About Barbara Harper

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Laudable Linkage

Posted on September 23, 2023 by Barbara Harper

Here’s some of the good blogging that particularly resonated with me this week:

The One Thing We All Need Right Now. “Never mind for a minute about platforms and hashtags, soap boxes and sides, movements and slogans. There’s really only one solution, one remedy, one antidote to the sickness that plagues our world today.”

Fighting for Faith When Doubts Abound, HT to Challies. “If my child is in danger, I would do whatever I could to rescue him or protect him from it. If I were to sit idly by and do nothing, I certainly wouldn’t be a very good and loving parent. But I’ve learned that I too often come to conclusions about who God is by interpreting a circumstance through the limited understanding of my humanity.”

A Hope-Filled Message for the Tired, Worn, and Overwhelmed. “It’s been a tough season, hasn’t it? I don’t know your specifics, but the effect those circumstances are having on your heart, body and mind? I think I can make some experience-informed guesses about that, and here’s what I want to say about it. Don’t equate how you feel today with your worth, your usefulness, your attractiveness or your future fruit-bearing potential.“

Contentment Doesn’t Mean You Must Stay in the Same Circumstance Forever, HT to Challies. I wondered about this in the past: if we’re to be content in all things, should we not try to change our circumstances? This gives a valid answer.

Treasures in Jars of Clay, HT to Challies. “As a missionary, I often feel like family members, friends, and supporters put us on a pedestal. That my sacrifice and calling as a missionary in Uganda are far beyond what any “normal” Christian would be able to manage. 2 Corinthians 4 gives a beautiful description of reality though. I am only a clay jar. A plain, fragile clay jar.”

Rescuing Abraham, HT to Challies. A different and interesting take on the two situations in which Abraham said Sarah was his sister rather than his wife.

Three Powerful Reasons You Should Tell Your Story. “The way you live your days will be, when all is said and done, the sum total of your story. Your story puts the gospel in context, demonstrates God’s generosity, and proves His faithfulness.”

God keeps His eye on the clock and His hand on the thermostat of affliction.

The quote above is from Be Exultant (Psalms 90-150): Praising God for His Mighty Works by Warren W. Wiersbe, p. 126.

Friday’s Fave Five

Posted on September 22, 2023 by Barbara Harper

Another week sped by, and it’s time to remember and share the good things of the week. I’m thankful Susanne hosts a place to do this at Living to Tell the Story.

1. Fall! Autumn doesn’t officially begin until tomorrow, but we’ve had some lovely temperatures in the 50s at night and 70s to low 80s in the daytime. Some of the trees seem to have gotten the memo, with rusty leaves dropping already. I hope we have a very long autumn. I love the space between the heat of summer and the cold barrenness of winter.

2. Jesse’s birthday. My youngest son turned 30, which makes me feel old! We had a good time celebrating.

I’m thankful Mittu made this cute and tasty Lemon Blueberry Cake that Jesse requested. It had reduced me to tears the last time I tried it, and almost did her as well! We’ve decided we need to find a different recipe. If you have one, let us know!

I need to be more mindful of the background of my photos. This looks a little busy. That’s my writing desk in the little alcove off the dining area.

3. Pumpkin Spice Donuts. I’m not into pumpkin-spice-everything, but I do enjoy getting a package of these donuts once a year.

4. A submission accepted. I learned this week that a short piece of writing I submitted to an online site was accepted. It won’t be published til next August, though, so I’ll tell you more about it then.

5. Reese’s Peanut Butter Pumpkins. Reese’s has taken to shaping their chocolate-peanut butter concoctions into seasonal shapes. The pumpkin ones are so good! I limited myself by only getting two and having them different days.

6. Bonus: a new day. I had a couple of days with extra time to myself and was looking forward to getting a lot done, especially writing. I was disappointed that didn’t happen. But there’s nothing to do but start over the next day. (After I wrote that yesterday afternoon, I had a productive few hours. Yay!)

That’s my week. How was yours?

Review: Far Side of the Sea

Posted on September 19, 2023 by Barbara Harper

In Far Side of the Sea by Kate Breslin, Lieutenant Colin Mabry had been on the front in WWI. After recovering from a serious accident and the loss of his hand, he’s assigned to MI8, decoding messages sent by carrier pigeon. He’s troubled by the sounds of battle he hears across the channel as well as any loud, sudden noises.

One day he finds a carrier message to himself from a woman he thought dead, Jewel Reyer. She had taken him in, at great risk and cost to herself, when he was injured in France. He had promised to return for her. But then he had his accident and recovery, and afterward heard her entire village had been attacked with no survivors.

He obtains permission to travel to France. He is stunned to find that the message was sent not by Jewel, but by her half-sister Johanna, who works with doves for the French Army Intelligence. Johanna found Jewel’s diary, where she mentioned Colin. Johanna has reason to think her sister is alive and in the custody of a German agent who had been in charge of her village. Johanna wants Colin to help her find Jewel.

Colin is angry at the deception and wary of Johanna. But if there is a chance Jewel is alive and needs his help, he must look for her. He owes her that. Plus, the two were just beginning to develop feelings for each other, and he must know if she still feels the same way.

So he sets aside his anger at Johanna, and they travel to Jewel’s last known location with more questions than answers.

But they find themselves in danger, not knowing whom to trust.

This is the first book I’ve ever read by Kate Breslin, and it definitely reeled me in after the first few chapters. Johanna has several secrets she has not shared with Colin, and bits of her story and background are revealed through the book, as well as her reasons for not sharing all. It takes a while to decide whether she is trustworthy and someone we should be pulling for.

Then they meet an array of iffy characters and situations and face multiple twists and turns.

The story also deals with Colin and Johanna’s inner issues as well. Colin not only suffers from what we now know as PTSD, but he’s lost confidence in himself. Johanna had a checkered upbringing and struggled to find a place to belong or believe that there was a God who was interested in her.

I didn’t know at first that this book was a sequel to another, Not By Sight. Far Side of the Sea read well on its own, but I might like to go back and read the first book some time if I catch it on sale.

I enjoyed the author’s notes at the end, where she tells more about carrier pigeons used in war and what details and people were real or made up.

I’d had the Kindle version of this book for a while, but recently saw the audiobook was among Audible’s free titles. It was nice to switch back and forth between reading or listening, depending on my circumstances.

As I said, this was the first of Kare Breslin’s books I’ve read, but it won’t be the last.

How Can I Be Nice When My Hormones Are Raging?

Posted on September 17, 2023 by Barbara Harper

(My male readers may want to pass this one by. Then again, if you have women in your life, you might find this helpful.)

Between Sunday School and church, our small choir would meet in a downstairs hallway to run through the song we’d practiced the week before. As my friend, Christy (not her real name), came in, I handed her a songbook.

Christy took the book, threw it across the room onto a table, and kept walking.

I was stunned. So, apparently, were the others waiting in the corridor. Most were aware of her physical issues, and one asked, “Is Christy on her period this week?”

I thought, “How embarrassing that the whole church knows when it’s ‘that time of month.'”

Granted, Christy had more severe problems than most. She ended up having a hysterectomy in her thirties.

Though most of us don’t have that level of discomfort, I don’t know anyone who just breezes through their menstrual cycle. There’s always some level of physical discomfort, inconvenience, and emotional fluctuations that can vary month to month and year to year. Much worse has been done due to hormones than throwing a book.

And “that time of month” isn’t the only time hormones fluctuate to almost unbearable levels. They can run askew at other times. Pregnancy, the post-partum era, and menopause are also rough hormonal spots for women, intensified by interrupted sleep and physical discomfort. The years leading up to menopause (called perimenopause) were much harder for me, resulting in anemia, among other issues..

I always felt that my family and friends didn’t deserve for me to blow up or snap at them. I observed that the passage about the fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5 doesn’t have an exception clause for hormones.

Still—I had some days when I prayed, “God, this is impossible. How am I supposed to be nice to people when my hormones are raging?” If walking in the Spirit was hard enough on a normal day, how could I do so with all these other factors working against me?

I don’t want to heap guilt on you on top of everything else. But I do want to encourage you to seek “grace to help in time of need” (Hebrews 4:15-16).

From my limited experience, here are some things that might help. (I am not a doctor or counselor and make no medical or mental health claims.)

1. See your doctor. Don’t feel, “This is just a normal part of womanhood. I should be able to buck up and carry on.” And don’t let your doctor stop there, either. Though hormones are part of being a woman, “normal” varies from person to person. Especially if you feel like either your physical symptoms or emotions are extreme, seek help. There are a variety of things that can aid you both physically and mentally.

2. Establish good health habits. We’re tempted to eat junk when we’re not feeling well. An occasional treat is fine, but taking in good nutrition, exercising, getting enough sleep all throughout the month will help even the worst days.

3. Ask for grace. I used to let my husband know that time of month was coming, and, though I was trying hard to reign myself in, I might be a little more emotional or irritable than usual. He was always very understanding and gracious.

I once listened to a cassette tape (that’s how long ago it was) from Wayne Van Gelderen, Jr., in which he told about his mom having a hard time during menopause. His father asked Wayne, as the oldest child, to be a special help for her. He remarked that years later, when he tried to tell his siblings about the difficulties their mom experienced then, they didn’t believe him. He had seen “behind the scenes,” but they had not.

4. Give yourself grace. Not an excuse, but grace. Sometimes we find ourselves irritable or emotional and don’t realize what’s going on until a couple of days later when our period comes. Then the light dawns. If you have a regular cycle, you can prepare yourself a little better mentally. It’s not always possible, but if you know when your worst days might be, try not to schedule major events then. It’s nice to curl up with a heating pad and a good book (or whatever is comforting to you) or bow out of social obligations those days if you can.

5. Maintain good spiritual habits. Putting on the spiritual armor of Ephesians 6, taking our thoughts captive, being filled with the Spirit, all might be harder at certain times of the month or seasons of life. But this is not a time to let our guard down. We need God’s help more than ever. We might shorten or vary our Bible reading and prayer time when we’re not feeling well, but we shouldn’t drop them. Quick prayers throughout the day call on God’s aid in our need: “Please help me not to feel so irritated, or at least not to lash out.”

6. Rely on God’s grace and strength all the more. Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 12:9-10: “But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.” Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth has said, “Anything that makes you need God is a blessing.” We can’t always arrange our circumstances to accommodate how we feel. In fact, sometimes it seems like issues heap up at the worst time of the month. But cry out to your Father and lean on His help all the more, moment by moment.

7. Meditate on Scripture. Here are a few that helped me in addition to the ones mentioned:

“God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control” (1 Timothy 1:7). Some translations say “a sound mind” rather than “self-control.”
“In the multitude of my thoughts within me thy comforts delight my soul” (Psalm 94:19, KJV).
“When my spirit was overwhelmed within me, Then You knew my path” (Psalm 142:3, NKJV).
“You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you” (Isaiah 26:3).
“God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work” (2 Corinthians 9:8). Sometimes I would shorten this to make it easier to hang onto: “all grace, all sufficiency, all things, all times.”

I also clung to this stanza from “Just As I Am” by Charlotte Elliott:

Just as I am, poor, wretched, blind;
Sight, riches, healing of the mind;
Yes, all I need, in Thee to find,
O Lamb of God, I come, I come!

8. Take life moment by moment. If we wonder how we’re going to get through this week, or theses months after having a baby, or years before menopause, we’ll feel weighed down and helpless. But we just have to rely on God’s grace this moment. And then the next one.

Much more could be said on this subject. Here are a few good articles I found, especially the first one:

How about you? What helps you when hormones cause you trouble?

I want to emphasize again that if you feel your symptoms are more than you can handle, physically or mentally, see your doctor as soon as possible. There is help available.

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

Laudable Linkage

Posted on September 16, 2023 by Barbara Harper

I found a lot of good reading this week:

A Comforting Resource for People Who Have Lost Parents. My friend, Lois, lost both parents within five weeks of each other a few year ago. Some of her blog posts since then have been about processing their loss and working through grief. She found a lot of resources for losing a child or a spouse, but not much on losing parents. That seemed to be treated as just a normal part of life. Though the death of one’s parents is inevitable, grief still runs deep. Lois has just pulled these posts together in one resource page. She tells about it and links to the Help for Parent Loss page there.

How Can I Cultivate a Listening Life in a Noisy World? “Do we demonstrate through our choices that we truly believe that we NEED God’s Word? Are we still ‘the people of the Book?'”

Can a Christian Have Mental Illness? HT to Challies. “Some Christians believe that Christians cannot have mental illness. If a professing Christian is depressed, anxious, or bipolar, they think it’s because they are not a real Christian, or that there is some terrible sin they haven’t repented of, or that they need to repent of the depression or whatever the problem is. Nearly half (48 percent) of evangelicals believe that serious mental illness can be overcome with prayer and Bible study alone. The result of this condemnation of mental illness as sin is that many Christians do not admit they have a mental illness, they don’t talk about it, and they don’t reach out for help.”

We Need Every Word, HT to Challies. “I want to feast on the Bible passages I love, the ones that make me feel some note of pleasure or comfort. I want the reminders that I’m loved, the encouragements to hold fast, and the songs of praise that remind me of God’s faithfulness. I don’t always want the lists or the history or the stories that don’t seem to affect me.”

Why We Are Tempted not to Pray, HT to Challies. “Prayer should stupefy us. ‘You mean, this all-powerful God who keeps galaxies spinning is interested in you telling him about your day and might alter the course of the entire cosmos because you asked him if you could have a parking space?’”

Being Involved in Church as a Teen, HT to Challies. “But being born into a church as a baby, and then growing up through Sunday school and youth group, can often make it hard to be taken seriously. Even older Christians with the best intentions can miss the mark. It can feel a bit awkward when they ask you the same questions every time they see you in church. It takes time and effort from both sides to help and encourage one another, and ultimately, have more meaningful relationships.”

Is the Lord’s Day the Christian Sabbath? HT to Challies. “At the outset, I need to say that this issue is one that I think Christians should not divide over. The view I present below is not the one I grew up with, but I have no particular ambition to convert people to my view — except that, with regard to those who have the duty to teach God’s word, it is important to do so properly, ‘rightly handling the word of truth’, preaching the full counsel of God with all His authority, but never giving human ideas that same authority.”

The Ritual of Rearranging Books, HT to Linda. “Taking all the books down was a chance to organize and cull, but primarily, it was an experience in simply remembering what was there, how it got there, and why. You can look at shelved books until the cows come home, but it’s not the same as actually taking them off the shelves.”

Seeing the Light on Religious Fiction, HT to Linda. “As I complete my 40th year working with books, I’ve changed my mind about an entire publishing genre that I once held at arm’s length at best, and treated with something akin to critical dismissal at worst. I feel like the proverbial old dog who has suddenly learned a new trick. The genre? Religious fiction.” I especially loved this one!

Routine leads to devotion, especially in Bible study.

The quote here is from “Just Not Feeling It”: How Routine Awakens Devotion.

Friday’s Fave Five

Posted on September 15, 2023 by Barbara Harper

Can we be halfway through September already? We’ve had a little break in the temperatures, but it still feels very much like summer here. Yet some of the leaves have started falling already. And we have some overnight forecasts for next week in the fifties!

It’s good to pause from the busyness of life and appreciate the good things. We not only thank God for His blessings, but we prolong them by remembering them. Susanne hosts an opportunity to do that and share at Living to Tell the Story.

1. Grandparent’s Day. Last Sunday, Jason, Mittu, and Timothy had us over for a nice meal, cards, gifts, and games. We felt honored.

2. Gift cards. I had gotten a gift card for Amazon back at Christmas. I hadn’t entered it into my account yet because I wanted to wait til I was ready to buy something special. Otherwise, Amazon uses the gift card as the primary means of payment unless you remember to adjust your preferences at checkout. I was looking up a few odds and ends personal things this week and remembered the gift card—perfect!

3. Ribs. Jim had bought some babyback ribs on sale several weeks ago. There wasn’t quite enough for the whole family, but it seemed a lot for just two people. I saw them again in the freezer this week and decided to go ahead and make them in the crockpot. While looking up how long to cook them, I came across this recipe, which said to put them in the oven after taking them out of the crockpot. I used two different kinds of barbecue sauce (Sweet Baby Ray’s and Sticky Fingers Carolina Sweet) along with garlic powder, minced onion, seasoning salt, and Worcestershire sauce. They turned out nicely and even seemed better each day.

4. A word of encouragement.. I wrote a few weeks ago about the need to accept constructive criticism. But we also need encouragement sometimes to let us know we’re on the right path and to cheer our hearts.

5. A word in due season. I was feeling bad over a wrong attitude one night and the next morning. I had confessed it to the Lord and been forgiven (I John 1:9), but still felt lingering regret. Yesterday morning, I opened my Daily Light on the Daily Path to these and related verses:

I, even I, am he that comforteth you (Isa. 51:12)

Like as a father pitieth his children, so the LORD pitieth them that fear him. For he knoweth our frame; he remembereth that we are dust (Psalm 103:13-14).

Thou, O Lord, art a God full of compassion, and gracious, longsuffering, and plenteous in mercy and truth (Psalm 86:15).

The Spirit … helpeth our infirmities (Romans 8:26).

What a balm for my heart! I felt so seen and loved. I’m thankful for God’s grace.

Review: Bleak Landing

Posted on September 13, 2023 by Barbara Harper

In Terrie Todd’s novel, Bleak Landing, Bridget O’Sulliovan’s family had come to the small town of Bleak Landing in Canada from Ireland when she was seven. But her mother and brother died on the voyage. Her father took to drinking, gambling, and beating Bridget, making sure she knew he wished she had been the one to die.

Bridget didn’t fare much better at school. Her fiery red hair, Irish accent, rundown home, and drunken father all made her a target for bullying. Her two worst enemies were Victor Harrison and Bruce Nilsen, who locked her in the school outhouse one day. She vowed then that she’d leave Bleak Landing the first chance she got.

Her resolve was strengthened when she learned that one of her father’s gambling debts involved her.

Leave she did when she was fifteen, finding a job in a textile mill, then in a mansion as a cook’s helper, rising up the ranks to lady’s maid.

She becomes best friends with Maxine, a chatty girl she met at the mill. Maxine and her family are Christians. Bridget thinks they are nice and appreciates their hospitality, but doesn’t feel God has done her any favors.

Several years later, Bridget learns in a roundabout way that her father died and there’s some dispute about his property. At first she doesn’t care. She doesn’t want to see Bleak Landing again, and the property wasn’t much to speak of anyway. But when she loses her job and apartment during the Depression, her father’s property is the only thing in the world she owns besides the clothes she wore.

When she gets back to Bleak Landing, though, no one recognizes her except Victor. She looks much different and doesn’t have any identification.

Victor, during all these years, fought during WWI, was injured, came home, and trained to be a pastor. He regretted the way he treated Bridget when they were kids, but had no way to make amends to her. But will she forgive him and let him help her?

Bridget’s story was heart-breaking at first. She rises above her circumstances, but she doesn’t let anyone in and doesn’t share anything about her past with anyone. It’s a wonder, humanly speaking, that Maxine put up with her negativity, especially not knowing what caused it.. But eventually Bridget’s heart softens as she realizes she might need more than spunk to get through life.

I wouldn’t agree with every little theological point made, and I am not a fan of ecumenism between gospel-preaching and works-based churches.

But otherwise, I loved the characters and story.

Review: A Beautiful Disguise

Posted on September 12, 2023 by Barbara Harper

A Beautiful Disguise by Roseanna M. White

In A Beautiful Disguise, a novel by Roseanna M. White, siblings Yates and Marigold Fairfax had an idyllic childhood in Edwardian England. Their father loved entertainment and spent lavish money on it, even buying a circus. They grew up playing with the animals, learning the trapeze, loving the performers like family.

The Fairfaxes didn’t know, until their father’s death when they were young adults, that all the entertainment came at a steep price. They weren’t in debt, but there was no money. They needed not only to take care of themselves and the family estate, but the circus performers who depended on them.

They decided to use their skills to start an investigations company: The Imposters, LTD. They’d maintain their positions as Lord and Lady Fairfax in 1908 British society, not so much because they cared about position, but because that’s the world they knew and moved in and where their clientele would come from. Marigold remade many of her mother’s beautiful old gowns into outlandish costumes with ostrich plumes and wide hat brims so that people would notice her persona, not her. Her friend, Gemma, alias newspaper columnist G. M. Parker, played up Marigold’s “Lady M” by reporting on her lavish clothing. It worked so well that Gemma could sometimes pose as Marigold because people usually looked at her outfits, not her face.

Sir Merritt Livingstone was a faithful soldier for ten years. But a severe bout of pneumonia took ages to recover from. He’s still not at full steam, so he’s been given a desk job in the War Office Intelligence Division. One of his agents has not been heard from in an unusual amount of time. His most recent coded telegram simply contained the name of Merritt’s boss, Lord Henning. Merritt doesn’t want to believe anything ill of Henning, but he has to discreetly find out what’s going on.

Sounds like a job for the Imposters.

When Merritt meets the intriguing Lady M. at a ball, he has no idea she’s half the team looking into his request.

At first it might sound odd for a titled family to own a circus. The Fairfaxes family home was in Northumberland while they spent “the season” in London, so much of society didn’t know they had a lion in their back yard and a high wire set-up in their gym. But the circus situation worked into the story believably and smoothly. In fact, it was fun and different. Yates’ and Marigold’s acrobatic training came in handy climbing window ledges to eavesdrop, and their stage makeup allowed them to disguise themselves.

The characters and plot are well-drawn and compelling. The faith element is woven in naturally.

I listened to the audiobook wonderfully read by Susan Lyons. I missed the author’s notes at the end, which I wished audiobooks included. But I did see this blog post where Roseanna introduced the series and this interview, in which she shares some of her inspiration.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and can’t wait for the sequel.

Influencing Our Grandchildren for God

Posted on September 10, 2023 by Barbara Harper

I was reading of a grandmother who planned specific activities when her grandchildren came to visit. She’d plot a course and assemble supplies. Some of their endeavors were simple, some elaborate. Her grandchildren looked forward to whatever fun event would be happening at Grandma’s house that day.

The last time my only grandson, Timothy, stayed with us without his parents, we sat on the couch while he showed me his toy and told me about it. We talked about a number of other things. He broke into spontaneous, imaginative play while we watched and commented. And I wondered, “Should I have planned something special to do together?”

Sometimes we might do a planned activity, but usually we’re pretty laid back. I’m sure the activity-planning grandparent probably has low-key times with her grandchildren as well.

There are no right or wrong styles of grandparenting . . . well, setting aside negative examples of abuse or neglect. But how we interact will depend a lot of personalities, circumstances, energy levels, etc.

However, most Christian grandparents want, above all else, to be a godly example to their grandchildren and to influence them for the Lord.

Sometimes it’s difficult to know how to do that. We’re not with our grandchildren all the time. Teaching them is primarily their parent’s responsibility. How can we have the best influence?

I’ve only been a grandparent to one child less than a decade, so I am not an expert. But observations of other grandparents plus my own reading and thoughts have resulted in these ideas.

Engage with them. Sometimes we bring our grandchildren into what we do: gardening, baking, fishing, riding bikes, and so on. Sometimes we enter into what they like to do, whether playing games, coloring, building with Legos, or going to a playground or children’s museum. One of my favorite memories with Timothy involved boxes of Little People toys saved from our kids’ childhoods, especially the Grandma and Baby figures. Once a stray dinosaur had gotten tucked away with them. We had the dinosaur chasing Little People all over the place.

However we go about it, we need to spend time with them, get to know them, and let them get to know us. We would do this anyway just because we love them. But we also aren’t going to be able to speak into their lives without that underlying relationship. If our only interaction with them is didactic, they’re probably going to avoid us.

Pray for them regularly. Pray for wisdom in being an influence to them.

Point out God’s hand in creation and circumstances. One friend is a master at this, regularly pointing out God’s creativity in the sky, insects, even onions.

Share how God has worked in and through His people. Deuteronomy 4:9 says, “Only take care, and keep your soul diligently, lest you forget the things that your eyes have seen, and lest they depart from your heart all the days of your life. Make them known to your children and your children’s children.”

Share personal stories. This is something I wish I had done more with our children. School, Sunday School, and Awanas focused on doctrine, so at home we dealt more with character development. But doctrine and character are integrated, and both are personal, not just academic.

These things are harder to do when we don’t live near our grandchildren. I have fond memories of writing letters to and receiving letters from my grandmother. We have multitudes of ways to keep in touch these days.

If parenting instruction is more “caught” than “taught,” I think grandparenting influence is even more so. Sharing how God has worked in our own lives, leading us, and providing for us, helps them learn that God is personally interested in us, a friend that sticks closer than a brother (Proverbs 18:24). In Deuteronomy 6, God wants “you and your son and your son’s son” to fear Him and keep His commandments. He wants families to “talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise” (verses 2-7).

Most of us aspire to be like Timothy’s grandmother, Lois. “I am reminded of your sincere faith, a faith that dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice and now, I am sure, dwells in you as well” (1 Timothy 4:5).

We want to share “things that we have heard and known, that our fathers have told us. We will not hide them from their children, but tell to the coming generation the glorious deeds of the Lord, and his might, and the wonders that he has done” (Psalm 78:3-4).

Some of us don’t have grandchildren (or even children). Or we might have only one or two. But we can minister to other children and young people in our sphere of influence by showing an interest, getting to know them, and speaking a word for God as He leads.

How about you? What ways have you found to influence your grandchildren or any of the next generation for the Lord?

Tell to the coming generation the glorious deeds of the LORD, and his might, and the wonders that he has do. Psalm 78:4

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

Laudable Linkage

Posted on September 9, 2023 by Barbara Harper

Some good reads found this week:

“Just Not Feeling It”: How Routine Awakens Devotion. “To some, the word routine carries the stiffness of stale bread and the rot of dead plants, the stuffiness of library books never opened and attics dusty with age. The very thought of routine spirituality — planned, scheduled, disciplined — seems to undermine the ministry of the life-giving, freedom-bestowing Spirit. ‘Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom’ (2 Corinthians 3:17) — and where the spirit of routine is (we may think), there is bondage. The dichotomy, however, is self-imposed, self-imagined. If routine smells stale to us, the problem lies in our own sniffer.”

Delays Are as Much a Part of God’s Plan as Answered Prayers. “At times, we may find ourselves in situations where we are eagerly waiting for answers to our prayers, hoping for our dreams, goals, and aspirations to come to fruition. However, it’s during these moments of uncertainty and delay that we may become overwhelmed with frustration, anxiety, and even a sense of disillusionment.”

2 Ways Anxiety Affects Parents, HT to Story Warren. “In my thirty-plus years of counseling, I’ve never seen parents feel as much pressure or as much like failures as they do today. I’ve never had as many parents in tears in my office. And I’ve certainly never seen as many parents who live in a perpetual state of worry.”

5 Lies Teenagers Believe & Biblical Truth to Set Them Free. “I sometimes fear this generation of young people is stuck in a giant game of Where’s Waldo? They only see the things they are looking for. When you fear rejection, you see it on every face in the crowd. When you want to escape your responsibilities, you spot exits everywhere. When you crave affirmation, you will find it in all the wrong places. 1 Peter 5:8 HCSB says, ‘Be sober-minded, be alert. Your adversary the devil is prowling around like a roaring lion, looking for anyone he can devour.’ Sadly, teens are primary targets in the enemy’s strategy to dismantle the kingdom of God.”

Purposes of Predicative Prophecy. “Why has God given revelation in the form of prophecy? And why so much? What is the goal of prophecy? Or are there multiple intended effects? A number of passages answer these questions. The answers are surprisingly diverse.”

Lists are Menus, HT to Linda. I don’t have the negative feelings this writer has about working through a list. But there is something appealing about looking at a list like a menu. “These menus also help clarify a critical way a menu differs from a to-do list: picking just one or two items from a menu is something you get to do, not something you have to do. The myriad things you could order – so far in excess of your capacity to consume them – don’t constitute a problem.”