Laura Lathrop 🇺🇦

If God is real, he cares about his church. If God cares, he works. If God is powerful, he WILL NOT FAIL to accomplish his purposes-- and they will be accomplished in his church. And in his time, not ours. If we can't believe God cares, works, and succeeds in the end, 1/

@garonnevik Amen. Women need pastoring, too. This stuff is egregious, and “avoid women” is found nowhere in Paul’s instructions to the churches. It wasn’t how he lived, and it’s no way to serve a congregation.

So, if you’re a guy, and don’t want to be friends with a woman, that’s fine. I don’t even force friendships on my kids. You’re fine. At least try to actively see them as sisters, not sexual objects. But if you’re a pastor, you either have to be ok giving pastoral care to women, or train women in leadership to give pastoral care to women. But you can’t just out of your own piety protect yourself from women, and not give them the pastoral care they need. Your job is to love and serve them. How you do that is flexible. But if you don’t have a plan for pastoral care for women, let me know, and I can help brainstorm some ideas.

@AnnLindberg5 ☹️

HELL'S BELLS! We are leaving for Dallas tomorrow morning & inner city hospital is releasing Daniel tomorrow without any requirements or willingness on his part for medication! We are paying for Uber to pick him up. Lord have mercy!

@bookkeepPLUS I’ve always thought it was an incredibly poor argument for someone being a leader, yes. Terrible interpretation of that passage. 🙄

So if Eve was deceived into sinning, then Adam was a deliberate sinner So could it be said that men find it easier to deliberately commit sins compared to women? And are deliberate sinners more qualified to lead and teach than women? 🤔 🤔 🤔

@BethMooreLPM Oh, Beth, concur. I’ve always been in exclusionary churches, but here and there I’ve been in a space where I got to serve communion, and it’s the best thing I’ve ever gotten to do. I love it so much. Hopeful that someday it will be a regular thing I get to do, too. 🥰

Have served at church since I was 12 and can’t think of a role that wasn’t a privilege and joy but it wasn’t until my current church I got to help with communion (once a month). I can hardly put into words how meaningful it is to say to kneelers at the rail, “the blood of Christ, the cup of our salvation.” Where would we be without the cross of Jesus? I’m so grateful for weekly communion. Two years in, I still come to that altar like a beggar for bread.

I saw “Barbie” this week with my wife. Here are 3 simple thoughts: 1️⃣ The film is a satire. (A very unique one I might add.) The point of a satire is to tell a story in a way that shocks you so your eyes are opened to reality. /1

@natgrace79 @TheKateBoyd Oh, yes, absolutely - this is a huge problem, as far as I can see. No one reads letters that way, and no one writes letters intending they be read that way. It’s really unfortunate.

@TheKateBoyd Honestly, I think my two biggest issues are 1) that we divided letters into nice/tidy chapters and verses. We've given them headers, which has shaped how we read them, and 2) because of that we are lazy with how we read/understand him. If any of that makes sense.

@davidwwhitlock So sorry for your loss.

Grieving the loss of a friend who died unexpectedly. Bob was so smart and funny. I stood for him and Sylvia as they wed at Ross Beal Nix Marriages on South 9th in Durant. I’ll officiate his service this Wednesday. Pray for Sylvia and their daughters. geojcarroll.com/obituary/rober…

@Wanderer_42 Ugh. Some days are like that. 😢 Friend, you clearly are neither worthless nor stupid. I pray you will be blessed today. May God comfort and encourage you with a deep sense of worth and growing joy.

@BethMooreLPM 😟 so sad for you. May you receive good comfort.

I need to tell y’all something and I’m going to say it short and sweet then take a few days. Our darling, hilarious, mischievous, most dearly loved and loving Creekie died this afternoon. She got deathly ill 5 days ago. We got her to the best animal hospital in Houston and they tried so hard. Numerous specialists worked on her. Her precious body just couldn’t make it. I wanted y’all to know. We’ll bury her next to Queen Esther. I’ll be able to talk about it in a few days I think. Love to y’all.

@AnnLindberg5 😳

Sigh. Son had been hoarding rice, oats, beans, potatoes & spam in case of Armageddon. Then, he decided to dump them all in a pile next to the front door. And then watered it. No clues what to do.🤔

@LauraRbnsn With respect, I still really find this rationale quite convincing. Not on its own, but it ISN’T on its own. And in context of many other things, it speaks fairly solidly.

Christians? Stop saying this. It is not kind or honest to tell people that a good reason to be Christian is for a reason that they will almost certainly learn down the line is not actually true. This was a really painful experience for me and while

@tracesoffaith Ooooo, Elijah, I think. Or does David count? I’d like to hear how he got to know God so well. From a few things he says in psalms, I gather it was from his mother, but I’d like to know more about that, since they didn’t really have “the Bible” back then.

What OT prophet would you like to sit down to coffee with?

@pegharpham1 Fair

@DuckieLouise There is something incredibly healing about being loved as you are.

Lmao I’m not going to address all of this, but let’s talk about “loud women” for a sec. I have very shoddy volume control. It’s yet another a feature of adhd. I often don’t notice how loud my voice has gotten. It used to embarrass me. Sometimes it still does. I can’t tell you how many times I have been shushed. But now that I think of it, one of the first moments that stopped me in my tracks when I was beginning to form a crush on my husband: We were sitting in the stairwell in our dorm. I was carrying on, as I am wont to do. I didn’t realize I was projecting my voice as if in a play. What he did wasn’t shushing. He was telling me how loud I was. He could tell I didn’t know, but he did it so tenderly that I couldn’t have been embarrassed if I tried. He reached up (he was a few stairs down from me 😂) and put his finger to my lips as he fought back the kind of smile that expresses such a deep fondness - I was a little taken aback. Now that we have been married for almost fifteen years, let me tell you what this precious man says to me about “being loud”. He says I have a powerful diaphragm 😂. And I laugh at that and say “ugh I don’t want it” and he says “God gave you a powerful diaphragm on purpose so you can speak truth loudly, Sarah. It’s part of your calling. It’s how He made you.” We have this conversation at least once every 3 months 😂. I’m not saying I’m a Truth Speaker (TM). I’m seeking it and calling it like I see it as best I can and I’m trying (and often failing obvi) to do so in love. But I’m awfully thankful I married a man who is endeared to my loudness. My advice to women is: for goodness sake, marry someone who doesn’t just *let* you be who you intrinsically are. Marry someone who loves it. ❤️‍🔥

@emilykmay Don’t fear the loss of the “sleeping nap” - we had our kids do a daily quiet time, each in their own spaces midday, until they were quite old, for everyone’s sanity. They accepted it as part of routine - played w/toys they wanted, listened to audiobooks, & sometimes even slept.

My 2yo has skipped his nap 2 days in a row, but when he does nap it’s 2.5-3 hours. He is an absolute monster, when he does not nap. Need tips that do not under any circumstances include the phrase, “he’s giving up his nap.”

@KateAndreyev I found good community in the Bible study group CBS, and I had friends who did BSF. I think it takes intentionality, but yes, I believe it’s possible.

Is it possible to be a faithful Christian outside of evangelicalism? Please be kind. I’m a survivor. Just want to hear from people. Asking because I want to cling to Jesus but escape evangelical culture 🙏

@Broken_Devotion Ugh, burning mine ASAP.

Have you ever considered that when you die your private journals will be out in the wild?

@RevChrisDavis Enjoy the legroom, don’t sit next to the guy with fungal toenails if possible

I'm taking the train from DC to NYC in a few weeks. Please give me all the advice. First Amtrak trip ever.

@grcastleberry Just worship the Lord. Make a joyful noise in his presence, and be free, friends.

Discernment in worship music is critical. It’s not just that we should sing songs which teach the truth, but the most truth. We should also avoid singing songs written by heretical groups (Bethel, Hillsong, Elevation). Point believers to orthodox, sound musicians.

@MikeWingerii It’s a good question, but the theology would be incomplete without the rest of the believing community to walk through it with me. God has not designed his body to be little theological islands.

If you had to reconstruct your theology with only the Bible how much of your theology would survive?