by Roseanna White | Jan 2, 2017 | Thoughtful Thursdays, Word of the Week
I’d been praying for a word for 2017, as I usually do. Most of the time God will give me one when I ask, but there have been years when nothing has stood out. I had a feeling, as I prayed over the last few days, that this was going to be a no-word year.
But then yesterday, as my dad preached at a local nursing home, he read this verse:
“…These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” ~ John 16:33
The word “overcome” practically leaped out at me. I knew I had a word–what I’m still not sure of is if it’s for me, or for me to give. We shall see, on that one. But regardless, it’s a word that we all need reminded of, isn’t it?
In the Message version, that verse reads like this:
“…I’ve told you
all this so that trusting me, you will be unshakable and assured,
deeply at peace. In this godless world you will continue to experience
difficulties. But take heart! I’ve conquered the world.”
I think the word “conquer” is even stronger than “overcome”–to my mind, at least, it doesn’t just mean being the victor over what comes upon you, but actively engaging in a battle that we win. That, my friends, is what the Church needs to do in this world!
I don’t want to just paste the whole section from John in here, as it’s a little long, but some context is actually really illuminating. Jesus had just told them that he’d be leaving, they’d be sorrowful, but that then he’d be back and their sorrow would turn to Joy. Then He says:
24 Until now you have asked nothing in My name. Ask, and you will receive, that your Joy may be full . . . . 26 In that day you will ask in My name, and I do not say to you that I shall pray the Father for you; 27 for the Father Himself loves you, because you have loved Me, and have believed that I came forth from God.
This part really struck me as I read it. We all know the verse: you don’t have because you don’t ask. But 26 is pretty amazing too. Here, Jesus is saying that when we ask in His name, it isn’t that He’s beseeching the Father on our behalf. It’s that, because we believe in Him, God will answer us. How amazing is that?
I don’t know what trials and tribulations will come upon any of us in 2017. There will be some–there always are. Individual ones, and ones that strike the Church, the country, the whole world. I don’t know what this word might pertain to in particular. But I do know this.
He has overcome. He has conquered. And because of that, when we ask in His name–if we ask in His name–we will conquer too.
by Roseanna White | Dec 30, 2016 | Thoughtful Thursdays
It’s that time of year again. The calendar says there’s only one more day left in the old year. Facebook keeps trying to show me my year in review. Friends on there are all posting about hopes for 2017, fresh starts, saying farewell to the old.
I’ve always loved to take a look back at the year that has just passed round about now. To reflect on any promises I made myself, or which God has made to me.
In 2016, when I prayed for a word to dwell on for the year, God gave me this:
It isn’t the kind of word that issues me a big challenge–it isn’t a reminder, really, of what He wants me to do. What it is is a reminder of who I ultimately am–His. A reminder that has carried me through what has been, all in all, a pretty amazing year.
In my personal life, it’s been a year of fun with my kids. There was the usual homeschooling, of course. Learning together, laughing together. We traveled a good bit with them, taking them to Niagara Falls for the Fourth of July (because nothing says American Independence Day like going to Canada for fireworks, LOL) and then to Europe in September.
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| Photo Xoe took from the base of the Eiffel Tower–which now adorns our walls. |
I got to see my daughter’s face light up when she saw the Eiffel Tower. I got to watch my son jump from rock to rock at Land’s End in Cornwall. I had the Joy of actually finding some books that my reluctant-reader son wanted to read–and watch my little girl, who is growing up so fast, create some beautiful art that just amazes me.
David and I celebrated our 15th anniversary this year (hence the trip to Europe). Pretty cool to look back and be able to say, with some credibility now, LOL, that no, we weren’t too young. We knew exactly what we were getting into. I don’t have a moment’s regret that I married that man when we were both 18. I just have exceeding Joy that we’ve already had so many years together, and that God blessed us so much by leading us to each other so early in life. Another “mine” that I am so happy to claim.
And professionally . . . it’s been quite a year.
I signed my second contract for a series with Bethany House. Can’t wait for my “thief books” to come to life in 2017! I have second round edits coming on A Name Unknown next week, I’ll turn in A Song Unheard a week after they arrive, and I’m ready to start writing An Hour Unspent as soon as my synopsis is approved.
I got the news that The Lost Heiress was a finalist in the Christy Awards. As someone who struggles with pride and so has sworn of any award I have to enter myself, this came as a shock and a Joy I never expected. I have never won a writing award. And while I didn’t win this year either, I honestly didn’t even care. It was such an honor to be a finalist, beside some of my favorite authors. That’s a wow I’m going to carry with me forever.
I got to visit my publishing house in Minnesota and see behind-the-scenes there, which was just awesome. I felt so authorly, LOL.
I got my first royalty checks from a publisher other than Whitefire–from two of the publishers I’ve worked with, actually. So great to actually earn out an advance!
I made the CBA bestseller list with The Lost Heiress just last month. Sure, only because it had been on sale, LOL, but STILL! I can now claim to be a bestselling author.
And I had three titles release in 2016, which I think is a record for me. The Reluctant Duchess and A Lady Unrivaled from Bethany House, and Giver of Wonders from WhiteFire.
All in all, I’m pretty darn amazed at what God has done for me. Yes, there have been sorrows too–my husband’s grandfather passed away, good friends have had trials, and don’t get me started on the mess of the political season. But through every grief and disappointment, every fear and question, I had a resting place.
Because I am His, and He is mine.
I’m looking forward to the year ahead. I’m praying for a word from the Lord to be my word for the year. I’m anxious to see where He’s going to take us and what we’re going to do. And mostly, I’m just so amazed at this life He’s given me. One filled with family. One blessed by love. And one in which I actually get to do the things I love–writing, designing, teaching my kids.
Thank you, Lord, for another good year. Thank you for always being my Daddy-God. Thank you for claiming me as Your own.
Here’s to 2016–may the year ahead be one that draws us ever closer to Him!
by Roseanna White | Dec 21, 2016 | Holidays
With Christmas less than a week away, I figure no one has much time for blog reading anyway. 😉 So this will be my last post this week. We’ll reconvene next week to reflect on 2016 and look forward to 2017.
What will I be working on in the coming week?
Well, aside from eating cookies and peanut clusters–and Cornish pasties we’ve decided we’ll make for Christmas dinner–I’ll be doing some design work, finishing the scarf I’m working on for my grandmother (by Friday, if all goes according to schedule).
And then I’ll be settling down to work on something for YOU.
In the new year, as early as I can manage it, LOL, I’ll be sending out a free bonus story to all newsletter subscribers. Existing subscribers will get a newsletter with the links, and new subscribers will get it as a welcome email. Thanks so much to all of you who took my one-question survey about what story you’d like to see! The masses were pretty evenly divided between wanting Lizzie and Whit’s story (parents of Brook from The Lost Heiress) and something completely new. So if I get a brainstorm for an original in the next few days, awesome–otherwise, I’ll get back to work on His Baroness, which I started a year ago, LOL. (Newsletter sign-up is here.)
I hope everyone has a blessed Christmas, filled with the wonder of His love and sacrifice!
by Roseanna White | Dec 19, 2016 | Holidays, Word of the Week
Today I’m not examining the etymology of the word itself so much as the history of the tradition of hanging mistletoe at Christmas. Is this part of your family’s tradition?
I’ve never really taken part in it, but certainly we all know that if one pauses beneath mistletoe, one cannot refuse a kiss. In past centuries, this was believed to be good luck and to guarantee love, marriage, and children in the coming year (for those still unmarried). The ball of mistletoe would be burned after the Twelve Days of Christmas to seal the fates of those couples who had kissed beneath it.
But where did the tradition come from? Well it dates back far beyond the coming of Christianity to Europe. For millennia, mistletoe was revered as a sacred plant and thought to contain powers of fertility and good luck and the ability to ward off evil. The plant typically grows on apple trees, but once in a while can be found on oaks (also sacred), so the oak mistletoe is especially sacred and would be cut by Druids with a golden sickle.
The legend goes as follows: the goddess Frigga had a beloved son, Balder, who was the god of summer and hence all things growing and alive. Balder had a terrible dream that he was going to die, so his mother went to every part of nature, above the ground and below, asking them to promise not to kill her son. But she neglected to request this of the mistletoe, which neither had roots below ground nor grew on its own above. So the tricky god Loki, enemy of Balder, made a poison from the berries of the mistletoe and dipped an arrow in it, shooting and killing Balder. For three days, every element and plant tried to revive him, to no avail. Finally, his mother’s own tears revived him, which then turned to little white berries on the mistletoe. She was so overjoyed that she kissed everyone who passed beneath the hanging plant.
You can see where this would easily become part of a tradition surrounding the birth of Christ, right? Someone who lay dead for three days and then was brought back to life, ultimate Love triumphing over Death. Especially since this plant was cut traditionally on the solstice already–and the winter solstice had long been established as the birth of Christ (read why here, if you haven’t already). It was easily incorporated into new traditions and became a lasting one–though still tinged with superstition.
So where do you come down on mistletoe and kissing beneath it? Fun custom? Good luck? Or something to be avoided at all costs? 😉
by Roseanna White | Dec 15, 2016 | Thoughtful Thursdays
I had planned to have something brilliant and insightful to blog about today. I intended to think about this yesterday. Instead I . . .
* Took my cat to the vet and ended up leaving her there overnight. Poor kitty has an impacted bowel and needed an enema. =(
* Spent much of the day making a super-giant pan of lasagna for dinner at church, including simmering my own sauce for it
* Finished a batch of baking that had to sit in the fridge all night
* Did school with the kids (mostly…)
* Printed, and cut by hand, 50 inserts for little coin cases for a project (see below)
* Prepared a contract for WhiteFire
* Created an image for my church’s Facebook page
* Left at 3 (with dishes undone–hey, I’d just do them when I got home! No biggie!) to head out in search of gift cards for a community project we’re spearheading. (Any idea how long it takes McDonalds to ring up 50 gift cards? LOL. I now know…)
* Realized en route to church that the oven there is malfunctioning, so I in fact could not bake the giant lasagna
* Detoured to our old house that is currently between renters (and 2 minutes from the church–we now live 30 minutes away) to pop the lasagna into the oven
* Arrived 15 minutes late to knitting, and proceeded to spend the entire class prepping dinner, LOL. Though I completed 2 knitting projects last week, so I was between projects anyway!
* Drove over to fetch the lasagna, which I was none too convinced was done
* Had a quick (but tasty, if I do say so myself) dinner between would-be knitting and the time we’d set aside to prepare this community project for which we’d fetched gift cards (mini stockings we’ll be giving to every resident of a local senior’s apartment building)
* Spent an hour and a half with a great and dedicated team of church friends and homeschool friends, putting those stockings together
* Got home 5 minutes after kids’ bedtime with a headache so bad I wanted to cry/throw up, and realized my kitchen still had lasagna-making dishes covering every surface (my brilliant plan to do them later is suddenly looking quite foolish), my fridge had no room for the super-giant leftovers, and this had to be dealt with at least in part then and there
* Took 2 Aleve, put the kids to bed, and tackled the need-room-in-the-fridge problem.
* Went to sit on the bed while hubby watched hockey and whimpered over the headache. Decided some mint tea was order to settle the headache-induced nausea
* Felt the Aleve kick in in a blessed wave of relief. Finished tea. Went to sleep.
* Awoke a million times to the sound of incredibly intense wind whistling through the eaves
* Got up at 5:30 today.
My kitchen is still a mess, I still have a bit of a headache, I’ll have to go and fetch the cat from the vet this morning, etc. But you know what? That’s okay. It’s a new day. It’s frigid outside. Still dark as of when I’m writing this. But I have a new coffee pot that filled my cup with the most delicious coffee in the world (seriously), my kids are smiling, I have a giant bag full of finished stockings to give, and included in today’s plan is picking up a Christmas tree.
So I shall optimistically declare, “Today’s going to be a good day.” And with any luck, a little less busy than yesterday was. 😉
Roseanna M. White is a bestselling, Christy Award winning author who has long claimed that words are the air she breathes. When not writing fiction, she’s homeschooling her two kids, editing, designing book covers, and pretending her house will clean itself. Roseanna is the author of a slew of historical novels that span several continents and thousands of years. Spies and war and mayhem always seem to find their way into her books…to offset her real life, which is blessedly ordinary.