I’d like to welcome guest author Gail Kittleson. An Iowa author, Gail writes World War II Women’s Fiction, with heroines who face tough odds, make-do and ask honest questions. She and her husband enjoy the Arizona mountains in winter. Gail delights in word play and quotes, and facilitates writing workshops and women’s retreats.
The Season of Advent
by Gail Kittleson
O come, oh come Emmanuel, and ransom captive Israel…
The Season of Advent is upon us. While these forty days once meant waiting for Epiphany, when the Magi visited the Christ child, God Incarnate, with a focus on the His Second Coming, the Roman Christians began to associate this season with the birth of Jesus.
Advent means the arrival of someone or something. These early December days have turned gloomy in Iowa—the sun has gone AWOL, and a daylight savings time five p.m. seems like ten o’clock. It’s good to switch on the lights our granddaughter arranged atop our piano on days like this.
This energetic eleven-year old transformed our abode into a haven of lights and words last weekend.
They help me recall the hopeful meaning of Advent. Today, what will come to us? Will we connect with someone whose kindred spirit encourages us? Will an unexpected gift arrive through something we hear or read? Or perhaps we’ll plot the perfect scene to show our characters’ resolve?
Whatever happens, an attitude of expectancy can make all the difference. This year has brought me new readers—even a few that qualify as fans. What a blessing their kind words have proven on my writing journey—thank you Irene and Jean and Ann and Lisa.
It’s hard to put into words my delight that Addie’s story, In Times Like These, has touched readers’ hearts and lives. One even says she’s earmarked passages that help her in her personal challenges right now. It doesn’t get better than that!
2016 has also provided great editing for the sequel, With Each New Dawn —thank you, Amberlyn and Ann. I look forward to this new release in February, and to new WWII stories to meld into a third novel with Kate, Addie’s best friend, as the heroine.
What lies ahead in the new year? Not knowing creates expectation. We keep expecting, one day at a time, and our lives unfold. The lights around us brighten our spirits in the shadows, and good memories shore up our anticipation of even better experiences ahead.
Every day, I seek words and light. Note how our granddaughter brightened my reading nook.
The other day my morning devotions contained this: “All the best to you from THE GOD WHO IS, THE GOD WHO WAS, AND THE GOD ABOUT TO ARRIVE…” Revelation 1: 4 MSG. The God about the arrive … what a great approach to every single day.
How will the divine manifest in our lives during the next twenty-four hours, our present, allotted time on this earth? As writers, we can count on words coming to us, and light.
In Times Like These
Pearl Harbor attacked! The United States is at war.
But Addie fights her own battles on the Iowa home front. Her controlling husband Harold vents his rage on her when his father’s stoke prevents him from joining the military. He degrades Addie, ridicules her productive victory garden, and even labels her childlessness as God’s punishment.
When he manipulates his way into a military unit bound for Normandy, Addie learns that her best friend Kate’s pilot husband has died on a mission, leaving her stranded in London in desperate straits.
Will Addie be able to help Kate, and find courage to trust God with her future?
Word Sharpeners 
Thanks for having me today, Tamera. May this season of expectation bring you all you need.
Lovely post, Gail!
Thanks, Carol. What a meaningful season – hope yours brings you peace and joy this year.