Learning the secret of being content

The world tells us that we can only be content when we are healthy, successful and rich. This is thankfully not what the Bible tells us, as Paul wrote in Philippians 4:12: ‘I have learnt the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or […]

My Go to Psalms

Psalms are amazing, they give us wonderful words to praise God and help us to be honest with him about life’s difficulties. I have often used the psalms through difficult periods, especially the short ones that I was already familiar with. I wrote about Psalm 62 in an earlier post, here are some thoughts on […]

The Power Of Memorising Bible Verses

If you are able to, I would strong recommend committing some Bible verses to memory, this is one way to meditate on scripture. The Psalmist talks a lot about meditating on truth such as: God’s promises (Psalm 119:148), his works (Psalm 143:5), and his unfailing love (Psalm 48:9). On countless occasions the Holy Spirit has […]

Growing In Prayer

God has been really trying to get my attention recently on how absolutely vital prayer is. Prayer enables us to connect with God (Jeremiah 33:3), gain wisdom (James 1:5), and see circumstances change (Mark 11:24). I have recently read an excellent book called Dirty Glory by Pete Grieg. It’s about prayer, mission and justice. The […]

Am I Putting God First?

‘If my mind is not settled toward God as the author of it all, and if I’m not putting him first, I might as well quit. It will all be in vain, it won’t bring me any peace, and the true battle is being lost.’ (Rachel Wilson writing in The Life You Never Expected p44) […]

Having a range of tools to engage with God: getting creative

When I was really sick I often couldn’t read more than a verse or two of the Bible at a time or attend church meetings. I had to find some different ways to engage with God, I needed more tools in my toolbox. One of these was painting with worship music on, I had never […]

Ideas to help those with physical limitations engage with church

Some friends were so desperate to get their sick friend to Jesus that they made a hole in the roof where Jesus was preaching (Mark 2:1-4). Jesus didn’t make comments about the mess; he saw their faith and forgave the man’s sins and then healed him (Mark 2:5-8). He clearly wanted the sick to be […]

Paul’s chains advance the gospel, do mine?

I have been really challenged by Philippians 1:12-14 where Paul talks about how being in prison has served to advance the gospel. This is through him: (1) having access to a different group of people such as his guards (v13); (2) other believers hearing about his ministry whilst in chains and being encouraged to speak the […]

‘Church at work’ includes you!

Have you ever heard someone talk about ‘church at work’? At my church there is a specific group that meets with this name for people to encourage each other as Christians in a work place. Now this is good, it is clearly important how Christians conduct themselves at work. However from my own experience; as […]

Difficulty and Discouraging Situations: The Little Picture

As a Christian how should we tackle difficult and discouraging situations? This is something my husband David and I have thought a lot about in the last few years. We think it is important to have the right perspective when looking at the big picture by focusing on God’s greatness and purposes without losing sight […]

Difficult and Discouraging Situations: the Big Picture

Difficulty and God’s re-direction/re-commissioning

Difficult times such as illness force some reflection on what is important in life and how to spend one’s energy, time and money. God can in fact use difficult times in our lives to recommission us or redirect us in the way he wants us to go. God has redirected me from work in International […]

Prayer Ideas: What Has God Put Directly In Front Of You?

Sometimes I find it hard to know what to pray about, the world is so vast and there are so many needs, it can be hard to know where to start. Or sometimes with my fatigue I struggle to think of anything to pray for. In these situations one thing I find helpful is to think […]

Jesus Our Good Shepherd

Recently I have been thinking a lot about the references in the Bible to sheep; specifically Jesus being our good shepherd (as outlined in John 10:1-21) and what this means for those of us in tough circumstances. I find it pretty humbling to be compared by Jesus to a sheep (John 10:3); if you have […]

God’s gentle reminder of his providence on a bad day

I’m really tired today (when I wrote this a few weeks ago not when it was published) and also depressed. Not a great combination with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome as they make each other worse… I find it really hard when I’m like this. Well meaning people remind me that this would have been a good […]