One of the many blessings I’ve discovered through joining American Christian Fiction Writers is the chance to connect with other Christian novelists. It’s amazing how much you can get to know, help, learn from, and network with each other online before ever meeting in person. One day last fall, one of these writers commented on […]
Originally posted December 25, 2011. Merry Christmas, everyone! How silently, how silently The wondrous gift is given So God imparts to human hearts The blessings of His heaven… Joseph And He is born. I lay Him on Mary’s chest, warm and wet and wailing, and cover them both with my robe, and kiss her sweaty […]
Originally posted December 24, 2011 Yet in thy dark streets shineth The everlasting light The hopes and fears of all the years Are met in thee tonight… Mary So much waiting, and now everything is happening too fast. Dusty sandals hurry past me as I huddle in the street corner. Joseph settled me here when […]
Originally posted December 17, 2011 Come, Thou long-expected Jesus Born to set Thy people free From our fears and sins release us Let us find our rest in Thee… Joseph Evening light glints on the soldiers’ helmets as they disappear in a cloud of dust. I stare after them. Lord, if I’d known you meant literally […]
Last year during Advent, I began a series of “peeks” through the eyes of various characters present at the coming of Jesus and what they might have felt in those weeks leading Toward Bethlehem. This year, I’ll be reposting those, as well as adding new installments, starting with this one. I hope you enjoy and […]
I bent forward over the lamplit table, following the fingers of my Navajo host as he sketched out words for me in my little notebook, repeating them aloud for me to try at pronouncing. Ya’at’eeh abini—the morning greeting Hagoóne’—the way to say farewell, a kind of blessing as you leave someone Again and again I […]
While many of my favorite authors I’ve loved since my teens, in the past year or two I’ve discovered more writers who, with their stories, have quickly found their way into my heart. I’ve mentioned these three here before, but never all together! Sarah Sundin truly has the gift of story, exacting historical detail, and […]
I once read an old volume that urged young ladies to “make friends of books.” That’s never been hard for me, at least of storybooks—since little girl days when I fell in love with Little House in the Big Woods and Little Women, books have been treasured companions to me. Much as I love my […]
English major though I am, I read no Tolkien beyond The Hobbit until after I graduated college (perhaps a good thing most of my fellow students in our Oxford study abroad program didn’t know that 🙂 ). I made it through the first two volumes a year or two ago, but it wasn’t until this summer […]
Forgive me, dear blog readers, for the scarcity of posts here lately. My family and I are still coming out of the blur of Cinderella, but I hope to begin picking up the pace now! I’ve written a good deal about story here and the power it can wield. Over the last couple of months, […]
