• Fear Not!

    One Hour Radio Interview on “Fear Not!” tomorrow (June 30) at 10:00AM (EST)

    Tomorrow morning, I will have the joy of again being interviewed on WBCL’s Mid-morning Connection with Lynne Ford. Here are the specs in case you’d like to listen in: Date: Thursday, June 30 from 10:00AM – 11:00AM (Eastern) Show: WBCL’s Mid-morning Connection with Lynne Ford Topic: My new women’s retreat, “Fear Not!”   Thanks for any prayers you care to send my way! This is my first time being interviewed on the radio on the content for my new retreat, so I am really praying that I will serve well. You can join in the fun and hear the broadcast at www.wbcl.org if you’re interested! G’nite and God bless, Tara…

  • Hope in Suffering

    When even innocent pleasures become stained/guilty …

    I still think that his booklet, Pleasures, is one of the best things Dr. Powlison has ever written. Today I was reviewing his three broad categories of difficulties that tempt us toward guilty pleasures: 1. You are bored, lonely, with nothing to do. 2. You are stressed, frustrated and worn out. 3. You are hurt, betrayed, and treated unfairly. Perhaps you’ve lost someone or something you loved. Any or all of these situations can tempt us to sin. We “grab for anything that will protect, soothe, comfort, or save us” because we are seeking to escape pain. How do we know when a pleasure has become a “guilty” pleasure or…

  • Hope in Suffering

    Preaching to Myself this Morning …

    (Don’t forget to have Finlandia playing in your heart as you read the words! 🙂 ) Be Still My Soul “Be still, my soul, the Lord is on thy side; Bear patiently the cross of grief or pain. Leave to thy God to order and provide; In every change He, faithful, will remain. Be still, my soul, thy best, thy heavenly friend Through thorny ways leads to a joyful end.   Be still, my soul: the hour is hastening on When we shall be forever with the Lord. When disappointment, grief and fear are gone, Sorrow forgot, love’s purest joys restored. Be still, my soul: when change and tears are…

  • Fear Not!

    Counseling and Physiology Class: Psychiatry

    CCEF put up an oldie but a goodie series of posts by Dr. Mike Emlet that I encourage you to read: Counseling and Physiology Class: Psychiatry To tempt you to click on through, I’ll give you just a few lines from the top of the first post: – What role do genetics play in the onset/development of psychiatric issues? – What role, if any, should we grant to evil spirits/the demonic in the approach to mental illness? – What relative weight should we give to relational and situational factors in both the onset and treatment of disordered mood and cognition? – How reliable are psychiatric diagnoses? – What help does…

  • Uncategorized

    Try Harder! Do More!

    Thanks, Z, for drawing our attention to Pastor Tullian Tchividjian’s excellent article re: accountability relationships and works and the gospel: Reminders are More Effective Than Rebukes I am currently working LONG days to streamline my 70,000+ words of research and prep into two new teachings for this fall’s AmazingGrace360 Conference. So what I needed this morning was a clear reminder to focus on Jesus (!) and “his person and subsitutionary work; his incarnation, life, death, resurrection, ascension, session, and promised return; the fact that we are justified–and sanctified––by grace alone through faith alone in the finished work of Christ alone. So that even now, the banner under which Christians live…

  • Uncategorized

    Servitude Simplifies Life

    ‘Many women today are overwhelmed with the complexity of life. They are floundering because they have no focal point. When their expectations are not realized, their emotional equilibrium erupts. When career, marriage, or children do not give them the security or significance they anticipated, their confidence evaporates. They are influenced by the unrealistic images of life and womanhood portrayed in the media. Their purpose in life is shared by their desires to attain the personal happiness they are told they deserve.  So they are not only disappointed by unrealized expectations, they are defeated. Christian women are not immune to this. A four-letter word causes us enormous problems: self. Our self-inclination…