Spring is here! New issue of Inspire out now
The Oxford Children’s Word of 2025, as voted by young people, is kindness. It is a word that can mean many things and is a positive word, one that we all need to have in our vocabulary as well as show in our lives, especially as Christian women.
I recently read a historical novel about the people who worked on the first ever English dictionary. It was fascinating how people from all over the country would have posted ‘slips’ to a special team at the Oxford University Press with words on them to consider worthy to go into the dictionary. It took decades to finish all the volumes and some words didn’t make it as they were not referenced enough in literature or deemed a right fit for publication.
As someone who works with words, edits them for this publication, the novel gave me a greater appreciation of the dictionary which I turn to for advice.
Words and their meaning need to matter to Christians, especially when we have been given God’s Word to help us live our lives. Dr Joel Muddamalle, Director of Theological Research at Proverbs 31 Ministries, recently shared this: “When you do biblical word studies, just because a word can mean something, does not demand that that word does mean that thing in the context. For words to have meaning, there has to be a context that is surrounding that word.
“In a society and culture that seems to be flattening word usage, the scriptures are flourishing with word usage. There is a great depth to the words God gave us and a real beauty in them which can in turn help us communicate the beauty of Christ and his victory over sin and death to a world that is desperate for it.” This reminds us of our need to be in the Scriptures, taking time to examine them for ourselves and asking for the Holy Spirit to help us understand better.
We look deeper at a beautiful Hebrew word Hesed in our reflection page and, through words at this stage, meet the Annual Conference Speaker, Siân Wyn Rees from Wales.
Someone who wrote many books to tell the amazing story of God’s grace in her life was Helen Roseveare. She was born a hundred years ago in 1925 and we explore her incredible faith and example in She Inspires.
Our thanks to everyone who took part in the January Reading challenge. We have a treasure trove in God’s Word that we can explore. Let’s all keep exploring and learning!
This article was written by purplerain