Spotlight on Two Families.com Wives: Dale Harcombe and Jade Walker

I’ve had some news regarding both ladies that I’ve wanted to share, but I wasn’t sure how to frame it in a blog until this morning. I hope once you read the following, you’ll join me in extending well wishes to them both. Dale If you follow Dale’s work over in the Christian Blog, you might have seen Valorie’s post “Our Prayers are with Dale.” It pretty much sums up what Valorie had written to me in a private email when she explained why I’d be flying solo the next month or so here in Marriage. Dale had broken her … Continue reading

Examples of Encouragment

Yesterday I wrote about words of encouragement. Yesterday and today, I had several examples of that and I know what a difference that encouragement has made to the start of my day. Two were regarding my writing. The first was an initial response from an experienced fellow writer and reader regarding the new manuscript I’m working on, which I’m looking forward to getting more detailed feedback on at the SCBWI conference in Sydney next month. The second was from a group of Australian children’s writers that I belong to, asking some questions about the structure of my novel due to … Continue reading

Prayers and Thoughts for Our Christian Blogger

A few days ago I received an email from the daughter of our Christian blogger, Dale Harcombe. There was some ups and downs with her move and her new Internet install was delayed. A couple of days after that, I received more bad news: Dale broke her arm and it will be very difficult for her to type. Due to this, I’d like to ask for prayers and good thoughts to be sent Dale’s way. Life is difficult enough without a curve ball or three thrown in our direction. The Christian blog will be taking a bit of a hiatus … Continue reading

Them’s the Breaks!

How quickly and easily life can change! It did for me 7 weeks ago. All it took was our pup’s four wet paws to make the tile floor slippery, and next minute I was seeing stars. When I could eventually get up to sit in a chair, I suspected I’d broken my arm. I’ve had enough broken bones in my life to know how it feels. I hoped and prayed that wasn’t the case. That was before I looked down and saw the bone sticking out at a peculiar angle. Even then I thought perhaps it was just dislocated. Mick … Continue reading

Waiting for Writers and Readers.

Sometimes we chaff at how long it takes for things to happen, for God to answer our prayers. In the life of a writer a lot of time is spent waiting. Waiting for characters to be fleshed out. Of course we may still be writing at the same time and getting to know our characters. Waiting for a cooling off period after a draft of a manuscript is written, before going back to edit and revise. Then, when it is finally off to a publisher waiting for their response. Waiting for the postman to come with the good news of … Continue reading

How Soon We Forget!

How soon we can forget the way God acts in our lives! This is one of the advantages of keeping a journal. For years I’ve been a huge fan of journals for quiet times, probably way back since I read ‘A Man Called Peter,’ by Catherine Marshall. I call mine a communuon journal because it records my communion with God, Bible readings, prayers, thoughts and how God speaks to me. This morning I plucked put one of those old journals and looked at the first page. Like Courtney I’ve been feeling a bit disenchanted with novel writing recently. I was … Continue reading

This Is Why I Sing – Part 1

Another end of a week and instead of a week in review I’m going to do another week of praise points. This is the first part. I praise God for: Dreams, hopes and aspirations. God’s wisdom in realizing I was unable because of illness to do a job I’d been asked to do and not trying to push myself to do the impossible. God’s enabling leading the music on Sunday and the great songs chosen which focused on what an Indescribable and awesome God we serve and that He is Holy but our sins are forgiven and we are washed … Continue reading

A Week Of Praise

It’s good to be reminded of the big and little ways God provides for us and the everyday blessings we can tend to take for granted. So often we forget to praise God for His goodness. So here is my week of praise and blessings. I praise God for: Safety when traveling. A special time together with family. My footy team, the Sydney Swans, won. God’s wisdom in solving a problem with a neighbor. Enabling leading singing on Sunday and a great selection of songs which fitted in perfectly with the sermon topic. Our minister’s support and encouragement for the … Continue reading

How God Answers Prayer.

I’m going to take a break from the blogs on anger, to share something of how God has been at work getting me back on track. Lately I have been ignoring my poetry in favor of other forms of writing. Then I received a new poetry book, ‘Two Kinds of Silence’ by Tasmanian poet Kathryn Lomer. I’m looking forward to reviewing it. ‘I really should get back to writing poetry,’ the thought flitted through my mind. That day and the next I wrote and send off a batch of poems for children. A day or so later I received ‘Studio … Continue reading

It’s Okay to Say No

Have you ever stuggled with someone in your church or community asking you to do a job you feel almost compelled to say yes to? I have. This week, within the space of ten minutes, my husband and I were asked by two people to undertake two different jobs within our church. We’ve been thinking for a while about what tasks God has for us in this new church. A couple of thoughts had surfaced but no clear direction, so we were still praying through the issue. Then the two phone calls came. In each case we found out what … Continue reading