Laudable Linkage

Posted on January 24, 2026 by Barbara Harper

Some of the good reading found this week:

A (God-Centered) Path from Anxiety to Peace. “In the past, when I turned to prayer in times of anxiety, my focus largely remained on the cause of my anxiety and my desire for his peace. It remained on me, my circumstances, my desires. In fact, praying in this way often increased my anxiety. What I needed was to shift my focus.”

Not a Hindrance, But a Prerequisite. “Many Christians feel they are too unholy or too sinful to participate in the Lord’s Supper. They come to the table downcast, convinced that their sin makes them unworthy. They may refuse to participate at all. But the reality is that being a sinner and having an awareness of that sin is not a hindrance to the Lord’s Supper, but a prerequisite.”

Benefits of Reading Your Bible Every Day, HT to Knowable Word. “Whether you have just become a follower of Christ or have been one for many years, establishing a daily habit of reading the Bible is great medicine for the soul and the means of living effectively in daily life.”

Your Only Sure Protection from the Tragedy of Moral Collapse. “Perhaps Yancey’s parting gift to the evangelical world as he withdraws from public life will be the realization that there’s not a one of us who is immune to the siren call of sin. Every one of us needs to examine our own hearts and pay attention. At age 63, I still have plenty of time to make an unholy mess of my life.”

The Value in Learning to Struggle. “‘We’ve been married for four days,’ we said, practically giggling. I’ll never forget the weathered waitress looking us over and saying ominously, ‘Welp, I hope it lasts.’ Her words would come back to me just weeks later, after the real world had come crashing over our love affair like a wall of water.”

A Helpful Motto for When You’re Exhausted and Overwhelmed. “I didn’t have near the full plate that my friend carried at the time, but I know what it’s like to trudge around all day in a perpetual state of overwhelmedness. I’m not talking about being a bit too busy or somewhat over-committed. Rather, this has to do with the kind of mind-numbing fatigue that stems from circumstantial, hormonal, relational or physical factors that often are beyond our control.”

On Unjust Magistrates: The Doctrine of Interposition. “The doctrine of interposition assumes that magistrates are accountable to a higher moral authority. The laws that they enact can be judged as either just or unjust. The most unjust laws are those that require people to do what is wrong or that forbid people from doing what is morally obligatory. These laws are not only unjust, but immoral. Magistrates must never enact immoral laws. But they often do”

We can all start afresh! However far we have ascended, there is something higher; and however far we have fallen, it is always possible to make a fresh start. F. B. Meyer

Laudable Linkage

Posted on January 17, 2026 by Barbara Harper

Some of the good reads fond this week:

Petty Annoyances and Minor Insults. “I wonder if you are like me in that, as you look back on your life, you realize that most of the circumstances that have troubled you, most of the annoyances and disgruntlements, were produced by circumstances that were hardly worth noticing. In retrospect, most of the situations that stirred you to anger, kept you tossing and turning at night, or caused you to lash out in retaliation, were minor rather than major, little peeves and provocations more than grave injustices.”

Is a Quiet Life Consistent with the Culture Wars? HT to Challies. “The challenge here is that legitimate issues are at stake underneath the logic of the culture war. . . . If the culture wars involve (in part) a constant need to comment on political . . . and social issues and degregrate your neighbor, I wonder if we can honestly say that participation in the culture war is consistent with what Paul calls us to in 1 Thessalonians 4:11: a quiet life.”

5 Habits for Better Prayer in 2026, HT to Challies. “A healthy prayer life involves a steady stream of shorter communications (brief prayers throughout the day), paired with more intimate and extensive conversations (unhurried times of solitude with God). Jesus modeled both forms.”

We Have Dusty Bibles and New iPhones, HT to Challies. “This blog is not meant to condemn but to be a wake-up call to us all, myself included. I accidentally came across Josiah Queen’s song, ‘Dusty Bibles,’ which the algorithm providentially brought to my playlist. In the song, Josiah asks, ‘We’re too busy and can’t find the time. Are we busy or is it all a lie?’ and I could totally relate. I had spent countless hours on my phone, scrolling and watching reels on social media, but did not have time to read even a chapter of the Bible. Those words hit me hard!”

Helping Students Read the Bible for Themselves, HT to Challies. “A few years ago, a former student came up to me with a question that sounded simple, but clued me into a deeper problem. He said, ‘Hey, I’ve been reading the book of Mark like you told me to… but now what? I don’t really know what to do after that.’ He wasn’t lazy. He was trying, but like so many students today, he didn’t have a framework for how to read the Bible – no direction or understanding of what he was even looking for. That moment stuck with me because it reminded me: opening their Bibles is not the same as reading it well. So how do we help them read the Bible for themselves?”

The Key to Finding the Author’s Emphasis When You Read the Bible, HT to Knowable Word. “Often, however, we do not work hard to actually find the structure of the biblical passages that we study. We simply read them and ask general questions—or make general comments—about them, or we focus on the impressions or feelings that biblical passages give us. When we study this way, failing to pay attention to the structure of the passages we are focusing on, we run the risk of making incorrect interpretations and applications.”

The Courage in Encouragement, HT to Challies. “To encourage isn’t just to soothe; it’s to put courage into someone—to strengthen the will, to stiffen the spine, to remind a weary saint why the path is worth walking and how to keep going.”

Christians Bear Fruit, HT to Challies. “If you are sitting beneath live-however-you-wish-after-you-have-raised-your-hand-and-repeated-this-prayer-after-me type of preaching, run. Your soul is in danger.”

Fruitful to the End, HT to Challies. “Slowing down feels like fading away. Thankfully, the gospel tells another story. Output and speed do not equal fruitfulness. Old age is not a winding down—but a deepening. Productivity is reframed, not as busyness, but as rootedness; not as the accumulation of achievements, but as the cultivation of character and blessing.”

The Freedom of a Lower Reading Goal, HT to Challies. Much of this resonates with me. I set my reading goals realistically to allow time to be selective and spend as much time as I want with a book rather than racing through them just to reach a number.

If I did not see that the Lord kept watch over the ship, I should long since have abandoned the helm. But I see Him! – through the storm, strengthening the tackling, handling the yards, spreading the sails – yes more, commanding the very winds! Should I not be a coward if I abandoned my post? Let Him govern, let Him carry us forward, let Him hasten or delay; we will fear nothing! –Martin Luther

Laudable Linkage

Posted on January 10, 2026 by Barbara Harper

I’m still behind in my online reading, but I did find a lot of great links to share. I hope some of them will be helpful to you.

How Do We Minister to Parents with Broken Hearts? “For every family in church where the children seem to be well established in the faith, there will be another family where one or more of their children have deserted it. They have tasted Christianity first-hand and want nothing more to do with it. This may apply to you; it almost certainly applies to someone you know. So how can we help and bring comfort to parents in pain?”

To the One Who’s New to and Nervous About Reading Scripture. “I heard you set a goal for the new year to read Scripture more faithfully. That’s great! A commendable goal. But I also understand that now you’re feeling a bit overwhelmed. You want to be in the Word, but you’re just not quite sure how that’s going to work. I get it. And if you don’t mind, I’d like to offer you a few pieces of advice.”

You Have Time to Read the Bible, HT to Knowable Word. “I’ve often been told by others that they don’t have time to read the Bible regularly. It’s one of the most common excuses I get now as a Bible teacher. It might be the thing holding you back right now. But I’m lovingly calling your bluff. You do have time to read the Bible. And so did I during all those years I swore I didn’t. Here’s how I know.”

7 Tips for Regular Bible Reading. “Most Christians realize they should probably read their Bibles every day. Most Christians want to read their Bibles every day. Yet many Christians (the author of this post included), have found it difficult to be consistent in reading their Bibles every day. If you find yourself wanting to more faithfully read the Bible in 2026, here are some suggestions that will hopefully help you start (or reinforce) a habit that sticks.”

No One Is Going to Make You, HT to Challies. “No one is going to wake you up tomorrow, tie you to a chair, tape a Bible to your hand, and force you to read it. No one is going to throw you into the prayer closet and lock the door until you’ve prayed. And even if someone did do that to you (call the police if they did), no one can make you do it with the right heart. Just to say it plainly, if you want to seek the Lord, you have to take personal responsibility and just do it.”

Dieting to the Glory of God, HT to Challies. “My purpose is not to over-spiritualize dieting (or not dieting). But for me, I am realizing I look to food for answers because I start with the wrong questions. I have been at times guilty of gluttony and asceticism, vanity and self-loathing. None of those extremes honored God. None of them helped me serve him better.”

What Is Your Responsibility in Sanctification? “The million-dollar question about sanctification is this: whose job is it to make us more holy? Ours or God’s?”

The Joy of Bible Journaling, HT to Challies. “Journaling through the whole Bible was a long process, and not always easy. But think about it: When was the last time you walked down the street and stumbled across a pile of gold? It doesn’t work that way. Finding gold requires time and effort digging for it. In fact, that very picture is used in the book of Proverbs.”

6 Means Through Which God May Choose to Guide You. “Providing a list of ‘tried and true methods for finding the will of God’ or prescribing how God will work in a life is presumptuous—and probably harmful. Our God is in the heavens, and He does whatever He pleases. However, an understanding of how God has worked in the past helps discern how He may work in the future, so I offer here six means through which God may choose to guide us in the new year.”

Motherhood Is a Mission, Not an identity. “Motherhood is absolutely an eternal mission. But our position and prominence in our kids’ lives is temporal, and if we find that we are living in a cloud of hurt and sadness as each phase moves and changes, then it may be a symptom that we have built our identity on a good, but wrong foundation.”

5 Ways to Honor an Aging Loved One (Even When It’s Hard), HT to Challies. “I’ve experienced tough situations in my adult life, including a divorce, single parenting two young boys, and telling them at ages 8 and 14 that their dad had been killed in a car accident. Despite those challenges, I’ve told many people that caring for an aging loved one is the most difficult thing I’ve ever done.”

Beyond Shame and Showmanship: Why You Should Read Christian Books, HT to Challies. “The question is not whether we will be readers, because we read all sorts of things every day. The question of this article is, ‘Why and how should I start a habit of reading Christian books?’ I still love listening to music and playing drums.¹ However, I personally needed to grasp the purpose behind reading books, particularly Christian books.”

Don’t Forget to Pray for the M’s, HT to Challies. “I have an unfortunate talent for getting easily distracted from a task. One way this shows itself is when I decide I’m going to pray through the church membership list. I start strong. I make my way diligently down the list: Adams, Ainsworths, Bolens, Bonds, etc… To my shame, by the second month, my ‘praying through the list’ has lost its focus. I start praying for other things, and I just keep forgetting to look at the membership list to see who is up next. And you know what that means? All the ‘M’s get missed. Here’s your reminder to pray for the ‘M’s.” Jacob shares not just a reminder but tips to help.

5 Fun Fiction Challenges to Spice Up Your TBR. “If your TBR (to-be-read) pile looks like a skyscraper and your reading motivation feels like a puddle, it’s time to shake things up with a fiction reading challenge! These challenges aren’t just about finishing books—they’re about adding a dash of adventure to your literary life. Ready to play? Here are some creative ideas to get you started:”

If you’re thinking that you don’t deserve a second chance from God, it’s important to remember that you didn’t deserve the first one, either.–Unknown

(Updated to add: I think this quote is meant to encourage rather than discourage us. All the chances God gives us are based on His grace, not what we deserve.)

Laudable Linkage

Posted on January 3, 2026 by Barbara Harper

I’m not quite caught up with my online reading, but here are some good things I found this week:

When You Don’t Get Anything Out of Devotions. “Sometimes God meets with us in a special way. Occasionally a verse or a phrase or a thought can revolutionize our lives, but I have found that those times tend to be rare. Rather, it’s the slow and steady repetition of reading God’s Word, asking Him to change me, and watching as that happens little by little through the weeks, months, and years.”

Jesus Is Unashamed to Take Awkward Family Christmas Photos, HT to Challies. “In many ways, the Old Testament can be seen as a massive coffee-table photo book. Sometimes the photos are stunning. But for any Old Testament family with a decent collection of pictures, there are—without exception—some awkward family photos. We read about priests and kings, mothers and fathers, sons and daughters, who we’d be ashamed to claim as family. Would Abraham have stuck Lot’s picture on his fridge at Christmas? Would you?”

Don’t Be Duped by This Year’s Religious Trend, HT to Challies. “The religious zeal with which the world pursues self-help isn’t surprising. Lacking a Savior, nonbelievers will look inward to solve their problems. But it’s concerning when self-help methods begin to trickle into Christian thought and teaching. In Colossians, Paul warns the church not to be taken captive by any human doctrine that is ‘not according to Christ’” (Col. 2:8).

The Scopes Trial at 100: Fact, Fiction, and the Christian Historian, HT to Challies. “The trial remains embedded in the American imagination a century later. It was a key skirmish in what’s often depicted as the great ideological conflict of the modern world: science versus religion. However, this telling is too simplistic.” I learned some things I hadn’t known about the trial.

How Do We Measure Christian Maturity? (Hint: It’s not Just Bible Facts), HT to Challies. “We often measure maturity by the wrong metrics. We confuse information with formation, and equate Christian vocabulary with Christ-like virtue. Which is understandable because information is measurable. But I don’t think that it’s the right way.”

Being Ourselves in Heaven, HT to the Story Warren. “These are common portrayals of the afterlife, disembodied ghosts—pale reflections of a person’s former self—floating in a nebulous netherworld. But these stories do not accurately reflect what our lives will be like on the New Earth. A central part of our bodily resurrection will be the continuity of our identity.”

The Coming of the Light, HT to the Story Warren. “Soon the winter solstice will be upon us. On the twenty-first of December the sun will struggle into the sky for just a few short hours before sinking below the horizon once again. Taken in isolation, this day could be viewed as a victory for darkness. Without the benefit of history we could be forgiven for believing that the light will gradually be swallowed up and disappear. Armed with the bigger picture, we know that the longest night is simply a turning point. There are dark days still ahead but, from this night on, the coming of the light is inevitable.”

Mary: Enduring Shame for the Cause of Christ. “Pain? Sure. Hardship? Yes. Poverty? OK. Hard work? Count me in. Death? That one is very hard, but yes. Public humiliation? Uh, maybe not.”

Don’t Fight the Wrong War, HT to Challies. “I reject the framework that Christians are at war to maintain conservative and Christian values. In fact, adopting this worldview may cause us to lose the real war God calls us to fight.”

AI Griefbots? HT to Challies. “With the powers of generative AI technology, we can summon the voices of our friends, family members, and even heroes from beyond the grave. . . . But just because we can doesn’t mean we should. The apostle Paul writes, ‘All things are lawful,’ but not all things are helpful” (1 Cor. 10:23).”

Single This Season? Prove He’s Sufficient. Though the context here is the difficulty of being single during the Christmas season, it’s truths are applicable year round.

Renewal From Wreckage: How A Near Death Experience Changed Trevor Gearhart (video). I’ve mentioned the Dead Man Talking podcast a couple of times. Bob Roberts, camp speaker and creator of Kids 4 Truth, has been dealing with stage four cancer in his liver and discussing what God is doing through that with four longtime friends. They had a guest on this episode: a pastor friend who had a massive heart attack while driving, crashed into the stairwell of a building, and was pronounced dead. He was resuscitated and had triple bypass surgery. Though my own physical issues have not been that serious, I identified with several things he said.

“What rivers of infinite bliss have their source, aye, and every drop of their fulness in him! Since, O sweet Lord Jesus, thou art the present portion of thy people, favour us this year with such a sense of thy preciousness, that from its first to its last day we may be glad and rejoice in thee. Let January open with joy in the Lord, and December close with gladness in Jesus” (From Spurgeon’s Morning and Evening reading for January 1).

Laudable Linkage

Posted on December 20, 2025 by Barbara Harper

I haven’t been online much this week, but I did find these thought-provoking reads:

You Are in the Circumstances in Which You Can Best Serve. “While it is no sin—and may in fact be very good—to pray for such circumstances to change, we must always understand that God’s calling upon us is to serve him in our current circumstances, no matter what they are. We are to be faithful in what is, not in what we wish could be, to be faithful in his reality rather than in our dreams.”

Singing Through Christmas in Major and Minor Keys. “Even at Christmas when it seems everyone around us is jolly, Christ loves to hear our lament. It is good and right to grieve the pain caused by sin. What better time than Christmas to remember that He entered into our suffering and sympathizes with our struggles because He endured them as well (Heb. 4:15). Yet He provides hope in hard times: though He came once as a baby to deliver, He will return as the divine warrior to rescue us again.”

Light in the Darkness, HT to Story Warren. “In a good story, the characters’ growth so often comes through experiencing struggle, danger, fear, and even evil while steadfastly refusing to let those things win. These stories can inspire our own resolve, pushing us forward in our own growth in the face of trial.”

Using AI for Bible Study Misses the Point of Bible Study. “Bible study should produce new and renewed people, not merely people who are smarter or more informed. This happens in application, but observation and interpretation are not incidental . . . We are far better equipped to apply a passage after studying it ourselves instead of reading a summary.”

Stuff . . ., HT to Story Warren. “All of these things and many others make our house home, and homey, but they do take up space. There are times when I wonder why I hang on to them, or I realize the empty value of stuff in light of a finite life.”

“Who can add to Christmas? The perfect motive is that God so loved the world.
The perfect gift is that He gave His only Son.
The only requirement is to believe in Him.
The reward of faith is that you shall have everlasting life.”
—Corrie Ten Boom

Laudable Linkage

Posted on December 13, 2025 by Barbara Harper

This week we observed the anniversaries of the passing of both of my parents. They died in different years, but the fact that they died so near Christmas, and at a relatively young age (late 60s), can cast a shadow over the holidays. Even a loss earlier in the year or decades ago can cause pangs at Christmas. It seems like every year, someone I know has experienced a fresh loss. I don’t usually include my own links in this space, but I wanted to share some thoughts that helped me, written several years ago: Christmas Grief, Christmas Hope, Christmas Joy.

And while I am at it, I am starting to see posts about choosing a word for the next year. I want to remind us that You Don’t Have to Choose a Word for the Year. If you find that practice beneficial, it’s fine to do. But it’s not something Scripture tells us to do. However, He does tell us to mediate on His Word day and night.

What If I Don’t Desire Jesus This Advent? “We are an unapologetically over-the-top Christmas family. But this year, somehow, feels different. As I write this, we are preparing to walk into the Advent season, and to be honest . . . I haven’t been feeling it. At all.”

Mama, You Don’t Have to Save Christmas, HT to Challies. “I always seemed to face the holiday season in a state of low-key panic that I wouldn’t be able to pull it off. I certainly have bigger regrets as a mother, but I do wish I could go back and tell my younger self to take a deep breath.”

Combating Imposter Syndrome by Embracing God’s Presence, HT to Challies. “I don’t know if I’ve ever felt like I was the right person for the job, whether as a dad, a pastor, or even a friend. There has always been a small voice in my head telling me that I’m not good enough. Sometimes, even in the wake of a compliment, I feel added pressure to prove to myself that I deserve the affirmation.”

The Blessing Paradox. “God’s good blessings have the potential to ruin us. If we aren’t careful, we’ll take the good things God gives and turn inward so that we consider ourselves the hero rather than the one who needs rescuing.”

Waiting in the Hope of Coming Redemption: Walking with Our Sister Anna. Anna is one of my favorite lesser-known people in the Christmas story. I enjoyed these observations from her life.

7 Practical Ways to Cultivate Faith in Children from a Young Age. “It’s still a learning curve to coach my kids in following Jesus through the different ages. But I’m convinced that teaching the next generation about God’s faithfulness means laying a biblical foundation before the teenage years arrive.”

Motherhood Is a Refining Fire, HT to Challies. “Weary mom, take heart. Those moments — the hardest, the most broken — are precisely when God can, in the words of John Bunyan, do his “wounding work,” conforming you into the image of his Son.”

Only as man could He die as a substitute for other men.
And only as God could He suffer infinitely, paying for the sins of all the redeemed.
Chris Anderson, Gospel Meditations for Christmas

Laudable Linkage

Posted on December 6, 2025 by Barbara Harper

Some of the good reads found this first week of December:

“You Are Enough” and Other Lies the Gospel Refutes. “As our culture elevates the self as the highest good, we are seeing a steady—and significant—decline in confidence and drive. Could it be that we’re chasing the wrong solution? Maybe a steady diet rich in vitamin ‘self-esteem’ doesn’t provide the solid foundation we need for true, biblical self-confidence. In fact, if we want to find the real solution, we must turn the world’s answer upside-down.”

Am I Spiritual? Or Just Comfortable? “Is my joy an evidence of spirituality,
or merely a byproduct of ease in life?“

We Have not Arrived YET, HT to Challies. “In sanctification, we are works in progress. We are not yet finished. We have not arrived yet in the final destination. What is the implication of this truth? The implication of this truth is that we should be patient with ourselves and with others.”

A Sign in the Dark, by our pastor emeritus. “Every Christmas light felt like it was shining on our anxiety. What steadied us was not a guarantee that things would work out the way we wanted. It was the quiet truth that God was with us in the dark.”

Can Satan Put Thoughts Into Our Minds? “At one time or another, most of us wonder whether Satan has somehow been influencing us from within. We wonder whether he has the ability to plant thoughts in our minds or insert evil desires within our hearts. This topic is not a mere theological thought experiment, but a real and pressing issue, for many of us have had such experiences.”

How to Make a “To-Love” list. “It’s not like we deliberately set out to neglect our relationships. Life gets busy. We have a lot on our minds. But that’s no excuse. The relationships in our lives are a stewardship. They are part of our responsibility before God. . . . So we’ve got to do more than just wish we were better at it. We make time for the things we value. We create systems so that we don’t forget. And we can do that for our relationships as well.”

Rightly Ordered Love in the Sound of Music. “Beyond the restoration’s beauty, what stands out on rewatching The Sound of Music today is not only its visual clarity but its moral clarity.”

‘Wicked, Part 1′ Honors the Weak, not the Woke. I appreciated this take on the first Wicked movie. As Christians, we’re to be watchful and discerning, but wise and careful. Too often we read problems into films and books that aren’t intended. I also appreciate the warning about the book, which is not as clean as the film and musical.

Lives hinge and eternal destinies hang in the balance when men and women come face to face with Jesus the Christ. It isn’t always peaceful. It isn’t always painless. It isn’t always easy. But bowing the knee to Jesus Christ is always right. No matter what. Joni Eareckson Tada, A Christmas Longing

Laudable Linkage

Posted on November 29, 2025 by Barbara Harper

I have just a short list of good reads to share this week. Most of them have to do with Thanksgiving, but that’s all right–we can apply Thanksgiving lessons year round.

The Other Side of Human Rights, HT to Challies. “We’ve forgotten something our ancestors knew: there is a necessary flip-side to human rights. If I have the right to be treated fairly and respectfully, then that means you have the responsibility to treat me that way. It also means that I have the responsibility to treat you that way. And just like that, another R word has slipped in beside our golden rights: responsibility. Responsibility is not a popular word. It sounds like duty and obligation, and those concepts aren’t trending right now. But if you look closely, every single right we claim has responsibility attached to it.”

Corrupt Communication a Sign of Corrupt Hearts. “Whether scatological locker room talk, or taking God’s name in vain, or gossip, or lies, or cruel insults, there are things we say that stink. And these utterances reveal a corruption or rottenness that goes deeper than the lips, the tongue, or the mouth. Jesus observed, ‘Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaketh.’ (Mt. 12:34) Our words expose our inner attitudes and thoughts. We say what we say because we are what we are.”

Gratitude In a Hostile Land. “Even in this inconvenience, I had a choice. Interruptions like these reveal the state of our hearts. When unexpected circumstances come crashing in, are prayer and gratitude the conductor of our lives—or are they the caboose? Yet prayer and gratitude aren’t only for happy times; they are for every time, every moment, and every day.”

Forget Not His Faithfulness: Thanksgiving Begins with Remembering. “The danger of a hurried life is that when we don’t pause and reflect, we don’t remember. And when we don’t remember, gratitude struggles to make its way to the surface. But when we take time to look back, we begin to see what hurry had hidden all along: the grace of God, His unexpected provision and answered prayers, and His steady faithfulness woven through every ordinary day.”

Thanksgiving Gratitude: Receiving God’s Gifts with Joy. “One year Larry picked up some small gifts for some visiting children. Their delight in receiving them gave us as much, if not more, pleasure than if we’d received gifts. This reminds me how important receiving God’s gifts is to both our hearts and His. Gratitude is a gift. If our hearts swell when someone enjoys the gift we’ve chosen for them, I imagine God also smiles when we appreciate His gifts.”

If you think of this world as a place simply intended for our happiness, you find it quite intolerable: think of it as a place for training and correction and it’s not so bad.–C. S. Lewis

Laudable Linkage

Posted on November 22, 2025 by Barbara Harper

Some of the blog posts that stood out to me this week:

Why Christian Kids Leave the Faith. “Few things are sadder to witness than people who once professed faith leaving it all behind. This is especially true when those people were raised in Christian homes by God-fearing parents. These children were given every opportunity to put their faith in Jesus but determined instead to turn their backs on him. Why would they make such a tragic choice?”

Beauty Bears Witness to God, HT to the Story Warren. “Art is haunted by beauty, and beautiful things point beyond themselves to more perfect beauty. Psalm 50 says, “Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God shines forth” (v. 2). We’re meant to trace this world’s splendor back to its Creator.”

What to Consider When a Loved One Is Critically Ill, HT to Challies. “The Bible remains a lamp to our feet and a light to our path even in the ICU (Ps. 119:105). Although Scripture doesn’t explicitly mention CPR or ventilators, it does offer key guidance on the sanctity of mortal life, God’s sovereignty over life and death, mercy, and our resurrection hope. These four truths can provide a framework as we strive to honor God at a loved one’s bedside.”

Gratitude In the Midst of Grief: Finding Hope in the Lord’s Kindness. “Gratitude doesn’t cancel grief—it coexists with it, transforming sorrow into worship.”

Three Thanksgivings In Heaven. “While we celebrate Thanksgiving on earth below, what’s going on in heaven? We could answer this question in part by examining the three instances of the word “thanks” in the book of Revelation.” Interesting–I never thought about this before.

No Heart Too Hard: Thanksgiving and the Power of God’s Mercy. “Somewhere along the way, have you stopped expecting that God is able to move in their story? What if this year, gratitude includes trusting that God is still softening hearts—even the ones that seem impossible to crack open?”

Why Contentment in Christ Is the Best Gift This Season. “Paul found contentment in prison. Eve lost it in paradise.”

Negativity Bias and the Praying Imagination, HT to Challies. “Negative information has a greater impact on our thoughts and emotions than positive. If you give a person three bits of good news and one bit of bad news, he or she will likely zoom in on the bad news so much that the good news has little impact. Bad news sticks like Velcro.” The author shares the Christian antidote to negativity bias.

Just for fun, 27 Best Thanksgiving Facts to Impress Your Family, HT to So She Reads. One example–apparently Black Friday was originally called that to discourage shopping on that day.

Trials are intended to make us think, to wean us from the world, to send us to the Bible, to drive us to our knees.–J. C. Ryle

Laudable Linkage

Posted on November 15, 2025 by Barbara Harper

Some of the good reads found this week:

Can Satan Put Thoughts Into Our Heads? “‘Can Satan himself put thoughts into our heads?’ Yes, he can and he does. And of course, the urgent questions then are, How do we recognize them? And how do we resist them and not get controlled by them?”

10 Things to Pray for Children Who Have Walked Away from Jesus, HT to Challies. “God is never too busy or preoccupied to receive you when you bring your burdens into his presence. God cares for your children. That is such an encouragement when we are struggling to persevere in prayer. But it’s hard to know what to pray sometimes; or we’ve been praying for so many years that we’ve run out of steam and lost momentum. So, to reinvigorate your prayers for your children, here are ten ways you can pray.”

Making Space for Others In Our Conversations. “I walk into church and spot a new person. I know I should go over and engage her, but such actions often end in stilted exchanges or awkward pauses. Making conversational space for people I don’t know well takes much more effort than the comfort of finding my seat or chatting easily with friends. Do I take the path of least resistance and avoid eye contact? Maybe I offer an acknowledging smile, but continue to my familiar chair? Or do I practice Christ-like hospitality and in love, make my way over to her?” The author includes ideas for conversation starters besides the usual “How are you?” and “What do you do?”

To My Almost-Adult Kids: Don’t Be Afraid of These Three Words, HT to Challies. “I try not to tell you about all my worries. But one fear that I want you to know about? I worry you will be afraid to say these three words.”

How to Provoke Your Children to Anger. “Apparently if you want to be a good parent, the thing that Paul is most concerned about is that you not provoke your children to anger. The somewhat frustrating part of this, though, is that he doesn’t stop to explain what he means by this phrase or explain how it should be done! So what does it look like to provoke your children to anger?”

The Cost of Slowing Down. “Recently a friend asked me when we start ‘locking in’ activities for our daughters. ‘When does it become their thing?’ he wondered, meaning when do we encourage them to commit to a single sport and dig in deep.”

How Can We Bless the Lord? “God’s blessings abound, but we can’t return these favors because He needs nothing from us. Yet, Scripture contains the concept of blessing the Lord.”

10 Ways to Pray for Your Pastor. “I’m sure a million requests could be added, but here is a brief post to offer at least 10 ways that you can pray for your pastor, compiled by a pastor.”

Time Is NOT Money: Redeeming the Hours God Gives Us. “While many modern translations have chosen to steer away from the financial metaphor, Paul’s Greek word choice for ‘making the most’ of time is actually a money word, used like our English word ransom or redeem. Thus, we can legitimately make the case that time and money have correlations. But let’s hit pause right there and consider the many contrasts between the two.”

The Art of Thankfulness. I enjoyed seeing a piece of art here that was discussed in Russ Ramsey’s Rembrandt Is In the Wind: Henry Ossawa Tanner’s The Thankful Poor. This post ties in observations about the painting with Philippians 4: 6-8.