Here are some helpful reads discovered in the last couple of weeks:
God Actually Spoke to Me. Yes. God’s speaking to us through His Word is no less personal than His speaking to us orally.
Stubborn, Ceaseless Civil War, Part 1 and Part 2, from a former pastor about the battle with what the Bible calls our flesh.
Love and Marriage: The Narrowing.
10 Reasons Why You Should Underprogram Your Church.
Never Underestimate the Value of a Power Edit.
Happy Saturday!
It has been a few weeks since I have been able to share with you some interesting things found around the internet. Perhaps you’ll find something of interest in the following:
3 Things to Tell Yourself When Others Prosper While You Suffer.
Thank God for Your Normal, Boring Life.
Grieving Over the Holidays – What You Need to Know.
14 Reasons to Memorize an Entire Book of the Bible. Though some of this addressed to preachers, other parts of it are applicable to us all.
“Mama, What Does $*@#%! Mean?” Wise advice for how to handle those times when, no matter how protective you’ve been, your child overhears a bad word.
Why I Show Children Hospitality (Even Though I Am Not a Parent), HT to The Story Warren.
Please Don’t Be Intolerant. As Inigo Montoya says, I think many people use that word without knowing what it really means.
Why Readers Are Skipping Crucial Parts of Your Story.
The Most Instagrammed Location In Every State.
12 Ridiculously Warm Products For People Who Are Always Ridiculously Cold. I am usually warmer than everyone else, but I know people who are always cold and could use some of these.
There were so many more Write 31 Days series than I could possibly read, and I dipped in here and there with quite a few, but a few I kept up with almost daily were:
Tools to Memorize a Bible Chapter.
31 Days of Hope for Caregivers.
31 Glimpses Into the Unquiet Mind. A mother and daughter share the daughter’s journey with bipolar disorder and the long journey to diagnosis and treatment.
31 Ways to Snag a Literary Agent.
Happy Saturday!
With the 31 Days With Elisabeth Elliot series going on every day, I wasn’t sure whether additional posts during the week might be a bit much to keep up with; on the other hand, I don’t want to have an excessively long list of links to share at the end of the month, because I know that can be a bit much, too. So here are a few things I found of interest in the last couple of weeks:
How Your Bible Study Shapes Your Theology.
Hand in Hand, Heart Linked to Heart. A sweet piece about C. H. Spurgeon and his wife.
The Pinterest feed changes: How to see more of what you want to see. And why you’ll never see all of it. If, like me, you have been frustrated with changes at Pinterest, this article shares how to fix a couple of them, and the powers that be at Pinterest seem to have reached out to this blogger with an interest, so maybe some of the comments there will reach the ears of someone who can and will do something about it.
Happy Saturday!
Here are a few noteworthy reads discovered in the last week or so:
God of Judgment, God of Grace. Rebekah does a great job of showing that these are not aspects of God from two different testaments, but rather they are both all throughout the Bible, and in the midst God’s judgment are some of the most marvelous displays of His grace.
6 Things I Wish I Had Never Told My Children. I don’t know that I agree with every little thing here, especially the last point (though I agree with what is said underneath it), but it is thought-provoking and a reminder that while we love, nurture, and build up our children, we do need to prepare them realistically for the real world.
Why You Can’t Push Your Kids Into the Kingdom.
The Value of a Life. Should we laugh when our country’s enemies are killed?
A look at the 23 UI changes in iOS 9 that you might have missed. I am sure with each upgrade to a new iOS system for the iPhone or iPad, there is much that it will do that I never know about, so a quick look at an article like this is helpful.
What Is Periscope, and How Do I Use It? I had vaguely heard of this and knew it involved watching people’s videos of what they were doing, but that’s about it. This article explains it all clearly and simply.
Here’s How to Clean Up Your G-mail Inbox, You Hoarder.
And this is adorable:
Happy Saturday!
Here are a few interesting reads discovered in the last week or so:
33 Verses for Battling Fear and Anxiety.
The Presence of Greatness. “What the world calls damaged, deficient, broken, Jesus names beloved, beautiful, redeemed. What the world would throw away as useless, He honors and exalts, making the least into teachers of compassion, possessors of radiant faith, living parables of His truth. What the world considers great, isn’t. Not in the eternal scheme of things.”
Not Just For Kids — Adults Need It Too {Scripture Memory}. Lisa is starting a 31-day series on Tools to Memorize a Bible Chapter
Blood Moons and Biblical Discernment.
Winning the Heart of Your Wife.
5 Ways to Read a Blog Post Without Getting Your Jimmies Rustled.
Some Thoughts on the Reading of Books.
3 Steps to Publication…Guaranteed! is the title, but this is actually about good and bad ways to begin a novel.
Our Sunday School teacher showed us this last Sunday – a video of the true scale of the solar system. Pretty cool!
Short list this time, since it has only been a week since the last one, but hopefully a little easier to navigate.
Happy Saturday!
It has again been a little while since I have been able to share good reading I’ve found on the web. I try to do them about every other week so there’s not such a long list, but life doesn’t always work out that way. But here they are, and maybe you’ll find something of interest among them:
The First Cut Is the Deepest: Self-Harmers in the Church.
When We Are the Ones Who Persecute.
Back to School: Helping Kids Stay in the Word.
The Best Day of the Week. “Lord’s Day worship isn’t a burden to endure, but a joyful offering from God to receive. Christians don’t put aside their earthly cares each week to earn God’s favor, but to enjoy worshiping the God whose favor has already been granted in Jesus Christ. It is a true delight to forego even the best worldly endeavors for the day, without feeling any sense of guilt for being lazy or uncaring, to revel in the heavenly things of God which are the truest and greatest treasure for any Christian (Matthew 6:19-21).”
Dear Moms: You Do More Than You Know.
Your Children Are Your Neighbor. This is excellent. There is one difference in that parents are authorities over their children and supposed to correct them, while they are not with neighbors, but even still, authority can be handled with grace and not authoritarianism.
Five Boys’ Reaction to One Being Bullied.
5 Ways to Ruin a Perfectly Good Dating Relationship.
An Open Letter to Ann Coulter about the use of the word “retard”. We need to scourge that noun from our vocabulary.
How Making Time For Books Made Me Fell Less Busy, HT to Challies
Easy Tips to Add Text to Photos.
Here are a few about writing:
How to Evoke Powerful Images in Your Reader’s Mind.
How to Write a Devotional: The Definitive Guide.
Saw this going around Facebook:
And this is adorable and made me laugh: a little baby fakes out her dad when he tries to cut her fingernails:
Happy Saturday!
It’s been a few weeks since I have had time to share, but here are some thought-provoking reads discovered recently:
How to Repent Without Really Repenting.
For the Woman Who Is Simply Weary of Serving.
10 Ways to Overcome Spiritual Weariness.
How to Move On When You’ve Been Betrayed.
Invent a Ministry. HT to Challies. Love this. One of my themes is that ministry isn’t always in an official church-sponsored activity. It’s being available for God to use you all throughout the day. Another is the “Someone should…” or “The church should…” mentality, forgetting we ARE the church. I’ve been thinking about a possible blog post along these lines.
Unavoidable Tantrums. Good thoughts here.
12 Things That Every First-Time Dad Should Know.
Have This Conversation Before You Send Your Baby Back to School. I wouldn’t say, “Don’t strive to do your best,” but otherwise very sound advice.
The Dramatic, Adrenaline Soaked Life of a Missionary, or, It’s Not Like You Read in All Those Classic Biographies, and That’s OK. From a missionary we know in real life.
What It’s Like When You Publish a Book. Interesting thoughts on the type of people God uses (clue: messed-up ones, because that’s the only type available).
Sticking With It, on reading long books with dull spots, either personally or to children. I don’t think the author is advocating for never putting a book aside, but I like the analogy that life is going to be that way sometimes.
25 Ways to Ask Your Kids ‘So How Was School Today?’ Without Asking Them ‘So How Was School Today?’ HT to The Story Warren. I had to learn this with one child who would always just answer, “Normal.” I don’t think I used any of these, but I did learn to ask specific questions.
Finally, this cute little boy, his reaction to hearing he is going to become a big brother, and his accent are all adorable:
And this was sweet: an orphaned kangaroo hugging a teddy bear:
Happy Saturday!
It has been quite a while since I have been able to do one of these, but here are some posts I’ve found interesting the last few weeks. Maybe you’ll enjoy one or two of them as well:
Planned Parenthood: Four Ways to Respond.
Explaining the Problem Does Not Eliminate the Problem.
Gentle Selfishness, HT to Challies. Guilty.
Are You Believing This Lie About Love?
A Right Theology of Fear (and Why You Need It.)
A few on mothering:
Talking to Your Kids About Same-Sex Marriage.
The Beginning of the Sacrifice of motherhood.
How Much Should a Mom Minster Outside the Home?
Hidden. God has a purpose in “hidden years.”
A few on online communication:
How Should Christians Comment Online?
An Embarrassing Week For Christians Sharing Fake News. Yes! Confirm before you share.
Why I Removed Extremely Effective Pop-ups From My Web Site. Yes! Wish everyone would do this!
What Makes Readers Lose Interest in a Blog?
Four Easy Ways to Create Quote Graphics for Facebook, Pinterest, and Your Blog. Do you use any of these, or any others? I’ve used Quozio a few times.
21 Self-Editing Secrets That Can Supercharge Your Manuscript.
In Zimbabwe, We Don’t Cry For Lions. HT to Challies. A different and refreshing perspective on the Cecil the Lion story.
Someone shared this on Facebook:
Amen! Happy Saturday!
It’s been a few weeks since I’ve shared some links that caught my eye. Here are the latest – hope you find something of interest:
As Somebody Somewhere Said. Good reasons to read the Bible as a whole rather than only parts of it.
Hoaxes and Hermeneutics. The need for learning how to interpret the Bible rightly.
How To Complain Without Grumbling. There’s a difference, and I am so glad to see someone finally say so.
Jesus Speaks Out For Marriage.
How the Gospel Ended My Same-Sex Relationship.
Do You Treat Your Husband Worse Than a Stranger?
5 Questions I Wish My Accountability Partner Would Ask Me. I am wary of accountability partner set-ups for several reasons, and while the author still recommends them, he advocates facets that are much more in line with Biblical accountability and relationships that what I usually see.
Twenty Years. A man’s reflection on twenty years of marriage.
Teach Your Children to Have Devotions. Wish I’d had something like this to read when mine were small.
It’s OK For Kids to Be Bored During Church.
Why Little Kids Need Big Biblical Words.
Cherishing and Protecting Our Freedoms.
4 Tips For Dealing With Procrastination.
Navigating the Challenges of Real Life Online. “If you share everything, you’re an exhibitionist. If you share nothing, you’re closed-off and unapproachable. If you share too many good things, you’re fake. If you share too many bad things, you’re a whiner.” Jenn discusses some principles and guidelines for finding balance here.
10 Things Photographers Hate With a Passion. I had never seen the dinosaur wedding thing before. Bizarre! I don’t agree with every point – I think some trendy or “as seen on Pinterest” requests are inevitable – but otherwise some good things for us to think about.
And I saw this on the C. S. Lewis Facebook Page.
It has been a while since I’ve shared interesting reads I’ve come across online. Here are some from the last few weeks:
Moms With Hands Full Need the Church.
I’m Grateful That Lady Forced a Bible On Me, HT to Challies. “We have this idea that doing something significant for God requires huge planning, red letters in the sky, a parting of the sea, signs and wonders. But the truth is, He’s working through us in ways we could never arrange on our own.”
No Disappointment in Jesus? HT to Story Warren. “It’s in life, in the real world, down here where things do and do not pan out, that the just are supposed to live by faith. When we are honestly disappointed in the way the God we trusted has handled things, when what has happened was not at all what we wanted—then statements like “Not my will but thine be done” have powerful meaning. What a sinewy kind of trust old John the Baptist had as he lay in chains—captive, doomed, lonely, blessed, and not offended.”
Are You Letting Your Kids Walk All Over You?
I Don’t Know What to Say. What’s helpful and not helpful when someone is grieving.
What I Learned From Elisabeth Elliot in Her Last Years.
Elisabeth Elliot’s Writings. Ann gives a good overview.
Staring at Dementia, Fighting For Joy.
Where’ve You Been? Story behind a touching and beautiful song about a man’s grandparents, one with Alzheimer’s.
How Can I Have a Successful Blog While Raising Little Kids?
Father’s Days: A Cartoonist’s Journey Into First Time Fatherhood of a baby with a severe illness.
7 Things You Need to Know About Medicare But Probably Don’t.
A boy’s stuffed tiger goes on a grand adventure at Tampa International Airport. Thought this was so cute and sweet!
Of course, yesterday’s Supreme Court ruling is on many minds and hearts. I’m still processing the news and don’t know whether I’ll say any more about it, but the best posts I’ve read so far are But What Does the Bible Say? by Kevin DeYoung and CBMW’s Official Response to the SCOTUS Ruling, and then Nancy Leigh DeMoss has a video response here.
Melanie shared this recently – a real-life illustration of the sheep knowing their shepherd’s voice:
I don’t know how many of you are familiar with Ron Hamilton, aka “Patch the Pirate.” He’s fairly well known in the Southeast. I love this arrangement of his song. Ben Everson is a master at these mutli-harmony things:
Happy Saturday!
