Thoughtful Thursdays

The last few weeks, my dad (who happens to be my pastor) has been preaching through the Ten Commandments. He recently covered number five--the first commandment to contain a promise. Now, he had plenty of material to get through with the focus he chose, and he said up...

I'm by no means the first person to tackle this subject, and no doubt others have done it better than me. But last week when I wrote about "Actions, Reactions, and Being Better," I had an anonymous comment accusing me of "woman shaming/blaming." Another of those...

One of the reasons I love writing historicals is to show that the heart of humanity has never changed. No matter whether you're talking about ancient Egyptians or modern Americans or anything in between, there are a few things that we will always seek--our dreams, our...

In a move strange to fiction-loving me, much of my recent reading (or listening, as the case may be) has been of non-fiction. I've already written about my thoughts on the importance of having heroes in our lives, inspired by The Closing of the American Mind by Allen...

I've written about literary heroes before. I've written about what we're remembered for and what I feel is so critical about preserving the legacies even of those with whom we don't agree. Amazon But in listening to a book called The Closing of the American Mind and...

We've been reading through Matthew lately, and really digging deep, as we tend to do in our Bible studies. This weekend, we were in Matthew 14--quite a chapter! We learn about the beheading of John, and how Jesus sought some solitude after getting the news, He tried...

For my daily study each morning, I've been reading through a chronological Bible called So That's Why Bible. I love the history and context this Bible gives me--I've never been a huge fan of the "application" style notes in a study Bible, but I've always loved the...

Over the weekend, my husband and I took a drive to meet up with some good friends for a dinner, halfway between where we live. We've been trying to do this somewhat regularly, and it's inevitably a wonderful evening. This time, we realized that it's been 18 years...

We set goals. We work hard. We sweat. We cry. We bleed. We tumble down exhausted. We stretch out our hands, willing our fingers to reach that last . . . single . . . inch. Did we get there? There. The end goal. The place we want to be. There. The thing always just out...

There's a passage in Matthew. We all know it. But I admit it always baffled me a little. It's from chapter 9, verses 14-17. 14 Then the disciples of John came to Him, saying, “Why do we and the Pharisees fast often, but Your disciples do not fast?” 15 And...

Tuesday afternoon, I pulled back into my driveway after a lovely retreat with Stephanie Morrill, best friend and critique partner extraordinaire. Arriving at our rental house, energetic and ready to go! If you've been hanging around my blog any length of time, you'll...

When it comes to how we spend our time, there are good ways and bad ways, right? There are things that we deem worthwhile uses of our time . . . and things we deem not worthwhile. Over the last couple weeks, I've had a couple conversations with my best friend about...

I'm busy. This is indisputable fact. I'm writing 6 books in 18 months, I homeschool my kids, I do much of the day-to-day running of WhiteFire Publishing, I design book covers and interior layouts, I cook, I (occasionally) clean, I knit, I'm pianist at my church, I'm a...

This past weekend I just began my rotation teaching the kids at my church (being a small church, we alternate who's in with them so that the same person doesn't have the responsibility all the time). I decided to start a 36-week course aimed at tweens and teens (our...

In my church's Wednesday night Bible study, we've been reading through Romans, taking it just a few verses at a time and really digging deep, beneath the easy and accepted answers to try to grasp the subtleties of what Paul is saying. Most recently, we've been in...

A year and a half ago, I wrote a post about how, in our churches, we needed to take a stand--not for what we're against, but for what we're for. But as my husband and I were talking a few weeks ago about how to really change the culture, he hit on this again. And I...

For the past few weeks...or perhaps months...I've had this realization swirling through my mind. One that explains why I like some historical fiction better than others. One that most of the world (or at least the mainstream world) doesn't seem to share. My thoughts...

Last Thursday, my family used some Christmas money to attend a hockey game in Pittsburgh--something we've been wanting to do for years. Six years ago, hubby and Xoe went to one while I stayed with Rowyn in the hotel room (because he wasn't quite 4 and had a hard time...

I totally stole the title inspiration for this blog...from the other person embarking on this adventure with me. 😉 I think she'll forgive me. (Check out her post here)  So, a few weeks ago my husband said, as he has said many a time before, "You need an...

Whenever I have a new book release, there's always that anxiety about how readers will connect with my characters. Oh, I've had some input by this time. Critique partners, beta readers, editors. And they all have their unique opinions. Their perspectives. As I've been...

I've had several ideas lately for Thoughtful posts. But it seems like every week, I run out of time, and blogging slips down my to-do list until it falls off the edge. =/ So when I pulled up a new post today, I'm not sure why I typed into that title line "Who We Get...

There's an old-world definition of "living water"--it means water that moves. Dead waters are stagnant--you don't want to drink from them, and sometimes things can't even live in them. For instance, the Dead Sea. Now, this place is pretty amazing in a lot of ways. The...

Over the last few months, a landmark change has come upon me. It started gradually--now and then, out in public. And then it became more common even at home. And now I know it's here to stay. My daughter has stopped calling me Mommy and now calls me Mom. It's a...

As so typically happens, I've been letting ideas simmer in the back of my mind that combine my current Bible reading, things I've been reading to my kids, and conversations and sermons from church. I love when all these lines cross and combine to lead me to a knew...

Last week we passed an idyllic seven days at the beach in the Outer Banks of North Carolina. I expected to have a great time--and I did. I had a fabulous time. We generally do. But as a mama, I've also known my fair share of vacation frustrations. Because you don't...

In recent weeks, there's been quite a hullabaloo over statues. It's started in the US and has even spread to the UK. Voices are raised. Blood pressure is up. People are shouting at each other from both sides. On the news the other evening, I heard someone call for the...

Last weekend I had the honor of filling in in our church's pulpit. I sat down to write my sermon thinking I'd base it on a blog post from last August . . . but was in for a surprise as I did some more research. Did you know that the English definition of blessing...

Last weekend, my dad preached on a rather familiar passage in Philippians 4. His sermon was great, focusing on how God can conquer any of our weaknesses and enable us to do the work He calls us to. It was a message full of things you just want to shout "Amen!" to....

Yesterday, I attended the funeral of my 103-year-old great-grandmother, who passed away over the weekend. And while I was teary-eyed and sniffly at it (which is for me the equivalent of outright crying), I didn't leave the service feeling wrung out or devastated or,...

So I've been working through some things this week--and anyone who knows me knows that my "working through" usually involves writing. Where better to compose my thoughts, then, than for you all, right? 😉 I think the kernel of what's been bothering me is assumptions....

So wow, it's been a week of political opinions again, hasn't it? Reporting and misreporting, deciding, shouting, threats of protest. I have sworn years ago that you'd never hear me shouting my political views from my writing platform. And in part it's because I have...

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...

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...

If this autumn has hammered anything home in the United States, it's that everyone has an opinion. Not that I didn't already know this, but seriously. I heard more opinions this election cycle than I can ever recall witnessing before. Every time we touched a toe into...

Well, here we are, on the other side of the election. The results are in, the new president is declared, and some less-than-peaceful protests are under way. I have friends who are gloating, friends who are weeping, and friends (the vast majority) who say something...

I admit it--I'm sick of it. All the politics on the news, the divisiveness, the fact that I can't go on Facebook without my friends' feed being an explosion of vitriolic "Who I'm voting for and why" posts. It makes me tired. But more, it makes me sad. And here's why....

Our Bible studies are famous for getting off track . . . but resulting in some awesome discussions. Last night our study of Daniel led us to a conversation on why people might lose faith--why, specifically, God might put them in a situation where they end up losing...

I'm not sure when this thought hit me--but it was in the last month or so. One of those things that has niggled and wiggled around in my head and then burst into realization during a sermon in church one week. I'd been wondering about blessings . . . and if we really...

As a writer, I know all about picking the interesting times to write about--we leave out the boring stuff, right? Or the unimportant stuff. We certainly don't spend pages describing something that will never come up again. It's something I've noticed in biblical...

I just got back from a couple days at a church conference, and the director said something in one of his presentations that resonated with something my husband and I had been discussing too. And that is this: One of the greatest perceived failings of the modern church...

A few weeks ago, I heard an analogy about the kind of life we should live; that we should be an oak tree, solid and tall, a pillar of the community, the kind of person people respect and will miss when we're gone, etc. That we shouldn't be a tumbleweed, aimless and...

Life is hard. So often we feel pressure. People are pushing us. Prodding us. Poking us. Sometimes, when circumstances are weighing heavy, we get that tight feeling in our chest, right? Or in our stomach. Stress. Overwhelm. We get tired. We get frustrated. We react....

It's a busy week here in the White House. David's birthday was on Sunday (and I'd like to give a big shout-out of thanks to the Penguins for winning the Stanley Cup that day, which made a fantastic birthday present for that die-hard fan. When they won, I looked over...

When I got married, I filled out a registry. A wish list. It had on it all the things one would expect--dishes and cookware, sheets and towels. All of them, sets. Matching. Off-white plates with flowers around the edges. Matching cups. A set of cutlery. Glasses that...