Happy New Year, lovely friends! ❄️

I love Advent, but there’s something about turning the page to the New Year that makes me happy — the wistful joy God has hard-wired into us for fresh starts and new beginnings. I believe it’s our soul’s yearning for its eternal home and the New Earth that awaits those who love Jesus.

I’ll be honest, though — the anticipation of turning the page this year has been mixed with a touch of PTSD. Last year was marked by quite a few emotional traumas, and as the unknown looms before me now, my flesh quails at the thought of encountering too many more such challenges. At the same time, as I look back over 2022, I am more and more able to see it as a very good year, actually — not despite those hard times, but because of them. From this vantage point, I’m more able to see the beauty of God’s presence throughout. 2023 finds me grateful for the gift of perspective.

In that vein, I was greatly encouraged when, just this morning, I listened to this 10-minute excerpt from a John Piper New Year’s sermon — a throwback from 2000. He speaks on Psalm 77 — the very psalm from which I took my Scripture verse to for my Word of the Year (more on that, below). In his sermon, Piper reminds us that no Christian lives triumphantly all the time, but rather, we struggle because we are sojourners in a broken world. But Scripture offers a way out of discouragement, and that is to remember, to meditate, and to muse on what God has done, especially as revealed in His Word. In short, the beauty of godly transformaton begins in the mind. Listen to Piper’s very encouraging (and short) message here.

On a far more prosaic note… though I love love love my house decorated for Christmas, I am also charmed by the look of my house considerably calmed down. For years, it’s been my tradition to retain whatever snow-ish decorations I had up for Christmas ☃️and to add to them touches of blue, which my soul finds restful. After the cornucopia of color that is Christmas, I welcome blue’s soothing serenity.

What I’m Reading

Last month, in addition to all the holiday-related extras, I spent many hours working on settling my cousin’s estate, and my kids were home from college. All of which left me with little time to read. I picked up a couple of new releases that didn’t do it for me and so logged them as DNF. But then I discovered this 2011 release buried in my TBR pile that turned out a winner: The Provence Cure for the Brokenhearted by Bridget Asher (pictured above). Brimming with what I love in a good book — resonant characters engaged in complex relationships whose stories are skillfully woven together in a compelling tale with a sensual focus on place. I was hooked by even her inscription. (“This novel is dedicated to the reader. For this singular moment, it’s just the two of us.”) A truly lovely story.

On audio, I’m listening to The Hunting Party by Lucy Foley. A wintry thriller with an ensemble cast set in the snow-covered Scottish Highlands right around New Year’s, chock-full of suspense and crooked characters. Fair warning, it is on the darker side, with its fair share of malevolence.

I’ve just started Good Boundaries and Goodbyes: Loving Others Without Losing the Best of Yourself by Lysa Terkeurst. I expect I’ll love it, as I do just about everything Lysa writes. Stay tuned, more next month.

Book News

Last month, I showed up at Romans 8:28 Books in Enumclaw to sign a few books. The best part turned out to be connecting with the other authors who were there. Writing is such solitary work, it’s always something of a relief to connect with other writers and know that I’m not alone in both the travails and the triumphs.

In early Feb, I’m heading to the Christian Product Expo (CPE) in Columbus, Georgia to promote both Her Memory of Music and Shadow Sister. Looking forward to spending time with my publishing team, mingling with other writers, and meeting booksellers from across the country. Any East Coasters who’d like to stop by to say hi, please give a shout to let me know!

Something Lovely

Inspired by The Inspired Room blog (the author of which, like me, lives somewhere in the greater Seattle area), I asked for and received battery-operated window candles for Christmas, and I love them! When it’s dark outside, there’s nothing like warm candlelight to offer an inviting sense of cozy, inside and out. Read more about them here.

On another note of loveliness, last month, a favorite friend sent me this original poem. I loved it for its simplicity and surprise — for when I was expecting the juxtaposition of darkness with light, I was offered something else: different, but just as beautiful. And though we are of course beyond the solstice now, we are still living in the darkest days of the year, which I why this poem continues to resonate, and why I share it with you here:

A Solstice Prayer

On this darkest day
May I be a small green thing
Nourished in good soil

On this darkest day
May you be a small green thing
Nourished in good soil

On this darkest day
May we all be small green things
Nourished in good soil

🌱

~ C. Mayli

Soul Care

Because “You must feel the fullness of your own pitcher before you trust the pouring out of yourself.” ~ Ann Voskamp

• Do you choose a word for the year? For the last many years, I’ve found it to be a meaningful exercise. I don’t get too woo-woo in the choosing of it, I simply go with a word I sense God impressing on me as we round the corner from the old year to the new. I then pair my word with a Scripture verse. I like the way my word tends to focus me and keep my eyes open and expectant throughout the year. I will often write my word on a small stone and set it in my study as a reminder. Last year my word was Remember, and its accompanying verse Psalm 77:11. The stone on which I placed my word and verse came from France’s Normandy coast, which, for its symbolism, I found particularly meaningful. This year my word is Contentment, and my verse Philippians 4:13 — “I can do all this through him who gives me strength.” 
  • Related, I resonated with The Thankful Homemaker’s thoughts on our need for contentment in this podcast.
• In keeping with this month’s theme of the newness of the year and the renewing of our minds, yay for Levi Lusko who speaks on Romans 12:2 in this two-minute vid.

That’s it for this month, friends.

What is making you hopeful for the New Year?

May you live these weeks in the hope and beauty of new things and fresh beginnings!

💙🤍 ~ Katherine xo