Hello, my friend!
I pray you and your family are doing great! It’s a quiet, bright, beautiful Sunday morning here in South Texas. “Quiet” because my husband Ben took the two older kids to church and our 12-day-old baby, Pace, is fast asleep beside me. In about an hour, however, the sounds of laughter, crying, eating, playing, cleaning up, and most likely some fussing and children’s bickering thrown in for good measure will return, so I’m soaking up the silence while it’s here, as well as using the time to write to you!
It’s been a while since I’ve penned a Top 4 Thursday; I’m excited to get back to it, and hope you enjoy the content!
Before I jump in, I’ve had quite a few of you request a podcast version of my birth story, and I am definitely going to record one soon! Thank you so much for your encouragement and interest…and also for your patience 
.
BEWARE OF STORIES…
“Beware the stories you read or tell; subtly, at night, beneath the waters of consciousness, they are altering your world.” – Ben Okri, British poet and novelist
I just finished up the timeless Chronicles of Narnia series and am currently enjoying Circe by the brilliant novelist and Classics scholar Madeline Miller.
Each of these literary gems falls under the Fantasy genre, but that doesn’t mean they don’t affect my reality! The characters, from talking fawns and majestic unicorns to mighty Olympians and sparkling nymphs, are incredibly relatable and thrillingly three-dimensional. They’re all flawed. And while some of them wish to change for the better, many of them seem only to grow more prideful and black-hearted as the stories progress.
The books are teeming with the ages-old, ever-present struggles of humanity, which flow out of their pages straight into my conscious and subconscious mind, prompting me to, in waking hours, think of these imaginary worlds and their peoples and to be either inspired by them, or warned…
That’s the wondrousness of books, isn’t it? That they’re able, through the magic of skillful storytelling and the deft employment of transcendent myths and archetypes, to connect us to the universal truths, fears, vulnerabilities, and curiosities that have bewitched, and indeed ensnared, humanity since the dawn of time.
“One glance at a book and you hear the voice of another person, perhaps someone dead for 1,000 years. To read is to voyage through time.” – Carl Sagan
But stories can also be dangerous. Like the serpent in Eden, they can appear alluring, sound sophisticated, and appeal to our carnal desires in the cleverest of ways. They can plant insidious seeds of lust. They can train our tongues to speak crudely and unkindly and our minds to think cynically, hatefully, selfishly, materialistically, you name it.
Life is simply too short to settle for books that do not better us in some way. So let’s, as Mr. Okri urges, beware of which stories we allow into our souls.
Well that was a long one! Time for something short and sweet!
A “MARVELOUS EDGE”
This is in keeping with the above (might as well keep the storytelling theme going a while longer!):
“Some of Captain Jim’s adventures had such a marvelous edge that Anne and Gilbert secretly wondered if he were not drawing a rather long bow at their credulous expense. But in this, as they found later, they did him injustice. His tales were all literally true. Captain Jim had the gift of the born storyteller, whereby ‘unhappy, far-off things’ can be brought vividly before the hearer in all their pristine poignancy.” – L.M. Montgomery (Anne’s House of Dreams)
TOLKIEN TALKS PRETTY!
I recently stumbled across these beautiful, powerful words from J.R.R. Tolkien:
“It is not our part to master all the tides of the world, but to do what is in us for the succour of those years wherein we are set, uprooting the evil in the fields that we know, so that those who live after may have clean earth to till. What weather they shall have is not ours to rule.” (The Return of the King)
HERE’S TO HEALTH!
Why wait till the new year to make some resolutions? One of the easiest things we can all do to begin making positive changes to our health and overall wellbeing is to supplement (consult with your provider before you do, however) with one or more of the following powerhouses:
Inositol = better sleep
L-theanine = calmer mind
Magnesium = more relaxed body
B-Complex = better, steadier energy
Vitamin D3 = stronger immune system
Cod liver oil = fewer allergies
Creatine = better mood and healthier brain, more muscle
Collagen = healthier joints
Fish oil = lower levels of inflammation
Thank you as always for your support of my writing!
Fiction:
NEW: Where I Go Night-Night (children’s picture book)
NEW!: The God Next Door (comedic fantasy)
Medusa’s Wish (fantasy)
Moonbow: Prequel to The Petros Chronicles (fantasy)
Age of the Ashers (fantasy)
War of the Ashers (fantasy)
Fate of the Ashers (fantasy)
The Petros Chronicles Boxset
Armor for Orchids (Christian Women’s Contemporary)
Orchid Unshaken (Christian Women’s Contemporary)
Orchid Unbound (Christian Women’s Contemporary)
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)