Author: curlysue028

No-vember

curlysue028

‘It was November-the month of crimson sunsets, parting birds, deep, sad hymns of the sea, passionate wind-songs in the pines. Anne roamed through the pineland alleys in the park and, as she said, let that great sweeping wind blow the fogs out of her soul.’
(L.M. Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables)

We are at the end of an unpopular month -November.

I can vividly remember reading the following poem as the wind blew down from the Cavehill shaking Mr McGeogh’s mobile classroom:

‘No sun – no moon!
No morn – no noon –
No dawn – no dusk – no proper time of day.
No warmth, no cheerfulness, no healthful ease,
No comfortable feel in any member –
No shade, no shine, no butterflies, no bees,
No fruits, no flowers, no leaves, no birds! –

November!’
(Thomas Hood)

November has the reputation for being a blah month of the year, for passing in a blur of grey.

But, ‘sometimes, all a person needs is a little perspective’
(Andy Andrews -The Noticer.)

‘I have come to regard November as the older, harder man’s October. I appreciate the early darkness and cooler temperatures. It puts my mind in a different place than October. It is a month for a quieter, slightly more subdued celebration of summer’s death as winter tightens its grip.’
(Henry Rollins)

With a change in perspective we can find a positive spin for November:

*Cosy fires
*Crisp, star-spangled nights
*Leaf-kicking walks
*Thanksgiving- we can count our blessings even on this side of the pond!
*Anticipating Christmas
*And of course, in our family, celebrating birthdays.

This November, instead of contemplating the dull weather & negativities of the month, we can rejoice that if we are in Christ we have:

No condemnation

‘Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death.’
(Romans 8:1-2 NIV)

‘For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.’
(Psalm 103:11-12 NIV)

No fear

‘There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.’
(1 John 4:18 NIV)

‘I sought the Lord, and he answered me; he delivered me from all my fears.’
(Psalm 34:4 NIV)

No worries 

‘Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.’
(1 Peter 5:7 NIV)

‘Cast your cares on the Lord and he will sustain you; he will never let the righteous be shaken.’
(Psalm 55:22 NIV)

November!
‘November comes
And November goes,
With the last red berries
And the first white snows.’
(Clyde Watson)

Blessings,
Ruth x

‘Tis the season…for letting go

curlysue028

One discovery this autumn has been the trails at Mount Stewart. While I prefer running in daylight (& preferably sunshine) I can identify with the benefits of running hard listed in Keri Wyatt Kent’s blog ‘Trail running in the dark’

I don’t always have epiphanies during long runs. But sometimes the combination of mind-space, the beauty of creation & the challenge of physical exertion blend together in a serendipitous moment!

One epiphany was during Run Forest Run’s Minnowburn 10k. I had reached the last kilometre (more slowly than usual!) I was running over a carpet of leaves, & more leaves were falling like confetti from the trees as I ran beneath them. It was a beautiful scene- captured in my mind more vividly than on any camera!

As I ran I sensed God say, ‘In life you have to let things go, so I can make them beautiful’

Just as the trees let go of their leaves & let them fall to the ground to create this beautiful scene, so we need to let go.
What do we need to let go of ?:

*Past failures
*Regrets
*Selfish ambitions
*Choking Fears
*Broken dreams
*Emotional baggage
*Pet sins
*Unrealistic expectations
*Pride
*Harmful relationships
*Over-thinking
*(False) Stories told only to ourselves

And whatever else comes to mind.

How can we let go? We need to bring these things to God. Pour out our hearts to the One who knows us best. Let it go & most importantly leave it with Him. Seek His forgiveness if required, then walk in the freedom of His grace

For, ‘There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens’
(Ecclesiastes 3:1 NIV)

And Autumn is the season of letting go.

‘Seasons are not only realities that occur outside and around us, in the skies and in the trees. I believe seasons are also internal and personal, interwoven into the fabric of human life. We are designed to transition, to change, and to vary. Our souls have seasons.’
(Seasons of the Soul– Adam McHugh)

The Creator God can bring beauty from brokenness , when we let go & leave our greatest fears & burdens with Him.

‘He has made everything beautiful in its time.’ (Ecclesiastes 3:11 NIV)

We have a Cherry tree in our garden. In spring it blossoms where it’s planted. In summer its shiny leaves rustle in the breeze. In Autumn it lets go of its foliage. Already I can see already tiny buds of new life on its bare branches, ready to burst into life in Spring.

Letting go is a necessary step for growth to take place.

‘Perhaps when watchers see us burst into life it will be the colors of Jesus they see.’
(Ashley Hale-The Year I lost Autumn)

For, whatever the season:
‘You’re here to be light, bringing out the God-colors in the world.’
(Matthew 5:14MSG)

Blessings,

Ruth x

Revised & updated from www.blessedme.co.uk

Just real ordinary 

curlysue028

In the pre-digital days of photography when we sent off films to be developed, I often collected a packet of disappointingly bad photos with unwanted red-eyes & fingers obscuring the object!Now in our digital age we can delete them before anyone sees them & photoshop the good ones to make them even better!

Apparently, 200,000+ images make their way onto Facebook alone every minute. Yahoo! claims that as many as 880 BILLION photos were taken in 2014 (popphoto.com)

On the World Wide Web, we can project the Facebook perfect, Pinterest pretty version of our lives. Life can be bunting & cupcakes, on matching Cath Kidston & Bridgewater tableware, surrounded by our airbrushed family in colour co-ordinated clothing – a life where everything goes according to plan…

Often we are zoned into the virtual world, which exists only on our smart phones & tablets. We can become preoccupied with an edited & digitally enhanced version of reality – that is not real at all. A distortion of the truth , which in reality is a {little white} lie.

‘Stop instagramming your perfect life’ urged Shauna Neiquist in Relevant magazine.

Most of us will freely admit that our lives are far from perfect- more like an episode from the Simpsons than the Waltons (even on a good day!)

When we compare our lives to others on-line, our lives may seem:
Mundane
Routine
Normal
Uneventful
Ordinary

Our real life may fall short of our {unrealistic} expectations

On-line comparisons can affect our perspective of the snapshots in the panorama of our everyday life. Seasons of life may seem dull-black & white vistas interrupted by the odd colourful celebration. We perceive uneventful weeks punctuated by
the occasional unexpected event- compared to other’s action-packed colourful instagrammed lives!

‘Comparison is the thief of joy’ Theodore Roosevelt wrote. Conversely, gratitude nurtures our joy.

So,’Make a careful exploration of who you are and the work you have been given, and then sink yourself into that. Don’t be impressed with yourself. Don’t compare yourself with others. Each of you must take responsibility for doing the creative best you can with your own life’ (Galatians 6:4, 5 MSG)

Also,we can be totally immersed in our virtual {unreal} world to the detriment of our spiritual well-being. I ask myself:
Are we dazzled by the eye-candy of perfect images on the web & starving our souls?
Are we captivated by God or distracted by a million & one snippets of {useless} information bombarded to us daily on our smart phones?

Hudson Taylor wrote, ‘If we are faithful to GOD in little things, we shall gain experience and strength that will be helpful to us in the more serious trials of life.’

In this age of technologically enhanced images, we need to focus on the fact proclaimed thousands of years ago that we are made in God’s image (Gen 1:27) And He is conforming us to be more like Jesus.

‘What we are becoming is more important than what we are accomplishing’ (Catherine Campbell)

‘It would seem that our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with {social media & the World Wide Web} when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.’
(Adapted from C.S. Lewis, The Weight of Glory, and Other Addresses)

Frederick Buechner writes:
‘God is right here in the thick of our day-by-day lives… trying to get messages through our blindness as we move around down here knee-deep in the fragrant muck and misery and marvel of the world.’ (The Magnificent Defeat)

‘If God doesn’t rule your mundane, then he doesn’t rule you. Because that’s where you live.’(Paul Tripp)

Jesus lived for thirty quiet years before three in the spotlight.

His birth was not Christmas card picture perfect-

His death was too horrific for our minds to truly picture.

Jesus, who knew the sweat & grim of an ordinary carpenter’s workshop, who walked the ordinary dusty Galilean roads,can infuse our ordinary days with his extraordinary presence. He can bring the miraculous to the mundane.

Because:
‘Earth’s crammed with heaven,
And every common bush afire with God;
But only he who sees, takes off his shoes,
The rest sit round it and pluck blackberries’
(Elizabeth Barrett Browning)

‘God breaks into real,normal, boring time & makes Himself known’
(Amy Orr-Ewing)

Our God breaks into ordinary lives of working people:

The shepherds were looking after sheep on Bethlehem’s hillside, just as they had many nights before, when a myriad of angels appeared, proclaiming Jesus’ birth.

Peter & Andrew were casting nets.They had gone fishing as they did everyday.

Matthew was collecting taxes-business as usual.

They had an encounter with Jesus just where they were.

We can have encounters with God everyday- on a Monday en route to work just as much as in the church sanctuary on a Sunday. He can transform our 2D monochrome moments into 4D technicolor by His Spirit in us.

So,
‘Do the most everyday & insignificant tasks, knowing that God can see…We are doing more than we know’ (George Matheson)

We can see glimpses of God in our ordinary life!

Rather than waiting on the next big thing, we can wait on God here in this moment:
‘What we have is time. And what we do is waste it, waiting for those big spectacular moments. We think that something’s about to happen—something enormous and newsworthy—but for most of us, it isn’t. This is what I know: the big moments are the tiny moments. The breakthroughs are often silent, and they happen in the most unassuming of spaces.’
(Shauna Neiquist in the foreword Jeff Goins – The In-Between)

‘Maybe what we call “mundane,” what feels boring and ordinary, is really how we spend our lives. And we have an opportunity to make of it what we will—to resent its lack of adventure or rejoice in its beauty. Perhaps the abundant life we’ve been seeking has little to do with big events and comes in a subtler form: embracing the pauses in between major beats.’
(Jeff Goins The In-Between)

The banner outside Bethany Baptist proclaims:
‘Ordinary people worshipping an extraordinary God’

This Extraordinary God can make our ordinary lives extraordinary ,
not perfect-but real.

So,
‘So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering’ (Romans 12:1, 2 MSG)

‘Let everything you do be done as if it makes a difference’ (William James)
{because it does!}

Blessings,

Ruth x

*Revised & updated from original post @ www.blessedme.co.uk

When you can’t sit down

curlysue028

I’ve written about the importance of chair-time & sitting down ‘on the inside’ 
But what happens when you can’t stop, when you can’t rest even when you want to?

‘Life, for most of us, feels like a movie we’ve arrived to forty minutes late’ writes John Eldredge in his book entitled ‘Epic’

We always seem to be in a hurry, multi-tasking to try to catch up with ourselves. Weeks go by at a frenzied pace, in a hap-hazard way.

It’s difficult when we feel that busyness is thrust upon us rather than chosen by us.

Yet if we don’t pause, we can burnout i.e. become emotionally & physically exhausted, detached from those around us & feel ineffective & unfulfilled even though we’re working hard.

‘Hurry always empties a soul’ wrote Ann Voskamp in ‘One thousand gifts’

It’s just as well that the God who created us , also created rest on the seventh day!
Rest. The dictionary defines it as freedom from activity, or a pause for relaxation.

The Italians speak of ‘dolce far niente’ – the joy of doing nothing! But, 
‘There’s never enough time to do all the nothing you want!’ (according to Calvin & Hobbs!)

We need to rest before we become exhausted. It’s not selfish to look after ourselves:
‘Self-care means giving the world the best of you instead of what is left of you.’ (Katie Reed)

‘You should sit in nature for twenty minutes a day. Unless you are busy…then you should sit for an hour!’ (Zen saying)

In Psalm 62:1 King David wrote, ‘My soul finds rest in God alone ‘

Rest is a Person- not a place!

For, true rest is found in God alone.

That’s worth repeating, so I can let the truth sink in:
True rest is found in God alone.

‘That’s the only quiet, secure place in a noisy world, The perfect getaway, far from the buzz of traffic.’
(Psa 27:5 MSG)

Jesus said, “Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me & you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest” (Matthew 11:28-The Message)

Real rest sounds very appealing, doesn’t it? Our God created rest on the seventh day of creation. A day of rest each week is actually a blessing given to us.

Tonight I read these words:
‘Sabbath is more than a day.It is a way of life,a conviction we order our lives around,based on what we believe about God. But mostly, it is a gift from God we cant find time to open,because we dont know what we’re missing’
(Keri Wyatt Kent- God Space)

God’s special day of rest is a time to:
-Relax 
-Recharge our batteries
-Refill & refuel for the week ahead
-Nourish our souls
-Renew our minds

So, here I am, on this autumn Sunday listening to the rain softly falling down. I’ve had three days of enforced rest due to a viral illness. (I will have empathy when I’m diagnosing others with similiar this week!)

I must learn to rest before I am tired & embrace this welcome pause before another week starts to play out.

‘To pause between the notes of our lives turns noise into music. It’s called resting’ (Keri Wyatt Kent)

This is the day the Lord has made. Don’t load it with yesterday’s regrets or tomorrow’s troubles. Rejoice in the gift of today!’
(Max Lucado)

So,’Give up last weeks burdens, so you can head into the week ahead without them. Surrender all troubles to God & forgive yourself & others’ (Marianne Williamson)

Blessings,
Ruthx

Sometimes you need chair-time!

curlysue028

 For as long as we have lived in our current house, we have had a comfy chair beside our dining room table. It used to be a rocking chair (that was covered by a throw after Layla chewed large chunks out of it when she was a puppy) The rocking chair has now been replaced by a cuboid leather chair.

The chair’s principal function is to provide a more comfortable place for Rob to sit while I finish my dinner! I am an extremely slow eater (I was once the last person to finish each of the three courses at a wedding reception with over 200 guests!)

This year I designated the chair as a place to read fiction slowly. I promised myself to read at least once a week in this comfy chair! I have managed to read many chapters of ‘All the light we cannot see‘ in this chair.

Apparently reading fiction improves brain connectivity & function. Also, ‘Reading gives us some place to go when we have to stay where we are’ (Mason Cooley) Escapism at it’s best!

A couple of years ago I read a novel called The Chair– about a chair with supernatural powers as it had been carved by a carpenter from Nazareth two thousand years ago.

The idea of an extraordinary chair is not a new one. At the Giant’s Causeway, there is a rocky seat known as the Wishing Chair. Apparently, this chair was made for the giant, Finn MacCool, when he was a child. And ever since, so legend says, all wishes made by anyone at the Wishing Chair will come true. 

I’ve been listening to an audio-version of Bill Hybels’ book Simplify. In it, he stated that the first practice to unclutter your soul is chair-time. 

This chair doesn’t have to be extraordinary or fancy. We simply need to find a chair to spend time with God. Bill urges us to schedule chair-time to sit & read the Bible with the Author & to take time to listen to what He has to say.

‘Come near to God and he will come near to you.’
(James 4:8 NIV)

‘God gives us everything we need for space -but we will have to make space.
God gives us all the ingredients for time -but we will have to make time.’
(Ann Voskamp)

The idea of spending time in the chair is simply that- creating space to commune with God.
For our God desires to have a relationship with us. He longs to be close, not distance. If we feel that God is far from us, we have moved away.

I’m not sure why, but when I thought about chair-time with God, I found myself re-reading the chapters of The Shack where Mack spent time gazing at the stars & walking across the lake with Jesus. Our God is the good, good Father & the Friend who is closer than a brother.

No matter what we need , what our inclinations are or what our days look like we could all benefit from chair time. As Bill Hybel’s earlier book title stated, we are too busy NOT to pray.

We need to slow down. 
Sit down. 
And be still. 
And know. 
Deep down.
That the Great I AM is God.
Our God.

‘Be still, and know that I am God’
(Psalm 46:10 NIV)

‘Let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings’
(Hebrews 10:22 NIV)

Blessings,

Ruth x

PS This is the puppy on the chair before it was chewed:

Edited & updated- originally posted @ www.blessedme.co.uk

For the troubled soul

curlysue028

The days feels longer & bleaker than usual -the weather, the viruses, getting through the art & science of medicine. Hearing others’ bad news on Facebook, in work,in church, on the news.

We know that nobody said it’d be easy- but sometimes life feels just too hard,doesn’t it?

“Life is hard, but good,” said one of the speakers at an OMF afternoon. I knew what she meant- hard in the same way climbing a mountain is difficult but enjoying the stunning view at the top makes everything feel good.

It tied in to the audiobook I’d been listening to en route- Shauna Niequist’s book Bittersweet -reflections on the intermingling of bitterness & sweetness, heartbreak & hope in life.

I woke up early yesterday thinking about suffering & sadness , healing & hope. This deep subject was in my pre-caffeinated mind as it spilled over from a tangent discussed at the ladies Bible study the night before.

But how can we ever begin understand the complex interplay of faith & prayer, healing & medicine& the rainbow of the sovereignty of God overarching it all?

Sometimes, in tough times we need verses with promises like Romans 8:28 read out loud & clear. Sometimes we need our reality to be validated, someone to draw alongside us with few words, & fewer answers.

“Life sucks sometimes,” was one of the most helpful empathetic statements our former Pastor spoke to Rob in our darkest chapters.

In the difficult times, it can be hard to stay positive & faith-filled.Life can hurt deeply. When our soul aches,it’s ok to trust yet doubt, to hope yet hurt. And it’s OK to go to God with our questions & frustrations.He knows our thoughts before we speak them. He knows our limitations:

We see tangled threads rather than the finished tapestry.
We see the messy middle rather than the finished masterpiece.

And we can’t make sense of it- any more than clay can comprehend the potter.
We can’t see the big picture.
The unseen.
The invisible.

Yet,
‘Each strand of sorrow has a place 
Within this tapestry of grace’
(Getty Music-The Perfect wisdom of our God)

On Sunday morning I was reading about what Celtic Mystics described as thin places. Places where heaven almost touches earth, & God meets with us. I was thinking more of moments rather than physical places- where the almost palpable presence of God touches our troubled souls.

We can experience the presence of God in the breath-taking wonder of His stunning creation.

Our quiet times can be thin places when we read with the Author.

God connects with my daily life when I truly pray. Often it’s the depth rather than the length of my prayers that matters.

Thin places also occur when we feel stretched & overwhelmed, when we experience heart-wrenching pain that comes from being as broken as this planet we live on.

‘God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience but shouts in our pain: it is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world’
(CS Lewis-the problem of pain)

In the thin places, our God offers peace to our troubled souls 
‘He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.’
(Psalm 147:3 NIV)

Jesus said, “In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”
(John 16:33 NIV)

We don’t have to understand.
We don’t have answers but we do have our Saviour’s presence- through it all.

Life is hard but God is always faithful & always there

‘God withholds in His wisdom what He could provide by His power. I don’t know why He does it, but I’m thankful I don’t have to’
(Dr Larry Crabb – quoted by Emily P Freeman in A Million Little Ways)

‘We commit ourselves to Him, yes; but far more important, He has committed Himself to us, & what He takes He holds,& what He holds He moulds, & what He moulds He uses’
(Norman Grubb, The Spontaneous You)

I love that image- the Potter is holding & moulding.

Even when we feel like we’re free falling & life is reeling out of control, we are held- in His hands, & He never lets go.

In this journey we call life,
‘Instead of a map, our Father offers his hand.’
(Emily P Freeman)

….’and when you can’t see His hand trust His heart’ (Anon)

Blessings,

Ruth x

PS You may also like:

Trust -choosing to see the invisible

* Edited & updated- originally posted @ www.blessedme.co.uk

Just trust- choosing to see the invisible 

curlysue028

Rob & I attended a friend’s wedding on 19th July. It was a beautiful sunny day- just like our own wedding day on the same day- now over twenty years ago!

I reminisced & listened misty-eyed to Pachelbel’s Canon & to the poetic vows, promises made to stand by each other & remain true-no matter what:
For richer or poorer 
For better or worse
In sickness & health

Twenty years on, we are very happily married. But looking back over the years, there have been both the best & worst of times. There has been sickness & health. There have been a complete spectrum of stresses, and even bright sunny days can be overcast by boulders carried in our hearts.

And we are not alone in life-experiences! Indeed if we all threw our troubles up in the air ,we would probably be glad if we caught our own again!

I believe that ‘the Universe is made up of stories, not of atoms’ (Muriel Rukeyser) And over the course of time, the story of our life together has mingled with the stories of those we go through life with- family, friends, colleagues, our wider social circle & friends of friends. We hear their stories over cosy cups of coffee, via social media & prayer bulletins. The stories criss-cross with our own, & intertwine together, to form part of a bigger story that we call everyday life.

So many of these true stories are sadder than fiction:
sudden deaths & tragic accidents
babies dying before they are born, 
diagnoses that are beyond chemotherapy & modern medicine,
teenagers taking their own lives,
alcohol & drugs,
debt & stress,
mental illness,
divorce.

In the middle of difficulties, when our head is swirling, we need to focus on a still, unchanging point in our reeling world. In the ever-changing vista of the kaleidoscope of life, when life feels like its spinning out of control, we need to focus on God- the One who keeps galaxies in orbit. 

We need to be still & see with the eyes of faith 
‘ Open your eyes and see how good God is. Blessed are you who run to him.’
(Psalm 34:8 MSG)

We can have the eyes of our heart wide-open to the invisible:
‘Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. ‘(Hebrews 11:1 NIV)

In the hard, hurting pages in the dark chapter of life, it can be hard to ‘see’ God, the Author of our life-but God is at work in our stories 

Even when we can’t see God’s hand, we can trust His heart. He is behind the scenes:
‘So we’re not giving up. How could we! Even though on the outside it often looks like things are falling apart on us, on the inside, where God is making new life, not a day goes by without his unfolding grace…There’s far more here than meets the eye. The things we see now are here today, gone tomorrow. But the things we can’t see now will last forever. ‘(2 Corinthians 4:16-18 MSG)

God can mend tattered hearts & broken dreams. He can  put the fragile, broken pieces back together again- the way they were always meant to fit together-like a brilliant craftsman forming his masterpiece.

There are things we just can’t see at the moment, but our invisible God is at work

‘So keep a firm grip on the faith. The suffering won’t last forever. It won’t be long before this generous God who has great plans for us in Christ—eternal and glorious plans they are! will have you put together and on your feet for good. He gets the last word; yes, he does.’
(1 Peter 5:10 MSG)

I was listening to an audio-version of Kay Warren’s book ‘Choose joy for happiness isn’t enough’ earlier this year. Her words feel even more poignant since the shocking news that her son committed suicide. In the book, Kay describes joy & sorrow like parallel tracks on the railway of life.

I too am convinced that joy & sorrow, love & suffering, peace & pain are inextricably linked –but in an even more intricate way than parallel tracks. Perhaps, they are intertwined like the twisting double stranded helix molecule of DNA – the blue print of life itself. Just as DNA is held together by hydrogen bonds, the twists & turns in life are stabilised by intricate bonds of the love & mercy, grace & goodness of God.

Just now, in this moment of time, our lives may seem like a tangled mess- but with the eye of faith, we can choose to see that even the troubles & trials, stresses & strains, the bitter & sweet are part of the intricate plans of the perfect infinite wisdom of our God.

Our God created the cosmos, designed our souls & planned our destinies. Yet He carries our burdens and collects our tears:
‘You have taken account of my wanderings; Put my tears in Your bottle. Are they not in your book?’
(Psalms 56:8NASB)

‘You’ve kept track of my every toss and turn through the sleepless nights, Each tear entered in your ledger, each ache written in your book.’ (Psalm 56:8 MSG)

We have to choose to see the unseen-to trace the invisible fingerprints of God in our lives, as He weaves His thread of blessings through the twisting helix of life. He alone can weave all things together for our good (Romans 8:28) into the plans He has for us (Jeremiah 29:11)

Even when things don’t seem to make sense, & everything seems random & chaotic , we can praise Him where we are at- ‘in the storm- even when our hearts are torn’ (Casting crowns) 

We can offer a ‘Broken hallelujah’ (Mandisa) & exclaim “Blessed be the name of the Lord”

We can proclaim:
‘This is not how it should be,
This is not how it could be,
This is how it is,
And our God is in control

This is not how it will be,
When we finally will see
We’ll see with our own eyes
He was always in control

This is not where we planned to be
When we started this journey
But this is where we are
And our God is in control’
(Steven Curtis Chapman)

As we open wide the eyes of our heart in faith, we will fall upwards into the arms of our Almighty Father God.

There we can whisper:
‘I know now Lord why you utter no answer. You yourself are the answer’ (C S Lewis)

And He promises:
“I’ll convert their weeping into laughter, 
lavishing comfort,
invading their grief with joy.”
(Jeremiah 31:13 MSG)

May this be our prayer:
‘O grant me wisdom from above, 
To pray for peace and cling to love, 
And teach me humbly to receive 
The sun and rain of Your sovereignty. 

Each strand of sorrow has a place 
Within this tapestry of grace; 
So through the trials I choose to say: 
“Your perfect will in Your perfect way ‘
(Stuart Townend)

But for now,
                Just trust

Blessings,

Ruth x

*Edited from post originally published @ www.blessedme.co.uk

Simply abide

curlysue028

In a world that’s shaken by terrorists & when the daily news is almost too painful to watch, when hurricanes are storming across the planet,it’s all too easy to feel anxious & insecure.
But even in tumultuous times & uncertain days we can have inner peace:
‘He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say to the Lord, “My refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.”’
(Psalm 91:1-2 ESV)

Jesus said,”As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love.”
(John 15:9 ESV)

Though we live in this broken,messy world we can choose to abide in the love of God & dwell in His presence. We can experience His peace.

I’ve been reading Simply Tuesday by Emily P Freeman ‘Small- moment living in a fast-moving world’ Emily tells the story of how her family & another neighbour bought matching benches & place them in their cul-de- sac. The benches provided space for them to connect on an ordinary day( like Tuesday- arguably the most ordinary day of the week!)

Emily looked out on the benches from her kitchen window & pondered ‘How can I sit down on the inside?’

When we feel overwhelmed we too need to pause ‘on the inside’ & allow your soul to breathe. We need to find a metaphorical bench to sit down ‘inside’ if we can’t locate a real one.

When life feels busiest , we often need to stop & simply draw aside and sit on the bench with our Heavenly Father who knows what we really need. And sometimes our deepest need is simply to be still, and find rest in Him alone.

Consider the Hebrew word ‘Selah’ in the Psalms. It’s more than a musical term. The Amplified Bible adds ‘pause and calmly think about that’ to each verse where ‘selah’ appears. Perhaps we need to place a bench in our day- where we pause, think & praise. We need to punctuate our life with interludes- quiet moments with God.
‘Step out of the traffic! Take a long, loving look at me, your High God, above politics, above everything.’
(Psalm 46:8-10 MSG)

If we sit on the bench for long enough we may be ‘able to see the handwriting of a holy God where another person just sees the same old tired streets & sidewalks’ (Shauna Niequist)

When we’re sitting on the bench:
We’ll not just watch the world go by-we’ll pray to the One who made it.
We might count the stars- & praise the One who made them.
We’ll count our blessings- & thank the Giver
We’ll communicate with the One who can solve our problems- & trade worry for calm.
We’ll connect with our True Friend:

‘He is our eternal Friend- continually, under all circumstances, & constantly ready to prove Himself as our Friend (George Mueller)

Jesus said, “Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.”
(Matthew 11:30 MSG)

Even in days like today?
Yes- even today. For Jesus also said,
“I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world.”
(John 16:33 NLT)

So,’Sit on a bench, count the stars & let your soul breathe’ (Emily P Freeman)

Blessings,

Ruthx

Updated & edited from original post @ http://www.blessedme.com

Promises in the storm

curlysue028

The Met. Office have issued an Amber weather warning for tomorrow. Hurricane Ophelia will hit Ireland as a post-tropical cyclone with hurricane-force winds. It’s the farthest East in the Atlantic a hurricane has ever travelled & the worst storm in Ireland for 60 yrs!

We’ve witnessed the destruction brought by Hurricane Harvey in Texas & devastation on the Caribbean islands brought by Hurricane Irma.

Yet today, the air is warm & the sea is still- the calm before the storm.

This summer, Caris & I watched Life of Pi. Torrential rain & colossal waves sank the ship Pi was on board.

The Gospels describe storms on the Sea of Galilee. Jesus’ reaction to the storm was different on each occasion. While His disciples were afraid, He was in control.
On one occasion He was asleep in the boat while the storm raged (Mark 4:35-41) When His terrified disciples woke Him, He commanded the furious squall to still (And it did)

During another storm, He walked on the water to join His frightened disciples. (John 6:19) Then commanded the wind & waves to cease (And they did!)

Another time He walked on water, He invited Peter to join Him on the waves (Matt 14:25)

In life, dark clouds can cloud over our sunshine. Storms can rise up unexpectedly & suddenly on still waters & halcyon days.Storms can invade our peace.

I’m reading a book just now called ‘The Hardest Peace‘ written by Kara Tippetts. It’s about how she found God’s peace in ‘life’s hard’ For Kara, the storm was advanced breast cancer. For each of us, the storms we face will be different. Different yet difficult.

And at different times God will work in different ways.

As someone wise once noted, at times God in His sovereign power will calm the storm. At other times God in His wisdom calms His child.

Even ‘when we can’t trace His hand, we can trust His heart’

He is with us in the storm. Even when we don’t feel like He’s there, He is closer than we think!

We can trust our Father God:
‘He who forms the mountains, who creates the wind, and who reveals his thoughts to mankind, who turns dawn to darkness, and treads on the heights of the earth— the LORD God Almighty is his name.’
(Amos 4:13 NIV)

When we are tossed in the middle of a storm & when we can’t grasp what going on, we can hold onto His promises:

*’Don’t fret or worry.Instead of worrying, pray.
Let petitions and praises shape your worries into prayers, letting God know your concerns.
Before you know it, a sense of God’s wholeness, everything coming together for good, will come and settle you down.
It’s wonderful what happens when Christ displaces worry at the center of your life.’
(Philippians 4:6-7 MSG)

*’And my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus.’
(Philippians 4:19 NIV)

*’You will keep in perfect peace those whose minds are steadfast, because they trust in you. Trust in the LORD forever, for the LORD, the LORD himself, is the Rock eternal.’
(Isaiah 26:3-4 NIV)

*Jesus said “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.”
(John 14:27 NIV)

What promises can you cling onto today?

Listen to:
Praise you in the storm– Casting Crowns
Trust in You– Laura Daigle
Blessings,

Ruth x

Love-locks

curlysue028

We strolled across the Ha’penny bridge in February 2014. It was a romantic weekend for two (+2!) at Half-term/Valentine’s Day!The tail-end of winter breezed by our faces, as the Liffey rose to greet us.

I noticed the multiple padlocks connected to this bridge & presumed that a lot of Dubliners must be into cycling! I didn’t realize their true significance.

I later learned of the growing tradition spreading across Europe of sweethearts attaching padlocks to bridges as a symbol of never-ending love. Sometimes couples inscribe their names onto the padlock or throw the keys into the nearby water as a symbol of their true love.

We ‘just happened’ to walk along the Seine in Paris later that year on a summer holiday & stumble across the Ponte de Art bridge over-laden with love-locks. My husband Rob was too concerned about the weight of the locks to enjoy the moment! He was right to feel apprehensive as the next year, for safety reasons, one million love locks weighing 45 tonnes were removed! I’ve recently read that some of these love locks are being sold for charity.

Not everywhere has had this magnitude of padlocks & the love-locks remain! This summer, I’ve photographed love-locks in a downpour in Copenhagen, & during a sunny breeze in Liverpool’s Albert Dock!

I’ve ran across  the Lagan Lookout Weir in Belfast & paused to look at the locks. ‘By chance’ (!) I was listening to ‘Your love never fails’ as I ran passed these local love-locks.

The song reminded me of the unending true love of God:

‘I know I still make mistakes
But You have new mercies for me everyday
Your love never fails’
(Jesus Culture)

God has declared:
“I have loved you with an everlasting love”(Jeremiah 31:3 NIV)

Why does God love me? Why does He love you?

‘He loved us not because we are lovable but because He is love’
(CS Lewis)

God is love!

‘God’s unfailing love for us is an objective fact affirmed over and over in the Scriptures.
 It is true whether we believe it or not. 
Our doubts do not destroy God’s love, nor does our faith create it.
 It originates in the very nature of God, who is love,
and it flows to us through our union with His beloved Son’ 
(Jerry Bridges)

And when we trust in His beloved Son, absolutely nothing can separate us from God’s love:

‘I’m absolutely convinced that nothing—nothing living or dead, angelic or demonic, today or tomorrow, high or low, thinkable or unthinkable—absolutely nothing can get between us and God’s love because of the way that Jesus our Master has embraced us.’ (Rom 8:39 )

 ‘The LORD your God is with you, he is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing.’ Zephaniah 3:17(NIV)

Our hearts are locked into the everlasting love of God forever!

‘The Lord’s unfailing love surrounds the one who trusts in Him’
(Psalm 32:10)

And His love never fails! 


Blessings,

Ruth x