A Sweet Fragrance » Links

Fragrant Fragments # 13

Vanessa — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 11:00:37 +0000

1. Ten Ways to be Pro-Life. We can all do something to protect the lives of the unborn.

2. Dressing Up for Church. The Biblical case for dressing up & the new legalism.

3. Bring The Rain. This is Angie Smith’s blog, the author of I Will Carry You.

4. A Parody of Ourselves. Christian fads and the real Gospel.

5. Tornados and more tornados. Pictures taken by my (much) younger brother Ben.

6. Homeless People and the Image of God. Our responsibility to the homeless.

7. Persecution in Uzbekistan.

8. When you can’t quite figure out how to live your best life . . . “I want to end happy.”

9. Interview with Anais and Jordanne. All about urban homesteading.

10. Unto the Least of These. Ministering to special-needs children.

11. The Gift of Suffering for Christ.

12. The Fallacy of Syllogistic Assurance. Why praying the sinner’s prayer isn’t enough.

Fragrant Fragments # 12

Vanessa — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 11:00:32 +0000

1. Mother’s Day Emotions. Celebrating motherhood in an anti-baby culture.

2. A woman’s beautiful sphere of influence. “One of the most hallowed, lovely, and beautiful sights in our world is, a woman at home discharging in all the meekness of wisdom, the various duties of wife and mother . . .”

3. Watch a short video of little Josie Duggar, just home from the hospital!

4. Feminine, Feminist, Feminazi. ”Feminists are not the enemy. They are the prisoners.”

5. Listen to a “Set-Apart Thot” from Leslie Ludy:

6. The Siege of Leningrad. Here are some very interesting pictures of modern-day Saint Petersburg with photos of the same locations during World War II superimposed on them.

Fragrant Fragments # 11

Vanessa — Thu, 13 May 2010 11:00:34 +0000

1. Blog Responsibly. Christian bloggers need to speak the truth in love.

2. Shut Your Ears. Exercising discretion in listening.

3. The Deeps. “Lord Jesus, give me a deeper repentance . . .”

4. A Wise Mother Guards Her Time.

5. Read this month’s issue of Challenging Femininity.

6. Young Moms Work For Free. “Between daycare and gas, my entire paycheck is gone.”

7. Healing From Abuse. One woman’s recovery from domestic violence.

8. Lower Wages, Lack of Job Opportunities Means More Americans Delaying ‘Adulthood’ ”In 2005, even before the current recession, roughly three in 10 white men (up to age 34) with a high school degree were not in school, in the military or at work.” And, I might add, laziness and selfishness play a large part in delaying adulthood, too.

9. Insight Must Lead Us Toward Trust. “It is one thing to appreciate truth. It is quite another to trust it.”

10. Unconditionally Loving Our Children.

Fragrant Fragments # 10

Vanessa — Thu, 15 Apr 2010 11:00:24 +0000

I haven’t shared links for a while, so I have quite a collection today. Enjoy!

1. Sound Asleep. ”As our nation arises this morning from a sound sleep I would like the opportunity to awaken us all from another type of ‘sound sleep’ that is subtle, dangerous and destroys.”

2. The Message behind the Method. A look at the conflict between Whitfield and Wesley over the subject of predestination.

3. Watch this video about the prison in Romania where Richard Wurmbrand was imprisoned.

4. To Be a Disciple. “When your heart was opened to the tremendous reality of your sin and the Cross and you knew Christ as your Redeemer, Lord, and King, what did you reckon yourself to be?”

5. Read the April issue of Challenging Femininity.

6. I don’t really care what other people think. ”As many of you know, my husband and I lived on beans and rice while he was in law school in order to stay out of debt. It wasn’t easy–especially when many others around us were living extravagantly when they had no money to do so.”

7. The Importance of Refinement. ”Refinement is the quality of being careful of manners and speech around others at home, in the church or the community. If a person is refined, they will not blurt out just any rude thing to others, especially to their elders.”

8. Be soft of voice.

9. The truth about women that feminists don’t want you to know. ”The recent naming of Nancy Pelosi as the “most powerful woman in American history” has sparked national discussion on both the history of women in America and the nature of woman’s power.”

Fragrant Fragments # 9

Vanessa — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 12:00:28 +0000

1. What is it like to deal with suffering up close and personal? Read to find out.

2. Humanists on education. Sometimes we need to know how “the other side” thinks!

3. Prayer for our country. ”I would like to focus on the great cloud of witnesses who have gone before us and what they faced, because, even if this monstrosity passes, we will still be able to speak our mind, assemble freely, worship, educate our children and generally be salt and light to an increasingly hostile and evil world.” Some helpful thoughts to ponder on as we face major change in our country.

Fragrant Fragments # 8

Vanessa — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 12:00:01 +0000

1. What restricted nation are you praying for this month?

2. Redeeming love. ”Megan Graham, who graciously shared her testimony of God’s beautiful redemption with us, has also answered some interview questions on the subject of purity as it relates to her experience.”

3. Godly women. ”A godly woman is very noticeable in a crowd. She is not the one with the expensive, fancy clothes or the one who is loudest in the crowd. Instead her spirit is quiet and she carries herself with humility.”

4. Alone. ”I’ve been over here for a while now. I see people with what can only be called extreme diseases. Tumors that have grown to monstrous sizes, legs so crippled they look like they’ve been put on backwards. I’ve learned to look straight at suffering without flinching, to face it without turning away. Some days it feels like there’s nothing that can shock me anymore. At least that’s what I thought. Until Vincent came back.”

Fragrant Fragments # 7

Vanessa — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 12:00:44 +0000

1. How to dress yourself for Russian winter. I laughed all the way through this, but I suppose it’s only funny if you have listened to repeated scoldings from Russian grandmothers!

2. Idols Ashes - ”Here I am again, building a funeral pyre on which to sacrifice a vision. Like the pilgrims of so long ago, I leave a trail of graves behind me as I travel—each one where I have buried a hope, a dream, a goal, a plan, a love. The only eternal unchangeable in life is Yahweh. And that is as it should be.”

3. The restoration of the banished - “He spares not His Son, but sends Him in quest of the exiles. He comes into the land of banishment, lies in an exile’s cradle, becomes a banished man for them, lives a banished life, endures an exile’s shame, dies an exile’s death, is buried in an exile’s tomb.”

4. Love and marriage - a great article about what our purpose and goal in life should be.

5. The sandhill cranes are back in Nebraska! My brother took these pictures on a foggy morning.

Fragrant Fragments # 6

Vanessa — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 12:00:58 +0000

1. Pain and Sin, A Comparison. “Sin is a little bit like that. A sin problem doesn’t just go away. It sits in a corner of our hearts, eating at us.”

2. On Purity and Jealousy - A survey of Christian men about what what makes them jealous.

3. Read Ali’s African Adventures - as a nurse myself, I get a lot of encouragement from this blog.

Fragrant Fragments # 5

Vanessa — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 12:00:39 +0000

1. Doug Phillips (of Vision Forum) is in Haiti right now helping with relief efforts. He is posting daily updates on his blog that provide interesting glimpses into what is actually going on, and I have found them to be an insightful alternative to the usual biased jumble of the mainstream media.

2. I discovered an old mp3 audio file of a sermon by Georgi Vins. He is preaching in Russian with an interpreter, but the English translation comes through loud and clear, for the most part. Click here to listen or right-click on the link and go to “save target as” to download.

3. Pearls and Diamonds is hosting a series of posts on purity this month. I’m looking forward to reading them!

Fragrant Fragments # 4

Vanessa — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 12:00:10 +0000

1. I finally figured out how to single-space poetry in WordPress! Yay!

2. “The branch of the vine does not worry, and toil” - a quote from Hudson Taylor.

3. God’s Beauty Parlor. An audio message by Sabrina Wurmbrand.

4. Danita’s Children is an organization that is currently taking in a large number of newly orphaned children in Haiti. This would be a good organization to donate to.

5. A Pakistani Christian has been sentenced to life in prison on false charges. We need to remember daily those who are in prison for their faith.