I recently found a list of my greatest fears that I’d written long ago. In it, were the things my nightmares were made of, so I naturally started preparing my “thank God that none of these horrible things ever happened to me” prayer, when suddenly I stopped, stunned. My eyes moistened as I realised that…
In December 2019, I started a new tradition of the gratitude advent calendar. Each day until Christmas, I wrote down something I was thankful for and hung the small round card on my tree. That process has made me pause and reflect on my blessings more. I noticed that my outlook and mood changed. It…
Nestled within the first letter of Paul to the Thessalonians, we find a passage that is known to most of us. Rejoice always, pray constantly, give thanks in everything; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. Don’t stifle the Spirit. Don’t despise prophecies, but test all things. Hold on to what is…
Why do we find it so easy to ask about the small things? wondering. watching kids grow and seek everyday thousands of questions fall from their minds why this, why that. some never answered but all voiced. Why do we stop saying and start bottling? stacking them. deep within in files labelled not now. dangerous.…
If you take someone who struggles with anxiety and a chronic need for control, add in a pandemic, and you end up with me for the last year. My family moved from America to Australia in June of 2019. After a rough 8 months of grieving, I was just starting to feel somewhat at home,…
Yesterday I took a long walk along the beach by my house. To say I’m grateful for this place at this time in my life would be an understatement. I’m not grateful. I’m thankful. I’m thankful because I know what I have in this life was ultimately gifted to me. It’s not a perchance stumbling…
On my last Sabbath in Mauritius before moving to Australia on my own, Pastor Hensley Moorooven preached a beautiful and meaningful sermon that has stuck with me since I heard it that day in 2006. He talked about the Israelites in the desert and all that God had done for them in rescuing them from…
Mount Arbel is the largest and most distinctive mountain in the region of Galilee in northern Israel. Where most of the hills surrounding the lake have a gentler feel. Mount Arbel is an abrupt rocky outcrop, rising about 400 metres (1300 feet) above the level of the lake, with commanding views across the region of…
I picked up a bunch of flowers at the florist and jumped in the car. Lockdown had meant that I couldn’t visit them until now. They had lost their son a few weeks before in a tragic truck accident and I knew from messages we had exchanged that they were totally devastated. I nervously knocked…
Tossing and turning in bed my eyes were wide open and sleep was literally a dream I couldn’t achieve. I tried so hard to silence the thoughts in my head but they kept shouting louder and louder. I wasn’t nervous about an upcoming test or worried about getting in trouble at school. What was keeping…