Purposeful Womanhood

 By Hannah McClurg Discouragement hits hard. This past summer was discouraging, so much so that prayer almost seemed pointless. Everything seemed beyond the realm of possibility, and sometimes I didn’t know how to think about the next step. I began to adopt the outlook that the circumstances were beyond the Lord’s ability to “work together for good.” (Rom. 8:28) And then, one morning, while reading in the book of Acts, the Lord had a lesson for me. The Lame Beggar   “And a man who had been lame from his mother’s womb was being carried along, whom they used to set down every day at the gate of the temple which is called Beautiful, in order to beg alms of those who were entering the temple. When he saw Peter and John about to go into the temple, he began asking to receive alms.” (Acts‬ ‭3:2-3‬) * The man in Acts 3 was simply asking for what he expected to receive. He was poor and lame, and he wasn’t going to expect anything above or beyond what was normally given. But, didn’t t...

By Jessica Edwards Her name was Virginia Teeters. She was an older woman, and I knew her when I was young and we attended the same church. She was a dear friend to my grandma, and everyone who knew her loved her.  She had only one major flaw... she liked to pray long prayers at Wednesday night prayer meetings. Some nights these prayers would last 20-30 minutes. After the pastor was finished with his Bible study, we would split up into two or three- women with women and men with men- and pray together. The women were very careful where they sat on Wednesdays, always marking where Virginia Teeters was sitting. We felt sorry for the unfortunate woman who was stuck having to pray with Mrs. Teeters.  Some said it was inappropriate for Mrs. Teeters to pray that long at church. She needed to keep those long prayers for when she was in her prayer closet, but do you know what is interesting? I never heard Mrs. Teeters pray (No way was I going to get stuck with her!). She never put hers...