Spring Wardrobe

Today's Musing is from Margaret Fowler. Clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. —Colossians 3:12b (NIV) Spring has come at last, even in Maine. It’s time to take a look at our spring wardrobe. Put away all the heavy jackets, sweaters, boots, scarves, and gloves. Get out the light stuff—shorts, tee shirts, sandals. Time for easier living, sunshine and warmth, outdoor fun. If you find extra clothes you no longer use, this is a good time to donate to the Salvation Army or other organizations that help those in need. When refugees arrive here with very little, they have nothing suitable for winter. Here is a story of how I tried to add to my wardrobe. There was a small shop in our […] Read more »

Video Chat from Sharon as we finish our Study

It's been a wonderful month. Do you feel loved? We surely hope so. Enjoy this "last word" from Sharon before we finish our study, and please do answer her questions in the comments, if you wouldn't mind too much. Thank you and God bless you with His steadfast love throughout your life! Read more »

Day Twenty-Eight - Romans 8:26-38

Day 28 – Romans 8:26-38 How can we be on our last day? Here in New Hampshire, we started May still cold and still pretty much leaf-less. We end May with blossoms and (finally) permission to plant our flowers after Memorial Day. Haha! It’s been a month of greening and new life here in our state. And I hope, dear one, it’s been a month of greening and blooming in your heart as  you soaked in the Steadfast Love of God shining forth from His living Word into your mind and soul. Do you feel loved? I surely hope so, because you are. What are your plans for study in June? I’d love to know. Did this 4 R method serve you well? Are you […] Read more »

Day Twenty-Seven - Romans 8:

Day 27 – Romans 8:1-25 What I love about this first part of Romans 8 is that it basically summarizes our month together. If you can, read this in the New Living Translation as well as in whatever version of the Bible you normally use. I think the clarity of the NLT in this section is superb. We were lost. SO lost. We couldn’t obey, couldn’t stay true, even to a loving God who was for us. And so Jesus came and died for us so we could live with God forever because He never, ever gave up on us or stopped wanting us to be with Him. That’s the amazing gospel story. That is good news indeed! One of my favorite parts of Romans […] Read more »

Day Twenty-Six - Luke 15:20-32

Day 26 – Luke 15:20-32 This story. Those two sons. Oy. The bad son, who wants his father’s money before his father even dies and then wastes it all, is similar to the lost coin and the lost sheep. Only, because he’s a person and not an animal or inanimate object, he has to do the turning toward home all on his own. But oh, the father is watching, isn’t he? And again, there’s no lecture. There’s just a warm and vibrant welcome. A rejoicing that his boy has finally come to his senses and is ready to enjoy all his father has for him! That older son just *might* have been there for those Pharisees and religious leaders turning up their nose at the […] Read more »

Day Twenty-Five - Luke 15:1-19

Day 25 – Luke 15:1-19 Let’s look at the first three verses of this amazing chapter in the Bible to get the context firmly fixed in our minds:  “Tax collectors and other notorious sinners often came to listen to Jesus teach. This made the Pharisees and teachers of religious law complain that he was associating with such sinful people—even eating with them! So Jesus told them this story:” Okay then. Jesus taught a lot. Wherever He was, whether in a synagogue on Sabbath or in a wheatfield or by the lake, He taught. He attracted crowds of people. Thousands at times, if you recall the feeding of the five thousand men (not to mention the women and children) incident … The Pharisees and the teachers of […] Read more »

Donation Request

  Thank you to the silent ones who always send us a small donation when they take an online Bible Study course. We are so grateful that we can offer these studies "for free" to all who come. But it does cost money to produce them. If you would like to "pay it forward" for future learners via our ministry in our various endeavors, we'd be ever-so-grateful. We rejoice over every $1 donation. Big or small. We are thankful for all.  Click here to learn more. Read more »

Day Twenty-Four - Jeremiah 31:23-40

Day 24 – Jeremiah 31:23-40 Did you notice the mention of the “new covenant” in this section of Jeremiah? That part’s happened! In the Old Testament, people had to obey the law and when they didn’t, they had to sacrifice an animal in their stead, representing their guilt and how they deserved punishment for their disobedience. It was an endless cycle of trying to obey God’s laws and falling short. After Jesus took the punishment for our sins on Himself and freed us from the requirements of the law to live faultlessly, He sent His Holy Spirit to abide within us. Instead of reading the rules alone, we now have God within us, telling us what to do. The closer we walk with Him, the […] Read more »

Praying Tired

And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. —Matthew 6:7-8 NIV It’s early evening, and almost time for my weekly group of praying grandmothers to gather at my house for prayer. Although normally we’re quite the crowd, this week no one has yet arrived. Most of them have written to tell me they won’t be coming due to travel or illness or husbands who need them. I feel guilty at my relief. I love my group, and I love our time of concentrated prayer. But tonight I am tired. I’d really rather just do […] Read more »

Day Twenty-Three - Jeremiah 31:1-22

Day 23 – Jeremiah 31:1-22 Today we see the verse I mentioned in the introduction to our study in context. God loves His people with an everlasting, steadfast love and He declares it in Jeremiah 31:3. I have always loved that verse. I love all the verses in this section because they are so filled with hope. And the kind of hope we have with God is a totally different strain than worldly hope. Worldly hope often is wishing but doubting. I really hope it won’t rain on Tuesday, we say, having NO idea if that’s really gonna happen or not. Or I hope I win the prize! There’s nothing “sure” about this kind of hope. Therefore, it’s an uneasy hope. Part of us wants […] Read more »