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Artisan Collection Bible Review… and Grace and Truth Link Up

April 10, 2020 by Lauren 25 Comments

During this time of Lent/ coronavirus isolation, I have been spending extra time in God’s Word.  I honestly can’t tell you if it’s the extra time at home or Easter preparation behind it, but I am thankful none the less.  As a Bible Gateway partner I received the opportunity to review a new Artisan Collection Bible and knew this was the perfect time.  I chose the NRSV version because I don’t currently own a copy and waited with bated breath for it to arrive in the mail.  (What else do I have to do?  Actually that is a joke.  I have been filling my socially distant time with all the things I haven’t had time to do while working – to the point of exhaustion and stress.  Pray for me.  My inability to relax is definitely a condition.)

 

I am so delighted with this beautiful version of God’s Word.  The stunning cover art work and golden gilt edged pages feel luxurious.  As does the patented Zondervan NRSV Comfort Print typeface for these aging eyes.  The lightly ruled, wide margins are perfect for journaling, reflecting, taking notes and creating unique, inspired art.  I, personally, have trouble making stick figures look good.  But maybe you are more creatively blessed.

 

You should Easter treat yo’ self to this gorgeous Bible or another in the series.  Easter is not canceled just because we can’t meet in a building.  And maybe you have no excuse for a pretty new dress this year, but this stylish Bible could fill the void.  Or gift one and start a new Easter tradition.  I would be so excited to add this to my collection of Bible study materials – if my teenage daughter hadn’t claimed it the minute it left the box.  I will enjoy watching her study and fill it’s margins.  And since I’m starting to feel a little envy about that, I may just have to order one for myself.  We can find it here.

 

I am so appreciative to the Bible Gateway Blogger Grid for gifting me this Artisan Collection Bible for my review.  And my prayer is that you use this Bible or another of your choosing to spend time with our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ this Easter season.  May you celebrate His return from the grave and look forward to His return to claim His throne forever!

Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of the prophecy, and blessed are those who hear and who keep what is written in it;

for the time is near.

New Revised Standard Version (NRSV) Revelation 1:3
Announcement:  Congrats to Kim Hill for winning a copy of Melanie Shankle’s On the Bright Side!  I will be in contact to get your info and get that book in your hands.  And thank you and welcome to all of our new subscribers!  You have no idea how much I appreciate you being a bloggy friend.
And now for this week’s featured post!
I am pleased to point you to When the Answer to Prayer is Bad News by Barbara Lee Harper of Stray Thoughts.  I love how she drew lessons so appropriate for the trial we are all experiencing in COVID-19 from the Old Testament Book of Habakkuk.  And she even linked to our own Grace and Truth Link Up host Lisa Burgess!  God’s Word is indeed alive and active and speaks to us today.  Hop over to soak up this wisdom.
Now for this week’s link-up! Let’s bless and encourage one another in our walk with the Lord.
Grace & Truth : A Weekly Christian Link Up

Grace & Truth exists to point people to Jesus! We hope this link-up will be a source of encouragement every week. If you’re a blogger, we hope you’ll use this space as a way to meet new friends within the Christian blogging community. If you’re a reader, we hope that you’ll encounter new bloggers that love Jesus as much as you do! Most of all, we hope you’ll meet Jesus here.

Join us each Friday for the Grace and Truth Link-Up!

To receive a weekly reminder of when the link-up goes live subscribe to laurensparks.net in the right hand column of this page.

Heather Hart & Valerie Riese

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Lauren Sparks

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1.)  Following your hosts via their blog and social media channels is not mandatory, but appreciated!

To receive a weekly reminder of when the link-up goes live subscribe to laurensparks.net in the right hand column of this page.

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One Verse, One Resolution and Hope

January 17, 2019 by Lauren 35 Comments

Photo by Ana Tavares on Unsplash

Although I kinda tried to avoid it, I think I have to do a New Year’s resolution adjacent post.  It’s not really a resolution post because it has been years since I’ve set those (mostly due to lousy follow-thru on my part).  But God and I are working on some things, and in the spirit of authenticity and my own ability to process, I think I need to write about it.  Let me begin by saying that this is all very much a work in progress and I’ve cried many tears already this very day.  I am as tender as the incisions from my recent surgery.  My physical and emotional wounds are painful, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t promoting healing.  I think the waterworks are a sign that my hard heart is softening.

 

I should probably back up a bit.  If you have been reading my blog for any length of time (or you are an IRL friend), you know that the last two years have been tough for my family.  The dark tunnel has seemed darker the last couple of months because I had much hope at the end of last year that we were putting hard times behind us and launching into a fabulous new year.  But 2018 was NOT fabulous and the light at the end of this tunnel looks farther away than ever.  While lots of my friends and fellow authors have picked a word for the year to be their focus and inspiration, I relate to Jami Amerine from Sacred Ground, Sticky Floors when she said, “If I picked a word for the year, it would be obscene, and I try not to cuss.”

 

While swimming the butterfly in a pool of self-pity, I questioned myself  about why my kicks and strokes were drowning me.  And the honest thought I had was, “Well, up until now we’ve lead a pretty charmed life.”  And as soon as that thought crossed over the pathways and synapses of my brain, I said out loud, “WHAT?!  Are you serious?  Charmed?”  From the beginning of our marriage, my husband and I have battled through the fall-out that broken marriages inevitably leave.  We have a severely mentally and physically handicapped adult daughter who will forever be dependent on us.  We dealt with financial woes, life-threatening seizures, my sub-clinical eating disorder and chronic pain.  And yet…I honestly meant that my life, until 2 years ago, was charmed.  But certainly no one else would agree.  How can I really believe that the sum of all those problems equaled roses, but now I have thorns?

 

The only conclusion that makes any sense in this, is that things really haven’t changed.  Some of the individual situations have changed, but in the big picture of our lives, I have trouble now and I had trouble then.  So what is different?  Sigh.  I got tired.  And I allowed my circumstances to change how I viewed God.  I’ve never lost my faith.  I made a decision a long time ago to give my life to God because He gave everything for me.  I’ve never second guessed it.  But somewhere along the way, I let my feelings cloud my vision of what is true.  I stopped feeling in my heart that God showed kindness to me, even when my head knew the truth that He loves me in ways and volumes that I may NEVER understand.

 

A couple of Sundays ago in church, one of our staff ministers quoted 2 Timothy 4:5 NASB “But you, be sober in all things, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.”  This verse hit me between the eyes – right where my two eyebrows want to become one.  I’ve stalled myself.  I’ve been waiting (and way too focused, I might add) for our situations to improve.  I don’t think there is anything wrong with praying for that…and hoping for that.  But with the end of hardship and suffering, and not the finished work of Jesus Christ, as the nucleus of my hope, I bought a one-way ticket to personal disappointment and ineffectual ministry.  The passage says I am to “endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.”  In my efforts to ESCAPE, rather than endure, hardship, I have neglected the latter two.  And so this becomes my verse for 2019.

 

There’s an old joke about an old couple who saw a much younger couple drive by in a pickup truck.  The pretty girl was sitting in the middle of the truck – as close to the boy as she could get.  The older woman wistfully looks at the space between her husband and herself, saying, “Remember when we used to sit like that?”  Her husband’s response?  “I haven’t moved.” 

God is wooing me with, “I haven’t moved.” “I haven’t changed.”  “I am as kind as I have always been.” 

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In previous efforts to extricate myself from a funk, I picked up the discipline of gratitude journaling.  I still think it’s a good idea, but I think I need to tweak it a little.  Along with writing out 2 Timothy 4:5 every day, I have decided to write about the sweetness of God.  Every day I plan to record one way that God is sweet to me.  Because I need reminding.  I don’t know if, at the end of 2019, I will find my circumstances significantly improved; but I know that if I rehearse God’s word and remind myself how good and kind He is, that by December 31st I’ll be sitting closer to Him than I have in a long time.  That’s a better goal than any other I could dream up.

 

“There’s a private place reserved for the lovers of God, where they sit near him and receive the revelation-secrets of his promises.”  Psalm 25:14 The Passion Translation

 

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About Me

I love Jesus, my husband and caffeine. The order of these can change depending on how tired I am. When my two daughters, stepson, and 4 grandchildren get to be too much, I practice yoga. God graciously allows me to share our adventures, victories and flub-ups from my laptop. May He be glorified here.
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