The Good Words Bookshelf

I'm a "books person." You probably are too. I love to read and consequently I'm constantly surrounded by books. I thought it would be fun to share some of the books that are on my own personal bookshelf with you.

A companion blog to this site is "The Good Words Bookshelf" where I do just that. I give a quickie summary of some of the excellent books on my bookshelf. Click over to "View My Complete Profile" and then click on "The Good Words Bookshelf" to see the books. You may want to check back regularly for updates.

Let me know what you think.

Message on a Balloon

On my way to church this morning, there weren't many signs that this was Easter Sunday. No girlie Easter dresses or bonnets. No children carrying colorful Easter baskets. Just the usual line of traffic on a narrow road in my region.

Then, all of a sudden, I saw them!

What on earth are they? Balloons...but what were they for? I wondered.
Someone had tied colorful balloons to trees, street lights, stop signs, fire hydrants and almost anything that was upright, lining both sides of the road. Flapping and bobbing upright in the breeze, the balloon display went on for about two miles. Sheer curiosity would make you wonder why someone would do such a thing. At first, I thought they were just balloon “signposts” to guide visitors to someone's house for Easter dinner.

But, there was some kind of writing on the balloons that I couldn't read at first. Quickly glancing out of the side of my eye, I made out something that looked like the word, "Alive." Then further on down the road, I made out the word "Jesus" on a balloon. "Jesus Is Alive" was stamped on each balloon for the next few miles! No one driving on that road could have missed that display.

I loved it! What a fitting reminder of today, Easter Sunday. This is the day Christians celebrate Jesus’ resurrection from the grave. But who was responsible for this display? A church? A youth group? A family? One individual? It doesn't matter; it was just refreshing to see this anonymous reminder of what today is all about. I couldn’t help smiling all the way to church.

Jesus is alive, and death is swallowed up in victory. Thank God Jesus is alive. And those are great words for us all.

Christ is Risen!

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. (John 3:16, King James Version)

Today we celebrate and remember the Resurrection of our Lord, Jesus Christ! What a glorious day it has become for us all! It's glorious because we remember and celebrate the day Jesus defeated death and rose from the dead, just like He said He would.

His death and resurrection make it possible for all our sins to be buried in the depths of the sea, thrown away as far as the east is from the west, and remembered no more.

On this day, we remember that promise of the Resurrection--that we can have a clean slate, the promise of a new start. It’s all because of the innocent blood that God's only Son, Jesus, willingly shed to pay the penalty for our wrongdoing.

What Love for us!

Copyright © 2010 Barbara Hemming. All Rights Reserved.

Good Friday

Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. (Hebrews 12:2, NIV)

Good Friday seems to have suddenly come upon us, yet heaven and earth have been inevitably leading up to this day.

The frigid blasts of winter, the drenching downpours of early spring, then suddenly, everything seems to stand still…waiting, as we wait. We think about what it took for Jesus to do the unthinkable..to allow Himself to be tortured and killed so that we could have a chance at eternal life. What love! What sacrifice! We can never fully understand that kind of love and sacrifice. But we can receive the benefit of Jesus' loving sacrifice and live in the good of it as we draw even closer to God.

Copyright © 2010 Barbara Hemming. All Rights Reserved.

Maundy Thursday

"A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another." (John 13:34, NIV)

Today is a day we call Maundy Thursday, the day Jesus celebrated the Passover with his disciples. We call that Passover meal the Last Supper and remember it through our celebration of communion. It is also the day Jesus set a humble example of love for us to follow by washing his disciples’ feet. We remember Jesus' example as we serve others today.

As we think about these acts of Jesus, we know that we are drawing closer and closer to remembering the most important day in the history of mankind--the Resurrection. Jesus' humility and love made the Resurrection possible. Humility and love. What good words!

Copyright © 2010 Barbara Hemming. All Rights Reserved.

The Greatest Lover

How do we know when we’re loved? When I was younger, I was convinced I was loved by the one who made me feel all soft and warm inside. Then I grew up and learned that love is something much more complex. Sometimes people say that some fathers and husbands have a hard time expressing their love. But these same fathers and husbands may counter that statement by saying they show their love by paying the bills. How do we know we’re truly loved? When the bills are paid…the children fed… when Dad lets us use the car…when someone tells us how wonderful we are…when we’re showered with presents?

I think one of the best ways we can know we’re loved is when someone helps us do things for our own good. When someone lovingly tells us truth about ourselves and gently helps us correct destructive behavior. We may not want to hear it and may not pay attention, but at least someone loves us enough to draw us to that place where we can change, if we choose.

But did you know that the Greatest Lover of all times said, “I have loved you with an everlasting love” ? (Jeremiah 31:3, NIV) An everlasting love—a forever love! Isn’t that what every woman truly longs for? God is our Forever Lover who won’t abuse us, cheat on us, divorce us, refuse to support the kids, or desert us when we grow old. He is the One who is always on our side, and cannot lie to us, or let us lie to Him or ourselves. He is the One who sees us as we truly are, deep inside, but loves us just the same. You might think that to be worthy of such a Forever Lover we’d have to be pretty spectacular ourselves. What He asks is that we believe in Him, trust Him, and love Him in return.

The Greatest Lover...A Forever Love. Now that’s a good word.

Copyright © 2010 Barbara Hemming. All Rights Reserved.

Loving Others

We love loving and being in love. We even love longing for love and being loved. It seems we were made for love.

We love our spouses, children and significant others. We may even love the folks we work with or attend school with. But what about those that are hard for us to love? The fellow student who cheats and yet is never caught, or the coworker who repeatedly takes credit for your work? What of the car mechanic who suddenly “discovers” additional things that need repair? How are we to love those among us whom we consider unlovely? Most of us shy away from them, not wanting a confrontation. But should we shy away? Should we turn our backs on the very ones who seem to cry out so loudly for our attention?

For Christians, the Lord's commandment to love our enemies can be a challenge. Do we love those who openly flaunt their sins before us or threaten us? What should that love look like? Do we invite them home to dinner? Smile, but keep them at arm's length? I admit to being conflicted about this in some cases. Can we love someone we strongly disagree with politically, socially, or morally? What about those people who vote differently, don't look like us or talk like us and who may be homeless? How far do we take loving others in this 21st century world, where doing so might provoke unintended results? How can we put away our fear and reach out to others?

Matthew 8:3 shows how Jesus put love into practice. At a time when no one wanted to come near a leper, much less touch one, Jesus reached out and touched him. That Divine touch immediately cleansed the leper. What are we to say to this? More importantly, how do we respond? We are commanded to love our neighbor as ourselves. Sometimes, putting that into practice is not easy.

How do you express love in these cases? I'd love to hear how you personally handle this. Please leave a comment in the box below. Loving the unlovely. Those are hard but good words.

Copyright © 2010 Barbara Hemming. All Rights Reserved.

Weather Weary

Image and Text Copyright © 2010 Barbara Hemming. All Rights Reserved.

Today, the Mid-Atlantic is digging out from a massive blizzard. Weathercasters say it’s the worst snowstorm since 1922. We’re even preparing for another storm that’s due to start sometime this evening. We are snow-weary.

At times, Jesus’ disciples were also weather-weary, and wary. During His ministry on earth, Jesus asked His disciples to trust him. When getting into a boat, He told them they were going to the other side of the lake. Once, while doing just that--going over to the other side—a violent storm arose without warning. The storm was so violent that waves covered the boat and the disciples thought they were going to drown. But Jesus showed the disciples that He also ruled over the seas and could stop the storm with just a word.

Perhaps you’re in the midst of a personal storm and you’re frightened by the things you see and hear. Your particular storm might be a job loss, a health challenge, a wayward child, or a spiritual crisis. Everywhere you turn, giant waves of disaster threaten to sink your hope—even your faith. You’ve tried holding on, but you’re beginning to lose your grip. Maybe you’ve taken things into your own hands and merely made a mess. Even your prayers seem like sawdust in your mouth. And like the disciples, you’re wondering if God really cares about you, why doesn’t He do something?

This is the time to hold onto Jesus with everything you've got. It doesn’t matter how fierce the wind or how high the waves of disaster are. We know Jesus, Who created the universe, is in control of all that pertains to us.

And that's a good word!

Coping?

How are you coping? Do you need a miracle in your life?

God may or may not perform a miracle in your life...But you can be inspired by the miracles He's already performed. And inspiration increases faith and faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things unseen.

And those are good words!

Copyright © 2010 Barbara Hemming. All Rights Reserved.

Welcome

Welcome to my blog. I'm Barbara. I’ve named this blog “Good Words for Women” for several reasons: women of all ages need to hear “good words” from others that will inspire and empower them. We need to hear, and speak, good words for the sake of our own good health, for encouragement in coping with the vast number of tasks we undertake daily, and in order to pass on our good words to the loved ones in our lives. Who better to do this than women?

From time to time, I’ll share with you some of the words, thoughts, ideas, events, and incidents that have inspired me in the past and continue to inspire and make a difference in my life, and the lives of those around me. Perhaps by now, you’ve even got your own list of good words, thoughts, and incidents. Great! I hope you’ll share them with me. So, let’s get started.

Love. Love is perhaps one of the greatest words of all time. Love covers all faults, forgives all wrongs, and endures all indignities. We all crave it and we never get enough of it. It comes in all forms: God’s love for us, our love of God, maternal love, physical love, brotherly love, love of nature, love of country, love of animals, to name a few. Love can free the captive heart and lift up the downtrodden soul. All genuine love originates from God and is sustained by God, for God is love. Here's what one very wise man said about love: "Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails."

Now, that's a good word.

Copyright © 2010 Barbara Hemming. All Rights Reserved.