Gwendolyn Harmon's Blog: Learning Ladyhood, page 3

Knowing and Delighting

I came across a quote recently from D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones that challenged me. Speaking of knowing God, he says,

“I am not asking whether you know things about Him—but do you know God, are you enjoying God, is God the centre of your life, the soul of your being, the source of your greatest joy? He is meant to be.”

So how do we get to that place of truly knowing God,  enjoying Him, making Him the center of our lives, and finding Him the source of our greatest joy? Look at what Jeremiah 9:23-24 has...

Inseparable Love

Romans 8:35-39

There I was, sitting in a cute little ice cream shop, ready to work on a blog post. No passage in mind yet, I flipped through the pages of my Bible and landed on a familiar set of verses in Romans 8:

“Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine or nakedness, or peril, or sword?” (v.35)

I read the encouraging words slowly, soaking in the truth that nothing can separate me from God’s love. But then I got to the next verse:

“As...

A Christian’s Armor

The armor of God in Ephesians 6 is one of those passages I have read and heard about, but never really slowed down and put all the pieces together.—Until this week, that is. It was the topic of a Bible lesson I was teaching to a group of kids at church recently, and as I talked through each piece of the armor, a common thread drew my attention.

But, first of all, what is the armor for? Here is the first part of the passage that introduces the concept.

“Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord,...

Is God Still Good When Things Go Wrong?

I’ve been studying through the book of Job recently, and have just started wading through the long series of discourses between Job and his three friends.

The first to speak is Eliphaz, who starts off sounding pretty good. But he takes a truth and tries to stuff it into the mold of his own ideas. Look at what he says:

“I would seek unto God, and unto God would I commit my cause: Which doeth great things and unsearchable; marvellous things without number: Who giveth rain upon the earth, and sendet...

Always Awake

I have always been prone to fearfulness, even as a child. Many times over the years I would wake from a bad dream and lie there, too terrified to go find my parents. I couldn’t trust myself to go back to sleep, for fear of going back into the bad dream again, and so I lay there for what seemed like an eternity.

But then, as I lay there, heart pounding, emotions surging, I would eventually hear the most comforting noise. It was a cluster of noises, actually: water running, dishes clinking, a fami...

Salt and Light

Matthew 5:13-15

If you have been a Christian for very long at all, you have probably heard the term “salt and light” used to describe Christians. But so often, we take the simple, condensed statement and bandy it about, not taking time to think deeply about what Jesus actually said, and what it means for our daily lives.

So, what about salt? And what does it actually mean to be “salty” for Jesus? (Spoiler alert: it’s pretty much the opposite of what the world means when it describes someone as “s...

The Peace of God

In my last post, I wrote about how to find peace with God, forgiveness of sin and restored relationship with the God who created us. But sometimes even the saved aren’t living in God’s peace. Why is that?

I think it is often because—either through neglect, rebellion, or simple spiritual inertia—we have at some point stopped making faith a part of our daily lives.

Now, I don’t mean by that statement that we have stopped doing the things of faith, or cast off faith in the form of “religion” as the...

The Way to Peace

“Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” Romans 5:1

What comes to mind when you hear the word peace? Perhaps you think of armies laying down their weapons on a battlefield, or leaders signing treaties. Or perhaps you think of curling into a comfy chair with a blanket and a cup of coffee, staring out a view of the ocean.

But, deep down, we all long for something deeper. We long for a peace that can wash over us, flooding the uttermost depths of ou...

Walking With God in the Cool of the Day

“And they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day…” Genesis 3:8a

Although I have only had a garden of my own for a few years, I can’t remember a time in my childhood without some kind of garden in my family’s yard. I used to go outside on summer evening and play or talk to my mom while she watered. To this day, I love the scent of damp earth and growing things that seems to fit so well with the cool of the day.

We are not told in Scripture whether the Lord wal...

Trust and Do Good

Have you ever been discouraged by where God has you? Whether it’s family, work, ministry, or just the dailyness of life, the tendency to become dissatisfied with God’s will for our current season is something most—if not all—of us struggle with from time to time.

In Psalm 37, David is looking around him at all the evildoers that seem to be prospering, but reminds himself of an important truth:

“Fret not thyself because of evildoers, neither be thou envious against the workers of iniquity. For th...