Winter’s Cold Will End: The Promise of Spring
“There is beauty in the white snow covering every tree, home, and street. The peaceful silence it spreads across the earth points us to the peace of Christ. Yet, we would be remiss to pretend that winter’s dormancy doesn’t also point us to spiritual truths. When once-bright zinnias shrivel and brown in the first frost, we are reminded of death. When every leaf falls from the tree in our backyard, we see the effects of death. The reality of dying and decay is undeniable…” Winter’s Cold Will End: The Promise of Spring by Brittany Allen
The Sacred Invitation of Lent: How the Freedom to Lament Leads Us to Hope
“We are invited into deeper communion with Christ when we soberly observe the time leading up to Holy Week. The celebration of Resurrection Sunday is all the more joyful when we have intentionally denied our flesh of certain worldly desires, just as Jesus denied his flesh by willingly giving up his life on our behalf. So this is the sacred invitation of Lent: that we learn to grieve our sin and our brokenness; leaning into the gift of godly lament. Through this, may we be healed, and may he receive glory.” The Sacred Invitation of Lent: How the Freedom to Lament Leads Us to Hope by Ashley Setterlind
Called to Cultivate: How to Discern Your Calling
“Many of our moments and days feel achingly ordinary. We clean the house, steward finances, write emails, make dinner, build friendships, change a child’s diaper, and we do it over and over. But 1 Thessalonians 4:1 tells us it is good “to live quietly…and to work with your hands.” While there are women throughout history who have made dramatic impacts on society and on the world, there are millions of godly women who have lived quiet, faithful lives, diligently loving and serving their families and communities, executing their work with excellence. Their names might not be remembered on earth, but they have received a far better reward than earthly remembrance.” Called to Cultivate: How to Discern Your Calling by Chelsea Sobolik
Weathering the Weary Days of Winter
“For some of us, winter is a wearying time of year. It’s not just the cold wind rattling us to the bone, but also the dark mornings and evenings, the fears of driving in snowstorms or slipping in parking lots, the thoughts of the heating bills, and the snow days that steal away appointments, school, and daycare. Winter can be a reminder of all we are without, whether it’s a first winter without a loved one or a winter still without someone like a child or a spouse. As the snow packs around our houses, we feel closed in—both physically and emotionally. Winter can feel like many dark nights of the soul.” Weathering the Weary Days of Winter by Lara d’Entremont
Look Forward, Because He Promised
“If you’re anything like me, it’s easy to have your gaze focused on today—on what needs to be done, on what isn’t going to get done. And when we lift our eyes to look to tomorrow, or next year, or next decade, our sight can be filled with the worries prompted by future uncertainties. Our looking forward can so easily be filled with anxiety rather than anticipation. But by faith in Christ we are God’s people. And God’s people have always been, and still are, a people who can look forward to what has been promised.” Look Forward, Because He Promised by Carl Laferton
What Has God Actually Promised? 20 Truths from the Psalms
“Over and over again, the psalmists reveal that their hope and faith in God rests not in prophetic promises of how God will remove the current struggle, but in the promise of who he is. Even in moments where the writer uses words like ‘deliverance’ and ‘salvation’, we have no idea of the timeframe, severity, or nature of the promised divine action. Like the writers of old, we too rarely receive specific promises stating that the cancer will go into remission, the work conflict will subside, or the support money will come in on time. In these trying moments of waiting and wanting, it is our knowledge of the character of our Heavenly Father that shapes our hope in the promises of who God is for his people.” What Has God Actually Promised? 20 Truths from the Psalms by William R. Osborne
When Justice Feels Far
“I bet you’ve breathed long enough to see injustice. Our chests tighten as the question of justice sticks in our minds like a bee stinger hard to remove. So, we who follow a just God turn to him and ask “How is this just?” We know he rules. We know he is good and righteous. We see the discrepancy between God’s character and this world, and we want to know if he is doing anything. We’re not alone in these questions. They are the questions God’s people have been asking for millennia. We stand in their legacy as we ask, and we can read what the Lord spoke to them in the Scriptures to know what he would say to us as well.” - When Justice Feels Far, by Taylor Turkington
Gospel Hope in Infertility, Loss, and Unmet Expectations
“In the early years of my infertility journey, I fought my grief tooth and nail. But over the years I’ve realized the beauty of the pathway of lament. I’ve found that while lament leads us to hope, we must go through grief first. True Christian lament doesn’t ignore the pain and the brokenness of this world. Rather, it acknowledges it, enters into it, and through it draws nearer to the compassionate heart of Christ.” - Gospel Hope in Infertility, Loss, and Unmet Expectations by Lauren Bowerman
Unbolted from My Love Affair with This World
“Over twenty five years later I am a credible witness to the grace and mercy of God and his power to transform a broken life into one filled with purpose, and even joy. Yet I don’t say this easily. Years of wrestling to reconcile God’s love with his sovereignty added to the exhaustion of grief. No doubt some of my words during those early years sounded heretical and struck fear into the hearts of trusted friends. But the Lord did not abandon me.” - Unbolted from My Love Affair with This World, by Sharon Betters
How Should We Cry Out to God?
“In so many ways I see the tension between brokenness and beauty, injustice and promised redemption, Jesus’ finished work and the pain that still exists in our world. And as I wander through this broken world with my broken body, I am encouraged by the model I see from the psalmist: a model of honest, true, broken lament that leads to sure, true, steadfast hope. I see him enter into the grief, acknowledge the brokenness, and yet in the midst of it still cling to faith in God. My heart swells at the thought, “could my grief be the very path that leads me to deeper hope?”” - How Should We Cry Out to God? by Lauren Bowerman
Grief's Path To God
“In our grief, we wait. Our souls wait for God to show up, to redeem, to carry us through. We hope in his word, his promises, his character. This is the intersection of pain and promise, this place of waiting in our grief. It may not be the grief of losing someone you love. It may be the death of a dream that you grieve, the loss of a relationship, the disappointment of a spouse’s choices or even the inability to conceive. It may be the loss of an ability, health, or youth. We bring these losses to God and we wait. But notice how we wait.” - Grief’s Path to God, by Christine Gordon and Hope Blanton
Serving the Lord With Gladness
“To this day, I still struggle to feel glad about the work God establishes for me. Sure, I may serve him outwardly, but my heart often feels rascally, sulky, and angry. Does God really expect me to feel glad about the interruptions, messes, and do-overs that derail me from day to day? Yet in those moments, it’s helpful for me to remember that the entirety of Psalm 100:2 points to the spark that will ignite gladness in our hearts.” - Serving the Lord with Gladness by Laura Booz
The Lord's Nearness and Our Good
“There are times when we don’t necessarily feel God’s nearness to us. And it is then that it is absolutely vital to regularly be immersing our souls in Scripture. One of the places I consistently turn to is the book of Psalms. The Psalms give us language for our lament and teach us how to pray honestly before the Lord. The Psalms remind us of the character of God and foretell our Savior. In our moments of distress, we cry out, because the psalmists model for us what it’s like to bring all of our feelings and emotions to God.” - The Lord’s Nearness and Our Good by Chelsea Patterson Sobolik
Finding God in Our Anxiety
“It had been a week, and I was still in bed. I was unable to work, drive, or even leave the house. Anxiety had showed up again and knocked me down, leaving me barely functioning. I still had a husband who was writing a dissertation and teaching undergraduate students, three children needing help with all the things, and a job at my church shepherding the women God had brought to us. But as I woke from another night of restless sleep to more intrusive thoughts, movement back to a normal life seemed a distant hope. I felt like I was lost inside my own mind.” - Finding God in Our Anxiety by Hope Blanton and Christine Gordon