The grace of the Lord Jesus be with you today, my friends.
Today’s Kindle deals include some interesting titles like Nancy Pearcey’s The Toxic War on Masculinity and Build on Jesus, a helpful book for anyone involved in children’s ministry. Ayman Ibrahim’s guide to the life of Mohammed is good as well.
Survivor, Life Without the Phone, and the Shock of Coming Back
“Anyone who watches Survivor wonders what it would be like to be on Survivor. Could you endure the weather and the elements, the petty bickering, the social maneuvering, the endurance challenges, the constant hunger? But one experience marks contestants today in a way that wasn’t the case when the show began 25 years ago (50 seasons ago!): spending a month without the smartphone we’ve grown accustomed to having beside us at all times.”
Yours Alone (Video)
You may enjoy “Yours Alone,” a new song by Sovereign Grace Music. It’s the title track to a new album that is coming soon. They describe it as “an anthemic call to surrender every aspect of our lives to the One who redeemed us for his glory.”
How to Love Your Wife Through the Rough Patches
Darryl Dash: “It’s not that our marriage has been particularly hard. In fact, I think we have a good marriage. It’s just that life is hard, and so is marriage. Even the best marriages will struggle at least occasionally. If you’re married, you will hit rough patches. We all think we’re exempt, but we’re not.” He describes a few strategies that have been helpful to him through the years.
When God Says No
“I prayed God would heal my aunt, Karmi, from cancer. I prayed God would give my sister a baby. I prayed God would save my nephew’s premature daughter. I had prayed with confident faith. I had prayed with desperate tears. I had prayed Scripture with hope. But in each case, and others like them, the Lord said no.” What are we to do in those times God does not answer our prayers in the way we would like him to?
In Praise of Godly Mothers-in-Law
Here’s an article that honors godly mothers-in-law. “Here’s how it didn’t happen: overnight. Freshly poured concrete needs four weeks to reach full strength. Where a recent marriage is concerned, it can take years for a new home to form a sturdy relationship with an old one. My mother-in-law and I are not exempt from the typical tearful struggles. Am I really a part of the family? How close is too close? How many times should we see each other per week, month, or year? But longer lasting than any conflict has been my mother-in-law’s commitment to bless our marriage instead of burdening it.”
Bible Study Leaders Should Not Have All the Answers
There is something almost alarming but very important about this fact: Bible study leaders should not have all the answers.
Flashback: Who’s Afraid of the Teenage Years?
I was often warned of the struggles of parenting teens but rarely told of the blessings. I was often assured that it would be a time of difficulty but rarely encouraged that it would be a time of pleasure. Yet the years have proven that the joys of parenting teens have far exceeded the sorrows and the blessings have far exceeded the troubles.
You go out of curiosity prying into a bad book, and you are making as dangerous an experiment as the man who should take a lighted torch into a gunpowder mill to find out whether there is any danger of its blowing up. He will find out, but the experiment will never be of any advantage to anybody.
—De Witt Talmage
