Thoughtful Thursdays
Musings on faith, family, & fiction
Though a novelist by trade, one of the trademarks of my books is the spiritual depth and exploration I includes as my characters work through what it really means to walk out their faith. Faith, in fact, is one of the things I like to ponder most. In these once-a-week articles, I gets thoughtful at the crossroads of faith, family, and fiction.
Creativity and Friends – The P&P Retreat
When I was 8 or 9, we went through a bad drought. I still think of those days…and what it taught me about prayer.
Choosing a Word of the Year
Although we still have 3 months left in 2023. I wanted to re-share this post on HOW to choose a word of the year now. This will hopefully spark ideas and help guide you to choosing a word for 2024. I also wanted to remind you to check in with your word this year. How...
Professional
When I was 8 or 9, we went through a bad drought. I still think of those days…and what it taught me about prayer.
Drought
When I was 8 or 9, we went through a bad drought. I still think of those days…and what it taught me about prayer.
Thoughts on AI
Sometimes when there are big changes, it’s the little things that bring them home.
Forks…and Sharing Dreams
Sometimes when there are big changes, it’s the little things that bring them home.
41 Things
Today I turn 41! So here are 41 things that have proven important to me in the last year.
The Weeds Within Us
God created us to work, and to reap the fruits of our labor. Are we valuing each other’s work enough?
The Value of Our Work
God created us to work, and to reap the fruits of our labor. Are we valuing each other’s work enough?
Proof
In Exodus three, God’s proof to Moses of His presence is “that you will worship God on this very mountain.”
Themes for Seasons
Have you ever noticed how we keep running into the same themes wherever we look sometimes?
The Water Before Us
How often is our salvation right before our eyes, but we’re too blinded by fear to see it?
Throwback Thursday – Being Good
There’s a power in being seen by someone, in being understood. It doesn’t fix the problem…but it still heals our hearts.
Throwback Thursday – Capability
There’s a power in being seen by someone, in being understood. It doesn’t fix the problem…but it still heals our hearts.
When We’re Seen
There’s a power in being seen by someone, in being understood. It doesn’t fix the problem…but it still heals our hearts.
Onward and Upward
It’s easy for us to judge and dismiss younger generations’ hobbies…but when we look, there’s a lot to learn from them too.
Life-Giving and True
It’s easy for us to judge and dismiss younger generations’ hobbies…but when we look, there’s a lot to learn from them too.
Lessons Learned from My Gamer Son
It’s easy for us to judge and dismiss younger generations’ hobbies…but when we look, there’s a lot to learn from them too.
Do the Work
While we can never discount “lightning strikes,” most success–in life, in our jobs, even in our faith–comes from doing the work.
Seasons
I love watching the seasons roll, one into another. I love the liturgical calendar, living the life of Christ. But there’s more, too.
Converting to True Conversation
We’ve forgotten how to talk to each other…we forget that it’s not about being right, but about learning from each other.
Mental Congestion
Ever have those nights when you can’t shut off your brain? When your thoughts are so busy, sleep eludes you?
Judgment Call
When we think of “judgment” we think of deciding if something is good or bad. But with God, there’s never a question.
Reproached and Redeemed
He gave us the world…we gave Him the cross. Yet by that cross, He gave us Heaven. We treat Him poorly. He loves us forever.
Forgiving Their Joy
We’re told to pray for our enemies, for those who persecute us. Sometimes, that looks like forgiving friends for their joy.
Suffering United
How can we unite our suffering to Christ’s? And how does doing so serve as a testament to our redemption through Him?
The Darkness in the Light
We are the light of the world. We know it's true because Jesus, the true Light, told us so. We know it's true because He gives us His light. Why? To shine it. To scatter the darkness. To light the Way to Him, to the Father. To guide the people stumbling around in the...
The Beloved Charter
I hope everyone has enjoyed the other Spiritual Formation exercises I've shared, courtesy of Laura Heagy and her insightful direction. The most recent exercise she's shared with the Patrons & Peers group is called "Drafting a 'Beloved Charter.'" She sent us a...
The Poor in Spirit
I've always found the Beatitudes--the Sermon on the Mount beginning in Matthew 5--to be a beautiful redefinition of what life should be about. What we should be striving for. There are so many lines in it that make me pause and reflect and ask myself, "Am I doing...
The God of . . .
There are some phrases we're all familiar with if we read the Old Testament of the Bible... The God of IsraelThe God of JacobThe God of Jerusalem We're told that Jerusalem is "His holy city," especially in the Psalms. So much of the poetry and songs revolve around...
Love on Repeat
We can never hear "I love you" enough. Right? Well, we may need to add a little more--we can never hear "I love you" enough when the person saying it means it. We can never hear it enough when it's given as a gift, not meant to manipulate. We can never hear it enough...
God of Eternal Promises
It's winter in the northern hemisphere. January has turned to February, February will soon be March, and we'll start looking for the first signs of springs. Daffodil greens ... buds on the trees ... the return of birds that migrated south. We'll start looking, but the...
He Called Me by Name
God knows us. He calls us by name. We know this. We can point to Scriptures that say it, we can recite it to each other. For that matter, I even sign each copy of The Nature of a Lady with "He knows your name." I've printed it on tote bags. I've put it in a pretty...
Whose Sins You Forgive
Forgiveness. We know it's important. We KNOW that. It's a key line in the Lord's Prayer--forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who sin against us. It's not only something we're commanded to do, we confess in that prayer that we will only expect forgiveness in the...
A Year of Patrons and Peers!
A year ago, I made an announcement here on my blog in a post called "Introducing Patrons & Peers." I was launching a direct-support, Patreon-style membership group here on my website. In that initial post, I explained the concept--you could join at two main...
2022 Word of the Year Reflection – Devotion
As December, and hence 2022, draw to a close, it's that time when I pause to reflect upon the twelve months that have just passed, especially in light of my Word of the Year. In January of 2022, I chose the word "Devotion" to guide me into the year to come. As I...
How to Choose an Intentional Word of the Year
For well over a decade, I’ve been doing the “word of the year” thing. In 2021, my word was “Intentional,” and a funny thing happened…I was getting a lot of hits on that post. But not (sadly) because people were so interested in my word. No…people were interested in...
The Babe, the Son of Mary
View the Video Podcast of This Post! I've just started recording my posts not only as podcasts, but as videos! You can watch it here, or you can go directly to my new channel on YouTube. If you do, be sure to subscribe! And keep an eye out for my future posts as...
Righteous but Dangerous
This month, our Spiritual Formation exercise (assigned by our fabulous Spiritual Director, Laura Heagy) is "Psalm 23 Reloaded." It involves memorizing the psalm, dwelling on it, and reframing it in other terms. Really great, if you want to play along at home! 😉 As I...
Giving Thanks through the Years
This year, I thought it would be fun post a round-up of all my Thanksgiving posts through the years. Now, sometimes I took the week off and other years my post simply said "Happy Thanksgiving!", and there have even been a few times when I re-shared a post from...
Throwback Thursday – My Unceasing Thanksgiving
As we draw ever closer to Thanksgiving, my thoughts go not only to where I am this year in terms of my own attitude and state of thankfulness, but also back over where I've come from. Thanksgiving has always been one of my favorite holidays--I love that we have a day...
Dancing with God
The other day, my husband and I were talking about the challenges of following God, of growing in Him, even of spiritual warfare. “It’s hard.” That’s what so many people say. That’s what I’ve said many times. And it’s true, isn’t it? Being a good Christian is hard....
A Challenge: No More Complaining, All Gratitude!
It's November. Every November, as I scroll through social media or blogs, I see people posting about what they're grateful for. Thankful for. People taking the whole month to appreciate all they've been given from the Lord. Beautiful, obviously! But you...
Festooning the Lord’s Prayer
A month ago, I blogged on Colossians 3, inspired by the spiritual formation exercises that we're doing in the Patrons & Peers group. This month, our lovely resident spiritual director, Laura Heagy, sent us a great exercise on "Festooning the Lord's Prayer." The...
A Walk Before Daybreak
We stepped outside, the warm light from the kitchen glowing behind us, nothing but darkness before us. The air carried an autumnal chill that stung our cheeks, filled our nose, and cut right through our exercise clothes. Silence permeated the landscape. I pulled out...
Belief and Truth
Back in the days when I spent an hour of every weekday reading aloud to my kids for school, it was no great surprise to me which books from our reading list my kids loved best: the novels. We always had a novel going, and they were usually classic (often Newbury Award...
Gone Writing!
It's that time of year again! The time that I and my best friend/crit partner head out of our towns (1,000 miles apart), meet up at a cute little AirBnB somewhere or another, and do nothing but WRITE for a long weekend! That's write, it's Writing Retreat time! What is...
Where We Look
I am under deadline...and on vacation (my goal was not to make those two overlap, but alas! We were hit by sickness, so I now get to finish my book at the beach.) So in short, you're getting some short-and-sweet musings today. One thing I'm doing in September is going...
Throwback Thursday – Written On Our Lives
Original post published 12/9/2019 A couple weeks ago, my church watched Mom’s Night Out–a rather hilarious Christian movie that we all thoroughly enjoyed. In one scene, the heroine’s little girl is drawing on the walls with markers–Mommy ends up putting frames around...
Reflections
My summer, especially the second half of it, has been insane. And as I sit down at my computer to write out this week's blog post, I feel a bit low on insight and inspiration. My mind and body and spirit are all longing for the vacation coming up in a few weeks...but...