Review: The Lumber Baron’s Wife

Posted on June 3, 2026 by Barbara Harper

The Lumber Baron’s Wife by Lynn Austin is a dual-timeline novel set in Michigan.

In 1873, Hannah Wagner had lost three children to diphtheria. Her husband, John, was a doctor but was unable to save them. To keep from feeling the pain of her loss, Hannah has numbed herself and closed herself off to love and the risks that come with it. She’s civil, but distant.

An old friend of her husband’s, Henry Abernathy, comes to visit them in Brooklyn. He has started a lumber mill in the untamed area of Michigan, and the bustling new town there needs a doctor. He wants John to start a practice in Michigan and promises to build him a home. John welcomes the new start, but Hannah doesn’t want to leave her children’s graves and everything else familiar to her. But eventually she agrees to go.

Hannah finds Henry’s wife, Kate, to be much younger than her husband and quite uncouth. Kate claims Hannah’s friendship with puppy-dog eagerness that drains Hannah. Hannah has no choice but to socialize with the younger woman, who scandalizes her with stories from her past.

When Kate goes missing (not a spoiler, as we’re told this on the first page), multiple possibilities arise that may have led to her disappearance. Yet none of them satisfies Hannah. She knows something must be wrong.

In the present day, Ashley Gilbert comes to Michigan with her new husband, David. She didn’t wanted to come to Michigan, but David has found his dream job there. Trouble arises when they search for a home: David wants something sleek and modern, but Ashley is a historian who is intrigued by an old but beautiful home once owned by the town’s doctor and his wife in the 1800s.

A mansion built by the area’s lumber baron in the same time period has fallen into disrepair. It has been used as multiple businesses through the years, including a daycare, an antique shop, and a Red Cross headquarters the second floor was even chopped up into apartments. A local group is volunteering to try to restore it to some of its former glory. When Ashley learns of the restoration and offers her services, she is viewed as a godsend. That strikes her as odd. She has never given God much thought.

Ashley becomes fascinated with the unsolved mystery of the lumber’s baron’s wife from all those years ago.

The point of view switches between Hannah, Kate, and Ashley. There are many layers to this story: overcoming difficulties and learning to work together in marriage, the power of friendship, the power of the gospel lived out and gently shared. The past affects and influences us but can be overcome.

The story drew me in from the first page. I don’t know when I have identified with a character as much as I did with Hannah. Though our circumstances were different, our personalities are similar.

When I finally found out what happened to Kate, I was totally surprised and did not see it coming.

I had never thought of Michigan as a nearly wilderness area, but I guess much of America was early on.

The audiobook, wonderfully narrated by Sarah Zimmerman, didn’t include the author’s notes, in the narration. But it did have PDFs of her notes and discussion questions. I also found interviews with Lynn here and here where she gives some background into the story. She’s from Michigan, which really was a hub of the lumber industry. Short-sighted lumber barons didn’t think about the long-term results of their industry, which devastated the area for many years. The Abernathy mansion in the book is based on a couple of similar mansions in MI that were turned into museums.

Overall, I greatly enjoyed this book and highly recommend it.

Review: Blueprint for a Nonfiction Book

Posted on June 2, 2026 by Barbara Harper

Jennie Nash started out as an author, but then switched to become a book coach, helping authors shape their ideas into readable and saleable books. She shares some of her coaching tips in Blueprint for a Nonfiction Book: Plan and Pitch Your Big Idea.

She doesn’t talk so much about how to write here. She says “Writing a book is a complex intellectual, creative, and entrepreneurial undertaking and to write a good one, you have to put in the work—and I don’t just mean cranking out words. The work that is going to have the most impact is the work you do before you write a single word of the book itself” (p. 9, Kindle version).

The book is divided into five parts: Book Fundamentals (reasons for writing, why you’re qualified, title, genre, main point), Get to Know Your Ideal Reader (who is your ideal reader, what are you promising him or her), Design a Structure, Developing a Book Proposal, and How to Pitch Your Proposal.

The days are gone when a writer pounded out her manuscript and sent it off to a publisher. These days, one first sends a query to a literary agent (though there are a few exceptions, especially with smaller publishing houses, you can’t get to a traditional publisher except through an agent). If the agent wants to know more, he’ll ask for your book proposal, which contains specific information, like an overview, sample chapters, comparable titles, marketing plan, and more.

Even if an author wants to self-publish, it’s helpful to think through these issues.

Jennie includes examples of each of her points that come from her own clients and clients of those she has trained through her Author Accelerator, where she trains other book coaches. These examples were valuable in seeing her tips fleshed out.

I read this book mainly because I know what elements I want my book to contain, but struggled with the best way to arrange them. The section about design structure helped a great deal. But I benefited from reading the other material as well.

Helps to Remember What You Read from the Bible

Posted on May 31, 2026 by Barbara Harper

Helps tom remember what you read in the Bible

If you’re like me, you can often draw a blank if you try to remember what you read in your quiet time with the Lord a few hours before.

On one hand, we’ll never remember everything we read (that’s one reason to keep rereading it). But we can still trust that God’s Word nourished us. In a similar vein, I might not remember what I had for lunch yesterday, but it still did its job.

Still, the Bible tells us to meditate, to think on, to turn over in our minds what God has said to us. We can’t do that if we don’t remember it.

Here are some tips that I’ve found helpful.

Read in context. I’m thankful that my first pastors emphasized reading a book of the Bible at a time rather than reading randomly. I usually average a chapter a day on weekdays, depending on the chapter length and subject matter. It’s easy to read a few chapters of a Bible narrative, but I like to slow down in the densely-packed epistles. If we take a moment at the beginning of our reading time to look at what we read the day before, then we get back into the flow.

Pray as you read. We often think of prayer and Bible reading as two separate components of devotions, and do one after the other. But we can pray as we read. If we read about a particular sin we’re struggling with, we can pray about it right then. If we’re reading praise to the Lord, we can read those passages to Him. If we come across something we want to incorporate into our children’s lives, we can ask God for wisdom and for receptive hearts.

Read actively. If we’re following a Bible-reading plan, it’s easy to fall into a passive “get the assignment done” mentality. But if we ask ourselves questions as we read, or look for particular things, we’re more engaged, and the information stays with us.

Some years ago, I heard someone say that Jesus never claimed to be God. I knew He didn’t declare Himself as openly and plainly as some wished He would. But He did proclaim His deity. So the next time I read the gospels, I put a “C” by every place where Jesus made a claim about Himself and a “P” by every verse which indicated a fulfillment of OT prophecy. Actively looking for that emphasis revitalized my reading.

We can also look for the writer’s main point or ask ourselves questions like, “What does this passage teach me about God? About myself? About how to live for Him?” Another good question is “Why is this here?” The Bible says that God’s thoughts are more than can be numbered. One pastor used to say the Bible is divinely brief: out of all the things God could have shared with us, the Bible contains what He wants us to know. 2 Timothy 3:16a tells us, “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable.” So God has every part of Scripture there for a reason.

Mark your reading. Some people don’t like to write in their Bibles. That’s understandable. But many of us get more out of them when we underline passages that stand out to us, underline repeated words, draw arrows from the word “therefore” back to what it refers to, etc. One solution might be to have a study Bible you use for devotions and a different, unmarked Bible you use at church.

Make notes. I used to journal what I studied in my devotional time, but I found I was spending more time writing than reading. So I abandoned the practice for a while. Yet writing does help us process what we read and make it more permanent.

Journaling for the Soul: A Handbook of Journaling Methods by Deborah Haddix shares a plethora of journaling styles that would appeal to a variety of personalities. I ended up with something similar to a bullet journal. I look for one main takeaway from my Daily Light on the Daily Path reading as well as whatever Bible passage I’ve read that day and jot them down in a simple, cheap spiral notebook. Sometimes I’ll write a little more if I feel I need to, but I try to keep it brief.

Review. When I finish my Bible reading for the day, I quickly review what I’ve read. But that review doesn’t always stay with me through the day. In Overcoming Your Devotional Obstacles: 25 Keys to Having Memorable Devotions, John O’Malley recommends writing down a few key points from your Bible reading on a 3×5 note card and then putting it where you’ll see it throughout the day. You could do the same with a Post-It note or the notes app on your phone. Some might want to set a reminder on their phones to go off a few times a day with the main points they read. That would bug me, personally. I keep my phone notifications to a minimum because I get irritated at my phone dinging through the day.

What works for me is this: I keep my Daily Light, ESV Study Bible, and whatever commentary or Bible study book I’m using, along with my little spiral notebook, stacked on my desk. When I go to my desk throughout the day and see those books, I’ll take a moment to remind myself what the main points were that I wrote down. If I can’t remember, I’ll look in my notebook.

Share with others. When I was in a Christian college, the dorm students had assigned tables for dinner which switched every few weeks so we could get to know more people. Each table had a host and hostess who were supposed to try to keep conversations going. Some were better at this than others. My very first host and hostess were the best. The host would bring up that day’s chapel message and invite everyone else’s comments. I probably remembered the chapel messages more during those weeks than at any other time during my college years.

When I talk about what I’ve read, whether with my family or with a Bible study group, I remember more of it. I don’t know if a formal family “What did everyone learn in their devotions today” conversation would work. That might become too mechanical. But it’s natural for what we’re thinking about to come out in our talk.

Memorize. Of course, most of us can’t memorize a Bible verse every day. But we might mark a key verse in our reading, or one that especially spoke to our hearts, and try to commit it to memory over the next few days.

Have you tried any of these helps to remember what you read from the Bible? Or have you tried something else? What works best for you?

(I often link up with some of these bloggers.)

Laudable Linkage

Posted on May 30, 2026 by Barbara Harper

Here are some thought-provoking reads found this week:

What Does It Mean to Be Discerning? “Spiritual discernment is the skill of distinguishing what is true from what is false, what is right from what is wrong, and what is wise from what is foolish. In its fullest form, it is the skill of distinguishing what is true from what is almost true, what is wise from what is wiser still, and what is a matter of absolute right and wrong from what is a matter of conscience or legitimate disagreement.”

Harness the Power of Failure. “You are going to fail at some point in your life. You will probably fail at many things at many points in your life. The question is not whether you will fail, but what you fail at and how you will handle your failure. Believe it or not, failure can be valuable if we think about it and respond to it rightly.”

The Best Way to Resist Temptation, HT to Challies. “People talk about resisting temptation. How exactly does that work? Not very well, in my experience—at least, not if you try to face it head on and just say ‘no’ and ‘no’ and ‘no’ over and over again until you’re worn ragged and hoarse and half-mad from the relentless effort. There is, of course, no way around the fact that resisting temptation requires effort. But I believe there is a better way to focus and expend that effort than to simply lock eyes with your temptation and see who blinks first.”

Rushing Our Quiet Times, HT to Challies. “How long should quiet times take? . . . Lately my answer to this question has become simple: the right length for a quiet time is long enough to be unhurried. An unhurried quiet time means there is enough time to soak in God’s word. Time to savour and meditate on it. Time to explore, to follow a cross-reference. Time to read slowly, to reflect and perhaps memorise some verses. Not rushing allows enough time for God’s word to change us.”

The Most Awkward, Important Part of Prayer, HT to Challies. “If you find yourself skipping a certain element of prayer—Adoration/praise, Confession, Thanksgiving, or Supplication/asking—which one of these is it likely to be? Which one is the most awkward for you? Which one might you find yourself thinking, ‘I’m not sure exactly what to say here,’ and shortening or eliminating that part? I’m going to wager that it’s the first part: Adoration.”

The Lord of the Traffic Jam, HT to Challies. “But none of these statistics are as big a challenge in my daily commute than my own sinful heart. I find that my commute is the most difficult environment in which to remember that I am in fact a Christian. Even in gridlock, I am an ambassador for Christ, called to shine the light of Christ to my half a million neighbours.”

The Genuine Beauty of a Fruitful Life. “Appearances can be copied, but true fruitfulness cannot be manufactured. As Christian women, we can become so deeply dazzled by counterfeit fruit that we lose sight of what God’s kingdom actually values. The beauty of a truly fruitful life is found in faithfulness to the King, whose work in us produces a legacy that endures long after every imitation fades.”

Are You Willing to Show Up? HT to Challies. “Friend, in a world that is disconnected and distant, let’s be the people who show up. Not just once or twice. Not to check off a box for good deed of the day. But to be present. Imperfectly, awkwardly, perhaps even wordlessly, present.”

Actually, Having a Baby Has Slowed Me Down, HT to Challies. “When I was nine months pregnant, a colleague of mine informed me that pregnancy didn’t slow his wife down. Good for her. To be fair, pregnancy barely slowed me down either. I worked out the entire time, kept up with my too-many jobs, submitted my doctoral dissertation, and even recorded the audiobook for Spirit-Filled Singing while dealing with the worst of my first trimester nausea. But having a baby? Having a baby has slowed me down.”

You Can’t Give Your Children What You Don’t Have, HT to Challies. “Look carefully at how the passage is structured: God doesn’t start by saying, ‘Teach your children My words.’ Rather, He starts with the father: ‘These words that I command you today shall be on your heart.’ What a significant and often overlooked foundation. The command to teach your children comes second.”

Does a Promiscuous Past Affect a Christian Marriage? HT to Challies. “There are earthly consequences to sexual sin that can affect a marriage. If I said there weren’t, I’d be a liar. So, let’s look at the claims and understand the true dangers. But if you’re someone who walked a path similar to mine, stick around because there is so much hope. I promise.”

The Dangerous Days Past Middle Age. “I have an image in my mind of the godly old lady I want to be someday: soft-spoken, kind to all, full of wisdom. Having logged half a century under God’s sanctifying sandpaper, I should be well on my way by now. And, taking stock, I can see that I don’t have to rein in my temper as much as I used to, and there’s precious little out there that tempts me to covet. What I am learning, however, is that as I age, I sin differently. Sin is still ‘crouching at the door.’ It just comes in a different form.”

If you’re not hungry for God, what’s ruining your appetite?

Friday’s Fave Five

Posted on May 29, 2026 by Barbara Harper

Welcome to the final FFF of May. I’m not really ready to go from spring to summer. I know it’s not officially summer for a few weeks yet, but I’ve always felt that summer was June, July, and August. And whether I am ready or not, summer is coming! So I’d better gear up for it.

Susanne at Living to Tell the Story invites us to share what blessings the Lord has graced us with each week.

1. Memorial Day. Though I am sorry for the cost of life, I am thankful for those who gave their all that we might have the freedoms we enjoy today. I always like to watch the National Memorial Day concert on PBS the Sunday night before and hear stories of people from various wars.

Then we enjoyed having the family over for Jim’s grilled burgers and playing games.

2. A new camellia bush. Jim had gotten it for me for Mother’s Day, but it arrived late. He planted it this week. It’s not supposed to bloom til later in the summer, so I hope it will be established by then.

3. New flowers. Jim cut back the spent daffodil foliage and planted some annuals by our front sidewalk.

4. Mild weather. The weather apps have been showing rain every day for almost two weeks. We’ve not gotten nearly as much as predicted. And, thankfully, we haven’t had any storms. The rain that we have received has been pleasant and gentle.

5. More impromptu times with the kids. Mittu brought dinner over when they came to do laundry, then they stopped in later this week as well. We went out for lunch Sunday after church, too.

How was your last week of May?

May Reflections

Posted on May 28, 2026 by Barbara Harper

Another month has sped by. We enjoyed Mother’s Day and Memorial Day as a family as well as other times together. I don’t think we had any major excursions except for dinner with friends one night and Jim and Timothy going to a couple of science museums.

We’ve enjoyed the spring-like weather and new blooms and plants. But we can feel summer edging in with a few days near 90 degrees.

Creating

I just made one card this month, for Mittu for Mother’s Day.

The Cricut did the heavy lifting this time, with the drawing, writing, and cutting. I thought about coloring the flowers in–but talked myself out of it. If I messed it up or didn’t like it, I’d have to start all over. So I left it well enough alone.

I’ve also started to play around with some informal lettering. My handwriting has not been good ever since I first learned to write, so I usually use the computer or stickers to do the wording on cards. I’d like to be able to dash off something on my own that looks decent. I got some free practice sheets here and paid for some here.

I love the look of informal lettering, but have to fight against my tendency to want to make all the letters the same height as in formal lettering. The differences are part of the charm, but I struggle with wanting to do it “right” rather than just feeling free with it.

Watching

We found quite a few good movies and mini-series this month.

Beyond the Blackboard is based on a true story about a new teacher whose first assignment is a classroom in a homeless shelter. The previous teacher viewed her assignment as a glorified babysitter, not trying to teach much since the kids came and went. But this teacher fights to make a difference.

Race is about the life of Jesse Owens from his time in college through his record-setting wins in the 1936 Olympics in Germany. There are a few instances of the Lord’s name taken in vain.

The English Game is a mini-series also based on a true story of how English football–or soccer, as we know it in the US–started out as a “gentleman’s game.” When some of the working-class men wanted to play, they received a lot of resistance at first.

Harriet is a biographical film about Harriet Tubman, who escaped slavery and then went back to help hundreds of other slaves escape through the Underground Railroad.

Seeking Persephone is a Regency-era mini-series with kind of a Beauty and the Beast feel. A scarred, reclusive young duke needs to marry, so he has his steward find a needy family with a daughter of marriageable age. He’ll take care of the family’s needs if their daughter will marry him. She’s hesitant but feels she can’t refuse the benefit this will be to her family. So they marry, and she tries to feel at home in his big, lonely castle. Much reference is made to the Greek myth of Persephone and Hades, which I knew nothing about. But the film tells enough of the story that the viewer can get the references.

Temple Grandin was yet another movie based on a real person. Temple was diagnosed with autism at age four, back in the sixties, when parents were advised to institutionalize such children. Through her mother’s persistent work with her and the encouragement of a few good teachers who saw her intelligence, she overcame bullying and learned to cope and express herself. By working at her aunt’s cattle ranch in the summers, she became interested in animal behavior and became a legend in that industry. After seeing the film, we watched a documentary of her life titled An Open Door.

Reading

Since last time, I have finished:

God Moments in my Publishing Life: The Making of a Writer and Publisher by Leslie H. Stobbe
David Copperfield by Charles Dickens, audiobook. My second-favorite of Dickens, a comforting, cozy read. Excellent.
Jose’s Zulo by Lou Ann Keiser, set in the Basque Region of Spain, where Lou Ann and her husband ministered for decades. A sleeper terrorist begins to question his life choices. Good.
Angel Sister by Ann. H. Gabhart, audiobook. In Depression-era KY, a little girl is left on the steps of a church, where her parents said an angel would come and care for her. She’s found by the middle sister of a local family who takes her in, but the community disagrees that she should stay there. Longstanding issues with grandparents on both sides and the husband’s alcoholism threaten to tear the family apart. Good.

I’m currently reading:

None Like Him: 10 Ways God Is Different From Us and Why That’s a Good Thing by Jen Wilkin with a friend.
Life Under the Sun: The Unexpectedly Good News of Ecclesiastes by Hannah Anderson.
Blueprint for a Nonfiction Book: Plan and Pitch Your Big Idea by Jennie Nash.
Theo of Golden by Allen Levi.
The Lumber Baron’s Wife by Lynn Austin.
Into a Golden Era by Gabrielle Meyer.

I also shared 12 Fun Bookish Questions and enjoyed seeing other people’s answers. Feel free to share yours if you haven’t yet.

Blogging

Besides the weekly Friday Fave Fives, Saturday Laudable Linkage, and book reviews, I’ve posted these since last time:

Are We Doing it for Him? It’s easy to fall into spiritual routines and forget why and for whom we’re doing them.
Brave Mothers of the Bible. We can draw inspiration from Biblical mothers and the difficulties they overcame with God’s help.
Weariness in Serving God. We all get weary sometimes. But there’s a certain type of weariness that’s a danger signal.
Sharing From Our Experiences with the Lord. When we have an opportunity to share spiritual truth with others, whether a crowd or an individual, we don’t have to give a sermon. We can share from our own walk with Him and our time in His Word.

Writing

My turn to submit a chapter to our critique group was a couple of weeks ago. I always appreciate the feedback and suggestions. I have not had a chance to work those edits in yet. But my schedule is much lighter the next few weeks, so I hope to work on it soon.

Looking ahead

Our church has VBS in June. Mittu and Timothy are involved directly (Timothy as a helper this year). The rest of us contributed supplies and prayer. I’m excited about Vintage Market Days in town. And we’ll be preparing for Father’s Day on the 21st. Otherwise, the month looks pretty quiet! I am hoping to get lots done.

How was your May? Looking forward to anything in June?

(I often link up with some of these bloggers.)

Review: Angel Sister

Posted on May 26, 2026 by Barbara Harper

Angel Sister by Ann H. Gabhart takes place in the fictional town of Rosey Corner, Kentucky, in 1936.

Kate Merritt is the middle of three sisters. Evie, the oldest, is flighty and self-centered. Victoria is too young to be of much help. Kate is her mother’s main help around the house as well as with her father.

Flashbacks show us how Kate’s parents, Victor and Nadine, met and fell in love. They married right before Victor shipped out for WW1. Victor had never had a good relationship with his own father, who has never seen Victor as good enough. Plus his father blames Victor for the death of the cherished older son, Preston. With that baggage plus the horrors he experienced in the war, Victor becomes addicted to alcohol.

Nadine’s father, Preacher Reese, managed his home and church with an authoritarian hand. He never approved of her marrying Victor and continues to remind of of her poor choices.

Nadine still loves Victor but can’t understand why he won’t give up drinking for her and the girls. “Something wasn’t quite right between a man and his wife when that man had to get comfort from a bottle.”

One day when Kate went to the church to deliver something to Grandfather Reese, she finds a little girl on the steps outside. The girl, Lorena, said her parents left her at the church and told her an angel would take care of her. Her brother was sick and her parents didn’t have much money, so they left to find work and help. Lorena has a note with her name and birth date written on it. She thinks Kate is her angel, despite Kate’s assurance that she’s not an angel.

Kate brings Lorena home, where she fits right in with the family. But Grandfather Reese calls a meeting at the church to say that Lorena will be given to an older childless family in the church. (Apparently there was nothing along the lines of Family Services in that day). Despite the Merritt family’s protests that Lorena has bonded with them and is doing well, Preacher Reese doesn’t feel they can adequately care for her.

Kate had prayed with everything in her that Lorena would be able to stay with their family. When that doesn’t happen, her faith is shaken.

The story continues with how these various threads interact as well as those of other characters.

I felt the narrative moved a little slowly in parts. I wasn’t sure if it was meant to be that way since it was set in KY and would have a different pace than a story set in NYC, or if it was just the author’s style.

And the author kept repeating the phrase that someone “mashed” their mouth or lips together. I don’t know if that’s a Kentucky colloquialism or a pet phrase of the author’s. I had never heard it before, and it was jarring and distracting.

But I liked how the story arc ended up, with themes of love and forgiveness. I thought the way Nadine and Victor were initially attracted to each other was especially sweet.

The author shares in her end notes that the story grew out of her mother and aunts’ discussions of their family stories and the small town they grew up in with some of its quirky characters.

I didn’t know until I finished the book that it is the first in a trilogy about the Merritt sisters and Rosey Corner. I’ll probably read the next two at some point, but not right away.

Sharing From Our Experiences with the Lord

Posted on May 24, 2026 by Barbara Harper

When I was in college, the dorm rooms were formed into smaller prayer groups, usually three dorm rooms to a group, that met almost every night for devotions. The people in the rooms took turns sharing a devotional each night, then we spent a few minutes in prayer before getting ready for bed.

One of my roommates got extremely nervous when her time to share was coming up. She stressed over not knowing what to say. “How am I supposed to know what other people need to hear?’

We tried to encourage her to just share something God had been teaching her. It didn’t have to be a sermon. It didn’t have to be the last word on a given subject. If God wanted her to share something for Him, He’d give her what He wanted her to say.

When our ladies’ Bible study group was going through True Woman 201: Interior Design–Ten Elements of Biblical Womanhood, one section stood out to me. The authors emphasized that mentoring “simply means drawing on your life experience, in the context of everyday life, to provide encouragement and exhortation to those who are younger” (p. 219).

Of course, the whole book talks about being a godly woman by spending time with Him, in His Word, and reflecting Him. So we’re not just drawing on our personal life experience, but our experience within the bigger picture of our walk with God–what we’ve learned along the way.

It’s the same with any kind of ministry to each other. We draw out of our own experiences with God. We can’t teach or model or share what we don’t know. That is another reason for growing in grace and knowledge of Him–not just for our own benefit, but to have to minister to others.

This doesn’t mean that only women who have miscarried a child can minister to a woman in that situation, or only a single woman in the business world can mentor a younger single businesswoman. There are some truths of faith and practice that can be applied across the board.

Sharing with others from our lives also doesn’t mean that we have to have everything together and know all the answers. That would eliminate everyone. Sometimes sharing from our failures encourages others that there is hope and forgiveness and grace

Ministering to others also isn’t restricted to official, formal, or even church-related venues. It’s amazing how often in my life, a seemingly chance, off-the-cuff statement from someone else was just what I needed to hear that day.

I’ve often been encouraged by this excerpt from a hymn by Fanny Crosby:

Now just a word for Jesus:
Your dearest Friend so true,
Come cheer our hearts and tell us
What He has done for you.

Now just a word for Jesus-
‘Twill help us on our way;
One little word for Jesus,
O speak or sing or pray.

—Fanny Crosby

God can use each of us as we interact with each other in everyday life to encourage and uplift. As we ask Him to fill us with His Holy Spirit, seek His guidance, and pay attention to the needs of others, He can work through us to point them to Him.

(Updated to add: The day after posting this, it occurred to me that it could be taken in a wrong way. I’m not exalting experience above the Word of God. I’m talking about sharing from our own walk with God and our time in His Word–how we’ve found Him faithful, how He helped us through various trials, how He kept His promises to us.)

(I often link up with some of these bloggers.)

Laudable Linkage

Posted on May 23, 2026 by Barbara Harper

It’s probably time for my occasional reminder that these links do not imply complete endorsement.

The Faith of Jacob. “I want to be like Jacob. That might seem like a strange statement if you know the story of Jacob.”

Nathanael, HT to Challies. “On a quiet Friday in 2016, Wanjiku’s world was shattered when her young son, Nathanael, suddenly passed away despite her desperate ‘decrees and declarations’ for a resurrection. In the aftermath of her loss, she was met with a theology that blamed her for ‘opening a door to Satan,’ forcing her to confront a terrifying question: Is God so weak that He can be outmaneuvered by human error?”

What God Is Healing While Not Healing My Health Problems. A number of fellow bloggers have recommended this. “I’ve been praying for the Lord to heal me from significant chronic health problems for a long while now. I will continue to. In the meantime, I marvel at what He IS healing me from through this course of pain…”

Raise Kids to Be Reality Respecters, HT to Challies. “Years ago, my coworker and I were sitting at our desks with the office door open. One of our colleagues walked by with his young daughter, and we overheard him say to her, ‘You can be anything you want to be.’ Instinctively, my office mate and I turned toward each other with our eyebrows raised. Although the fatherly intention behind the inspirational pep talk was good, it just wasn’t true. We can’t be anything we want to be.”

How to Raise Curious Kids in a World Designed to Distract Them, HT to the Story Warren. “Curiosity helps kids learn, adapt and think deeply. Here’s why it matters more than ever and how parents can help it grow.”

Advice for College Graduates, HT to Challies. “For all the full schedules, not everyone who walks across a stage and receives a diploma is entirely settled. The season can bring about a lot of anxiety. Graduates might wonder if they’re the only ones in their class who haven’t figured out what comes next. While others are starting jobs, heading off to graduate school, or embarking on what appear to be clearly defined new paths, there are far more graduates than we might imagine who are quietly asking themselves the same question: What am I supposed to do now?“

The Pastoral Virtue of Avoidance, HT to Challies. Though this is written to pastors, it is good for all of us. “At least seven times in the pastoral epistles, Paul directly charges Timothy and Titus to ‘avoid’ and to ‘have nothing to do with’ ideas and people who pose a threat to their flock. This is jarring since one of the main purposes for these letters is to encourage Timothy and Titus to engage false teaching and teachers. Yet here is where the paradox emerges: Paul teaches a pastoral virtue of avoidance—showing that sometimes the wisest form of engagement is careful restraint.”

This is what detransitioning looks like. Eight stories of regret, HT to Challies. This is from a secular source, but shares that transitioning sexuality didn’t solve people’s main issues.

Encouragement Through Letter-Writing. Writing letters has almost become a lost art. But a timely note or letter can be a great encouragement.

What if God ruined your plans so your plans wouldn’t ruin you? J. C. Ryle

Friday’s Fave Five

Posted on May 22, 2026 by Barbara Harper

I started out this week pretty discouraged. I woke up around three a.m. Sunday morning in afib. I had hoped that the ablation in January and the change of medicine would keep things regular at least for a few years, if not forever. I took some medicine and went back to bed. By the time I woke up, around seven, my heart rate was lower and more in rhythm, but still elevated. By lunchtime it was back to normal. I’ve been pretty much normal since then–just a few erratic moments here and there.

I’d had a long day Saturday, and was on my feet more than usual. Jim thinks that may have triggered the heart rhythm issues. That may be. I had felt okay at the time–tired, but okay. But I will pace myself better.

I’m thankful Susanne at Living to Tell the Story started this practice of looking for the blessings of the week. Sometimes the problems and frustrations can color our whole outlook. But God’s blessings are there, even amidst trials large and small.

1. A short-lived episode. I’m thankful the afib episode was short and didn’t seem to trigger a new round of heart rhythm trials, as I had feared.

2. A light cooking week. Jim got breakfast at Burger King Sunday morning since I wasn’t feeling well. Monday night, I just didn’t feel like cooking. So I asked Jim if we could get take-out. Then Tuesday, I took a nap and woke up past the time we’re usually eating. I thought, “Hmm, I should’ve waited til today to ask for takeout.” But Jim offered to get something out again. Wednesday, Jeremy called us around 5. By the time we got done talking, it was past our usual dinnertime again, so we decided to just scrounge around the refrigerator and pantry to find something to warm up.

3. My husband’s indulgence in allowing for the above. 🙂

4. Time with the kids. Jason and Mittu’s washer isn’t working, so they asked if they could come over and do laundry Tuesday. We’re glad to be close enough to help out with things like that. It wasn’t a regular visit–Timothy had school work to do, I had to dash out for an appointment, Jim had a short Zoom call, and Jason had work to do for a couple of hours while Mittu did the laundry. But in-between all that, we enjoyed some time to talk.

5. Rain. It’s been pretty dry here for a while. Rain is in the forecast every day for the next ten days or so. And thankfully, so far it’s just been a gentle rain. We had thunder a couple of times, but no lightning or storms. I hope the rest of the week continues in that vein.

That’s our week. How was yours?