Stephanie Landsem's Blog, page 9

An Answer to the Question: When Is Your Next Book Coming Out?

If there’s one question I get a lot from friends, family and readers, it’s . . . When is your next book coming out? I know it’s been a while since I’ve published a novel, so first of all thank you for your patience. I’m excited to announce that Tyndale House Publishers will be bringing you my next book in about a year’s time! A year? Yes, it seems like a long time. But that’s so we can get the editing, the cover, and all the details just right. Trust me, it will go fast. The next question...

Walk In Her Sandals: Meet Huldah

James Tissot via Wikimedia Commons, showing Jesus and the disciples as they most likely ate, reclining on couches

Huldah is many things: A friend, a mother, a mother-in-law, a widow and a simple soul. She lives with her son, Ephraim and his wife Anah, doing the small tasks of her station in life with great love.Huldah’s generous heart goes out to her friend Miriam, who is caught between her two sons—James, who believes in Jesus, and Joses, who does not. Huldah offers to help James with the...

Gaze Upon Jesus: Meet Adrina, the Magi’s wife

Writing the story of Adrina, the Magi’s wife, for Gaze Upon Jesus, I discovered that what we DON’T know of the Magi is far more than what we DO know. The account in Matthew gives us only the bare bones of a story:

When Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea,
in the days of King Herod,
behold, magi from the east arrived in Jerusalem, saying,
“Where is the newborn king of the Jews?
We saw his star at its rising
and have come to do him homage . . .

After their audience with the king they set...

Gaze Upon Jesus: meet Anna the Prophetess

“Some of the priests called me a prophetess. Others called me aged or even addled. Perhaps they were all right. Perhaps I was all those things.“

I didn’t know either of my grandmas. One died shortly after I was born, the other lived across the country and also died far too young. But if I’d had a grandma, I’d want her to be like Anna the Prophetess. I loved writing Anna, because she knew what she was waiting for. She wasn’t at all concerned with what people thought of her or who held her...

Gaze Upon Jesus: Meet Lila, the Innkeeper’s Servant

Gerard van Honthorst Nativity

Lila may be my favorite character in this group of stories. For me, Lila personifies those who Jesus spoke of in Matthew when he said:

“Amen, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And whoever receives one child such as this in my name receives me.”

Lila is simple and poor, but she is the only one to reach out to the Holy...

Gaze Upon Jesus: Meet Elizabeth, Kinswoman of Mary

Elizabeth, the kinswoman of Mary, was living a simple life in a small town in the hill country of Judea when suddenly her life became a series of amazing surprises: Her husband came back from a routine trip to Jerusalem unable to speak after an encounter with an angel After resigning herself to never having a child, she suddenly became pregnant Her young kinswoman from Nazareth appears at her door and her child leaps inside her as the knowledge that Mary is the mother of the...

Gaze Upon Jesus: Meet Mary, the Mother of the God

I must admit, the thought of writing a story from the perspective of Mary filled me with fear. The mother of the God, the most important woman in human history — and I had to capture her in 2,000 words or less? A daunting task, and one that I wasn’t sure I could do.

Many Christians, especially women, have a great devotion to the Holy Mother and because of that, have their own ideas about how she may have looked, what she felt, and what she might have been thinking as she bore and raised...

Cooking with Martha: The Flavors of Biblical Israel

As they continued their journey he entered a village where a woman whose name was Martha welcomed him. She had a sister named Mary [who] sat beside the Lord at his feet listening to him speak. Martha, burdened with much serving, came to him and said, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me by myself to do the serving? Tell her to help me.” Luke 10:38-40

Legend of Sts. Mary and Martha, National Museum Warsaw, public domain

 

We’ve all read the passage in Luke in which Jesus comes to Bethany and eat...

Hagar and The God Who Sees

 

 

I’m pleased to welcome writer and speaker Jennifer Slattery to the blog today. I’ve known Jennifer both online and IRL and am always amazed at her insightful commentary on faith and the Bible. Her meditation below on the story of Hagar is well worth contemplating in an age where many of us often feel worthless and unseen. Read below for more information on Jennifer and her scripture study, Becoming His Princess, as well as her newest fiction release, Hometown Healing.

Having lived a goo...

Jews Vs. Samaritans: Origin of Conflict

The Good Samaritan by Jacob Jordaens Wikimedia public domain

We all know the phrase ‘good samaritan’. In our day and age, it means someone who selflessly helps another with no expectation of reward. But Jesus’ parable of the Good Samaritan was more than just a tale of a charitable act toward a stranger. Choosing a Samaritan for the hero of this parable was a shocking — even unbelievable — answer to the question “Who is my neighbor?”

The reason is that the Jewish people had a longstanding and...