refitted

Our Father is fitting us for eternity. A vessel fitted for the kitchen will find itself in the kitchen. A vessel for the art gallery or the reception room will generally find itself there at last.

What are we being refitted for? To be a garbage receptacle to hold all the trash that people pour into our ears? Or a vase to hold sweet fragrance and flowers for the King's palace? A harp of many strings to sound the melodies of His love and praise? Each of us is going to his own place. 

Let us be fitted now.

Days of Heaven on Earth

~A.B. Simpson

the melt factor

I'm getting ready to create my 11th hero:).  So far we have Ian, Red Shirt, Colonel McLinn, and two you've yet to meet. If I dig deep in my antique trunk, I'll unearth those unsung heroes who'll never see the light of day ~ Matthew, Stephen, Winston Cade Cabot Luce, the 7th Duke of Devlin (isn't that atrocious?! He was from my college days), and there are one or two I can't remember which were less than memorable. Which brings me to the point of this post! Heroes must be memorable:)

I must confess I felt a little like one of my heroines when I saw the man in this picture on Pinterest recently. I melted. There's something so irresistibly handsome about him - perhaps even heroic. Happily married woman that I am, I was instantly smitten! This picture might not have the same effect on you and that's okay. Everyone has a different melting point;)

I love creating heroes even more than heroines. A hero doesn't have to be handsome. But his soul and spirit should be. He can be angry but never whiny. He can be lost but there has to be the ring of redemption about him. He must be flawed. But strong. Your hero should be so compelling that you find yourself thinking about him when you're not writing. That goes for your heroine, too. I always say my characters are as real to me as my own family members - and I'm not exaggerating!

Take the hero you're either reading about or writing about. What do you like about him? Were you smitten right away? Or did he grow on you? I'd love to read your insights on what makes a hero tick for you ~ or not!

It seems only fitting to end this post with the winner of North and South! Talk about a hero!

The winner is...

EMMA!

If you can email your snail mail addy to lauran@tfon.com, I'll mail your hero/movie right out;)

a thousand imaginary beads

There are some things that God will not tolerate in us. We must leave them. Nehemiah would not talk with Sanballat about his charges and fears. He simply refused to have anything to do with the matter - even to take refuge in the temple to pray about it.

How very few things we really have to do with in life. If we would only drop all the needless things and simply do the things that absolutely require our attention from morning till night we would find what a slender thread life is. But we string upon it a thousand imaginary beads and burden ourselves with cares and flurries that - if we had trusted more - would never have needed to preoccupy us.

Wise indeed is the testimony of the dear old saint who said, in review of her past life, "I have had a great many troubles in my life, especially those that never came."

~A.B. Simpson

misty woods

You may notice a vast change here on my blog/site if you're one of my regular readers. For some time I've been admiring your blogs, dreaming of a new look, as many of you are so creative that way and make changes so often.

Thanks to my dear friend and artist, Laurie Justus Pace, I have a new design! Laurie's generous spirit shines through everything she does. She has a beautiful website and blog of her own, filled with her paintings, her life as an artist, and her passion for Christ. Here is a photo of Laurie and a little painter which embodies her servant's heart and spirit.

The misty woods you see in the new blog background are the very ones surrounding me. The photo was taken by photographer friend/fellow church member, Roger Mosley. He climbed up the mountain in back of our house and snapped this photo not long ago, kindly giving his permission to share it here. Our house is in the photo only you can't see it for the mist.

The woman at the far left corner is yours truly:) After being unable to find a workable image, I braided my hair and donned an 18th-century shift and sat down at my writing desk. Paul took the picture as only a 12 year old photographer can do! Thankfully, Laurie was able to use it. It's nice to have pages now and a more user-friendly approach. Several things I could never figure out are now in place. Thank you, Laurie, from the bottom of my cyber-unsavvy heart!!

If you have a blog, I'd love to hear if you enjoy blogging and which features you like best on your blog. Also, what sort of blog posts would you like to see here in future? More on writing? Continue the devotional posts? More on personal things like knitting and family or recipes? Anything goes! 

Bless you bunches!

downton abbey!

I will always be grateful to readers here for introducing me to the BBC bliss of North and South. Life since John Thornton just hasn't been the same. He's quite the dark hero. And now I've been hearing all this buzz about another period piece...Downton Abbey!

A few days ago I looked in my mailbox and out popped the first 2 seasons! Someone very dear to me sent them and I nearly jumped up and down:) Didn't have a clue they were on the way. Since the mailer said Amazon, I thought it was a book instead!

Since you all have primed the pump, so to speak, I can hardly wait to watch! So...

Should I eek out an episode an evening or have a DA fest, complete with diet Dr. Pepper Cherry and popcorn, and watch season one in one glorious sweep?!? Do you have a favorite character? One who's TSTL (too stupid to live, in the words of my savvy friend, Ruth)? One to watch out for? If you're not a fan, I'd love to hear that, too!

Also, I have one 'gently watched' DVD of North and South to give to someone here if you haven't seen this amazing film or would like your own copy. Wish I had one for everyone!


Winner announced next Monday, March 26.


Happy Monday!

think like psalmists

Some people are afraid of color. They think that spirituality consists in being drab. But God made color! He made all shades of colors. Look at the sunset - what is it, just something scientific? Do you think that God splashed the lovely, beautiful sky with rose, cerise, blue and white and wasn't smiling when He did that? Is that just an accident of nature, scientifically explained? Then you've got too much learning for your own good! Go empty your head and get your heart filled and you'll be better off. The Holy Spirit wrote 150 psalms and in those psalms He celebrates the wonders of God's creation.

We ought to stop thinking like scientists and think like psalmists. This infinite God is enjoying Himself. Somebody is having a good time in heaven and earth and sea and sky. Somebody is painting the sky. Somebody is making trees to grow where only gashes were a year ago. Somebody is causing the ice to melt out of the river and the fish to swim and the birds to sing and lay their blue eggs and build their nests and hatch their young. Somebody's running the universe.

A.W. Tozer, The Attributes of God, Volume 1

prize of my heart

I think this is the most romantic book cover. It contains so many elements I love - the unbound hair, the pink gown, her expectant expression, the ship!! Everything is lovely and appealing and indicative of the time period. And the author, Lisa Norato, is just as winsome:) We're in a writers group together and she hails from a richly historic place in Rhode Island. I can hardly wait to read the book!

Her debut novel, Prize of My Heart, has just released and we're having a party to help celebrate at Colonial Quills. I'll close comments here in hopes of seeing you over there. There's lots of fun, giveaways, and fellowship going on!

Here's the first line from chapter one...

Duxboro, Massachusetts, 1815


Captain Brogan Talvis was rounding the stern of his newly constructed square-rigged ship when, from across the shipyard, the sight of a young woman took him aback.


Happy Monday!

more Whitefield

Holy and frequent meditation is a blessed means of keeping up a believer's walk with God. "Prayer, reading, temptation, and meditation," says Luther, "make a minister." And they also make, and perfect, a Christian. Be frequent therefore in meditation, all you who desire to keep up and maintain a close and uniform walk with the most high God. 

God never sends but what is necessary, when there is something that needs be purged away; we glorify God in the fire when we say, "Lord, do not let the fire go out until it has done its work." Then we can glorify God when we wish for the good of the fire and can say from our hearts, "Lord, do with me as seems good in your sight."

What I am most afraid of is, lest I should flag in the latter stages of my road. But he that hath loved and helped me, will love and help me to the end. O pray that I may not go off as a snuff. I would fain die blazing, not with human glory, but the love of Jesus.

 ~George Whitefield, 1714~1770

words spoken true

I wanted to spotlight a dear author friend's book today ~ love that cover! And the story within is just as appealing. Here's the back cover copy:

Adriane Darcy can't imagine life without her father's Tribune newspaper offices. But the battle for readers gets fierce when Blake Garrett - a brash, young editor with a controversial reporting style - takes over their failing competitor, The Herald. When sparks fly between Adriane and Blake, can he get the story - and the girl - before it's too late?


Ann has been a wonderful friend and mentor to me besides being a fellow Revell author. She's the bestselling author of several Shaker novels and has a passion for historical fiction which really shines in this new release. She's already getting great reviews for Words Spoken True!

She also has a very insightful blog and her post today provides another peek into the writing life. I'm getting ready for the pages she talks about now that the galleys are done. Ann has a lot of wisdom and I'm privileged to call her a friend. Her website is full of great info and links to order her books. Here's her blog link below...


Ann H Gabhart - One Writer's Journal: One Last Chance to Make It Right: "Vigorous writing is concise. A sentence should contain no unnecessary words, a paragraph no unnecessary sentences, for the same reason that...



Have a wonderful weekend!