I (Melissa) have referenced The Thinklings Podcast often on this blog, and the hosts have been gracious to let me share material from various podcast episodes with you. Last year, one of the hosts, Andy Stearns (a professor at Faith Baptist Bible College in Ankeny, Iowa), experienced the deep, hard valley of the loss of […]
Originally published by Jenny Harmon on July 29, 2023, on Oil for Your Lamp. Reposted with permission. Adjusting to life with a disabled body is not for the faint of heart. This transition has felt like being trapped in a perpetual escape room with endless puzzles to solve and no real hope of breaking out. […]
Fruit in the Ashes Most of us know the story of Joseph, Jacob’s first son by his beloved wife, Rachel (the one who died near Ephrathah): given dreams of a great future, envied by his brothers, sold into slavery in Egypt, falsely accused of crime, forgotten in prison, and finally not just restored but elevated […]
How much do you know about the place called Ephrathah in the Bible? The ancient name for Bethlehem and the region around it, Ephrath or Ephrathah first appears in Genesis 35:16-20 as the place where Jacob’s beloved wife, Rachel, died. The only Ephrathites mentioned by name in Scripture are Elimelech, his wife, and their two […]
Thank you, Jasmine, for sharing your story with us! Tell us about yourself! I’m an Aussie, and I live around 1.5 hours’ north of Sydney, New South Wales, with my husband of nearly eight years, Dave (he’s a champion!). I’m originally a clinically-trained psychologist, but right now I’m working as an author of Christian fantasy […]
By Emily’s encouragement, here is a post and poem, inspired by Lamentations 3, that I originally published on my personal blog. As I studied the book of Lamentations–chapter 3 in particular–Charles R. Swindoll’s little book The Lamentations of Jeremiah (Swindoll, 1977) opened my eyes to the depth, beauty, and poetry of this section of Scripture. […]
Some of my friends have named Lamentations 3 as one of their go-to passages during tough times–or the regular tough days of chronic illness. I’ve always seen Lamentations as a beautiful (if not a little depressing) book, but it wasn’t until October when I read it in my devotions that this passage became that life-giving […]
The Valley