Emily Was Wrong
“Hope is a thing with feathers,” Emily Dickinson said. I think she was wrong. Now before you decide I’m a complete Scrooge, let me explain. I understand what Ms. Dickinson meant when she inscribed those words back in 1861. I’ve felt it—the fluttering, buoyant phenomenon that hope can bring. The flicker of light in the dark, the feeling that your heart might just take flight. Something that seems so fragile, yet soars with strength unseen. And so yes, I do understand the comparison to a bird. BUT, I think hope is...
read moreBetter Than Fiction Guest Post: Shy Guy Meets Big Sister (by Olivia Newport)
As a child, one of the reasons I looked forward to visiting the small Southern town where my mother grew up was because I would get to see my Great Aunt Lennie. I thought she told funny stories. Maybe I was just enamored of her Southern accent. No, I really think she had a sense of humor. She had good timing. Lennie also had a big boat of a car in the days before seatbelts, and her motto was “the more, the merrier.” (Now that I’m a great aunt 15 times over, I get that generational joy!) Lennie was my grandmother’s younger...
read moreThe Waltz
I’m honored to be a guest at my lifelong friend Katie’s blog today. The post came as a result of her invitation to write about “Oneness in Marriage.” Here’s a preview of what you’ll find if you’d like to click through and join us overe there: Once upon a time, there was a Happily Ever After. And then the dance began. I love our love story. I love to tell how we met, how I realized I was falling for my best friend, how we never really had a first date—he just leaned in and kissed me and the rest...
read moreThe Heart Behind the Hope Chronicles
It started out with a simple e-mail from my friend Joanne: Would you be interested in a blog hop? Historical writers, she said. All writing from their story’s heroine’s point of view. What a creative approach to the hopping-of-blogs! I was in. The wheels in our collective brains began to turn: “What if we invite these other authors to jump in?” “What if we do giveaways to go along with the blog hop?” “What if we all have a common theme to serve readers through our message, to give them something? Some thread of truth to...
read moreDeeper
Have you felt it? The pull, I mean. Closer to Him. Deeper. Maybe it was a glimpse you had of another person’s walk with God. The intimacy, the love, the so-in-stride-with-Him-you-can-almost-see-Him sort of surrender. Maybe it was one of those “wake up, take a candid look at your life” moments that ended in bewilderment, and then heartache, thinking… How did I get here? So far from Him? Maybe it’s just a tug you have on your heart. When you pray, when you read His word, when you seek His wisdom, it’s good. You’re...
read moreA Kindred Spirit & Her Heart, Her Story: Interview with Joanne Bischof
Several months back, a writer-friend of mine with whom I’d exchanged a few neat e-mails collaborated with me to bring you this interview today. We put our heads together and planned it out for you, countless days ago. I knew she was a remarkably talented writer, I knew that her heart for serving God’s people through that gift was clear and pure, and I knew that I couldn’t wait to read her book. What I didn’t know was that as those e-mails began pinging across cyberspace, God had depths in store for that friendship...
read more“Better Than Fiction” Guest: Tricia Goyer
I’m happy to welcome Author Tricia Goyer to Simple Revelations. She’s giving us a glimpse today into one of the true love stories from the Titanic from her original post (found here). Even in horrific events such as the Titanic disaster amazing stories emerge. Stories of heroics, stories of survival, and even stories of love. There were over a dozen newly married couples on board the grand ship, and many more couples who were impacted by the tragedy. Among those are these touching stories of love. ...
read moreCaught
We hear that word (“caught”) and we think… or or Caught. A few weeks ago, I was listening to a song with this line: “A thousand times I’ve failedStill your mercy remainsAnd should I stumble againStill I’m caught in your grace” that word caught me. It turned in my mind until the beautiful opposites of two of the word’s connotations stood against each other: (1) all of the above pictures… Trapped. Ensnared. Apprehended. And then the one at home in the above...
read moreBetter Than Fiction Guest Post: Olivia Newport
It’s my joy to welcome author Olivia Newport back today to share a story from her own family history that has inspired an entire soon-to-be-released novel! Love in the Generations The beaming woman in this picture is my sister. And what’s not to beam about? She is holding Eloise, her first grandchild, and Elsa, the second grandchild of our eldest brother. These two beauties were born about three weeks apart last summer. The mothers of Eloise and Elsa are cousins and richly fond of each other, which is beautiful in itself. For their...
read moreBetter Than Fiction Guest Post: Tricia Goyer
I’m happy to welcome Tricia Goyer to Simple Revelations. She’s giving us four glimpses today into true love stories from the Titanic… and I’m so glad she included links to some of her sources, because I couldn’t help digging a little deeper into their lives! Take, for example, this excerpt of a letter from John Snyder (whose tale is below) to his father: “I can only tell you that I have a mighty fine wife and she is the one you must thank- besides our Lord- for my being able to write this letter. If it...
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