I remember the first Christian novel I ever read. It was Love Comes Softly by Jeanette Oke. I was in high school, and my spiritual life was a mess. Around this time I was also reading things like The Thorn Birds by Colleen McCullough and Pet Cemetery by Steven King—books that truly vexed my soul. Reading Love Comes Softly was like finding a cool spring of fresh water in a blazing hot desert. I … [Read more...]
Great Expectations… Meeting Dickens
This weekend, a friend and I went to a one-man play starring Charles Dickens’s great-great grandson. Seeing him was the main draw, I admit. I went knowing little about the play itself, except that one of my writer friends (Michelle Griep) had loved it. Two other friends had also seen it, but warned me their husbands had nodded off during the show. So, I went with no “great expectations,” but … [Read more...]
Broken Things Made Beautiful
I remember when my first novel From Dust and Ashes: A Story of Liberation came out in 2003. I was so excited to share it with my friends who'd believed in my writing dreams. But out of all the people who read the novel, there was one person's comments that stand out the most. My friend Kathy had worked with me to start Hope Pregnancy Center in Kalispell, Montana. She's also been in the Bible Study … [Read more...]
What Next, Lord?
Do you ever find yourself wondering what God has next? Yeah, I know. You're probably thinking, "Duh. Happens all the time, Putman." That's what I'm thinking as I sit here in Starbucks preparing this post. This is not the first time that I've neared the end of a phase of life and wonder what's next? Where does He want me to go first? Right now it's reevaluating whether I'm supposed to make … [Read more...]
March All Night
Have you ever had God smack you between the eyes as you are reading? I have, and the most recent occasion was while I was reading Sun Stand Still by Steven Furtick. In case you aren't sure where you have heard that title before, it was in a prayer of Joshua, that God would make the sun stand still in the sky so the Israelites could win the battle they were fighting. My word for … [Read more...]