T.M. Mayfield

“Happiness is dependent upon our circumstances. Joy is dependent upon our Savior. This is why, though sad times are promised to believers (John 16:33), we are also promised the gift of joy (John 15:11; Gal. 5:22).”
― Jared C. Wilson, The Gospel According to Satan: Eight Lies about God that Sound Like the Truth

“Sin is fundamentally stupid. Oh, it has that logic of immediacy to it, the appealing apparent sensibility of pleasure—of fulfillment, beauty, and enlightenment—but it always bids us make the most of time by wasting it.”
― Jared C. Wilson, The Gospel According to Satan: Eight Lies about God that Sound Like the Truth

“Perhaps because pregnancy and birth get all the magazine covers and headlines—no surprise, as these events sell more stuff—we’ve overlooked this last part of the childbearing story. A woman’s postpartum experience might be given a brief nod at the end of a pregnancy book, or thirty seconds of footage at the end of a TV show, but a deeper look almost never occurs. Rather than get invited to take a sacred time-out after delivering her child, the new mother is more likely met with pressure to “bounce back”—back to her pre-pregnancy productivity, back to her pre-pregnancy body, and back to her pre-pregnancy spirits. But when it comes to becoming a mother, there is no back; there is only through. After birthing her child, every woman must pass through this initial adjustment phase. It is a strange and beautiful limbo zone that is both exhausting and exciting, mysterious and monotonous. When she arrives at the other side of the postpartum phase after roughly a month and a half, she will most certainly be facing forward, prepared to take her next steps into motherhood.”
― Heng Ou, The First Forty Days: The Essential Art of Nourishing the New Mother

“A half-truth is just as dangerous as an outright lie, for it gives you a false sense of security, making you feel you’ve covered all your bases and checked all the boxes, when in reality, its bedrock is sinking sand. Yet hygge can have a place in the life or home of a Christ follower. In the same way a favorite devotional book does not replace your time in God’s Word but merely helps to set your gaze in the right direction and offer practical application to what you’re learning in Scripture, hygge can be a kind of companion for making a home where people can feel their way toward God and find Him (Acts 17:27). When viewed correctly, hygge can be a physical tool that reflects your spiritual life and invites others into a relationship with Christ.”
― Jamie Erickson, Holy Hygge: Creating a Place for People to Gather and the Gospel to Grow