Hello, my friend!
This week’s Top 6 kicks off with an excerpt from my comedic fantasy novel, The God Next Door (not yet published). I hope you enjoy!
P.S. Don’t forget to enter my giveaway at the end!
The God Next Door Excerpt du Jour (or “de la semaine”…)
Aphrodite’s attention to her mounting misery was diverted by two wasp-waisted, big-bosomed, muscly-armed women in obscenely tight clothes striding with enviable confidence across the floor below. They were carrying clear water bottles filled with light turquoise liquid and wore ridiculously large headphones that made them look like Barbie fighter pilots. (Aphrodite wasn’t a fan of Barbie dolls. They brought up painful memories of the old days when idols of her likeness, crude as they were, were sold in temples and agoras all across Greece. They’d never come with boyfriends or accessories, but they were lovely in their own right and suitable for playing with, so long as you didn’t offend Aphrodite and thereby provoke the idols to bring plague—or at the very least, mold—into your household.)[1]
Bumps in the Road
This past Sunday, my four-year-old son Isaiah chose to take one of his trains with him on the car ride to church. About a half mile down the road, he released a shout of frustration as, after hitting a pesky speed bump, his train clattered to the floorboard.
A few minutes after my husband Ben and I corrected him and explained the importance of self-control and a little concept known as “cause and effect,” my breakfast (I’d been in quite the rush that morning, so breakfast was taken to-go…) went flying into the air as we crossed the train tracks. Given the recent parenting moment, I was inspired to “walk the walk” of self-control; I made nary a sound of displeasure, which enabled Ben and I to further the teaching opportunity by pointing out to Isaiah that everyone experiences bumps in the road, and everyone has a choice as to how they’ll respond to them. One choice sours our mood, agitates and/or irritates others, and puts our impulses in the driver’s seat, while the other maintains calm within and around us while exhibiting to others life-giving fruits of the spirit, namely peace, patience, and self-control.
I love it when metaphors come to life like that!
Learning a New Love Language
Check out the latest post on my Proverbs Thirty What blog! It’s all about the love language “Acts of Service,” how I don’t naturally “speak” it, and how to grow past fixed mindsets to better serve our families and communities.
Action > Passion
Yet another powerful quote from James Clear:
“Passion is a feeling that follows action. It tends to be created or discovered, not predicted or planned. You don’t find your passion. It finds you as you get in the mix and try things.”
Ministry Observations
I’m currently reading the third book in the Anne of Green Gables series (Anne of the Island). I couldn’t help but think that these lines, written 108 years ago, could very well have been written today (the character Rachel Lynde writes this in a letter to Anne, who’s away at college):
“I don’t believe any but fools enter the ministry nowadays,” she wrote bitterly. “Such candidates as they have sent us, and such stuff as they preach! Half of it ain’t true, and, what’s worse, it ain’t sound doctrine. The one we have now is the worst of the lot. He mostly takes a text and preaches about something else. And he says he doesn’t believe all the heathen will be eternally lost. The idea! … What church do you attend, Anne? I hope you go regularly. People are apt to get so careless about church-going away from home, and I understand college students are great sinners in this respect.”
Country Music Motivation
I’ve been listening to lots of country lately during my workouts #sorrynotsorry lol… These Walker Hayes (song is called “What You Don’t Wish For”) lyrics, while quite removed from the caliber of L.M. Montgomery, are quotable nonetheless:
All the kids with guitars, looking up at the stars
Dream as far as your heart can dream
Write a song make some noise, danger’s real but fear’s a choice
They say careful what you wish, but I say be more…
Careful what you don’t wish for
Thank you, as always, for your support of my writing!
Fiction:
NEW!: Medusa’s Wish
Moonbow: Prequel to The Petros Chronicles
Age of the Ashers
War of the Ashers
Fate of the Ashers
The Petros Chronicles Boxset
Armor for Orchids (Christian Women’s Contemporary)
Orchid Unshaken (Christian Women’s Contemporary)
Orchid Unbound (Christian Women’s Contemporary)
NEW!: Orchid Unfading (Christian Women’s Contemporary)
Non-Fiction:
Fit for Faith: A Christian Woman’s Guide to Total Fitness
Perfect Fit Couples Edition: Workouts and Reflections for a Rock-Solid Relationship
Perfect Fit: Weekly Wisdom and Workouts for Women of Faith and Fitness
Perfect Fit No Excuses: 15-Minute Workouts for Life’s Busiest Days
Immeasurable Fitness Challenge: 18 Days of Total Health for Spirit, Soul, and Body
Immeasurable: Diving in the Depths of God’s Love (a memoir)
Pour Me Out: 30 Days to a More Selfless Life