by Elizabeth | Aug 10, 2012 | Learning Story
Since ‘story’ is central to my thought, I loved this article that clarifies that The Story is the Trinitarian God and The living, breathing Word. Honestly, I’ve been concerned about some of the story stuff coming out, and Leslie Leyland Fields does a great job of voicing this concern. The Gospel Is More than a Story
While we’re at it, why not stop to read a poem from the Word of God: Psalm 97
And now, some of my favorite Olympic stories and photos. what are yours?
Where Was God When Lolo Jones Placed Fourth
Sex and the Single Olympian
And for photos – check out Olympic Beauty: The Bold, Bizarre, and Beautiful
by Elizabeth | Aug 7, 2012 | Learning Story
Yesterday, I posed the question, “Are Women Tired?” and today, I follow up with Dorothy Sayers, whose quotes I was just perusing on Goodreads. If you’ve never read this sharp, dry, witty woman, no time like the present to start. Try these two out to get you started…
“A man once asked me … how I managed in my books to write such natural conversation between men when they were by themselves. Was I, by any chance, a member of a large, mixed family with a lot of male friends? I replied that, on the contrary, I was an only child and had practically never seen or spoken to any men of my own age till I was about twenty-five. “Well,” said the man, “I shouldn’t have expected a woman (meaning me) to have been able to make it so convincing.” I replied that I had coped with this difficult problem by making my men talk, as far as possible, like ordinary human beings. This aspect of the matter seemed to surprise the other speaker; he said no more, but took it away to chew it over. One of these days it may quite likely occur to him that women, as well as men, when left to themselves, talk very much like human beings also.”
― Dorothy L. Sayers, Are Women Human?
and here’s a little freebie…thanks to www.goodreads.com for excellence in spreading the literary gospel!
“In the world it is called Tolerance, but in hell it is called Despair…the sin that believes in nothing, cares for nothing, seeks to know nothing, interferes with nothing, enjoys nothing, hates nothing, finds purpose in nothing, lives for nothing, and remains alive because there is nothing for which it will die.”
― Dorothy L. Sayers
by Elizabeth | Aug 6, 2012 | Learning Story
Maybe it’s just me. But I think this is true for a lot of us a lot of the time. Do you need to stop, rest, and remember?
Women are tired. Women struggle. We carry loads of responsibility – work and school assignments, caretaking of children and aging parents, ministry at church and beyond. With these responsibilities come great joy and privilege, but…
We are tired. For some of us, life barrages us like a sudden slew of group text messages, and
We forget…
We forget…our God-designed and designated meaning and mission.
We forget… how the Bible explains our compulsive need for control and the reason we struggle with shame.
We forget…the hope of the freedom for which Christ set us free.
We forget…the hope that comes when we set our sights on the full redemption to come.
Stop. Rest. Remember.
“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” Matthew 11:28-30
by Elizabeth | Jul 30, 2012 | Learning Story
I’m writing on a short schedule today, working on the third in the Living Story series – the best topic of all – LOVE!
Since many people are curious about how writers write, I thought I’d show a few pics of my ‘early inceptionary process.’ (Yes, I made that up).
some of the books I gathered from my study.My computer’s in the shop, so I’m displaced today.
Page 1 of notes. (Yes, it’s on an old calendar, but it’s such good paper. Sometimes I still write handwritten notes till I am ready to start in on the computer.
a couple of more pages.
If you’re eager to see a finished product, please check out Learning God’s Story of Grace and Living God’s Story of Grace.
by Elizabeth | Jul 26, 2012 | Learning Story
I’m pretty excited about a conference I’m doing a lot of prep for right now. A group of women in the Shenandoah Valley area of Virginia decided they should bring various churches and ministries in the area together for a day of gathering as sisters in Christ to worship the Lord and remember the one true story that binds us. This is a concept that could be reproduced ANYWHERE, with the distinctive marks of the hosting community.
by Elizabeth | Jul 23, 2012 | Learning Story
“Wherein you greatly rejoice, even though now for a season, if need be, you are in heaviness through manifold temptations.”1 Peter 1:6
Charles Spurgeon’s remarks:
“THIS VERSE TO A WORLDLY MAN looks amazingly like a contradiction; and even to a Christian man, when he understands it best, it will still be a paradox. “Ye greatly rejoice,” and yet “ye are in heaviness.” Is that possible? Can there be in the same heart great rejoicing, and yet a temporary heaviness? Most assuredly. This paradox has been known and felt by many of the Lord’s children, and it is far from being the greatest paradox of the Christian life. Men who live within themselves, and mark their own feelings as Christians, will often stand and wonder at themselves. Of all riddles, the greatest riddle is a Christian man. As to his pedigree, what a riddle he is! He is a child of the first Adam, “an heir of wrath, even as others.” He is a child of the second Adam: he was born free; there is therefore now no condemnation unto him. He is a riddle in his own existence. “As dying, and behold we live; as chastened, and not killed.” He is a riddle as to the component parts of his own spiritual frame. He finds that which makes him akin to the devil—depravity, corruption, binding him still to the earth, and causing him to cry out, “O wretched man that I am;” and yet he finds that he has within himself that which exalts him, not merely to the rank of an angel, but higher still—a something which raises him up together, and makes him “sit together with Christ Jesus in heavenly places.” He finds that he has that within him which must ripen into heaven, and yet that about him which would inevitably ripen into hell, if grace did not forbid. What wonder, then, beloved, if the Christian man be a paradox himself, that his condition should be a paradox too? Why marvel ye, when ye see a creature corrupt and yet purified, mortal and yet immortal, fallen but yet exalted far above principalities and powers—why marvel ye, that ye should find that creature also possessed of mingled experience, greatly rejoicing, and yet at the same time, “in heaviness through manifold temptations.” Charles Spurgeon, sermon on 1 Peter 1:6
Read the whole sermon here
