by Susan Barnes | 2 Oct 2023 | Bible Study
In the first three verses people are plotting evil against God and God’s response in v.4 is rather surprising. He laughs. I guess it is a bit like the parent who laughs when their four year old stamps their foot and says, I’m leaving home! The parent knows...
by Susan Barnes | 28 Sep 2023 | Short Devotion
“But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. All who have this hope in him purify themselves, just as he is pure.” 1 John 3:2-3 If we desire to be pure, “as he is pure,” we acknowledge that we are God’s children (verse...
by Susan Barnes | 25 Sep 2023 | Spiritual Lessons from Children
“I can explain everything,” said my teenager the night after an impromptu party. Surveying the kitchen—the broken glass, empty chip packets, the half-eaten cake and the muddy footprints—I doubted that they would be able to explain any of the mess in a way...
by Susan Barnes | 18 Sep 2023 | My happenings
It’s mid-semester break at the school where I work so I’m taking this week off from posting to enjoy some rest, reflection and recreation. Be back soon.
by Susan Barnes | 14 Sep 2023 | Short Devotion
“He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.” 1 John 2:2 Atonement is an activity that provides recompense for past wrongdoings. In the Old Testament, God required the Israelites to make sacrifices on the...
by Susan Barnes | 11 Sep 2023 | Book Reviews
Meredith Resce always writes a good story. This one is a Christian romance with an interfering mother, Luella Linley, and a daughter, Megan, with a sleazy boss. Luella is a historical romance author who decides the best way to deal with Megan’s sleazy boss is for...
by Susan Barnes | 7 Sep 2023 | Short Devotion
“If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another …” 1 John 1:6-7 To “walk in the light” is the same as “walking in God’s...
by Susan Barnes | 4 Sep 2023 | Quoting Other Writers
I read, The Holy Wild, by Mark Buchanan some years ago, and this thought has stayed with me: Faith is trusting the goodness of God. When we doubt God’s goodness or wonder about his apparent silence, we think of the cross. That Jesus would die a cruel death for...
