Category Archives: Laudable Linkage

Laudable Linkage

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Here are some links I found interesting in the last couple of weeks:

This quote is resonating with me from an article about preaching, though I am not a preacher: “That little voice inside your head saying ‘That’s just not who I am’ is not your friend. Sanctification is the process by which the Holy Spirit overcomes ‘who I am’ and shapes me into who He wants me to be.” The article is 5 Reasons Why Some Preachers Get Better and Others Don’t, HT to Challies.

15 Beautiful Benefits of the Word of God.

Five Specific Prayers for the Unsaved People in Your Life.

3 reasons you should not try to bind Satan.

Letting Parenting Struggles Make You Strong.

Ten Things My Parents Did Right.

Home Decor and Trendiness: Who Makes the Rules You Live By? Yes! I kept thinking that all through this post.

I am Ryland – The Story of a Male-Identifying Little Girl Who Didn’t Transition. In light of a recent case where parents started treating their daughter like a boy when she liked boy things, this blogger tells of growing up as what we used to call a tomboy or “late bloomer” who nevertheless did not identify herself as transgender. With the current climate, we’re going to run into these kinds of situations, and she makes some good points.

I’m not linking to 6 Reflections on Sleepovers so much for anything to do with sleepovers: it’s a response to a post on why this family doesn’t allow sleepovers, but I’m linking to it because the principles he discusses when Christians have different views cover many things. It is good to keep these things in mind when disagreeing on secondary issues.

Paralyzed? Or Medically Fragile?

Facts about the Hobby Lobby ruling that even some Christian seem to be missing.

Skip to the Loo, My Darling, HT to Lou Ann. An interesting look at bathroom facilities in other countries by missionary women. This reinforces the thought I’ve had that this aspect would be one of the things I’d have a hard time with if I ever traveled out of the country!

And lastly, I forget where I saw this, but it had me chuckling out loud. As my sister-in-law said when she saw it, “Baby: 1; Dad: 0.” (As an aside, for safety concerns it is probably not wise for an adult to climb into a baby’s crib.)

Happy Saturday!

 

Laudable Linkage

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Here is my semi-weekly round-up of interesting reads – I hope you’ll find one or two of interest:

A Return to the Book. “The further I move from the written Word of God, the less confidence I can have that I’ve heard a word from God. ”

The Danger of Coasting. When we’re not living intentionally, we usually end up somewhere we didn’t mean to go.

Flip or Flop. People can say and do horrible things – like in an earlier post by this author where people commented, “Your poor husband – 6 kids and wife in a wheelchair” or tell her that her children will grow up to resent her disability. But in this post she discusses the good things people have said and done and the choice we can make in which to focus on.

5 Ways Moms Create Cranky Toddlers. Written by a mom and shared by a young mom friend.

Seven Ways to Love Your Pastor.

Why I Read Heartwrenching Stories. I haven’t read the book discussed here but I like what she said about why she reads books that deal with topics that are hard to read about.

Louis Zamperini, the subject of the book Unbroken by Lauren Hillenbrand (one of the best I’ve ever read) passed away this week at the age of 97. An Olympic athlete, WWII soldier, and POW, his greatest victory came through faith in Christ. Here are a couple of short news videos about his life and death, neither of which mentions his faith: let’s hope the upcoming film based on the book does:

Laudable Linkage

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Here are some noteworthy reads recently discovered:

Nobody Understands What I’m Going Through.

How to Truly Encourage the Spiritual Life of Your Husband.

Slow-to-Anger Parenting, HT to Challies.

Thunder and Bugs: Helping Children Deal With Fear.

What To Do When Compliments Scare You.

I’ve seen this video in a couple of places this morning. We think of erosion as a destructive force, and it can be: we have to take measures against its damaging foundations and crops, etc. But God can also use it to create beauty.

Have a great weekend!

Laudable Linkage

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Here is a collection of some thought-provoking posts discovered in the last couple of weeks:

You Are What – And How – You Read from Rosaria Champagne Butterfield. About more than reading.

When Sin Looks Delicious.

The Inner Life — Four Reasons to Have a Quiet Time.

The ladies of Out of the Ordinary have been blogging about middle age this month, a topic you don’t often see on blogs. My two favorite posts so far have been Things to Guard Against in the Middle Years and The Middle Years: There’s Good News, Too!

On Daughters and Dating: How to Intimidate Suitors. Loved this: “Instead of intimidating all your daughter’s potential suitors, raise a daughter who intimidates them just fine on her own. Because, you know what’s intimidating? Strength and dignity. Deep faith. Self-assuredness. Wisdom. Kindness. Humility. Industriousness.”

What do those with disabilities owe those without?

An Outburst Is An Opportunity.

When It’s Time to Leave a Church.

Five Helps for Memorizing Bible Verses.

Three Reasons to Diversify Your Reading. Why Christians should read non-Christian books.

Hope you have a great weekend!

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Wow, I can’t believe it has been about a month since I’ve shared interesting links with you! Here’s some thought-provoking reading:

From my son’s blog: 4 things that have kept me sane in the NICU and Dealing with Disappointment in the NICU.

The Story. The importance of reading the Scriptures as a whole rather than isolated parts.

The Church Is a Body, Not a Body Part.

On parenting:

I’m Not Enough For My Kids.

Godly Feelings Flourish Behind Walls of Self-Control. The girltalk blog has been discussing teaching children self-control, and I especially appreciated this post about teaching a very emotional toddler to rein herself in.

Teaching Toddlers Emotional Self Control: A Few Practical Thoughts, another in the above series.

The Morning When My Mother Got Up Anyway.

I Want My Kids to Serve.

My Child….My Friend?

His Time, His Plan, His Way, a story of a premature birth.

Hospitality For Introverts.

What a child with food allergies would want you to know.

Why I Am Sick of Women’s Conferences. Though the title is maybe a little harsh, this is a good post about the wrong message being emphasized at some conferences.

Dear Inaccessible Church.

Do You Know Your Missionaries? Eight Ideas to get to know them better.

Could Quitting Facebook Be A Mistake? HT to Bobbi.

Web Sites For Writers.

This just made me smile – a friend saw at a shop in Williamsburg Jane Austen Action Figures.

jane-austen-action-figure

Happy Saturday!

Laudable Linkage

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Here are a few interesting reads discovered in the last couple of weeks:

The Cheerleader. If something can be heartbreaking and heartwarming at the same time, it is this testimony of a mom injured in the tornadoes that took her home and children.

“God’s Not Dead” and the Angry Atheist Professor: That Was Not My Experience, HT to Challies. I’ve not seen the movie, but Ann has a review of it here. She says as well that the atheists in the movie tended to be typecast as stereotypical meanies, and the film has some issues, but overall it has a good message.

Before We Die and After, Too. Things we want to accomplish before we go may not be the typical “bucket list” experiences.

How Can Moms Deal With the Distractions of Social Media?

What to Do in Those “I Can’t Handle It” Moments.

The Church and the LGBT Community: Is There a Way Forward?

Happy Saturday!

Laudable Linkage

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It has been a while since I’ve been able to share some of the interesting reading I have come across recently. Hope some of this is of interest to you!

A neat study on True Woman about the “I am” statements referring to God and those referring to us.

Smilingly Leading You to Hell. Sadly, some of the most appealing speakers don’t always have the best messages.

The Assumption We Cannot Afford on the need to teach the Bible and encourage others to study it for themselves. Excellent.

Missing the Forest for the Trees. “The Bible is not just a spiritual search engine.”

In the Heat of the Moment, dealing with rampant emotions.

Anger: Giving In to the Enemy.

Let’s Stop Forgiving Those Who Don’t Want Forgiveness. This has long been my stance on this.

Help! My Kids Are Looking at Porn! Advice for how to handle that.

Authentic worship, hands down. “Authentic worship means to me exactly what it means to you: the freedom to worship as the Lord leads. I have traveled the length of the denominational spectrum….It was a long trip through myriad worship styles, and participation was not always optional. My hands are at my sides for the same reason yours are thrown in the air: because I am free – free from the expectations of any of my fellow worshippers, free to worship in whatever posture the Spirit leads.  The truth is, I do occasionally raise my hands, but never when told to by a worship leader or a lyric. Because of my history, nothing could be more inauthentic, nothing less free.” This spoke to me on many levels. The churches I have attended are not usually physically demonstrative, but worship is sometimes “commanded” in other ways (“Turn to your neighbor and say…” or “Pray this right now” or any number of others things dictated from the pulpit). There is a difference between leading worship and manipulating worship.

How Mothers Can Worship In the Midst of Inconvenience.

 What Winter Trees Know About Singing. Lovely, lovely post about handling children’s questions without squashing their innocence and wonder.

Ten Lessons From a Hospital Bed.

Always Apologize First, HT to nikkipolani. “Apologizing first is the bucket of water which douses the flames threatening to burn bridges between wife and husband or father and children.”

100 Ways to Thank a Teacher. Neat ideas for end of the year teacher gifts – or any time you want to express appreciation to a teacher.

Happy Saturday!

Laudable Linkage

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On Saturdays I usually share a list of interesting links I’ve discovered the previous week. I have just a short list today.

When You’re Just Plain Tired of the Sacrifice.

Hoping Your Son Chooses a Godly Woman Some Day? Teach Them Whose They Are. “As my son searches for a spouse, may God’s light in her shine through…and catch his eye.”

World Vision Reverses Decision to Hire Christians in Same-Sex Marriages. I appreciated the way they responded to godly counsel (though it would have been better to have sought it beforehand) and appreciated that they mentioned loving ways it was pointed out that their actions had not been consistent with Scripture. I’ve seen a lot of not so loving responses, so this resonated with me.

Sympathy for the Devil. I’ve not seen the new “Noah” movie yet and don’t know if I will, but I’ve seen several reviews that mention plot points that leave me scratching my head. This post points out that the writers weren’t just taking creative liberties or being neglectful of the text: there is an underlying philosophy that dates clear back to the Gnostics. I had no idea that stuff was still alive and well.

When Women Start Saying “No” to Church Activities. I have mixed emotions about some of the points in this post, as I said in my comment there. I do think sometimes we need to adapt ourselves to the need rather than wanting everything adapted to us, on one hand, but on the other hand, yes, we do need to adapt to current lifestyles and find ways of ministry that edify rather than exhaust.

Virtuous Woman Subway Art.

Sherry at Semicolon is celebrating Poetry Month by sharing different types of poetry with an example each day this month.

Found this on Pinterest and it make me smile:

fooled by spring

Seems like it has gone that way this year! But I hope winter is gone for good now (at least until next year).

I’ve listened to this several times this week. One of the most beauitful pieces of music ever written, “Gabriel’s Oboe” from Ennio Morricone’s “The Mission” has been merged with one of the grand old hymns, “How Great Thou Art.” Just lovely.

Laudable Linkage

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Here are some thought-provoking reads from the last week or so:

How to Beat That Bad Mood.

Middle-agers Need Older Women Too.

Raise a Man.

Salvation in a Dementia Ward, HT to Challies.

Motherhood or Singleness: Which Is More Sanctifying? Short answer: whichever one you’re called to.

8 Things Not to Say to Your Aging Parents.

How to Write a Book in Your Spare Time.

7 Reasons Why I Stop Reading a Novel by author Jody Hedlund, whom I have not yet read except on this blog.

Getting Upset About the Wrong Things in Disney Movies and The Cold That Bothers Us both give thoughtful insights into Disney’s movie Frozen.

Finally, I couldn’t resist sharing with you something we noticed during Sunday breakfast. Apparently one of the biscuits was grumpy, or woke up on the wrong side of the pan or something. 🙂

Grumpy biscuit

Happy Saturday!

Laudable Linkage

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I’m here again today with my almost weekly round-up of interesting reads from the last week or so:

Gospel-Centered Reduction: Slighting the Spirit. There has been something bothering me about the term “gospel-centered” being used as an adjective on just about everything in Christianity in recent years, but I couldn’t quite articulate why. This article touches on some of the reasons.

Coffee With Facepalm Jesus Calling, HT to Bobbi. The various problems with portraying Jesus as saying things He wouldn’t say, from memes to cartoons to Jesus Calling.

Fred Phelps and the Anti-Gospel of Hate.

9 Things We Should Get Rid of to Help Our Kids.

31 Days of Purity: The Throne of Grace. I especially appreciated the paragraph by Lambert in the middle about the difference between condemning self-talk and confession.

This Mother Tore Off labels and Nurtured Her Son’s Hidden Genius.

Soldier Finds Lifeline in Letter Exchange With Vermont Author, HT to Sherry. I have never read either of these authors but want to now. I espcially liked this: “I needed that reminder that there was still hope and still beauty in the world. At that time in my life there was none. There was nothing except guns and fear. I was really not at all sure that I was ever going to get out of that place. This book gave me a little bit of beauty at that time, and I needed it. Not the way I need a new app for my iPad. I needed it to keep my soul alive.”

Threads: Loved this: “Every great story tells in some part The Great Story. Each truth revealed helps us make sense of our world. And through each tragedy, comedy, and fairy tale, the Truth is woven through the fabric of our being.” I don’t know that I’d say that about every story – I’ve read some awful ones with little redeeming value – but overall, yes, truth even in fiction points us to the ultimate Author of truth.

Happy Saturday!