Zondervan Inspire

hope

If abuse is widely distributed throughout all sectors of society—and it has been so throughout human history—what hope is there? It is precisely at the juncture of intractable evil, abuse, and human misery that the Christian gospel offers the only possible hope. God is deeply moved by human suffering (Hosea 11:8; John 11:35) and is committed to heal and redeem the broken at the greatest possible cost (Exodus 2:23-25; Romans 5:8).

Jesus Christ did not come for the healthy, but to redeem the sick and broken (Matthew 9:12-13). The writer of Hebrews beautifully declares that Christ took on human flesh so that he could die and, in so doing, render Satan and death impotent and break the chains of human bondage (Hebrews 2:14-15). The incredible irony of the gospel for abuse victims is that Jesus suffered the most extreme form of physical abuse so that the broken could be healed (Isaiah 53:5). In fact, this irony is so great that the dominant symbol of Christianity is an instrument of sadistic abuse—a cross.

From Mending the Soul: Understanding and
Healing Abuse

by Steven R. Tracy

Any comments or testimonies today?

created

Astronomers Fred Hoyle and N. C. Wickramasinghe found that the odds of the random formation of a single enzyme from amino acids anywhere on our planet’s surface are one in 10²⁰. Furthermore, they observe, "The trouble is that there are about two thousand enzymes and the chance of obtaining them all in a random trial is only one part in
(10²⁰)^20,000 = 10^40,000, an outrageously small probability that could not be faced even if the whole universe consisted of organic soup." And this is just one step in the formation of life. Nothing has yet been said about DNA and where it came from, or of the transcription of DNA to RNA, which scientists admit cannot even be numerically computed (see Genesis 1:1-27).

From The End of Reason:
A Response to the
New Atheists

by Ravi Zacharias

Any comments or testimonies today?

improving

A little-known secret among marriage specialists is the fact that complaining is actually good for your marriage. You read that right! It's good for your marriage. Research at the University of Washington has shown that complaining, at a moderate level, helps couples air their grievances and keep improving. What isn't helpful to a marriage is criticism.

So what's the difference between criticism and complaining? Criticism almost always begins with you ("You always make us late!"), whereas complaining almost always begins with I ("I feel so frustrated when we are late to something that matters to me"). This may seem like a small matter of semantics, but it makes a big difference in your marriage.

From Trading Places: The Best Move You'll Ever Make in Your Marriage

by Drs. Les & Leslie Parrott

Any comments or testimonies today?

loving

Parental loving may be explained in terms general enough to embrace every sort of child. Yes. But the miracle of our realistic and individual lovings is that each actual relationship—each outpouring from a mother's or a father's watchful heart into the hearts of each of their children—conforms to the character of that child.

Even so is the quality of the love of the God who declares himself "Father" for each (and each, and each) of the individual persons walking the earth, both past and present. That love knows us all. Embraces us all, equally, everywhere, everywhen, at once. That love may also be known by us all, as smooth as the cobalt sky. Unique is every one of the Father's lovings for every one of his children. Nevertheless, he is the same from everlasting to everlasting, one God, one Creator, unchanging heart to heart, the Lover of us all.

From Father and Son: Finding Freedom

by Walter Wangerin Jr.

Any comments or testimonies today?

cultivating

God cultivates life from the very first pages in Genesis. He prepared the first Garden specifically for his two image bearers and then handed them the keys. He wanted them to cultivate the land that he had already cultivated for them. And God asked them to work with each other, having already begun a relationship with each of them. When they blew it, he kept cultivating. We botched up Eden, so he's cultivating another place for us: "In my Father's house are many dwelling places ... I go to prepare a place for you" (John 14:2).

God's constant efforts to make a place for us remind me of the women in my life: My Aunt Barb who lives in Pebble Beach who always sits me in the same special spot at her breakfast nook, my short grandmother who made "lechita" a glass of warm milk and molasses in the evenings, my tall grandmother who made me pearl tea (warm milk with sugar) and my mother who found the biggest and juiciest strawberries for me as a child. All these women bring me help and nourishment. These women are pictures of God to me. Just as these women are always tending, so God is tending each of us.

From Ruby Slippers: How the Soul of a Woman Brings Her Home

by Jonalyn Grace Fincher

Complimentary Reading Group Guide (PDF

Any comments or testimonies today?

beautiful

Albert Camus begins his essay "The Myth of Sisyphus" with these words: "There is only one really serious philosophical question, and that is suicide. Judging whether life is or is not worth living amounts to answering the fundamental question of philosophy." It is a haunting question; in fact, as I followed atheism to its logical conclusion in my own life as I grew up, it became my question.

I ended up in a hospital room in New Delhi, with doctors battling to keep me alive. It was in that lowly condition that I was handed a Bible, and the story of the gospel was read to me. All I can say now is how grateful I am that Sam Harris was not my mentor or his tirade my inspiration. Instead, I trusted the Christ of the Scriptures (see Romans 10:9-10), and today, four decades later, having traveled this globe dozens of times, speaking in numerous countries and lecturing in scores of universities, I find Jesus to be more beautiful and attractive than ever before.

From The End of Reason:
A Response to the
New Atheists

by Ravi Zacharias

Any comments or testimonies today?

happy

When it comes to that crucial component in a successful marriage, there's no need to guess. We stand on a mountain of research and clinical expertise when we tell you the answer. In a word, it's empathy. It's putting yourself in your partner's shoes. The happiest couples on earth are those who become adept at trading places.

From Trading Places

by Drs. Les & Leslie Parrott

Any comments or testimonies today?

rooted

In Sunday School, I was taught that El means God and Shaddai means Almighty. But the title means more than "All-powerful One." The first time God promises to make Abraham fruitful he identifies himself as El Shaddai. Job, a contemporary of Abram, says it is the breath of El Shaddai that gives him life. Isaac blesses Jacob with El Shaddai's blessing to make him fruitful. When Israel blesses Joseph he chooses a blessing of El Shaddai.

Interestingly, in a Hebrew lexicon, Shaddai comes from the root shad which means "female breast, or of woman, or of mother." One of the core names of God is rooted in a womanly activity. God is revealing that he can be accurately called one who nurses, who makes fruitful, who sustains. God is like a mother, like a woman. As El Shaddai sustains all aspects of life, he does it with all-mighty energy: cultivating the blessings, cultivating the curses, cultivating fertility and cultivating people. God is like mothers, but mothers are also like God. Mothers cultivate life like El Shaddai.

From Ruby Slippers: How the Soul of a Woman Brings Her Home

by Jonalyn Grace Fincher

Complimentary Reading Group Guide (PDF)

Any comments or testimonies today?

warrior

I discovered [as a little girl] that Grandma was a prayer warrior. It was her practice to rise early in the morning and engage God in conversation. She did not speak with the eloquence of a skilled orator; rather, her dialogue was simple, honest, and determined. She opened up her heart and poured its contents at the feet of Jesus. Grandma’s prayers were powerful. She pursued God, and things happened.

God’s Word says in James 5:16 that the prayers of the righteous—those living in right standing with God—get effective, powerful results. That Scripture virtually means that the prayers of one whose life is right before God are a mighty force to be reckoned with! The secret of success in prayer is not in our choice of vocabulary but in our relationship with Christ.

From The Grandmother's Bible

Devotion by
Dawn Scott Jones

Any comments or testimonies today?

quieted

One of my favorite Psalms is part of Songs of Ascents collection, sung as Israelites made their pilgrimages to and from Jerusalem. I imagine them singing it as they leave the weeks of feasting and resting, or as they gear up with anticipation for re-unions with friends and family, as they anticipate the shalom that comes from time with God.

"Surely I have composed and quieted my soul; like a weaned child rests against his mother, My soul is like a weaned child within me." (Psalm 131:2)

Here, the psalmist uses a picture of the nursing relationship between a mother and her child to describe his—and all of Israel's—relationship to God. God is the mother who weans; they are the child who rest. But the first time I heard those lines from Psalm 131—I mean, the first time I really heard them, the first time I stopped to think about what they meant—well, I have to admit I was somewhat taken aback. God as a nursing mother? Well, yes. It turns out that the Psalmist's picture of God as a nursing mother is just one of the feminine metaphors we find in Scripture for God.

From Ruby Slippers: How the Soul of a Woman Brings Her Home

by Jonalyn Grace Fincher

Complimentary Reading Group Guide (PDF)

Any comments or testimonies today?