Motherly Fasting
When women talk about their roles and activities as mothers, rarely is fasting even mentioned, much less considered at any length. I am learning, though, that fasting has powerful implications in family life, and that we mothers do well when we put it into practice for our families. Fasting is altogether rather new to me...
Growing Roots
Did you know that for every meter that a cedar of Lebanon grows above ground it spreads three meters of roots underground? Fascinating. Psalm 92 compares righteous people to these impressive trees: The righteous flourish like the palm tree and grow like a cedar in Lebanon. They are planted in the house of the Lord;...
Training to… Suffer?
World-class athletes train for intense competition by pushing themselves on a daily basis, denying themselves the indulgences that make them sluggish and weak, and focusing on the prize that motivates them to win. In the same way, if we believers are following Christ in obedience, our daily walk will prepare us for… suffering. Jesus warned...
Why Worry is Worthless by Amanda Bailey
[Amanda Bailey is a young adult at The Donelson Fellowship in Nashville, Tennessee. She is a wife, mother, phenomenal singer, and has godly insights for FWB young adults that is worth reading.] One night when my husband, Loren, was deployed to Iraq, I just couldn’t sleep. So I was on Facebook and had posted a status about...
Trust-Training
My five-year-old likes to play outside. Because he can’t play outside when it’s raining, he frequently prays and asks God to make it sunny. Invariably, the sun will pop out (often immediately!), the rain will subside, and our little boy is happy that God answered his prayer. Now, we are careful to teach him that...
Make Your Encouragement Count.
I think it’s part of every believer’s calling to be a passionate, Spirit-filled encourager. It’s not an option; it should be who we are as children of God. But, for encouragement to be most valuable to someone, it must be caring, specific, and (here’s the big one) truthful. Being a great encourager is not fluffy,...
A Journaling Tip
Daryl Burling has some good tips for journaling, which is good especially for any who have made a resolution to journal more in 2012. Don’t be afraid to write personal stuff. If you can’t get out the nasty details about your sin, you probably aren’t going to do a good job of eradicating that sin from...
Some Thoughts on Depression
Lately, I’ve been studying the issue of depression …for two reasons… 1) My biblical counseling class required that I pick a topic for a case study and 2) I personally have down days (I struggle with what the Puritans called melancholy, not so much with depression). My thoughts below are by no means comprehensive. Hope...
Be Willing to Suffer, But Enjoy Life
It seems to me there is a surge of thinking among younger Christians that the biggest sign of Christian maturity is suffering for the sake of Christ or the gospel. Books like Radical or Do Hard Things don’t necessarily entirely support this, but they do give points of support toward it. Before I give my push-back,...
A World Series Star Quote
The World Series starts tonight. You guys know I’m a Reds fan, so my flesh isn’t too happy about the Cardinals being in the show. Kudos to them though. They have played incredibly the past two months. I was again sobered about the ultimate vanity of accolades such as championships in sports when I read...
Personal Legalism
Forlines makes a distinction between soteriological legalism and ethical legalism. In my own words, soteriological legalism is when a sinner seeks to gain salvation by works and ethical legalism is when a Christian seeks to elevate ethical standards as equal with God’s moral law. Peter and the leaders at Jerusalem were clearly guilty of ethical...
Fasting: Task or Relationship?
There are a number of spectrums available for analyzing cultures (time vs. event orientation, shame vs. guilt, dichotomistic vs. holistic thinking, etc.) One of these spectrums–task vs. relationship orientation–is of particular interest to me. Task-oriented people have the tendency to work on a task to the detriment of relationships. Relationship-oriented people, on the other hand,...
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