Finish Year - Week 12

~ Write a novel.
This year I will write a novel, set in England in the 1800's ... or Rome, 64 AD, set to the backdrop of the Great Fire. For more on the Great Fire: http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/rome.htm.
I thoroughly enjoyed re-reading Deborah Hale's novella, Much Ado About Nuptials (The Wedding Season). I wrote a summary of each chapter in order to look at how she structured & paced her story. 
I read Making Waves, by Lorna Seilstad.  What was frustrating to me was that her main character was taken directly from a previously created character from a movie. Name and job! Also, the Lead female, in both movie and story, lies to Trip which is their main source of conflict.  Sorry. To me that's a BIG no no. See if you can guess it: name--Trip Andrews. Job--Sailboats. Hazel eyes. Sandy colored hair. 
The story finally picked up my interest about 1/2 way through and I enjoyed the 2nd half enough to read her next book.  What's amazing to me is that days after I find myself still thinking about her Leads. How can I be frustrated at the start of a book and in love with the characters at the end?  That's why I read; to find what I feel works and doesn't work so that I know what I want my novels to look like. 

~ Ministry.
I have a HUGE passion to see people be who God created them to be. Each of us is unique and we each have a different part to play.
Looking forward to teaching another class in a month or so! I think I may take a slightly different route to the "who God created you to be" by looking at different people in the Bible (their personalities, stories, family life, what shaped them into being who they were) and understanding them at a deeper level. We'll use that to take a look at our own lives.

~ Get in shape.
Bad week for this one...again. I took 20 minutes to stretch this morning and need to make that more routine!

~ Bible.
This year I will read through the major players of the Old Testament (Survey of the Old Testament) as well as the books of the Bible I haven't read thus far in my life.
Still going through Judges. 


I had some thoughts on Joshua this week. I wonder if he was a processor? You know those people who wont make a decision unless first presented with the idea and then left to process it for a couple days..at least.   
Joshua had an experience with God: Now when Joshua was near Jericho, he looked up and saw a man standing in front of him with a drawn sword in his hand. Joshua went up to him and asked, “Are you for us or for our enemies?”
  “Neither,” he replied, “but as commander of the army of the LORD I have now come.” Then Joshua fell facedown to the ground in reverence, and asked him, “What message does my Lord^[a] have for his servant?”
 The commander of the LORD’s army replied, “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy.” And Joshua did so. (Joshua 5:13-15)


This encounter happened before the fall of Jericho. Do you think Joshua would have been no-questions-asked about the battle plan had this encounter not happened? Maybe. But if Joshua was a processor, he needed to have this encounter with God to 1) know God was with him -- especially when asked to take the city in such a non-militant way, 2) to have that personal reminder that God was leading this army, not Joshua.


Joshua's journey had been unique--second in command--for a long time. How did these events and his personality effect his ministry (the taking of the promised land)?



~ Grow closer than ever to my husband (we're both pretty individualistic people so this is a good step).
I guess we slacked on this one. No reading, little prayer time together, light conversations. There ARE those weeks when work is crazy for him and he just needs to relax and de-stress. I wish there were a dry, warm golf course I could send him to. 


It is always good to be able to step back and see the situation as a whole. We have been stepping up as a couple in leadership in the church and simultaneously, the problems at work have been unceasing. They are getting better but the work to repair "the damage" is time consuming. If he doesn't come home and be all light-hearted and flirty...it's ok. It's not me. (Which, a long while ago, I would have thought. "oh, he's not talking to me! What did I do wrong to make him so mad?!" No...he's just tired.  "oh.") 


Anyone else have that personality?