Faith

Three (Hard) Quotes for the Christian Life

Rebekah MattLeave a comment

When I became a Christian at age thirty, I knew I needed a lot of work, so I looked forward to the ways that I would surely be changed as a result of my new life in Christ. Some changes came easily—cleaning up my speech and stopping swearing, for example. But most of the other changes that happened to me (and there were many) took much more effort and much more time, such as finally being able to forgive family members for past hurts. As I grew in Christian maturity, I realized that all of these changes and challenges are a part of the lifelong sanctification process.

And of course, that sanctification process isn’t over yet. I still need a whole lot of refining, as we all do, in order to be holy, or set apart for God: “As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, ‘You shall be holy, for I am holy’” (1 Peter 1:14-16).

Recently I was reminded of three challenging, life-changing quotes that aren’t from the Bible, but are particularly convicting in terms of how Christians are set apart for God. They touch on areas of our lives that we don’t especially like to think about or talk about freely with others:

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Faith · Reading

A Grown-Up Visits Narnia, and What She Found There

Rebekah Matt2 Comments

I never read The Chronicles of Narnia as a child. In fact, I don’t think I had ever even heard of C. S. Lewis until I read Mere Christianity when I was nearly thirty.

Ten years later, I had three (almost four) children, and I read The Chronicles of Narnia aloud to them during lunch, as a part of our homeschool day—one of a very long line of lunchtime read-alouds with my kids. When I read Narnia that first time, my brain was partly engaged in the story as you would expect, but partly I was in teacher mode as I was with all read-alouds: Do they know the meaning of this word? Do I need to explain this scene? Is this sentence something I need to verbally edit as I go? Can we get to the end of this chapter before the 5-year-old runs out of food? When I close the book, is there anything we ought to talk about before they leave the table?

So yeah, I was distracted. I remember appreciating the story, though, and discussing the Christian allegory aspect with my children.

In the Narnia books, grown-ups are not allowed to enter Narnia from our world (the exception is that when Narnia is created, two adults are a part of that). When Narnia needs help, certain children from our world are called by Aslan to assist; then around the time they reach adolescence, they are told that they can’t return. How wonderful to be a child reading Narnia for the first time, imagining what it would be like if you, too, were one day called to assist this magical place of Talking Beasts, naiads and dryads, centaurs and fauns, and High Kings and Queens.

But alas, at my age, I’m too old for those kinds of dreams, in more ways than one. Still, I wanted to revisit Narnia as a grown-up, just for myself. Not as a teacher, not as a mom, but just for me. My questions going into this reading were (1) What would I think about the books as an adult, and (2) What affect, if any, would the reading experience have on me?

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Reading

Heaven Is Probably More (and Better) Than You Think

Rebekah MattLeave a comment

How much do you know about Heaven? And how much do you think about Heaven in your everyday life?

I’ve been a Christian for about 30 years, and I’ve been aware of how little I really knew about Heaven for most of that time … but I believed that no one knew much about Heaven with any degree of real certainty, so that was okay. “Heaven,” even for Bible-reading Christians, is one of those words that gets mentioned enough in a sort of vague way that you feel pretty comfortable with its fuzziness and uncertainty after a while.

As for how often I thought about Heaven, well … when someone close to me passed away, I thought about it. Other than that, unless I was specifically studying a section of the Bible or listening to a sermon that was about Heaven (both of which are more infrequent than you’d think), I didn’t think about it much in my daily life.

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Other Topics

Why I Ditched My Scrolling Habit, and What I Got in Return

Rebekah Matt1 Comment

One of the good gifts that God gives to his children is the gift of time. How do you use yours? Do you use it wisely and with a clear conscience, at least most of the time? Or (be honest, now) are you scrolling it away?

For the past several years, I’ve been feeling more and more convicted about how much time I spend on my phone. When I say “convicted,” I mean it seriously. I’ve felt like the Holy Spirit was nudging me to evaluate my online habits (in particular, mindless scrolling and compulsively checking my phone), call them out for what they were (a waste of my God-given time), and change my behavior for good.

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Reading

My Year-End Favorite Book List – 2025

Rebekah Matt2 Comments

It’s so interesting to me to see what people like to read. I’ll look at just about anyone’s year-end list, even if our reading tastes don’t overlap much. Then when I do find another reader who is a kindred spirit, it’s just that much better! I hope you find a few books here that make you say, “Oh, I loved that one, too!” or, “I must now immediately read this,” or, “I think it’s time to reread this one, or give it another try.” Or even, “That one’s not for me, but I’m glad she liked it.”

I read a total of 27 fiction and 13 nonfiction books this year, plus three abandoned (DNF) and a couple I merely skimmed. Maybe you’ll find some new reading ideas among my favorites from 2025. All books are listed simply in the order I read them during the year.

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Faith

Play Your Best for Him

Rebekah Matt2 Comments

The Christmas song that’s most likely to make me cry isn’t actually based on the Bible.

Everyone knows this song, and it’s often mocked as being overly sentimental or annoying. There was even a challenge going around a few years ago: who could go the longest without hearing it during the month of December?

There are jokes about this song, such as the one about what a sleeping newborn really needs … is a drum solo.

Still, I love “The Little Drummer Boy.” And one line in particular makes me tear up every time.

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Reading

Two Elderly Gentlemen, Two Novels of Generosity and Grace

Rebekah MattLeave a comment

I’m a reader, a former bookseller, a former English teacher, and a writer—and I’m also a Christian. So when I come across an excellent novel that is clearly written by a Christian author, I rejoice. Sadly, this doesn’t happen nearly as often as I’d like.

Of course, Wendell Berry and Marilynne Robinson fall into that category. As does Kristin Lavransdatter, my favorite novel of all time (read why here). And I just finished two books back-to-back that have me thinking there must have been divine intervention in my selections. One of them is a national bestseller, a rags-to-riches publishing story that has taken readers—especially Christian readers—by storm. The other is an exquisite novel from a masterful author whom I just started reading within the past year.

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Faith · Reading

Favorite Books (and More!) for Advent

Rebekah Matt2 Comments

One of the most exciting and comforting aspects of the end of the calendar year is surely the celebration of Advent, when Christians remember the first coming of Christ and anticipate the second. This season awakens a childlike and reverent wonder that’s a welcome respite from the commercialization that surrounds us during November and December.

I’ve enjoyed Advent both with my family (husband and four children) and also in a more solitary way, with my own daily Advent devotions. I’ll share both kinds of books here. I also became a Christian at age 30, and had absolutely zero previous knowledge of what Advent was or why we ought to celebrate it—so I also want to provide a few details to help those who are fairly new to the concept of the Advent season.

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Faith

What Men Have to Say About Scripture Writing

Rebekah Matt2 Comments

Over the years that I’ve been posting and teaching about Scripture writing, many of the same questions keep popping up. One of the most common questions is this: Do men do Scripture writing, too?

The answer is yes, they absolutely do! In fact, one of the biggest misconceptions about Scripture writing is that it’s something that only women do.

I’ve often wondered … why might people assume that Scripture writing is inherently a feminine thing to do? Especially since the scribes of centuries past were virtually all male, and it was a respected position in a temple or monastery (not to mention in the military, or in the court of a nobleman or king).

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Parenting

The Worst Kind of Parenting Advice

Rebekah Matt8 Comments

Imagine for a moment that you’re a new parent. Moms, I’m especially looking at you. Now, let me count the seconds with you until you are given unsolicited advice on how to raise the perfect child.

“If you do this, you will end up with this kind of child.” Or, on the flip side, “If you don’t do this, you’re going to ruin your child forever.”

For many years, I thought my own experience in this area was somewhat unique. After all, when I had my first child, I was completely inexperienced with babies or children. I was 27 years old the first time I ever held a baby (it was a fellow teacher’s niece), and then I never again held a baby until my own child was born two years later. Also, I was a brand-new Christian. So I had the double-whammy of total inexperience and complete ignorance of both parenting and how to be a follower of Christ … making me very insecure and open to suggestion on all topics related to parenting and Christian living.

To compound matters, I had a couple of not neurotypical children (I didn’t know this at the time) back in the late 1990s and early 2000s. What could possibly go wrong?

Here are some examples of the parenting advice that I heard—often and loudly—during those years:

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