Prayerful Pondering

by Pat Luffman Rowland

Category: God’s faithfulness

  • “Ruth is my favorite book,” my second-grade reading friend Lauren said, “because it has a happy ending.” It does indeed. The Old Testament book of Ruth tells us about the journey to the happy ending. It is a story about another woman, also central to the story, Naomi, the mother-in-law of Ruth. Before we get…

  • “Drip down, O heavens, from above, And let the clouds pour down righteousness; Let the earth open up and salvation bear fruit, And righteousness spring up with it. I, the LORD, have created it” Isaiah 45:6 (NKJV). _____ A grey cloud hovers overhead. It is the promise of drink for dry ground and the uplifted…

  • Scriptures in Matthew 14:13-21 and Mark 6:30-44 tell the story of how Jesus fed 5,000 people with five loaves of bread and two fish. Only men were counted in that day, so we know significantly more than 5,000 people were fed. We can be sure that Jesus didn’t leave the women and children hungry. And…

  • In the English Standard Version of the Bible, “steadfast love” is mentioned 196 times in the Old Testament, 127 times in the Psalms alone. One of my favorite verses using steadfast love is Psalms 6:4: “Turn, O Lord, deliver my life; save me for the sake of your steadfast love.” These words of the psalmist David…

  • And Israel said to Joseph, I never expected to see your face; and behold, God has let me see your offspring also. Gen 48:11 RSV I cannot help but think of how the years without Joseph must have been for Israel (first called Jacob). Joseph was the son of his beloved Rachel, the woman he…