I’ll be at By the Book at Henderson Hills Baptist Church on Sunday morning. They will be selling my book.! Dennis Newkirk, our pastor, has graciously reviewed the book. Here is his endorsement.
“Kathryn Spurgeon has given us a very special story. I found myself sensing the weight of the central character’s desire to keep the promise she makes in spite of all the reasons there seem to be to break the promise. Sibyl’s loyalty to the ones she loves and fear of life’s unknowns display a raw humanity that most of us can relate to on several levels—even if there are times in the story we wish we didn’t! In the end, this is less a story of Sibyl trying to keep her promise as it is a story of Sibyl learning a lesson that we desperately need today. We need to understand that God’s grace overcomes our mistakes and His sovereignty will actually work all things together for the good of those who love Him. That understanding will have a profound impact on our daily lives. I encourage you to read this fine work.”
A Promise to Break will also be in several other bookstores, including Living Word at the Shawnee Mall, Best of Books in Edmond, and the Pottawatomie County Historical Museum & Historical Society.
Why did 50 of us travel to Dodge City cow-town on Memorial Day weekend? Some of our family caravanned, a slow but fun way to travel, cars dog-tagging along, arriving at Dodge House Lodge before nightfall on Friday.
For the reunion, we wore matching t-shirts. Now that’s a bonding experience. We had cute gift bags, volley ball tournaments that lasted hours, card games, swimming and Billy Sims delicious BBQ. We made our own family tree on the wall, tracing our grandparents’ Sibyl and Fremont Pope’s lineage back to British royalty, well at least according to Ancestry.com. What fun! Then little acorn families popped up along the bottom. All we missed was the watermelon and a few family members who couldn’t show up.
Family TreeDodge House Hotel
Why do we do this? Why do we take time out of our busy schedule to gather together?
I thought about what family means, in particular my family. We’ve held reunions since I was a child, gathering elderly relatives, new babies, and strangers. Well, related strangers.
We do this to stay connected, or maybe reconnect. I was amazed at how different people played ping-pong or chatted over breakfast, ones who had never connected before. And grandma, oh my, she took individual pictures with each person present, chatting with them about their lives.
That’s the part I like, making memories.
All this is to create memories for our younger generation, and to also remind each person how precious and special they are. They are what makes up our family. We are a bunch of good-looking, creative, moral, and fun individuals. Diversified – different sizes, shapes, ages, colors. Maybe a little competitive. Maybe a little crazy. But we care about each other and that’s what counts.
Individuals have difficulties, days we have trouble getting through, but the support of a family is like a canopy of rare gems. We have to hold on to it, value it, and not let it slip away.
We are jewels. Each person shines brightly, reflecting on past achievements and future promises. Some like me may still need a bit a shining up after the failed starts, but remember that we go through this life together, a handful of people aging in the same sphere.
The lesson I learned this weekend: cherish each other, and go make some memories.
My new novel, A Promise to Break, which will be released in June 2016, is based on a true story. Some family secrets will be exposed. Is that good or bad? I’ve talked with living family members involved and assured them I don’t mean any harm, but how do I disclose information without hurting feelings? Where do I draw the line?
First, I tried to address the disclosures with grace, not in an ugly, malicious or sensationalist way. And there are ways to do that, without hiding the facts, but by revealing deeper motives, hurts and struggles. We all have secrets, some best left unspoken, and some helpful to other people going through the same scrapes in life. Second, I had to choose carefully what and when to expose confidences and when to let those awkward issues lie buried in the past.
Why do we keep secrets anyway? Maybe we don’t want to hurt someone else, we don’t think anyone cares, or we’re flat-out embarrassed. Face it; some things are better left unsaid.
At my niece’s bridal shower last week, I thought about advice one would give a new bride. Do you tell her that relationships are difficult? Nah, probably not the best time to express that. But I really wanted to say that we shouldn’t keep secrets from our spouses. It’s easy to do when we we’re either hurt or have done something foolish again.
For example, this past week, I backed into a van, dropped and destroyed my phone, and failed to get the oil changed in the car when I said I would. All those things I wanted to put off telling my husband. Even more serious, what about the times my feelings are hurt? Maybe it’s just me, but I might pout, nag or turn a cold shoulder. After all, I’m tempted just like anyone else. And we do tend to keep our hurts secret.
What does the Bible teach about secrets? That’s a lengthy study, but many people’s weaknesses are exposed in the Bible. Remember David and his lusty affair? Moses and his disobedience? However, all secrets are not revealed in the Bible. There would be too many to list. So it appears that when a secret is beneficial to us, the reader, then at the appropriate time and place, it’s proper to disclose.
There are no secrets from God, Psalm 44:21, for He knows our hearts. But there are fitting times and places to reveal our vices. The goal is to glorify what God has done through our weaknesses.
I have tried to incorporate Psalm 102:18 into my writing. “Let this be written for a future generation, that a people not yet created may praise the Lord.” May anything I write offer praise to God, even the family secrets in A Promise to Break.
As Christians, we have a dilemma, we want to be perfect, but we keep failing. We want to do everything right for our family and friends, but we mess up. I have an adorable slew of grand kids, well behaved, awesome kids as you can see from a few of them here. I lost my temper a few weeks ago, and felt bad about it. I don’t blame them, they’re just kids. It was me. I messed up again. How can I always stay the loving, patient grandma I desire to be? What is the Biblical answer to this problem?
I love Arise Ministries who do so much to help single moms! They let me do a guest post on their website.See my answer to our problem here:
I’ve researched my family’s history and stories for more than fifteen years now and after all this time, I still unravel secrets I’ve never heard before. Recently, I gathered information that an uncle did not graduate from high school like we thought although he served in WWII and later became a successful businessman. It’s a mystery. Did he keep this secret all his life, or are his military records wrong? High school record show him as graduating, so?
Through my work, I’ve made photocopies, identified tintypes, called courthouses for information, and dug through deceased relative’s chests stored for decades. Boxes of material gather dust in my closets.
What can I do with these tidbits of information? It’s like unraveling a puzzle, each piece fits somewhere in someone’s life story, and since I am a puzzle solver, this brainteaser challenges me. I especially love seeing how God works in people’s life.
I take snippets of historical information, organize them into some logical manner, and mull over the whys of this or that. My historical novel, A Promise to Break, which comes out in May, contains true information taken from my investigation. This trilogy is about how two people, godly though they were, struggled with their beliefs and grew from that struggle. Psalms 146:10 states, “The Lord reigns forever, your God, O Zion, for all generations. Praise the Lord.” Certainly, every generation has been blessed with God stories, and, although we may never solve all the mysteries, those stories can bless and encourage us today.
I just read a genealogy guide titled Who’s Your Daddy? by Carolyn B. Leonard. I highly recommend it. The book page is www.WHOSYOURDADDYBOOK.COM . This amazing book details every aspect of genealogy research, from dating old photographs, to gravestone etching, to organizing vital records. You can order the book at book: http://amzn.to/1TLLvMr
I haven’t documented to the level of Leonard, but after reading her book, I know much more about how to keep records for future generations. And at this point in my research, I choose to believe my uncle’s military records are wrong, at least until documented otherwise.
I love Carolyn Leonard’s motto on her website: Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving in an attractive and well-preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, covered in scars, body thoroughly used up, totally worn out and screaming YAHOO! what a ride!
I’m on this wild ride of life, and one of my endeavors is to record God’s work in my family’s history. The Lord is more incredible than any mundane information I have seen in a history book. So, I challenge you, when you get a chance to interview an elderly relative, peruse old military records, or simply discuss old photos with your mom, take it, appreciate its value and record it to share with the rest of us.
