocent face, as I clear out the old and arrange the new, as I prepare to meet each new day with its joys and challenges. And though only the Lord knows what the days of 2010 will bring, I love that I can be sure of this one thing: Jesus will hold me through them all.

And a Happy New Year

Have a safe and joyful celebration of reflecting on the old year and looking forward to the new!

Inkwell Inspirations

Join me over at Inkwell Inspirations today!

Merry Christmas!

May your celebration of the birth of Christ be filled with wonder and joy!

Christmas Movies

I love Christmas movies. I especially love sharing them with my family and friends. This year, I discovered that several of my friends had not only never seen Christmas in Connecticut with Barbara Stanwyck, but they’d never even heard of it! One of those people was my son’s girlfriend. I think she’s a fan now. Of course, she and I had a major meeting of the minds when deciding which Christmas movie we’d watch with them. When I mentioned Miracle on 34^th Street, I said, “It’s the old one.”

She replied. “That’s the only one.”

I wholeheartedly agreed, for I refuse to even acknowledge the other versions! I think that was a very scary moment for my son.

So in case any of you need something new to watch this season—or just to be reminded of a movie you haven’t seen in several years, here are my top 5 Christmas movies:

1. It’s a Wonderful Life
2. Holiday Inn
3. Miracle on 34^th Street (original version)
4. Christmas in Connecticut
5. [tie] Elf and Home Alone

(Notice that the top four were all made before 1950!)

Of course there are others that my family watches every year—and this year I’ve also indulged in several sappy Hallmark channel Christmas movies—but if I can only make time for a few, those are the ones that make my short list!

What are your favorites?

Homemade Sugary Goodness

I remember the first time I realized that all marshmallows didn’t come from a plastic bag in the grocery store. We were at a fancy restaurant for our anniversary and I ordered the s’more for dessert—made with a homemade marshmallow. It was amazing! Never did I think I’d taste anything like it again.

But I was wrong. My daughter had a hankering to try her hand at marshmallow-making and I can highly recommend the results! In fact, I’m not sure I’ll be able to eat the store bought kind again. When that squishy, sugary connection sank into my hot chocolate and melted—oh my word!

Then she used them to make a “s’more” topping for her cheesecake. And while I didn’t taste those results, I’m sure it was amazing, too.

Have you ever eaten a homemade marshmallow? If not, seize the opportunity, should it arise. I don’t think you’ll regret it!

An Inkwell Inspirations Devotional

Come join me today for a devotional at Inkwell Inspirations!

Crazy Days

The crazy days of Christmas have intersected with the crazy days of finishing up my latest manuscript.

So now you know why I’ve had nothing to say . . .

A Precursor of Things to Come

We celebrated my husband’s birthday yesterday. It was a strange celebration day in many ways, and a precursor of what is to come.

We spent the day mostly in the usual Sunday ways, but in the afternoon, when present opening time came around, we had to call up our daughter via the computer so she could join in the family circle from far away. That was good, but not quite the same.

After dinner that night, one boy went to a praise and worship youth service and one went to his girlfriend’s house. So after all our birthdaying, my husband and I were alone in the house.

Then it hit me: this is what if feels like for my parents when we all come over to celebrate something or other and then we all leave again. Nice and quiet, yes, but with a bittersweet edge. All the children have their own plans, their own friends, their own lives. And while that makes me very happy (because frankly, I’m ready to have my own life again, too), I see how strange it will feel when the quiet times are broken by the chaotic ones, instead of the other way around.

An Inkwell Inspirations Devotional

I'm over at Inkwell Inspirations today talking about the words we tend to overlook in Scripture.

Come join me!

The Violent Bear It Away

A very long time ago, I read some Flannery O’Connor short stories. A week or so ago, I read her novel The Violent Bear it Away. All I can say is wow!

As a writer I’ve often heard “show, don’t tell.” As an editor, I often say it. But rarely do I find such an incredible example of what that means than this book. Never does Flannery O’Connor say “there is a struggle between faith and reason.” Never does she say “there is a struggle between flesh and spirit.” No “there is a God and there is a Satan.” But all of these things are clearly seen on every page.

It’s a short book, the story of a boy’s journey. At least that’s what it is on the surface. But beneath the surface is the journey of everyman—toward God, away from God, acknowledging God, refusing to acknowledge God. It is a powerful story that never comes out and tells you what to glean from it, but it is full of symbolism and metaphor that is not obscure or confusing. If you have lived as a Christian, you will see pieces of your own journey in this word picture story.

I have a feeling this is one I’ll read again, because I’m sure I didn’t catch everything the first time!

Christmastime is Here

I am officially in the mood for Christmas! I admit, it took longer to “take” this year for some reason, but today I have that “I’m excited for Christmas” feeling.

Maybe it was the cold weather—and the few wet snowflakes that dotted my windshield this morning. Maybe it was grocery shopping and buying all the ingredients for the baking and making a tub of hot chocolate mix. Maybe it was a quick change of plans that means we will have our Christmas day a bit earlier. Whatever did it, I’m ready. Or at least I’m ready to get ready!

The Christmas music has been playing all day long. The decorations go up tomorrow. I even downloaded Christmas ringtones to my phone! I imagine a fire will appear in the fireplace again soon. The shopping will commence in earnest this weekend—and hopefully finish, too. The Christmas wrapping box will find a permanent home in my bedroom, along with the tape and scissors. And when my daughter arrives home next week, the house will fill with smells of baking things and Christmas movies will play on the TV.

And then of course there will be family and food and the celebration of a Christmas Eve service at church and the joy of giving to others as God the Father gave to us—generously, without reserve.

What is your favorite part of Christmas? I truly can’t decide. I love it all!

A Scrapbook of Christmas Firsts

Have you finished your Christmas shopping yet? Still mulling over a gift for that hard-to-buy-for person on your list? Remember the book A Scrapbook of Christmas Firsts! It’s a colorful book of heartwarming stories (including one of mine!), traditions, recipes, and other Christmas tips. And if you want daily stories and ideas, check out the blog by the authors of this book. It might be just the thing to put you in the mood.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Have a blessed and joyful day thanking the God from whom all blessings flow!

Giving thanks Day 24

I am thankful for my five senses—especially at this time of year!

Giving thanks Day 23

I used to dread extended school holidays—like Thanksgiving week—when my kids were small. Now I am so grateful for the time off!

Giving thanks Day 22

I am thankful that basketball is played indoors!

Giving Thanks Day 21

Thank you, Lord, that Your mercies are new every morning. Great is Your faithfulness!

Giving Thanks Day 20

I am thankful that I am looking forward to getting together with my family for Thanksgiving dinner. I always know the food and conversation will be great. What a blessing to not have awkward family relationships to tiptoe around.

Giving Thanks Day 19

I am thankful to have all my kids back at home for a week. I know the days of the five of us will not last forever, and I will welcome in my new “children” when the time comes. But for now, I am appreciative for every day we have to make memories with our children who are quickly becoming adults!

Giving Thanks Day 18

One of the first steps I took toward “seriously” writing was attending a local Christian writers group in 2002. Little did I know what the Lord had in store! There I met two local ladies who asked me to join them in starting a weekly critique group that we named Life Sentence. We began meeting in May of 2003. They encouraged me to attend my first writing conference in 2004. There I met a whole slew of other writers, some of whom I now call friends. Then I joined ACFW and met even more writers, at conferences and via the web.

I am so thankful for other writers to walk with on this journey. Some I only know on my computer screen, some I look forward to seeing every year or two. Some I see often at the monthly writers group I first attended and now help lead. And six years later, Leslie, Mary, and I still meet weekly. God has done amazing things in all three of us, personally and professionally. I couldn’t have imagined it all when I stepped out of my comfort zone and attended that critique group all those years ago. God is so good!

Giving Thanks Day 17

I am thankful for organizations like Samaritan’s Purse that allow our family to participate in a small way in ministry that touches those in other parts of the world. Since my children were small, we have wrapped and packed Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes. In 2006, my daughter was blessed to help pass out some of these boxes in remote villages in Ghana.

If you haven’t yet filled your Operation Christmas Child boxes, do it now! Click here to find a drop off point or to pay for your shipping online and print your barcoded box labels. This is new, way cool thing. The bar code will be scanned at shipping and you will receive an email telling you the country to which your box was shipped! Amazing!

Giving Thanks Day 16

Yes, I am thankful for Facebook. It has allowed me to reconnect with people I’d lost touch with and helped me continue to keep up with them on a more consistent basis!  

Giving Thanks Day 15

I am thankful that my baby is 15 years old today! I love watching my kids grow up!

Giving Thanks Day 14

Thank you, Lord, that You love me so much that You won’t let me remain in my current state. You are always growing me, always prodding me toward maturity. And yet You never expect me to outgrow my need of You!

Giving Thanks Day 13

I am grateful for indoor plumbing, grocery stores, telephones, automobiles, airplanes, and most other modern conveniences! As much as I love reading and writing about other time periods in history, I wouldn’t have enjoyed living in most of them!

Giving Thanks Day 12

I am thankful for my family—both the one I was born into and the one I married into. I am grateful for their love and support and encouragement through the years. I love y’all!

Giving Thanks Day 11

Teachers are amazing people. I’m thankful for those that encouraged me to think and learn through elementary, middle and high school as well as college. I’m also thankful for the ones that have impacted my children thus far in their schooling. I am so grateful that God gifted these special people with the patience and the passion to walk into a room full of children and attempt to impart some knowledge to them!

Giving Thanks Day 10

I am thankful for all the men and women who have served our country in a military capacity—from the patriots that fought to free us from England to those who currently serve, stateside and around the world. Thank you for laying your lives on the line to keep us free.

Giving Thanks Day 9

I am thankful for my children. I am thankful for the joy they have brought to my life as well as the times they have driven me to my knees. They are not perfect, by any stretch of the imagination, but I love watching them become who God has made them to be, which requires a few bumps along the way!

It is fun to cheer them as they succeed and even to comfort them when they don’t. They have taught me what it means to love like Jesus loves. They have taught me the difference between the things that really matter and the things that don’t. I am changed because of them—for the better.

Thank you, Lord, that You give us what we need and not always what we imagine we want. I am so grateful that you gave me these three to love and nurture and steward through their childhood and teenaged years. And I thank you that you are growing them into such amazing people—people I like!

Giving Thanks, Day 8

Thank you, Lord, for Your provision of the necessities of life—food, shelter, clothing—but also for your blessings above and beyond those things. Let me never forget that those “extras” are not bestowed because of any “deservedness” on my part, but simply because of Your extravagant love for Your wayward creation. And thank you for allowing me to often be the conduit of Your blessing into the lives of others. The joy of giving is just another of Your gracious gifts.

Giving Thanks, Day 7

I’m thankful that Jesus “being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made Himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to death—even death on a cross.” (Philippians 2:17)

Thank you, Jesus, for conquering death in order to give me life.

Giving Thanks, Day 6

I am thankful for variety. In the colors of the world. In the personalities of people. In types of music and books and art. I’m thankful that God is a creative God with a multi-faceted personality and that this world is a reflection of His nature.

Giving Thanks and Inkwell Inspirations

I'm thankful for a great group of ladies who blog together at Inkwell Inspirations! I love that the Lord brought us together, with all our different personalities and writing styles and made us friends!

Come join me at Inkwell Inspirations today where I'm blogging about Abigail Adams!

Giving Thanks, Day 4

I am thankful for contact lenses instead of coke-bottle glasses and for enough moisture in my eyes to continue to be able to wear them!

Giving Thanks, Day 3

I am not always as thankful as I should be for the gift of my husband. It’s not easy being married to me! I am thankful for our conflict because it helps me see the places in my heart that are not as Christ-like as they should be. I am thankful for our love because it isn’t based on the emotion of the moment. I am thankful for the fun times we have together and with our family. Mostly I’m thankful he has put up with and taken care of me for the past twenty-two years! Poor guy. He’s married to a crazy, fiction-writing wife who hates to cook and clean. I really don’t think he understood what he was getting into all those years ago!

Thank you, Lord, for the gift of my husband. He brings me joy and helps me grow. I wouldn’t want to do life with anyone else.

Giving Thanks, Day 2

I’m thankful for flannel pjs, blazing fires, hot drinks, fuzzy socks, and good books in the wintertime.

I’m thankful for swimming pools, air-conditioning, iced tea, flip-flops, and good books in the summertime.

Giving Thanks, Day 1

Thanksgiving is on its way. In between now and then we get to cheer our sons in at least one football playoff game, celebrate our youngest son’s birthday and enjoy our daughter’s arrival home for a week from college. With so much going on, I thought perhaps I needed to focus on the giving thanks part of the season. So I will try, from today to Thanksgiving Day, to post at least one thing I am thankful for.

Today I am thankful for good friends, ones that listen, advise, and encourage—and that let me do the same for them. I’ve learned, through the years, that reciprocal friendships are especially hard to find!

Thank you, Lord, for the blessing of friendships, old and new, ones that last and ones that are only for a season. Each one is a gift from Your hand. Thank you.

An Inkwell Inspirations Devotional

Click on the banner above and join me for a devotional at Inkwell Inspirations today!

The Family That Serves Together

I don’t remember doing any “formal” mission or service projects in my family while I was growing up, but I do remember my parents always on the lookout for people that needed help. For my dad, that often meant picking up a hitchhiker or bringing home a family-less person or couple for a holiday dinner. I remember my mom hiring a housekeeper she didn’t have to have because the woman needed work. Helping others was often a quiet thing, but we knew it was there. An atmosphere of service that apparently got caught.

My sister and I always accompany kids from school on their mission project day. We both enjoy helping others and watching our kids learn to help others. At the ministry where my youngest son and I served today, there is a school for at-risk kids. As we were wrapping up our work time, our boys played a game of basketball with the boys from the school. While the game was in full swing, my brother arrived with his weekly pizza delivery for the school kids’ lunch. That’s what he does to help out. A little thing, but so appreciated and necessary. I didn’t know I’d see him there, although I know he’s been involved in that ministry for years. So the three of us were out serving the Lord by serving others today. And then of course there is our youngest sister, too, who serves full time overseas.

Usually on these mission days I reflect on what it means to minister with my kids and their friends. But today I am overwhelmed by the privilege of serving Christ and others alongside my brother and sisters, even when we’re in different locations. And I’m grateful for a mom and a dad who provided us the opportunity to catch a lifestyle of helping others.