Becky Wade's Blog, page 9

Don’t Drift

Recently, my pastor told a story about having a perfect beach day at the ocean years ago. He and his friends were just floating, talking, laughing, riding the little waves as they rolled in and out. What they weren’t aware of was that they were also drifting sideways, and by the time they realized it, they were the equivalent of about four or five football fields away from their cooler and beach chairs and towels. It was quite a trek back to where they started.

When we don’t pay attention, when we aren’t deeply rooted in our faith, we can drift without being aware of it. Suddenly, we look up and we are far away from where we started. We may have even drifted so far that we’ve forgotten where that starting point was.

We often admire the towering height and wide-reaching branches of a tree, forgetting that its true strength lies beneath the surface. A tree’s root system mirrors its visible form—spreading deep and wide to anchor and nourish. In fact, many trees have root systems that extend as far outward as their branches and sometimes even deeper into the earth than the tree rises above it. Hidden from view, these roots seek water, draw in nutrients, and cling to the soil through storms and seasons. It’s a beautiful reminder that growth and resilience are never just about what can be seen. True stability begins in the unseen places. Just like us, a tree thrives when it’s grounded in something deeper.

For Christians, that means we must be deeply rooted in Christ. That’s how we thrive. That’s how we keep from drifting.

Colossians 2:6-8 says: “Therefore as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, having been firmly rooted and now being built up in Him and established in your faith, just as you were instructed, and overflowing with gratitude. See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, rather than according to Christ.”

The only way I know to ground our roots deep in Christ is through the nourishment found in reading/hearing God’s word and the refreshment found through His Holy Spirit. It’s also how we protect ourselves from being taken captive by the philosophy and deceptions and elementary principles of the world we live in. All those little things and thoughts and ideas that cause us to drift without even noticing it’s happened.

This year I’ve done my odd-year read-through of the Bible using the Bible Recap reading plan and book. While I am using the audio and Kindle versions of the book, the plan and readings are available for free using the Bible app (YouVersion). I’m also just wrapping up a women’s Bible study at church and am currently deciding what I am going to study on my own until the next women’s study begins.

I’ve been a Christian for nearly 50 years, and studying His word never ever gets old. It is alive and active and sharper than any two-edged sword. And it keeps me rooted and protects me from drift.

What study have you done lately that has kept you rooted in Jesus?

~robin

33 Years and Counting . . .

Today is my 33rd wedding anniversay. What a wonderful ride Wes and I have had together so far. From college sweethearts to empty nesters, the Lord has blessed us with tremendous love, laughter, and friendship.

We have always supported each other’s interests. Wes has never read any of my books, but he talks about them to everyone, and he eagerly joins me on writing trips and book signings. I’ve never been a huge baseball fan, but for Wes, I’ve learned to love the Texas Rangers and even join him at the ballpark on occasion.

I join him on bike rides, he joins me for fancy tea.

He indulges my western whims . . .

And I indulge his Star Wars obsession . . .

We’ve had a few challenges along the way, of course, but nothing that couldn’t be overcome with prayer, communication, and forgiveness. He is my best friend, my true love, and the man who never fails to make me smile. I couldn’t ask for a better life partner. Here’s to 33 more!

Do you have a love story in your family to brag on?
It can be your own, your parents, grandparents, or someone else who inspires you with their ever after.

Literary Mugs

I suspect all writers have various items that are endowed with a literary theme. And since so many of us drink copious amounts of coffee or tea, some of those things are probably mugs. Today I want to share with you my six literary-themed mugs and why they are special to me. Although technically, two of them are my husband’s! 

Jane Austen

I love this mug for its size (wider than normal) and its theme (I do love Jane Austen), but most of all, this mug is of great sentimental value. My kids got it for me one Christmas while I was in the midst of my first publishing contract. Whether they meant it this way or not, to me it said, “We see you, you are a writer.” 

44 Scotland Street

We are huge fans of Alexander McCall Smith’s books. However, he is so prolific that I can’t keep up with all the series if I want to read other things! So I have not read his 44 Scotland Street series, but Jeff has—and he loves it. So when we went to Scotland a few years ago, he had to find a mug! Guess where we found it? The Writers’ Museum in Edinburgh. Don’t you have to love a city that has a writers’ museum? 

Introverts

One of my dear friends gave this to me, and of course, it makes me laugh every time I see it, because it is so true! I mean, who else, when they sit out a game of pickleball because there are 5 players, pulls out their phone and picks up where they left off in their book the night before, instead of engaging with those still playing? Yep, introverts! 

Book Collection

Another friend gifted me this mug of classic book spines. All such good ones that they make me smile.  

Lord of the Rings

I got this mug from A Fine Quotation (I love their literary-themed products!) for my husband. He works hard defending religious liberty day in and day out. So I thought this quote was appropriate from me (Samwise) to him (Frodo, carrying the ring): “There’s some good in this world, Mr. Frodo, and it’s worth fighting for.” 

Write Your Own Story

Yet another friend reminded me that while reading is great, I also need to write my own story. Not as in “the story of my life.” That’s God’s job. But my story as in the one He’s given me to share with readers. So often it feels much more comfortable to enjoy the fruits of other writers’ labor than to labor on my own, even if it is what the Lord has asked me to do! 

Of course, I own many other literary-themed items: t-shirts, sweatshirts, magnets, stickers, puzzles, socks—and even a vase! Maybe one of these days we’ll talk about some of those other things! 

Do you own any literary-themed mugs? If not, what is your favorite mug and why?

Happy Birthday to Deb!

Last Friday, May 30th, was Deb’s actual birthday. But we’re still celebrating here on IBL&F!

Joe and I drove to Missouri for a quick weekend visit with Ken and Deb—and to help celebrate Deb’s 70th! Doesn’t she make 70 look good!

We walked along the Mighty Mississippi…

We rode our electric bikes…

We visited the local farmers market and shared Amish donuts. Delicious!

We went garage sale-ing (and will share about our fun finds in another post) . . .

We had some golden porch time conversations, and just generally enjoyed laughing and sharing and celebrating Deb’s birthday—along with 25 years (and counting) of friendship and being writing critique partners. Here’s a pic showing part of that 25 year span . . .

We’re standing by the same flower cart her sweet dad made her all those years ago. Deb has SUCH a gift with plants, can’t you tell?

Please join me in wishing our sweet Deb a very happy 70th bday! I told her I want us to get together just like this when I turn 70. I’ve got six years to go, but I’m nippin’ at her heels! Have you gotten together with a friend recently to celebrate their birthday? How did you celebrate?

Now I’m back home and happily tucked away in my office writing toward The End on this next book. It’s been another “bear of a book” to write, but I’m so encouraged by how it’s all finally coming together. God is so faithful to provide us with what we need just when we need it—and to give us time with dear friends who flood our souls with fresh love, encouragement, and creativity. I’m so grateful.

Happy 70th Birthday, again, dearest Deb!

Hugs from my corner of Nashville,

Tammy

And the wheels on the vac go round and round . . .

I love those little robot vacuums. I have never purchased one of the fancy expensive brands (for reasons you’ll understand in a moment), but considering that we have three big dogs, I love my little robovac and have programmed it to run three times at day–morning, noon, and night. I’d say it’s more of a sweeper than a vacuum, but it picks up a lot of dog hair and dust, and that helps considerably with my sneezing and my cleaning compulsion.

But the other day I had to leave the house for a bit, and when I came back, I discovered that Ivy, my geriatric mastiff, had had an accident of the solid, stinky kind. That would have been bad enough, but she had tried to go to the front door, then to the. back, dropping deposits all along the way. To make things still worse, it was noon, which meant that the little robovac was out doing its mid-day job. So it did its best, grinding and spinning and depositing . . . let’s just say I came back to a mess.

Cleaning the house was relatively easy, as we have tile floors and I have jugs of Odoban, which disinfects even as it de-stinkifies. But cleaning the Robovac was a different matter.

I have had this happen before. The first time, years ago, I just pitched the thing into the trash, because I had no idea that the things could be taken apart and cleaned. The second time, I took the vacuum apart, cleaned the parts, and put it back together. Good as new.

But this time . . . I started by taking it apart, realizing that I was going to have to sterilize everything and every surface I touched. I got out the dirt tray, dumped and cleaned it. I got out the roller brush and cleaned it. I took off the spinning brush and cleaned it. I took out the battery so I could keep an eye on it and not get it wet. But when it came to the wheels . . . there was no way I could get the tread clean–not without dunking the entire apparatus, which would have soaked the electronics, and there she blows . . . so I gathered up all the pieces and put them in the trash. Then I ordered a new one.

This is why I don’t buy the expensive versions. And why I don’t get the fancy ones that shampoo and self-clean. I can’t even imagine the sort of mess that would leave behind.

So right now I’m sitting here typing this while my little robovac is on its noon patrol, Ivy is sleeping by my side, and we’re good to go . . . until next time. I keep a spray bottle of Odoban at the ready

~~Angie

Dani’s Favorites

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We hope you are enjoying these weekly feature posts from the authors of Inspired by Life…and Fiction. We’re sharing some of our favorite things to help you get to know us a little better—and we’d love to hear your answers to these “favorites” questions in the comments below.

Favorite Drink (hot or cold): My favorite drink by far is coffee. I love it hot or cold, but if I was hard-pressed to choose just one coffee drink…oh the torture of choosing…I’d go with Starbucks new Hazelnut Shaken Espresso Drink. It’s delicious. I started drinking coffee in college to get through school and work, but it really took off when my family and visited France and Italy and I fell in love with espresso. Upon our return we purchased an Espresso machine and haven’t looked back.

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Favorite Color (and why): My favorite color is blue because it reminds me of the water. I grew up on the water to a good extent. My dad took me fishing, we went sailing, on catamarans, swimming in the ocean and Chesapeake Bay, canoeing, windsurfing. Basically, if it happened in, on, or around the water, we did it.  I will leave jet skis off my list. I’m a klutz and that could have been treacherous or incredibly funny for onlookers at the least. 

My hubby and I have become sunset chasers since we’ve moved to Florida. We hit a beach and watch it every night. This was taken on a last minute trek to Key West, but it was worth the amazing blue waters and the gorgeous sunset.

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Favorite Thing You Collect: Given my love for coffee, I collect mugs, coffee signs, and now that we are just back in our home. (Pictures coming soon as our construction is wrapped up). We are trying to go very minimal.

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Living out of suitcases for six months in four different Airbnbs lets you know how little you really need. So, in an effort not to clutter things up too much, I’m collecting coffee memes. I keep them on my computer, my phone and my Pinterest page. They crack me up and I have so many sweet readers in my Suspense Squad group who share with me regularly. It’s a great way to share with them and start our Mondays out on the right foot  

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Home Again

Hi friends,

I don’t know if you heard but we moved to Florida last September. Two
weeks later Hurricane Helene hit and completely flooded our house with
four feet of water. With almost everything still in boxes since we’d be
traveling one of those two weeks, we lost 95% of our belongings and two
cars.

It turned into six months of waiting on insurance and four Airbnb stays, but
we are finally back in our home. I can’t express how grateful I am.

I’m sharing a few snapshots of my favorite things that got remodeled. It’s
amazing to see, given at one sad point it was just the wall beams. We could
see from one side of our house to another.

But now, we have a home again. And, so much of it is thanks to you all. We
were blown away by the outpouring of love we received from author friends
and readers. From a Gocarefund started by the awesome author, Jill
Kemerer to the gifts off our Amazon wish list. I think we started with fifty
items and we’re down to five or six.

It’s been amazing. Most of the gift receipts didn’t come or just had a first
name so I was unable to thank everyone individually but please know how
grateful we are for each and every gift. Once everything is in place, I’m
going to do a video walkthrough and share everything gifted to us in hope
the senders will see it and know how very appreciative we are.

More than ninety percent of what we have for our home are gifts through
the wish list or from friends giving us a dining table and chairs and so much
more. Huge shout out to Crissy and Amy (you know who you are) for
helping us through the worst of it. Really helping us through the worst of it.

This is my favorite spot to sit and see the sunrise over a wonderful cup of
coffee. It’s so beautiful here and we feel so blessed. Thank you all so
incredibly much. We are beyond touched by your generosity and all of your
prayers. They’ve been answered.

What is your favorite spot in your house or outside?

I hope you have a blessed week,
Dani

Garden Time

I hope you had a meaningful and enjoyable Memorial Day.

Like many people, I’m guessing, I spent part of the weekend planting flowers. Where I live in Minnesota (the upper Midwest US), Memorial Day is often considered the earliest “safe” time to plant flowers. While I transplanted my simple pots of geraniums, petunias, and marigolds, I found myself thinking of the beautiful eighteenth-century gardens we visited at Hartland Abbey, during our recent trip to North Devon, England.

I hope you will enjoy these few photos of our time there.

I believe the garden will be a great delight…”

—Elizabeth Gaskell, letter

I must have flowers, always, and always.”

—Claude Monet, painter

What about you? Have you done any gardening or planted flowers this year?

Decade birthdays

Today is the first day of my last week in my current decade. It’s honestly a little hard to believe that I’m as ancient as I am. On Friday I’ll enter the decade that I’ve always thought of as “officially OLD.” Ouch! But I’m not going to fret. I did that my last decade and it turned out to be for no good reason.

Now I know where I got my love of houseplants and flowers. That watering can in my hand was a gift for my third birthday.

On my 20th birthday I was a newlywed living in New York with Ken, but we had NO money, so we probably celebrated quietly in our cute little apartment. I really don’t remember!

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I do remember that I spent my 30th birthday having coffee with the girl who would become one of my dearest friends in life. Terry is in heaven now but we enjoyed more than thirty-five years of friendship and made lots of great memories together. I miss her every day.

I can’t remember for the life of me how I celebrated my 40th. But I do remember that it didn’t bother me in the least to turn 40. My 40s ended up being some of the best years of my life.

Even 50 didn’t faze me. My sister Vicky snuck a crazy sign in our front yard to commemorate the day, and Ken took this photo of me with “Maxine.” I remember my mom telling me around this time that every year of her life had been better than the one before. I took great comfort in that.

None of those other decade birthdays fazed me, but months before I turned 60, I moaned and cried and worried. I began the day of my birthday by getting a speeding ticket, going 60 in a 40 hurrying to have coffee with Terry. Oops! And the officer didn’t even have pity on me because it was my birthday! (As I was preparing this post though, I noticed that she wrote the wrong date on my ticket! I should have contested it! )

I came home from coffee with Terry to a birthday gift I treasure to this day. All my kids and grandkids had written “60 Things We Love About You” on strips of paper and put them in a pretty jar. The sweetest gift (yes, I’m crying in that photo below) and over the years, I’ve often read those slips all over again on my birthdays!

A few days later, I celebrated my 60th birthday with my dear Club Deb friends (clockwise from lower left, Debbie, Deb, Debbie, Elaine, Bev, and me—also Deb :)).

All my worries and fears turned out to be for nothing and my 60s have been fantastic years! Yes, life brought some sorrow, as life does this side of heaven: I lost my mom, my mother-in-law, and Terry. Those were hard, even though I know they are all in heaven. But I gained so much too: Another sweet daughter-in-law and nine more grandkids for a total of 14! New friends, a chance to live closer to our daughters’ families, to travel the country and even take my dream trip to Europe where we made so many precious memories.

So as this decade comes to a close, I’m trusting my 70s into God’s loving hands. I get to celebrate this birthday with my beloved husband and another dearest, dearest friend, our own Tammy and her husband Joe. I have so very much to be thankful for and I can’t wait to see what He has in store for me in this new decade.

How about you? Were any of the decade birthdays especially hard for you? If so, why? I’d love to hear from you.

Deb’s Favorites

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We hope you are enjoying these weekly feature posts from the authors of Inspired by Life…and Fiction. We’re sharing some of our favorite things to help you get to know us a little better—and we’d love to hear your answers to these “favorites” questions in the comments below.

Favorite Beverage (whether hot or cold): I love a piping hot Americano with heavy cream. (And no, I don’t mean a latte or cafe au lait. Those are both too milky and/or sweet.) I like strong espresso watered down, no sweetener, and just enough cream added so it doesn’t cool down my drink. Mmmm!

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Favorite Color (and why): I’ve always loved red, but for many years now, my very favorite color is a perfect mix of blue-green. You’ll see various shades of this color all over our house and it just makes me happy!

Favorite Thing You Collect: I collect a lot of things from globes to teapots to houseplants, but my favorite collection that I use every day has to be my coffee mugs. I have over 100 of them and each one has a story!