Reading Roundup- January 2025

I have to be honest. Reading right now is such a slog! I got out of the reading habit at the tail end of last year and am slowly trying to get back to reading things of substance. I was focused on finishing a book in January, so the articles took a backseat. Here are January’s good reads (well, one is not technically a read, but a listen-to):

Finding God’s Will

Jim Shaddix
Imago Dei Church Raleigh

This week, the world lost a giant of the faith, Dr. Jim Shaddix. It was a great privilege to sit under his teaching and learn from him. I heard him preach this sermon in January 2015, at a time when I most needed to hear it. I vividly remember how comforted and encouraged I felt after he preached this. Pray for his wife, children, and grandchildren and for the Southeastern community grieving his loss.

The Teenage Prank That’s Lasted 60 Years

Clay Jennings Desmond
Narratively

This made me and my husband laugh out loud more than once. We both grew up in contexts similar to what the author describes and I could picture any number of my guy friends in high school doing these exact shenanigans.

Will I Suffer My Singleness Forever?

John Piper
Desiring God

It is so hard in our American context to swallow the truth that God’s word never guarantees us a life of ease, comfort, or met desires. It’s particularly hard for those of us who have, for one reason or another, lived a mostly comfortable life. Piper provides a needed reminder that “the New Testament presents the Christian life as shot through with sorrow and pain and disappointment and affliction and rejection and persecution — all of it sustained with gladness by rejoicing in the ‘hope of the glory of God’ (Romans 5:1–2)”.

Why kids should read obituaries

Peter Sipe
Commonwealth Beacon

Sipe makes the point that reading obituaries are about life and that kids can gain by reading them. Obituaries can inform and inspire. As a Christian, I agree with him but I also think it’s important for another reason- death teaches us about God just like life does.

Parenting: It’s Never an Interruption

Paul Tripp
Paul Tripp

This article is more than 10 years old, but still so good. I appreciate that Tripp uses himself as an example of an imperfect parent to help the rest of us see that we’re all in the same boat–sinners in need of a Savior and desperate for God-given wisdom and grace as we parent our children.

The Prosperity Gospel We Sometimes All Believe In

Tim Challies
Challies.com

Yet again, Tim Challies seems to write an article that is so timely for my personal life. There were some circumstances that cropped up in the first week of January that confronted both my husband and I on this exact issue. As Challies writes, “…this is my Father’s world rather than mine so that the version of reality he reveals is superior to the one I might desire. It’s to bank not just eternity on him, but time as well and not just to trust him with what follows death but with what comes before it as well.”

When God Interrupts Your Plans

Christina Fox
Desiring God

This article contains a lot of nuggets of wisdom, but I also greatly appreciate knowing that other moms deal with the same struggles against disruptions that, in the grand scheme of things, are so tiny. Fox writes, “It’s these moments where the rubber meets the road — where our faith is stretched and we look down to see whether we are standing on rock or sand. Do we really believe that God is in control of all the details of our life? Do we really believe that his grace is sufficient to get us through the day? Do we really believe that the gospel of Christ is powerful enough not only to save us for eternity, but also to sustain and strengthen us in the midst of life’s interruptions? Do we really believe that Christ is enough to satisfy all the deepest needs of our heart?”