Gwendolyn Harmon's Blog: Learning Ladyhood, page 18

Why teach the Bible to Children?

It was Sunday morning, and a little girl sat on the pew with her family, flipping the pages of her Bible. Her straight, white-blonde hair fell forward, tickling her chin as she bent over the columns of small words with their large chapter numbers. Furrowing her brow, she leaned over to her mother and whispered, “Mommy, can you find me a verse?”

It’s been almost thirty years since I sat searching my Bible for “verses,” but that day remains fresh in my memory. I remember my frustration at Mommy’s ...

Walk In the Light

The thing I love most about summer is the amount of sunlight that floods my room from morning to evening. There’s just something joyful and energetic about a bright, sunlit room. The rest of our house, however, stays fairly dark most of the day. In the evening, as I have dinner with my parents, I can see the sunlight spilling out into the hallway outside my room, beckoning to me.

Recently, as I walked through the house on a particularly sunny day and looked at my family sitting in the dark livin...

The Comfort of God’s Presence

Early Monday morning, I sat in an empty airport concourse, finishing up my time with God, which had been cut short by the rush to get to the airport on time. I fished my Bible out of my bag and flipped to a passage that God had brought to mind when I first woke up.

As I woke up, I had found myself praying, Lord, I need Your presence. I had hardly begun my day, but was already keenly feeling the truth of Christ’s statement in John 15:5

 

“Without Me, ye can do nothing,”

 

As I prayed, the Holy Spirit...

The Year King Uzziah Died

The year Uzziah died, God’s people were a mess. The twelve tribes of Israel to the north had spiraled into shameless idolatry and violence, and, looking around, Isaiah could see that his own two-tribe kingdom of Judah was not far behind.

King Uzziah had begun well, and those longing for a return to God had been hopeful, but the stronger Uzziah became, the further he drifted away from God. At one point, he pridefully took upon himself the office God had given solely to the priests and was instant...

Givens and Not Givens

Whoever we are, whatever our season or circumstances of life, we all have those things for which we long, but which God in His infinite wisdom has chosen not to give to us, or those things we wish we didn’t have, but can’t get rid of.

This topic of “Givens and Not Givens” is addressed in a recent episode of the Elizabeth Elliot Podcast (which, by the way, I highly recommend.) As I listened to her illustrations, I was reminded of two women from Scripture: Hannah and Rachel.

Both experienced the u...

Love and Sacrifice

I recently saw a quote that said,

“Never sacrifice for people who wouldn’t do the same for you.”

On the surface, it seems like practical and reasonable advice—until we think of Christ.

Christ did sacrifice, and not just on the cross, but during the whole of his time on earth. From the moment He entered Mary’s womb to the moment He ascended back into heaven, He faced the indignities of the incarnation, the Creator living not just with His creatures, but as one.

And for whom did He sacrifice? Paul...

But if Not

The preparations were complete. It was to be a grand and glorious unveiling of a magnificent statue commissioned by King Nebuchadnezzar himself. The musicians assembled, tuned their instruments, and sat ready, waiting for the cue to play their first note. The crowd assembled was a noble group, made up of princes, governors, captains, judges, treasurers, counsellors, sheriffs, and rulers of the many provinces which formed the vast Babylonian empire.

Finally, it was time. A royal herald stood befo...

Envy in Christian Ministry

As Christians, we tend to shrink away from addressing the fact that our fellow Christian coworkers in ministry are redeemed sinners—and so are we.

Friction between Christians does occur, particularly in ministry settings. It is not what God desires for us (Psalm 133:1) but it happens, nevertheless, because each Christian still fights with his or her own sin nature. (Romans 7) All too often, that friction stems from the sin of envy.

Envy in ministry might look like a tendency to be territorial abo...

Yield

When writing first started to become an important part of my life, a friend gave me a book of 300 writing prompts. This summer, I have been trying to use one each week as a writing exercise. Last week’s prompt was,

“What street sign does your life most closely resemble right now?”

It’s a strange question, but one I could quickly answer. The street sign that most characterizes my life right now is the yellow, diamond-shaped sign that bears just one word: Yield.

During the summertime, my schedule is...

Be Still and Know

The last few days of school this year, I was bombarded each morning with questions about how the day would unfold, what we were going to do or not do, and how the details our day would be different or the same. In an effort to keep my class of inquisitive little first graders moving through their day without taking the time to describe each minute detail of our schedule first, I found myself answering them periodically with something like, “I know things are different today, but you just need to...