Laudable Linkage

Posted on May 11, 2024 by Barbara Harper

Here’s another list of good reads found this week:

A Mother’s Day Message for the Childless Woman. “You probably won’t be publicly honored this Mother’s Day. You likely won’t get a card. But you are a spiritual mother and you are making an eternal difference. So here’s what I’d share with you if I was given the chance to write a Mother’s Day message to you, my Christian sisters without children of your own.”

For the Ones We Were Told to Abort. “On behalf of parents everywhere who did not receive the perfectly healthy baby they prayed for but did welcome into their arms a bundle of joy given by a generous God, here’s my letter to the doctor who told me to choose differently.”

A Response to Dr. John McArthur’s Statement on Mental Health, HT to Challies. “To be clear, this article is not an attack on the person or character of Dr. MacArthur, a Christian brother for whom I have much respect and who has been a bulwark of solid reformed theology for many decades. Nevertheless, there are several things within the statement that, as a professional working in Christian psychiatry I would like to address.”

Fear of Missing Out, HT to Challies. “FOMO gets a bad rap because it is often caused by envy—the feeling that others are enjoying things you are missing. My FOMO is less about envy and more about growth and opportunity. I fear becoming comfortable and complacent and missing out on what God has in store outside my comfort zone.”

Study the Bible in 5, 15, or 30 Minutes, HT to Knowable Word. “God isn’t prescriptive about this in his Word (Deut. 6:5–6; Phil. 2:16; John 15:4). He wants us to prioritize meeting with him through Scripture, however it looks. He wants us to hunger for him, the Bread of Life, not a formula. He wants us to pursue our perfect Savior Jesus, not a perfect quiet time, as if there were such a thing (John 5:39–40).” I love this, but I’d disagree with a bit at the end concerning church being our main spiritual meal in God’s Word. I agree that it’s vital, but I wouldn’t say it’s more important than regular time alone with the Lord.

Am I Out of Asks? HT to Challies. “‘Oh, but God,’ I muttered, ‘Please hear this one.’ I have experienced the Lord not answering my prayer in the way I hoped, so fear unexpectedly gripped my heart as I prayed, pleaded, doubted, and as I wondered whether I had used up my asks of God. But this is not the way our Father works.”

The Beauty of Intergenerational Friendship, HT to Challies. “We’re naturally drawn to people with whom we have much in common. Moms with young ones cluster together, sharing parenting tips. The silver-haired saints seek out the similarly crowned. And single women seek companionship among the unattached. Commonality eases connection. But when we step outside our comfort zone, we often find beauty, wisdom, and a connection that can be forged only by the work of the Holy Spirit.”

I remember my mother’s prayers, and they have always followed me.
They have clung to me all my life.
–Abraham Lincoln

Happy Mother’s Day tomorow to the Moms out there!
Never forget that your ministry as a mother is a vital one.

When People Don’t Understand

Posted on April 21, 2024 by Barbara Harper

Whenever Hannah’s story is taught from the Bible, one phrase stands out to me that I rarely hear comment on.

Hannah dearly longed for a child. In those days, men had more than one wife, and her husband’s other wife did have children. That would have been hard enough, but this rival wife “used to provoke her grievously to irritate her, because the Lord had closed her womb.” This went on for years.

It seems understandable that Hannah would be grieved. But her husband, Elkanah, said, “Hannah, why do you weep? And why do you not eat? And why is your heart sad? Am I not more to you than ten sons?”

This is the part of the story I don’t hear teaching about. Elkanah seems a little clueless here. At the worst he sounds arrogant: “Hey, you’ve got me. What else do you need?”

To give him the benefit of the doubt, he may have been thinking of the shame associated with childlessness in that day, or the concern that a childless widow would have no one to care for her after her husband died. Perhaps he means, “Don’t worry about those things, Hannah. My status and provision are enough.”

Even with the best of intentions, Elkanah didn’t seem to understand the longing of his wife’s heart, not just for status or elder care, but for her own child to love. Her yearning for a child did not lessen her love for her husband.

So what did Hannah do? She went to the temple to pray.

Normally this would be a good thing to do. We’re often told these days to draw close to our spiritual community. But sometimes our community rubs salt in the wound instead of helping.

This story occurred during the time of the judges, when “everyone did what was right in his own eyes,” leading to some of the most bizarre behavior recorded in the Bible. This was a low point in Israel’s history. Apparently, the priest, Eli, had seen so little fervent prayer that he thought Hannah was drunk and rebuked her.

So what’s a woman to do when her loved ones and her spiritual community don’t understand her, and, in fact, add to her burden?

Hannah poured out her heart to the Lord. She “was deeply distressed and prayed to the Lord and wept bitterly.” She could safely share the depths of her feelings and cares with Him. She knew He was the only one who could meet her need.

She answered kindly. When Eli accused her of being drunk, she didn’t lash out at him. She just explained a little about her heart’s burden. There’s no record that she responded to her rival in kind or fussed at Elkanah.

She did not become bitter. She could have harbored negative feelings against everyone involved, but there’s no record that she did.

She had faith. After she prayed and asked the Lord for a son, she promised to give her child back to God to serve Him. And then “her face was no longer sad.” She left her burdens at His feet. When God did answer her prayers with a son, she kept her vow and gave Him the glory and praise.

In our day, we have more of the Scripture than Hannah did. So we have an extra layer of help. Hebrews 2:17-18 says, “Therefore he [Jesus] had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. For because he himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.” The writer of Hebrews goes on to say in 4:15-16: “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”

Jesus is more than our example: He is our Lord and Savior. But He has also suffered the same things we do and shown us how to cope with them.

I don’t know if anyone in history was more misunderstood than Jesus. His family, his disciples, and his community all questioned His teaching and His mission.

What did He do?

He kept sharing truth. He knew some would never understand. He knew His disciples wouldn’t understand much until later. He kept sharing truth anyway, trusting that one day it would make sense to them.

He prayed frequently to the One who did understand and could help others understand, His Father.

He kept loving and working with people even when they misunderstood.

He forgave those who wronged Him. “When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly” (1 Peter 2:23).

When others misunderstand our hurts and concerns, it’s easy to pull away and wrap a protective cloak around ourselves.

Though He often does give us human helpers to counsel, encourage, uplift, and empathize, sometimes they fail us. We need not hold it against them: they’re only human. We fail others sometimes, so we shouldn’t be surprised when others fail us. And sometimes He takes them away so that we may draw closer to Him.

We can do what Hannah did: pour out our hearts to the only One who can truly understand our heart’s longings and our deepest needs. As the old hymn says, “No One Understand Like Jesus.” He may not answer our prayer exactly like we want. But we can trust He knows best.

Because He has been in our place, we know He empathizes with us. He understands thoroughly; He cares intimately; He alone has the power and the wisdom and the grace to meet our needs in the best possible time and way.

(Parts of this post have been revised from the archives.)

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

Laudable Linkage

Posted on October 14, 2023 by Barbara Harper

These are some of the posts that stood out to me this week:

Israel at War: Prayers, Hope, and Heartache. Some good prayer points during this time of upheaval.

A Well-Stocked Pantry, HT to Challies. “It’s not a question of if storms will come—storms will come for us, and we need to be ready with a soul packed tightly with God’s Word so we can draw on it in a time of need.”

Add a Little Extra Beauty. “God loves to add a little extra beauty. God could have made every time of day the same, but he gives sunrises—he adds a little extra beauty.”

The Secret to Abundant Life: Expressing Self-Love through Service. I’m not fond of the title, but the article is good.

How to Be a Growing Christian. This was a good message by Adrian Rogers I heard part of while making a late breakfast one morning. I was especially struck by the part about the middle of the sermon discussing the apostle John–what he was as an early disciple compared to what he was later as a gospel and epistle writer. The link goes to the overview, outline, and then transcript of the message, but if you’d rather listen than read, you can do that here.

The Transforming Power of Hopeful Love in Marriage, HT to Challies. Thoughts on what 1 Corinthians 13 means when it says love “hopes all things.” Good for any relationships, not just marriage.

Biblical Hope When It’s Time to Consider Residential Care. “You’ve got a decision to make about someone you love. You want to serve sacrificially. You want to do the ‘right thing.’ You want to honor God. As you move forward, let God’s Word illuminate your path, one tender and needy step at a time.”

We tend to use prayer as a last resort,
but God wants it to be our first line of defense.
We pray when there’s nothing else we can do,
but God wants us to pray
before we do anything at all.
—Oswald Chambers

Laudable Linkage

Posted on September 16, 2023 by Barbara Harper

I found a lot of good reading this week:

A Comforting Resource for People Who Have Lost Parents. My friend, Lois, lost both parents within five weeks of each other a few year ago. Some of her blog posts since then have been about processing their loss and working through grief. She found a lot of resources for losing a child or a spouse, but not much on losing parents. That seemed to be treated as just a normal part of life. Though the death of one’s parents is inevitable, grief still runs deep. Lois has just pulled these posts together in one resource page. She tells about it and links to the Help for Parent Loss page there.

How Can I Cultivate a Listening Life in a Noisy World? “Do we demonstrate through our choices that we truly believe that we NEED God’s Word? Are we still ‘the people of the Book?'”

Can a Christian Have Mental Illness? HT to Challies. “Some Christians believe that Christians cannot have mental illness. If a professing Christian is depressed, anxious, or bipolar, they think it’s because they are not a real Christian, or that there is some terrible sin they haven’t repented of, or that they need to repent of the depression or whatever the problem is. Nearly half (48 percent) of evangelicals believe that serious mental illness can be overcome with prayer and Bible study alone. The result of this condemnation of mental illness as sin is that many Christians do not admit they have a mental illness, they don’t talk about it, and they don’t reach out for help.”

We Need Every Word, HT to Challies. “I want to feast on the Bible passages I love, the ones that make me feel some note of pleasure or comfort. I want the reminders that I’m loved, the encouragements to hold fast, and the songs of praise that remind me of God’s faithfulness. I don’t always want the lists or the history or the stories that don’t seem to affect me.”

Why We Are Tempted not to Pray, HT to Challies. “Prayer should stupefy us. ‘You mean, this all-powerful God who keeps galaxies spinning is interested in you telling him about your day and might alter the course of the entire cosmos because you asked him if you could have a parking space?’”

Being Involved in Church as a Teen, HT to Challies. “But being born into a church as a baby, and then growing up through Sunday school and youth group, can often make it hard to be taken seriously. Even older Christians with the best intentions can miss the mark. It can feel a bit awkward when they ask you the same questions every time they see you in church. It takes time and effort from both sides to help and encourage one another, and ultimately, have more meaningful relationships.”

Is the Lord’s Day the Christian Sabbath? HT to Challies. “At the outset, I need to say that this issue is one that I think Christians should not divide over. The view I present below is not the one I grew up with, but I have no particular ambition to convert people to my view — except that, with regard to those who have the duty to teach God’s word, it is important to do so properly, ‘rightly handling the word of truth’, preaching the full counsel of God with all His authority, but never giving human ideas that same authority.”

The Ritual of Rearranging Books, HT to Linda. “Taking all the books down was a chance to organize and cull, but primarily, it was an experience in simply remembering what was there, how it got there, and why. You can look at shelved books until the cows come home, but it’s not the same as actually taking them off the shelves.”

Seeing the Light on Religious Fiction, HT to Linda. “As I complete my 40th year working with books, I’ve changed my mind about an entire publishing genre that I once held at arm’s length at best, and treated with something akin to critical dismissal at worst. I feel like the proverbial old dog who has suddenly learned a new trick. The genre? Religious fiction.” I especially loved this one!

Routine leads to devotion, especially in Bible study.

The quote here is from “Just Not Feeling It”: How Routine Awakens Devotion.

Laudable Linkage

Posted on July 29, 2023 by Barbara Harper

I have a question for those of you who receive my blog posts via email. Have you had any problems receiving them lately? Of course, if you have, you might not be seeing this. 🙂 I ask because a long-time reader just told me this week she hasn’t received my blog posts via email for some time now. I am trying to discern whether this is a widespread problem. I see them both via email and Feedly so I can make sure they’re coming through, and I have not had any problem with either venue. WordPress handles the sending, so I can let them know about it. But it helps to have as much information as I can when I report a problem to them. How long has it been since the emails stopped coming? If you try to subscribe, do you get any error messages? If so, what do they say? Thanks so much for your help.

Now on to this week’s links. I hope you see something that sparks your interest.

Come, HT to Challies. “He came to the dead; the bleeding; the hopeless. To the ones on the side of life’s roads, passed over. To the grieving and the outcast. To the ones desperate to be seen; those hungry to belong.”

Do Not Grieve the Holy Spirit. “What does it mean to grieve the Holy Spirit? My initial reaction to the word grieve in reference to the Holy Spirit was a negative one: Surely the Spirit of God does not actually grieve, does he? Perhaps this is a poor translation. Isn’t sorrow a too-human reaction to ascribe to the holy God? Doesn’t it diminish the Spirit to suggest that my sin can make him feel genuine sorrow?”

How Were the Books of the Bible “Chosen,” HT to Challies. “The earliest Christians did not view themselves as choosing books, nor did they view themselves as having the right/power to do such a thing. Instead, they viewed themselves as receiving the books that had been handed down to them by the apostles.”

A Light to My Path, HT to Challies. “When the sun streams into my kitchen window, it cheers my soul. Everything literally seems brighter. Its brilliance however, illuminates more than just the room. Particles of dust flicker through its rays, grandchildren’s sticky handprints on the window pane bother me, and tiny bits of red dirt speckle the floor. When the light shines into my room, I see things otherwise hidden.”

Are You Satisfied with Your Prayer Life or Is Prayer Simply a Means to an End? “In the Pie Chart that is your life, how big is the slice devoted to prayer? “I don’t ask to induce guilt or to point the finger of condemnation. It’s actually a question I’m asking myself, and it’s been prompted by a statistic I just bumped into once again.”

When You Feel Powerless to Influence Your Children. “More important, they revealed the lie I had believed—that my children were safe as long as I was nearby. And that I had the ultimate power to protect them from harm, bad influences, and spiritual apostasy. Without intending to, I had usurped God’s role, at least in my mind, as their guardian and protector.”

Jesus can understand your prayer despite feebleness or poor language.

Laudable Linkage

Posted on January 7, 2023 by Barbara Harper

Happy first Saturday of January! As might be expected, a lot of posts I found this week dealt with getting ready for a new year.

His Feet, HT to Challies. “I was fourteen and small for my age, a reserved shy shadow of the man I might one day grow into. Others struck me for an unknown reason, some imagined offence I had committed. Verbal assault soon became physical, yet it wasn’t the impact of fist on face that hurt most. I felt alone. I felt small. I felt undone. But then his feet were there.”

Say It, HT to Challies. A short account of Charles Spurgeon’s conversion, which is always delightful to read, but with a few good points added.

Grant Me One Muslim Friend, HT to Challies. “The most strategic thing we could do to reach the Muslim world is for every Muslim to simply have a believing friend.”

Three Faith-Focused Strategies to Welcome the New Year. “Some of us deliberate over annual goals or resolutions while others invite God to give us a word for the New Year. As we invest time in these pursuits, let’s walk through the following four steps as we consider how He led us through last year and as we seek His guidance in the New Year.

How Can We Have Peace and Confidence in the New Year? “With all the turmoil and instability over the last few years, most of us want more peace, more joy, and more confidence in the future. Are we at the mercy of the government or the economy or the culture around us if we’re to have those things? Or is it possible that the right goals and habits can play a big part? If so, what kind of goals and habits?”

5 Tips to Reinforce Your Bible Study and Prayer Routine, HT to Knowable Word. Although aimed at church leaders, these are good for anyone trying to develop a “sustainable habit for personal Bible study and prayer.”

7 Reasons Winter Reminds Us to Hold on to Hope, HT to Challies. “Many people suffer from seasonal depression or feel down in the winter. The trees seem lifeless, we spend a lot more time inside, and it gets darker earlier and for longer stretches of the day. It can also mean we spend more time pondering upon the difficult seasons in our own lives.”

Assign It a Day and Time. A great time management principle!

8 Tips to Have a More Productive Year, HT to Lisa. “I am all about To Do lists and planners! However, that doesn’t always make me as productive I could be. There has to be some follow-through to be productive. I am going to share 8 tips on how to have a more productive year in whatever area you are working.”

Gladys Hunt on Little Golden Books, HT to the Story Warren. I loved the little Golden books as a child and read many of them to my own children. It was interesting to read the story behind them.

God Does Not Forget Prayers or Promises

Posted on December 11, 2022 by Barbara Harper

400 years of silence.

That’s what Israel experienced after the last words of the Old Testament in Malachi. They had the law of Moses, their history, the poetry and wisdom of the psalms and Solomon’s writings, and the prophetical books.

But they had heard no new word from the Lord in 400 years.

So we can understand Zechariah’s being startled when suddenly an angel appeared before him.

After so long a time of silence, the first message God sends through an angel is, “Do not be afraid, Zechariah, for your prayer has been heard.”

Though I’ve read this passage many times, I was focused on the larger context of how it fit in the birth story of Jesus. I must have glossed over the part about answered prayer. Which prayer? Well, from the angel’s continued message, the prayer about a child.

“Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you shall call his name John.”

We can forgive Zechariah for being stunned. He replied, “How shall I know this? For I am an old man, and my wife is advanced in years.”

Zechariah had probably long ago given up on those prayers and counted God’s answer as a resounding “No.” And now—at this time, at their ages, they were going to have a baby?

As He so often does, God didn’t answer Zechariah’s “How?” He answered with “Who?”

“I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and I was sent to speak to you and to bring you this good news.”

God had sent this good news.

And the news wasn’t just good for Zechariah and Elizabeth. This baby would later become known as John the Baptist.

And you will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth, for he will be great before the Lord. And he must not drink wine or strong drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother’s womb. And he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God, and he will go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready for the Lord a people prepared (Luke 1:14-17).

Gabriel told Zechariah that because the latter did not believe, he would be mute until the promise was fulfilled.

Hannah Anderson suggests that “perhaps God’s reproof was not a punishment for Zechariah so much as an invitation to experience his strength in a way that only happened in weakness. Perhaps God’s ‘now listen’ was not silencing Zechariah so much as quieting him, quieting him long enough to restore his hope” (Heaven and Nature Sing, p. 33).

When Elizabeth did give birth, and neighbors clamored to know the baby’s name, she said “John.” The people were astonished because no one else in their family was known by this name. They appealed to Zechariah, who confirmed by writing, “His name is John,” as the angel had instructed. John, meaning “God is gracious.”

“And immediately [Zechariah’s] mouth was opened and his tongue loosed, and he spoke, blessing God” Luke 1:64).

He acknowledged this child would not just bring joy to his and Elizabeth’s life, but he was a part in God’s grand plan of salvation, put in place before the beginning of the world.

And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High;
    for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways,
to give knowledge of salvation to his people
    in the forgiveness of their sins,
because of the tender mercy of our God,
    whereby the sunrise shall visit us from on high
to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death,
    to guide our feet into the way of peace (Luke 1:76-79).

Though God sometimes seems silent, He hears and He cares. And though He answers the immediate concern, He has the larger, longer picture in mind. Besides praying for a child, Zechariah had probably also been praying for the coming of the Messiah. Now their child would have a part in God’s grand plan of redemption. It was John the Baptist who said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29) and prepared the way of the Lord.

God had not forgotten His promises then, and He still hasn’t now. He might say “No” or “Not now” when those answers are best. Sometimes the answer to our prayer request is connected to God’s overarching purpose for others as well. When the time is right, He will answer.

(Top photo courtesy of http://www.LumoProject.com.)

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

Laudable Linkage

Posted on October 15, 2022 by Barbara Harper

Here is the latest round-up of good reads found this week:

Hearts Painted by the Word Again and Again, HT to Challies. “The job of painting the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco is never-ending. I heard once that they paint it end-to-end, but by the time they get to the end—however many years that may take—it is time to start over.” I love the analogy drawn from this!

When Working for God Becomes the Goal. “It is not God’s design or will that any of His children find their personal worth in what they achieve. God never tells us that if we fail to ‘make a difference’ or ‘leave our mark’ in some profound way that we are insignificant. But this ambition to ‘leave a legacy’ through measurable success is mainstream in some cultures. It has a glittering appeal to those who have a genuine heart to serve Christ and be good stewards of their gifts.”

The Silent Sin that Kills Christian Love, HT to Challies. “Perhaps the test of faithfulness in a day of moral degradation will be our love for people across chasms of difference. Faithfulness isn’t in showy displays that we hate all the right people. Faithfulness isn’t in adopting a contemptuous posture toward the current president or the former one. The way of the cross rejects the path of sneers and jeers, whether in the form of elite condescension or populist passion.”

Mothering with Humility, HT to the Story Warren. “I didn’t have much choice but to be completely transparent with my seven-year-old son. A few minutes earlier, his concerned little face had peered down the stairs, trying to figure out why I was responding angrily to something his dad had said. Now, I found myself trying to calm him down and convince him to apologize to his older brother, with whom he was furious.”

Parents, Just Go to Church. “Getting to church is hard. But that’s part of the value of attending church every Sunday. It sets the tone for the Christian’s daily struggle to live in personal relationship with Christ.”

Why Study Doctrine? “Some dismiss doctrine as uninteresting, irrelevant, or just plain boring. ‘Don’t give me doctrine. Just give me Jesus! Doctrine may be cool for pastors or Bible nerds, but I live in the real world. I need practical stuff that works!’ Why study doctrine? Let me suggest a few reasons…”

Why We Go Light on Polemics, HT to Challies. “I am not saying there is never a time to do polemics. After all, Paul says that we “destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God” (2 Cor 10:5). . . . The main issue I’ve faced with polemical approaches is that they risk triggering a defensive response, where someone is overtaken by the sense that they are duty-bound to protect their community’s honor from the attacks of an outsider.”

Becoming a Better Bibliophile. “I keep convincing myself that I would be a better person if I simply buy another book.”

Laudable Linkage

Posted on June 11, 2022 by Barbara Harper

I have just a few links to share this week:

Prayers That God Will Not Answer. “There are times when it seems like God does not hear us. There are times when it seems like God has become deaf to our prayers and unresponsive to our cries. There are times when we seek but do not find, knock but do not find the door opened. Why is it that God sometimes does not answer our prayers?”

Embodied Discernment: Learning to Discern With Our Hearts. Minds, and Actions, HT to Challies. “Where I went wrong is that my discernment only engaged my mind—and if you’re like me, maybe you’ve gone wrong in this way too. Why is this a problem? Doesn’t discernment only require logic and study?”

5 Steps to Deal with a Distressing Situation. “Based on 1 Samuel chapter 30, I want to share with you these five biblical steps when we face adverse situations which cause great distress and bitterness.”

Patsy at InstaEncouragements is hosting a summer book club reading and sharing insights on Aging With Grace: Flourishing In an Anti-Aging Culture by Sharon W. Betters and Susan Hunt. Discussion on the first chapter is here. It’s not too late to join in!

Laudable Linkage

Posted on May 21, 2022 by Barbara Harper

Here are some good reads that ministered to me this week.

Submit Your Felt Reality to God, HT to Challies. “Reality is reality. It’s objective. It’s what’s actually happening. Felt reality is what’s happening from my vantage point. It’s reality framed by my own thoughts, assumptions, and emotions.” The author includes a look at David’s submitting his felt reality to God in the Psalms.

Talking to Our Souls. This goes along with the one above. “We don’t always have access to counselors and wise friends, of course. Sometimes, we have to counsel ourselves, using words we know to be true because they come from trusted sources. We can easily get into trouble, though, when we listen to ourselves instead of talking to ourselves.”

Loving Across the Ideological Fence, HT to Challies. “Society and the mainstream media tries so hard to pit everybody against one another. And they are successful for the most part. Christians must resist this. We must not cave into the cultural pressure of hating those who don’t see things the way we do. Again, we must love those on the other side.”

The Dead Seriousness of Careless Words. “Carelessness was on Jesus’ mind on a day when the religious authorities confronted him about his failure to keep their interpretation of the religious law. He remarked that their words were evil because their hearts were evil. ‘How can you speak good, when you are evil?’ he asked. ‘For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.’ And in that context he offered the most solemn of warnings. ‘I tell you, on the day of judgment people will give account for every careless word they speak.'”

It Rots the Bones, HT to Challies. “Many months ago, I received an email from a dear, faithful reader, asking for help. Her life was quickly unraveling, and in the midst of persistent heartache, she had fallen headlong into envy. Jealousy towards a woman in her church, whose life seemed quite perfect. This jealousy was destroying her, from the inside out. Envy is the thief of contentment, isn’t it? It reveals an idol tucked in the heart.”

Praying the Word: When You Feel Angry, HT to the Story Warren. “On the surface, prayer seems simple. It’s talking to God. But in practice, we may have a lot of questions. Am I doing this right? Is there a “right” way to do it? What am I supposed to say? Are there things I shouldn’t pray about? Or maybe we feel pretty comfortable with praying, but we struggle with getting bored or losing focus. Whatever our struggles with prayer, Scripture can be helpful.”

Is It Okay to Pray for a Husband? “For a long, long time, one thing that kept me back from praying specific prayers was wondering if I was asking for the wrong things. I wondered if what I was praying was really according to God’s will. I would pray generic prayers: ‘God, I have this decision coming up, and, uhhh . . . Your will be done.’ It was an uninvolved, nonpersonal prayer. In the pages of Scripture, when we look at Jesus’ prayers and the Psalms, we see that God invites us to come to Him with exactly what’s happening in our daily lives. He invites us to pray about the small things—to pray about the specifics.” I like her acronym for prayer.

When It Comes to Friendships, It’s OK to Be the Planner, HT to Linda. “When you like people, you extend invitations for specific times. If other people don’t do that, is it because they don’t like you as much? You might hold back, worried that you are misjudging things. But before you stop trying, understand this: It’s OK to be the planner. Your gift is logistics and coordination. Other people have different gifts. Appreciating that makes it possible to enjoy friendships more.”

VOX Outdoes Itself in Ignorance and Misogyny, HT to Challies. “Tragically, heretofore, society understood that babies coming into the world was so important that when women were going to have them, they really had to do that as the main thing for many years and couldn’t do anything else. Prevailing opinion thinks this was misogyny, that ‘staying home’ with babies and young children was a terrible thing to do, and not gracious and life giving, and also the glue that kept a lot of society together.”