Until the Dawn

Usually I don’t finish a book in under a week. But due to an unplanned trip to the ER last evening (no worries everything is okay),  I read for four or five hours while waiting on test results to return. The tile of the book was most apropos, “Until the Dawn”, because it felt like we would never get out of there...until the dawn broke!

The book, however had so much conflict! I love reading books from Elizabeth Camden because she includes so much detail. It feels like more than just one story. Her characters are detailed and take on personalities that make them real. None of them are perfect, and I like that. I feel like I can relate to them and maybe actually see them in other people as well.

What I also loved about this book is that they talk about the history of Dierenpark, the name of the building within the story. I just love when a building/home/place has been given a name. My family calls our home “the ranch” or “the farm”. We are not farmers, but we have acreage and loan it out. Anyway, I love older names because they have significance, a deeper meaning. This one meant paradise in the native Algonquin Indian language.

That’s reason two why I enjoyed this book. It includes different Indian tribes that were around this are in the 1660s. And those just happened to be some of the same tribes I teach about in my classroom. I always loved with things like that crossover and connect.

Overall, if you enjoy a good romance, sprinkled with a little history and a dash of mystery then “Until the Dawn” is your next must-read!

Reflections

It’s the end of the year, a time when people look back and reevaluate what they have accomplished (or not accomplished) in the past 365 days in order to better plan and create goals for the next year. This is a good practice, because if one doesn’t see where they have come from and make plans as to where they want to end up, they could get lost along the way. To see where you want to go and make a plan, a path, is quite the feat. Some years I am better at making (and achieving) those goals, than other years.

But don’t get lost in the trap that reflection can become. As some begin looking back, the wishes and dreams of things not accomplished are also seen. And for some, like myself, the negative is more prevalent sometimes than any and all the good that was done. Don’t get lost in the trap! Will there be disappointments? Yes, but that is how we learn and grow. Do we want that told to us in the moment? No! But that is where reflection and seeing how God took those low points and crafted something beautiful out of them. And if you don’t see that beauty yet, that means you are in the middle of God’s creating!

In going forward, what are you goals for 2020?

Mine are pretty much the same:
-read more books
-exercise more
-worry less
-love more

Notice a theme? “More” or “less” of something. I tried completely wiping out carbs or aiming  to “only” eat this or that. It doesn’t work like that (at least for me). I am not one who can cold turkey start or stop something. But that’s what is great about a new year. You don’t have too! You can start slow by just trying to do “more” or “less” of something everyday.

A new resolution: to write more here about the books I finish. In 2019, I read 50 books, many of those smaller than I’m used to, but they are longer series. I found that sometimes a smaller book is good for the soul. And I also rediscovered that I love making family trees of the characters within these interconnecting novels. But in looking back, I don't think I wrote about a single one! It doesn't really matter because I know there are not many of you out there actually reading this. And that's okay. It's more for me to sit back and reflect on the books I've read. To take a moment and savor. Enjoy.

That's what I want to do more. Enjoy. To have JOY.

It’s a new decade, a new year, and maybe for some, a time for a new point of view. Maybe this is the year you start working out more. Maybe this is the year you spent less time on social media.  Maybe this year you start that new venture or hobby you’ve been dying to try. Whatever you decide, remember, God is there with you in the good and the bad. “He will never leave you, nor forsake you.” (Deuteronomy 31:6).  Take courage! This new year - God already knows the outcome. How reassuring is that?

Finding your voice

I just finished the most recent publication of Rebecca Connelly’s, a new favorite author who I seem to consume her books faster than she can publish them, called Spinster and Spice. This third enstallment of the Spinster Chronicles centers around “sweet little Izzy”, the one whom everyone takes advantage of because she never causes a fuss. She learns how to find her voice in this novel, and I am reminded to find my own voice as well. I tend to respond like Izzy, be more passive and peacemaker, than bold and opinionated. There is a balance between the two, and I think it’s something we all need to find.

 My recommendation is to go out and read a Spinster and Spice!
 (Maybe read the first two first, because that just makes sense!)

Familiar Connections: Gaining Confidence through Weakness

Have you ever read a book and found some connection with the settings, person, or feeling? Does that connection help you better engage with the book? I always find that I pay attention more when that phenomenon happens to me. But when multiple happen in the same book, I start to wonder, “God, what you are telling me?” In the case of my current book, To Honor and Trust by Tracie Peterson and Judith Miller, the male character’s career hits close to home for me, one of the locations is in my home state, and I can relate to the female character’s desire for truth and trustworthiness in others due to a past heartache. My ears are alert, “What lesson should I learn from this book, God?”

The male lead, Wesley, is a 25 year old doctor, and my own brother (not named Wesley as that would be too coincidental) is 26 and currently in his second year in medical school. While Wesley is fictional, I feel that I understand some of his background just through my knowledge of what my own brother has experienced. For example, Wesley comes across as very knowledgeable in areas not only related to medicine. I might not think much of that as he is fictional, but over the last 17 months my own brother comes home on breaks more knowledgeable than the last time I saw him. I talked to him about this over Christmas Break and he told me that medical school is hard (duh, I already knew that) but that he had had to develop a sense of confidence and self-awareness about what he knows and how he knows it. I had always seen my brother as a confident person, even before medical school; but since going, he has become even more so. I didn’t realize that under that layer of self-confidence actually laid a layer of uncertainty. He had to develop this “thicker skin” so to speak in order to study and perform his duties.

 Amazing, I had never thought about confidence in such a way. That a person might first have to become aware of their failings and weakness before they could become strong. The Bible confirms this in Paul’s writing in 2 Corinthians 12:9-10,  “But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christʼs power may rest on me. That is why, for Christʼs sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.’” (https://www.bible.com/111/2co.12.10.niv) Growing up, I just assumed this was in reference to physical strength or in areas of faith; but now that I am older, and facing other challenges in life, I can see that in ANY situation, before we can become confident we need must first be weak. It is through this weakness, this trial, that we learn to become better, stronger, CONFIDENT.

Modern Mrs. Darcy Challenge 2019

I’ve been silent for a while, but that doesn’t mean I’ve stopped reading. On the contrary, I’ve read more books in the past two years, and I am now finally digging my way out of all my series and novels that I had laying on my shelves.

One of my New Years resolutions was to join a book group that uses a checklist called the Modern Mrs. Darcy Challenge to expand their reading library. Each criteria is a book to read for each of the 12 months this year. It’s  only the end of January, but I’m able to check off 2 categories (totally 4 books). I am having a blast with this challenge. If you love books as well, I hope you’ll join me!

Before Grace there was Pain

Amazing grace! How sweet the sound
That saved a wretch like me!
I once was lost, but now am found;
Was blind but now I see. 

One of my favorite old hymns is that of Amazing Grace. I remember singing it at youth group, Sunday morning services, and camp meetings; but my most vivid memory is at a high school youth retreat in a cabin in the woods, with hard wooden benches, hands held high, tears streaming down my face, belting it to the rafters. It has been re-made several times over the past two hundred and fifty years. The experience people feel may change, but the words and meaning never do. But do you know the story of how John Newton came to writing those wonderful words of grace and forgiveness? 

I just finished Jody Hedlund's newest novel, Newton & Polly: A Novel of Amazing Grace, and let me tell you, it was inspiring and gave me a new perspective of the words Newton wrote in his famous hymn. The line, "through many dangers, toils, and snares/ I have already come" is somewhat of and understatement. Newton had been rescued from dangers more a dozen times, but his world-view was so polluted towards God, that he did not see the bigger picture. He was pleasing his lustful, human nature in hopes of finding peace; instead, he found the opposite, despair. It took falling to the bottom before he reconciled his faith in God. 

'Twas grace that taught my heart to fear.
And grace my fears relieved;
How precious did that grace appear
The hour I first believed.

It was hard to believe that a man as sinful and self-serving as John Newton could become one of the most famous hymn writers in history. His story is very much like that of the Prodigal Son found in Luke 15 - a man leaving his family to fulfill what he thought would satisfy his search for purpose. It was a wonderful reminder that we are all God's children, and he has a bigger purpose for all of us, if only we seek him. The words from the second verse of Amazing Grace brings tingles to my neck as I remember the trials Hedlund writes about, and yet he could still write that after everything he feared, he could still believe in God and the amazing grace of forgiveness.

Pick up Jody Hedlund's novel, Newton & Polly: A Novel of Amazing Grace, today and travel on a journey of love, pain, loss, and peace. 

Snowy Day Blessings

Here in the Midwest, there is about a foot of snow on the ground, frosted with a thin layer of fresh ice from this morning's drizzle. You could ice skate on the sidewalks. I'm thankful that I can be cuddled up in my warm house, surrounded by my family, and a good book.

I love reading; especially books from the turn of the century. On days like this, it makes me wonder what families did in the late 1800s when "electricity" was considered a potbellied stove - which meant that someone had to spend hours chopping and cutting firewood prior to the cold weather. Even in today's modern world, there are some who cannot afford living in a warm environment. It is when I think of those less fortunate that I truly consider my blessings bountiful.