tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10506456802219736012024-03-05T01:40:46.515-08:00The Ink LoftLoving stories, writing stories, and living the story written by my Creator...Rachelle O'Neilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02884513979937452569noreply@blogger.comBlogger221125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1050645680221973601.post-90479352743333782992023-03-31T14:25:00.001-07:002023-03-31T14:25:13.292-07:00Thoughts from 1 Timothy<p><font size="3">My time spent in Paul’s Letters continued with 1 Timothy. And there is so much good stuff in this letter! You can check out The Bible Project’s overview <a href="https://youtu.be/7RoqnGcEjcs" target="_blank">here</a>.</font></p> <a href="https://drive.google.com/uc?id=1OGOO02VCiOit4gjHld8KwpKWZvkTF5rI"><img alt="Thoughts from the Book of Romans - 1" border="0" height="348" src="https://drive.google.com/uc?id=12HmoU9kCoG2WoEUL8wip86SiErEeNIeh" style="background-image: none; border: 0px currentcolor; display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="Thoughts from the Book of Romans - 1" width="488" /></a> <p> </p> <p><strong><font size="3">1 Tim 1:3-5 “As I urged you when I went into Macedonia, stay there in Ephesus so that you may command certain people not to teach false doctrines any longer or to devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies. Such things promote controversial speculations rather than advancing God’s work – which is by faith. The goal of this command is love, which comes from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith.”</font></strong></p> <blockquote> <p><font size="3">The church at Ephesus was really struggling under the influence of false teachers. When Paul originally wrote them around AD 60, they were thriving. He extolled their faith and encouraged unity in the church. Now, roughly 4 years later, they were being led astray, and Paul had sent Timothy to guide them back to the right path.</font></p> <p><font size="3">Here, Paul emphasizes the importance of not letting anything distract from the Gospel. Some teachers in Ephesus were apparently spinning grand concepts involving genealogies in the Old Testament, and they were getting everyone caught up in the minutiae of things that just didn’t matter.</font></p> <p><font size="3">Today, people can get majorly caught up in details about the end times or even apologetics. I think learning to defend the Truth is a good thing – we are called to be ready to give an answer – but any time we start sliding into speculation, we need to be careful. The message of the Gospel is of utmost importance, and we don’t want to ever get too caught up in details and needless speculation that we lose sight of that or miss chances to share it.</font></p> </blockquote> <p><strong><font size="3">1 Tim 2:1-4 “I urge, then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for all people – for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. This is good, and pleases God our Savior, Who wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.”</font></strong></p> <blockquote> <p><font size="3">My study note points out that this is particularly remarkable because Nero was emperor of Rome at this time. Prayer is something that my relationship with has ebbed and flowed over time. I really like the idea of an attitude of prayer, the “praying continually” concept. I’m just not great at it, to be honest. I’ve incorporated it more as I’ve gotten older, but it’s definitely a process. I have my set prayers – mealtimes and bedtime with my daughter – that I try to take seriously and not let become too formulaic and empty. Outside of that, I do send quick prayers, but they tend to be exclusively cries for help. Which is good, of course, but I want to get better at prayers of gratitude and prayers over people as I see them.</font></p> <p><font size="3">I tend to really struggle with long prayers, though. Praying through prayer requests, praying for family, friends, leaders, and the world. I have partly a focus problem and partly a time issue. I don’t always have the time – my daughter does wake up eventually – but more often I struggle to <em>give </em>the time.</font></p> <p><font size="3">Prayers are something I really appreciate at my church. They are very public and very serious. I like that we make that an important part of corporate worship. I remember when I was younger and my grandparents would stay with us. My grandpa always had a long, intense prayer session on his knees at the side of the bed. I was kind of intimidated at the time, but now I’m amazed and inspired.</font></p> </blockquote> <p><strong><font size="3">1 Tim 2:5 “For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus.”</font></strong></p> <blockquote> <p><font size="3">My study note: “We can stand on one side of a gorge and discuss the possibility of many bridges across the abyss, but if we are determined to cross, we will have to commit to one bridge.”</font></p> </blockquote> <p><strong><font size="3">1 Tim 4:12-14 “Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, and in purity. Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to preaching and to teaching. Do not neglect your gift, which was given you through prophecy when the body of elders laid their hands on you.” </font></strong></p> <blockquote> <p><font size="3">Not all gifts are given as dramatically as Timothy’s apparently was, but we all have gifts. And we are all, I believe, instructed to use them. God doesn’t give us gifts to watch us squander them. He has a purpose and a plan, and He wants us to seek it out. The closer I get to 30, the less I think people will “look down” on my youth. But there are still so many time I feel inadequate. Yet I don’t want that to hold me back from using my gifts.</font></p> </blockquote> <p><font size="3"><strong>1 Tim 6:6 “But godliness with contentment is great gain.”</strong></font></p> <blockquote> <p><font size="3">This verse follows Paul telling Timothy to stay away from those who only want to argue and are looking to get rich. Godliness with contentment is the great secret. Contentment comes when we recognize that we have everything we need in Christ.</font></p> </blockquote> <p><strong><font size="3">1 Tim 6:11-12 “But you, man of God, flee from all this, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness. Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses.”</font></strong></p> <blockquote> <p><font size="3">I love the phrase “take hold of the eternal life.” It’s an active thing. Eternal life isn’t way off in the future; it’s now. </font></p> </blockquote> <hr /><font size="3">So those are my thoughts from my reading of 1 Timothy. I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments!</font>Rachelle O'Neilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02884513979937452569noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1050645680221973601.post-20911739626564501692023-02-27T15:00:00.000-08:002023-02-27T15:02:22.601-08:00A Katie Parker Production by Jenny B. Jones<p><font size="3">I don’t tend to read a lot of e-books. I’m kind of a paper book snob, so digital books are never my first choice. But every now and then I get a new e-book, and they’re great for travel, especially. When I recently went to visit family, I decided it was a good time to finish a series I’ve read slowly over the last few years, <a href="https://www.jennybjones.com/series/a-katie-parker-production/" target="_blank">A Katie Parker Production by Jenny B. Jones</a>.</font></p> <p><font size="3"></font></p> <p><font size="3"><img style="margin: 0px 15px 0px 0px; float: left; display: inline;" src="https://www.jennybjones.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/In-Between-by-Jenny-B-Jones-535x800.png" width="280" align="left" height="419" />The first book, <em>In Between</em>, introduces Katie Parker, the sixteen-year-old daughter of a drug addict who has been shuffled around the foster system and has put up major defensive walls in the process. She gets placed in the home of James and Millie Scott, a pastor and his wife in the small town of In Between, Texas. But she is interested in none of it – not their love, not their small town charm, and certainly not their God. </font></p> <p><font size="3">But the further Katie runs from all that the Scotts offer her, the more trouble she finds herself in. Until finally, she has to make a choice about what she wants her life to look like. </font></p> <p><font size="3">The strength of this six-book series is in its heart and its characters. Katie is an intriguing main character. Her history and its resulting trauma make her a very different person from me, but I never felt disconnected from her, at least in the first few books. James and Millie, her foster parents, are lovely people who live out their faith in actions. They put off warmth and stability in every interaction, something Katie is not accustomed to. </font></p> <p><font size="3">And then there’s Maxine. Millie’s mother, she’s popularly known as Mad Maxine and takes her job as Katie’s foster grandmother very seriously. If seriously means pulling Katie into every hair-brained scheme she comes up with. And there are many schemes, usually involving semi-well intentioned trespassing and a tandem bicycle called Ginger Rogers. </font></p> <p><font size="3">I really<img style="float: right; display: inline;" src="https://www.jennybjones.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Something-to-Believe-In-Jenny-B-Jones-533x800.png" width="293" align="right" height="440" /> enjoyed the first three books in this series. The last three, though, feel very different. Book 4, <em>Something to Believe In</em>, is very odd in that it was actually published 6 years after Book 5, <em>Can’t Let You Go</em>. And then Book 6, <em>Forever Your Girl</em>, was published after that. When read in order, #4 feels much the same as the previous books, and it’s an enjoyable read. But apparently it was written as a correction, because a lot of readers didn’t like the multi-year gap between Book 3 and what then became Book 5. There are just a lot of inconsistencies created that make the last two books frustrating. And their tone is just very different from the earlier books. They feel older, which makes sense as Katie is now in her mid-twenties, and they feel a lot more intense. It was just a lot of tonal whiplash that was hard for me to roll with easily. I enjoyed the ending of the last book, but the journey to get there was challenging. </font></p> <p><font size="3">Overall, I think there are a lot of good things about this series. I enjoyed most of it, and the lessons it holds dig deep. The inconsistencies just gave me more of a sour taste. </font></p>Rachelle O'Neilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02884513979937452569noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1050645680221973601.post-26821256624238537632022-12-30T22:01:00.002-08:002022-12-30T22:01:23.450-08:00December’s Reads: Historical Fiction<p><font size="3">We’ve made it to the end of 2022! And I’ve made it through 12 genres of books this year. If my stats on <a href="https://app.thestorygraph.com/profile/frozenscribe" target="_blank">StoryGraph</a> are correct, I read 58 books in 2022, which is so much more than I read last year. So this reading challenge did its job!</font></p> <p><font size="3">December’s genre was Historical Fiction, which is a favorite of mine. Like most months, I ended up reading a couple non-genre books, too; they came in unexpectedly at the library. </font></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgY42EIknTCuV0z3mlDg_Mhh5FljQVPayKRkljiLOX5f5fLQ9arIvx2INsRBYVpw_K1AfirkTLQuRyXh7UoBer2HI-R2Am0j8kf2MxG-5izksMa1QaK4700TRUSixtdv3AH5k22eLZfh0WXtvlZ4tIdv7d5wuEiSCnDnm5Dma6cXETfhHW5RvW22uhiRA/s1920/December%202022%20Reads.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="285" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgY42EIknTCuV0z3mlDg_Mhh5FljQVPayKRkljiLOX5f5fLQ9arIvx2INsRBYVpw_K1AfirkTLQuRyXh7UoBer2HI-R2Am0j8kf2MxG-5izksMa1QaK4700TRUSixtdv3AH5k22eLZfh0WXtvlZ4tIdv7d5wuEiSCnDnm5Dma6cXETfhHW5RvW22uhiRA/w507-h285/December%202022%20Reads.jpg" width="507" /></a></div><br /><font size="3"><br /></font><p></p> <p><font size="3">I started off with <a href="https://lynnaustin.org/book/if-i-were-you/" target="_blank">If I Were You</a><em></em> by Lynn Austin.</font></p> <p><font size="3">(From Lynn’s Website)<img align="left" height="405" src="https://lynnaustin.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/IfIWereYou_CVR_forFINAL_101419-1170x1755.jpg" style="display: inline; float: left; margin: 0px 27px 0px 0px;" width="270" /></font></p> <p><font size="3"><em><strong>1950.</strong> In the wake of the war, Audrey Clarkson leaves her manor house in England for a fresh start in America with her young son. As a widowed war bride, Audrey needs the support of her American in-laws, whom she has never met. But she arrives to find that her longtime friend Eve Dawson has been impersonating her for the past four years. Unraveling this deception will force Audrey and Eve’s secrets―and the complicated history of their friendship―to the surface.</em></font></p> <p><font size="3"><em><strong>1940.</strong> Eve and Audrey have been as different as two friends can be since the day they met at Wellingford Hall, where Eve’s mother served as a lady’s maid for Audrey’s mother. As young women, those differences become a polarizing force . . . until a greater threat―Nazi invasion―reunites them. With London facing relentless bombardment, Audrey and Eve join the fight as ambulance drivers, battling constant danger together. An American stationed in England brings dreams of a brighter future for Audrey, and the collapse of the class system gives Eve hope for a future with Audrey’s brother. But in the wake of devastating loss, both women must make life-altering decisions that will set in motion a web of lies and push them both to the breaking point long after the last bomb has fallen.</em></font></p> <p><font size="3"><em>This sweeping story transports readers to one of the most challenging eras of history to explore the deep, abiding power of faith and friendship to overcome more than we ever thought possible.</em></font></p> <p><font size="3">I typically enjoy split-time stories like this. Initially, I struggled a bit with the way these two timelines were interwoven; it felt odd. But eventually it started to flow better, and then I got invested. There’s a lot of sadness in this story, but I think it’s really about how we navigate trying times and grief. It was a little slow, but I did enjoy it. </font></p> <p><font size="3">I also read <a href="https://www.christianbook.com/the-wish-book-christmas/lynn-austin/9781496452528/pd/452520?product_redirect=1&search_term=the%20wish%20book&Ntt=452520&item_code=&ps_exit=PRODUCT|legacy&Ntk=keywords&event=ESRCP" target="_blank">The Wish Book Christmas</a><em></em>, which is a novella sequel to <em>If I Were You</em>. I really enjoyed this story about discovering the true meaning of Christmas.</font></p> <p><font size="3">I finally got a chance to finish Roseanna M. White’s Codebreakers series with <a href="https://www.roseannamwhite.com/books/codebreakers-series/3-a-portrait-of-loyalty" target="_blank">A Portrait of Loyalty</a><em></em>. I talked about the previous two books in my <a href="http://theinkloft.blogspot.com/2022/11/octobers-reads-historical-romance.html" target="_blank">October post</a> about Historical Romance. </font></p> <p><font size="3">(From Roseanna’ website)<img align="right" height="386" src="https://i0.wp.com/www.roseannamwhite.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/A-Portrait-of-Loyalty-with-Christy-Badge.jpg?w=1650&ssl=1" style="display: inline; float: right;" width="249" /></font></p> <p><em><font size="3">Zivon Marin was one of Russia’s top cryptographers, until the October Revolution tore apart his world. Forced to flee after speaking out against Lenin and separated from his brother along the way, he arrives in England driven by a growing anger and determined to offer his services to the Brits.</font></em></p> <p><em><font size="3">Lily Blackwell sees the world best through the lens of a camera–and possesses unsurpassed skill when it comes to retouching and recreating photographs. With her father’s connections in propaganda, she’s recruited to the intelligence division, even though her mother would disapprove.</font></em></p> <p><em><font size="3">After Captain Blackwell invites Zivon to dinner one evening, a friendship blooms between him and Lily. He sees patterns in what she deems chaos; she sees beauty in a world he thought destroyed. But both have secrets they’re unwilling to share. When her photographs reveal that someone has been following Zivon, his loyalties are called into question–and his enemies are discovered to be far closer than he’d feared.</font></em> </p> <p><font size="3">I love every Roseanna White book I’ve read, truly. She has such a descriptive way of connecting events and characters that sucks me in and doesn’t let go. This story, at first glance, felt a little more disconnected from the first two. It shouldn’t, because it spins out of Britain’s Room 40 just like the others do. I think it’s because the two main characters don’t have the same connections to White’s other characters. But setting that aside, the story was super interesting and the characters captivating as always. I found the premise fascinating and the resolution deeper than I would have expected. Which is silly, because her books always make me think.</font></p> <p><font size="3">My two library books that came in were <a href="https://www.christianbook.com/judge-books-of-the-infinite/r-j-larson/9780764209727/pd/209727?event=PRCBD1" target="_blank">Judge</a><em> </em>and <a href="https://www.christianbook.com/3-king/r-j-larson/9780764209734/pd/209734?event=CBCER1" target="_blank">King</a><em> </em>by R.J. Larson. </font></p> <p><font size="3">(From Christianbook.com)</font></p> <p><em><font size="3"><font size="3"><img align="left" border="0" height="293" src="https://g.christianbook.com/dg/product/cbd/f400/209727.jpg" style="background-image: none; border: 0px currentcolor; display: inline; float: left; margin: 0px 24px 0px 0px;" width="191" /></font>The last thing Kien Lantec expects on his first day of military leave is to receive marching orders from his Creator, the Infinite. Orders that don't involve destroyer-racing or courting the love of his life, Ela. Adding to Kien's frustration, his Infinite-ordained duties have little to do with his skills as a military judge-in-training. His mission? To warn the people of ToronSea against turning their backs to the Infinite to worship a new goddess. But why Kien? Isn't this the role of a true prophet, such as Ela of Parne?</font></em></p> <p><font size="3">Continuing where <em>Prophet </em>left off (click <a href="http://theinkloft.blogspot.com/2022/09/augusts-reads-young-adult.html" target="_blank">here</a> to read my review of that book), Larson takes readers deeper into her Old Testament-inspired setting. You can see a lot of influence from biblical stories in both <em>Judge </em>and its sequel, <em>King, </em>especially stories like those of Jonah and David. I really enjoyed both stories and highly recommend the series!</font></p> <p><font size="3"><br /></font></p><p><font size="3">After this I read another Lynn Austin book (What can I say? I tend to get on kicks of one author at a time), <a href="https://lynnaustin.org/book/long-way-home/" target="_blank">Long Way Home</a><em></em>.</font></p> <p><img height="338" src="https://lynnaustin.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/thumbnail_Long-Way-Home_final.jpg" style="display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="233" /></p> <p><font size="3">(From Lynn’s website)</font></p> <p><font size="3"><em>Peggy Serrano couldn’t wait for her best friend to come home from the war. But the Jimmy Barnett who returns is much different from the Jimmy who left, changed so drastically by his experience as a medic in Europe that he can barely function. When he attempts the unthinkable, his parents check him into the VA hospital. Peggy determines to help the Barnetts unravel what might have happened to send their son over the edge. She starts by contacting Jimmy’s war buddies, trying to identify the mysterious woman in the photo they find in Jimmy’s belongings.</em></font></p> <p><font size="3"><em>Seven years earlier, sensing the rising tide against her people, Gisela Wolff and her family flee Germany aboard the passenger ship St. Louis, bound for Havana, Cuba. Gisela meets Sam Shapiro on board and the two fall quickly in love. But the ship is denied safe harbor and sent back to Europe. Thus begins Gisela’s perilous journey of exile and survival, made possible only by the kindness and courage of a series of strangers she meets along the way, including one man who will change the course of her life.</em></font></p> <p><font size="3">With this book, Lynn Austin explores the aftermath of war, the trauma of those who survive it, and the choices made along the way. It’s a very unique book for the time period it’s set in; I don’t know if I’ve ever seen another book that focuses so specifically on post-WWII trauma faced by soldiers. For all that focus, though, the story isn’t told from the soldier’s perspective. Instead, it’s shown through the eyes of those who love him. It’s a fairly slow-paced story, but the characters and their impact are deep. It’s a really beautiful story about struggle, faith, and love. </font></p> <p><font size="3">I finished my reading off over Christmas with <a href="https://www.sarahsundin.com/books/where-treetops-glisten/" target="_blank">Where Treetops Glisten: Three Stories of Heartwarming Courage and Christmas Romance During World War II.</a><em></em> This is a novella compilation by Cara Putman, Tricia Goyer, and Sarah Sundin.</font></p> <p><font size="3"><img align="right" height="407" src="https://www.sarahsundin.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/Where-Treetops-Glisten.jpg" style="display: inline; float: right;" width="271" />It follows the three siblings of the Turner family through three successive Christmases during World War II.</font></p> <p><font size="3">(From Sundin’s website)</font></p> <p><font size="3"><strong><em>White Christmas</em></strong> by Cara C. Putman <br />A candy maker and a puzzle manufacturer have one thing in common: love is the last thing they’re looking for and the very thing they need.</font></p> <p><font size="3"><strong><em>I’ll Be Home for Christmas</em></strong> by Sarah Sundin <br />A fighter pilot running on empty, a lonely widow, and a little girl searching for what she’s lost—will an unusual Christmas gift fill their hearts again?</font></p> <p><font size="3"><strong><em>Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas</em></strong> by Tricia Goyer <br />As Christmas nears a combat nurse offers care and cheer to injured soldiers on the front line, but when her patients and the Dutch villagers discover it’s her birthday they work together to give her a great gift—a reason to believe in love again.</font></p> <p><font size="3">I really liked the way each story was wrapped around a different Christmas song. They’re novellas, so they’re pretty quickly resolved, but I enjoyed them. </font></p> <p> </p><hr /><font size="3">So that’s it, then. All my reading for 2022. Going into next year, I’m planning to finish the three books I’m still in the middle of – <em>Lord of the Rings </em>(WHY I haven’t finished this, I do not know), <em>The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien</em>, and <em>Inkspell</em>. Then I’ll move into another reading plan. I’m planning to do the Pick Your Poison Challenge by Gregory Road. I was originally planning to do the one from <a href="http://gregoryroad.blogspot.com/2021/12/the-2022-pick-your-poison-reading.html" target="_blank">2022</a>, but I’m looking at the one for <a href="http://gregoryroad.blogspot.com/2022/12/the-2023-pick-your-poison-reading.html" target="_blank">2023</a> right now, and I’ll have to decide which one I like better. </font><p></p> <p><font size="3">Do you have any reading plans for 2023? I’d love to hear about them in the comments!</font></p> <p><font size="3"> </font></p>Rachelle O'Neilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02884513979937452569noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1050645680221973601.post-91851837918248449872022-12-16T12:38:00.000-08:002022-12-16T12:40:05.976-08:00Thoughts from 1 and 2 Thessalonians<p><font size="3">Though I finished actually reading through Paul’s letters quite a while ago, I always find it such an encouragement looking back through my notes and typing them up for these posts. This week, I’m covering 1 and 2 Thessalonians. The Bible Project’s overview videos, as always, offer really helpful context: <a href="https://youtu.be/No7Nq6IX23c">1 Thessalonians</a> and <a href="https://youtu.be/kbPBDKOn1cc">2 Thessalonians</a>.</font></p> <a href="https://drive.google.com/uc?id=1o8R1ngM8g6tMLG7wWg0tFLvt9n97RuSq"><img title="Thoughts from the Book of Romans - 1" style="border: 0px currentcolor; margin-right: auto; margin-left: auto; float: none; display: block; background-image: none;" border="0" alt="Thoughts from the Book of Romans - 1" src="https://drive.google.com/uc?id=14ObNyT7N-H4677qkZNXqF8TU60wpApoM" width="453" height="323" /></a> <p> </p> <p><strong><font size="3">1 Thess 1:2-3 “We always thank God for you and continually mention you in our prayers. We remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labor prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.”</font></strong></p> <blockquote> <p><font size="3">What an encouragement Timothy’s report must have been to Paul, letting him know that the young church he planted and suffered with was flourishing! Our lives should be an encouragement to our church leaders. They don’t live in a vacuum. They need encouragement. </font></p> <p><font size="3">Also, the Thessalonians are a wonderful example to us. Their faith produced good works, their love produced hard work, and their hope helped them endure. That’s what I want my life to be. </font></p> </blockquote> <p><strong><font size="3">1 Thess 3:12-13 “May the Lord make your love increase and overflow for each other and for everyone else, just as ours does for you. May He strengthen your hearts so that you will be blameless and holy in the presence of our God and Father when our Lord Jesus comes with all His holy ones.”</font></strong></p> <blockquote> <p><font size="3">This is a beautiful prayer, one I want to memorize. God’s love for us is boundless. Nothing can separate us from His love, and there is no way to measure the height and depth and breadth of His love. It doesn’t depend on circumstances or our behavior; God always loves us. And that is the love He desires to fill our hearts with, to overflow onto everyone we come in contact with.</font></p> </blockquote> <p><font size="3"><strong>1 Thess 4:10b-12 “Yet we urge you, brothers and sisters, to do so [love each other] more and more, and to make it your ambition to lead a quiet life: You should mind your own business and work with your hands, just as we told you, so that your daily life may win the respect of outsiders and so that you will not be dependent on anybody.”</strong></font></p> <blockquote> <p><font size="3">At first glance, this passage seems to contradict some Christian principles. “Lead a quiet life” – but aren’t we supposed to engage the culture? Of course we are! But we can be people who have peaceful lives, quiet lives, and still have an impact. If anything, when our lives exude peace, they will look different in a helter-skelter world and actually draw people to us. The important thing is not to completely separate ourselves from the world so that we have no circles of impact. We are still called to be <em>in </em>the world, making contact with the world; we just shouldn’t be <em>of</em> the world. If anything, this is further backup to the principle of leading a quiet life; most of the world does not.</font></p> <p><font size="3"><font size="3">Further, Paul says, “so that you will not be dependent on anyone.” Yet doesn’t the Bible teach that we are to live in community and that we need each other? It does, and I don’t believe this passage negates that. It is addressing the issue of laziness and saying that there is no place for it in the people of God. We should be hard workers, doing our own work to the best of our abilities and looking for ways to help others. It is also talking about the Thessalonians’ tendency toward being busybodies. The <a href="https://enduringword.com/bible-commentary/1-thessalonians-4/">Enduring Word Commentary</a> says, “There is a great difference between the Christian duty of putting the interests of others first and the busybody’s compulsive itch to put other people right.”</font></font></p> <p><font size="3">But we are not called to be workaholics. The concept of rest is very important in the Bible, and this passage addresses that in the admonition to lead quiet lives. We should be rooted and rested in Christ so that we can work hard and love others.</font></p> </blockquote> <p><strong><font size="3">1 Thess 5:5-8 “You are all children of the light and children of the day. We do not belong to the night or to the darkness. So then, let us not be like others, who are asleep, but let us be awake and sober. For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk, get drunk at night. but since we belong to the day, let us be sober, putting on faith and love as a breastplate, and the hope of salvation as a helmet.”</font></strong></p> <p><strong><font size="3">2 Thess 2:16-17 “May our Lord Jesus Christ Himself and God our Father, Who loved us and by His grace gave us eternal encouragement and good hope, encourage your hearts and strengthen you in every good deed and word.”</font></strong></p> <blockquote> <p><font size="3">Paul always includes prayer in his letters. And they are often beautiful blessings as well. Paul knew firsthand what terrible persecution the Thessalonians were experiencing. They were suffering and they were scared. He encouraged them that their faith was not in vain, that they had an eternal hope that wouldn’t desert them. In light of that, he encouraged them to keep going, to stand firm, and to live like Jesus. And that same encouragement is offered to us today.</font></p> </blockquote> <p><font size="3"><strong>2 Thess 3:5 “May the Lord direct your hearts into God’s love and Christ’s perseverance.”</strong></font></p> <blockquote> <p><font size="3">Another beautiful blessing.</font></p> </blockquote> <p><strong><font size="3">2 Thess 3:11-13 “We hear that some among you are idle and disruptive. They are not busy; they are busybodies. Such people we command and urge in the Lord Jesus Christ to settle down and earn the food they eat. And as for you, brothers and sisters, never tire of doing what is good.”</font></strong></p> <blockquote> <p><font size="3">The Bible clearly teaches the importance of rest, like I talked about earlier with 1 Thessalonians. But Paul clearly doesn’t have much tolerance for <em>idleness</em>. This doesn’t mean every moment of our day must be filled with something to do. But it does mean that we should have an attitude of responsibility that rises to the task at hand and jumps in to help.</font></p> <p><font size="3">And, clearly, the Thessalonian church was still dealing with the issue of lazy busybodies, since Paul had to address it again in this second letter. </font></p> </blockquote> <p><font size="3">The Thessalonian church, like many of the early churches, was surrounded by persecution. And Paul continually encouraged them in the midst of their suffering. His words today offer hope and encouragement to us, too, no matter what our circumstances. What has God been showing you in His Word lately? I’d love to hear about in the comments!</font></p>Rachelle O'Neilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02884513979937452569noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1050645680221973601.post-44852739551037632752022-12-02T11:41:00.001-08:002022-12-02T11:41:01.592-08:00November's Reads: Nonfiction<p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">So, November was supposed to be all nonfiction. Which was great. I had 3 books on my list, and I was excited about all of them. Unfortunately, I kind of sabotaged myself by putting other books on hold at the library right at the end of October. So, that happened…</span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZbPJEXrBq1YaP8oW47ckpWdkeHo_-SLyCTOiz8XIGVTE8veCFeFinzjYQ28sw51pph-c_AvX8-LEeNVKEfiS5QjTU3eXKGJAGTlGxg9HYb8-et88AAaqu1nrxE7cQfIrlrgM9pnGsBLJSbuWqo8MNpEYkZNvafosXxtS936xeAN3FUmm8UhnMHE6Uog/s2640/November's%20Reads%202022.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1485" data-original-width="2640" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZbPJEXrBq1YaP8oW47ckpWdkeHo_-SLyCTOiz8XIGVTE8veCFeFinzjYQ28sw51pph-c_AvX8-LEeNVKEfiS5QjTU3eXKGJAGTlGxg9HYb8-et88AAaqu1nrxE7cQfIrlrgM9pnGsBLJSbuWqo8MNpEYkZNvafosXxtS936xeAN3FUmm8UhnMHE6Uog/s320/November's%20Reads%202022.png" width="320" /></span></a></div><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">I started out the month reading <em><a href="https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/letters-of-j-r-r-tolkien-j-r-r-tolkien/1102809881?ean=9780618056996" target="_blank">The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien</a></em>, edited by Humphrey Carpenter. If you have any interest in Tolkien, I highly recommend this collection. Tolkien was a prolific letter writer, and this collection omits a lot for the sake of brevity. It’s still a hefty book, though. I found that it took me a little while to get used to his style of writing and the places and people he mentioned frequently. There are copious notes in the back for each letter, but it was kind of a pain for me to flip back and forth, so I mostly ignored them unless I was really confused or wanted more clarification. It’s not a book that’s I could read a little bit every now and then. I found it much easier to follow when I read it consistently, because I could get into that flow more easily.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">That’s true of a lot of nonfiction, though. Because of the distractions that I will get into in a moment, I am only about halfway through this, but I’m enjoying it and find it a fascinating look into Tolkien’s mind. I think I’ll share some of my favorite discoveries and excerpts once I finish it. You can also find a selection of his letters on the website for the <a href="https://www.tolkienestate.com/letters/" target="_blank">Tolkien Estate</a>. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">I’m also partway through <em>State Names, Seals, Flags, and Symbols: A Historical Guide </em>by Benjamin F. Shearer. This proves my nerdy tendencies. I had been looking into state symbols and facts for a different project, and it made me curious about the history of different state symbols. Unfortunately, this book for some reason has not held my attention very well. On the surface, it seems to be what I wanted. I think the layout is what’s hampering me the most. For example, when learning about state flags, I’d like the picture of the flag to be right there. Instead, all the illustrations are in the center of the book. A lot of books do this; I’m sure it’s a cost-thing. It just made it hard for me to follow along and visualize, so I’m not enjoying this as much as I had hoped I would.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Now to the books I actually finished this month. None of them were nonfiction. The Katie Weldon books I’ve been waiting on for a long time finally came in at the library, so I got distracted…</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><img border="0" height="366" src="https://g.christianbook.com/dg/product/web/f400/704478.jpg" style="background-image: none; border-image: none; border: 0px currentColor; display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="242" /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">I mentioned the first book in this series, <em>Peculiar Treasures, </em>in my <a href="https://theinkloft.blogspot.com/2022/09/augusts-reads-young-adult.html" target="_blank">Young Adult</a> post from August. This month I finally got a chance to finish the series with <em>On a Whim, Coming Attractions, </em>and <em>Finally and Forever</em>. If you’ve been keeping up with my posts, then you know I’ve kind of rediscovered Robin Jones Gunn this year. I’ve gotten to dive back into some nostalgia with her Christy Miller series but also move into the present with her. And this latest series kind of straddled the line, giving me college Katie moving into independent and in love Katie, and that was really fun.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">I’m very excited going into December’s genre, which is Historical Fiction. I’m already into my first book. I may also try to slip in a reread of <em>The Hobbit</em>, just because it feels Christmasy to me for some reason (and, of course, I’m in the midst of a bunch of Tolkien information at the moment), but we’ll see. What have you been reading lately? I’d love to hear about in the comments!</span></p><p></p><p></p><p></p>Rachelle O'Neilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02884513979937452569noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1050645680221973601.post-28085657136298226292022-11-25T12:12:00.000-08:002022-11-25T12:12:18.709-08:00Learning to Embrace the Hard Things<p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> Over the last year, I’ve developed a habit of starting my day by writing down something I’m grateful for from the previous day. There are days that I’m not able to get to it (toddlers are, unfortunately, not the most predictable at all times), but I have tried really hard to put myself in that mindset each morning.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">I really struggle to see the good sometimes, so I need the reminder that, even when everything about the day felt awful, there was <em>something </em>good about it. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><strong>And, by the grace of God, I’ve always been able to find something.</strong></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Anyway, with yesterday being Thanksgiving, I decided to make a longer list. I didn’t get through everything, by any means (again, toddler). But I realized something as I came to the end of it. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><strong>I want to be grateful for the hard things in my life.</strong> </span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisPxb2Y-AO61KZ-obitmx4FtX4w8lX2ZBr2fe1EaOh82x3D_eX8mnMPM1df-_l-QmwdA3Qqeb-E_B_9d5fsy-ao4tK0p6NU6_KlkhZnUwFZ_AsclAbOD8jrsy1Ru55HGEZipIKpVCnSFgAVRUhPC48Y8gDqCexbVStWkDjqWplRM5tu-g_B94Mc1W4IQ/s1920/Learning%20to%20Embrace%20the%20Hard%20Things.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="238" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisPxb2Y-AO61KZ-obitmx4FtX4w8lX2ZBr2fe1EaOh82x3D_eX8mnMPM1df-_l-QmwdA3Qqeb-E_B_9d5fsy-ao4tK0p6NU6_KlkhZnUwFZ_AsclAbOD8jrsy1Ru55HGEZipIKpVCnSFgAVRUhPC48Y8gDqCexbVStWkDjqWplRM5tu-g_B94Mc1W4IQ/w423-h238/Learning%20to%20Embrace%20the%20Hard%20Things.png" width="423" /></a></div><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">I have really struggled recently through the many daily challenges of raising a small human. It’s been frustrating and exhausting. And I’m not proud of my reactions to everything.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">But I also feel like God is teaching me something. Hard times are where sanctification happens; they are where we grow, if we let it happen.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">I’ve been reading a book in my moms’ group called <a href="https://misformama.net/" target="_blank">M is for Mama: A Rebellion Against Mediocre Motherhood</a><em> </em>by Abbie Halberstadt. And I truly believe God is using it to change my life. I’ll probably talk about it more fully once I finish it, but for now I just wanted to highlight what she says about this topic. She has a lot of good nuggets about embracing hard things.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"></span></p><blockquote><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">“He will <em>absolutely</em> give you more than you can handle – of both joy and pain. He might pile on the trouble so heavily you feel you will suffocate beneath its weight (I’ve been there). Conversely, he might slather you so thickly with joys and yesses that you’re fairly dripping with a goodness you know you don’t deserve and could never repay (been there too). Both are blessings. Both are ways that reveal his callings to us. Both require us to shuffle forward with tiny steps of faith and outstretched palms of gratitude.” (p. 54)</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">“Moment by moment, day by day, ‘precept upon precept, line upon line, here a little, there a little' (Isaiah 28:10 ESV), we catch glimpses of the ways in which the Lord is molding us into his likeness. There is no shortcut, and there is no generic formula. We must choose to trust in his goodness and be willing to let him tear away at our rough shell until our true skin is revealed, vulnerable and pliable – and bearing the marks of his grace.” (p. 55)</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">“But I have learned that doing hard things, tedious things, needful things, is, in itself, a reward at times.” (p. 72)</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">“The Lord taught me through episodes of tears and frustration, and sometimes outright clench-fisted fit throwing, that the first thing I needed to train in myself was my reliance on him.” (p. 100)</span></p></blockquote><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">I think we get it in our heads sometimes that life as a Christian will be easy. And Jesus does say, in Matthew 11:28-30,</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiscMmsIkC3onCB3h9w7ghnjFfZx1paq5d1rZp40MiAuTaj8KNlAuQ_xjapeiTJYJqdX4eFajO8MrrGYbBCCXaDY0bDxa6wkYfNnlfN7jWXBeouPQL5Vdc9fmfVmI6zzOo-EB0dFO4YbliH67R0_zi57Zxv09LPnphxadeY2f_UsCNkMrxBSPkVcgYLkg/s5472/pexels-pixabay-267559.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="5472" data-original-width="3648" height="229" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiscMmsIkC3onCB3h9w7ghnjFfZx1paq5d1rZp40MiAuTaj8KNlAuQ_xjapeiTJYJqdX4eFajO8MrrGYbBCCXaDY0bDxa6wkYfNnlfN7jWXBeouPQL5Vdc9fmfVmI6zzOo-EB0dFO4YbliH67R0_zi57Zxv09LPnphxadeY2f_UsCNkMrxBSPkVcgYLkg/w152-h229/pexels-pixabay-267559.jpg" width="152" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">“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.”</span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">But he also says, in Luke 9:23, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.” And in John 16:33, “In this world you will have trouble.”</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">I don’t think we’re ever promised an easy life as Christians. And definitely not as mothers. I don’t think I went into parenthood expecting it to be easy. But I definitely thought I would be a lot better at the things that it turns out I struggle with.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">That struggle of “I want” versus “God wills” is the key to human experience, honestly. And I find it to be such an important key to this season in my life. Struggles are part of this time. Hard things are just par for the course. Toddlers are hard. But am I going to keep railing against what’s hard, or am I going to submit my will to God’s and let Him teach me something?</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">The latter is what I want. So I’m choosing to be grateful for the hard things:</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">For the opportunity to learn patience when my daughter says and does the same thing <em>over and over and over</em>. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">For the opportunity to trust God when it feels like she will never behave.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">For the opportunity to learn joy in the midst of frustration and to choose gentleness instead of anger.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">I can’t say that I feel grateful in the moment. I’m not even to the point of looking at the day and being grateful for the hard parts. For now, I’m choosing to be grateful because I <em>know</em> God is faithful. I <em>know </em>this is a season of growth<em>. </em>And I <em>know</em> I will look back and be grateful. So, even when I don’t feel thankful, I’m going to act myself into a new way of feeling.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">And I will just have to keep trusting God to make it true. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Have you tried to be thankful for the hard things? I’d love to discuss it in the comments!</span></p>Rachelle O'Neilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02884513979937452569noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1050645680221973601.post-25526699961235223202022-11-18T10:59:00.001-08:002022-11-18T10:59:42.246-08:00Thoughts from Philippians and Colossians<p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Continuing with my journey through Paul's letters, here are some thoughts from Philippians and Colossians. For more context, watch the Bible Project's overview videos <a href="https://youtu.be/oE9qqW1-BkU" target="_blank">here</a> and <a href="https://youtu.be/pXTXlDxQsvc" target="_blank">here</a>. </span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtKvVdWGb2cpkBh5XxvTcldzvoP6ueEje2ieIhn4qiczgl5SpROUyBU4m3YFqF2HXtLL62IXGp5THJY3phAlyVS2z4EPNcYoAJ0K4CaF2VOKvEojew0fa07zeFtsWG-R7gLRyJQTWeY6Aq-Htb_DWPUoi2Kke-cHl7nwGi4Do4Y2tm088MrNzjw6ZyCQ/s1489/Thoughts%20from%20Philippians%20and%20Colossians.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1063" data-original-width="1489" height="228" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtKvVdWGb2cpkBh5XxvTcldzvoP6ueEje2ieIhn4qiczgl5SpROUyBU4m3YFqF2HXtLL62IXGp5THJY3phAlyVS2z4EPNcYoAJ0K4CaF2VOKvEojew0fa07zeFtsWG-R7gLRyJQTWeY6Aq-Htb_DWPUoi2Kke-cHl7nwGi4Do4Y2tm088MrNzjw6ZyCQ/s320/Thoughts%20from%20Philippians%20and%20Colossians.png" width="320" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><br /></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><b>Phil 1:9-11 "And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ..."</b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"></span></p><blockquote><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">As Christians, we are supposed to be as innocent as doves and as wise as serpents. Thus, our love should not be empty-headed. Instead, as we love God, we should grow in discernment and knowledge of Him, which enables us to love others more fully. I really love this picture of how love should look, too. Especially in close relationships like spouses and families, we should desire for our love to abound in knowledge and insight.</span></blockquote><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><b>Phil 1:27 "Whatever happens, conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ."</b></span></p><blockquote><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Paul was saying specifically that whether he lived or died should not change the Philippians' behavior. Our conduct should not be based on circumstances but rather on Christ.</span></p></blockquote><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><b>Phil 2:3-4 "Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of others."</b></span></p><blockquote><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Christ does not call us to look out only for ourselves. Instead, He gives us an incredibly countercultural message to let go of ourselves, to lay down our rights, to seek unity with God's people, and to love everyone. This feels easy sometimes, but most times it's very hard. We have to lay down our own pride, our desires, our me-first attitudes. But, if we will submit it all to Jesus, He will give us His heart for others. We just have to be willing. </span></p></blockquote><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><b>Phil 2:14-15 "Do everything without grumbling or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, 'children of God without fault in a warped and crooked generation.' Then you will shine among them like stars in the sky as you hold firmly to the word of life."</b></span></p><blockquote><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Stand firm. Love God, love people. Seek unity. Don't complain or argue. Over and over again, Paul emphasizes these concepts. This is the church I long to be a part of. More importantly, this is the person I long to be. I want to walk in His ways. I want to seek unity, to love others above myself, and to live in joy.</span></p></blockquote><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><b>Phil 3:7-8 "But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for Whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage..."</b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><b>Phil 3:13b-14 "...Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus."</b></span></p><p></p><blockquote><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Neither past accomplishments nor past failures should have a hold on us. Without Jesus, nothing we do is worth much; in Him, our sins are forgiven. Thus, we can press forward in God's strength.</span></blockquote><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><b>Phil 4:4 "Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: rejoice!"</b></span></p><blockquote><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Such a simple directive, and yet we lose sight of it so easily. <i>I </i>lose sight of it so very easily. We depend on circumstances to be <i>happy</i>, yet true <i>joy </i>comes from knowing Jesus. So I can rejoice always, because He is always with me.</span></p></blockquote><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><b>Phil 4:12-13 "...I have learned the secret of living content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do all things through Him Who gives me strength."</b></span></p><blockquote><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">I have not yet learned this secret. It is the contentment I desire. I have been very blessed with my husband's job. We have plenty, and I don't feel a strong pull to need more. But I do worry sometimes about having less. It scares me sometimes. Yet I know that God has always provided, in every stage and season of my life. Our God takes care of His people. I have seen it, and I can trust in that.</span></p></blockquote><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><b>Col 1:3-5 "We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, because we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love you have for all God's people - the faith and love that spring from the hope stored up for you in heaven..."</b></span></p><p></p><blockquote><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Paul had never met the Colossian church, but he was encouraged by their faith. I want my faith to be evident and an encouragement to others. The Colossians, too, grasped what the Gospel meant, that they now had an eternal hope in heaven. And that hope created in them faith and love.</span></blockquote><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><b>Col 2:6-10 "So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in Him, rooted and built up in Him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness. See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the elemental spiritual forces of this world rather than on Christ. For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, and in Christ you have been brought to fullness. He is the head over every power and authority."</b></span></p><blockquote><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">This makes me think of that old song, "Just like a tree planted by the water, I shall not be moved." I want to be like that tree, deeply rooted in Jesus and His Word, growing in Him and strengthened by Him.</span></p></blockquote><blockquote><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">And if we are rooted in Christ, then we don't have to get caught up in man-made philosophies and regulations. We have true freedom in Christ. I want to embrace that in action, not just in mind. My study note says, "Take some risks - God will guide you. Give more generously - God will supply. Love more freely - God will energize you. Say 'can do' more often - God will amaze you."</span></p></blockquote><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> <b>Col 3:12-14 "Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity."</b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><b>Col 4:5-6 "Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity. Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone."</b></span></p><p></p><blockquote><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">This is such an important reminder. In general, we should not be brash and combative with either fellow believers or nonbelievers. We certainly should never be unkind or use filthy language. Our conversations should be full of grace and seasoned with salt. What potent imagery that is! Because, on the flip side, we don't want to be mice, tiptoeing around every opportunity to say anything of substance. We don't want our words to be so bland that they have no impact, but we also shouldn't be so salty that people spit us out.</span></blockquote><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">I found each of these books to be dense with great insights and practical application, though each is fairly short. I look forward to reading them again with a new perspective. What have you been studying lately? I'd love to hear about in the comments!</span></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p>Rachelle O'Neilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02884513979937452569noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1050645680221973601.post-89232818065959977162022-11-04T11:33:00.000-07:002022-11-04T11:33:46.840-07:00October's Reads: Historical Romance<p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: arial;">So, I intended to write and post this <i>last </i>Friday. But I was sick, and things just got a little out of hand. Anyway, in October, the genre I was supposed to be reading was Historical Romance. This is definitely a favorite of mine, and I really enjoyed the books I read last month.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAD_Hp2CSJ98T3A8gLtEEyBXau_AvsCpyD2y-n4UZVAief4S-ke0vMyzm91vwEjhyqaFxkGGRBciAvU7x1MAdiypaMUWk_gOMkLORWkZqflwaOeqUa5Di1r_MeWVOS-WzTYjtfeLqmF9N_NfJnY4m9y6lnf4Y-bKbQODKbzV_O4H1BJnPejYXkNmZSEw/s1920/October's%20Reads%202022.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="237" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAD_Hp2CSJ98T3A8gLtEEyBXau_AvsCpyD2y-n4UZVAief4S-ke0vMyzm91vwEjhyqaFxkGGRBciAvU7x1MAdiypaMUWk_gOMkLORWkZqflwaOeqUa5Di1r_MeWVOS-WzTYjtfeLqmF9N_NfJnY4m9y6lnf4Y-bKbQODKbzV_O4H1BJnPejYXkNmZSEw/w421-h237/October's%20Reads%202022.jpg" width="421" /></a></span></div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">I started the month by reading <i>An Hour Unspent </i>by Roseanna M. White. This is the third book in her Shadows Over England series, which, like all her books, is fantastic. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">(From Roseanna's website)</span></p><p class="BookAuthorSingle" style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 1em; text-align: justify; text-size-adjust: 100%; vertical-align: baseline;"><i><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"></span></i></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><i><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><a href="https://i0.wp.com/www.roseannamwhite.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/An-Hour-Unspent.jpg?w=1650&ssl=1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="518" height="260" src="https://i0.wp.com/www.roseannamwhite.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/An-Hour-Unspent.jpg?w=1650&ssl=1" width="168" /></a></span></i></div><i><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Once London’s top thief, Barclay Pearce has turned his back on his life of crime and now uses his skills for a nation at war. But not until he rescues a clockmaker’s daughter from a mugging does he begin to wonder what his future might hold.</span></i><p></p><p class="BookAuthorSingle" style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 1em; text-align: justify; text-size-adjust: 100%; vertical-align: baseline;"><i><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Evelina Manning has constantly fought for independence, but she certainly never meant for it to inspire her fiancé to end the engagement and enlist in the army. When the intriguing man who saved her returns to the Manning residence to study clockwork repair with her father, she can’t help being interested. But she soon learns that nothing with Barclay Pearce is as simple as it seems.</span></i></p><p class="BookAuthorSingle" style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify; text-size-adjust: 100%; vertical-align: baseline;"><i><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">As 1915 England plunges ever deeper into war, the work of an ingenious clockmaker may give England an unbeatable military edge—and Germany realizes it as well. Evelina’s father soon finds his whole family in danger—and it may just take a reformed thief to steal the time they need to escape it.</span></i></p><p class="BookAuthorSingle" style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify; text-size-adjust: 100%; vertical-align: baseline;"><i><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></i></p><p class="BookAuthorSingle" style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify; text-size-adjust: 100%; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">I loved this book! I really can never find anything bad to say about Roseanna's books. She creates such rich characters and settings. I thought the theme in this one was particularly striking. </span></p><p class="BookAuthorSingle" style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify; text-size-adjust: 100%; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p class="BookAuthorSingle" style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify; text-size-adjust: 100%; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">I also read two of Roseanna's other books. I reread <i>The Number of Love</i>, the first book in her The Codebreakers series. </span></p><p class="BookAuthorSingle" style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify; text-size-adjust: 100%; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p class="BookAuthorSingle" style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify; text-size-adjust: 100%; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">(From Roseanna's website)</span></p><p class="BookAuthorSingle" style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify; text-size-adjust: 100%; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="background: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><i><a href="https://i0.wp.com/www.roseannamwhite.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/The-Number-of-Love.jpg?w=1245&ssl=1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="520" height="331" src="https://i0.wp.com/www.roseannamwhite.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/The-Number-of-Love.jpg?w=1245&ssl=1" width="215" /></a></i></span></span></div><span style="background: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><i>Three years into the Great War, England’s greatest asset is their intelligence network—field agents risking their lives to gather information, and codebreakers able to crack every German telegram. Margot De Wilde thrives in the environment of the secretive Room 40, where she spends her days deciphering intercepted messages. But when her world is turned upside down by an unexpected loss, for the first time in her life numbers aren’t enough.</i></span></span><p></p><p style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 1em; text-align: justify; text-size-adjust: 100%; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><i>Drake Elton returns wounded from the field, followed by an enemy that just won’t give up. He’s smitten quickly by the too-intelligent Margot, but how to convince a girl who lives entirely in her mind that sometimes life’s answers lie in the heart?</i></span></span></p><p style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify; text-size-adjust: 100%; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><i>Amidst biological warfare, encrypted letters, and a German spy who wants to destroy not just them, but others they love, Margot and Drake will have to work together to save them all from the very secrets that brought them together.</i></span></span></p><p style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify; text-size-adjust: 100%; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><i><br /></i></span></span></p><p style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify; text-size-adjust: 100%; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">The heroine in this story, Margot, is a <i>very </i>different person than me. She lives in a world of numbers and logic and has little tolerance for the "nonsense" outside that bubble. Yet she never comes across as cold. I love the way she is written; I could still relate to her even though we're totally different people. I liked the message, too. The description speaks to life's answers lying in the heart, but it's not in a wishy-washy Disney way. It's a real, grounded, biblical way, and I thought that was awesome. </span></p><p style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify; text-size-adjust: 100%; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify; text-size-adjust: 100%; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Book 2 in that series, <i>On Wings of Devotion</i>, is one I bought recently and hadn't yet made time to read.</span></p><p style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify; text-size-adjust: 100%; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify; text-size-adjust: 100%; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">(From Roseanna's website)</span></p><p style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify; text-size-adjust: 100%; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 1em; text-align: justify; text-size-adjust: 100%; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><i>All of England thinks Major Phillip Camden a monster–a man who deliberately caused the deaths of his squadron. But he would have preferred to die that day with his men rather than be recruited to the Admiralty’s codebreaking division. The threats he receives daily are no great surprise and, in his opinion, well deserved.</i></span></p><p style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 1em; text-align: justify; text-size-adjust: 100%; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><i>As nurse Arabelle Denler observes the so-dubbed “Black Heart,” she sees something far different: a hurting man desperate for mercy. And when their families and paths twist together unexpectedly, she realizes she has a role to play in his healing–and some of her own to do as well.</i></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><i><a href="https://i0.wp.com/www.roseannamwhite.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/On-Wings-of-Devotion.jpg?resize=468%2C722&ssl=1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="722" data-original-width="468" height="321" src="https://i0.wp.com/www.roseannamwhite.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/On-Wings-of-Devotion.jpg?resize=468%2C722&ssl=1" width="208" /></a></i></span></div><p style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 1em; text-align: justify; text-size-adjust: 100%; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">This lived up to my hopes! Great characters, an interesting plot, and really fascinating details (in the first book, too) about the inner workings of Room 40, the hub of British intelligence during World War I. I have the third book in this series, <i>A Portrait of Loyalty, </i>on hold at the library, so I'm excited for that one to come in.</span></p><p style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 1em; text-align: justify; text-size-adjust: 100%; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">The last (and only non-Roseanna White) book I read last month was <i>Chasing Shadows </i>by Lynn Austin.</span></p><p style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 1em; text-align: justify; text-size-adjust: 100%; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">(From Lynn's website)</span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><i style="text-align: justify;">A story of three women whose lives are instantly changed when the Nazis invade the neutral Netherlands, forcing each into a complicated dance of choice and consequence.</i></span></div><p></p><p style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 1em; text-align: justify; text-size-adjust: 100%; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://lynnaustin.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/Chasing-Shadows_final-1170x1767.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="530" height="270" src="https://lynnaustin.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/Chasing-Shadows_final-1170x1767.jpg" width="179" /></a><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><i>Lena is a wife and mother who farms alongside her husband in the tranquil countryside. Her faith has always been her compass, but can she remain steadfast when the questions grow increasingly complex and the answers could mean the difference between life and death? </i></span></p><p style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 1em; text-align: justify; text-size-adjust: 100%; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><i>Lena's daughter Ans has recently moved to the bustling city of Leiden, filled with romantic notions of a new job and young Dutch police officer. But when she is drawn into Resistance work, her idealism collides with the dangerous reality that comes with fighting the enemy.</i></span></p><p style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 1em; text-align: justify; text-size-adjust: 100%; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><i>Miriam is a young Jewish violinist who immigrated for the safety she though Holland would offer. She finds love in her new country, but as her family settles in Leiden, the events that follow will test them in ways she could never have imagined.</i></span></p><p style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 1em; text-align: justify; text-size-adjust: 100%; vertical-align: baseline;"><i style="letter-spacing: 0.2px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">The Nazi invasion propels these women onto paths that cross in unexpected, sometimes-heartbreaking ways. Yet the story that unfolds illuminates the surprising endurance of the human spirit and the power of faith and love to carry us through.</span></i></p><p style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 1em; text-align: left; text-size-adjust: 100%; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">After three books set during World War I, it was a nice change of pace to move forward about 25 years. I really liked the characters in this book, and I was very interested in each of their stories; I didn't find myself wishing to get back to a different character than I was reading about in that moment like sometimes happens with multiple viewpoints. Books about war are always tricky, because there's that balance of how much do you show of war's evil. I felt like some of that was slightly missing from this book - the gravitas, perhaps. Which is weird, because it wasn't all rosy. I think she approached the subject seriously and included consequences and danger. And I was clearly compelled, because I finished the book very quickly. I think I subconsciously compare most WWII books to the Zion Covenant series by Bodie and Brock Thoene. I freely admit that those are much too intense for some people, but they do a <i>great </i>job of showing the evil of the Nazi regime without getting too lost in it. So perhaps I was doing some comparisons deep in my brain; I don't know. </span></p><p style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 1em; text-align: left; text-size-adjust: 100%; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">I also spent much of the book comparing the Dutch resistance to Nazi occupation with the Norwegian resistance. Side note: I did a paper on the latter during college, and I remember reading comparisons to the Dutch resistance, which was significantly more overt. Some historians say there was no resistance in Norway. I disagree, but I'm getting off topic. Anyway, I found myself comparing along the way while I read this book. So, I don't know if that rambling made any sense, but I did enjoy this story. </span></p><p style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 1em; text-align: left; text-size-adjust: 100%; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 1em; text-align: left; text-size-adjust: 100%; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">So those were my reads from October. What have you been reading lately? I'd love to hear about it in the comments!</span></p>Rachelle O'Neilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02884513979937452569noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1050645680221973601.post-51331456540080136072022-10-14T09:33:00.000-07:002022-10-14T09:33:06.728-07:00Thoughts from Galatians and Ephesians<p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">If you are like me, then you probably grew up memorizing the books of the Bible, possibly via song. And, because of the rhythm in which I memorized them, I always visualize the letters to the Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, and Colossians as smashed between the larger 1&2 Corinthians and 1&2 Thessalonians. Does this have any bearing on today's post? Probably not. But it was really interesting to spend some time in each of these epistles, seeing how Paul addressed each church's individual situation and struggles. The Bible Project's videos for each book are, as always, quite helpful: watch the ones for <a href="https://youtu.be/vmx4UjRFp0M">Galatians </a>and <a href="https://youtu.be/Y71r-T98E2Q">Ephesians</a>. </span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_2hdszVyxsk1iE5cGGZs8HNV0s4p8_sXKl8w1CKZTabEEX6KSSyZoQ2A4XGAq-2CLUB1RB7AjGCBpn3wxi1KGVFnxRjSS6ZHQnNYE9JlyIbhLvOp9OtdD2MQtYE6jcyJ2m22oek0Q9u4grUc8biuEj1cqOat3qGbfk99kKE5EKesH-LWkYLCPcGqS0Q/s1489/Thoughts%20from%20Galatians%20&%20Ephesians.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1063" data-original-width="1489" height="264" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_2hdszVyxsk1iE5cGGZs8HNV0s4p8_sXKl8w1CKZTabEEX6KSSyZoQ2A4XGAq-2CLUB1RB7AjGCBpn3wxi1KGVFnxRjSS6ZHQnNYE9JlyIbhLvOp9OtdD2MQtYE6jcyJ2m22oek0Q9u4grUc8biuEj1cqOat3qGbfk99kKE5EKesH-LWkYLCPcGqS0Q/w371-h264/Thoughts%20from%20Galatians%20&%20Ephesians.jpg" width="371" /></a></div><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><br /></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><b>Gal 1:8 "But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let them be under God's curse!"</b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"></span></p><blockquote><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">This is an affirmation of the supremacy of the Gospel and a reminder that appearances can be deceiving. The Gospel does not change, though people often try to add to it or dilute it. In this letter, Paul refutes the arguments of Judaizers, who claimed that Gentile Christians must adopt Jewish laws and customs. Today, people try to say sin isn't really bad, completely undermining the purpose of Jesus' death and resurrection. Both approaches are wrong, and Paul gives a very clear "Woe to you!" message to anyone peddling them. We must be very careful to present only the true Gospel, without adding to or taking anything away from it.</span></blockquote><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><b>Gal 2:14 "When I saw that he was not acting in line with the truth of the Gospel, I said to Cephas in front of them all, 'You are a Jew, yet you live as a Gentile and not as a Jew. How is it, then, that you force Gentiles to follow Jewish customs?'"</b></span></p><blockquote><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Paul was calling out Peter's hypocrisy over the issue of "unclean" foods. Paul didn't let himself be intimidated by Peter's status; he saw damage being done, so he said something. We should not be hyper-critical people, looking for any inkling of weakness in order to pounce. That is not the way of grace. But it is important to speak up when those close to us are falling away from Truth. Whether Paul and Peter were close is hard to say. But Peter was a church leader, and his actions had a widespread impact. Paul had to say something lest others be led astray. It's important to speak the truth in love and extend grace, but it's also important to hold our leaders accountable.</span></p></blockquote><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><b>Gal 3:7,9 "Understand, then, that those who have faith are children of Abraham... So those who rely on faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith."</b></span></p><blockquote><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">No one has ever been saved by the Law. Instead, God has always counted faith as righteousness. </span></p></blockquote><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><b>Gal 4:6-7 "Because you are His sons, God sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, the Spirit Who calls out, '<i>Abba, Father.</i>' So you are no longer a slave, but God's child; and since you are His child, God has made you also an heir."</b></span></p><blockquote><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Paul uses this adoption argument often throughout his letters. It is such a powerful picture of what God does for us. We deserve nothing good from God on our own; in fact, we were in active rebellion to God. Yet He loves us so much that He created a bridge of reconciliation through His Son. He then goes even further and <i>adopts</i> us, making us part of His family. That is truly incredible!</span></p></blockquote><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><b>Gal 5:13-14 "You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love. For the entire law is fulfilled in this one command: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'"</b></span></p><blockquote><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">My study note speaks to the difference between "freedom to sin and freedom to serve." There is really no such thing as freedom to sin - indulging the desires of the flesh really just means re-yoking yourself to Satan. Instead, we are set free <i>from </i>the power of sin and <i>to </i>serve others in love. My study note further talks about the dangers of dissension when we lose that love and unity. I am a very critical person. I'm not proud of it, but I've always struggled with it. Especially at church, I struggle not to nitpick. But I don't want to be like that. I want a heart of grace that looks for positives instead of negatives, a heart that desires unity and not discord.</span></p></blockquote><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><b>Gal 6:9 "Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up."</b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><b>Eph 1:18-19 "I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which He has called you, the riches of His glorious inheritance in His holy people, and His incomparably great power for us who believe..."</b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><b>Eph 2:10 "For we are God's handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do."</b></span></p><p></p><blockquote><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">I love the imagery of being God's handiwork. He created us with intention and as a work of beauty that He delights in. And He created us for a purpose. That's encouraging.</span></blockquote><p></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><b>Eph 3:12 "In Him and through faith in Him we may approach God with freedom and confidence."</b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><b>Eph 3:17b-19 "... And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all of the Lord's holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ and to know this love that surpasses knowledge - that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God."</b></span></p><p></p><blockquote><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">This is such a beautiful, rich prayer! I think I want to hang it on our wall, honestly. My study note: "God's love is total, says Paul. It reaches every corner of our experience. It is <i>wide</i> - it covers the breadth of our own experience, and it reaches out to the whole world. God's love is <i>long</i> - it continues the length of our lives. It is <i>high</i> - it rises to the heights of our celebration and elation. His love is <i>deep</i> - it reaches to the depths of discouragement, despair, and even death."</span></blockquote><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><b>Eph 4:2-3 "Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace."</b></span></p><blockquote><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Time and time again, Paul comes back to this concept of unity. We are not called to divisiveness or petty disagreements. That is the way of the world. Instead, we are called to follow one God and embrace what unites us, loving each other despite our differences.</span></p></blockquote><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><b>Eph 4:26-27 "In your anger do not sin: Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, and do not give the devil a foothold."</b></span></p><p></p><blockquote><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Anger is a powerful, dangerous emotion. Feeling angry is not a sin, but it can very easily lead to actions that are sin. Seething anger easily turns to resentment, and Satan loves resentment. He slips in and feeds the flames, and that's not good for anyone. It's okay to feel angry, but it's important to learn how to process that anger. Then, once you have processed it, let it go, seek reconciliation, and don't come back to it. I can be guilty of dealing with my anger or hurt partially but then coming back to it the next time something hurts. That's not good, and it's not biblical. Forgiveness is total.</span></blockquote><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><b>Eph 5:18-20 "Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another with psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit. Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ."</b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><b>Eph 6:4 "Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord."</b></span></p><blockquote><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Parenting should not be about me and what I want. Instead, it's all about leading this little one to Christ. This is so hard! I definitely need Jesus' help, because on my own I so easily revert to thinking it's all about me.</span></p></blockquote><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><b>Eph 6:18 "And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord's people."</b></span></p><blockquote><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">This is a reminder to me that 1) Prayer is extremely important and 2) God wants to hear <i>all </i>our prayers, not just the ones that sound pretty and important. </span></p></blockquote><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">So, those are my thoughts from reading Galatians and Ephesians. What do you think? I'd love to discuss this in the comments! </span></p><p></p><p></p><blockquote><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></p></blockquote><p></p>Rachelle O'Neilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02884513979937452569noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1050645680221973601.post-20079438202520548582022-10-01T09:23:00.002-07:002022-10-01T09:23:28.887-07:00September's Reads: Literary Fiction<p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> <span>So, September did not quite live up to my hopes in terms of reading. But I blame that on two things: 1) My library books just haven't come in when I expected them to and 2) We're potty training, and that takes up a huge amount of time and focus. September's genre was supposed to be Literary Fiction, which is really just a catch-all term for things that don't fit neatly into other genres. Honestly, I didn't read anything this month that could be considered literary fiction. But I'm okay with that.</span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9EOPgB3axpYrQNI43CHJRC-_XbIstM1L3I-J9Pdegby1MWV6Ej5Mw_gV3FDa86x0QmfmA5Z5zD4pxiCIyzyzc-eDe_8FaFNneSLvz9M9v-MwWZvVH6Su1qrR7sFfMjETKjQGCRnpQvKGonpESPDDaCohMCGG6dqFf8DQ0-6ZFpFlDhfCwZI-0_JghiA/s1920/September's%20Reads%202022.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="208" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9EOPgB3axpYrQNI43CHJRC-_XbIstM1L3I-J9Pdegby1MWV6Ej5Mw_gV3FDa86x0QmfmA5Z5zD4pxiCIyzyzc-eDe_8FaFNneSLvz9M9v-MwWZvVH6Su1qrR7sFfMjETKjQGCRnpQvKGonpESPDDaCohMCGG6dqFf8DQ0-6ZFpFlDhfCwZI-0_JghiA/w370-h208/September's%20Reads%202022.jpg" width="370" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><br /></span><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Most of what I read this month was from Robin Jones Gunn. I started with a couple of "lost novellas" collected in her book <i>Departures: Two Rediscovered Stories of Christy Miller and Sierra Jensen. </i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">(From Christianbook.com)</span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><a href="https://g.christianbook.com/dg/product/web/f400/21161EB.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="254" height="307" src="https://g.christianbook.com/dg/product/web/f400/21161EB.jpg" width="195" /></a></span></div><p></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-style: italic;">Join Christy Miller and Sierra Jensen in these two rediscovered stories. Both stories, which slightly overlap, take place one summer when both girls take vacation trips. In </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333;">Now Boarding at Gate 10</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-style: italic;">, Christy and her family are travelling to Wisconsin for her grandparents' 50th anniversary party. Once there in her old hometown, Christy runs into an old school crush, Matthew, and sees what life could have been if she never moved.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: arial; font-style: italic;">In </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: arial;">In the Event of a Water Landing</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: arial; font-style: italic;">, Sierra is taking a trip with her friend Jana's family to Montana. On the way, Sierra and her friends get to deal with cancelled flights, the Mall of America, and Sierra knocking out a security guard! Once they reach Montana, Sierra realizes that Jana is much more ready to blossom than Sierra is. Will Sierra figure out her way?</span></span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">It was fun to go back in time in a sense reading these. I've been reading a lot of Christy Miller books lately, but those have all been set once she's grown up and married. Both of these stories are firmly set back when the girls were teenagers. Both are quick reads, and I enjoyed them!</span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">I moved back into adult fiction with Gunn's book <i>Canary Island Song</i>. </span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">(From Christianbook.com)</span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><i></i></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><i><a href="https://g.christianbook.com/dg/product/cbd/f400/583410.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="259" height="301" src="https://g.christianbook.com/dg/product/cbd/f400/583410.jpg" width="195" /></a></i></span></div><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><i>When Carolyn's grown daughter tells her to "get a life," she decides to make a surprise visit to her mother in the Canary Islands. But it's Carolyn who's caught off balance when she sees Bryan, her high school sweetheart. It's been seven years since her husband died. Is it time for Carolyn to get her heart back?</i></span><p></p><p><span style="color: #333333; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><span style="background-color: white;">This one was all romance, obviously. And I really liked it! I don't often read romances about characters in middle age, so it was fun to get into a different perspective. Gunn clearly loves the Canary Islands, off the western coast of Africa, and her descriptions are fun. I would say this book is more descriptive than a lot of her books are, so that's a little different. But I enjoyed the characters, the setting, the plot, and the minor tie-in to the Christy Miller series.</span></span></p><p><span style="color: #333333; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><span style="background-color: white;">I also read <i>Love Finds You in Sunset Beach, Hawaii. </i>It appears to have been recently re-released as <i><a href="https://www.christianbook.com/a-kiss-at-sunset-beach/robin-gunn/9781942704447/pd/704447?event=ESRCG">A Kiss at Sunset Beach</a></i>. </span></span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/519TIwcEcvL._SX315_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><img border="0" data-original-height="499" data-original-width="317" height="289" src="https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/519TIwcEcvL._SX315_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg" width="183" /></span></a></div><span style="color: #333333; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">(From Christianbook.com)</span><p></p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><i>When a wealthy friend offers Sierra Jensen a vacation at an oceanfront beach house on the island of Oahu, Sierra envisions a quiet retreat where she can figure out what to do now that she's at the crossroads in her life. The timing coincides with a wedding that puts her face to face with Paul, her high school crush and introduces her to Jordan, the wedding photographer. Sierra and Jordan connect unexpectedly the next day and feel the damaging effects of a tropical storm that brings in the big waves and launches the annual surfing competition. Sierra begins to wonder why she and Jordan connected the way they did. But Jordan's lens and attention are focused on the surfers and he is not willing to let anyone get in his way of landing the next cover shot for Surf Days magazine. Sierra and Jordan came to Sunset Beach looking for different things. But as the surf pounds the North Shore, will they discover something better than either of them had imagined?</i></span></span></p><p><span style="color: #333333; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><span style="background-color: white;">I really enjoyed reading about Sierra Jensen all grown up and trying to figure out her life. The characters are interesting, and the plot is fun. But I think the most impactful part of the story was the message about grace and forgiveness and listening for God's voice.</span></span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://g.christianbook.com/dg/product/cbd/f400/704074.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="256" height="250" src="https://g.christianbook.com/dg/product/cbd/f400/704074.jpg" width="160" /></span></a></div><span style="color: #333333; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><span style="background-color: white;">The last Robin Jones Gunn book I read was <i>Sandy Toes</i>, another Christy Miller book. This is the series I have been waiting on the longest from the library - somehow, I got #1 and #3, but #2 was checked out for the longest time! Anyway, I'm still waiting to finish it because of that, but I really enjoyed this book. (Please note that the Christianbook link in the picture has the wrong description, but it is the right book).</span></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">And lastly, I've been working my way through Cornelia Funke's <i>Inkspell</i>. I don't know why this one is taking me so long to finish; it's an interesting book. For some reason I've just really slowed down reading the last couple weeks. I blame potty training! Anyway, I'm working on finishing that, which will be good. Then there's one more book in that series, <i>Inkdeath</i>. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Next month's genre is Historical Romance, which I am <i>very </i>excited about. I've got a couple new books I haven't made time to read yet that will be perfect for that. What have you been reading lately? I'd love to hear about it in the comments! </span></p>Rachelle O'Neilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02884513979937452569noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1050645680221973601.post-68746488897695340172022-09-23T11:49:00.001-07:002022-09-23T11:49:03.082-07:00Thoughts from 2 Corinthians<span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">In my continued reading of Paul's epistles (I am almost finished with the project), here are some of my favorite verses and thoughts from reading 2 Corinthians. I have a lot of verses that I wrote down but didn't add notes to, which, if I'm being honest, most likely means my toddler woke up before I was done and I had to hurry to finish. But the verses are the important part anyway.</span><div><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-3SbyMglpHUtftkqIkFEUb2nc_Wvvj9IRGgMuxpH10AOxp3pEGiYcDsb1bxiawFmA9CdRnYx4ZFYdW9ix4rD66rJ1nWb4QgEvSuAFlk7dP074_4wo218aCy-DGjodViHZsYPrqjiZxY_wL7YwCuv871x1I0h2z74zVBzytgF2R470N0U6qXYE0owiyg/s1489/Thoughts%20from%202%20Corinthians.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1063" data-original-width="1489" height="228" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-3SbyMglpHUtftkqIkFEUb2nc_Wvvj9IRGgMuxpH10AOxp3pEGiYcDsb1bxiawFmA9CdRnYx4ZFYdW9ix4rD66rJ1nWb4QgEvSuAFlk7dP074_4wo218aCy-DGjodViHZsYPrqjiZxY_wL7YwCuv871x1I0h2z74zVBzytgF2R470N0U6qXYE0owiyg/s320/Thoughts%20from%202%20Corinthians.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><b>2 Cor 1:21-22 "Now it is God Who makes both us and you stand firm in Christ. He anointed us, set His seal of ownership on us, and put His Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come." </b></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><blockquote style="font-size: large;">Only in God do we have true strength. We try to stand up on our own, to do the right thing in our own strength. And we crumble. It is God's Spirit that gives us strength to withstand trials. What a gift the Holy Spirit is in our lives - comforting, strengthening, warning, and correcting. I think it's such neat imagery, too, to think of the Spirit as a seal and deposit.</blockquote><p style="font-size: large;"><b>2 Cor 2:15-16 "For we are to God the pleasing aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing. To one we are an aroma that brings death; to the other, an aroma that brings life."</b></p><blockquote style="font-size: large;"><p>The study note on this explains that Roman victory parades, which is where Paul's metaphor comes from, included a cloud of incense. And verse 14 talks about being captives in a triumphal procession. I believe there is another passage, too, that talks about being the aroma of Christ, but I can't seem to find it, so maybe I'm just imagining it. The whole point, though, is that our lives should be evidence of God's Presence. We should be different, and that difference should be clear. But it won't be pleasant to everyone. To those seeking truth and hope, we are a light. To those pursuing darkness, we are hideous and unwelcome. And we can't change that. All we can do is let the light of Christ shine through us.</p></blockquote><p style="font-size: large;"><b>2 Cor 3:17-18 "Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord's glory, are being transformed into His image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, Who is the Spirit."</b></p><p style="font-size: large;"><b>2 Cor 4:</b></p><p style="font-size: large;"><b>v. 1 "Therefore, since through God's mercy we have this ministry, we do not lose heart."</b></p><blockquote style="font-size: large;"><p>God has placed us where we are for a reason; He has a purpose for us in whatever situation we're in. And sometimes that purpose is just waiting, but that doesn't mean it's not His purpose. Let us remember that and not lose heart. </p></blockquote><p style="font-size: large;"><b>v. 6 "For God, Who said, 'Let light shine out of darkness,' made His light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God's glory displayed in the face of Christ."</b></p><blockquote style="font-size: large;"><p>I love this connection, and it builds on the veiled faces discussion Paul had earlier in the letter. In Christ, the veil over our faces is removed and we can reflect the light and glory of God to others!</p></blockquote><p style="font-size: large;"><b>v. 7-9 "But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed."</b></p><blockquote style="font-size: large;"><p>The study note from my Bible: "... though we may think we are at the end of our rope, we are never at the end of our hope." Also, this takes me straight back to my childhood and music I listened to as a kid.</p></blockquote><p style="font-size: large;"><b>v. 16-18 "Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal."</b></p><blockquote style="font-size: large;"><p>It's all about perspective. And reading back over this, it comes as a really good reminder.</p></blockquote><p style="font-size: large;"><b>2 Cor 7:5-6 "For when we came into Macedonia, we had no rest, but we were harassed at every turn - conflicts on the outside, fears within. But God, Who comforts the downcast, comforted us by the coming of Titus."</b></p><p style="font-size: large;"></p><blockquote style="font-size: large;">Paul did not have an easy life as an apostle and missionary. He was always on the move. He was taunted, attacked, shipwrecked, and imprisoned. He wrote often about finding joy in his troubles, but clearly there were times when he felt afraid and alone. God saw his struggle and sent him Titus as an encouragement. There are many times we feel cast down by life. But we are not alone. God sees our struggle, and He does not leave us alone. And, often, he uses us to remind others that <i>they </i>are not alone. Thus, it's even more important to listen the prompting of the Holy Spirit. We may be the voice of encouragement to someone else right when they are most cast down.</blockquote><p><span style="font-size: large; font-weight: bold;">2 Cor 7:10 "Godly sorry brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death."</span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-size: large; font-weight: bold; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXAv-Iv99tQcVE-3LYBaWmvLTsoIES8pVYz3uATrvwP7qspqmkNmrOdVNtbyMqZ3rVgZcw9DLh8xqJrF6vLM_QrF56Z5mTBayMbbOLHFo-_1bt-ZbGiBi645wN2i1NgaV9PgwsSb8BaAHDOArhXpb8v4OryFFH4Li0jfO7_pD49QxNoknkg29OT6TG2g/s640/read-369040_640.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="424" data-original-width="640" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXAv-Iv99tQcVE-3LYBaWmvLTsoIES8pVYz3uATrvwP7qspqmkNmrOdVNtbyMqZ3rVgZcw9DLh8xqJrF6vLM_QrF56Z5mTBayMbbOLHFo-_1bt-ZbGiBi645wN2i1NgaV9PgwsSb8BaAHDOArhXpb8v4OryFFH4Li0jfO7_pD49QxNoknkg29OT6TG2g/w320-h212/read-369040_640.jpg" title="Courtesy of Pixabay" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Courtesy of <a href="http://www.pixabay.com">Pixabay</a></span></div><p></p><p style="font-size: large;"><b>2 Cor 8:7 "But since you excel in everything - in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in complete earnestness and in the love we have kindled in you - see that you also excel in this grace of giving."</b></p><p style="font-size: large;"><b>2 Cor 9:6-8 "Remember this: whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work."</b></p><p style="font-size: large;"><b>2 Cor 10:3-5 "For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ."</b></p><blockquote style="font-size: large;"><p>Human weapons and strategies are nothing against the power of God. That power, which lives within us as a gift, allows us to take down falsehoods, both without and within our own minds. It also gives us the power to confront falsehoods afflicting others, when we are so prompted by the Holy Spirit. </p></blockquote><p style="font-size: large;"><b>2 Cor 10:18 "For it is not the one who commends himself who is approved, but the one whom the Lord commends."</b></p><p style="font-size: large;"><b>2 Cor 11:14-15 "And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light. It is not surprising then, if his servants also masquerade as servants of righteousness. Their end will be what their actions deserve."</b> </p><blockquote style="font-size: large;"><p>I found this passage really interesting. And a little chilling, honestly.</p></blockquote><p style="font-size: large;"><b>2 Cor 12:9-10 "But He said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness.' Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong."</b></p><blockquote style="font-size: large;"><p>It's really hard for me to say this same thing. Although I do believe that God's grace is sufficient for me, I struggle to rejoice in trial and weakness. All I can see sometimes is the frustration and failure. Yet God is with me always, even in my failure. When I realize that I am not strong enough, then His strength can take over. When I admit that I can never be good enough, then His grace can shine through me.</p></blockquote><p style="font-size: large;"></p><p style="font-size: large;"> </p><p style="font-size: large;">Have you read 2 Corinthians lately? What do these verses say to you? I'd love to hear about it in the comments!</p></span></div></div>Rachelle O'Neilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02884513979937452569noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1050645680221973601.post-6323436694577150642022-09-09T11:41:00.000-07:002022-09-09T11:44:55.208-07:00I've Decided to Start Bible Journaling<p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">So, here's the thing. I'm a words person. I process things by talking and writing. And this has always been true with my Bible reading, as well. Yet I've never made notes in my Bible. For some reason that stems from I-don't-really-know-where, I've always felt sacrilegious about making any kind of mark in my Bible. </span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPxhuUApEZEWnCD7QmobeLCO9VSED1O8GoiF77EUqdOuh_ZUnOfY5JZvc-IjX9wq5rAajbefD7Ojh3lyhU4SLRX0qXrtFIQ51ASvhBoF9t_NTHTpp62U-0mPfHnMDecrU-vXdbB_CZKhHrVa708eTurJ2PWYGNOQOyHlnuPP46JlG8J5gUXR59X0RKHQ/s1632/Bible%20Journaling.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1632" height="236" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPxhuUApEZEWnCD7QmobeLCO9VSED1O8GoiF77EUqdOuh_ZUnOfY5JZvc-IjX9wq5rAajbefD7Ojh3lyhU4SLRX0qXrtFIQ51ASvhBoF9t_NTHTpp62U-0mPfHnMDecrU-vXdbB_CZKhHrVa708eTurJ2PWYGNOQOyHlnuPP46JlG8J5gUXR59X0RKHQ/w357-h236/Bible%20Journaling.jpg" width="357" /></span></a></div><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">I've journaled alongside my Bible reading for a long time. I've always called it a prayer journal, but really it's more of a devotional, observational journal on what I'm reading in my Bible, with occasional prayers written down. Until recently, that's what I thought of if I heard the term "Bible journaling." Now I'm coming to realize that it refers more to actually writing things down <i>in </i>your Bible, alongside the text. Maybe not universally, but perhaps more stereotypically, it especially refers to artistic illustrations and pretty notes in your Bible. If you type in "Bible journaling" on Pinterest, you'll find plenty of examples of what I mean. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">I recently got to thinking about this more because of some videos I've been watching from the Youtube channel How to Faith a Life. She's got some really interesting stuff, and I'm just starting to get into some of it. I do recommend her videos analyzing worship music. But she had a couple videos that particularly made me start thinking about this topic - <a href="https://youtu.be/_DGv4CC6nfY">How I Bible Journal</a> and <a href="https://youtu.be/xgI9eNA3drw">Bible Journaling Hacks</a>. Until I saw those, I hadn't even really thought about doing in-depth notes in my Bible. I had toyed with the idea of a note here and there, but, again, I have always struggled with feeling sacrilegious about that. But here was a seminary student and pastor's wife showing how well-used and in-depth her in-Bible notes are. And I began to wonder if I could do that.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">As I was mulling that over, I came across a couple more videos, this time from Justine Cheri Ordway - <a href="https://youtu.be/6qDMIe98Dsw">Let's talk about Bible journaling...</a>, in which she explains why she completely stopped the practice, and a <a href="https://youtu.be/X8TTaNo_zuA">follow up video</a> 6 months after doing so. What Justine struggled with was the trap of artistic journaling in her Bible - she felt pressured, she felt like she wasn't good enough at it, and she felt like she was losing touch with the true joy of reading God's Word. I think all of those issues are important and speak to the potential dangers of artistic Bible journaling. As I was looking up Bible journaling on Pinterest for this post, I came across this article - <a href="https://arabahjoy.com/why-not-to-do-bible-journaling/">Why Not to Do Bible Journaling</a> - that speaks to a lot of the same issues. </span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://g.christianbook.com/dg/product/ingram/f400/2115960.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a></div><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><span style="clear: left; float: left; font-family: arial; font-size: medium; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="400" height="218" src="https://g.christianbook.com/dg/product/ingram/f400/2115960.jpg" width="218" /></span><br />Now, if you are someone who enjoys drawing in your Bible, I'm not going to sit here and say that's a bad thing. Only you and God can know your heart. I'm really not particularly artistic, so any attempt by me at that would only be distraction. But, as I've been thinking about this topic, I've realized that's not what I want to do, anyway. I don't want to try adding illustrations and pretty artwork to my Bible. If I want to be artistic with Scripture, I'll use one of my coloring books - <a href="https://www.christianbook.com/the-psalms-in-color-coloring-book/9781432115968/pd/2115960?event=ESRCG">this one</a> of the Psalms is super fun. I want a way to add what I already do in a separate notebook to my Bible. I have a lot of notes going back years - prayer journaling, sermon notes, etc. But they're all in scattered notebooks, and I don't usually go back and look through them. So, while they were beneficial to me in the moment, they don't add a lot to my further study. When I go back to a passage I've read before, I might remember a little bit, but I don't have those notes in front of me to aid me in going deeper into that passage. Instead, I'm always stuck at a semi-surface level with that passage. There's also that saying that "Bibles that are falling apart belong to people whose lives are not." I have always tended to treat my Bible with kid gloves, wanting it to be pristine. But I don't think that's a good way to look at it. I think it's good to be reverent with your Bible, but I don't want to be so careful with it that I don't use it.</span><p></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://g.christianbook.com/dg/product/web/f400/579738.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="299" height="271" src="https://g.christianbook.com/dg/product/web/f400/579738.jpg" width="203" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">I want to go deeper. I want to add to my knowledge, but more importantly, I want to open my heart to what God is saying. I want to understand Scripture in context, and I want to let it speak into my life. So, I've decided to dip my toe in and try something new. The problem is that my current Bible doesn't really have a lot of space for that kind of thing. It's a really nice study Bible that my parents gave me when I graduated from high school (if I remember correctly). I love that Bible! It's got great context at the beginning of each book, and the study notes have some wonderful application that I get a lot out of. I have no intention of every getting rid of that Bible. And I still have some slight hesitation about writing on those super thin pages. This might take me a bit to get over... Anyway, I decided to get a specific journaling Bible. This is the one I ordered - <a href="https://www.christianbook.com/esv-journaling-interleaved-edition-leather-mahogany/9781433579738/pd/579738">ESV Journaling Bible, Interleaved Edition</a>. It was on sale<br /> (still is, looks like), and that's the one I believe Faith from How to Faith a Life uses. It's really cool because it has an entire blank page next to every page in the Bible. So lots of room! It's described as being "<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333;">Patterned after the Bible that Jonathan Edwards, the 18th-century preacher and theologian, used to record more than 5,000 notes about God's Word." I've heard about Edwards' prodigious notes before, but it's been a long time since I looked into it. I think that's really a cool way to think about it. </span></span><p></p><p><span style="color: #333333; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><span style="background-color: white;">I've always used the NIV translation for my Bible, so contemplating a new version was a bit of a nail biter for me. But I've always heard good things about the ESV, and it's fairly similar to the NIV. Besides, I think it's a great practice to have different translations on hand - often you will get more context for a verse or passage. So I did it. I bought a new Bible. It should get here toward the end of this month, and then I'll see what I'm working with. I have every intention of continuing to use my study Bible. I think they'll work well alongside each other, and I will probably use that one when I just want to sit down and read a passage. </span></span></p><p><span style="color: #333333; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><span style="background-color: white;">It will take me a while to get into a groove, I think. I know for sure that I don't want to put frivolous notes in this Bible. I don't want it to be a place where I put just anything and everything that pops into my mind. But I think it will be a great place for things I learn about historical context and word origin. It will be a place for solid sermon notes and real life application. I do think you can be sacrilegious just putting whatever you want on the pages of the Bible, but I'm coming to a place of realizing that writing itself is not wrong. It can be good and helpful, and that's what I want it to be. </span></span></p><p><span style="color: #333333; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><span style="background-color: white;">I will most likely still use a notebook sometimes. I want to get better at actually writing prayers down, and that will be a good place for those. And, like I said, not every thought should go in my Bible. Some things are helpful to write down, process, and then move on from, and I think that's true with Bible reading, too. I'm excited about this, though. I'm excited for the possibilities.</span></span></p><p><span style="color: #333333; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><span style="background-color: white;">Have you ever done any form of Bible journaling? How do you like to study God's Word? I'd love to hear your thoughts in the comments!</span></span></p>Rachelle O'Neilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02884513979937452569noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1050645680221973601.post-2014033785954532342022-09-02T12:05:00.001-07:002022-09-02T12:05:13.552-07:00August's Reads: Young Adult<p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">So, August's genre was supposed to be Young Adult. And, though I don't read a lot of that particular genre, I did have several books planned for it. Unfortunately, I don't actually own all those books, and my library was not terribly helpful. Thus, I didn't end up reading all of them. My month became a little random as a result.</span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifyn3sZw10XhfriUpb6qdDmb2TX5zDigP8lEb4aVkWcAbR2m6lDdxOk50Odl4k_embuGS58dV8_irhc7mlqnJepKnHfZcY1vzVOxy6lRpbkpJaBT95oQNxYsTsIGhum-Ho1TdI0tuUg1B735SChuVMLfpt4XExJN3pWw__ZjEged6I28WhJbFq-UoXHw/s1615/August's%20Reads%202022.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><img alt="August's Reads 2022" border="0" data-original-height="1077" data-original-width="1615" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifyn3sZw10XhfriUpb6qdDmb2TX5zDigP8lEb4aVkWcAbR2m6lDdxOk50Odl4k_embuGS58dV8_irhc7mlqnJepKnHfZcY1vzVOxy6lRpbkpJaBT95oQNxYsTsIGhum-Ho1TdI0tuUg1B735SChuVMLfpt4XExJN3pWw__ZjEged6I28WhJbFq-UoXHw/w400-h266/August's%20Reads%202022.jpg" width="400" /></span></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><p></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">I did start the month with a young adult re-read, <i><a href="https://www.christianbook.com/prophet-books-of-the-infinite/r-j-larson/9780764209710/pd/209710?event=AAI">Prophet </a></i>by R.J. Larson. It's the first title in her Books of the Infinite Series.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">(From Christianbook.com)</span></p><p><i><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333;">Ela Roeh of Parne doesn't understand why her beloved Creator, the Infinite, wants her to become His prophet. She's undignified and bad-tempered, and at age seventeen she's much too young. In addition, no prophet of Parne has ever been a girl. Worst of all, as Parne's elders often warn, if she agrees to become the Infinite's prophet, Ela knows she will die young.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333;">Yet she can't imagine living without Him. Determined to hear the Infinite's voice, Ela accepts the sacred vinewood branch and is sent to bring the Infinite's word to a nation torn apart by war. There she meets a young ambassador determined to bring his own justice for his oppressed people. As they form an unlikely partnership, Ela battles how to balance the leading of her heart with the leading of the Infinite.</span></span></i></p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">It's been a long time since I read this one, but I remembered liking it. And it holds up! Ela Roeh and Kien Lantec, the two main characters of this story, are very compelling characters. Ela in particular draws you in immediately. The world and story are somewhat based on the Old Testament, but the fantasy setting takes on a life of its own that makes it feel unique. I've never gotten ahold of the next two books in the series, <i>Judge </i>and <i>King</i>, but this time I'm determined to. I look forward to finishing this series!</span></p><p><span style="color: #333333;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #333333;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><a href="https://prodimage.images-bn.com/lf?set=key%5Bresolve.pixelRatio%5D,value%5B1%5D&set=key%5Bresolve.width%5D,value%5B300%5D&set=key%5Bresolve.height%5D,value%5B10000%5D&set=key%5Bresolve.imageFit%5D,value%5Bcontainerwidth%5D&set=key%5Bresolve.allowImageUpscaling%5D,value%5B0%5D&set=key%5Bresolve.format%5D,value%5Bwebp%5D&source=url%5Bhttps://prodimage.images-bn.com/pimages/9781941291306_p0_v1_s600x595.jpg%5D&scale=options%5Blimit%5D,size%5B300x10000%5D&sink=format%5Bwebp%5D" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="396" data-original-width="255" height="321" src="https://prodimage.images-bn.com/lf?set=key%5Bresolve.pixelRatio%5D,value%5B1%5D&set=key%5Bresolve.width%5D,value%5B300%5D&set=key%5Bresolve.height%5D,value%5B10000%5D&set=key%5Bresolve.imageFit%5D,value%5Bcontainerwidth%5D&set=key%5Bresolve.allowImageUpscaling%5D,value%5B0%5D&set=key%5Bresolve.format%5D,value%5Bwebp%5D&source=url%5Bhttps://prodimage.images-bn.com/pimages/9781941291306_p0_v1_s600x595.jpg%5D&scale=options%5Blimit%5D,size%5B300x10000%5D&sink=format%5Bwebp%5D" width="207" /></a></span></span></div><span style="color: #333333;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Next, I read <i>Jupiter Storm </i>by C.J. Darlington. This is the second book in her Jupiter Winds series, so, as to avoid spoilers, I'll give you the description for the first book instead. </span></span><p></p><p><span style="color: #333333;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">(From Barnes and Noble)</span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1rem; margin-top: 0px; outline: 0px;"><i><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Ever since Grey Alexander’s parents disappeared five years ago, she’s had one goal—to keep herself and her younger sister Rin alive. But surviving in the North American Wildlife Preserve isn’t easy, especially for the unconnected who can be shot on sight by border patrol robot drones. Through the guidance of their eccentric old neighbor Mrs. March, Grey and Rin get through by smuggling contraband into the Mazdaar government’s city zones.</span></i></p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1rem; margin-top: 0px; outline: 0px;"><i><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">But when Grey is captured by the merciless General Evangeline Yurkutz and is forced to become bait for her mother and father, she questions everything she thought she knew about her life in the Preserve, her missing parents, and God. Is it possible Jupiter isn’t uninhabitable? And could this planet, whose sky swirls with orange vapors and where extinct-on-Earth creatures roam free, hold the key to reuniting her family?</span></i></p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1rem; margin-top: 0px; outline: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">I read <i>Jupiter Winds</i> a while ago, and for some reason, when I first tried to read <i>Jupiter Storm</i>, I couldn't get into it. This time around, I didn't have that problem. I found the setting really interesting - both the zones and Wildlife Preserve on Earth and the military settlement on Jupiter. The science fiction elements feel reasonably solid, the characters are interesting, and the plot is fast-paced and logical. This second book does feel a little more rushed. The end of <i>Jupiter Storm</i> also doesn't feel like it wraps everything up, so I don't know if it was meant to be the last book in the series or not. It came out in 2011, and there are no more books. So I don't know what to make of that. </span></p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1rem; margin-top: 0px; outline: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">After that, I deviated back into Robin Jones Gunn books. None of these are technically young adult, but they are continuations of her Christy Miller Series, which is more specifically that genre. </span></p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1rem; margin-top: 0px; outline: 0px;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://g.christianbook.com/dg/product/web/f400/704468.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="261" height="236" src="https://g.christianbook.com/dg/product/web/f400/704468.jpg" width="154" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">I bought and read, in succession, three Christy Miller books - <i><a href="https://www.christianbook.com/forever-with-you-robin-gunn/9780982877210/pd/877211?event=ESRCG">Forever with You</a>, <a href="https://www.christianbook.com/home-of-our-hearts/robin-gunn/9780982877241/pd/877241?event=ESRCG">Home of Our Hearts</a>, </i>and <i><a href="https://www.christianbook.com/more-wish-christy-todd-married-years/robin-gunn/9780982877272/pd/877272?event=ESRCG">One More Wish</a></i>. I <i>really </i>loved these books and highly recommend them. I also read <i><a href="https://www.christianbook.com/peculiar-treasures-robin-gunn/9781942704461/pd/704468?event=ESRCG">Peculiar Treasures</a></i>, the first book focusing on Christy's best friend, Katie Weldon. Katie is a very quirky, fun personality, and her story is equally compelling. I'm hoping to read the rest of her series soon. </span><p></p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1rem; margin-top: 0px; outline: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">I then veered back into young adult by re-reading <i><a href="https://corneliafunke.com/en/books/inkheart/">Inkheart </a></i>by Cornelia Funke.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1rem; margin-top: 0px; outline: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">(From Cornelia's website)<br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1rem; margin-top: 0px; outline: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><i>After a nightly visit by the mysterious Dustfinger, bookbinder Mo and his daughter Meggie leave their home in a hurry, carrying with them a precious but dangerous book.</i></span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #3d392f; margin: 0px 0px 1em;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><i></i></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><i><a href="https://corneliafunke.com/site/assets/files/1278/inkheart-2020-reissue-667x1024.210x0.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="322" data-original-width="210" height="322" src="https://corneliafunke.com/site/assets/files/1278/inkheart-2020-reissue-667x1024.210x0.jpg" width="210" /></a></i></span></div><span style="background-color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><i>Meggie loves stories, but her book-binding father, Mo, hasn't read aloud to her since her mother mysteriously disappeared some years ago.</i></span><p></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #3d392f; margin: 0px 0px 1em;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><i>When a stranger who knows her father knocks at their door, Mo is forced to reveal an extraordinary secret – when he reads aloud, words come alive, and dangerous characters step out of the pages.</i></span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #3d392f; margin: 0px 0px 1em;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><i>Suddenly, Meggie is living the kind of adventure she has only read about in books, but this one will change her life for ever.</i></span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #3d392f; margin: 0px 0px 1em;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><span style="background-color: white;">Though this book is technically considered middle grade, I really have never thought that appropriate, since it's got a bid of mild language in it. Regardless, it's such a richly developed world, filled with compelling characters. I really appreciate the flaws in her characters; they don't always make good choices, but their choices always feel like the one that they would of course make. The plot is so interesting, and you can't help but keep reading. I'm currently partway through the second book of the series, <i>Inkspell</i>. Also, if you've never seen the movie with Brendan Fraser, I recommend it! As most movies do, it leaves out a lot. But I think it's a good rendering of the story, and it's very entertaining!</span></span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #3d392f; margin: 0px 0px 1em;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://d28hgpri8am2if.cloudfront.net/book_images/onix/cvr9781680995398/the-witnesses-9781680995398_lg.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="263" height="242" src="https://d28hgpri8am2if.cloudfront.net/book_images/onix/cvr9781680995398/the-witnesses-9781680995398_lg.jpg" width="159" /></a></div><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><span style="background-color: white;">I finished the month with the final book of Linda Byler's Lancaster Burning Series,<br /> <i><a href="https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/The-Witnesses/Linda-Byler/Lancaster-Burning/9781680995398">The Witnesses</a>. </i>I've struggled a bit with this series, because, while it's been interesting enough for me to keep reading, the writing sometimes takes me out of the story. This third book was a decent ending to the series. But, while the barn fires that form the "suspense" portion of the "suspenseful romance" were never really the main focus of this series, they are nonetheless resolved really early on in this book and without a lot of fanfare. I don't know. I didn't dislike the book necessarily. It just didn't really excite me. </span></span><p></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #3d392f; margin: 0px 0px 1em;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><span></span></span></p><a name='more'></a><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><span style="background-color: white;">So that was August. Not quite all on theme for the month, but I find that the farther into 2022 we go, the more books I have to read and series to finish. September is supposed to be Literary Fiction, which as far as I can tell just means books that don't quite fit into neat boxes. I have a bunch of books on hold at the library, so I will probably read those. And I'm going to try to read at least one book that fits the theme. What have you been reading lately? I'd love to hear about in the comments!</span></span><p></p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Lato, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 1rem; margin-top: 0px; outline: 0px;"><br /></p>Rachelle O'Neilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02884513979937452569noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1050645680221973601.post-60484339851064763402022-08-10T17:57:00.014-07:002022-08-11T09:39:10.931-07:00Thoughts from 1 Corinthians<p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">In my continued study of Paul's letters in the Bible, I went through the book of 1 Corinthians next. As this study is from the Bible Project, it began with their <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yiHf8klCCc4">overview</a> of the book, which is really interesting. I didn't know that Paul actually wrote four letters to the church at Corinth, but two of them are lost to us. Thus, 1 Corinthians is actually his second letter, and it's a distinct teaching about church practices and Christian living that has a lot of applicability to us today. Here are some of my favorite verses and thoughts from the book:</span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihETOGmlaUcBp6780MhnaaCjQywR6IDw0-NxfCKGb3mh8sw9Th4rBsTryfHEFH61NICJavjFB9qyTcku44RPuYFGE7Lob0QBYUw6yqQRMp_9OiZrEy-p8E3rEVTEcwx1u3g6DqRUTj5QFpHmPilJDATfoDjAaTt0gmg5ez-Ss83NU6Frw3v3XTWh3iGA/s1489/Thoughts%20from%20the%20Book%20of%201%20Cor.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1063" data-original-width="1489" height="228" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihETOGmlaUcBp6780MhnaaCjQywR6IDw0-NxfCKGb3mh8sw9Th4rBsTryfHEFH61NICJavjFB9qyTcku44RPuYFGE7Lob0QBYUw6yqQRMp_9OiZrEy-p8E3rEVTEcwx1u3g6DqRUTj5QFpHmPilJDATfoDjAaTt0gmg5ez-Ss83NU6Frw3v3XTWh3iGA/s320/Thoughts%20from%20the%20Book%20of%201%20Cor.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><br /></span><p></p><p><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">1 Cor 1:10 "I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another in what you say and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly united in mind and thought."</span></b></p><p></p><blockquote><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Obviously, we are all human, and so we will always have differences of opinion. And God did not make robots; He made human beings with opinions and personalities. Our differences can make us stronger, as long as we are unified in love and focused on the important things. </span></blockquote><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><b>1 Cor 1:27-29 "But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things - and the things that are not - to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before Him."</b></span></p><blockquote><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">I think I'm pretty hot stuff sometimes. I'm fairly intelligent, I can sing, I'm a decent writer. Yet what is any of that in light of my sin? Absolutely nothing! I am worth nothing on my own merit. Yet the love of God and the saving blood of Christ makes me worthy, chosen, and accepted.</span></p></blockquote><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><b>1 Cor 2:9-10 (Paraphrasing Isaiah 64 and 65) "However, as it is written, 'What no eye has seen, what no ear has heard, and what no human mind has conceived' - the things God has prepared for those who love Him - these are the things God has revealed to us by His Spirit."</b></span></p><p></p><blockquote><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">We have hope for tomorrow because God has told us what awaits. We can persevere in hope of a future with God.</span></blockquote><p><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">1 Cor 6:9-11 "... Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolators nor adulterers nor men who have sex with men nor thieves nor the greedy nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God."</span></b></p><blockquote><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">I like how Paul starts this with the "big" sins like theft and sexual immorality, but then he also includes things like greed (we have all been greedy at one time or another) and slander (we have definitely said unkind or untrue things behind someone's back). They are all equal sins; everyone is guilty and separated from God. But then Paul points to the Gospel. We have all sinned, but God makes us righteous.</span></p></blockquote><p><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">1 Cor 8:1-3 "... We know that 'We all possess knowledge.' But knowledge puffs up while love builds up. Those who think they know something do not yet know as they out to know. But whoever loves God is known by God."</span></b></p><blockquote><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">I love this wording - "knowledge <i>puffs </i>up while love <i>builds</i> up." Knowledge in and of itself is not bad. It's good to learn and study and grow. But knowing things has a tendency to make us proud and believe that we're better than others. Jesus' greatest command wasn't to know things. It was to love God and people. When we truly love, we will gain knowledge of God and of our fellow Man.</span></p></blockquote><p><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">1 Cor 9:24 "Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize." </span></b></p><blockquote><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">The Christian life is not some leisurely sprint that we can casually participate in. It is an endurance race. It is long, and at times it is very hard. But the prize we are racing for is more than we can even truly imagine - eternal life with Jesus. That is a prize worth running for. </span></p></blockquote><blockquote><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">I don't want to be lazy. I don't want to look back at my day like I so often do and wonder what in the world happened. I want to approach my life with purpose - my faith with intention, my marriage with intention, my relationship with my daughter with intention, my home with intention, and my friendships with intention. I can't do it on my own, but I want to devote everything to God, Who makes all things new.</span></p></blockquote><p><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">1 Cor 10:12-13 "So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don't fall! No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; He will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, He will also provide a way out so that you can endure it."</span></b></p><blockquote><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">This passage begins with a warning and ends with a promise. None of us is infallible. It is all too easy to think we're doing so well and that everything is in its place, that we've got it all figured out. And, in our pride, that is where the devil strikes hard. We need a constant spirit of humility that returns us daily to the feet of Jesus.</span></p></blockquote><blockquote><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">We will face temptations in this life, but we are no longer slaves to sin. We have the Spirit of God inside us, and that Spirit gives us the power to say, "No." The devil will try to make us think we are all alone in our struggles, that other Christians don't have these issues. He uses this to make me feel like a bad wife and mother sometimes. But the Spirit says that I'm not alone, that God has made a way out, that I don't have to live under that weight. Praise the Lord!</span></p></blockquote><p><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">1 Cor 10:31 "So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God."</span></b></p><p><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">1 Cor 12:4-6 "There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit distributes them. There are different kinds of service but the same Lord. There are different kinds of working, but in all of them and in everyone is the same God at work."</span></b></p><blockquote><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">I think God smiles at variety. Just look at Creation: the different animals, incredible scenery and crazy plants all speak to His love of variety. And then there are humans, different in so many ways from each other. God doesn't desire sameness; He created us for <i>unity </i>in our differences. Thus, we each have different gifts, skills and interests. And that's a good thing as long as we use them in love. Not every believer we meet will be our best friend, but we should experience a kinship, a unity of spirit, because the same Spirit lives within us.</span></p></blockquote><p><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">1 Cor 13:13 "And now these three remain: faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love."</span></b></p><blockquote><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">I kept wanting to write down everything as I read this chapter. It's all so good! There's a reason we had the entire chapter read at our wedding. Even with that, though, I did not have a full understanding. It's incredible to read this in context of the previous chapters. Paul talks about the spiritual gifts and their equality with each other, and then he says it's all pointless without love. Without God's holy, perfect love, all our gifts mean absolutely nothing. We become a "resounding gong or a clanging symbol," annoying and loud and unedifying. </span></p></blockquote><blockquote><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">My study note says, "<i>Faith </i>is the foundation and content of God's message; <i>hope </i>is the attitude and focus; <i>love </i>is action." These are the things we should desire above all gifts, because without them gifts mean nothing.</span></p></blockquote><p><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">1 Cor 14:15 "So what shall I do? I will pray with my spirit, but I will also pray with my understanding; I will sing with my spirit, but I will also sing with my understanding."</span></b></p><blockquote><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Worship should unite all parts of me - body, mind, heart, and spirit. If I am just blindly singing because it makes me feel good, then my mind isn't engaged, and I'm not really being edified. But a faith that is purely intellectual is barren of warmth. Neither extreme is good, especially in corporate worship.</span></p></blockquote><p><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">1 Cor 15:51, 52, 55 "Listen, I will tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed - in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed... 'Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?'"</span></b></p><p><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">1 Cor 16:13-14 "Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be courageous; be strong. Do everything in love."</span></b></p><p></p><blockquote><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Paul has this tendency to stick these dense nuggets of wisdom in places like his final greetings. In this case, these words act as a coda to the book as a whole. 1 Corinthians itself is a remarkably dense book, full of all kinds of practical information for the church. And, for the most part, it flows very logically from one concept to another, building on and affirming each one. </span></blockquote><blockquote><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">First, Paul affirms the supremacy of Christ and the Gospel and chastises the Corinthians for letting petty divisions make them lose sight of that. He urges them to seek unity in the church: unity of purpose, unity in worship. He explains that everyone's gifts work in concert with each other for the edification of the church. He then explains that it's all pointless without true, godly love. This love should promote order in worship, and our hope flows from the resurrection of the dead.</span></p></blockquote><blockquote><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">This verse, then, warns us to be on our guard against temptation, to stand firm on the Truth, to embrace counter-cultural living and the power of the Holy Spirit, and to live every moment in love.</span></p></blockquote><span><span style="font-size: medium;"><a name='more'></a></span></span><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: arial;">I r</span><span style="font-family: arial;">eally enjoyed reading through 1 Corinthians. I'm sure I've read it before, but I don't know if I've ever taken the time to just read it cover to cover and spend time in it. There's so much wisdom and practical help in it. What have you been studying lately? I'd love to discuss it in the comments! </span><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></span></p><blockquote><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></p></blockquote><blockquote><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p></blockquote><p></p><blockquote><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></p></blockquote><p></p>Rachelle O'Neilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02884513979937452569noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1050645680221973601.post-64346671431257427412022-07-28T22:23:00.000-07:002022-07-29T08:36:23.122-07:00July's Reads: Contemporary Fiction<p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">At the end of every month, as I look toward the next month's reading genre (you can find out about the reading challenge I'm doing <a href="https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/1050645680221973601/6434667143125742741#">here</a>), I always scan my physical and Kindle bookshelves to see what I already own that fits that genre. For July, I was supposed to read contemporary fiction. The first thing I hit on was my Karen Kingsbury section of books. From there, I finished a series I started a while ago, read a couple new books, and revisited a beloved series from my teenage years. </span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="210" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjL-_nD4Dj6CamqNcibRg84G8FlcBIIK9ukmSfjiYTgCtQHolv-3b_id9vRWqNMLgx4aVWImveGHKDHq6RBozL6ia8pfB-VlqL_sUz87COdxlRNr2oBWqVpD-ilCSAfc1wLWJOPmtVN513Tm-L7tFqyeAT1elISxPouO5RgsIh6kgMZoVsGLJ-OjEElbg/w373-h210/July%202022%20Reads.jpg" width="373" /></span></div><p></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">I started July reading <i>Where Yesterday Lives</i> by Karen Kingsbury. </span></p><p><span style="clear: left; float: left; font-size: medium; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="331" src="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/a167bc_cc02dc45d1e342f6abc07e64a3f7cf0e.png/v1/fill/w_420,h_655,al_c,lg_1,q_95,enc_auto/a167bc_cc02dc45d1e342f6abc07e64a3f7cf0e.png" width="212" /></span><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">(From Karen's website<i>)</i></span></p><p><span style="clear: left; float: left; font-family: arial; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></span></p><p><i><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Ellen Barrett, thirty-one, is a Pulitzer prize-winning journalist with an uncertain marriage, a forgotten faith, and haunting memories of her picturesque hometown and the love she left behind. The eldest of five siblings, Ellen longs for the time, long ago, when they were happy—when they were a family. </span></i></p><p><i><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Then tragedy strikes. Now Ellen’s beloved father is dead, and she must leave Miami and return to her childhood home on the shores of Little Traverse Bay in Petoskey, Michigan. </span></i></p><p><i><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">As she returns to a world that was, an avalanche of memories is unleashed. And so Ellen’s quest begins—a quest to make peace with the people who still live there, with the losses and changes that time has wrought, and with the future God has set before her.</span></i></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">I had bought this one a while back but hadn't read it yet. And, to be honest, it wasn't my favorite. I've read a decent number of Karen Kingsbury books, and I generally enjoy them. I didn't <i>not </i>enjoy this - I just didn't have that full feeling when I finished it that comes after reading a really good book. That being said, this isn't a bad book. It's got interesting characters and focuses on the really difficult task of dealing with grief and learning to let go of the past. In the end, I think it has a lot of good things to say; it just wasn't my particular cup of tea this go around.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">From that standalone book, I jumped back into Kingsbury's Redemption Series. If you are familiar with her books at all (and she has written an incredible number of them!), this is the original Baxter Family series. I have read the first book, <i>Redemption</i>, but I don't own it. Since I remembered it well enough, I jumped into the one I do own, <i>Remember</i>. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">(From Karen's website)</span></p><p><span style="clear: right; float: right; font-family: arial; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><img border="0" height="327" src="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/a167bc_921de47f68504996a17598841e0b383e.png/v1/fill/w_404,h_630,al_c,lg_1,q_95,enc_auto/a167bc_921de47f68504996a17598841e0b383e.png" width="210" /></span></span></p><p><i><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Convinced she could make it on her own, Ashley Baxter has kept the most important people in her life at a distance--her family, the man who loves her, and the God she is sure can never forgive her.</span></i></p><p><i><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Now, just as she begins to open her heart, the events of September 11 rip into Ashley's world and she is led to heartbreaking and hope-filled decisions that will forever change her life.</span></i></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">I'll be honest: I cannot read or watch anything about the September 11th terrorist attacks without getting emotional. I'm just incapable of it. Kingsbury has another series of books more specifically about that, and those books absolutely wrecked me.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">This book does coalesce around September 11th; it's a huge part of the story, and it is devastating. I forgot that I had read this one before as well, so I was getting little snippets of deja vu constantly. I went on to get the other books in the series from the library, which I had not done the last time around. So, <i>Return, Rejoice, </i>and <i>Reunion</i> were all new to me. Each one of these books, like much of Kingsbury's fiction, deals with tragic, painful circumstances, and they can be really emotionally gripping. Her characters - the now-iconic Baxter family - each deal with struggle and have to come to grips with their faith in different ways. <i>Rejoice </i>was the hardest for me to deal with, but its message is in some ways the most incredible. I always get on Kingsbury kicks when I read her books, so I'm eager to move on to the next Baxter Family series, which I have read the first book of but haven't finished. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">After reading <i>Remember </i>but while waiting on the rest of the books, I re-read Robin Jones Gunn's series Christy and Todd: The College Years. I first started reading her original Christy Miller series when I was 14, just a year or so younger than Christy is in that first book. And I absolutely <i>loved </i>those books when I was in high school. I own The College Years and one of the other collections, so I decided to dive back in. And they are every bit as good as I remember. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">The plot descriptions of these books - <i>Until Tomorrow, As You Wish, </i>and <i>I Promise - </i>are slightly spoilery, since it's not really the beginning of the series. So I'll just say this. The Christy Miller series documents the life of a young woman as she moves to California from the Midwest, meeting God, navigating highschool, and making lifelong friends along the way. Christy is one of the most relatable young adult characters I have ever read, and all of the other characters are really fun, too. And the lessons learned along the way sink deep as you read. I highly recommend these books. I'm also sensing some investment into more books in the future, because the library is kind of spotty on the rest of the books in this series and the related ones about Christy's friends. Which is quite terrible, as I've got to finish them!</span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://www.robingunn.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/UNTIL-TOMORROW-compressed.jpg" width="275" /></span></div><p></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">I finished the month off by finishing the series I read in <a href="https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/1050645680221973601/6434667143125742741#">February</a> - the Bradford Sisters books by Becky Wade. There are a couple of novellas in this series that I didn't know about, so I'll have to get around to those at some point. But the last main book is <i>Sweet on You</i>. </span></p><p><span style="clear: left; float: left; font-size: medium; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="292" src="https://beckywade.com/home/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/SweetonYouFinalCoverSmall.jpg" width="189" /></span><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">(From Becky's website)</span></p><p><span style="clear: left; float: left; font-family: arial; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></span></p><p><i><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Britt Bradford and Zander Ford have been the best of friends since they met thirteen years ago. Unbeknown to Britt, Zander has been in love with her for just as long.</span></i></p><p><i><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Independent and adventurous Britt channels her talent into creating chocolates at her hometown shop. Zander is a bestselling author who’s spent the past eighteen months traveling the world. He’s achieved a great deal but still lacks the only thing that ever truly mattered to him–Britt’s heart.</span></i></p><p><i><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">When Zander’s uncle dies of mysterious causes, he returns to Merryweather, Washington, to investigate, and Britt is immediately there to help. Although this throws them into close proximity, both understand that an attempt at romance could jeopardize their once-in-a-lifetime friendship. But while Britt is determined to resist any change in their relationship, Zander finds it increasingly difficult to keep his feelings hidden.</span></i></p><p><i><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">As they work together to uncover his uncle’s tangled past, will the truth of what lies between them also, finally, come to light?</span></i></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Like the previous two books, this one was such fun! It's got a great mystery at its heart and characters that you get attached to quickly. Britt is very different from her sisters in her determination to keep it all together for everyone else's sake, and it has stunted her emotionally. That plays a very important part in this book, and I think it's a valuable arc. I absolutely loved this finale to the series and highly recommend! </span></p><hr /><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> So, those are my reads from July. Have you read any of these books? What have you been reading lately? I'd love to talk about it in the comments! </span></p><p></p><div><p></p></div>Rachelle O'Neilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02884513979937452569noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1050645680221973601.post-49029732990802032972022-07-15T22:20:00.000-07:002022-07-15T22:20:05.321-07:00Thoughts from the Book of Romans<p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">About a month ago, I started a Bible reading plan that is taking me through the letters of Paul. This is the specific plan, if you're interested - <a href="https://www.bible.com/reading-plans/4822-bibleproject-pauls-letters" target="_blank">Paul's Letters</a>. All this year, I have been working on studying God's Word more consistently - it's a habit I had really let myself get out of, and I've suffered for it. At first, all I could manage was a quick daily devotional. Then I did a two-week study on the Holy Spirit, and now I'm doing this. Eventually, I'd like to get back into reading the Psalms, as well. But, for now, this is enough. Usually, it's a couple chapters a day. The only thing I don't like about YouVersion is that it adds specific dates to each day, but I just ignore those if I miss a day (or on Sunday, when I don't typically do a personal devotional/study). </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">I just finished Romans with this plan. And I will admit, it took me much longer than the plan has it taking, but that's okay. I can't remember the last time I read Romans all the way through; I'm not actually sure I ever have. So it's been a good experience. Anyway, I thought I'd share some of my favorite verses and the thoughts I wrote down for them. </span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1EAQhm_Ma02NJwTjYXs6Ye2k6iDKUCUTRXSDXt9i-XQ9rbQU6KnfAX3_V5-ZmZYp8e9ZqJTV4fiGsEeit0lsqNf57z6JqMsNsyPAfOnM_GF8xR4plIpEiGC_tC3FIwnVNSti3mHiI9uVILBeZXyhPxG1tAm-KXMWyTCVmbQsNjY62WNbq38eLwO5OpQ/s1489/Thoughts%20from%20the%20Book%20of%20Romans.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1063" data-original-width="1489" height="228" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1EAQhm_Ma02NJwTjYXs6Ye2k6iDKUCUTRXSDXt9i-XQ9rbQU6KnfAX3_V5-ZmZYp8e9ZqJTV4fiGsEeit0lsqNf57z6JqMsNsyPAfOnM_GF8xR4plIpEiGC_tC3FIwnVNSti3mHiI9uVILBeZXyhPxG1tAm-KXMWyTCVmbQsNjY62WNbq38eLwO5OpQ/s320/Thoughts%20from%20the%20Book%20of%20Romans.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><br /></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Each new book has its own overview from the Bible Project. Romans had two - <a href="https://youtu.be/ej_6dVdJSIU">Chapters 1-4</a> and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0SVTl4Xa5fY" target="_blank">Chapters 5-16</a></span></p><p><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Romans 2:28-29 "A person is not a Jew who is one only outwardly, nor is circumcision merely outward and physical. No, a person is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is circumcision of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the written code."</span></b></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"></span></p><blockquote><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Circumcision set God's people apart in the Old Testament. And it was done in obedience to God. But circumcision in and of itself cannot save anyone. God is looking to circumcise our hearts through the work of the Holy Spirit and make us clean.</span></blockquote><p></p><p><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Romans 4:23-24 "The words 'it was credited to him [Abraham]' were written not for him alone, but also for us, to whom God will credit righteousness."</span></b></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"></span></p><blockquote><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">The study note for these verses talks about the exchange we make - we give God our sin, and He gives us justification and righteousness. Generally, an exchange includes things of somewhat equal value. But that is the exact opposite in this case! We give God something dirty and shameful, and He gives us His perfect righteousness. There's nothing equal about that! How incredible that God gives us this gift!</span></blockquote><p></p><p><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Romans 5:3-4 "... but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope."</span></b></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"></span></p><blockquote><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">This is an important verse to me, and it has been for a while. When we encounter trials and difficulties here on earth, it's sometimes really hard to keep going. Sometimes these are huge trials, like persecution in places like China. But other times it's the daily grind. In my case, that's parenting a toddler, and it can be incredibly overwhelming sometimes. Yet I know that what feels insurmountable some days is not the end. When we can keep going through suffering and trial, we are persevering. And, as we persevere, God is creating character in us, which results in a hope that does not go out. We have a hope of eternal life; we know that this is not all there is, and that's a tremendous encouragement to me on days that feel exhausting. </span></blockquote><p></p><p><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Romans 7:21-23 "So I find this law at work: Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God's law; but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind..."</span></b></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"></span></p><blockquote><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Every day, I am at war with sin - in the form of disobedience and rebellion in my small child, and very definitely in myself. I don't want to be angry and snap, yet I do. I don't want to be resentful, yet sometimes I am. This is the work of sin in me. Yet I am not a slave to sin - I do not have to obey Satan. <span style="font-weight: bold;">"Do not offer any part of yourself to sin... offer every part of yourself to [God]." (6:13)</span><i style="font-weight: bold;"> </i>I don't want any part of me acting in the service of the Devil - not my mouth, in particular, which is what I struggle with the most. Instead, I want God to have everything.</span></blockquote><p></p><p><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Romans 11:36 "For from him and through Him and for Him are all things."</span></b></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"></span></p><blockquote><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size: medium;">I cannot fully understand God's methods, because I am not God. But I trust Him. This verse is at the close of the chapter in this lovely doxology that essentially says God is above our understanding. It very much reminds me of the questioning chapter in Job. God is so far above our human understanding. We cannot fathom the mind of God. Yet He is holding all things together, and He loves us beyond our ability to fully grasp. </span></span></p></blockquote><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"></span></p><p><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Romans 12:3 "...Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you."</span></b></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"></span></p><blockquote><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">There is nothing about me inherently that makes me better than anyone else. I need to remind myself of that sometimes. But in Christ, I am worthy, accepted, and loved. That is where I find my value.</span></blockquote><p></p><p><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Romans 12:12 "Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer."</span></b></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"></span></p><blockquote><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">This whole section describes Christian living, but this verse is a succinct roadmap of perseverance. We have in Christ a hope that never dies, so we can be joyful. We can hold on through trials, knowing they will end. And we can keep praying, knowing that God hears every word.</span></blockquote><p></p><p><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Romans 13:12 "The night is nearly over; the day is almost here. So let us put aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light."</span></b></p><p></p><blockquote><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">I love this picture of time - that the night of our suffering and loneliness and fear is ending, and the day of Jesus' return is so very close. </span></blockquote><p></p><p><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Romans 15:5-6, 30 "May the God Who gives endurance and encouragement give you the same attitude of mind toward each other that Christ Jesus had, so that with one mind and one voice you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ... I urge you, brothers and sisters, by the love of the Spirit, to join me in my struggle by praying to God for me."</span></b></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"></span></p><blockquote><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">God desires first obedience and then, above all else, unity. There should not be petty squabbling over differences of opinion in the church of Christ. Discussions about different interpretations of Scripture are healthy and good. But judgment and arguments over "disputable matters" are not. God gives different convictions to each of us, and Paul makes it clear that do ignore your convictions is sin. But that doesn't mean God has given someone else the same convictions, and it would be wrong me for to judge them for that. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">The final verse speaks to the importance of prayer. Too often, I treat prayer as an afterthought. In reality, though, it is a mighty weapon, and it's one of the ways we can unite with Christians around the globe. </span></p></blockquote><span><span style="font-size: medium;"><a name='more'></a></span></span><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> So, there are some of my recent thoughts from the Book of Romans. What do you think of these verses? What things stand out to you most from this book? Let me know in the comments!</span></p>Rachelle O'Neilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02884513979937452569noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1050645680221973601.post-62394658965406904912022-07-01T11:56:00.002-07:002022-07-01T11:56:21.835-07:00June's Reads: Thriller<p><span style="font-family: arial;"> I<span style="font-size: small;">I have definitely read far more books this year than I did last year, and I’m very much enjoying it. Halfway through the year, I’ve read about 23 books, which is a huge improvement on last year. I had really missed reading. So this reading challenge has been a good thing for me. And it’s making me think at least a little bit outside of the box.</span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAgiLuPj7vImG1TdvBdEdxbDQ2bdaIvgb6YyrFUQQICzhwRNzhMwysVZrkQcvO9MhcOT0CxrTXH5f4CTqWsEafkOHDV3ZkNH_x86WxSUbWxOB4PWKtLnHJ0-ENo7QEE70DmVAcu9zQn77Dj00OcXLXh_FKmaaYL363swAG7etcRAnuy5N2rDNxaw78yg/s1617/June's%20Reads%202022.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1060" data-original-width="1617" height="253" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAgiLuPj7vImG1TdvBdEdxbDQ2bdaIvgb6YyrFUQQICzhwRNzhMwysVZrkQcvO9MhcOT0CxrTXH5f4CTqWsEafkOHDV3ZkNH_x86WxSUbWxOB4PWKtLnHJ0-ENo7QEE70DmVAcu9zQn77Dj00OcXLXh_FKmaaYL363swAG7etcRAnuy5N2rDNxaw78yg/w386-h253/June's%20Reads%202022.jpg" width="386" /></span></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: small;">June’s genre was thriller, and, I’ll be honest, I don’t really own any thrillers. Since the other purpose of this challenge was for me to read through my bookshelves, that did present a bit of a problem. So I had to think a little beyond the “thriller” concept. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: small;">I chose to read a book I’ve owned for quite a while but had never made the time to read, <em>Fire in the Night </em>by Linda Byler. It’s billed as a “suspenseful romance,” which I would say is fitting. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: small;">(From publisher website)<a href="https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Fire-in-the-Night/Linda-Byler/Lancaster-Burning/9781680995367" target="_blank"><img align="left" border="0" height="278" src="https://d28hgpri8am2if.cloudfront.net/book_images/onix/cvr9781680995367/fire-in-the-night-9781680995367_lg.jpg" style="background-image: none; border-image: none; border: 0px currentColor; display: inline; float: left; margin: 0px 15px 0px 0px;" width="182" /></a></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: small;"><em>The Amish community of Lancaster is being terrorized by barn fires. David and Malinda Beiler's barn was the first to go… Sarah, David and Malinda's daughter, observes her parents' agony. Not only is she afraid, and wishing she could protect her parents, she's entranced by the flirtatious Matthew Stoltzfus. He's dating her friend, Rose, but when he tenderly bandages Sarah's hand after she burned it at the barn raising, she wonders who he's really interested in.<br /></em></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: small;"><em>When a second Amish barn burns for suspicious reasons, the Amish grow more restless…Seriously considering police protection, the increasingly tense community questions their traditional nonresistant approach to violence. Sarah now finds herself at odds with her mother over her choice of boyfriends and uncertain about how to respond to the attention of Lee, a newcomer to Lancaster. Not only that, she wonders if her dad is a wise enough leader as her community reels from within and without. </em></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: small;">I enjoyed this book, the first in Byler’s Lancaster Burning series, enough to read the second one. And I’m currently trying to get ahold of the third and final book. It’s a pretty slow burn (pardon the pun), with much of the book focused on Sarah’s daily life and her fixation with her neighbor, Matthew. But ever-present under the surface is the mystery of the barn fires and who is setting them. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: small;">The writing style takes a little getting used to – Byler uses a lot of Pennsylvania Dutch, which is a German dialect typically used amongst the Amish, and translates in parentheses. It's really jarring, and I’m still not 100% sure that I like it, but it does theoretically help ground you in the setting. Some of her word and sentence choices are a little awkward for me, too – that may be just a writer sensitivity, though. Overall, the story and characters are interesting - even if I do want to scream at Sarah from time to time - and I am invested in seeing how this series finishes up. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: small;">I also finished John G<a href="https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/abduction-john-grisham/1100177906?ean=9780142421376" target="_blank"><img align="right" height="341" src="https://prodimage.images-bn.com/lf?set=key%5Bresolve.pixelRatio%5D,value%5B1%5D&set=key%5Bresolve.width%5D,value%5B550%5D&set=key%5Bresolve.height%5D,value%5B10000%5D&set=key%5Bresolve.imageFit%5D,value%5Bcontainerwidth%5D&set=key%5Bresolve.allowImageUpscaling%5D,value%5B0%5D&product=path%5B/pimages/9780142421376_p0_v2%5D&call=url%5Bfile:common/decodeProduct.chain%5D" style="display: inline; float: right; margin: 0px 0px 0px 5px;" width="224" /></a>risham’s middle grade Theodore Boone legal thriller series. His <em>Theodore Boone: Kid Lawyer </em>is followed by <em>The Abduction, The Accused, The Activist, The Fugitive, </em>and <em>The Scandal. </em>He must have run out of “A” names halfway through or something. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: small;">Overall, I enjoyed each book separately. They each follow the setup of the first book – a smart, generally good kid who knows more about the law than anyone else his age and dreams of being a great lawyer gets himself in the middle of trouble that he doesn’t cause but nonetheless helps solve. Each story is interesting on its own, but you definitely feel the targeted age group when you read them all quickly – they’re very repetitive with the details of Theo’s life, and they run together after a while. That being said, the highlight of most of the books is Theo’s stop in Animal Court on behalf of one friend or another, where, thanks to lax rules, he gets to truly act like a lawyer. It’s a fun series; they were all quick reads and something out of the norm for me.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: small;">I also read <a href="https://tessaafshar.com/books/thief-of-corinth/" target="_blank">Thief of Corinth</a><em></em> by Tessa Afshar, which is not at all a thriller, though it has some suspense elements to it. It’s biblical fiction that I highly enjoyed and definitely recommend. </span></p><hr /><p></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: small;">So, overall, I’d say I didn’t dive too deep into true thrillers this month. But I did read, and I read things that are little different than I usually do. So I consider that a success. What have you been reading lately? </span></p>Rachelle O'Neilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02884513979937452569noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1050645680221973601.post-71172326701834500582022-05-27T11:23:00.001-07:002022-05-27T11:23:12.333-07:00April & May's Reads<p>I'll start with an apology. I had this post written when it was supposed to go up, but then I had some technical issues that I just didn't get around to solving. So, I apologize for missing a month. This post will technically cover two months, April and May. I'll get the latter out of the way quickly. May's genre was History and Biography, which I love, but it does make for some slow reading. So, unfortunately, I didn't actually finish any books this month. I'm about 3/4 of the way through <i>Letters to America: Courageous Voices from the Past </i>by Tom Blair. It's a collection of fictionalized letters from ordinary people throughout America's history. I'm really enjoying it. I'm not honestly sure why it's taking me so long to finish; I'll blame it on the spectacular sunshine we've been having. Anyway, with that out of the way, I'll focus on April's reads, which fell under the Mystery genre. </p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIwFjF5futBSIN1-ZIpm7g1Dc7LnhPB8l5CRy42HiuTC03cfY9HEH_TY2vhFSh1wD3TcVkEOQkrmk1JA8f0M2r1tYyImAj4CpxS2t2jDwEBHyFkPG1BtLw_AE92abdwUTbTGY-DjODXj1FESx2HFH6mMjaEqJYlk_cfMpIP43Y3lsETUh0Jzb2yyJz-A/s1920/April's%20Reads%202022.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIwFjF5futBSIN1-ZIpm7g1Dc7LnhPB8l5CRy42HiuTC03cfY9HEH_TY2vhFSh1wD3TcVkEOQkrmk1JA8f0M2r1tYyImAj4CpxS2t2jDwEBHyFkPG1BtLw_AE92abdwUTbTGY-DjODXj1FESx2HFH6mMjaEqJYlk_cfMpIP43Y3lsETUh0Jzb2yyJz-A/s320/April's%20Reads%202022.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />So, when April began, I quickly realized that I don’t actually own a lot of mystery books. It’s just not a genre that I typically dip into much. I don’t necessarily dislike mysteries – I just don’t usually read them.<p></p><p><span style="font-size: small;">So, I started with what I own (turns out it was really only one book) and went from there.</span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://juliannadeering.com/drew/images/RulesCoverCrop.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="511" data-original-width="327" height="304" src="http://juliannadeering.com/drew/images/RulesCoverCrop.jpg" width="195" /></a></div><span style="font-size: small;">The mystery novel I own and have actually read before was <em>Rules of Murder </em>by Julianna Deering. This is the first book in her Drew Farthering series.</span><p></p><p><span style="font-size: small;">(From Julianna’s website)</span></p><p><span style="font-size: small;"><em>From his black Homburg hat to the crease in his stylish cheviot trousers, Drew Farthering is the epitome of the well-bred English gentleman of 1932, but things at Farthering Place are not quite so ideal.</em></span></p><p><span style="font-size: small;"><em>There’s been a murder at the old manor house. With the help of the alluring Madeline Parker, Drew sets out to solve the crime and save the family fortune. Before long, he realizes no one at Farthering Place is who he appears to be – not the blackmailer, not the adulterer, not the embezzler and not even Drew himself.</em></span></p><p><span style="font-size: small;">As I said, I’ve read this one before, and I enjoyed reading it again. I then proceeded to read the rest of the series, getting what I could at the library and buying what I couldn’t: <em>Death by the Book</em>, <em>Murder at the Mikado</em>, <em>Dressed for Death</em>, and <em>Murder on the Moor</em>. There’s one more book in the series, <em>Death at Thorburn Hall</em>, but I didn’t get to that before the end of the month.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: small;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://juliannadeering.com/drew/images/MikadoCoverFit.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="506" data-original-width="327" height="241" src="http://juliannadeering.com/drew/images/MikadoCoverFit.jpg" width="155" /></a></span></div><span style="font-size: small;">So, since I read almost the entire series, I’ll give my general impressions without specific spoilers. All the books have engaging characters and interesting mysteries. The first book introduces the main characters very well, although I found the romance a little bit rushed. That being said, I really like Drew and Madeline, and his interactions with his best friend Nick are hilarious and extremely entertaining. I like the way Deering utilizes faith in the books – it’s never preachy, and it feels more organic as the series goes on. All mysteries, in my opinion, have an element of sadness to them, because they center on people’s mistakes and sins. Book #4 in this series, <em>Dressed for Death</em>, is the saddest of the bunch. The others strike a good balance. I enjoyed #3, <em>Murder at the Mikado</em>, and #5, <em>Murder on the Moor</em>, the most. </span><p></p><p><span style="font-size: small;">After starting that series and while waiting for the rest of the books to come in at the library, I re-read a book my sister owns – <em>Theodore Boone: Kid Lawyer </em>by John Grisham. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: small;">I don’t read many Grisham novels – outside of this one, I’m not sure if I ever have. As the name suggests, it’s kind of middle grade or young adult fiction, but it held my attention just fine (and I really don’t like most young adult books). I picked it up remembering it as a mystery, but it’s really more of a legal thriller.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="https://www.jgrisham.com/Books/theodore-boone-kid-lawyer/" target="_blank"><img height="397" src="https://www.jgrisham.com/wp-content/uploads/2001/02/TB-KID-LAWYER-3D-PB.png" style="display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="256" /></a></span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: small;">(From the author’s website)</span></p><p><span style="font-size: small;"><em>In the small city of Strattenburg, there are many lawyers, and though he’s only thirteen years old, Theo Boone thinks he’s one of them. Theo knows every judge, policeman, court clerk—and a lot about the law. He dreams of being a great trial lawyer, of a life in the courtroom. But Theo finds himself in court much sooner than expected. Because he knows so much—maybe too much—he is suddenly dragged into the middle of a sensational murder trial. A cold-blooded killer is about to go free, and only Theo knows the truth. The stakes are high, but Theo won’t stop until justice is served.</em></span></p><p><span style="font-size: small;">The book has a bit of a slow build, and it ends in a cliffhanger. But Theo is a particularly likeable main character, and he’s surrounded by an eclectic bunch of people, including his parents, both lawyers; his uncle, a disgraced lawyer; an important judge; and a host of school friends who come to Theo for legal advice. There are six more books in the series, so I’ll need to fit those in around the rest of my reading. </span></p><hr /><p><span style="font-size: small;">June's genre is Thriller, another one I don't read much. I will probably end up trying to finish the Theodore Boone books. So, what have you been reading? I’d love to hear about it in the comments!</span></p>Rachelle O'Neilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02884513979937452569noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1050645680221973601.post-67043123441359543632022-03-31T12:35:00.001-07:002022-04-01T09:33:36.972-07:00March’s Reads: Fantasy<p><font size="3">Ah, fantasy. So much harder to get through than romances, no matter how interesting you may be. (If you haven’t seen my post from my February readings, click <a href="http://theinkloft.blogspot.com/2022/03/februarys-reads-romance.html" target="_blank">here</a>.)</font></p> <a href="https://drive.google.com/uc?id=1Qyc5kgTpc0qT4mQVBdiJhYQfAW-u_Fll"><img alt="theinkloft.blogspot.com" border="0" height="246" src="https://drive.google.com/uc?id=1Q6MySaroN1YWLnb1qGmf3GFSZWtCQwPA" style="background-image: none; border: 0px currentcolor; display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="theinkloft.blogspot.com" width="493" /></a> <p>As I noted last month, I started <em>Lord of the Rings</em>. I haven’t finished it yet, and I’ve got quite a ways to go still. It’s just not a book you can rush. But it is, in my opinion, worth all the time it takes to read. If you’ve never actually read the book, I highly recommend it. It’s a classic for a reason.</p> <p><font size="3">As for what I actually started and finished in March, there are three books:</font></p> <p><font size="3"><em><a href="https://gillianbronteadams.com/book/songkeeper/" target="_blank"><img align="left" height="322" src="https://i2.wp.com/gillianbronteadams.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/SONGKEEPER-FRONT-COVER.jpg?resize=360%2C570&ssl=1" style="display: inline; float: left; margin: 0px 18px 0px 0px;" width="204" /></a>Songkeeper</em><font size="3"> by Gillian Bronte Adams is the second book in her Songkeeper Chronicles series. </font></font></p> <p><font size="3">(From Gillian’s website) </font></p> <p><strong><font size="3"><em>WAR RAVAGES LEIRA AND THE SONG HAS FALLEN SILENT.</em></font></strong></p> <p><font size="3"><em>Freed from the hold of a slave ship, Birdie, the young Songkeeper, and Ky, a street-wise thief, emerge to a world at war. Hordes of dark soldiers march across Leira, shadowed by whispers of plague and massacres, prompting Ky to return to his besieged home city in hopes of leading his fellow runners to safety.</em></font></p> <p><font size="3"><em>Desperate to end the fighting, Birdie embarks on a dangerous mission into the heart of the Takhran’s fortress. Legend speaks of a mythical spring buried within and the Songkeeper who will one day unleash it to achieve victory. Everyone believes Birdie is the one, but the elusive nature of the Song and rumors of other gifted individuals lead her to doubt her role. Unleashing the spring could defeat the Takhran once and for all, but can she truly be the Songkeeper when the Song no longer answers her call?</em></font></p> <p><font size="3">I definitely should have reread the first book, <em>Orphan’s Song</em>, before I got into this one. I remembered enough that I thought I’d be fine, but there were some details that I couldn’t quite place that would have helped. Despite that, though, I really enjoyed this book and the third one, <em>Song of Leira.</em> For the sake of spoilers, I won’t describe that one. But it’s a great series, full of interesting characters and deep conflicts. Highly recommend these books.</font></p> <p><font size="3"><font size="3"><font size="3"><font size="3"><font size="3"><font size="3"><font size="3"><font size="3"><font size="3"><font size="3"><font size="3"><font size="3"><font size="3"><font size="3"><font size="3"><font size="3"><font size="3"><font size="3"><font size="3"><font size="3"><font size="3"><font size="3"><font size="3"><font size="3"><font size="3"><font size="3"><font size="3"><font size="3"><font size="3"><font size="3"><font size="3"><font size="3"></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></p> <p><font size="3">After finishing those two, I <font size="3"><font size="3"><font size="3"><font size="3"><font size="3"><font size="3"><font size="3"><font size="3"><font size="3"><font size="3"><font size="3"><font size="3"><font size="3"><font size="3"><font size="3"><font size="3"><font size="3"><font size="3"><font size="3"><font size="3"><font size="3"><font size="3"><font size="3"><font size="3"><font size="3"><font size="3"><font size="3"><font size="3"><font size="3"><font size="3"><font size="3"><font size="3"><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Fatemarked-Epic-1-David-Estes/dp/1542429765/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1648754810&sr=8-1" target="_blank"><img align="right" height="317" src="https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51w78-apA7L._SX322_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg" style="display: inline; float: right; margin: 0px 0px 0px 14px;" width="206" /></a></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font>moved on to a book I own but wasn’t particularly familiar with, <em>Fatemarked </em>by David Estes.</font></p> <p><font size="3">(Adapted from the back cover)</font></p> <p><font size="3"><em>Four Kingdoms. A century-old war. One prophecy that could change everything. </em></font></p> <p><em><font size="3">They’re called different things – tatooya, sinmarks, fatemarks. But for each of the few people born with these runes upon their skin, they are set apart. Some are worshipped, some hunted. All have powers, though some do not fully understand them. But as kings begin to die and an ancient prophecy looks to be coming true, four kingdoms constantly at war may be reborn in blood, and the fatemarked will have a role to play. </font></em></p> <p><font size="3">Overall, I did quite enjoy this book. The world Estes built is really interesting, the “magic” system he’s created with his fatemarks is intriguing, and he balances a diverse cast of characters who are all interesting to follow. However, there is some content that makes me a bit hesitant to continue with the series. </font></p> <p><font size="3">It’s got some really dark undertones that I can only imagine would get stronger throughout the series. And there is a brief homosexual moment that I'm concerned will be expanded upon in subsequent books. If my library had the series, I would probably get the next one to see if I enjoy the rest. But since it doesn’t, I don’t think I’m comfortable enough to buy any of the other books. So I will probably just have to be miserable without reading the rest. </font></p> <font size="3"> <hr /></font> <p><font size="3">So, I ended up reading three books in March, and I’m still working through <em>Lord of the Rings</em>. April’s genre is Mystery, which is not something I read much of. So I’ll have to comb through my bookshelves and see what I’ve got. </font></p> <p><font size="3">What did you read in March? Let me know in the comments!</font></p>Rachelle O'Neilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02884513979937452569noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1050645680221973601.post-67901716805521143202022-03-04T08:36:00.000-08:002022-03-04T08:36:47.943-08:00February’s Reads: Romance<p><font size="3">Well, I read <em>a lot </em>more in February than I did in January. That was due, I’m sure, to being back to fiction. Nonfiction always takes me longer to get through, even when it’s interesting. </font></p> <p><font size="3">In my reading challenge for this year, February’s genre was Romance. For those of you who didn’t read my January post explaining the challenge, you can read that post <a href="http://theinkloft.blogspot.com/2022/02/im-back.html">here</a>. And you can find the original challenge <a href="https://monganmoments.com/2022-diversify-your-reading-challenge/">here</a>. </font></p> <a href="https://drive.google.com/uc?id=1aBkKnymOUomQMI9ArKNGReT5SpY2_CiF"><img alt="February's Reads 2022" border="0" height="343" src="https://drive.google.com/uc?id=13C3HZx88M1sEAQMQDc8QXPZQNiNf7Z9Y" style="background-image: none; display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="February's Reads 2022" width="464" /></a> <p> </p> <p><font size="3">In February, I read four books. I really do enjoy romance novels, although I’ve learned that I’m much happier when I stay with Christian romances. On the rare occasions that I’ve strayed into secular romances, even ones that I wouldn’t consider smut, per se, there’s almost always way too much detail about sex. So I tend to stay away from those. I read a post a long time ago on <em>The Writer’s Alley </em>that talked about the differences between Christian and secular romances, and, though I can’t find it now (<a href="http://thewritersalleys.blogspot.com/2012/11/christian-romance-what-exactly-is-it.html">this one has some similar thoughts</a>), the point was that Christian romance, when done well, celebrates the fun and flirty side of romance (along with the solid foundation of the actual relationship) while keeping the door closed on details that are meant to be private between a husband, wife, and God. And I really like that description.</font></p> <p><font size="3">Anyway, moving on. In order of reading, my books from February were:</font></p> <p><font size="3"><strong><em>The Measure of a Lady </em>by <a href="https://iwantherbook.com/the-measure-of-a-lady" target="_blank"><img align="left" height="278" src="https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5330fe03e4b0870ba2b4d2e4/1397679892354-CD70QRMD64403FRR43RB/book.the-measure-of-a-lady.jpeg?format=500w" style="display: inline; float: left; margin: 0px 30px 0px 0px;" width="183" /></a>Deeanne Gist</strong></font></p> <p><font size="3">(Description adapted from Deanne’s website): <em>When Rachel Van Buren arrives in the lawless city of San Francisco at the height of its Gold Rush, all she wants to do is get home as quickly as possible with her dignity intact. But she finds this more difficult than expected, since ships don’t leave San Francisco anymore. And soon her younger siblings don’t seem to want to leave. Even worse, she finds herself falling for a man who, despite all his charm and seemingly good character, nonetheless runs a saloon! How is one woman to remain a lady when the entire world seems stacked against her?</em> </font></p> <p><font size="3">This is the second time I’ve read this one, and I really enjoyed it both times. It’s fast-paced and snappy with lots of sparks. But it’s not perfectly predictable, which I really appreciate. It’s very much a story about the difference between <em>appearing </em>to be a lady and actually being one, and I like that. This is probably the “raciest” of the books I read, although I use that term loosely. She includes just enough details about the attraction to make your heart skip, I’ll put it that way. <br clear="all" /></font></p> <p><font size="3">Next, I read <em>True to<a href="https://beckywade.com/home/true-to-you/" target="_blank"><img align="right" height="295" src="https://beckywade.com/home/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/TrueToYouChristySeal-copy.jpg" style="display: inline; float: right; margin: 0px 0px 0px 1px;" width="191" /></a> You </em>by Becky Wade. I’ve read this one before, too, but it’s been a while. </font></p> <p><font size="3">(From Becky’s website) <em>After a devastating heartbreak three years ago, genealogist and historical village owner Nora Bradford decided that burying her nose in her work and her books is far safer than romance in the here and now.</em></font></p> <p><font size="3"><em>Unlike Nora, former Navy SEAL John Lawson is a modern-day man, usually 100 percent focused on the present. However, when John, an adoptee, is diagnosed with an inherited condition, he’s forced to dig into the secrets of his ancestry.</em></font></p> <p><font size="3"><em>John enlists Nora’s help to uncover the identity of his birth mother, and as they work side-by-side, this pair of opposites begins to suspect that they just might be a perfect match. But can their hope for a future survive their wounds from the past?</em></font></p> <p><font size="3">This book ran the emotional gamut for me, from funny and lighthearted to gut-wrenchingly heartbreaking. I really appreciate how the title plays into the story, which is about faithfulness and honesty in a lot of different ways – with God, loved ones, and one’s self. I really loved the characters and the story. One of the things I find really interesting about this book and the series at large is how Wade uses texts, Facebook messages, and even phone notes to add pieces to the story without having to do an entire point-of-view shift. It’s almost jarring at first, because I don’t know if I’ve ever seen that in any other book. But it actually works really well, blending into the story without detracting from it. </font></p> <p><font size="3">After I finished that book, I moved on to the second book in the series, <em>Falling for You</em>. </font></p> <p><a href="https://beckywade.com/home/falling-for-you/" target="_blank"><img height="384" src="https://beckywade.com/home/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/FinalCoverLowerRes.jpg" style="display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="247" /></a></p> <p><font size="3">(From Becky’s website) <em>Famously beautiful model Willow Bradford is taking a temporary break from her hectic schedule to work as the innkeeper at her family’s small-town bed-and-breakfast. She was enjoying the peace of her hometown, Merryweather, Washington, right up until she came face-to-face with Corbin Stewart, the man she loves to hate. A thoughtful rule-follower by nature, Willow threw caution to the wind four years ago when she entrusted her heart to Corbin — then suffered the consequences when it all fell apart.</em></font></p> <p><font size="3"><em>Former NFL quarterback Corbin is forceful, charming, and accustomed to getting what he wants . . . except where Willow Bradford is concerned. Unable to forget her, he’s never stopped regretting what happened between them.</em></font></p> <p><font size="3"><em>When a decades-old missing persons case brings Corbin and Willow together, they’re forced to confront their past and who they’ve become — and whether they can risk falling for one another all over again.</em></font></p> <p><font size="3"><font size="3">While the first book is very sweet, this one is much more sassy. And I equally enjoyed it. It’s also got a fascinating mystery at its heart, even though it’s not specifically a mystery novel. </font></font></p> <p><font size="3"><font size="3">Both books have a really solid focus on seeking God’s will, which I love seeing portrayed. And they’re just fun books! <br clear="all" /></font></font></p> <font size="3"><font size="3"> <p><font size="3"><a href="https://www.roseannamwhite.com/books/biblical-fiction/a-stray-drop-of-blood" target="_blank"><img align="left" height="282" src="https://i0.wp.com/www.roseannamwhite.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/New-Stray-Drop-front.jpg?w=1836&ssl=1" style="display: inline; float: left; margin: 0px 30px 0px 0px;" width="186" /></a>Next, I turned to one of my favorite authors, Roseanna M. White, and read <em>A Stray Drop of Blood</em>.</font></p> <p><font size="3"><font size="3">(Abbreviated from Roseanna’s website) <em>Beautiful is a dangerous thing to be when one is unprotected. That is a lesson Abigail learns well when her master’s son, Jason, takes her to his bed. Jason’s mother, Ester, may have educated her as a daughter instead of a slave; his father, Cleopas, may have obeyed Hebrew law rather than Roman in the running of his household, but none of that matters to their son. At least, it doesn’t until he has a child of his own on the way…</em></font></font></p> <p><font size="3"><font size="3"><em><font size="3"><em><font size="3"><em>Israel’s unrest finds a home in her bosom, but their rebellion tears apart her world…</em></font></em></font></em></font></font></p> <p><font size="3"><font size="3"><em><font size="3"><em><font size="3"><em><font size="3"><em>She was born free, made a slave, married out of her bonds. But she never really knew freedom until she felt the fire of </em></font><a href="https://www.roseannamwhite.com/product/a-stray-drop-of-blood-signed"><font color="#000000" size="3"><em>A Stray Drop of Blood</em></font></a><font size="3"><em> from a Jewish carpenter. She was disowned by Israel, despised by Rome, desired by all. Yet she never knew love until she received the smile of a stoic Roman noble.</em></font></em></font></em></font></em></font></font></p> </font></font> <p><font size="3">I hadn’t read White’s biblical fiction up to this point, only her British historical fiction (which is spectacular), and it was really different. The characters drew me in, and the story completely transfixed me. I stayed up too late reading this, which I have not done in a <em>very </em>long time (word of advice: I don’t typically recommend this if you have a toddler). In some ways, the two halves of the story feel like completely different books, which disoriented me a bit. I also had the weirdest sense of deja vu the entire time, so maybe I have read it before. I don’t know. But I was so attached to the characters that I had to keep going. And I really enjoyed it. It’s not an easy book – it deals with hard subjects and the failures of human nature. But it offers beautiful hope, too, in the coming of Jesus. And that’s what lives on after you finish reading it. </font></p> <font size="3"> <hr /></font> <p><font size="3">So, February was a very satisfying month of reading for me. I enjoyed everything I read, and I’m looking forward to finishing both the Bradford Sisters series and Roseanne White’s Visibullis series.</font></p> <p><font size="3"><font size="3"><font size="3">I also started <em>Lord of the Rings </em>in February, getting a head start on March’s genre, which is Fantasy. And that may or may not take me longer than a month, anyway. We’ll see. I’m intending to read it among other fantasy books, but I had forgotten just how much I enjoyed that book!</font></font></font></p> <p><font size="3">What have you been reading lately? I’d love to hear about it in the comments!</font></p>Rachelle O'Neilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02884513979937452569noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1050645680221973601.post-4595305828199396882022-02-04T10:51:00.000-08:002022-02-04T10:51:26.035-08:00I’m Back!<p><font size="3">So, it’s been four years since I posted on here. Four. Years. To the day. If anyone is still subscribed and sees this, I will be really impressed. A lot has happened in my life during that time, for sure. I got married, I graduated from college, and now I have a beautiful little girl who takes up most of my time. It’s a little mind-boggling when I really think about it. My life is so different now; I’ve grown and changed and learned so much. </font></p> <p><font size="3">In the process, though, I’ve really lost track of my writing and my blogging community. And I miss all of it. I miss interacting with you guys; I miss putting pencil to page. So I’m trying to integrate writing back into my life. I don’t completely know what that looks like yet, but I’m just getting started. I’m prayer journaling again – I had forgotten how much I enjoyed that. I’m trying to journal-journal more, which is off to a rocky start. But I also really want to start blogging again. </font></p> <p><font size="3">I don’t know exactly what that’s going to look like. For now, I’m doing a simple genre reading challenge this year (and trying to read through my bookshelf at the same time), and I’m going to do some updates/reviews each month. The original challenge can be found <a href="https://monganmoments.com/2022-diversify-your-reading-challenge/" target="_blank">here</a>. I’m also trying out Storygraph, an alternative to Goodreads, and I’m tracking the challenge there. You can join me <a href="https://app.thestorygraph.com/reading_challenges/0c6fdcfc-f02e-4856-a407-509f1d09f446" target="_blank">there</a> if you'd like, and we can read together!</font></p><p><font size="3"><font size="3"><br clear="all" />January’s genre was Memoir/Autobiography, so I read <em>Reflections: Life After the White House</em> by Barbara Bush. This is her second memoir; her first covers her life up to and including the time her husband, George H.W. Bush, was President of the United States. I haven't read that book. This one covers the eight years between that presidency and the inauguration of their son, George W. Bush.</font></font></p> <p><font size="3"><a href="https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/reflections-barbara-bush/1100299700?ean=9780743255820"><img height="277" src="https://prodimage.images-bn.com/lf?set=key%5Bresolve.pixelRatio%5D,value%5B1%5D&set=key%5Bresolve.width%5D,value%5B550%5D&set=key%5Bresolve.height%5D,value%5B10000%5D&set=key%5Bresolve.imageFit%5D,value%5Bcontainerwidth%5D&set=key%5Bresolve.allowImageUpscaling%5D,value%5B0%5D&product=path%5B/pimages/9780743255820_p0_v3%5D&call=url%5Bfile:common/decodeProduct.chain%5D" style="display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="184" /></a></font></p> <p><font size="3">It took me a while to get into it. She seemed like a nice lady, and there were some interesting stories. But there were too many names for me to track. However, once I spent more time in it, I found that I quite enjoyed the book. When I would read it for longer stretches at a time, I could track the many, many people she interacts with a lot better. The craziest part to me was how busy she and her husband were! They both died in 2018, but even in the 1990s, when they were in their sixties, they were both whirlwinds of energy, constantly travelling and speaking. Barbara Bush was a very warm person, and that comes through in her writing. She loved her family, fiercely defended her husband, and believed in her country. Overall, I found the book to be a compelling picture of being a kind person in a busy world. </font></p><hr /><p></p> <p><font size="3">So that’s how I started my reading for the year. February’s genre is Romance, so I’m enjoying that so far! I plan to keep blogging updates from the challenge. I would like to blog more than that; if I do, it might be a little random for a while. But I’m glad to be back, and I hope to hear from some of you soon!</font></p>Rachelle O'Neilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02884513979937452569noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1050645680221973601.post-81262678964567946142018-02-04T18:30:00.000-08:002018-02-04T18:31:11.766-08:00Sunday Psalms: Chapter 90<p><font size="3">I’ve just got one psalm for you today, because my thoughts on it are comparatively pretty long. Let me know what you think!</font></p><p><font size="3"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-k_mcXxy_ftY/WnfBwf67qYI/AAAAAAAAAkM/qgmmlJl8hnERgkisP_cX6Vzop57ZVSe5wCHMYCw/s1600-h/Sunday-Psalms-Chap.-905"><img width="420" height="214" title="Sunday Psalms Chap. 90" style="border: 0px currentcolor; border-image: none; margin-right: auto; margin-left: auto; float: none; display: block; background-image: none;" alt="Sunday Psalms Chap. 90" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-WNR-nVp7YEg/WnfBy_l3yhI/AAAAAAAAAkQ/Ri3AwEiOijAn2A9DrydwyD-Q2KolwZy8gCHMYCw/Sunday-Psalms-Chap.-90_thumb7?imgmax=800" border="0"></a></font></p><p><font size="3"><a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalm+90&version=NIV"><strong>Psalm 90:4,12</strong></a><strong> “For a thousand years in Your sight are like a day that has just gone by, or like a watch in the night. Teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.”</strong></font></p><blockquote><p><font size="3">We cannot fathom time the same way God does. We are bound by time, yet He exists completely outside of it. The concept is so far beyond our ability to comprehend. Oh, we think we grasp it. And maybe we do, in part. But can you really imagine existing outside time? We’re not even capable of describing the concept without reference to time. We say God existed before the beginning. <em>Before </em>and <em>beginning</em>. Both time words. It’s just impossible for our human brains to fully comprehend.</font></p><p><font size="3">But that’s okay. We don’t have to comprehend it all. Faith doesn’t require perfect understanding. And, really, it’s quite comforting to me that God isn’t bound by time like we are. He doesn’t feel the pinch of time, doesn’t feel constrained by it. He never feels that He doesn’t have enough time.</font></p><p><font size="3">God just is.</font></p><p><font size="3">Yesterday, today, tomorrow. They all exist for God in a way I can’t understand. </font></p><p><font size="3">For us, two-hundred and forty years of American history seems like a long time. A lot has happened. A lot of people have come and gone. We know, though, that America is a comparatively young country. Others have been around for hundreds of years. Humankind has been on this planet for millennia. </font></p><p><font size="3">And God sees it all. He sees our stories played out, as individuals and as nations, repeating in cycles. But it comforts me to know that He sees it all, the sum and total of all human history, in perfect balance. And it all points to Him and His great love for us.</font></p></blockquote><hr><font size="3">I don’t think I’ve ever posted just one psalm before, but I was kind of rambly on this one, wasn’t I? What do you think of these verses? Let me know in the comments!</font>Rachelle O'Neilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02884513979937452569noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1050645680221973601.post-73563142903493497252018-01-30T13:08:00.000-08:002018-01-30T13:13:52.739-08:00Happenings of the Month: January 2018<p><font size="3">It’s been a pretty full month for me, and I didn’t quite get to all the blog activity I had planned. But I was determined to write my Happenings post. So, here it is.</font></p><p><font size="3"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-96HUCahx-YM/WnDevdLiBGI/AAAAAAAAAjo/m5GlWM69Lz4RYBNKwHUnEQ130SjUKNN3gCHMYCw/s1600-h/Happenings%2Bof%2Bthe%2BMonth%2BJan%2B2018%255B4%255D"><img width="371" height="286" title="Happenings of the Month Jan 2018" style="border: 0px currentcolor; border-image: none; margin-right: auto; margin-left: auto; float: none; display: block; background-image: none;" alt="Happenings of the Month Jan 2018" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-SDRiMySlnP4/WnDevzBbZrI/AAAAAAAAAjs/kntiwroGZdgLMwl0x_Scm_IhBYOszPgfACHMYCw/Happenings%2Bof%2Bthe%2BMonth%2BJan%2B2018_thumb%255B2%255D?imgmax=800" border="0"></a></font></p><p><font size="3"><font size="4"><strong>Entertainment of the Month</strong></font>:</font></p><ul><li><font size="3"><strong>Movies/TV</strong> </font></li></ul><p><font size="3"><em>The Last Jedi</em>, people. I actually had a full blog post <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2527336/"><img width="203" height="299" align="right" style="float: right; display: inline;" src="https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BMjQ1MzcxNjg4N15BMl5BanBnXkFtZTgwNzgwMjY4MzI@._V1_UX182_CR0,0,182,268_AL_.jpg"></a>planned to talk about this, but I wasn’t able to get to it. But I did finally get to see the newest Star Wars film this month. And, overall, I really enjoyed it. It wasn’t perfect. I felt it was a little too long and rather rambling in places, but I’m fascinated by the themes that are being explored in this movie. I’d say it’s darker than <em>The Force Awakens</em> but not to the point of <em>Rogue One</em> (which was just too much depressing for me). It also seemed to be charting some more original territory, even while utilizing some of the forms of <em>Empire Strikes Back</em>. Again, not perfect, but I enjoyed it. </font></p><ul><li><font size="3"><strong>Books</strong></font></li></ul><p><font size="3">I decided to take part in this <a href="https://www.challies.com/resources/the-2018-christian-reading-challenge/">2018 reading challenge</a> that my friend Liv mentioned in one of her posts. Though you don’t necessarily have to go in order, I was already fulfilling the first one, a biography, when I started. So, that’s my first entry for the challenge. <em>Enduring Courage</em> by John F. Ross is the story of Eddie Rickenbacker, a race car driver and WWI ace who was one of America’s first real celebrities.</font></p><p align="center"><font size="3"><font size="3"><font size="3"><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Enduring-Courage-Pilot-Eddie-Rickenbacker/dp/1250033845/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr="><img width="229" height="338" style="border-image: none; margin-right: auto; margin-left: auto; float: none; display: block;" src="https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51VgwWkK5kL._SX336_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg"></a></font></font> <em><font size="2">I own the hardcover version of this, but I had to link to the paperback cover, because, I mean, look at it. It’s gorgeous!</font></em></font></p><p><font size="3">It’s really a much bigger story than just that, though. It’s about America’s love of speed and the experience of aeroplane warfare in its first arena. It’s about the importance of hard work and the reality of death. Ross tells the story of a child of immigrants who pushed his whole life to come out on top but who never seemed to approach life from any sense of arrogance, who wasn’t necessarily the most likeable man but never asked anything of others that he wouldn’t do himself. I found this biography to be engaging and well-written, giving me a picture of both a man and the world he lived in. I learned a lot about World War I that I had never known before. Definitely recommend.</font></p><ul><li><font size="3"><strong>Music</strong></font></li></ul><p><font size="3">I’m loving a lot of songs right now, many of them current singles on Air1. </font></p><p><font size="3"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-H9SXqzs0oI">“Higher”</a> – Unspoken – Last month I shared the song “Miracle” off their latest album, and I almost did it again this month before realizing that I already posted it… I’m kind of in love with that song. This one is equally as amazing, though. It’s all about shouting our praise from the rooftops, regardless of our circumstances, and the beat is <em>so </em>catchy. </font></p><p><font size="3"><em><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Live-Forever-Afters/dp/B01IENCDAO/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1517286460&sr=8-1&keywords=the+afters">Live on Forever</a> – </em>The Afters – This album is so good. Every song gets my feet dancing, but they also affirm some really important truths. I am buying this album shortly, and I am ecstatic about it!</font></p><p><font size="3"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iTrZkI3y7R8">“Get Down”</a> – Finding Favour – Another insanely catchy song, this one is very pointed about one thing – when things get bad, we get on our knees and pray. It’s an encouragement every time I hear this song.</font></p><p><font size="4"><strong>My Life This Month:</strong></font></p><p><font size="3">I’m solidly back to school now, and I’m already sick of it. I mean, I’m doing a little better now that I’m on top of my assignments. But it’s like a major case of senioritis, except that I’m not a senior yet! So I don’t even have the satisfaction of graduating this semester. I’m trying to keep my eyes on the big picture, but it’s all too easy to get bogged down in the feeling of slogging through school (bog, slog, what’s happening to me???) I’m reminding myself that God has a point in all of this and that I want to be open to the lessons He’s teaching me along the way. </font></p><p><font size="3"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh20bKnryFp3QF3Zhh8NgmovM0PH-UdC0KEuDO6O_sUCmctOYI-BzVO5u-Hp2l7-844XQvXcTtTMLZjzbfdgqbJzdTJVyOPkT2WC-t7iWqy3dKIEEwFEkcuf0gBtE9HUihIBZDMJ-TcT-7P/s1600-h/book-1934675_1280%255B3%255D"><img width="240" height="170" title="book-1934675_1280" style="border: 0px currentcolor; border-image: none; margin-right: auto; margin-left: auto; float: none; display: block; background-image: none;" alt="book-1934675_1280" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmvqFqXTN4qgxEWWcQ5nxl8s1Y1K2PIn5ABNQJGSx8Oy5qnCD11MmSklztiCe82BvSUC82M52cBVVcAdAf8jTE9QkwkLDxYTA1nSuyNKS74s5HWuqLkujcazQEVNqh687Id4T4HFNKseO8/?imgmax=800" border="0"></a></font></p><p><font size="3">Speaking of lessons, I had a confrontation of sorts with a friend of mine the other day that has really got me thinking. He was criticizing some things about how I seem to approach life, and it really opened my eyes to the fact that I’m far more closed off to people than I realized. I’m still trying to work through it all, but I know that I don’t want to live like this. I want people to see God in me, and that doesn’t work very well when I don’t let them in. </font></p><p><font size="3">In addition, there are a lot of other emotional currents going on, and I’m starting to feel like I’m drowning. I have got to separate myself from things that are not my problem, something I’ve always struggled with. But it’s not healthy. Empathy is a good thing, but taking on burdens that I shouldn’t be is not. It’s an ongoing lesson that God is teaching me. </font></p><p><font size="3">On top of everything else, I’m suffering a major case of the January blahs and want winter to be over. That’s a hard one for a lot of people, I know, I haven’t quite figured out how to conquer it, unfortunately.</font></p><p><font size="4"><strong>Other Web Happenings:</strong></font></p><p><font size="3"><a href="http://goteenwriters.blogspot.com/2018/01/how-to-create-space-and-time-for-writing.html">How to Create Space and Time for Writing</a> – Go Teen Writers – Go Teen Writers is doing a really great series this year that they’re calling Grow an Author, and it’s all about sharing each of their writing processes in hopes of helping each of us. Which I think is awesome. This particular post is about making time for writing, which is something I definitely struggle with. </font></p><p><font size="3"><a href="http://oneyearnovel.com/blog/spirituality-forgotten-key-character-development/">Spirituality: A Forgotten Key to Character Development</a> – One Year Adventure Novel</font><hr><p><font size="3">So, there you have it. How has January been for you? Watch/read anything interesting? Want me to post more about <em>The Last Jedi</em>? Let me know in the comments!</font></p>Rachelle O'Neilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02884513979937452569noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1050645680221973601.post-14252734917840431792018-01-21T12:41:00.000-08:002018-01-21T12:43:41.068-08:00Sunday Psalms: Chapters 85, 86, & 88<p><font size="3">I had gotten out of the habit of daily Bible reading over the last several months, and I think that has definitely hurt me. So, I’m working to make the time for it again. Part of that is getting back to my Psalms project, and I figured it was time to start posting them here again.</font></p><p><font size="3"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-_Tqh6EWzpEY/WmT63hpln5I/AAAAAAAAAjQ/HgQdkuPdebwTAvcXb0qzbPECLZrgjQAwgCHMYCw/s1600-h/Sunday-Psalms-Chap.-85-86--8814"><img width="468" height="316" title="Sunday Psalms Chap. 85, 86, & 88" style="border: 0px currentcolor; border-image: none; margin-right: auto; margin-left: auto; float: none; display: block; background-image: none;" alt="Sunday Psalms Chap. 85, 86, & 88" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-IQ7IL1ByZNM/WmT65Rk9VHI/AAAAAAAAAjU/hvE0Yq-Kf68H6svC_3p8HuQFH6KFEUYGACHMYCw/Sunday-Psalms-Chap.-85-86--88_thumb2?imgmax=800" border="0"></a></font></p><p><font size="3"><a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalm+85&version=NIV"><strong>Psalm 85:8</strong></a><strong> “I will listen to what God the Lord will say; He promises peace to His people, HIs saints – but let them not return to folly.”</strong></font></p><blockquote><p><font size="3">As Christians, we are made holy, <em>set apart</em>. What was once our nature is such no longer. We are freed from bondage to sin. We are made new.</font></p><p><font size="3"><em>We don’t have to return to our folly.</em></font></p></blockquote><a name='more'></a><blockquote><p><font size="3"><em><br></em></font></p><p><font size="3">That is comforting to me. God has opened up a new path, one of freedom and hope, one that does not lead to death. Praise God that I am no longer mired in my sin. Praise God that I am made alive in Him. May my life reflect that truth, O Lord.</font></p></blockquote><p><font size="3"><a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalm+86&version=NIV"><strong>Psalm 86:11</strong></a><strong> “Teach me Your way, O Lord, and I will walk in Your truth; give me an undivided heart, that I may fear Your name.”</strong></font></p><blockquote><p><font size="3">An undivided heart. A heart devoted fully to God. A life fashioned for one purpose. I get off track so easily. So distracted. So conflicted. I spend most of my life torn in multiple directions. It’s exhausting, honestly, second-guessing my choices. It’s hard to live with multiple purposes, especially if those purposes fall at odds with each other.</font></p><p><font size="3">I want to live in tune with God, my heart beating in time with His. That is where contentment is found and where purpose lies.</font></p></blockquote><p><font size="3"><a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalm+88&version=NIV"><strong>Psalm 88:13</strong></a><strong> “Are Your wonders known in the place of darkness, or Your righteous deeds in the land of oblivion?”</strong></font></p><blockquote><p><font size="3">Can You hear me, God, when all around me is darkness? Can You see me when I feel like I’m drowning? Do you know my fears? Do you know my sorrow? These are the questions we ask sometimes, when it seems that life is besting us. These are the questions that we cry, sometimes even scream out.</font></p><p><font size="3">And the answer to every one of them is <em>yes</em>. God hears, sees, knows. He feels with us, loves us. And we truly are never alone.</font></p></blockquote><hr><font size="3">What do you think of these verses? I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments!</font>Rachelle O'Neilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02884513979937452569noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1050645680221973601.post-68769341616772874172018-01-12T12:19:00.000-08:002018-01-15T14:55:28.812-08:00On Failure and Flash Fiction (Updated)<p><span style="font-size: small;"><font size="3">So, this post was supposed to be my entry for my Flash Fiction Challenge #5. I received a fantastic prompt from </font><a href="https://tobeashennachie.wordpress.com/"><font size="3">Blue</font></a></span><font size="3">:<br>
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<em>A man buys time – literally. What is the cost?</em><br>
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I mean, what a great prompt! And I actually had a story going whose concept I’m quite intrigued by. But then I realized that I was going way over my thousand-word limit and that the story is just too big to condense. So, I switched to a different story. The problem is, this was yesterday. And I had other things I had to do in getting ready to go back to school. So, now I have two unfinished stories in response to this prompt but nothing completed.<br>
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And after I gave everyone three weeks instead of two…<br>
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I feel really bad about this. I’ve posted my story late before (for my first challenge, I think), but I’ve never not completed it. I just couldn’t fit it in this time, unfortunately. Not the best start to what I am determined will be a better writing year than 2017. However, I’m not giving up. I do want to apologize to my readers and the other participants of this challenge. I will be giving both of you feedback. For the time being, though, I’ve decided to post the beginning of my story, so you can at least see what I was working on. I do intend to finish it, and, if you like it, I’ll post it here when I do. <br>
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The other two participants in this challenge, however, <i>did </i>finish their stories. You can find them at the following links:<br>
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</font><a href="https://tobeashennachie.wordpress.com/2018/01/12/the-silversmith/"><font size="3">Blue - The Silversmith</font></a><br><font size="3">
</font><a href="https://craftingstoriesinred.wordpress.com/2018/01/12/the-ink-loft-flash-fiction-challenge-3/"><font size="3">Athelas - Flash Fiction</font></a><br><font size="3">
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I am very proud of them both, and you should go check out their stories!<br>
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As for my attempt, without further ado:<br>
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</font></p><p><font size="3"><br></font></p><p><font size="3">They were busy today. They always were.</font></p><font size="3"><p>
Dylan Forsythe’s lips tightened as he watched the revolving door across the street, always in motion, the last rays of sunlight glinting off its glass. People going in, a look of hope or fear on their faces. People coming back out, those looks generally smoothed into a long line of despair. The lump in Dylan’s stomach grew with each new face.</p><p>
Of course, there were exceptions. There was the pretty young red-head, her chin held high, a smile on her lips. She had clearly gotten the news she’d come for. Few did.</p><p>
Dylan studied the soaring stone building, windows staring out like gateways to the depths of hell. There was no sign, but it didn’t need one. This building was the country’s only place to purchase the most precious commodity in the world: time.</p><p>
Heart beating faster, he leaned against the cool brick beside him and pulled up his sleeve. The counter fit snugly against his wrist, a sleek blue with silver digits: <em>3 days, 8 hours, 17 minutes, 24 seconds. </em></p><p>
<em>23.</em><br>
<em></em></p><p><em>22.</em><br>
<em></em></p><p><em>21.</em> <br>
</p><p>His breath caught, and he slid to the ground. Only three days left.</p><p>Just over three days and he’d be dead. <br></p>
<p>He glanced across the street again to the building. The Department for the Regulation and Dispensation of Time. A mirthless smile twitched at his lips. A pretentious name to fit a building full of pretentious bureaucrats.<br>
</p><p>The harshness of a metal stamp against marble echoed through his head. The doom of the words now etched across his request form. <em>Extension denied. </em><br>
</p><p>He pulled the folded paper from his jacket pocket, gaze searching for the official reason he already knew by heart: <em>Essential capacity, easily replaced</em>. <br>
</p><p>Easily replaced. That was the final judgment on Dylan’s life. After nearly twenty-five years, the government had deemed him worthless.<br>
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</p><p>I actually wrote quite a bit more to this story, but now you’ve got a feel for it. What do you think? </p></font>Rachelle O'Neilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02884513979937452569noreply@blogger.com5