This year my focus has been on seeking the Lord. Of course I want to make this a lifelong practice. However, I have found that during different seasons of life, we might become negligent, and therefore we have to be more intentional about seeking God.

Why is seeking God so important? Here are just a few reasons:

• If we don’t seek God, other things will creep into our life to replace Him.
• If we don’t seek God, we will wind up doing our own thing and not His will.
• If we don’t seek God, we won’t have the peace that surpasses understanding in our lives.
• If we don’t seek God, we won’t be able to properly handle trials that come our way.
• If we don’t seek God, we won’t have true contentment in life.
• If we don’t seek God, we might become stuck in negative patterns.
• If we don’t seek God, big decisions could cripple us.
• If we don’t seek God, we won’t learn and grow in our walk.

When it comes to seeking God, reading our Bibles and prayer are important. But there is something else that I have been trying to incorporate more and more – Being quiet and listening to God. This can be very difficult to do. We are constantly bombarded with people who need our attention, alerts on our phones, radio, television, email, social media, etc. And when we get alone and turn all those things off, we are still blasted with our own thoughts. So I thought I would share some things that I do in an attempt to hear from the Lord.

In my home, there is a place that I often go to when I want to read my Bible, pray, or just listen for His voice – my closet. My husband, and even my dogs, know that when they haven’t seen me in awhile, they can probably find me in my closet. I even do a lot of writing in there because it frees me from distractions. I am hypersensitive to various noises such as talking, typing, television, radio, etc. So when I need peace and quiet, my closet is my favorite place to go.

Another place where I go almost daily is my car. I actually can’t avoid my car, since I have to drive one hundred miles round trip Monday through Friday. But there is one particular practice that I started doing recently which I have found to be helpful in hearing from God. When I am on my lunch break at work, sometimes I will just sit in my car for ten to twenty minutes and ask God if there is anything He would like to tell me. And I often hear from Him when I do this! Also, when I am driving, sometimes I will ride with the radio turned off and try to quiet my mind.

And a third place I like to go to seek God is outdoors. I might go for a stroll around my yard, or just sit quietly in a chair. I always feel closer to God when I am out in nature, with no walls between me and the sky above.

The particular places where I go to seek God might not work for you. But the important thing is to get creative and try to carve out quiet time with God.

Everyone has seen it. Well, that is just promotional hype. But the truth is that a lot of people have seen it, in North America and around the world. I have seen it.

“It” is The Avengers: Endgame, the latest Hollywood blockbuster, the climactic conclusion of an astonishing twenty-one movies in “the Marvel universe.” That is quite an achievement for a comic book collection. It is a fun and entertaining story, with interesting characters, flashes of humor, lots of action, and a relatively coherent plot.

That is fine as far as it goes. But perhaps this is a good time to reflect that, like all stories, Endgame (and the movies that preceded it) has a worldview. A worldview is a set of assumptions about the nature of the universe that is evident in everything that is done but that may never be clearly stated. It is likely that most viewers of these movies will simply accept this worldview (through the willing suspension of disbelief) and never examine or question it.

This is unfortunate because in many ways it is an unsatisfying, unappealing, and deeply flawed worldview. Consider some of the underlying assumptions of this worldview.

1. Being an ordinary human being is not enough. The underlying assumption of these movies is that human beings are not capable of solving problems and not interesting or valuable enough to tell stories about—you have to be superhuman to really make a difference and to really matter. This is not just a feature of movies in the Marvel universe but of many other currently popular television shows and movies. Few modern heroes/heroines are ordinary human beings. The leading characters are superheroes, extra-terrestrial beings, mythical creatures, werewolves, vampires, angels—or human beings given extraordinary powers by radiation, spider bites, or technology.
2. Flaws are excusable in heroes. Many of these superheroes have serious character flaws—anger management issues, ego issues, addictions. We human beings are all flawed. The problem is not that these types of movies portray these flaws but that, like many other stories currently on television and in the movies, they often excuse them. The idea is that the lead characters can be excused for their flaws because of their superhuman powers and their importance in saving the universe. This attitude has overflowed into other areas of modern life. If someone is a great singer or actor, it is considered alright that he is a sexual predator. If someone is a great athlete, it is okay for him to act like a jerk. If someone is a great political leader, it doesn’t matter that he is corrupt and dishonest. We are all flawed, but flaws should never be excused.
3. The world’s problems are solved by violence. The massive violence in these movies is considered acceptable because it is the only way to save the world or the universe. The devastation of entire cities is merely the backdrop for the action. The destruction and suffering of the thousands and millions of innocent bystanders is never portrayed. They are just collateral damage. All that matters is who won in the end.
4. There is no clear meaning to life and no ultimate resolution for the problems of the world. Strangely, Endgame does not portray a contest between good and evil. There are no ultimate standards, and there is no guiding force or purpose to the universe. No one is ultimately in charge. Instead, what we are presented with is competing visions of how to solve humanity’s problems. Thanos, the villain, wants to solve the problems of the universe by wiping out half of life. His approach has overtones of those who want to curb surplus human population by abortion and assisted suicide. Or terrorists who want to eliminate infidels. Or communists who want to eradicate the capitalist classes. On the other side are The Avengers, the good guys, who want to save the world by engaging in a massive war to annihilate Thanos and his forces. And if they succeed, they admit that the war will leave behind a flawed human society for which the superheroes have no answers.

In the end, the twenty-one movies culminating in Endgame leave us with an unsatisfying worldview—a flawed human society that can only be preserved (but not changed or improved) by violence perpetrated by superheroes who cannot exist in real life.

Compare this to the Christian worldview:

1. Human beings are made in the image of God and are loved by God as His precious creation
2. Sin is never excused. It can be forgiven, but only at great cost—the death of Jesus Christ on the cross.
3. Life’s problems can best be tackled through love, honesty, truth, righteousness, work, repentance, forgiveness, redemption, and sacrifice, and ultimately they will be resolved by a loving and just God.
4. There is a clear meaning to life and a clear purpose for the universe revealed in the Bible.
5. There will be a final victory by Christ over all evil and death, and an unending future of perfect peace and blessing, a future where there will be no more tears or suffering and where death is swallowed up in life.

I believe gratitude should play an important role in our lives. I think it’s essential to thank God for all the blessings in our lives. Each day we have so much in front of us that we often take for granted – a new day on the earth, a roof over our heads, food to eat, and even the air that we breathe. There are many people in the world who did not wake up this morning, who do not have a home to call their own, who cannot afford to buy groceries, or who cannot even breathe on their own.

It’s also vital to say “thank you” to the people around us. We should thank our spouse for making coffee in the morning, thank our child for helping clean up the house, thank the coworker who helped with a project, and thank the stranger who held the door when entering a building. Those two words can express so much. They can tell someone that they matter. They can brighten someone’s day. And they ultimately can send a bit a God’s love out into a hurting world.

Another key aspect of gratitude is keeping a gratitude journal. Every night I write down at least five things that I am thankful for. After a hectic day, I find this to be a very peaceful process. Looking back on my day, no matter what happened, even if I had a bad day, I can always find things that went right. I can always find things to be thankful for. If I wasn’t intentional about gratitude, I would miss many blessings in my life.

Obviously gratitude is very meaningful to me. In fact, I even wrote a book on it! (Every Day is a Gift.)

However, I recently discovered that not everyone has this same opinion. I suppose I can understand someone being neutral to gratitude, if they never attempted to practice it before. But I recently heard someone say something against gratitude which shocked me. The person said that when we say “thank you” too much, we appear to be insincere! This statement was not directed towards me specifically. She said it in general to a room full of people. Yet even though it was not meant for me, in a way, it still hurt.

I disagree with what this person said. I truly believe we should thank the people around us for the kind gestures they do, no matter how small. And we should thank God for all the things He does for us, each and every day.

I’m curious, what is your opinion? Do you agree with the lady who said that saying “thank you” too much makes us seem insincere? Or do you believe expressing gratitude to God and our loved ones is important?

(Photo by Dominik Gwarek.)

Today I got a request from a total stranger to help him out with a surprise for the love of his life and one of my loyal readers.  I can’t tell you what an honor it is to meet up with book people.  I didn’t even have to be published for this to occur.  The best part of writing is the people you’ll meet.

I met some of my best friends when I was learning to write — when — gasp — the internet was barely a thing. Now most of them are bestselling authors, but we went through all the rejections together and that forges a bond that is so strong.  Only another writer can understand the sheer joy of getting a manuscript accepted and the utter despair when working on something for years only to hear, “No.”  And often, not a very nice “no.”  Some of them really stung.  But we always had each other and we felt each others’ pain.

We’ve had huge highs like Denise Hunter having three Hallmark movies made. We’ve had really horrible times like the loss of many we loved.  One of them like a sister to us.  (Diann Hunt) To this day, I write with our group picture on my desk.  It reminds me of our bond and of all we went through together — and that it’s not over.  We will reunite in heaven.  My point is, there is no better way to go through life than with your people.  The people who understand who you are — with all your talents — and your faults. It’s what makes anything you do matter. 

Diann Hunt, Kristin Billerbeck, Colleen Coble, Denise Hunter — eventually we added Hannah Alexander to our group too!

Every time I want to give up writing because there’s too much going on and I have nothing left to give the page, something happens that defies explanation.  Someone will call me out of the blue and want me to ghostwrite a book.  Or someone will write me a letter out of the blue telling me how one of my books changed their lives.  That is so incredibly humbling and I know without a doubt, it is 100% God and He gives me a little nudge when I get whiny.

A few years ago, I had readers meet up here in San Francisco.  Two of them were all the way from Australia and then, there was a family from Wisconsin.  They had all met and befriended each other on my personal blog.  This week, one of them is returning to San Francisco and I’ll get to hang out with her and catch up on life in Oz. Before I met her, she met up with another reader in Australia and they held my picture between them and sent it to me.

The thing is, I’m really honored to have been a writer.  It’s the best job in the world.  There are ups and there are downs, but one thing is constant — book lovers — whether writers or readers — share a bond that connects us in the most magical way.

Hello, friends! I recently read a fabulous book that I wanted to tell you about – Drawing Ever Closer: 365 Days of Transforming Truth by Jennifer Hayes Yates. This book is a yearlong devotional, directed towards women specifically. Many of us have read devotionals in the past, but this book is unlike any devotional I have read before. It walks the reader through the books of Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs, and Job. Each day focuses on one verse within a given chapter. I think this book would also make a great Bible study tool, if you want to dig deeper into any of the above mentioned books.

By reading through this book, I think it will help the reader to immerse themselves more in the Word. Sometimes our daily Bible reading can seem a bit routine, but this book is a beautiful instrument that will help you feel more engaged in your studies. Also at the end of each day there are additional Bible verses that the reader can look up on their own for further study. I like this idea because some days we have more time than others, or some days we just need more time with the Lord. So this gives the reader an option to absorb more of the Bible, if they would like to.

One particular thing that really hit home was what a treasure the books of Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs, and Job are. I have read them before, but now I am seeing them in a different light and I have new appreciation for them. The above mentioned books run the gamut of emotions and topics – praise, worship, wisdom, revelation, pain, and much more. This devotional helps the reader to process each of these things in a godly way. I feel this book will also aid the reader in seeing God’s heart. Whatever it is that we are going through in our lives, He wants to be there for us. He wants us to come running to Him with all of our emotions, thoughts, trials, and joys. He is always there, waiting for us to come to Him.

Reading this book has been an amazing journey for me. I think it will be for you as well. No matter where you are in your Christian walk, I believe you will get some valuable insight out of this book. Here is the link where you can find it on Amazon. Happy Reading!