Laudable Linkage

Posted on April 11, 2026 by Barbara Harper

Some of the good reads found this week:

Why Pray Prayers of Adoration? “Why do we need to pray prayers of adoration? In my unceasing love for efficiency, I’ve asked this question many times. Doesn’t God already know who He is and what He’s like? Why do I need to remind Him repeatedly of His own character? Maybe you’ve quietly asked questions like these at some point in your life with God. When your to-do list includes more items than your day allows, it can feel like spending whatever minutes you have petitioning God for needed help makes the most sense, not naming His many attributes. The truth is our need to adore God is greater than any other need.”

I Will Most Gladly. “Rather than being in danger of losing myself as I served my family, I usually faced the opposite danger of holding myself back, of measuring out my service. Too often I’ve missed the blessing that comes from giving all I have, then witnessing the Lord’s provision as he meets me at the bottom of the empty barrel and gives me more to spend. So I set these words where I would see them daily.”

The Refuge of Repentance. “These song lyrics by author Michael Ledner, made popular by the musical group Selah, are based on Psalm 32:7: ‘You are my hiding place; You preserve me from trouble; You surround me with songs of deliverance. Selah‘ (Psalm 32:7 NASB95). Surprisingly, though, the context of those words is not deliverance from an enemy but from sin through confession.”

Hiding from God. “Unfortunately, when one discipline goes haywire, it affects others. Prayer, for instance. I’ve realized that when I feel I’m failing at my Bible reading plan, I tend to avoid prayer, as if God won’t want to hear from me because I lost three weeks in Leviticus and can’t seem to make up the difference in a timely manner. In a sense, I’m attempting to hide from God like he’s an angry, disappointed father, although I know that’s a lie. This desire for spiritual perfection is really a cancer in my walk with Christ, because it keeps me from experiencing the joy and abundant life that Jesus came to provide for me. That rest and peace is right in front of me, that delight in God’s word, that life-giving truth, but I can’t see it for the list of rules that I impose upon myself. I identify with the Pharisees, except I do see Jesus for who He is.”

Winter’s Cold and Heaven’s Joy. “There are views, scenes, and landscapes that are almost too beautiful to behold. But few things move me more deeply than a Christian who holds joyfully steadfast under severe trial. Few things are more supernatural than a person who knows the Lord’s providence has directed a great loss, yet who continues to love and serve him all the more. True faith is especially vivid and beautiful when it takes the form of unshakable joy.”

What Does It Mean to Live at Peace with Everyone? “Jesus didn’t say, ‘Blessed are the conflict avoiders.’ He said, ‘Blessed are the peacemakers’ (Mt 5:9). Peacemakers are active, intentional, and sometimes face uncomfortable situations.”

Wear Your Own Armor, HT to Challies. This is written to pastors, but applicable in many ways to all of us. The author uses David not being able to use Saul’s armor in his fight against Goliath as a metaphor for not trying to model our ministry for the Lord like other people do.

Why Nietzsche Was Wrong About Weakness, HT to Challies. “Paul’s calculus is upside down: More suffering in my life means more of Jesus at work in me. This logic collides with our culture’s instincts. We’re obsessed with bravado, with bullying, with pathetic claims to power that must look so small to the God of the universe.”

If your life is broken, it may be because pieces will feed a multitude.–Elisabeth Elliot

Laudable Linkage

Posted on March 14, 2026 by Barbara Harper

Some of the good blogging found this week:

God’s Faithful Sovereignty When Things Don’t Go As Planned. “My husband and I have two failed adoptions, chronic illness, and an unexpected mission field exodus to our names. Things not going as planned? I may be an unwilling expert on the subject. But it turns out, being an expert on disappointment can mean possessing a deep appreciation for the goodness of God’s sovereignty.”

God’s Desires:How to Know God’s Will in Difficult Decisions. “How do I know whether to marry this person or choose this or that career? Does God have desires about these decisions? Of course He does. We use the phrase “God’s will” to refer to these desires. God is not AI that coldly calculates a direction based on probability and past outcomes of similar situations. He has desires. He grieves, loves, weeps and wills. As Christians, we want to know what God wants in every decision we make. But how?”

Weak at Work: How God Supplies Our Strength. “While ministry often provides opportunities to enter personal lives of those under your care, all jobs require things of us that we may not feel able or willing to give. We lie awake at night worried about finances, projects, or relationships with clients because working as unto the Lord is HARD work.”

Christlike Work in a Burnout Society, HT to the Story Warren. “In our desperation to maximize productivity, he argues, we’ve become a society defined by voluntary self-exploitation. Achievement addiction has led to emotional exhaustion. Today, many are ashamed of their failure to advance in their careers, frustrated over being underpaid, or bored from long hours of menial tasks. Maybe you’re afraid because of your industry’s direction, or perhaps you wonder if your work is valuable. In the malaise of modern work, God offers us a hopeful alternative.”

You Can Always Come Back to Church, HT to Challies. Glenna talks about the awkwardness she felt returning to the gym after a long absence and compares that to coming back to church.

Roots and Wings. “Rather than feeding them, these stories threatened to poison their imaginations and turn them inward instead of upward. Yet what to do? What could keep them from being caught in our collective cultural drift, circling that drain that threatens to spiral ever-inward? How could I resist its insidious strength? I wanted better for them.”

The Passage in ‘The Lord of the Rings’ Tolkien Couldn’t Read Without Weeping, HT to the Story Warren. “Kreeft reflects on the nature of hope, contrasting ordinary hope with what he calls deep hope. Ordinary hope is often rooted in calculation. A bet on good odds. It’s the hope that arises when success is still a possibility, no matter how unlikely. But deep hope is different. It’s the kind of hope that arises after ordinary hope dies. Hope against hope.”

Janette Oke Wrote Her First Novel at 42. Then She Wrote 70 More, HT to Linda. Janette Oke launched me on my journey of reading Christian fiction. I enjoyed reading about her not only for that reason, but for encouragement as an aspiring writer starting later in life.

Note: I read from a wide variety of sources and may not endorse everything from any particular site.

Good and evil both increase at compound interest. That is why the little decisions you and I make every day are of such infinite importance. C. S. Lewis

Laudable Linkage

Posted on October 3, 2020 by Barbara Harper

I have a very short list of good reads found this week, but figured I’d go ahead and share them instead of having an overly long list next week.

Three Reasons God’s Strong in Our Weakness. “Culture teaches us to stay strong and overcome weakness because it just isn’t pretty. Yet, in my heavenly Father’s Kingdom weakness takes on a whole new meaning.”

You are NOT at the Mercy of Your Feelings. “Regular doses of gospel truth are far more effective than pumpkin spice in getting us through the fall doldrums.”

Sisters, You Have Permission to Lead an Ordinary Life. “Words meant to inspire often exhaust. Can I borrow a moment of your time to give you (and me) permission to lead a quiet, ordinary life?”

Kingdom Anticipation. “If we believe that our hearts are longing for something that we haven’t seen yet—a Home that we’ve never even visited—maybe we can expect a little less from this world and hope a whole lot more in the world to come.”

No fun videos today. 🙂 Happy Saturday!