About Barbara Harper

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Laudable Linkage

Posted on October 4, 2025 by Barbara Harper

Here’s a short list of good reads found this week:

Can I Trust the Bible? “For years, my Bible reading raised more questions than answers. In college, I joined a small group Bible study that changed everything. These women read the Bible as if it meant what it said. Do I hear a ‘Duh’?”

Every Excuse Is a Reason to Meditate on Scripture. HT to Challies. Some of the excuses that seem to keep us from reading the Bible are the very reasons we need to read it.

We’ve Got a Hunger Problem: Learning to Long for God’s Word. “We’ve got a hunger problem—or rather a fullness problem. Our lives are so packed and cluttered that we barely notice the empty place in our hearts that only God can fill. If we never feel the ache of real hunger, if we never experience longing in the quiet or the discomfort of waiting, we will never crave what is meant to nourish our souls. So, how do we prepare our hearts for the feast of God’s Word?”

I Am not Charlie Kirk. “I can understand why people want to be like Charlie but the more I started hearing people chanting ‘I am Charlie Kirk’, the more uncomfortable it felt. There was, and will always be, just one Charlie Kirk… and that’s what made him so special. And I want to believe that even Charlie himself would tell you… it’s not him you want to be like… but it’s the Christ who lived in him and through him. And just like there was only one Charlie Kirk… there’s also only one of you.”

Do Not Neglect the Give You Have, HT to Challies. “You may not have big dreams for your life. You may not expect God to do great things through you. You may seem, like Saul, ‘little in your own eyes’ (1 Samuel 15:17) — not very talented or charismatic, not much of a leader. But in the Lord Jesus Christ, God has given you a gift. And as Paul told the young Timothy, so God tells his young men today: ‘Do not neglect the gift you have’ (1 Timothy 4:14).”

No Service Is Too Small, HT to Redeeming Productivity. “Most days we don’t get married, receive a positive pregnancy test, or achieve a breakthrough in our field. Most days, we’re commuting, studying, parenting, working, doing the dishes, mowing the lawn, or paying the bills. Do those activities count in God’s eyes? Does the mundane matter to him?”

Grace for the Birth Story You Didn’t Expect, HT to Challies. “The truth of it is, things in the world don’t work as they should. Your friend’s birth story might be one of empowerment and candlelight, while yours might be one of operating rooms and oxygen masks. You may not even have been conscious when your child entered the world. You may question if you made the right decisions. Or, if it was an emergency situation, if those in control made the right decisions.”

“When you kill time, remember that it has no resurrection.” ― A.W. Tozer

Friday’s Fave Five

Posted on October 3, 2025 by Barbara Harper

This first Friday of October still doesn’t quite feel or look like fall, but we’ll get there eventually. I’ve had what I call half a headache off and on this week–not severe, not incapacitating, but just enough to make me feel draggy. But–there are always blessings if we look for them. I’m sharing mine this week with Susanne and friends at Living to Tell the Story.

1. Lunch with family and a friend. One of Mittu’s friends from her hometown, who was one of her bridesmaids, was visiting last weekend. She came to church with them and then we had lunch at Mittu’s and Jason’s house.

2. Timothy’s first youth activity. Our church lets 6th grade kids and their parents decide whether they stay with the elementary kids or go into the youth group–I guess because 6th grade is elementary school in some places but middle school in others. Timothy wanted to go into the youth group, and they had their first activity at a splatter paint room last weekend. He seemed to enjoy it.

3. A refurbished dresser. I mentioned last week that Jim had started this, and he got it done this week. The process had its problems, but he persevered. 🙂

One reason it took me so long to decide what to do with this dresser is that I wanted it white, but the other furniture in the room is wooden. But then I figured the wooden items on the dresser would tie it in. Plus, we’re usually the only ones who see it, so who cares whether it “goes” or not if we like it? 🙂 Then, I had originally planned to leave the top of it stained like the desk Jim refurbished a few years ago–but I wasn’t sure if it would look right with the white mirror. So I decided to keep it all white with vintage-looking hardware found at Hobby Lobby.

A closer look:

He even lined the drawers with pretty paper.

4. A new dishwasher. Ours died on Tuesday–while fully loaded–about an hour after Jim brought the dresser in. It filled up with water to start the cycle, but then just never did anything else. We pushed buttons, turned it off and on, even turned the breaker off and on, with no results. While I unloaded dishes and started handwashing them, Jim scooped the water out and inspected it. He thought about replacing the motor. But he had said the last time he worked on it that he wasn’t going to mess with it any more. And why put a new motor in when everything else about it is old.

So we went to Lowe’s that afternoon. They had a simple one like I wanted in white, which is getting harder to find these days as most appliances in stores here seem to be stainless steel. They even had it in stock, so we were able to take it home that day. (The Home Depot here doesn’t keep any major appliances in stock any more. They just have floor models to look at, but will only deliver from their warehouse. When we ordered a hot water heater a couple of years ago, it took over a week to arrive. So we look at Lowe’s first now!)

5. Lunch with Melanie at Red Lobster with some gift cards from my family. Great conversation, great food, and we had an excellent waiter.

How was your week?

Review: The Collector of Burned Books

Posted on October 2, 2025 by Barbara Harper

The Collector of Burned Books by Roseanna M. White takes place in Paris during WWII, opening with the Nazi takeover of the city.

Corinne Bastien is a professor at the Sorbonne, but looks more like a student. Secretly, she oversees the Library of Burned Books, a collection of books that have been banned by the Nazis. She encodes some of them with war news and send them out to some of her students, who send encoded messages back. The others Jewish authors who worked with the library fled before the Nazis arrived.

Now, however, Goebbels has sent a “library protector,” Christian Bauer, to take over all the libraries in Paris. Christian is not sure how he got the position. He’s a professor, not a soldier. With his record of speaking out against the Nazis, he’s surprised he hasn’t been arrested. All he can figure is that his friend in the police force, who was absorbed into the Gestapo, has adjusted his records.

He and his friend, Erik, had many discussions about the best way to combat the madness surrounding them–whether to fight against it overtly, only to be arrested, or to battle quietly from within while seeming to go along. They decide on the latter course. Christian knows many of the French Jewish authors personally. Perhaps he can mitigate the damage done to them and their works. At the very least, he can insist on civility among the soldiers assigned to him.

Christian arrives at Corinne’s flat with a list of books checked out by her mother from the Library of Burned Books. He only wants then returned. Corinne plays dumb. Her mother is out of the country and is not very organized–she doesn’t know where the books could be.

As Christian visits repeatedly to search for the books, they discover they have much in common. Corinne still regards him as an enemy, but she realizes he is not like the others.

Eventually, some surprising twists lead them to the truth about each other. And then a shocking betrayal threatens everything they’ve worked for.

Another part of the story involves hiding a boy with birth defects whom the German authorities wanted to have euthanized.

Some of my favorite quotes from the book:

These students had it all wrong—backward. Books didn’t burn. Books ignited. They lit the burning in others. Not with paper and match. With ideas. But then, that was their very argument (p. 1, Kindle version).

The only way to defeat a bully was to win him over. The only way to truly defend what you believe is to make your enemy believe it too (p. 4).

The words we hear, the words we read, the words we sing along to on the radio and study in the papers with our morning coffee, become our thoughts. I think our thoughts become our beliefs. And I think our beliefs become our actions. That is why Goebbels sent us here, Kraus. Because words form the foundation of society. Ideas create culture. Control them, and you can control . . . everything (p. 76).

He would tell you to think, next time, before you blindly chase your ideology. He would ask you to think, not just to feel. To ask, always, if you could be wrong. To listen, always listen, to the other points of view. Because the moment we stop granting someone the right to disagree, Kraus, this is what happens. Do you understand me? This is what turns men into tyrants. This is what leads to fear and death (p. 265).

God could well have said no. Today, he’d extended his mercy. His grace. But as too many in Germany had already learned, sometimes he didn’t intervene. Sometimes he let the monsters come. Sometimes good people, good Christians, good Jews were dragged off in the night, no matter the prayers they cried. He’d promised to be with his people through persecutions—not to prevent them (p. 304).

Read novels, because they will put you in someone else’s skin. Read poetry, because it will give wings to your soul. Read science, because it will show you what’s possible. Read politics, because it will teach you how strongly people care about how their fellow men are treated, wherever they stand on what the best way is. . . . Read things you hate and things you love and things you never thought you’d understand. And never, never accept the excuse that you’re not strong enough to handle it if you read something that offends you. You are. You’re strong enough to be offended and then try to understand why. You’re strong enough to grant that someone can be different and still be worthy of dignity. And if you aren’t? . . . Then read more, until you are (pp. 315-316).

Roseanna is a master storyteller who creates wonderful characters and intricately interwoven plots. I enjoyed both of these characters immensely.

I also enjoyed Roseanna’s notes at the end of the book, where she shares what’s historically accurate and what’s made up. There really was a Library of Burned Books. There really was an anti-Nazi professor who was given a special assignment, though not the one detailed in the book.

There were even some fun surprises, like a character from Roseanna’s Shadows Over England series showing up. This was the first series of Roseanna’s I read, and I loved them. Though there were clues, I didn’t recognize him until his real last name was revealed and he shared a bit of his history. There was a tie-in with another previous character from Yesterday’s Tides, but I didn’t remember him or his situation at all.

The faith element is Catholic, which would have been accurate for the setting and characters. There was mention of some practices I couldn’t agree with–a priest forgiving sins, the need for penance, praying to Mary and saints, the supposed healing power of the Eucharist. But the overall tenor of the characters’ hope in God was touching and inspiring.

I listened to the audiobook, superbly read by Lisa Flanagan. This time, the audiobook did include the author’s notes, which I appreciated. But I also had a Kindle version for reference.

Roseanna mention in her notes that one character will be getting his own story in another book. I don’t know if it will be a sequel, exactly, but I look forward to it.

September Reflections

Posted on September 30, 2025 by Barbara Harper

It’s funny how a month can seem long in some ways and short in others. September had several full days plus some slower-paced ones.

We celebrated my youngest son’s birthday this month and enjoyed meals and games together. We got some sorting, organizing, and purging done of old boxes and my dresser.

Timothy is learning the joys of orthodontia. 🙂 He got spacers and an appliance installed and will get his braces on in March.

Creating

I usually go with a tech or gamer theme for Jesse’s cards. But this time, I remembered he also likes medieval things. I looked around my Cricut images and found this design:

I had something completely different in mind for friends’ 50th wedding anniversary. But as I looked through the materials I had on hand, this design almost assembled itself.

Reading

Since last time I have finished:

1 and 2 Timothy for You by Phillip Jensen, not reviewed. Not my favorite of the “For You” series, but I did glean a few good things from it.
A Face Illumined by Edward Payson Roe. An 1878 story about an artist who sees a woman with a beauitful face marred by her manners and attitude. He seeks to try to awake “a woman’s mind” in her, leading to near-tragic results and showing him his own faults.
Little Lord Fauntleroy by Frances Hodgson Burnett, audiobook. A young boy in genteel poverty finds out he is the sole heir to his grandfather’s estate. His grandfather moves him to England to teach him to become an earl but is changed himself. Somewhat overly sweet, but a lovely story.
The Bitter End Birding Society, audiobook, by Amanda Cox. Ana Watkins comes to Bitter End to help her aunt clean out her house to prepare for moving to a retirement community. Finding out her aunt has had a long and bitter feud with a seemingly nice neighbor, Ana investigates and finds a sixty-year-old story of a moonshiner’s daughter who fell in love with a preacher’s son. Very good.
The Island Bookshop by Roseanna M. White. Kennedy Marshall comes back to the Outer Banks to help her injured sister and run the family bookshop. A discrepancy on the store’s deed leads to a surprising search about her grandmother’s history. Very good.
The Unlikely Yarn of the Dragon Lady by Sharon J. Mondragon, audiobook. A church’s prayer shawl knitting group is encouraged by their pastor to take their knitting out into the public, much to the consternation of the group’s leader. Gradually, God works not only through, but in the prayer shawl ministry in surprising ways. Delightful story, though I found it lacking in a couple of areas.

I’m currently reading:

Exodus for You by Tim Chester with the ladies’ Bible study at church.
Titus for You by Tim Chester
Van Gogh Has a Broken Heart: What Art Teaches Us About the Wonder and Struggle of Being Alive by Russ Ramsey
Raising the Perfectly Imperfect Child: Facing Challenges with Strength, Courage, and Hope by Boris Vujicic, father of Nick Vujicic
100 Ways to Improve Your Writing by Gary Provost
North! or Be Eaten, the second in the Wingfeather Saga by Andrew Peterson.
The Collector of Burned Books by Roseanna M. White, audiobook

Blogging

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

What God’s Sovereignty Does not Mean. “People have argued for centuries over what God allows vs. what He ordains and how His sovereignty and our responsibility work together. . . . But through years of talking with other Christians and reading Christian writing, it seems to me there are some things God’s sovereignty does not mean.”
The Only Bloodline That Matters. “It’s not whose blood flows through our veins that determines our characters or our destiny. It’s whose blood flowed on the cross.”
When Evil Gets Worse. My thoughts processing Charlie Kirk’s murder.
Are You Full? What the Bible says we’re to be filled with.
How to Withstand Pressure. Inspiration from sea creatures that survive the intense oceanic pressure they live in.
Ways to Pray for the Lost. Scriptural ways to pray for lost loved ones to come to know the Lord.

Writing

My turn to present a chapter for critique to our writing group came up last week. It’s good to get back into my manuscript more deeply, and I’m always inspired by the feedback. Now if I can just keep that momentum going!

Looking ahead

Not much is on the schedule for October, so I hope to get lots done at home!

How was your September? Are you looking forward to anything in October?

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

Ways to Pray for the Lost

Posted on September 28, 2025 by Barbara Harper

One of our former pastors who is now with the Lord used to encourage us to pray Scripturally rather than falling into “Christian cliches.”

One evening he especially challenged us regarding praying for people who don’t know the Lord. It’s not cliche to pray “Please save so-and-so.” Paul said of his countrymen, “Brothers, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for them is that they may be saved” (Romans 10:1).

But, if you’re like me, praying the same way repeatedly can seem rote after a while. Petitions based on Scripture not only refresh our prayers but also give us confidence that we’re praying according to God’s will.

The discussion that night sparked a brief search which turned up a few verses of praying for the lost. Since then, I’ve added others as well as some passages that aren’t prayers in themselves but can be turned into prayer.

We don’t necessarily need to mention all these things every time we pray for our non-Christians friends and loved ones, but considering one or two of these at a time can help us pray more fervently and effectively.

We can pray that:

They hear or read God’s Word. Romans 10:17 tells us “Faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.” There are so many ways now to encounter the gospel–in one’s own Bible, on apps, via audio, and so many more options.

Someone tells them of Jesus. In a sense, books, blogs, social media posts, tracts, etc, involve someone telling the hearers or readers about Him. I’ve heard testimonies of people who believed on the Lord alone in their rooms after reading the Bible. But for many, a personal example is needed.

When Jesus had compassion on a crowd “because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd,” He told the disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest” (Matthew 9:35-38). In Romans 10:14-15, Paul writes, “How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent?”

We can also pray that those who share the gospel would be given the right words to make it clear. Paul prayed for words, boldness (Ephesians 6:18-20), an open door (Colossians 4:3), and clarity (Colossians 4:4).

God will draw our lost loved ones to Himself. Jesus said, “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him” (John 6:44).

The Holy Spirit will guide them into truth and remind them. Jesus said the Holy Spirit would guide us into all the truth (John 16:13), teach all things, and remind us of what Jesus said (John 14:26). Paul goes on to say, “Therefore I want you to understand that no one speaking in the Spirit of God ever says ‘Jesus is accursed!’ and no one can say ‘Jesus is Lord’ except in the Holy Spirit” (1 Corinthians 12:3).

Their hearts will be “good ground.” In what we call the parable of the sower in Matthew 13, Jesus talks about various people’s hearts as ground that the seed of the Word is dropped into. The seed doesn’t take root and grow in some because it’s snatched away, in others because their heart is stony, in others because thorns choke it out. But the one with “good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands it.”

Though we’re not specifically instructed to pray this way, I’ve prayed at times for hearts of lost loved ones to become good ground, for the stones to be removed, the bedrock underneath to be broken up, the thorns to be kept back, so that the seed of the Word can take root and bring forth fruit.

A line from a little-known stanza of the beloved hymn “Just As I Am” says, “Just as I am, Thy love unknown/ Has broken every barrier down.” I think God does that in some by bringing circumstances into their lives to soften them and by bringing them under the sound of the Word that they reject at first, but which gradually breaks down the stoniness. I think apologetics ministries are most helpful here in making way for the gospel.

They would be convicted of sin. Jesus said the Holy Spirit “will convict the world of its sin, and of God’s righteousness, and of the coming judgment” (John 16:8). Though conviction feels awful, without it, people don’t know that there’s anything they need to be saved from. In one sense, as we mature in the Lord, we realize more fully how awful sin is and how offensive it is to God. But we need this initial realization of what sin is in order to realize we need God’s grace.

Their eyes would be opened and hearts turned from darkness to light. Paul said the mission God gave him was “to open their eyes, so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those sanctified by faith in Me” (Acts 26:18). Again, though this isn’t written in the form of a prayer, we can certainly pray these things for those on our hearts.

That they would not be deceived. In Matthew 7:21-23, Jesus says that some people will fully expect to get into heaven, but will be told that He never knew them. One of my frequent prayers is that none of my loved ones would be deceived into thinking they are saved if they are not. I also pray they would not be deceived by those who twist Scripture to try to make it say something it doesn’t (2 Peter 3:16).

I’ve also prayed that people would realize that whatever they’re trusting in is not dependable and will not satisfy in the long run, or that whatever is keeping them from salvation is not worth it.

They would understand God’s love. God says He drew His people “with cords of kindness, with the bands of love” (Hosea 11:4). Paul prays for the Ephesians “to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so 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, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God” (Ephesians 3:16-19). Once while reading this passage, the phrase “to know the love of Christ” jumped out at me. Paul goes on to say that this love surpasses knowledge–yet he prays we’ll comprehend. He’s praying for believers here: we can continually grow in our understanding of God’s love. But I think we can ask for Him to open the hearts of our unsaved loved ones to God’s love as well. God’s law convicted me of my sin and my need of forgiveness, but His love drew me and convinced me it was safe to come to Him and He would receive me.

I was astonished to realize that a familiar passage followed this one in Ephesians. After Paul prayed that the Ephesians would comprehend God’s love, he said, “Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen” (Ephesians 3:20-21). We use these verses as encouragement for all kinds of things. But in context, praying for others to know God’s love and be filled with the fullness of God, we can trust He’s able to do more than we can ask or think.

What encouragement that our lost loved ones aren’t “impossible cases.” God is able to work through His word, His people, and His Holy Spirit to turn hearts to Himself.

(Revised from the archives).

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

Laudable Linkage

Posted on September 27, 2025 by Barbara Harper

Here are some noteworthy reads found this week:

Whispers of Eternity: Hope Beyond Death. “The Bible teaches that physical death is not the end. Every one of us—believer and unbeliever alike—will continue to exist somewhere. Scripture is clear: we will spend eternity either with God in heaven or separated from Him in eternal torment (Matthew 25:46).”

America: From Civility to Savagery? “The way that Christians responded to the Aucas in 1956 can guide believers as they respond to Americans in 2025. Rather than rise up to take their revenge against that Ecuadorian tribe, Christians chose to seek reconciliation. Today is no time to meet political violence with more violence by mimicking the perpetrators. Now is the time for believers to be what they want others to become, leading by example (1 Corinthians 11:1).”

A Question for All the Teens Who Saw Charlie Kirk Die. “I just want to ask the question: Are you okay? I want to consider what you saw and acknowledge that it may be sitting heavily on your heart and may be troubling your soul. I want to acknowledge that you might be frightened about your future now that you have witnessed a man being assassinated for simply expressing his political and religious viewpoints. With these things in mind, I have three brief matters I would like you to consider.”

The Blood of Charlie Kirk Speaks: A Missionary Perspective. “When horrible events of such import happen and you are far away from home, it lends itself to a different perspective on those events. We have been surprised by how much of a global event this is.”

Talking to Your Family about Your Coming Death. “The atmosphere in the hall with his wife, son, sister, mother and all the extended family was remarkable. There was sorrow, but not despair, surprise but not shock. This family was prepared for this moment. It was not the case a year ago.”

5 Ways Love Is the Secret to Better Bible Teaching, HT to Knowable Word. Though this is aimed at Bible teachers, I think it can apply to writers, speakers, bloggers–anyone who tries to share God’s truth with others.

I’m Triggered, HT to Challies. “In a world overcome with blaming and discrediting, Christians need to pause and ask how we contribute to divisive discourse. One subtle way that we disengage and cause further disunity is by developing ‘hot-topic’ words or phrases that we dislike, and then implicitly, or even explicitly, dismissing someone’s message (or even dismissing them) when they use these terms.”

Health Anxiety and Avoidance: Why Running From Fear Makes It Worse, HT to Challies. “Avoidance feels safe. When something makes us anxious, the simplest solution seems to be: stay away. Don’t go to the appointment. Don’t open the bill. Don’t step into a situation that makes your stomach tighten and your heart race. . . . But here’s the catch: avoidance doesn’t solve anxiety. It strengthens it. Like feeding a stray cat, avoidance keeps coming back for more. The more we avoid, the more powerful the fear becomes.”

This One, She’s Mine. I actually came to this post from a link that was supposed to go somewhere else, but I thoroughly enjoyed reading this sweet testimony.

“Incline us, O God, to think humbly of ourselves, to be severe only in the examination of our own conduct, to consider our fellow-creatures with kindness, and to judge of all they say and do with that charity which we would desire from them ourselves” (Jane Austen).

Friday’s Fave Five

Posted on September 26, 2025 by Barbara Harper

It’s the first Friday of autumn! Right on cue, the leaves are starting to turn colors. We’re not quite into fall temperatures yet, but I know they’re coming! I’m pausing the busyness with Susanne and friends at Living to Tell the Story to focus on the blessings of the week.

1. Successfully getting my email to work. I Last week I stupidly opened and answered a suspicious email. I didn’t click on anything in the email, but I changed my password just to be safe. I had no problems on my computer or iPad, but for some reason, my phone wouldn’t receive or send email. After struggling with it for several days and looking up solutions online, I deleted the account from my phone and re-added it. That did the trick, with no loss of emails or notes.

2. A newly painted dresser. My dresser has been in sad shape for many years–banged up, dented, discolored, and even a little mildewed in places. It had colonial-looking drawer pulls with dust in the crevices that I couldn’t get out. We bought it from a college student for my second son’s things when I was pregnant with him, so it’s been around a while. Jim said we could get a new one, or he’d refinish or paint the old one for me. I looked online at several options and couldn’t find just what I liked, so I asked him to paint it. It’s not finished yet, but I am excited about the transformation already.

3. Drawer sorting and purging. Since I had to take everything out of the drawers anyway, it was a good time to reorganize them and get rid of several things.

4. Odds and ends tasks. This week has been a little quieter than the last, affording some time for smaller non-urgent tasks like cleaning out my purse. I also enjoyed an excursion to Hobby Lobby for a few needed things. I didn’t have Thanksgiving on my mind when I went, but they had their Thanksgiving stuff on sale 40% off, so I got the non-food items needed for that day.

5. Celebrating friends’ 50th anniversary. The children of our pastor emeritus and his wife threw them a big party for their 50th anniversary. It was sweet to celebrate these dear people. We also really enjoyed the conversation around our table. Plus it was fun to see the venue, the Grand Victorian. We were in the nicely decorated barn rather than the main house. The grounds were beautiful with a pond by the driveway as we came in.

This was the ladies’ restroom.

How is your September wrapping up?

Review: The Unlikely Yarn of the Dragon Lady

Posted on September 23, 2025 by Barbara Harper

It’s rare that I try a book without ever having heard of it or the author or seeing a recommendation from someone I trust. But I was looking through Audible’s Plus Catalog of titles they rotate in and out, and The Unlikely Yarn of the Dragon Lady by Sharon Mondragon caught my eye. It looked like an interesting novel about a group of knitters, which seemed like a relatively safe topic. Since it was free, if I found something objectionable, I could just delete it.

I’m so glad I tried this book. It was delightful.

A group of four women form the Heavenly Hugs Prayer Shawl Ministry at their church. I was confused about prayer shawls at first, wondering if they were something people wore as they prayed. But no, the ladies pray as they knit them for those who will receive them, and then hand them out to anyone ill, grieving, or going though a hard time so they’ll feel comforted and “hugged.”

The women meet every Wednesday morning to knit and pray together in their church’s prayer chapel. But one morning, they’re surprised to learn they can’t meet there any more. The chapel is being painted. Besides that, their pastor wants them to take their knitting out in public. People weren’t coming to church as much any more. If they knitted in public, people would ask about their knitting, and they could tell them about their ministry and the church.

In addition, the church’s bishop has told the pastor that if things don’t improve with the church soon, they’ll be closed down. More is riding on the success of the knitters’ mission than they know.

Margaret, the group leader, is livid. They’ve met in the chapel for years. How can they have peace and quiet to pray out in public? She wants to meet at her house, but the other ladies aren’t willing to go against their pastor’s request.

So they head to the coffee shop in the mall. Rose, kindhearted and interested in others, loves the idea. She likes to talk about knitting. She lives in a retirement home and is starting to feel invisible and useless. An overprotective daughter keeps her hemmed in until she can hardly do anything. Going out in public to knit seems like an adventure.

Jane has two teen-age daughters who are driving her to desperation with their constant bickering and discontentment. Only Rose knows Jane’s secret sorrow, that her son is in prison for using and selling narcotics.

Fran is the newest knitter among the group, taught and helped by Rose. Her husband passed away suddenly the year before, and the fog is just beginning to lift.

The ladies aren’t knitting long at the coffee ship before a college student comes over because her grandmother used to knit and she wants to see what the ladies are doing. When she hears about their prayers, she asks them to pray for a crucial upcoming test.

Slowly, other people do the same thing–stop by out of curiosity and then ask for prayer. The next time the ladies come to the mall, they find word has gotten around: they receive several prayer requests written on paper napkins. The prayer requests lead to more involvement in people’s lives.

Margaret feels the people stopping by are interruptions. “We’re supposed to be praying,” she repeats often. She can’t see past the green hair of one young man or the weariness of a middle-aged woman to the soul inside them.

But gradually, God works not only through, but in the prayer shawl ministry in surprising ways.

A couple of my favorite quotes:

Rose kept asking questions, drawing out Eileen’s memories of her father the way knitters pull their yarn from the center of the skein.

You’re right. God is orderly. But people are messy. They have problems and wounds and fears and besetting sins. Isn’t that what prayer shawls are all about, though? Trying to give people the comfort and strength they need to face and get through those things?

These characters were so well-drawn. The narrator of the audiobook, Christina Moore, did a beautiful job, especially with Margaret’s and Rose’s voices.

The plot is laced with humor and warmth and poignancy.

I’m not a knitter and I don’t know the jargon. But that didn’t interfere with my enjoyment of the book. There’s enough specific detail that I think seasoned knitters would understand and enjoy it, but not so much that it bogs down the narrative.

There were only two things I didn’t like. The author has God speaking to one character. I don’t think she ever identifies Him as God–she calls Him a “presence.” But I think we have to be very careful about putting words in God’s mouth, assuming we know what He would say in a given situation. I think writers can show how we think He could lead someone without having Him speak verbally. In fact, the author does this nicely with another character.

The other thing is that, in all the talk about people’s prayer needs, there’s no mention of anyone coming to believe on the Lord. People come to church who didn’t before and are encouraged to reconcile with estranged loved ones and such. But people can do that without knowing the Lord. I’m not sure what faith tradition the author is from. I know some authors prefer not to spell things out spiritually, but to let the change in characters’ lives speak for themselves. They feel that being any more explicit would be preachy. But I think a lack of clarity here causes confusion and leaves the reader without the most important message they need. I’ve written before that the whole plan of salvation doesn’t necessarily need to be included for a book to be Christian fiction, but what is there should be clear.

Otherwise, though, I loved this book. When I finished it, I missed the characters. A sequel has been written, so I’ll likely pick it up sometime. Meanwhile, this title is free for Audible members through October 7 and is about 8 hours and 20 minutes long if you want to give it a try.

How to Withstand Pressure

Posted on September 21, 2025 by Barbara Harper

The USS Thresher was a nuclear-powered submarine that sank in 1963, killing all 129 people on board. A series of events caused it to sink and then to implode due to the extreme pressure deep in the ocean.

Research equipment with cameras that could withstand the oceanic pressure were lowered and found the Thresher in five pieces. In addition, the cameras saw fish and other life forms that were previously unknown.

These sea creatures thrived in pressure strong enough to crush a submarine, How?

This article details features of a few specific deep-sea creatures. But the bottom line, Wikipedia says, is “Deep-sea organisms have the same pressure within their bodies as is exerted on them from the outside, so they are not crushed by the extreme pressure.”

These creatures aren’t crushed by deep sea pressure because their internal pressure is equal to it. In fact, many die (even explode) when they are brought to the surface for study because their pressure is no longer equalized.

We face a lot of pressures these days, don’t we? Making a living, keeping up with responsibilities, making time for those we love. Then we all have struggles against our own besetting sins. The world is getting less friendly to Christianity every day. And we have an enemy of our souls who seeks our destruction like a roaring lion.

We’re not equal to it in ourselves. “My flesh and my heart may fail,” Asaph says. Mine, too. Then he goes on to say, “but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever” (Psalm 73:26).

The apostle John wrote, “Little children, you are from God and have overcome them, for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world” (1 John 4:4). The one within us is more than equal to the pressures around us.

“Now we have this treasure in clay jars, so that this extraordinary power may be from God and not from us. We are pressured in every way but not crushed; we are perplexed but not in despair” (2 Corinthians 4:7-8, HCSB).

Sometimes God relieves pressure by removing a burden from us. Other times, He gives us grace to bear it. Missionary pioneer Hudson Taylor said, “It doesn’t really matter how great the pressure is. What matters is where the pressure lies, whether it comes between me and God or whether it presses me nearer His heart.” We need to let pressures of life push us closer to our God. He invites us to cast our care on Him, to depend on His strength in our weakness, to come to Him for rest.

Revised from the archives.

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

Laudable Linkage

Posted on September 20, 2025 by Barbara Harper

I haven’t been online as much as usual this week, due to being busy with other things. But here are a few good reads I found:

Reading as Rebellion, HT to Redeeming Productivity. “I know the stats. I’ve heard the stories. But I believe we’re humans, not robots. Trends aren’t determinative. We make choices. We have agency. Which is why I refuse to bow to the fatalism that marks too many takes on the decline in reading—the insultingly low expectations of teachers and commentators who throw up their hands and surrender the next generation to the power of the cultural tides. I want you to rebel. That’s right. In today’s world, reading is an act of holy insurgency.”

How to Avoid the Comparison Trap with help from The Chronicles of Narnia.

Is Christian Antisemitism on the Rise? This article not only deals with that question but also discusses what is and is not antisemitism.

Male Friendship Is Declining. Wives Can Help, HT to Challies. “I was grateful for him considering our family, but that conversation gave me pause. Why did my husband seem to think he’d be letting our family down if he spent a weekend with friends?”

Just Ask, HT to Challies. “I’ve said it before, but I think it bears repeating: don’t be afraid to ask your friend about how they are doing in their grief over losing a loved one…even if it’s been years or decades since their loved one died.”

Violence and Technology, HT to Challies. “For someone like Kirk, who became a larger than life Internet figure, literally someone lampooned by South Park, he would seem unreal in a sense, mediated through a thousantd YouTube videos. A figment of celebrity and the digital gaze of viewers. Not a father (which he was). Not a husband (which he was). But an image to be torn down symbolically. And this is only possible because his humanity had been slowly divorced from his digital image.”