In all my historical research, I'm always stumbling upon accounts of people sacrificing for others. I really love those kind of stories. Stories like Harriet Tubman risking her life to return to the South to help free other slaves. Or Corrie ten Boon who risked her life to hide Jews after the Nazi invasion of Holland. I even like reading about modern day heroes such as the one during the crash … [Read more...]
Do You Believe?
Last Friday, a group of women from our church got together for a movie night where we went to see Do You Believe? the latest release from the Christian production company, Pure Flix. My daughter and I were among the attendees, and I must say, we had a wonderful time. The message of the film was inspiring and convicting, and I immediately found myself praying for the courage to be bolder in living … [Read more...]
The Spiritual Life of a Reader
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...]