When I was a little kid, I remember attending old-fashioned “camp meetings” (outdoor revivals in huge, white tents) with my grandmother. The pianist and organist played on a stage with a choirmaster who stood behind a large pulpit. His arms bounced in rhythm with old hymns as the audience belted out, “Victory in Jesus, my Savior forever!” But when the …
Fact or Fiction – Beauty’s Surrender: Sarah’s Story
In the first pages of Beauty’s Surrender: Sarah’s Story, our heroine receives her very first personal visitation from Elohim in the form of a dream. She sees herself walking alongside Abram, both of them young and vibrant. She wears her familiar wedding garment and the veil of dangling gold coins. When he pulls the veil of gold aside to kiss …
Nicknames, Name Changes, & Nightmare Pronunciations
If you’ve ever read one of my novels, you know they’re filled with difficult-to-pronounce names. I try to extend mercy to my readers by assigning nicknames to the characters, a practice I’ve found nowhere in historical records. But nicknames are something with which modern-day readers are familiar. My readers also have to keep up with character name changes, sometimes changed by God, other times …
Embracing Your GPS—Sarai & Hagar
I was on my way to speak at a pastors’ wife’s conference and made the grave error of relying on my phone’s GPS for directions. Why was it an error? Because the conference center was so far into the mountain foothills that my phone lost reception. When I lost my cell signal, I lost my navigation. Oooooh, how I wished …