• Uncategorized

    Crime. Debt. Enmity.

    Many thanks to Challies.com for quoting Sproul and setting my heart on Christ on this blazingly-hot (100+ degrees here in Montana), much-to-do (tempted to feel overwhelmed/hide/run away/do nothing OR run around accomplishing too much and miss out on PEOPLE and RELATIONSHIPS), is it really almost August-Monday morning: “Christ, then, is the One Who made satisfaction. By His work on the cross, He satisfied the demands of God’s justice with regard to our debt, our state of enmity, and our crime. In light of the facts of God’s justice and our sinfulness, it is not difficult to see the absolute necessity of the atonement.” Yes. Yes. I do see the absolute…

  • Hope in Suffering

    John Piper on the “Prosperity Gospel”

    HT to Mark Moore (found him via Pastor JollyBlogger) for posting this video of John Piper on the evil of the “prosperity gospel.” I hope you’ll take two minutes and watch it! Oh, that Christ would be lifted up and we would all be drawn to HIM this very day and every day. Much love to all and blessed Sabbath to you!   Yours, Tara B.

  • Hope in Suffering

    Grace Cannot Coexist with Bitterness

    (From 2005) Grace Cannot Coexist with Bitterness Our family loves, prays for, and supports a Youth for Christ missionary by the name of Ajith Fernando. To us, Ajith and his family members are heroes of the faith. Their sacrifice and service would be impossible to measure outside of eternity. I love his writings and it is a joy to serve him even in some small way. Today, his letter to his supporters included an essay on pain, anger, and grace. In it, he wrote:   ‘Grace must soften our hearts so that more grace can enter in, making us gracious and taking away that destructive attitude of anger that looks…

  • Singleness & Marriage

    What if my husband were unrepentant?

    (From 2006) What would I do if my husband were unrepentant? I was looking for an old email this morning and I came across this letter that I had written in response to a dear, precious, godly, wise woman who was struggling in an unhappy Christian marriage. Since I’ve already posted some blogs on ‘Miserable Christian Marriages’, I thought it might be helpful to share this letter with you. Hope so! (Please note that OF COURSE, all identifying information has been changed to protect her confidentiality. I’ve also deleted some of the letter because it was not directly relevant to this topic and I’ve also taken the editorial liberty of…

  • Singleness & Marriage

    What if my husband were unrepentant?

    (From 2006) What would I do if my husband were unrepentant? I was looking for an old email this morning and I came across this letter that I had written in response to a dear, precious, godly, wise woman who was struggling in an unhappy Christian marriage. Since I’ve already posted some blogs on ‘Miserable Christian Marriages’, I thought it might be helpful to share this letter with you. Hope so! (Please note that OF COURSE, all identifying information has been changed to protect her confidentiality. I’ve also deleted some of the letter because it was not directly relevant to this topic and I’ve also taken the editorial liberty of…

  • Sin & Repentance

    We can ignore it–but it’ll still kill us!

    (From 2006) Another AMAZING point that the speaker made last night had to do with the nature of SIN. She mentioned how she had actually felt the ‘lump’ or ‘ridge’ in her breast for weeks before she did anything about it. She told herself: ‘It’s just tissue.’ “It’s just cystic.” But of course it was the most aggressive, deadly breast cancer known to Man. Left untreated it would kill her for sure. She (again) regaled us as she described her tendency to minimize her sin: ‘I guess I have some issues with anger management.’ And to make excuses and shift blame: ‘Yes, I raised my voice to you and I…

  • Sin & Repentance

    We can ignore it–but it’ll still kill us!

    (From 2006) Another AMAZING point that the speaker made last night had to do with the nature of SIN. She mentioned how she had actually felt the ‘lump’ or ‘ridge’ in her breast for weeks before she did anything about it. She told herself: ‘It’s just tissue.’ “It’s just cystic.” But of course it was the most aggressive, deadly breast cancer known to Man. Left untreated it would kill her for sure. She (again) regaled us as she described her tendency to minimize her sin: ‘I guess I have some issues with anger management.’ And to make excuses and shift blame: ‘Yes, I raised my voice to you and I…

  • Hope in Suffering

    Different Responses to Suffering

    (From 2005) Different Responses to Suffering When I have the privilege of teaching on biblical peacemaking, I always have the concurrent privilege of visiting and praying with people who are suffering. Conflict & suffering go hand in hand – and I spend my breaks, meal times, and late nights seeking the Lord with hurting Believers. Last night I was struck again by how varied our responses to conflict and suffering can be. I was spending time with some friends and we were discussing our pastor’s sermon from last Sunday. (He is currently preaching on Habakkuk – so as you might imagine, we are deep into the topic of suffering.) As…

  • Grace in Daily Life

    Overwhelmed? Try Organizing … or PRAYER

    (Originally posted in 2005–Sorry to be out of Internet contact for a few days.) Last week I completely lost it. Internally at least – I was just freaking out. (Funny – I’m sort of feeling that way this morning too.) Anyway, things were swirling & swirling, it seemed like no matter how hard I tried, I just couldn’t get on top of anything. I knew how I should have been (calm, happy, joyful, hopeful, godly, warm, loving, patient …), but I could barely breathe! My failures only intensified my messed-up heart. So what did I do? I grabbed my husband’s worship music folder and organized it. Yup. Right there in…

  • Uncategorized

    Hooray for cleaning!

    Just a note to let you all know that I had another super-fun day of cleaning and organizing extended-family homes yesterday. (MAN! I could SO do this for a living. If anyone wants to fly me out to tackle your crazy/out of control room/basement/home–I’m your gal. I never throw out ANYTHING important and I’m the queen of figuring out systems. Not much I can do well in life–but THIS I do well. 🙂 ) Anyway–with the non-stop workday, it was also easy to eat healthy and drink TONS of water, so praise God for that! Off to Canada tomorrow. (Passports arrived!)   Thanks for praying & love to all, Tara…