Lynne Baab • Wednesday May 20 2020
In a prayer letter about her ministry, a friend of mine described her angst as a teenager. Her sister knew that she wanted to be a teacher, but my friend wasn’t clear on what she wanted to be and do, and she felt shame that her ambitions weren’t clear to her. Toward the end of her college years, God spoke to her in a picture:
“First I saw an arrow and felt God say, ‘See, this is like your sister, keenly focused on a single target that she’ll hit right on the mark.’ Next, I saw a kite swaying in the wind...
Read full article »Lynne Baab • Wednesday April 1 2020
In this strange, unsettled, constantly-changing time, Psalm 130 gives us a beautiful reminder of God’s constancy and God’s invitation for us to bring everything in us into God’s presence.
Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord. Lord, hear my voice! Let your ears be attentive to the voice of my supplications! (verses 1 and 2)
I don’t know about you, but my rate of crying out to God has dramatically increased in the past month. It is right and good to do that. We are not the first people to be bewildered and scared about what’s going on. We must not criticize ourselves for...
Read full article »Lynne Baab • Friday September 15 2017
My husband Dave has vivid memories of his parents’ arguments about money. Dave would lie awake in his bed hearing the arguments, wondering if his parents would split up and he would end up at the orphanage down the street.
Dave’s dad, Hubert, was born in 1913 and had some rough years. Soon after the depression started, his mother died, and his father fell into alcoholism and stopped providing for Hubert and his brother. The two teenagers left their home in Ohio, rode the rails to Iowa, and found work on a farm. Later they returned to Ohio and found jobs at...
Read full article »Lynne Baab • Saturday August 8 2015
Ten years ago my spiritual director began talking to me about trust in God. “Trust is something you need to focus on,” she said to me more than once. Several times after I described difficult situations and my conflicting emotions about them, she said, “You either trust God with this or you don’t.”
Her words about trust were like some obscure foreign language to me, maybe Sanskrit or Sioux. Sure, I’d been a Christian for several decades at that point. I’d studied the Bible and prayed in many different ways. I’d kept a Sabbath for many years and fasted many times. I’d...
Read full article »Lynne Baab • Sunday August 9 2020
(Originally published inHorizons: The Magazine of Presbyterian Women. May/June 2019, 11-14.Lynne Baab • Sunday August 9 2020
(Originally published in Presbyterians Today, July/August 2019, 8.)Lynne Baab • Sunday August 9 2020
Originally published in Tui Motu InterIslands, Independent Catholic Magazine, New Zealand, September 2017, 26, 27.
Lynne M. Baab, Ph.D., is a teacher and writer. She has written numerous books and Bible study guides. Lynne lives in Seattle, and you can contact her at LMBaab [at] aol [dot] com. Read more »
Lynne is pleased to announce the release of her book on midlife, A Renewed Spirituality: Finding Fresh Paths at Midlife, for kindle. Her 2018 book is Nurturing Hope: Christian Pastoral Care for the Twenty-First Century, and her best-selling book is Sabbath-Keeping: Finding Freedom in the Rhythms of Rest. You can see her many other book titles here, along with her Bible study guides.
Lynne was interviewed recently for the podcast "As the Crow Flies". The first episode focuses on why listening matters and the second one on listening skills.
A few years ago, Lynne spoke at a conference for preachers and others in ministry on "Spiritual Practices for Preachers" (recorded as a video on YouTube). The talk is relevant to anyone in ministry and focuses on how to draw near to God simply as a child of God as well as engaging in spiritual practices for the sake of ministry.
Here are two talks Lynne gave on listening (recorded in audio form on YouTube): Listening for Mission and Ministry and Why Listening Matters for Mission and Ministry.
Here's a sermony by Lynne on Reverent Submission, where she tries to reclaim the word "submission," which has a bad rap in our time.
"Lynne's writing is beautiful. Her tone has such a note of hope and excitement about growth. It is gentle and affirming."
— a reader
"Dear Dr. Baab, You changed my life. It is only through God’s gift of the sabbath that I feel in my heart and soul that God loves me apart from anything I do."
— a reader of Sabbath Keeping
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