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Everyday Worship

Posted on February 18, 2024 by Barbara Harper

At a recent ladies’ Bible study, the topic of worship came up. We agreed that worship wasn’t just singing in church. But some of the women wondered how we can maintain a worshipful attitude while correcting our children or cleaning the house.

That’s where the rubber meets the road, doesn’t it? It’s one thing to worship while reading an inspiring passage, singing in church, or hearing preaching that opens our eyes to truth about God.

But how can we carry that into everyday life? Cleaning, errands, traffic, and computer problems don’t seem conducive to worship.

It helps to consider once again what worship actually is. I heard a preacher define worship as “worth-ship,” ascribing to God His worth.

Dictionary.com defines worship as: “reverent honor and homage paid to God or a sacred personage, or to any object regarded as sacred; adoring reverence or regard.”

Our Bible study is going through Isaiah using Tim Chester’s Isaiah for You: Enlarging Your Vision of Who God Is. Chapter 3 focuses on Isaiah 12, which is an example of worship even though the word isn’t used.

Isaiah had previously discussed God’s great anger towards His people who had disobeyed Him and sought help from godless people rather than Him.

Verse 1 thanks God that “though you were angry with me, your anger turned away, that you might comfort me.
Verse 2 declares, “Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and will not be afraid; for the Lord God is my strength and my song, and he has become my salvation.”
Verse 3 assures, “With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation.”
Verse 4 reminds us to thank the Lord, call upon His name, make known His deeds, proclaim His name among people.
Verses 5 and 6 tell us to sing and make known His greatness and the glorious things He has done.

Thinking of who God is and what He has done for us turns our hearts to worship.

But what about those moments that seem contrary to worship?

We can do these things in the midst of traffic snarls, dusting, or waiting on hold on the phone. In fact, worship would redeem the time and change our mood and frustration. As we remember His salvation, our joy will overflow. As we remember who He is and what He has done, our hearts turn to praise. As we remember His greatness, we sing His praise with joy and tell others about Him. Those things can infuse all we do.

Since God is our strength and my song, we can ask His help and strength.

We have to remember, too, that worship is an act, not a feeling. After Job lost everything, “Then Job arose and tore his robe and shaved his head and fell on the ground and worshiped. And he said, ‘Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return. The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord'” (Job 1:20-21). In the psalms of lament, the writers acknowledge who God is even while pouring out their hearts to Him about their problems. In fact, it’s because of who He is that they can tell Him what’s wrong. They know that He cares and can be trusted to help.

Singing not only springs from worship, but it can lead us to worship. Sometimes when we come into church Sunday mornings from a busy week and the trials of getting ready that always seem to come up on Sunday mornings, we plop down in our chairs and don’t feel worshipful. But once we start singing, our hearts are turned to God. We can do that at home, too. I love to have Christian music playing while I’m puttering around the house.

Another aspect of worship is yielding our whole selves to God. Romans 12:1-2 says, “I appeal to you therefore, brothers,by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.” When we give Him everything, we’re acknowledging that He is worth yielding all to.

He redeems not only our souls, but our work. Elisabeth Elliot said in A Lamp for My Feet:

The job has been given to me to do.
Therefore it is a gift.
Therefore it is a privilege.
Therefore it is an offering I may make to God.
Therefore it is to be done gladly, if it is done for Him.
Therefore it is the route to sanctity.

Here, not somewhere else, I may learn God’s way. In this job, not in some other, God looks for faithfulness. The discipline of this job is, in fact, the chisel God has chosen to shape me with–into the image of Christ.

We could substitute task, responsibility, or even ministry for the word “job” there.

When dealing with a fretful little one, we can appreciate God’s fatherly care of us when we’re fussy. When a child is being stubborn, we can be thankful for God’s patience with us and seek His help to be patient with our children. We can remember that we’re modeling parental love and care that our children will hopefully one day translate into their relationship with God.

When cleaning the house, we can rejoice in imitating His bringing order out of chaos. We’re reflecting a God who does things “decently and in order” (1 Corinthians 14:40). We’re caring for our family by creating a safe, sanitary place, and a peaceful home. When I’ve gotten irritated at how often things need to be cleaned, I sometimes think about God’s patience in cleansing me every day.

When the car or oven or computer break down, it’s a reminder that this world and everything in it is temporary. All we have is His, and we can trust Him to supply our needs. Meanwhile, we lay up treasure in heaven, where moth and rust don’t corrupt and thieves don’t break through and steal (Matthew 6:19-21).

If we regularly spend time reading and thinking about God’s Word, reasons for worship and examples will come to mind throughout the day.

These things remind me of one of my favorite poems:

Lord of all pots and pans and things,
since I’ve not time to be
A saint by doing lovely things
or watching late with Thee
Or dreaming in the dawn light
or storming Heaven’s gates
Make me a saint by getting meals
and washing up the plates.

Although I must have Martha’s hands,
I have a Mary mind
And when I black the boots and shoes,
Thy sandals, Lord, I find.
I think of how they trod the earth,
what time I scrub the floor
Accept this meditation Lord,
I haven’t time for more.

Warm all the kitchen with Thy love,
and light it with Thy peace
Forgive me all my worrying
and make my grumbling cease.
Thou who didst love to give men food,
in room or by the sea
Accept this service that I do,
I do it unto Thee.

—Klara Munkres

How can we worship during everyday, mundane, or even negative circumstances? By acknowledging His worth and doing all we do as unto Him.

How about you? What helps you keep a worshipful attitude in everyday life?

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

Laudable Linkage

Posted on February 17, 2024 by Barbara Harper

Due to a busy week and not much blog reading time, I have just a short but good list of reads to share:

An Unexpected Love Calls You to Rise and Follow. Though this was written for Valentine’s Day, I think it’s good for any time of year. I’m often wary of Biblical fiction, but I loved Michele’s look into what Abigail in the Old Testament might have been thinking and feeling during her marriage to a fool and her quick thinking in intercepting David.

The Moral Perfection of Christ. “They followed Him without question because no matter what His appearance, His beauty was unmistakable. He possessed every grace, every virtue, in perfect tension and balance. Not one of them was missing. Think of that. We’ve never seen what sheer perfection looks like in a person. Perfect symmetry between the inner and the outer. Perfect alignment of heart and character. It’s almost impossible to envision such perfection. But there it is in Jesus.”

Bible Study Leaders Must Be Flexible. “Leading real Bible studies means that the Bible comes into contact with real people, and the lives of real people are often messy and difficult. But these difficulties are not interruptions to our plans—this is what it means to lead people and help them apply the Bible in their lives.”

Eleven Expressions of Gastronomic Humility, HT to Challies. “Keeping up with our kids’ ever-shifting food preferences, on top of their health issues, has been a difficult dynamic of this season. We talk a lot about food at this stage of our family life.”

The Ones Who Cook, HT to Challies. “We admire our preachers, for they way they teach us God’s words. We look up to our worship leaders, who inspire us to praise. Or the leaders who teach or administrate or organize or make plain spaces beautiful. But I’d like to suggest that one of the greatest gifts that God gives a church are the people who cook.”

Love is not love which alters when it alteration finds. — Shakespeare

Friday’s Fave Five

Posted on February 16, 2024 by Barbara Harper

Happy Friday! I enjoy this weekly gathering to recount the good, the blessed, the positive parts of our week with Susanne and friends at Living to Tell the Story. Please feel free to join in.

1. Valentine’s Day is one of my favorite holidays. We enjoy celebrating it as a family with heart-shaped treats on heart-shaped plates, cards expressing love and appreciation, food, conversation, and fun.

2. Cute, creative garlic bread made by Mittu:

3. Parchment paper. Growing up, the only parchment I knew anything about was used for calligraphy. I didn’t know anything about parchment paper for cooking. Even once I knew about it, I never used it because I didn’t know its advantages. I’ve only recently begun to use it frequently to help food not stick to pans and make cleanup easier. Wonderful stuff!

4. Conflict resolution and good customer service people. There was a mix-up on eBay with something my husband sold, and it was going to cost him a few hundred dollars. Multiple attempts to communicate failed to yield any results. Finally he got hold of a real person who listened, understood the issue, and was able to rectify it.

5. Everyday love. As much as I love Valentine’s Day in all its expressions, it wouldn’t mean as much if love weren’t shown in everyday ways. I’m thankful for family and friends who are thoughtful, helpful, prayerful, loving, and kind in everyday ways.

Review: Organizing for the Rest of Us

Posted on February 15, 2024 by Barbara Harper

In my early married life, I read Sandra Felton’s The Messies Manual and received her newsletter for several years. Those helped me immensely. I don’t know if my husband realizes how much he’s indebted to Sandra. 🙂

But I realized that organization isn’t a destination. It’s a continual journey. You can’t just set up routines and places for things: you have to maintain them. And you continually get new things, get rid of old things, or get ideas of ways your organization could work better.

So I still read occasional books about organization. I don’t read books on decluttering because, though decluttering is a part of organization, it’s just one part. I don’t read books on minimalism because they go too far for my tastes.

Some of the more recent books I’ve read on time management and productivity focus on the larger principles. Those are needful and foundational. I need those reminders sometimes. But I’m more in need of practical everyday life hacks, those “Why didn’t I ever think of that?” ideas and solutions.

I just recently discovered Dana K. White’s Organizing for the Rest of Us: 100 Realistic Strategies for Keeping Your House Under Control when it was on sale for the Kindle. It’s full of great ideas, laced with humor, and written concisely. You could easily skim through chapter titles and just read about the areas you want help with. But I enjoyed the whole book.

Dana started sharing tips on an originally anonymous blog titled A Slob Comes Clean. It resonated with so many people that it grew into books, podcasts, and speaking engagements.

Dana was one of those people (like me) who wasn’t naturally organized. She discovered her tips one at a time while trying to “deslobify” her own house.

One of her principles I liked is that clutter is personal. Maybe that’s why I don’t like decluttering and minimalist books—I didn’t always agree with what they said I needed to get rid of. Dana defines clutter as “anything that gets out of control in your home” (p. 6, Kindle). “You can keep anything. You just can’t keep everything” (p. 58).

One of my favorite tips from this book was not to take everything out of a closet or cabinet when trying to organize it. Most of us do that, then we get tired or need to go tend to something else, and we have a massive mess on our hands. Instead, Dana urges taking one thing out at a time and deciding immediately what to do with it. Have a trash bag and donation box handy to put items that you want to get rid of. If you decide the item is something you want to keep, immediately put it where it goes. That may seem to take longer in the short run. But dealing with the item immediately saves having a pile of items to put away when you’re done and fatigued. Plus handling it just once cuts down on rethinking it. And if you’re interrupted or tired, you don’t have a mess to clean up (or shove back into the closet) before you can move on.

This was a fun and very helpful book. Highly recommended.

Review: Dear Henry, Love Edith

Posted on February 14, 2024 by Barbara Harper

In Becca Kinzer’s debut rom-com novel,. Dear Henry, Love Edith, Edith Sherman is ready to make a new start. Her marriage was difficult and about to end when her husband became ill and passed away. She stayed with him til the end, and they reconciled. But the problems there and in her relationship with her parents has soured her on marrying again. She had given up her hopes and dreams of traveling the world, and now is the time to pick them up again. She plans to go to South Africa to help in a mission there as soon as her passport arrives.

In the meantime, she heard from a friend that a crisis nursery in the small town of Westshire, IL could use her nursing skills for the summer. She had planned to stay in the house of a friend of a friend, Kat, who would be away during that time. But Kat sent her a note that a pipe had burst in her house. However, her uncle Henry had an upstairs he wasn’t using and would be glad to have her stay there until the damage was repaired.

Henry actually wasn’t glad. But since he was recovering from a knee injury and couldn’t use the upstairs, he reluctantly agreed that what he assumed was an older widowed missionary lady could stay there.

Edith, on her part, assumed that the uncle of someone her age would be an older bachelor. She didn’t realize that Kat and her uncle were just a few years apart.

For several weeks, living in different parts of the house and working different times, Edith and Henry didn’t meet and left notes for each other. Each assuming the other was older, their notes became more friendly and confidential.

Meanwhile, Henry can’t help but notice a beautiful brown-eyed blond in town. They run into each other several times without getting each other’s names. Then Henry realizes this is the Edith living upstairs in his house.

Edith notices Henry, too, and it’s only a matter of time before they find each other out and admit their attraction. But Edith remains firm about not marrying. And besides, she’s leaving the country soon.

I don’t usually read romantic comedies, but I saw good reviews for this one. When it was on sale for the Kindle and then free for Audible, I decided to try it. There were a lot of funny and cute moments, and the overall story was sweet. I enjoyed a lot of the banter. The “comedy of errors”—misunderstandings or things going wrong that escalate— is not my favorite type of humor. Nothing wrong with it, I just find it tiresome and not funny. I preferred the more serious parts. Even though this was meant to be a funny story, there was a lot of depth to it.

Though this was a Christian novel, at first I didn’t see much Christian about it besides an occasional mention of church or prayer. But later on, as the two main characters wrestle with their various issues, they pray and seek God more earnestly.

Unfortunately, there was one reference I was dismayed to see in a Christian novel. It wasn’t obvious, though, so I think some might overlook it.

If you like romantic comedies, you might like this book.

Review: The Winter Rose

Posted on February 13, 2024 by Barbara Harper

The Winter Rose by Melanie Dobson is a dual-timeline novel.

Grace Tonquin is an American Quaker woman living in Vichy France during WWII. She had left behind the lifestyle of her actress mother, Ruby. Now she works with a network of others to help Jewish children escape France over the Pyrénées mountains into Spain. Grace has been told by Roland, her friend and leader, this must be her last group. Previously she had gotten the children to those who would take them over the mountains; now she must go with them. It was no longer safe for her to remain in France.

One boy, Louis, ends up having to remain behind in hiding with Helene, a woman who worked with Grace. Grace takes the remaining eleven children through various dangers until they finally arrive in Spain.

Most of the children are sent to live with relatives. Grace takes two of the children, siblings Elias and Marguerite, home with her to Oregon. She and Roland marry, and they raise the children as their own.

In 2003, Addie Hoult comes to Tonquin Lake in OR to look for any remnants of the Tonquin family. Her mentor and father-figure, Charlie Tonquin, is desperately ill and needs a transplant preferably from someone related. Charlie has always steadfastly refused to share anything about his family or his past. But Addie is determined to try to find his relatives, hopefully even his long lost sister.

I had seen films about people who helped Jewish children escape over the mountains. However, those movies ended with the children getting safely over, where it was assumed they lived happy and stable lives afterward. This book deals with the aftermath some of them faced. Even getting to safety, many of them couldn’t help but be traumatized by having to leave their homes and families, travel in difficult conditions, and witness things children should not have to see.

Some of the quotes I liked best:

She didn’t understand, nor would she ever, why God didn’t rescue everyone in this life, but it was her job, her grandfather had often reminded her, to be faithful in caring for those God gave to her (p. 37, Kindle version).

No one wants to hold you against your will. We want you to master your will so you can be in control of yourself (p. 189).

Living, I think, defies the loss. Loving well defies it, too (p. 301).

I enjoyed Melanie’s notes at the end where she told some of the history the novel was based on as well as what was fictional. She included some of that information on her website here.

When I’ve shared Melanie’s books before, some have wondered if she was related to or connected with the Dobsons of Focus on the Family. The “About the Author” page at the back of the book says, in part, “Melanie is the previous corporate publicity manager at Focus on the Family, owner of the publicity firm Dobson Media Group, and a former adjunct professor at George Fox University.” Since her husband’s last name is Dobson and she worked at Focus, I assume he is related somehow–unless the same last name is just a coincidence.

Overall, I thought this was a good book. I got a little lost in some places, unusual for Melanie’s books. But I appreciated getting to know “the rest of the story,” as Paul Harvey wold have said, behind some of the displaced children of WWII and the people who helped them. However, they aren’t the only ones in the story dealing with past wounds and needing to heal from their experiences. That seems to be the common theme among many of the characters.

How Can We Love Like God Loves Us?

Posted on February 11, 2024 by Barbara Harper

This time of year, our hearts are drawn toward love. Whether one celebrates Valentine’s Day or not, we can’t help but hear about it and see displays in stores.

Valentine’s Day is one of my favorite holidays. I love to make cards for my family, prepare a special meal, and bake heart-shaped cupcakes served on festive, heart-covered paper plates. I love receiving cards, flowers, and my favorite candy. I don’t often listen to mushy love songs, but I’m more inclined to in February.

As fun as those things are, we know real love goes deeper. It shows up “for better or worse, for richer or poorer, in sickness and in health.” Love can feel giddy or warm and fuzzy. But love can also feel like hard work..

Jesus told us to “love one another just as I have loved you” (John 13:34; 15:12). What’s more, He told us to go beyond loving those who please us or love us back, but also to love those who persecute us and hate us.

How can we do that? After all, He is God, and we are not. Oswald Chambers said in the April 30 reading from My Utmost for His Highest, “The springs of love are in God, not in us. It is absurd to look for the love of God in our hearts naturally; it is only there when it has been shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit.”

I’m far from perfect in this, but I’ve found these things to help:

Pray for more love

I was encouraged when I realized there were passages in the Bible about praying to be more loving. That indicates God knows we’re not perfectly loving yet and we need to grow in love. I sometimes pray these for myself and need to do so more often.

Now may our God and Father himself, and our Lord Jesus, direct our way to you, and may the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all (1 Thessalonians 3:11-12).

And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment (Philippians 1:9).

That Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge (Ephesians 3:17-19).

May the Lord direct your hearts to the love of God and to the steadfastness of Christ (2 Thessalonians 3:5).

Abide in Him

Trying to love as Jesus did will show us soon enough that we can’t do it in our own power. “Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing” (John 15:4-5).

“We have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him” (1 John 4:16).

Be Filled with the Spirit

Ephesians 5:5 tells us, “God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.” Part of the fruit of the Spirit is love, so when we’re filled with Him, we’ll be filled with His love.

Behold Him

It makes sense that to love as Jesus loved, we need to consider how He loved.

He took initiative. God loved us even before we knew Him, before we turned to Him, even before the foundation of the world (Ephesians 1:3-6). “We love because he first loved us” (1 John 4:19).

He showed grace. “God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). He loved us when we were most unlovable and undeserving. He didn’t wait for us to “clean up” or get “good enough.”

His love was sacrificial. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16). God gave not just a pittance, not just a fraction, but rather what was most dear to Him.

His love is active. The Father and Son love not just in word, but in deed. “By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers” (1 John 3:16). “Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13).

He gave of Himself. “Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God” (Ephesians 5:1-2). That giving involved inconvenience, weariness, misunderstandings, false rumors, humiliation, pain, and death. He ministered to others when He was the only One who deserved to be ministered to.

His love is kind. “For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating one another. But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior” (Titus 3:3-6).

He is longsuffering. “The Lord is slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love” (Numbers 14:18a).

His love corrects us. “My son, do not despise the Lord‘s discipline or be weary of his reproof, for the Lord reproves him whom he loves, as a father the son in whom he delights” (Proverbs 3:11-12). God’s love is not indulgent. Sometimes love involves doing the hard thing of bringing sin to the surface so it can be dealt with.

More than just observing how He loved, we need to observe His glory. 2 Corinthians 3:18 tells us, “And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.” We’re changed to be more like Him as we behold Him.

Once a missionary was troubled because she didn’t love others the way she knew she should. For years she berated herself with the need to be more loving, but she continually failed, leaving her continually discouraged. Finally she started to meditate on God’s love for her. Without realizing it, her life was transformed so much that people asked her husband what had happened to her.

If we just tell ourselves over and over, “I need to be more loving,” we’re going to get discouraged because we’re focusing on ourselves and setting ourselves up for failure. But when we concentrate on His love for us, our hearts will overflow with that same love to others. No wonder Paul prays that we might know the love of Christ (Ephesians 3:19).

He took the first step in loving me, so I should not wait on others to make the first move. His love came at a great sacrifice, so I should not be surprised when love costs me. He loved me at my most unworthy and forgave a multitude of my offenses, so how can I withhold love from others? When I meditate on His love for me, His love flows through me to others.

Love one another as I have loved you. John 15:12

(Revised from the archives)

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

Laudable Linkage

Posted on February 9, 2024 by Barbara Harper

Here are some of the good posts seen this week:

How Do I Find the Main Point of a Psalm (or a larger passage of Scripture), HT to Knowable Word. John Piper likens understanding larger passages of Scripture to working a jigsaw puzzle. Great illustration.

How to Prepare for a Great Morning Routine. “I’ve had the unique privilege of helping thousands of Christians refine their own Christ-honoring morning routines. And there are certain patterns that show up again and again with those who are struggling to stick with a routine like this. They all boil down to one thing: Lack of preparation.”

Be a Woman Hidden in the Church. “We live in a culture captivated by the idea of ‘making a name for yourself.’ From pop culture celebrities to Christian influencers, the world around us seems to say that in order to make any real difference you first need to have a large sphere of influence and a certain number of followers. And your name on the cover of a book doesn’t hurt. This is not the path to significance that Jesus taught.”

What to Do When You Long for Encouragement. “When it comes to my own reactions to perceived slights, I’m inclined to bypass the Golden Rule and proceed straight to feeling sorry for myself.“

Why We Cannot Cast Them Aside. “As I’ve watched my precious mom deteriorate from the devastating effects of early onset Alzheimer’s, I’ve also had to face our world’s deeply entrenched beliefs about what gives people value.“

Repairing Old Books by Deconstructing Them, HT to Steve Laube. This is a ten-minute video about a woman who restores old books by taking them apart, repairing them, and putting them back together. I worked at the university library while in college. One lady there did book repair, but not as extensive as this. I found it fascinating.

True love ennobles and dignifies the material labors of life; and homely services rendered for love’s sake have in them a poetry that is immortal. ~ Harriet Beecher Stowe

Friday’s Fave Five

Posted on February 9, 2024 by Barbara Harper

The Fridays just keep coming faster and faster. I’m thankful Susanne at Living to Tell the Story encourages us to pause for a few minutes every week and focus on the good things that have happened. This practice reminds us that good things have happened, that we can be thankful for them, and helps them last a bit longer before we pass to the next week.

1. Dinner and game night. Last week, Mittu and Jason brought over dinner and Settlers of Cataan. They had taught Timothy to play while they were snowed in a couple of weeks ago. We had not played it often as a family the last few years because it’s a long game, and we didn’t want to leave Timothy out while the rest of us were playing. So it’s nice he can participate now.

2. Gas discount. This happened last week, but I forgot to mention it. Getting gas was among my errands one day. We shop at two different grocery stores, both of which have gas stations and gas reward points. I usually get gas at one, but this time decided to stop at the other. I didn’t know that I had enough points for $1.20 off per gallon. Plus they expired the next day! The other station only allows $1 off at a time, no matter how many reward points you have. But this one allowed for the whole $1.20. This amounted to about $18 savings for almost a full tank of gas.

3. Jesse’s house. I mentioned that my youngest, Jesse, has been house-hunting. He put an offer on one, and things have been falling into place. The inspection showed a few problems, but nothing major. The seller was willing to take care of the one thing we most wanted her to. Then the appraisal came in just a bit below the asking price, but the seller was willing to drop the price to the appraisal rate. So it looks like everything is a go!

4. Nice weather. We’ve been in the 50s most days, even the 60s some days. I know winter hasn’t had its last hurrah yet, but I am enjoying the moderate temperatures while we have them.

5. New routines. I don’t like a rigid schedule: it feels too pressured. But I operate best with some kind of routine. Since Jim retired at the end of last year, and with all the sickness of January, we’ve not known what to expect every day. But now we seem to be settling into something of a flexible pattern.

How was your week?

Review: When I Close My Eyes

Posted on February 8, 2024 by Barbara Harper

When I Close My Eyes, a novel by Elizabeth Musser

When I Close My Eyes by Elizabeth Musser is told from three different viewpoints.

Henry Hughes is ex-military with a wife and young son, Jace. Jace has had heart problems most of his young life and needs open-heart surgery. Henry doesn’t know how he’s going to pay the medical bills. His friend mentions he could get him a “job” with another friend–a job as a hit man. Henry is so desperate, he agrees to take on such a job just this once.

He stakes out the lady he has been hired to kill on a street in Asheville, NC, takes aim as she goes to her car—but she turns her head just as he fires. Consequently, the bullet that went through her brain puts her in a coma, but doesn’t kill her. He won’t get his money if she doesn’t die, but he can’t do anything else since people come running.

Henry hadn’t known anything about the woman he tried to assassinate, but when her name is splashed all over the news, he learns she is a best-selling author, Josephine Bourdillon. He begins to read her books and wonders if she really believes what she’s written about faith and forgiveness. He vacillates between wanting to ask her and needing to finish the job.

In her coma, Josephine remembers her past: society parents who kept up appearances despite fighting, alcoholism, and philandering behind the scenes, a rebellious, dramatic sister, and her own struggle with depression. She felt she had to be the perfect daughter to maintain the family myth and had to carry the weight of helping her sister, who, more often than not, didn’t want help.

Josephine’s daughter, Paige, has rejected the faith of her parents due to the hypocrisy of her grandfather and another family friend. Paige is a junior in high school but mature for her age. Her sister, Hannah, comes home from her year of studying in France to be with the family in the wake of Josephine’s shooting.

As police investigate, Paige is concerned that they’ll find out about what the family calls “the awful year.” Besides the death of her mother’s parents that year, there are hints of a secret that Paige doesn’t want to get out, a secret that might implicate someone in the family.

The “whodunnit” part of the story was handled well. Henry, of course, pulled the trigger, but once police find him, they want to know who hired him. I was sure it was one character—not the character the story points to at first—but I was wrong.

Depression is a big part of the book. Elizabeth said in a couple of interviews (here and here) that though her family was different from Josephine’s, her journey with depression was very similar. She wanted to bring light to that topic and show that even people of deep faith can struggle with depression. I would caution readers who might be sensitive to this that there is a suicide attempt in the book.

Other themes are hypocrisy and God’s grace.

I love that Elizabeth draws from her own experiences. She grew up in Atlanta, and she and her husband have been missionaries to France for several decades. Both Atlanta and France are featured in this book. The bulk of the story takes place in Asheville, NC. I’m not sure if Elizabeth has connections there, but that’s a city I love to visit. The drive some of the characters took on I-40 through the mountains is very familiar to me.

Some of my favorite quotes:

Mama always said that the painful things of life got redeemed in her stories.

The bad stuff hadn’t been able to snuff out the good stuff, or maybe it even happened because of the bad stuff.

My parents knew a lot about real, deep-down love. They knew it hurt. They knew it cost something valuable. They knew it was worth keeping.

There were just a couple of things I didn’t like. One was the use of a couple of words that aren’t profanity, but aren’t usually found in Christian books (though one is in the KJV. However, it’s not used there like it is used today). The other was bedroom scenes with Josephine and her husband, and mention of Henry’s wife in a see-through nightie. Nothing explicit was shown, but it was still more than I wanted to read. None of these things needed to be in the book. They only make up maybe half of one percent of the total book, but they still marred it a little.

Overall, however, the story was very good and the characters were well-developed.

I listened to the audiobook nicely read by three different narrators.