Word of the Week – Understand

Word of the Week – Understand

by | Oct 28, 2019 | Word of the Week

I can’t say as I’ve ever understood why, when we comprehend something, we stand under it. So this week we’re working to understand the word understand. ?
According to the wonderful world of www.etymonline.com, this word, which has been
in the English language pretty much since the English language has
been, carries an old sense of “standing in the midst of.” And if you’re in the midst of it, you get it.
Now, the “under” is the tricky part. Etymonline quotes a few different expert opinions on why it’s
“under.” They all agree it isn’t “under” as in beneath, but
rather as in “between, among.” Take, as a modern-day idiom that has
survived with this meaning, the example “Under such circumstances.” We don’t mean we’re literally under these circumstances, but rather in the midst of them.
Some other Germanic languages
have a word that means “stand before” rather than “stand under,” but
ultimately the idea comes back to truly comprehending something when
you’re very near it.
Understand? ?

Thoughtful About . . . Broken Vessels

Thoughtful About . . . Broken Vessels

by | Oct 24, 2019 | Thoughtful Thursdays

Sometimes we are broken. Cracked. Chipped. Completely undone.

Sometimes, no matter how much is poured into us, it feels like it all comes leaking back out.
Sometimes life just keeps throwing rocks at us, making those chips and cracks grow.
Maybe there’s been a diagnosis–for you or someone you love. Maybe it’s the loss of a job. A home. A dream. Maybe it’s a tragedy. Or maybe it’s just a million little things all adding up. Maybe you’re running too hard. Reaching too far. Expecting too much. Maybe you’ve fallen back into that habit you’d thought you’d kicked. 
Maybe it’s any of a thousand things that leave you empty at the end of the day. Whatever it is, I think most of us have been there. Broken.

Way back in the day, when I was writing Whispers from the Shadows, my heroine Gwyneth says to the hero Thad, “I’m broken.” And his reply is one I think of time and again. He says, “Oh, sweet. We’re all broken.”


A truth we can’t always see. Because when we’re looking through a cracked lens, we sometimes blame that for the flaws we see in others. (Or sometimes we can only see their cracks and don’t realize it’s our lens.) But it’s a truth nonetheless. We all have those cracks and bruises. The pock-marks and scars. We all have holes and seams and missing pieces.
That’s why I love that our Lord is described as a potter. He knows all about these fragile vessels He’s made. He knows how easily we break. Shatter. Fall to pieces.
And He knows how to fix us. More, He knows how to take the pieces and make something new.
Lord, use us in your mosaic. Fix us where you can, filling our cracks and holes and empty places with you. And as for those times when we feel so utterly shattered that there’s no putting us back together…that’s okay too. We know, Lord, that to you it isn’t a thousand pieces of that old, broken vessel that you see. It’s a thousand pieces of a gorgeous piece of art, just waiting to be made.

We serve an artist, my friends. A God capable of taking the worst tragedy–the ones we can’t actually recover from–and using the fallout to forge something we never could have dreamed. We serve a Potter who can take that same old clay and shape something never seen before. We serve a King who never looks us and says, “You, my son, my daughter, are broken beyond repair.” He looks at us and says, “Will you let me take the pieces? I’ll make something wonderful from them.”

Let’s give Him our pieces. One by one. Maybe we’ll hurt a little as we pick them up and offer them up–some of the edges are pretty sharp. We might bleed. We might cry. But clinging to them will only make those cuts worse. Let’s offer them to Him instead. Our sacrifice. Our praise. Our trust.
Because when we’re at our worst, shattered, that’s when He’s at His best. That’s when He can really get to work…if we step back and let Him.
Lord, here are our pieces. Make of them what You will today.
Word of the Week – Amen

Word of the Week – Amen

by | Oct 21, 2019 | Word of the Week



Post originally published 4/18/2011

Another Word of the Week revisit coming your way, again from my first days of doing these features in 2011. ? And today we’re (re)looking at amen.
“Amen” is a direct translation from a
Hebrew word that literally means “so be it.” That makes a ton of sense–when we end a prayer, we’re asking God to make whatever we prayed for be. But until the 13th century, it wasn’t tacked onto the end of prayers, but rather at the end of texts, carrying the meaning of
“verily” or “truly” and carrying with it a meaning of agreement. (Think,
“Amen to that!”)
Jesus revolutionized the “amen”
by using it at the beginning of speech without referring to the words of another speaker. He used it instead to claim the truth of what he was about to say. Pretty cool, huh? ?

On Wings of Devotion ~ Pre-Order Your Signed Copies!

On Wings of Devotion ~ Pre-Order Your Signed Copies!

by | Oct 16, 2019 | Announcements, Book News

I can’t believe we’re less than 3 months from the release of On Wings of Devotion! I’ll soon be diving into edits for the third book in The Codebreakers, and also into writing the first book in my new series, Isles of Secrets. Plus I’ll have another announcement in the next week or two, after things are signed-sealed-and-delivered. ?
But in the meantime, I wanted to let everyone know that pre-orders are open in my store for signed copies of On Wings of Devotion! And you can get 20% until December 31 if you use this coupon code: wingspreorder
If you’ve never ordered from my store before, it’s super-simple. Just add whatever items you want to your cart, and during checkout, type or paste that code into the grey box that asks for the coupon code. After you’ve proceeded to checkout, there’s a Notes section where you can put in your personalization request. ?
As a reminder, Wings releases on January 7. I’ll pack up pre-orders as soon as I get my copies, which is usually about two weeks early, though I can’t make guarantees on that.

Against Every Warning, She’s Drawn Ever Closer
to the Man Known as “Black Heart”

    
All of England thinks Major Phillip
Camden a monster–a man who deliberately caused the deaths of his
squadron. But he would have preferred to die that day with his men
rather than be recruited to the Admiralty’s codebreaking division. The
threats he receives daily are no great surprise and, in his opinion,
well deserved.
     As nurse Arabelle Denler observes the
so-dubbed “Black Heart,” she sees something far different: a hurting man
desperate for mercy. And when their families and paths twist together
unexpectedly, she realizes she has a role to play in his healing–and
some of her own to do as well.
    With Camden’s court-martial looming, an
old acquaintance shows up, intent on using him in a plot that sends the
codebreakers of Room 40 into a frenzy. With their fragile hopes for the
future in the cross hairs, Arabelle and Camden must hold on to hope–and
to each other–if they want to survive.

Word of the Week – Macaroni

Word of the Week – Macaroni

by | Oct 14, 2019 | Word of the Week

This is actually a revisit of one of my very first word features, from way back in 2011. Figured we could use a refresher on some of those fun ones!
So today…macaroni!
Yes, you read that right. ?
Now, in my house “macaroni” is synonymous with “the most common food to
be found, because it’s the only thing my kids are 100% guaranteed to
eat.” But as with all things we take for granted, there was once a day when it was new. Rare. Fashionable, even.
Back in the 18th century, Italian foods were just beginning to make
their way into British society, and they were all the rage. One of the
most loved was macaroni–and it was so stylish a dish that an entire
club was formed around the it. The Macaroni Club was quickly known for
their dedication to fashion and style . . . a dedication which soon went
into dandy-ism (which is to say, over the top).
At that point, “macaroni” became an adjective meaning something like “a style befitting a dandy.”
And so Yankee Doodle finally, FINALLY makes sense! Ever wonder
why the dude in the song “stuck a feather in his cap and called it
macaroni”? Well, there you go. He wasn’t calling the feather pasta,
which was what I thought at age 6 when I learned the song (yes, I
thought we were singing about some delusional guy, LOL), he was calling
the hat stylish. Even dandy.
So enjoy your macaroni, folks. And know that back in the day, it was not just kids’ food.
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