Story Warren

Kindling Imagination for Kingdom Anticipation

The Warren & The World Vol 13, Issue 1

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If you’re anything like me, you’re just beginning to get back into the swing of “real life” after the holidays, and you’re looking around, bleary-eyed, to figure out what’s going on. The theme of my first full week of the year has been, “change of plans.” I suspect this might just be the theme of 2025 for me, so I’m already trying to hold things loosely. May you enter the year with the same open hands.

Around the Web

Flop Sweat in Edinburgh

Andrew Osenga tells the tale of his failure in front of an audience of 800 people, and the reminder it was to him of our shared humanity and grace.

  • We were in Edinburgh, Scotland, in this absolutely gorgeous old church. The room was sold out, and the atmosphere was electric. People were genuinely excited that we were there, and Scottish crowds are not quiet—even at Christian singer-songwriter Christmas concerts.
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Wormwood Abbey

Carolyn Leiloglou recommends a series for teens and up.

  • Rarely do I read or listen to a book and then feel compelled to immediately buy the rest of the series. But that’s exactly what happened after I read Wormwood Abbey, the first book in the Secrets of Ormwood series by Christina Baehr. Wormwood Abbey transports readers to a delightful world that takes Victorian era mystery and adds dragons!  
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Beginning the Year Knowing How to Hear God Whispers: Hearing His Voice in the Noise

Asheritah Ciuciu listens.

  • “Go, talk to the lady at the counter.”
    The whisper took my mom aback. She looked around the airport, taking in the empty chairs as tourists rushed out the revolving doors to glimpse the Acropolis and taste baklava.
    She wouldn’t get to experience Athens because the lady at the counter was filling out her repatriation forms that very moment, sending her back to Romania. The secret police would be waiting at the gate to arrest her and sentence her to a life in prison—all because she followed Jesus and invited others to follow Him too.
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Don’t Hoard Peace

Susan Bennett reminds us to be abundant in our generosity.

  • “You can’t keep this” are the last words someone who struggles with hoarding ever wants to hear. If you ever watched one of those reality shows about hoarding, you know that hoarders surround themselves with items, so much so, that they can’t maneuver around their homes. I once knew someone who tried to take control of their life with this activity to her own demise. It caused great ruin to both her physical home and her familial relationships. When God blesses us with material or spiritual gifts, it is always for the benefit of sharing them with others. God never intends for His children to hoard the blessings they receive, especially the gift of His peace.
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Around the Warren

Calico and the Christmas Conversion

Jessica Burke recommends a Christmas story.

  • Cactus County might be the last place you expect to find a beautiful Christmas story. There’s nothing wrong with Cactus County. In fact, everyone there is happy and content. There are no locks and no jails and no fences, for it’s that safe. But it’s missing the hustle and bustle of New York in December or the magic of the ordinary suburb decorated with lights shining in the freshly fallen snow. 
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On the Threshold of Bag End

E.R. Scrivener stands on the outside looking in.

  • I stand on the threshold of Bag End and peer inside. There’s an armchair by the hearth and a kettle that’s “just beginning to sing”. There’s magic here, and friendship, and long-expected birthday parties.
    I don’t particularly enjoy standing here on the threshold of Bag End, on the outside, where it feels like the eighth-grade cafeteria and the staff lunchroom and a new church lobby. Here, I feel indescribably small, and alone.
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Winter Around the World

A.C.S. Bird reads fairy tales in the winter.

  • Several years ago I landed on fairy tales as my preferred winter reading genre. Though I can relish a string of rainy Pacific Northwest days, they don’t combine well with heavy doses of hard reality. Not that fairy tales don’t harbor their share of darkness; traditional ones can be downright grim (no pun intended). But their penchant for mystery and magic imparts a certain mystique to early evenings and misty mornings.
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Review: Lucy and the Saturday Surprise

Ashley Anthony reviews a sweet picture book.

  • “Stop being impatient!” I say to my impatient children, in a very impatient way. It is 8:30 a.m. on a Saturday, but I’m not sure the time or day matters. Any day of the week at any hour, it is possible that my kids reflect a weaknesses that I’d like to point out in them but struggle to notice in myself. When I’m soft to the Holy Spirit, the irony descends upon me like sleep after a long day—like two siblings on a candy carousel.
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Cinderella and the Fairy Crocodile, part 1: The Beginning

Isabel Chenot has the start of a story for us.

  • Sometime that morning, the fairy crocodile had wandered into a storm.
    She was not large. She was about as big as a squirrel, and sometimes she slept all night in a bird’s nest. So she was easily swept along, and had been blown right out to sea. 
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Something to Do with Your Kids

The rule of thirds is a key element in visual composition, and this art activity can help you teach it to your young artists!

Something to Watch

Americans get a bad rap for being terrible at geography—and to be fair, many of us are—but this video of Brits trying to label the states on a blank map of the USA is proof that we’re not the only ones. 

(Warning, there is one H*** expletive, but it’s really fast, and this video was so fun I couldn’t resist sharing it.)

Thanks for reading. We’re on your side. 

–The Story Warren Team

Carolyn Clare Givens
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