I taught writing to 4th graders. Showing 9-year-olds they have stories to tell and how to put words on paper was fun and rewarding. Except for the state-mandated test.
Habakkuk’s Disappointment
How long, Lord, must I call for help, but you do not listen? (Habakkuk 1:1a) Habakkuk was disappointed and could not understand why God was silent as the Babylonians threatened Judah. He wrestled with God about its fairness.
Dealing with Disappointment
Over the last seven months, my world has felt uprooted. We left my hometown for my husband’s job in Fort Worth. It was fun for a while. We looked for a home, putting in many offers, but nothing landed.
Were there tears of frustration? You bet. Lord, I don’t understand. You promised to provide.
MARVELOUS LIGHT
The descriptive phrase in I Peter 2:9 explains that we are God’s chosen people. But in the next verse, Peter adds the glorious truth that Christians are called “out of darkness into his marvelous light.”
I smile and give God thanks every time I read these seven words of assurance!
SET APART
Peter, the disciple who denied Christ three times, after His crucifixion later wrote rich authoritative instructions in his New Testament letters. His example and call to leadership greatly contributed to the establishment of the early Church. These words were written predominantly to Christians disciples scattered throughout Roman territory during the first century after Jesus Christ’s resurrection and ascension into Heaven.
CHOSEN STRANGER
Apostle Peter wrote letters to the early Christian disciples in the Northern part of Asia Minor around 64 AD. His intention was to encourage them to continue their work to establish the first churches even while they were suffering trials. He assured them they were the chosen ones.
SHE SAID YES!
My husband’s grandmother became my role model after I gave birth to our first child. So much so that our second child became her namesake because of the relationship she built with our first-born daughter.
LIGHTEN UP!
Do you ever hear yourself now saying, “I just need to have some fun!”
Many of us have found ourselves isolated, fearful, frustrated, hyper vigilant and discouraged during the last two years. We have just been holding our breath too long!
Eleven Songs to Lift Your Mood and Your Faith
Sometimes you just need a little good music to pull you out of the blahs. Here are some of my favorites. Dancing is optional — but I highly recommend!
Six Reliable Resources for Hard Questions
We all wrestle with tough questions at times.
I’ve had this one surface lately: Does prayer change God’s mind?
(The short answer is no. But then, we’re left wondering why should we pray?)
Trust. Serve. Wait.
Things seemed to get worse for Kate.
She’d lost the love of her life, her job and her sense of well-being in the last six months. As if things couldn’t get worse, her two boys seemed to be in turmoil. One experienced chronic pain; the other a gender identity crisis. This was not what she wanted for either son.
How Service Paid Off
Olga felt weary.
Anyone would in her situation — especially six months into a pandemic. She desperately needed a job, but all her leads seemed to go nowhere. Then, her mom died. She couldn’t even go back to her home country for the funeral.
Are You Limiting God?
Inna wanted to attend a Christian university.
Knowing her background, one could say this was a pipe dream.
The Lessons of Job: We May Never Know Why
The Lord’s speech out of the whirlwind is over. Only once has He stopped for a breath and Job dared to speak: “I am unworthy—how can I reply to you?” (40:4).
The Lessons of Job: Our God is Able!
Finally, God breaks His silence. But He doesn’t come walking in the garden in the cool of the day (Genesis 3:8) as He came to question Adam and Eve. Nor does He come in a gentle whisper as to Elijah on the mountain (1 King 19:12). He comes out of a storm, a literal whirlwind, not angry but overwhelming and intense, questioning, challenging.
The Lessons of Job: Don’t Be a “Foolish Woman” or a “Miserable Comforter”
Exit stage left Satan, off to do mischief somewhere else.
Job had indeed passed Satan’s tests without sinning (1:22; 2:10), but the suffering he continued to experience was surreal. His children had been crushed in a whirlwind (1:19), his livestock raided or burned by fire from the sky (1:15-17), his servants put to the sword (1:15,17), his skin afflicted with sores from head to toe (2:7).
The Lessons of Job: The Devil Can’t Make Me Do It
By reputation, Job’s character was exemplary: Job was honest inside and out, a man of his word, who was totally devoted to God and hated evil with a passion (1:1, MSG). There was “no one on earth like him” (1:8). Now that’s saying something.
The Lessons of Job: When Things Just aren’t Fair!
Ah, Job I thought as I contemplated the Womenary calendar last fall—not exactly the most uplifting book. Now wasn’t that just typical of 2020! But what better time than the present to consider the reality of suffering with all the ups and downs of that year and the February deep freeze of this. Let’s jump on into the deep end ladies, as suffering is indeed a deep subject.
Boundaries
The same neighbor’s cow from last year returned this spring to graze in my hay meadow. For days, she casually crossed fences between pastures leaving broken wires and leaning fence posts. She became known as the infamous “renegade cow” as multiple folks attempted to corral her. My brother finally explained the problem. “Once a cow learns a fence is only a psychological barrier/boundary rather than a real one, there’s no longer any way to keep them in a pasture. You might as well haul them to the auction barn!”
God Understands Us Even When We Don’t Understand Ourselves!
The Tops in Texas rodeo has been a local happening for 59 years in the small East Texas town of Jacksonville. One of the newer, and more popular events, however, is Mutton Busting, which lets children under ten attempt to ride a sheep bareback for six seconds. Sound easy? Those of us unfamiliar with sheep may think so. Remember Mary’s docile little lamb with fleece as white as snow? Not so these Mutton Busting beasts.