Last week I introduced you to D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones’s book Spiritual Depression: Its Causes and Cure and brought out the main points from his first chapter, “General Consideration.” This week we’re going to look at some immensely relevant ideas from Chapter 7, on fear, and Chapter 10, on faith. What Do You Fear? Coming after […]
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. […]
Last week we looked at the last third of Lamentations 3 and some general takeaways for those of us in chronic illness: staying faithful to God and trusting in Him during a trial. This last week of our study I want to park on the big theme of the whole chapter and the book: waiting […]
Last week we introduced Lamentations 3 and read Jeremiah’s personal lament in verses 1-18. Today we’ll see a significant shift in tone as we look at the next section of the chapter. Part 2: Verses 19-30 From 1:1 to 3:18, Jeremiah has described “hopelessness,” but verses 19-39 focus on the hope that we have in […]
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 Sunday before Thanksgiving, my pastor preached a powerful sermon on thankfulness. This sermon changed how I look at several aspects of thankfulness and challenged me to be a more thankful daughter of God. With my pastor’s permission, I’m sharing his main points and both our notes with you in the hopes that what God […]
Last week I shared some themes that encouraged me from The Horse and His Boy, book two in C. S. Lewis’s Chronicles of Narnia. This week I’d like to discuss some thoughts on prayer based on my reading of the next book in the series, Prince Caspian. Note: as I said before, these books are […]
I know we said we were taking a break this month (and we are), but God gave me this blessing unexpectedly, and I wanted to share it with you in time for the holiday. Happy Thanksgiving! The Girl Who Was Going to Spain I stood between two headstones, hands in my coat pockets, shivering in […]
Nothing better illustrates the nature of life than the seasons of nature: seasons for growth, seasons for harvest, seasons for work, and seasons for rest. To everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven. Ecclesiastes 3:1 In May we announced a season of rest (at least from The Valley) for us as Emily got […]
A couple of months ago, the pastor of my church preached a sermon from II Corinthians 4:7-18 that really encouraged me in my chronic illness struggles. With his permission, I’m sharing his outline and both our notes in hopes the message will encourage you too. The message was titled “Humbly Ministering for His Glory.” I. […]
The Valley