HILARY HAMBLIN

I dedicated the bulk of October to researching and outlining the next manuscript I planned to write. I’ve never been much of a “plotter” but tend to write more as it comes to mind or “pantser” style. November is known as National Novel Writing Month (or NaNoWriMo) and I intended to participate with the goal of writing 50,000 words this month. Sounds great right? Then I spent four days bedridden with a horrid case of shingles which caused my eye to swell closed. As illness scr

I’ve been beating myself up for months over something I hard I needed to do. I called myself weak and let the anger and resentment simmer just under the surface. A few people close to me knew, but most people saw the smiling, have-it-all-together Hilary. This week things came to a head and I had to do the hard thing. Afterward I replayed the scenario in my mind a couple dozen times. What could I have said better? How could I have handled it more professionally? Why did I wait

Our ladies Bible study group just finished Beth Moore’s Quest. So I’m looking at the questions of the Bible differently. I’m also editing my third novel about a couple in the middle of a divorce. Editing isn’t the right word. “Bogged down in the mire of revisions and rewriting” better describes the current situation. This morning my Bible reading took me through the book of Nehemiah. A Bible study a few years ago walked my Sunday school class through the book from beginning t

I met Lynette in Belize on a mission trip. At the time I didn’t even know Belize had beaches and was a tourist destination. I went as part of a group serving at a boys home and teaching vacation Bible school in a nearby village. Lynette and her husband Mark lived on the campus and helped care for the boys who went to school there. Lynette and Mark were from our area and when they finished their time as missionaries they returned and started a small business. By that time I wa

You know that moment when someone says, “don’t I know you?”, and you panic because you’ve forgotten someone you’re supposed to know? Yeah, that happened to me a few weeks ago. Someone I knew as a friend of a friend was re-introduced to me. I hadn’t seen them in many, many years and had no idea where life had taken them. When I was introduced my first thought was, “wow, I didn’t expect your life to go there.” And it was a good thought. Please forgive me for being judgmental. I

The beginning of the year means everyone is making resolutions. It’s about quitting doing harmful things as much as it is about starting to do better things. Some people make resolutions to let go of bad relationships or break free from addictions. For many people, all these resolutions come down to escaping a prison (whether mental, emotional or physical). Last night during my study time of Acts, I read a very familiar passage of Peter and the apostles being arrested for pre

We once received a check from God. More than once really, but the once stands out in my mind. In the early years of our marriage, we tried to hide the fact that we were broke. We both worked but Josh was still in school and we were paying college tuition and bills and trying to set up house. I budgeted $25 a week for our grocery shopping which meant coffee creamer was a luxury we could not afford. We could eat for 2 days on $2 thanks to coupons for Tuna Helper. And my mama wo

Psalm 46 For the director of music. Of the Sons of Korah. According to alamoth. A song. 1 God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. 2 Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, 3 though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging.[c] 4 There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy place where the Most High dwells. 5 God is within her, she will not f

Psalm 16:5-6 5 Lord, you alone are my portion and my cup; you make my lot secure. 6 The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; surely I have a delightful inheritance. When my husband and I first married, he was still in college and we were both working different hours. Looking back, I imagine the first years of our married life were a lot like many others first years. We were growing up, learning to live on our own, making decisions as a couple and paying our o

Yep. That’s what Christian media tells us. Maybe they are right. But I know two things: I am a live-your-faith-everyday-Christian and I really really enjoy Halloween. As a kid my sisters and I dressed up and my mom would drive us around to the houses of people she knew and wait on us in the car as we begged, er, asked for candy. I distinctly remember a dear woman who was my grandmother’s best friend. Ms. Carr didn’t have any grandchildren and even at a young age I knew she lo