@megbasham Wonderful piece, Megan! Thank you for shining a spotlight on the truth, beauty, and goodness of His providence. May He give readers eyes to see and hearts to believe. And may He continue to grant you much grace and peace as you cling to Him.
Every once in a while, a ewe will give birth to a lamb and reject it. There are many reasons she may do this. If the lamb is returned to the ewe, the mother may even kick the poor animal away. Once a ewe rejects one of her lambs, she will never change her mind. These little lambs will hang their heads so low that it looks like something is wrong with its neck. Their spirit is broken. These lambs are called “bummer lambs.” Unless the Shepherd intervenes, that lamb will die, rejected and alone. So, do you know what the Shepherd does? He takes that rejected little one into His home, hand-feeds it and keeps it warm by the fire. He will wrap it up with blankets and hold it to His chest so the bummer can hear His heartbeat. Once the lamb is strong enough, the Shepherd will place it back in the field with the rest of the flock. But that sheep never forgets how the Shepherd cared for him when his mother rejected him. When the Shepherd calls for the flock, guess who runs to Him first? That is right, the bummer sheep. He knows His voice intimately. It is not that the bummer lamb is loved more, it just knows intimately the One who loves it and has experienced that love one on one. So many of us are bummer lambs, rejected and broken. But He is the good Shepherd. He cares for our every need and holds us close to His heart so we can hear His heartbeat. I am a bummer lamb adopted and loved by The Good Shepherd!! Hallelujah!!
Woman who was r@ped by her father tells Charlie Kirk, “Babies conceived in r@pe are human beings made by God.”
Jeremiah 1:5 - “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you…”
No child should be aborted.
“During a time of great affliction, I could often say: Whom have I in heaven but thee? And there is none on earth that I desire beside thee. My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God.” ☩ Sarah Edwards | Wife of Jonathan Edwards
Vibia Perpetua (AD 181 – AD 203)
Throughout church history, the role of women in the church has been debated but in the arena of Christian suffering, however, women always have had a prominent place in the annals of martyrs. Reading through early Christian martyr stories, several women stand out and this is a story of Vibia Perpetua.
Perpetua was a young woman of noble birth in Carthage in North Africa. She was well educated and came from a respectable family. She had a father and a mother and two brothers, one of whom was a catechumen, as well as an infant son who was still nursing. Perpetua was about twenty two years old when she was arrested during the persecution under Emperor Septimius Severus around AD 203. She was able to keep a diary, which forms part of The Passion of Saints Perpetua and Felicity, the earliest surviving Christian writing known to have been authored by a woman.
When Perpetua was placed under house arrest, her noble father begged her to renounce her Christian faith. But she pointed to a vase and asked: “Can this vase be called by any other name?” Then she proclaimed that, just as the vase could not be called by any other name, so she could not be called anything other than “what I am – I am a Christian!”
When Perpetua was imprisoned, separate from her nursing baby, along with the terrors of the dungeon, caused great anguish for this young woman accustomed to the luxuries of her father’s house: she said, “I was frightened, because I had never experienced such darkness. Oh, what a terrible day: the strong heat because of the crowd, the extortion of the soldiers! Worst of all, in that place, I was tormented by worry for my infant.”
However, Perpetua was eventually allowed to keep her son with her. Then she wrote, “Suddenly, my prison became a palace for me with my child in my arms, so much so that I preferred to be there rather than anywhere.”
When Perpetua and the other believers were brought into the arena in Carthage, eyewitnesses recorded that she walked with calm composure. It is recorded that she was singing psalms as she entered.
When wild beasts were let loose upon the Christians, Perpetua was attacked by a mad cow, chosen deliberately to mock their gender. After she was tossed about and trampled, Perpetua regained her composure, tied her hair up, as a sign of victory, and exhorted her fellow believers watching from the stands to “stand firm in the faith.”
When the time came for execution by the sword, the young gladiator assigned to her faltered. His first strike did not kill her, striking her in the collarbone and so Perpetua once again tasted pain. In the end, “she herself guided the erring hand of the inexperienced gladiator to her throat.” It was said of Perpetua that Satan feared “so great a woman,” who could not be martyred except by her will.
Perpetua died in AD 203 at only twenty two years of age. Her voice, preserved across the centuries, remains one of the clearest witnesses to a faith that neither fear, suffering, nor death itself could silence.
The arena was meant to silence her. Instead, her testimony has outlived the empire that condemned her.
Vibia Perpetua’s story reminds us that courage in the Christian life is rarely loud or dramatic. It is often found in ordinary believers who simply refuse to deny the One they have come to know. She did not possess political power, theological titles, or earthly influence. She was a young mother who loved her child, felt fear, and knew real sorrow. Yet when everything was taken from her, Christ remained enough. Her witness stands as a reminder that the strength of the church has never rested in comfort or safety, but in hearts persuaded that Christ is worth more than life itself. Across the centuries, her voice still calls believers to the same quiet faithfulness, to belong to Christ so completely that even death cannot separate us from Him.
ERIKA KIRK: “As long as I remain obedient to God, and abide in His word, and I'm in the jet stream of His will, the opinions of this world mean nothing to me. Nothing.”
@MrsErikaKirk
Remembering this unforgettable night two months ago. How grateful I am for the countless precious memories Robert and I made together and for the joy of expressing our love to each other constantly.
Heaven rules.
Jesus is near.
The Lord delivers Israel from Egypt and then leads them into the wilderness.
Following God and doing God's will may not bring the immediate relief you think.
Ahead may lie a wilderness to walk through but the wilderness is better than Egypt because it is God's will for you.
🔥🚨BREAKING: The new David and Goliath biblical movie is being praised for ‘being better than anything Pixar did in the last 5 years’ by moviegoers. A biblical movie has never had this much success since Passion of The Christ, this movie has been breaking barriers.