I’ve been thinking about writing, Jesus and authorship lately. As an author, I understand what it is like to have control over a piece of work. (At least, I understand how this feels for a non-fiction book. I understand that writers of fiction often experience little control over their characters.) Whether I am writing fiction […]
Author: Steph Penny
The Idolatry of Marriage
“Marriage will solve my lust and loneliness problems.” “When I get married, I’ll finally be able to serve God in my fullest capacity.” “When I get married, my problems will be over.” I’ve heard single people make comments such as these. I used to believe them myself. As a single 29-year-old, I was convinced that […]
Inner Compass
Have you ever gotten truly lost? A few years back we went overseas and decided to go for a walk through a national park. The website advertised the walk as being a one-hour trek, which we decided was doable for us. I am not terribly fit and I tire somewhat easily. But I agreed to […]
Did You Survive?
My social media feed one month ago was inundated with pre-Christmas survival-type blogs. You know the kind of thing: “7 tips to stress less this Christmas”, “How to spend time with family without wanting to kill them”, “How to make a killer Christmas lunch” and so on. My feed was full of tips and tricks […]
Hungry*
Taylah was hungry. Not the I-skipped-recess kind of hungry. Not the I-was-facebooking-so-long-I-forgot-to-eat kind of hungry. Not even the I’ve-been-smoking-again kind of hungry. The kind of hungry that gnaws away at the lining of your stomach like a silent killer, patiently and relentlessly stripping your insides away. Taylah had not eaten a proper meal in three […]
The Gentleman and the Arsonist
I grew up believing that the Holy Spirit is a gentleman. Church described the Holy Spirit in this way: a loving, respectful, well-mannered person who would never push me beyond my willingness and capacity. It painted a picture of a spiritual being concerned with my consent before He did anything. When I was a teenager […]
Live Dogs and Dead Lions
“Anyone who is among the living has hope – even a live dog is better off than a dead lion!” Ecclesiastes 9:4 (NIV) This evocative image struck me a couple of weeks ago when I heard a sermon preached on this text. The illustration of a living dog standing next to a deceased lion is […]
No Longer Slaves
“I’m no longer a slave to fear. I am a child of God.” © 2014 Jonathan Hesler, Joel Case, Brian Johnson. Bethel Music. I do not like spiders. At all. Spiders have the capacity to arrest my attention simply by entering the room. They are captivating, for all the wrong reasons. When I see a […]
I See You
As creatives, we often find ourselves working in secret. We write in secret, we compose in secret. We design in secret, we paint in secret. We dance and rehearse and practice in secret. If we are not careful, we come to believe that our art is secret. As creatives, many of us are introverts. This […]
God Whispers
At the recent Omega writer’s conference, Disney writer Alex Marestaing spoke to us about hearing the whispers of God. Alex told us the story of how he got hired by Disney: he sent them a letter, asking for a job. Just like that. Even more unbelievable is the fact that Disney contacted him a couple […]