As most of you know, my new year started with atrial fibrillation, ablations, and cardioversions. I won’t bore you with all the details again, but because of those events and recovery from them, I felt like my New Year didn’t really begin until last week.

I’ve been doing well since then, though, and settling back into my routines.

Watching

My husband indulged me by watching the 1995 series of Pride and Prejudice, starring Colin Firth and Jennifer Ehle. For many of us, this is the best film representation of Jane Austen’s book. I had seen it before, but I don’t think he had. I think he enjoyed the parts he was awake for. 🙂 But he did ask if all of Jane Austen’s novels involved sisters who wanted to marry rich men. In this case it was the mother who wanted them to marry rich men. But I assured him that’s not what Austen was all about.

We also discovered a 2002 series called Sue Thomas, F. B. Eye, based on the true story of a deaf woman who became an FBI agent. Though it’s a little dated, it’s remarkably clean. And while I wouldn’t call it a Christian show per se, there are many favorable references to God and prayer.

We’re also enjoying the new season of All Creatures Great and Small.

Reading

Since last time I have finished:

• The Characters of Christmas: 10 Unlikely People Caught Up in the Story of Jesus by Daniel Darling. Excellent.
• Mercy Mild: A 25-Day Christmas Devotional Tracing Christ’s Love from Eden to Eternity by Josh Taylor. Excellent.
• The Book of Hours by Davis Bunn, fiction, audiobook and Kindle. A grieving husband is bequeathed an old castle by his wife’s aunt. He can’t afford to keep it, so he plans to sell–until he finds a letter with clues to unexpected finds in the buildings. Very good.
• Count the Nights by Stars by Michelle Shocklee, fiction, audiobook and Kindle. A well-to-do young woman visiting the Tennessee Centennial Exposition in 1897 searches for her missing maid. In 1961, the daughter of the Maxwell House Hotel finds an older woman’s scrapbook from the Expo, sending her to look for clues about what happened. Very good.
• Saving Grayson by Chris Fabry, fiction, audiobook and Kindle. A man with Alzheimer’s seeks to right wrongs he can’t fully remember and unravel a mystery that he’s not sure is real. Excellent.
• The French Kitchen by Kristy Cambron, fiction, Kindle. An American woman works for the OSS undercover as a chef in France while also searching for her missing brother. After the war, she teams up with an unlikely source to continue her search. A good story, but hard to follow.

I’m currently reading:

• Light Upon Light: A Literary Guide to Prayer for Advent, Christmas, and Epiphany compiled by Sarah Arthur. This has weekly readings from Advent through eight weeks of Epiphany (I hadn’t realized Epiphany was more than a day).
• Barnaby Rudge by Charles Dickens, audiobook
• Through Each Tomorrow by Gabrielle Meyer, the sixth in her Time Crossers series
• All the Beauty in the World: The Metropolitan Museum of Art and Me by Patrick Bringley
• True Woman 201: Interior Design: Ten Elements of Biblical Womanhood by Mary Kassian and Nancy Leigh DeMoss (now Wolgemuth) with our ladies’ Bible study.

With Bible study and Sunday School reading, I still haven’t gotten back into James for You by Sam Allberry and The Gospel Comes with a House Key by Rosaria Butterfield. But our regular Sunday School time will be involved with a missions emphasis for three weeks, so I hope to finish James then.

I just have James, Revelation, and the last six minor prophets to finish my current trek through the Bible–and our Sunday School is covering the minor prophets this semester. After that, I want to read through a chronological Bible.

I wrapped up my reading year and started a new one with these posts:

• Books Read in 2025
• Favorite Books Read in 2025
• Reading Plans for 2026

Blogging

Besides the weekly Friday Fave Fives, Saturday Laudable Linkage, and book reviews, I’ve posted these since last time:

• The Threshold of a New Year
• The Light Shines in the Darkness
• Thanksgiving in Unexpected Places
• Dealing With Distractions During Prayer
• Plug In or Abide?

Writing

Our bi-weekly Zoom critique group resumed this month after taking time off for the holidays. It was good to get back together with the ladies. I’m hoping that getting ready for my presentation will jump start work on my manuscript.

Some writers claim a particular verse for their writing endeavors. I have not done that, but I have started a running list of verses that struck me as pertaining to writing. One that stood out to me was Colossians 4:4. After asking prayer for opportunities to share the gospel, Paul adds the request “that I may make it clear in the way that I ought to proclaim it” (NKJV). Clarity is one of my requests for my own writing.

But recently, another verse has come to the forefront. Psalm 90 is by Moses, and he ends with “And let the beauty of the LORD our God be upon us, And establish the work of our hands for us; Yes, establish the work of our hands” (NKJV).

There are times I come across writing that is so beautiful that I have to stop and turn the words over in my mind for a while. I look up at the ceiling and think, “Wow, I wish I could write like that.” I tend to be more of a factual, practical writer.

There’s nothing wrong with wanting to improve one’s writing and expressiveness, to want to touch the heart rather than just sharing facts. But I have to be careful that my motive isn’t wanting people to fawn over my words rather than being moved by the truth I’ve shared. This verse has the perspective I want: that people see His beauty. And with new writers being told they have to spend hours on social media trying to drum up a zillion followers, I can trust Him to establish the work of my hands.

Looking ahead

I’m looking forward to getting my annual physical and Medicare wellness visit out of the way–back to back appointments this time, thankfully. Valentine’s Day is a highlight for our family. Plus my daughter-in-law’s birthday is next month. The Olympics begin! And we’ll be one month closer to spring!

How was your January? Looking forward to anything in February?

(I often link up with some of these bloggers.)