We are enjoying getting to know the most special gift our family received in 2021: Evangeline!
Her name means "bearer of good news." May she be just that in our world full of bad news.
On the knitting side of life:
I knit 42 pairs of mittens in 2021 and sold more than that on Etsy, so our stock is super low now.
"Courage, dear heart!"
Did you know that more than sixty years before
Lucy heard these comforting words in C.S. Lewis' "Chronicles of
Narnia," they had been penned to you and me (to any follower of Christ) by
a British man named Charles?
He went on to tell us to:
"Bear up, for the Lord will bear you up,
and bear you through. He who made you knows how frail you are, and how little
you can bear. He will handle tenderly that which he has fashioned so
delicately. Therefore, be not afraid because of the painful present, for it
hastens to a happy future."
• C.H. Spurgeon, 1888
Chequebook of the Bank of Faith
I haven’t counted how
many times this little book has made it on to my blog over the past year, but
the fact that I keep sharing from it shows how highly I can recommend it to
anyone looking for a short daily reading in addition to their study of God’s
word.
Having started it a few
weeks into 2021 and then gotten behind over
time, I just finished the 365th entry this week.
Here is one more quote
from the last few pages:
“This
volume is a cheque-book for believers, and this page is meant as a warning as
to what bank they draw upon, and whose signature they accept. Rely upon Jesus
without limit. Trust not thyself nor any born of woman, beyond due bounds; but
trust thou only and wholly in the Lord.”
[entry for December
26]
"Read me—not a sermon chapter, but a story chapter; they've pictures in them, which I see when my eyes are shut. Read about the New Heavens, and the New Earth; and m'appen I'll forget this."
'Bessie Higgins' in North and South
You have probably realized by now that I love a good story! And North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell is one of my favorites.
What sets it far above books such as Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice or Emma and even Gaskell's own Cranford and Wives and Daughters (which are all enjoyable stories) is the undercurrent of true faith in God, even if not frequently mentioned.
Even Jesus the Christ frequently used stories [parables] to teach in a way His hearers could absorb and apply to their own lives.
But the above quote goes beyond simply a good work of fiction to the best stories of all: those collected in the Bible.
What makes them "the best"? Because they are True - from the history in Genesis to the prophecy in Revelation! Rather than calling them Bible "stories," a more fitting word is "accounts."
The fictional and endearing 'Bessie Higgins' was chronically ill and stuck in bed with the constant pressures of physical pain and emotional stress when she asked the main character, Margaret, to read to her from the book of Revelation.
Through my own years of chronic illness I can fully understand how much more readily a weak brain and weary spirit can absorb truth from a story than from a sermon or epistle.
And so, as mentioned in a recent post, I am back in the book of Genesis - learning from our earliest ancestors as well as later heroes from among God's chosen people.
And all along, I'll be finding signposts pointing to the greatest story/history of all: the gospel [good news] of Jesus.
What parts of the Bible keep drawing you back the most?
Public Domain Illustrations:
Frontispiece from North and South
Hubert and Jan van Eyck, Adoration of the Lamb from the Ghent Altarpiece
Schnorr von Carolsfeld, Woodcut for "Die Bibel in Bildern", 1860.
Unknown Artist, Joseph makes himself known to his brethren
As the mantel clock was chiming in the New Year, I was finishing up the book that helped me study my way through the New Testament in 2021. Click here for a little read-aloud from the last day's entry to get an idea of the way the daily readings are put together in the ESV Daily Devotional New Testament.
After a whole year primarily in the New Testament, I am eager for more of the Old Testament again. So I have begun my second time through this study guide for Genesis, which is one of my favorite books of the Bible. [The Family Bible Study Series was developed for homeschool families.]
Do you have a Bible reading/study plan for 2022? What did you do for 2021?
I'd love to hear your ideas and thoughts in the comments below! I believe I made the settings easier to leave comments recently, so you do not need a special account to join in.
Χαρις επι Χαριτος
[Grace for Grace]
