Blog Stories
Lines and Spaces
Hello! By this time, we’ve seen the back of summer and are facing the new season, with all the mix of festivities and temperature changes. Let’s reframe this: fall gives you additional indoor time to read, and winter even more! Lines and Spaces A few months ago, God impressed me with the idea of lines and spaces in my life. There are times when I’m juggling too many balls, and wearing too many hats. Excuse the clichés, but I’m sure you can (at least sometimes) relate! One of the problems I was...
Your Dreams…on a Dream Board
Dream Boards Hi! Here’s a fun topic. Have you ever heard of a dream board? It’s a fun way to make a visual reminder of the things you dream about for your future. God for sure has great plans for us, but he doesn’t mind at all if we dream a little! (Lots of our dreams come from him anyway!) As long as we hold them loosely, we can dream big, wide, and far. A few years ago, at a church women’s event, we made dream boards. Inside, I scoffed just a little bit, because it didn’t seem like something...
A Gifted Masterpiece
A Gifted Masterpiece The first time I saw a photo of this sculpture, I was amazed at the intricate beauty and marveled at the artistic skill of the sculptor, known as David d’Angers. His real name was Pierre-Jean David, and he was born in 1788 in the city of Angers in France. His impressive works are on display in a museum there. He was world-renowned for his beautiful creations, and in his day was commissioned for works by many countries. He even contributed to the Louvre and the Arc of...
The Crux of the Matter
Jesus wasn’t only a great man. He came for a purpose etched throughout eternity past and future. The ‘crux’ of his life was the cross. Crux means cross. A cross is a form that intersects itself. This was the intersection of God reaching to man, opening wide the long-promised door of fellowship and forgiveness. The shadow became clear. The mist of cryptic prophecies lifted away as Jesus hung on the cross, as the barrier of the temple veil was ripped by God himself from top to bottom. This was...
Another Way to Flourish
Do you have a special theme word for 2022? I thought mine would be “flourish” because I’d chosen that one last year and wasn’t sure it had happened. So, I chose it again. But God gave me a different one: solidification. Not as pretty a word as “flourish”. “Flourish” conjures images of dew-kissed flowers and feathery ferns sprouting by a bubbling spring. There is a lot of plant imagery in Scripture, symbolizing growth and vitality as well as fruitfulness. What images does “solidification” bring...
Goodbye, 2021! (And Happy New Year!)
Are you glad to see 2021 go away? (And didn’t we feel the same way after 2020?) This time we might be less optimistic as we transition to a new calendar year. After all, we had high hopes last year that Covid would be a thing of the past but here we find ourselves in the midst of a new variant. One day this post will be history, evidence of a scary time in our lives, only a bad memory. We’ll all say, “I’m glad that’s over!” But not yet. So, how do we face the coming year? With enthusiasm about...
Points on a Timeline
It’s the norm for us to think of our lives as complete units instead of points on a timeline, isn’t it? Unless we step back once in a while and take a look at the sweep of years. Enjoy a memory. Notice how things have changed. A timeline has become more front of mind for me lately as I observe changes in the country and world around us, including a planet in the grip of a worldwide disease affecting everyone. I often wonder what our reality will be in two or five years, and what the big...
Remember, Mental Habits for Believers is on sale until Nov. 9
Just a quick reminder for you, in case you missed the date. Mental Habits for Believers: 28 Days to New Thought Patterns is on sale between November 2 and 9 for 99 cents in eBook format. I hope you'll take advantage of this special sale and this special book, which can improve your outlook for the rest of your life. You are more accustomed to my fiction and to hear (read) me talking to you about characters, settings, or upcoming novels. I guess I'm primarily a fiction writer. But really,...
Seasons and Other Changes
I hope your month of October is as crisp, clear, and exhilarating as mine is. The leaves haven’t started turning yet, though the acorns have begun to fall. (I have 5 oak trees in my backyard!) You can hear the acorns pinging and clacking on the roof, carport, and any other hard surface. It doesn’t last long, then the fall symphony will change from sound to color. Can’t wait! It’s great weather for biking, and this year I decided to get more disciplined. Discipline is less necessary than I...
Keep Dreaming
I’ve always been a gal who had a lot of dreams and lists of goals. Every January, I’d spend part of a day thinking, daydreaming about what I wanted to accomplish that year. Of course, I usually had way too many objectives to accomplish, but having many ideals meant I’d usually accomplish at least a few of them. In our current days, it’s gotten harder to dream. We wonder where we’ll be in our lives a year from now. Will Covid still be an unwelcome fixture on the landscape of our lives? Will we...
A North Carolina Story for You (and news)
Hello, friends! I hope July has you enjoying life, being entertained, or otherwise doing something fun, and taking some resting and family time. I’m trying to take advantage of the fact that in North Carolina, July and August are very hot. (In other words, making the best of it!) I’ll cut back a little on my French teaching this summer to focus on finishing the Sydney book and tweaking my website. I’ll do some brainstorming on the Eden book, the last in the series, as well as start dreaming...
Perspective
The other day I was thinking about perspective. We drift away from it, pushed or sucked into the wrong thinking by the world, distractions, pressures around us. But, like a bird returning to its perch, we remember, and with a sigh of relief, of joy even, we regain perspective. We may think the country is going crazy, irreparably upended. And the whole world, along with it. We may wonder and worry about the future. Perspective says: It’s always been this way. The events change, but there’s...