Thoughtful Thursdays

Musings on faith, family, & fiction

Come, Holy Spirit
My parish has three churches, each with a different history. There's St. Mary's, which was the Italian church. St. Patrick's, which was (surprise, surprise, LOL) the Irish church. And Sts. Peter and Paul, which was the German church. I imagine back in the day, one...
The Me I See
The image I see when I look in the mirror has only rarely matched the image I carry of myself in my mind. I imagine we're all like that. There are those who see fat or skinny when the world disagrees with them. There are those see young or old, fit or flabby, pretty...
Royally Inspired Writing Contest!
Royally Inspired Tournament The First Annual WhiteCrown Princess Moments Contest   Hear ye, hear ye! You’re invited to don your writer’s armor and prove your mettle in a battle to the death…er…publication!  What Is the Royally Inspired Tournament? In this...
Post-Op Update
Thank you all so much for praying for me as I went into surgery last Friday, and for continuing to pray for my recuperation! I appreciate it so much! So last Friday, October 11, I had my double mastectomy. The "double" part was my choice, made because it decreases my...

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.

41 Things

41 Things

Today I turn 41! So here are 41 things that have proven important to me in the last year.

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Proof

Proof

In Exodus three, God’s proof to Moses of His presence is “that you will worship God on this very mountain.”

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When We’re Seen

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.

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Onward and Upward

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.

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Life-Giving and True

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.

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Do the Work

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.

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Seasons

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.

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Mental Congestion

Mental Congestion

Ever have those nights when you can’t shut off your brain? When your thoughts are so busy, sleep eludes you?

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Judgment Call

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.

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Reproached and Redeemed

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.

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Forgiving Their Joy

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.

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Suffering United

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?

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The Darkness in the Light

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...

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The Beloved Charter

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...

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The Poor in Spirit

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...

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The God of . . .

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...

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Love on Repeat

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...

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God of Eternal Promises

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...

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He Called Me by Name

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...

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Whose Sins You Forgive

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...

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A Year of Patrons and Peers!

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...

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2022 Word of the Year Reflection – Devotion

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...

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How to Choose an Intentional Word of the Year

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...

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The Babe, the Son of Mary

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...

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Righteous but Dangerous

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...

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Giving Thanks through the Years

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...

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Throwback Thursday – My Unceasing Thanksgiving

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...

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Dancing with God

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....

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A Challenge: No More Complaining, All Gratitude!

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...

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Festooning the Lord’s Prayer

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...

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A Walk Before Daybreak

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...

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Belief and Truth

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...

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Gone Writing!

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...

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Where We Look

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...

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Throwback Thursday – Written On Our Lives

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...

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Reflections

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...

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True Community, Wherever You Are

True Community, Wherever You Are

We live in a kinda weird world, don't we? We are so connected, with the advances of technology. And we are so disconnected, living such busy lives that we rarely pause to just be with each other anymore. I confess that I struggle with this. I want community. I long...

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40 Things

40 Things

We're somehow to the middle of August again ... which means at my birthday again. Which, in turn, means time for another post reflecting on the year--on things learned, things discovered, things loved, things hated. And of course, this is a milestone year. Forty! (Cue...

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Throwback Thursday – The Power of Words

Throwback Thursday – The Power of Words

Original post published January 30, 2020In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. 4 In Him was life, and the...

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Throwback Thursday – The Revealer of Secrets

Throwback Thursday – The Revealer of Secrets

Original post published 9/12/2019 “Blessed be the name of God forever and ever,For wisdom and might are His.21 And He changes the times and the seasons;He removes kings and raises up kings;He gives wisdom to the wiseAnd knowledge to those who have understanding.22 He...

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