MyLeslieNotebook

"Charm is deceptive." I've had this phrase in my mouth, heart, and mind for a month now. The girls in my church have spent the entire summer studying Proverbs 31, and since I had a few weeks between teaching lessons so I really wanted to dig deeply into what the verses meant.  One of the verses I knew I'd teach was verse 30, which begins with the phrase, "Charm is deceptive." At first I simply glossed over it; I knew what it meant:  It meant we could fool people with our charm. It meant the Proverbs 31 woman doesn't use her charm to deceive others.  Right? Well, kinda. Not really. The meaning of this phrase changes when you look up the word "charm" in an online concordance . That's when you realize that, in its dozens of appearances in the Old Testament, it's rarely translated "charm" but more likely "grace" or "favor." As in, "Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord" (Gen. 6:8) or &q

There is a recurring statement made among Christians when it comes to prayer: "I just don't pray like I should." What does that even mean? Well, if you've been involved in church for more than about two years, you know you should pray about everyone, in every way, at all times. You know that you don't have because you don't ask, and that the Bible even says to "pray without ceasing," (1 Thess. 5:18).  "Yeah, right!" we say, "There's no way." I followed this train of thought for many years. I'd hear a sermon or read a book on prayer, get really excited about it, buy a new notebook, (because that was always a key, right? A prayer notebook!) and pour out my heart to God. For about a week. Then the prayer journal would fall by the wayside and I'd feel heathen-ish again. "What kind of Christian doesn't pray?" I'd wonder. Me. But then I asked myself this question, and I encourage you to ask it