Lyrical, beautiful, heart-warming and satisfying, Set the Stars Alight is a must-read.
Page one welcomed me in like I was coming home.
Before I even reached that page, the dedication spoke to me—the part about wonder:
Hang on to it, brave ones. And more—hang on to the Giver of it. Though darkness may fall and times grow hard, hold fast to this given light. [Kindle location 45]
Timely words for a hard year like 2020.
The novel follows two timelines: 1987 – 2020 and the 1800s during the Napoleonic wars, each revealing what’s needed to understand the other. It’s not choppy, switching timelines each chapter; instead, the story flows in segments with time enough to settle in place and care about the people involved.
In the contemporary thread, childhood friends Lucy and Dashel reunite as adults in a quest to locate a legendary shipwreck in the English Channel. The historical thread follows Frederick, a landowner’s son, and the young lovers Juliette and Elias.
Some of the many lines I highlighted in the book are sparks of light to hold close:
Taking note of the good, the true, the just, the miracles hidden at every turn is like…a deliberate act of defiance against the darkness. [Lucy’s father, Kindle location 431]
Such freedom, to know our limits. And to know the God who has none. [Clara, Kindle location 3347]
Others are just beautiful:
The woman had a way of almost gliding—not in the graceful, practiced way of the ladies of gothic novels, but rather more like an apparition gliding over ice. [Kindle location 1625]
Set the Stars Alight is a novel of love and loyalty, friendship and faith, that encourages wonder and affirms the value of everyday actions and individual lives. As an added bonus, readers who loved Amanda Dykes’ debut novel, Whose Waves These Are, will welcome the quiet nod to that book in chapter 25.
When I miswrote the title of this post, I realized I had stumbled upon truth.
Instead of “Words aren’t Enough,” I wrote “Word aren’t Enough.”
But wait! The Word is enough.
Only Jesus, the Living Word, can comfort the Nova Scotian families* (and others) who are grieving.
Only He can wrap them in His loving arms and sustain them today, tomorrow, and into the future.
Only He can give them the strength to put one foot in front of the other.
Only Jesus can stir the compassion in our hearts and remind us to pray for those whose hearts are broken.
Only the Living Word is enough!
And only the Written Word, the Scriptures, are enough to satisfy our desperate need for answers.
We won’t find the specific answers to the whys of this tragedy, but we will find the answers to questions we didn’t even know we were asking.
Can God really be trusted?
Does He care about what we do to one another?
Does He leave us on our own?
Will He hear me when I cry out to Him?
What does He know about the pain I’m going through?
Dear readers, may you find comfort in the Written Word. And may you come to the Living Word, who promised His followers, “Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light” (Matthew 11:29-30 ESV).
I know it doesn’t feel this way now, but when we humble ourselves and acknowledge our need of the Saviour, we learn that He is willing to bear the heaviest part of our burden on His own shoulders.
My words most definitely aren’t enough, but I pray that you will come to know the One who is the Word.
*[Note: I thank Steph Beth Nickel for this very timely and personal guest post written for Nova Scotians (of whom I am one) in the wake of Canada’s largest mass shooting, which claimed over 22 lives April 18-19, 2020. With all the world dealing with COVID-19 and other issues, this post still has something for everyone! Many thanks, my friend. ~Janet]
Steph Beth Nickel
Photo credit: Jaime Mellor Photography
As an editor, Steph Beth Nickel has the honour of coming alongside writers to help them polish their work. As the coauthor of Paralympian Deb Willows’s memoirs, Steph has been blessed to work with this amazing woman. And as a future self-published author, with the Lord’s help, Steph has taken brave steps toward publication.
This is the most beautiful and
heartwarming novel I’ve read in a long time. Satisfying. Peace-inducing and
hope-whispering. Amanda Dykes writes with a gentle, lyrical quality that
invites readers to linger in this tale and savour every page.
Annie Bliss and her great-uncle Bob
(“GrandBob”) have shared a special bond since the summer she spent with him in
coastal Maine as a child. Now his need calls her back to the struggling town of
Ansel-by-the-Sea, away from the soul-drying big-city job where she’s been
hiding.
The novel follows two timelines: Annie’s
in the present and Bob’s in the past, weaving together to tell a story of great
loss and greater hope. Of light in the darkness and faith in despair. Of
breaking and mending.
The town and its inhabitants add a
richness, evoking the best attributes of small fishing communities where the
locals stand together, no matter what.
See some of the evocative description:
There’s a strength in his stance, as if his feet are putting roots down into the very granite. [page 25]
The past uncoils like a fiddlehead fern, a tender ache with it. [page 81]
This part of Maine was a place like no other spot in the universe, and being back was like finding an old patch of sunlight in a long-lost home, and settling in. [page 86]
I won’t share my favourite line, because
it’s too near the end. You’ll need to find it yourself. It’ll mean more to you
that way.
I admit the present-tense narrative jarred
me at times, but even with that, Whose Waves These Are has claimed a
special place in my heart. I’m grateful for the experience.
Amanda Dykes’ tag line is “spinning
stories, gathering grace.” Whose Waves These Are is her first novel, but
readers may know her from her novella, Bespoke: A Tiny Christmas Tale,
or from The Message in a Bottle Romance Collection. For more about the
author and her work, visit amandadykes.com.
Violence against women, especially sexual violence, scares me. Even in fiction. So why is the heroine in my Green Dory Inn Mystery series a survivor of human trafficking? Short answer: I don’t know. Longer answer. I don’t know, but the idea kept popping up until I decided I’d better cooperate in case there was a …
And we are instructed to turn from godless living and sinful pleasures. We should live in this evil world with wisdom, righteousness, and devotion to God, while we look forward with hope to that wonderful day when the glory of our great God and Saviour, Jesus Christ, will be revealed. Titus 2:12-13, NLT*
Paul has been coaching Titus in how best to teach and shepherd the Christians in his care – for their personal growth, but also so that people around them will see God’s goodness. Their – and our – lives as Christians are to be positive reflections of God’s character and grace.
Because salvation is meant for everyone (verse 11), Christian conduct should show that Jesus is the way to salvation, freedom, and abundant life. In this context, it’s clear that Paul doesn’t call this world evil in the sense of judging and condemning the people still living without God. Paul wants his hearers to be beacons to attract those who still need rescue.
He wants us to live as lights for good, not with negative attitudes toward the not-yet-saved, but neither with lifestyles that suggest “godless living and sinful pleasures” are okay. Paul’s letters are filled with practical instruction on the sorts of attitudes and behaviours to embrace and to avoid, and he sums it up in today’s verses.
He’s calling us to holy living, and not with any kind of sour faces or legalism. No, looking forward in anticipation of Jesus’ return.
God our Saviour and our righteousness, forgive us for blending in with the world’s ungodly behaviour patterns. Show us where we need to change, and give us the courage to do so. You’ve promised to give us wisdom and to be our righteousness. Help us to receive and rely on Your provision. Draw us into a lifestyle of devotion to You and of hope in Your Son’s return. Thank You for being our light.
I pray that God, the source of hope, will fill you completely with joy and peace because you trust in him. Then you will overflow with confident hope through the power of the Holy Spirit. Romans 15:13, NLT*
This level of trust isn’t a casual belief, nor is it taking something for granted. It’s an active, deliberate choice to trust God, regardless of the circumstances – or the consequences.
Trust like this seems risky at first, like sitting in a chair that looks rickety. You might lower yourself gingerly onto the seat, listening for creaks, leg muscles tensed to spring up if the chair collapses.
Gradually, you relax and let the chair take your full weight. It holds you well.
The next time you may still be cautious, but not as much so. Each time you experience the chair’s solidity increases your ability to trust it. The chair has been strong – trustworthy – all along.
With God, we have many proofs of His faithfulness, from His Word and from experience – others’ and our own.
It’s still up to us to choose to place our trust in Him in each situation. That choice locks out the enemy’s mind games and focuses us on our true Help. It’s a choice that sometimes we’ll need to make minute by minute.
The more we rely on God, and the more fully we do so, instead of keeping our options open, the more we will prove His faithfulness. This is when we discover the hope and confidence He gives.
God our Rock and our Salvation, our Help and our Sustainer, be our Source of hope. Give us the faith to actively trust You so we’ll be open to your infilling of joy, peace, and confident hope – for our own sakes and for the sake of those who need to see that You’re real.
∞
Our song today is “In Christ Alone,” sung here by Geoff Moore and Adrienne Liesching.
I asked you to come here today so we could get acquainted and so I could explain to you that I am bound with this chain because I believe that the hope of Israel – the Messiah – has already come. Acts 28:20, NLT*
This is the Apostle Paul, talking to the local Jewish leaders in Rome after he arrives as a prisoner.
What strikes me is the latter part of the verse: “I believe that the hope of Israel – the Messiah – has already come.”
For years the Jews had been waiting for the Promised One. They expected Him to rescue their nation from Gentile domination and restore it as a powerful kingdom.
The kingdom Jesus said had come, and the liberation, didn’t match their understanding. And of course some of the prophecies are waiting even yet to be fulfilled at His return.
Think about what it means, though, to believe the Messiah has already come. Yes, we’re waiting for Him to come back – which means living in a way that will meet with His approval no matter when He does – but how does it change our outlook?
The Kingdom of God has come, even though it hasn’t yet been outwardly manifested. The Holy Spirit rules in our hearts and can work in and through us. We are under the authority of the King, not of a decaying world system.
We have been and are being liberated from the hold of darkness. Our spirits have been brought out into the Light.
We have hope. Peace. A Source of joy.
God has ransomed, redeemed and restored us, and has adopted us as His own children – every Jew and Gentile who believes.
He has come. We are free. What difference will this reminder make in our days?
Our God and King, teach us afresh the wonder of Messiah’s coming, and help us to live fully in Your hope, as ambassadors of Your Kingdom who are anticipating its fullness.
All those listed above include fourteen generations from Abraham to David, fourteen from David to the Babylonian exile, and fourteen from the Babylonian exile to the Messiah. Matthew 1:17, NLT*
“All those listed above” are the ancestors of Jesus. Matthew opens his account of the birth of the Messiah with a genealogy. A strange devotional verse? Perhaps, but it’s the one that touched my spirit for this week.
Did you notice the pattern? Fourteen generations each time. If the priests and scribes had been aware of it and had been counting, they’d have known the timing of God’s next big step.
But God prefers to work in surprising ways, ways we look back on and see clearly even though we didn’t anticipate them.
The same with the “where” of Jesus’ birth: One prophecy said Bethlehem, but another said He’d be called out of Egypt. Clues to keep the faithful anticipating, yet not to reveal the full picture.
If we had sight, we wouldn’t need faith. Which is why I don’t take this verse as a challenge to comb Scripture and piece together a timeline for Jesus’ return. He clearly said that was a secret.
Instead, what this verse says to me is that God has a plan. He knows the various details and intricate inter-weavings that will bring it all together in His perfect time. We know His character, His power and authority.
We can trust Him to look after all that, and we can be about the daily elements of our Father’s business, loving our families, caring for our neighbours and co-workers, conducting ourselves as Christ-followers in a very confused world.
God who is the Author and the Finisher of our faith, help us to trust You. Please keep us from discouragement when we don’t see Your plans unfolding, and keep us equally from trying to “hurry” or “help” You. Keep us from fear when we look at the world around us. Reassure us of Your perfect wisdom, power, and timing. Help us to live each day in confidence in You.
∞
This week’s song is one I’ve loved and found comfort in from way back in my university days: Sheila Walsh’s “In Your Way.”
The Lord will work out his plans for my life—
for your faithful love, O Lord, endures forever. Psalm 138:8, NLT*
Don’t we forget this, sometimes?
Bad news piles up. Globally. Locally. Personally. Even if we’re physically untouched, the sheer weight of what goes on around us can be soul-crushing.
And let’s face it, even when life is really good, there are elements that we don’t like. That could be better.
If we’re not careful, fear, discouragement, discontent and others can pull our focus away from our Lord’s sufficiency. We know the truth of God’s promises, but we forget. (Click to tweet this.)
I find that embarrassing. Every time.
These days, we have “stuff” going on at church. I don’t understand it, I don’t like it, and I do not want to go around this tree again. Been there, done that a long time ago.
Yet where is God speaking to me? In church. First, He told me to be quiet. Hmm. Then He challenged me to accept His timing when I think it’s too slow.
He reminded me that adversity is part of life. It’s often the part that makes for the best growth. And it’ll happen whether I want it to or not.
For me, it’s meant repenting of an attitude of discontent. Reminding myself that it’s not about what I want. Recommitting myself to live in a way that honours and trusts in God.
God our Maker and Sustainer, somehow You will work all the messes of life into something beautiful. Forgive our grumbling and our discontent—and our fear—when we don’t like what we see. You don’t like it either, but You can work with it. Help us trust You. Help us work with You to be part of Your solution instead of being part of the negativity.
∞
I love this song from Robin Mark: “All is Well.” Take a few minutes to let it bless you.
