Gwendolyn Harmon's Blog: Learning Ladyhood, page 5

Grievous?

“For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments: and His commandments are not grievous. For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.”1 John 5:3-4

For Christians, the word “commandment” often conjures up visions of Moses or the Old Testament sacrifices. But just because we live on this side of the cross doesn’t mean we can completely dismiss the idea of obedience to God’s commands. But because Christ’s sacrifice ...

Rest and Fortify

I am in the process of journaling my way slowly through the Bible, and right now I am about halfway through book of 2 Chronicles. My studies through this book in the past have focused primarily on the “good king, bad king,” dynamic of this period in Israel’s history, but as I read through the first few verses of king Asa’s reign, I noticed something in the initial list of his accomplishments:

“And he built fenced cities in Judah: for the land had rest, and he had no war in those years; because th...

Filling our Mindless Moments

Psalm 1 has become one of those passages that feels like an old friend, but I was challenged recently by a brand-new application I hadn’t considered before.

I was sitting in a parking lot, waiting to pick up a friend from the airport, and I decided to spend some time reading the Bible and talking with God.

Despite the familiarity, the first two verses of Psalm 1 popped out at me:

“Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in...

The One Who Sees Our Sorrows

My class has been learning about Moses and the exodus from Egypt this month in Bible class. It never ceases to amaze me how I can teach through the same Bible passage year after year, and each and every time, something jumps out at me from the midst of words so familiar I could almost quote them from memory.

Exodus 3-4 is one of those passages.

Perhaps it was because I am reading through the book of Job at the moment, or perhaps God just wanted to remind me, but for whatever reason, the followin...

Entitled to a Happy Life?

Sometimes in Christianity, I think we so enjoy God’s abundant blessing on our lives, we begin to feel as if we are entitled to them.

A hardship appears, and we whine and complain about it as if it had somehow slipped past the loving protection of our all-knowing, all-powerful God. We pout over our trials as if God hadn’t held up His end of the bargain—we are His children, after all, aren’t we entitled to an easy life?

But the truth is, we aren’t.

Even if Christ had never told us that persecution ...

Lighting the Darkness

I’ve been reading recently about the Columbus Day Storm, which hit the Pacific Northwest in October of 1962. At Oregon’s State Hospital, a facility for those struggling with mental health issues, the power went out as the storm approached. Soon, the winds raged, fiercer than any storm in living memory. Huge trees fell, buildings lost windows, roofs, even walls. Debris swirled dangerously through the air.

I can only imagine the roar of the winds along with bangs, crashes, and thuds heard from ins...

Lean In

It was winter. I was seven or eight years old, and my family had taken a drive down the old Scenic Highway in the Columbia River Gorge. It was one of our favorite things to do as a family, especially during the winter months, when there were no crowds.

If you have ever been to the Gorge in winter, you know the power of the billowing, blustering gusts that blow through the wind tunnel created by the hills and bluffs on either side of the river. Daddy’s favorite place for experiencing these gusts ...

Seeking God in the New Year

Have you ever noticed that most people have a mid-January slump? The busyness, stress, and excitement of the Christmas season is over, and the newness of the new year begins to fade as we return to the humdrum routines of daily life.

It makes sense that we would miss the happy things of the Christmas season, the occasions to look forward to, the people we celebrate with, the festive lights to cheer us as we drive at night or in early morning. And yet, do any of those things really fill that empt...

The Value of a Well-Marked Bible

I flopped into my favorite chair and grabbed a blanket as I settled in. Lifting my Bible from the small table nearby, I held it, pages towards me, thumbs ready to open it up. I paused, closed my eyes, and took a deep breath as I prayed. “Lord, You know I need to be encouraged. I need Your help!”

I spent the next half-hour curled up with my Bible, refusing to let my mind wander or my eyes simply skim the pages. The passages were familiar, read many times over the years. They had become almost lik...

The Hope of Christmas

The birth of Christ was a turning point in human history, the unveiling of the long-awaited Messiah who would pay the penalty for the sin of all mankind. And yet, when Jesus was born, and even during His years of ministry leading up to His crucifixion, relatively few actually recognized Him. Why was that?

From what I have read in the New Testament accounts, as well as what I have read about the history of the early New Testament era, I think part of the reason was because God’s plan for the Mess...