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Wanted: Prayer Team
Today is a really busy day. I'll spare you my to-do list, but I'll say that blogging wasn't on it, until now. I don't think this request should wait: I am seeking a team of folks who will pray for me and my co-author Kimberly Drew as we work on our devotional book for parents of special needs children. I fully expect that both of us, and perhaps our families, will encounter challenges as Satan tries to distract us from this project. In fact, I do believe it's...
New Book Contracted for Parents of Kids with Special Needs
Last week I signed a contract with Kregel Publications, officially ending my nine-month sabbatical from deadlines. (If you're curious about how I filled my non-writing season, see my top 20 here.) This new project is one that is very close to my heart. It's a devotional book for parents of children with special needs, and I'm co-authoring it with my dear friend Kimberly Drew. Allow me to introduce you.
About Kimberly
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150 Years Ago: Lincoln's Last Day
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The End of the Civil War
On this day in 1865, three days after General Lee's surrender, and four years to the day after the war began in 1861 with the firing on Fort Sumter, Confederate troops formally surrendered to Union. The work of art above, "Salute of Honor" by Mort Kunstler, is so moving to me. But it's even more profound when we consider what was happening at this moment in history. Kunstler's Web site describes it so poignantly, I'm going to quote from it directly:
...What Does an Author Do Between Contracts? My Top 20 List
When I turned in Spy of Richmond to my publisher last July, I was without a contract for the first time in seven years. At first, I felt both free and untethered, which I realize sounds the same, but whereas freedom is desirable, being untethered felt uncomfortable. I felt both of these things in equal parts, in alternating stages. It sounds weird, because it was weird. Life was suddenly, drastically, different. And sometimes, different is good. :) It has been a wonderful sabbatical...
Phantom Limb Pain and the Civil War
Though the phenomenon of phantom limb pain had been recorded long before the Civil War, it was Silas Weir Mitchell (pictured at left), a Philadelphia physician specializing in nerve injuries during the Civil War, who coined the term. Phantom limb pain, or PLP, occurs when a patient feels pain in an arm or leg that has been amputated. Mitchell studied PLP (or sensory hallucinations, as he also called them) in depth at the Turner’s Lane hospital in Philadelphia, dubbed the Stump Hospital because it focused on caring for amputees....
The Civil War and Prosthetic Limbs
“It is not two years since the sight of a person who had lost one of his lower limbs was an infrequent occurrence. Now, alas! There are few of us who have not a cripple among our friends, if not in our own families. A mechanical art which provided for an occasional and exceptional want has become a great and active branch of industry. War unmakes legs, and human skill must supply their places as it best may.”
~Oliver Wendell Holmes, M.D., “The Human Wheel, Its Spokes and Felloes”
If necessity is the mother of invention, it should come as no surprise that the Civil War, which...
How to Pray for Military Service Members
We are closing in on the end of the 150th anniversary of the Civil War. Those of us who have read novels and nonfiction about this gruesome time have developed a better understanding of the monumental sacrifices made by families of those who fought for either side. Today I'd like to turn our attention to the fact that military families continue to make sacrifices for the United States of America. Won't you join me in praying for these men and women? I asked Chaplain (Capt.) Scott Koeman for some specific things we can be praying for. Here is the insightful list he shared with me:
...1 Disgraced Civil War General + 1 Ardent Atheist = Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ
Chariot race, Ben Hur
During our first year of marriage, my husband Rob and I rented the classic film Ben Hur with Charlton Heston to watch the night before Easter. The chariot race came up awfully fast. "I feel like we're supposed to care about who wins," I told Rob. "Shouldn't we get to know the characters a bit?" The movie was over in less than an hour. "Huh. I thought this was supposed to be a long movie." We shrugged and shook our heads. Only after taking the disc out and examining it more...
What's So Good About Good Friday?
For years, I felt uncomfortable calling the day Christ was crucified "Good" Friday. It didn't feel right to me, and I bet at least some of you can relate. Why call the day God died a good day? The following video explains it so beautifully. I have watched it every Easter season since I saw it in my church's Good Friday service a few years ago. It never fails to encourage me, and I hope it will encourage you today, too.
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