Asking in prayer helps you to see your problem in the light of God's power.

Let every hindrance to joy become the soil out of which joy blossoms.

Plotting is difficult for me, and always has been. I do that before I actually start writing, but I always do characters, and the arc of the story, first... You can't do anything without a story arc. Where is it going to begin, where will it end.

If your home is a ministry, shouldn't that ministry become a passion? Shouldn't your feelings and emotions be involved when it comes to the people and place you love? And shouldn't your work be done passionately? Your labors should be labors of love!

Model the qualities that you want your children to show to each other.

Dust off that Bible. It has the answers you are looking for, and its delights await you.

The English tradition offers the great tapestry novel, where you have the emotional aspect of a detective's personal life, the circumstances of the crime and, most important, the atmosphere of the English countryside that functions as another character.