Tag: Christian faith

Star-gazing

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We live away from city lights & on a clear night stars shine clearly & brightly over our home. The Milky Way twinkles as it stretches across the darkness above our chimney.And during wintry early starts, we have the blessing of stars in the morning too!

Star gazing always makes me think big thoughts about our Great Big God.Tonight, I thought of how the star-scattering, life-giving Creator God came down to earth.

‘Lo,within a manger lies
He who built the starry skies’
(‘See amid the winter snow-Edward Caswall)

He left the glorious untainted splendour of heaven,
to be born as a baby,
to dwell on this earth.

‘God who is the Creator of the Universe, comes to us in smallness, weakness and hiddenness.’ (Henri Nouwen)

He came to be God with us- Imanuel.
A God with feelings and fingerprints.
A God to be where we are.

He was human & divine. ‘He became what he was not, but he ceased not to be what he was’ (JohnOwen)

And our Creator God marked this unique event by placing a new star in the sky as a sign.

‘He determines the number of the stars and calls them each by name.’
‭‭(Psalm‬ ‭147:4‬ ‭NIV‬‬)

The Magi in the East saw the star:
‘When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy.’
(Matthew‬ ‭2:10‬ ‭KJV‬‬)

Then they saw the baby:
‘On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh.’
‭‭(Matthew‬ ‭2:11‬ ‭NIV‬‬)

I sang these words for the first timeon Christmas Eve:

‘Led by the light of faith serenely beaming,
With glowing hearts by His cradle we stand.
O’er the world a star is sweetly gleaming,
Now come the wisemen from out of the Orient land.
The King of kings lay thus lowly manger;
In all our trials born to be our friend.
He knows our need, our weakness is no stranger,
Behold your King! Before him lowly bend!’
( O holy night-Cappeau)

Yet, apart from Mary & Joseph, the angels, a few shepherds & stargazers from the East, the rest of the planet Earth was totally unaware of the eternally significant event that unfolded one starry night in Bethlehem.

One Carol says, ‘How silently, how silently, the precious Gift is given’

And even on our {not so} silent nights, we can:
‘Look out past the stars, look to the One who put them there.’
(Keith Green)

As someone said ‘ Why wish upon a star when you can talk to the One who made them!’

Although we haven’t seen Jesus on earth, we can trust & believe:

‘Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory.’ (I Pet 1:8)

Blessings,

Ruth x

Hear the angels sing

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I love the anticipation of Christmas Eve & the atmosphere of Christmas Day. But there’s something welcoming about the quieter pace of Boxing Day & the un-named days thereafter between Christmas & New Year. Between the Old & New. ‘Twixmas’ they’ve recently been christened.

This gap can be a pause, to reflect & resolve. To quieten our hearts & still our souls.To listen to the angel song.

‘We need to find God, and He cannot be found in noise and restlessness.’
(Mother Theresa)

During the past week between work & rushed wrapping I was listening to a less well known Christmas carol written by Edmund Hamilton Sears in 1849:

‘It came upon the midnight clear,
That glorious song of old,
From angels bending near the earth
To touch their harps of gold!
Peace on the earth, good will to men,
From heaven’s all gracious King!
The world in solemn stillness lay
To hear the angels sing.’

In this rushing, digital world we need to shut out the cacophony of distractions.

Verse 3 of the carol has soothing words:

‘Oh rest beside the weary road
And hear the angels sing.’

Centuries ago on a star-spangled hillside near Bethlehem a choir of angels sang:

“Glory to God in the highest.And on earth peace, goodwill toward men!”
(Luke 2:14 NKJV)

Gloria in excelsis Deo. Their words declared the resplendence of Almighty God. Their song proclaimed peace on earth & His goodwill to men.

Peace is not merely the absence of war, trouble or heartache. Peace is more than calmness in our personal life, or halcyon days on the world stage.

Rather, peace is the presence of God- the long promised Imanuel- God with us.

Before the angelic choir sang, the angel of The Lord said,”Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all people”
(Luke2:10 NIV)

The angel reminded us there is no need to fear. There’s good news of great joy.

“Today in the town of David a Saviour has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord.”
(Luke 2:11NIV)

Over two thousand years ago, the Promised One was born to seek & save the lost. To save us from ourselves. To save us from our sins.

We can rejoice in this truth at Christmas, & always. Now & forever.

So, in these days of Twixmas:
‘Rest beside the weary road
And hear the angels sing.’

Blessings,
Ruthx

PS Listen to ‘A Christmas Hallelujah‘ by Cloverton

The ultimate gift

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Tis the season…to shop till you drop,grab a coffee to go, then shop some more!

Of course we started exchanging presents as a reminder of the gifts of gold,frankincense & myrrh presented to Jesus. But at times we go Totally Over The Top. I mean,what do we give our nearest & dearest who have everything they want-& more?

I walked under the canopy of lights in Victoria Square on Wednesday night then through the Christmas market to get inspiration. St George’s market was shut but a red sparkly bow adorned the entrance- making the whole building look like a present.

There’s daily emails bombarding my inbox with all sorts of gift ideas- including Boots star buys that I’m tempted to buy for myself!

While we endeavour to give great gifts, God is the ultimate Gift-Giver:

‘Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.’
(James 1:17 NIV)

‘God’s gifts put men’s best dreams to shame’
(Elizabeth Barrett Browning)

The greatest gift came in unexpected wrapping. All the fullness of God- His grace & goodness, majesty & might, wrapped in swaddling clothes,lying in a manger

‘Once in our world, a Stable had something in it that was bigger than our whole world.’
(C.S. Lewis)

As we grow older our Christmas wish list gets shorter & we find that the things we want aren’t things. Sometimes the best gift we can give to others is our time.

Someone once wrote that love can be spelt T-I-M-E. Jesus loved us so much that He gave up eternity to spend time on earth.

‘For God so loved the world that He gave His One & Only Son’
(John 3:16)

‘Thou who wast rich beyond all splendour,
All for love’s sake becamest poor;
Thrones for a manger didst surrender,
Sapphire-paved courts for stable floor.
Thou who wast rich beyond all splendour,
All for love’s sake becamest poor.’
(Frank Houghton)

He came to earth & became flesh, so that we can be adopted into the family of God through faith. The Gift of God means that we can become children of God.

‘The Son of God became a man to enable men to become sons of God.’
( C. S. Lewis-Mere Christianity)

‘Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God’
(John 1:12 NIV)

‘See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him.’
(1 John 3:1 NIV)

God’s gift is a long lasting, never-ending present-eternal life.

‘For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.’
(Romans 6:23 NIV)

God’s gifts can be found in unexpected places in our lives-in the dark, difficult days:
‘God said “I will give you hidden treasures, riches stored in secret places, so that you may know that I am the Lord, the God of Israel, who summons you by name.
I form the light and create darkness, I bring prosperity and create disaster; I, the Lord, do all these things.”
(Isaiah 45:3, 7 NIV)

Going forward through the darkness into the light, His Presence is the greatest present.

Christmas is
when God reached down,
when God became one of us,
with us in this journey of life.

Isaiah foretold this crucial aspect of the incarnation:
‘All right then, the Lord himself will give you the sign. Look! The virgin will conceive a child! She will give birth to a son and will call him Immanuel (which means ‘God is with us’)
(Isaiah 7:14 NLT)

‘His name is God With Us and we believe He is.’
(Emily P Freeman)

‘Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!’
(2 Corinthians 9:15 NIV)

This Christmastime, if you haven’t already done so, will you accept this ultimate gift from God – the Gift of Himself, for now & forever?

Blessings,

Ruthx

A gift to your future self

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It arrived in the post last month- a welcome surprise on a dull Monday via Amazon. It was a gift to my future self- a book I’d pre-ordered months ago. (God space by Keri Wyatt Kent)

I first heard the phrase ‘gift for my future self’ on Gretchen Ruben’s Happier podcast …& I liked it. The idea of doing something now to help your future self is appealing.Like pre-ordering a book. Or starting to exercise.Or making overnight oats for breakfast the night before.

‘But that’s just being organized!’ my sister-in-law Linda exclaimed. And it is!

But a gift for your future self sounds less ordinary & more whimsical!

My teenage children still tease me about my overnight oats as a gift to my future self!

Recently I’ve been thinking about gifts I should have given to my future self years ago, when those teenagers were small.

Back then, I had two children under two- both in nappies. Caris was just a toddler when Ethan was born in Nov 2002. His birth was straightforward- but there was an eruption of stress in the days before his birth. I didn’t sleep at all in the days before or after delivery. My mind was on over-drive filled with crazy, racing thoughts. After a week I was diagnosed with postnatal psychosis.

Postnatal psychosis is a tsunami in the mind that creates chaos in everyday life – the aftermath takes years to settle.The happy celebration of new life in the family morphs into a life-altering nightmare.My sleep-starved deluded self existed in a world that made sense initially but disintegrated as thoughts clash faster & faster.The fabric of daily life unravelled beneath me into tangles & we’re free falling from the life we love into the abyss of depression & psychosis.

Medication meant that the racing thoughts subsided relatively quickly, but months of depression followed. Chances are, statistically speaking, that more than a few of you reading this will know what I mean- when I talk of days of living in black & white rather than colour. Days of existing without truly living. Doing life with the joy squeezed out of it. Having ‘eyes without sparkle’ as one writer put it.

Just getting through the day felt like a momentous achievement.

But I did get through those long days & seemingly short years. This Thanksgiving I felt blessed & grateful for good mental health.

And as another birthday approaches, I think of the dark days less than the years before.

So what gifts should I have given myself for my future self then?

*Time

It would have been reassuring to know back then that things would get better with time.

It does take time to recover from mental illness -an unquantifiable length of time. But gradually, painstakingly slowly,you will get better.

Your baby won’t actually remember those days & with time your own memories will fade into the background.

In the middle of the mayhem,take time out doing whatever helps.Whatever works for you.

In time I would see the therapeutic value of writing. And reading when concentration improved.And running. Someone wrote ‘Running is the washing machine of the mind’ – I should have used it sooner!

Make time to go to Mother & Toddlers- even if you don’t feel like it. Even if it feels awkward initially.

*Help

You need to accept help.Trust those who know you best & love you most. If they suggest you need professional help- you probably do!

Your Community Midwife,Health Visitor or GP can all help. It’s what they’re there for!

During your Postnatal Visit with your GP, they’ll want to check your mental well-being. They may ask if you been bothered by feeling down, depressed,or hopeless over the past month. Or if you have had little interest/ pleasure in doing things. They are relying on you telling the truth & will offer help & support if you do.

*Faith

Going through the dark days, I had some faith. I wish I had more.

‘I have learned that faith means trusting in advance what will only make sense in reverse.’
(Philip Yancey )

As I look back I know that I never walked alone – I was carried by God (as it says in the Footsteps poem)

You may not share my faith, but TBH I just can’t fathom how you make it through life without God

‘Does that make my faith a crutch? Maybe. But what does a crutch do? It helps you stand and makes you stronger. So, yes, when I face overwhelming odds, I need a bit of that.’
(Bear Grylls)

When I was most unwell, I could only read a few verses at a time.These verses meant a lot to me at the time, & would even more to my future self:

God said,
“Don’t be afraid, I’ve redeemed you.
I’ve called your name. You’re mine.
When you’re in over your head, I’ll be there with you.
When you’re in rough waters, you will not go down.
When you’re between a rock and a hard place, it won’t be a dead end-
Because I am GOD, your personal God”
(‭‭Isaiah‬ ‭43:1-3‭MSG‬‬)

‘He heals the broken-hearted & binds up their wounds. He determines the number of the stars & calls them each by name. Great is our Lord & mighty in power-His understanding has no limit’ (Psalm147:3-5)

I would remind my future self that in the messy middle of our story, the Author of life walks through our dark chapters with us.

If you are still there in the messy middle, stressed out but struggling through, pause & give your future self the gift of time,help & faith

(I say future self for when your mind is messed up & everyday life is disturbed, your current self cannot see any benefit to doing anything!)

Time. Help. Faith.

Blessings,

Ruthx

http://www.blessedme.org

PS

This was originally written for Lindsay who campaigns for Maternal Mental Health & blogs at Have you seen that girl. Find resources collected by her HERE

Find support on the Aware website or at Best Beginnings . PANDAS is a foundation supporting pre & postnatal depression.

The bottom line is it’s ok not to be ok – even when you’re pregnant or if you’ve just had a baby. Speak to someone about how you are feeling.And give a gift to your future self!

What lies within

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One of the most thought provoking sentences I’ve read this year leapt out of a page of the devotional book my mother-in-love bought me last Christmas:

‘Honest souls know what’s inside of them. They alone can showcase a Saviour’
(Chris Tiegreen )

Someone has wisely said that we need to be honest with ourselves before we can be honest with God.

Honestly, what really lies inside us?

Truthfully, what lies deep inside us is much darker than sugar and spice or even slugs and snails suggested in rhymes.

Augusten Burroughs wrote ‘I myself am made entirely of flaws stitched together with good intentions’

When I look within myself I can clearly see an obvious bias toward selfish ways, bad attitudes & cold indifference. ‘Old fashioned’ sin that is as common as ever.

For the Bible says, ‘For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God’ (Romans 3:23 NIV)

We humans all bear damaged souls & broken beauty. We fall short of what we are created to be .

Built into each of us is tremendous capacity for both good & evil.There’s a mix of fears, failures & faults. The hope of all we long to be versus the truth of who we are (as Casting Crowns aptly put it)

We as humans fall painfully short of our own expectations, let alone God’s.

Paul wrote ‘I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do.'(Romans 7:15 NIV)

‘Sometimes the most impossible person to live with is yourself,’ wrote Ann Voskamp, ‘Our hands are so stained with sin, that even our best works can leave traces of dirty prints’

She echoes words written by a prophet thousands of years ago: ‘All our righteous acts are like filthy rags’ (Isaiah 64:6 NIV)

But the great news is this, that between then & now, at the very crux of history, Jesus came to earth to deal with our dirty rags of sin within:

‘For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people.’(Titus 2:11 NIV)

‘But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved.’ (Ephesians 2:4-5 NIV)

And,’Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus’ (Romans 8:1 NIV)

If we trust in Jesus, His glorious grace shines within us , dispelling the grip of sin:

‘For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God’s glory displayed in the face of Christ.’
(2 Corinthians 4:6 NIV)

‘In the presence of light you see darkness.
In the presence of power you see weakness.
In the presence of beauty you see ugliness.
In the presence of God you see your need for grace’
(Tim Keller)

And asking for God’s grace within us can totally transform us!

‘We know what we are but not what we may be’ (William Shakespeare)

‘He has saved us and called us to a holy life—not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace. This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time,’ (2 Timothy 1:9 NIV)

For the amazing truth is that God knows exactly what lies inside us-
& yet He still loves us!
He sees our sin & has sent a Saviour
He sees our problems & our potential
He knows our mistakes & our mission

And because of His grace, our sins are:
Forgiven
Forgotten
Forever

His grace inside us:
redeems our life
releases us from fear
& illuminates our path

When we focus on
the grace & mercy of God the Father poured within our lives,
the sacrificial love of God the Son,
& the light & power of God the Spirit,

Then:
‘What lies behind us & what lies ahead of us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us’ (Ralph Waldo Emerson)

And remember:
‘We’re far worse than we ever imagined, & far more loved than we could ever dream’ (Tim Keller)

‘In your greatest moment you are never more than a sinner who has been embraced by the mercy & love of God & forgiven at the expense of the death of His Son.
In your most broken times you are never less than a daughter of the King, a chosen child of the Father & an inheritor of every blessing in Christ’
(Valerie Murphy -Focusfest 2011)

If you’re like me, you might want to read those quotes again slowly, to inhale the audacious truth, then exhale grateful thanks to our Good, Good Father God.

Amen!

Blessings,

Ruth x

‘Tis the season…to make room

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December starts with good intentions of organization & calm & cards posted on time. Yet as the month rolls on, it gains momentum like a giant snowball gathering more & more festive events & shopping.

I can identify with Bilbo Baggins who said, “I feel thin, sort of stretched, like butter scraped over too much bread.” (J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring)

Someone wise once said ‘Rest before you are tired’ And the Wisest of All created rest in the beginning.

We need to create margin, or white space as we approach this time of the year. Our diaries may be jam-packed already, but:

‘Its in the white space- the in between moments of stillness- where the joy of Christmas is found’
(Rebecca Cooper)

‘White space is where the magic happens’
(no sidebar)

‘The quieter you become the more you can hear’ (Ram Dass)

In the middle of the mayhem & busyness attributed to Christmas celebrations, the  sound of silence can be deafening. Last month’s minute of silence on Remembrance Day felt much longer than  sixty seconds.

‘There are times when solitude is better than society, and silence is wiser than speech.’
(Charles Spurgeon)

Even in this season,‘We must also identify what gives us life, what recharges us and restores our capacity.’(Alli Worthington -Breaking Busy)

In the quiet, we can connect with God. We can make room to  marvel & wonder at the miracle of Christmas, that God is with us – Imanuel

How can we make room for God this Christmas?

*Read

In December I set aside my usual reading plan & start off each day reading from an Advent book

This year I’m reading The One True Gift by Tim Chester. Last year I read The One True Light by the same author.

The year before I read The Time is Now by Amy Orr-Ewing

*Pray

We can pray for our family,community & our broken world.

I love these little books to help us pray using God’s Words:

5 things to pray-
For those you love
For your church
For your world

*Listen

Listen to Christmas music.  I love traditional carols blended with contemporary worship:

A Christmas Offering-Casting Crowns
Adore– Chris Tomlin
A Hallelujah Christmas – Cloverton
How many kings-Downhere

*Explore

Wrap up warm & escape into the great outdoors to  breathe deeply, clear your mind,  & star gaze.  Creation is the ultimate whitespace- the best way to unplug  from the un-necessary & connect with the One who made it all!

Each day we have choices to make:

‘Each of us is an inn keeper who decides if there is room for Jesus’
(Neal Maxwell)

‘Let every heart prepare Him room’
(Joy to the world)

Blessings,

Ruth x

A life less ordinary

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Perhaps, if you’re a  like me, you  yearn for a life less ordinary. Especially when my mood is as grey as an Irish Summer, when days blur together & weeks merge to months consumed by work & responsibility. Perhaps we feel life is being survived in black & white, rather than enjoyed in an array of colour.

When the best of our awake time is spent on things outside our control, & we want to travel lightly but we feel the weight of the everyday grind, we just want to step off the wheel.

Our perspective is altered by pressure & our days seem bland.

Beige.Vanilla.Ordinary.

It’s God’s love that brings colour to our lives- indeed God’s presence brings us truly to life! It is He who breathes ‘extra’ into our ordinary.It is our relationship with God through Jesus that makes all the difference.

“It’s in Christ that we find out who we are and what we are living for. Long before we first heard of Christ and got our hopes up, he had his eye on us, had designs on us for glorious living, part of the overall purpose he is working out in everything and everyone.”(Ephesians 1:11-12 MSG)

Jesus said,”I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.”
(John 10:10 NIV)

Jesus said,“I came so they can have real and eternal life, more and better life than they ever dreamed of.”
(John 10:10 MSG)

“Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.”
(John 17:3 NIV)

It is knowing God that makes life less ordinary ..from here to eternity!

It is God who created each of us for a unique purpose in His Grand Design. He placed us where he wanted us to be in time & space:

‘From one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands. God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us. ‘For in him we live and move and have our being.’
(Acts 17:26-28 NIV)

Living a less ordinary life requires us to seek God & reach out to Him though he is not far from any one of us. We need to choose the life He offers:

“Now choose life, so that you and your children may live and that you may love the Lord your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him. For the Lord is your life.”
(Deuteronomy 30:19 NIV)

When we do, He has promised:
“I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with my loving eye on you.”
(Psalm 32:8 NIV)

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.”
(Jeremiah 29:11-13 NIV)

These words are more than nice sentiments to put on a bookmark. They are a truth to hold onto when ‘ordinary’ life feels difficult. It is a promise given  by God to His people at the worst of times.

On the Sunday morning I attended church in Singapore,the Anglican Minister preached from this verse & expanded its meaning in a way I’ve never heard before.

The Hebrew word for ‘plans’ is hama-ma-ha-sabat . It means exquisite design rather than technical plans. The same word is translated ‘ways’ in the following passage:

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord. “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.”
(Isaiah 55:8-9 NIV)

Our life is less ordinary because our lives are the exquisite designs of our Creator God. God’s plans may be different to our ideas:
‘We can make our plans but the Lord determines our steps’
(Proverbs 16:9)

But ultimately His plans will transform our ordinary lives, to bring  Him glory.When we grasp this truth, we can thrive in the mundane, & cope with the challenges of everyday life on planet earth. We can have hope in the dark times.

We can live our ‘ordinary’ lives in an extraordinary way with the help, grace & love of our Awesome God.

As we go through this week, consider:

‘What if you stepped into all that God created you to be?’
(Dr Jennifer Barnett)

‘Quit trying to fit. Why try to squeeze all your extraordinary into ordinary?’
(Ann Voskamp)

‘The Lord is the strength of my life’ (Psalm 27:1)

Blessings,

Ruthx

Brewing some perspective…one coffee shop at a time

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No blogging. No running. No unwinding. No margin. All work & little play is rarely a good combination.

A trip to the North Coast before the end of summer was a welcome pause. Caris & I walked along the path by the Atlantic from Portstewart Promenade to the Strand. It brought back memories of walking the same path with my Granda Murphy many years ago.

We started with a coffee to go from the new hipster Three Kings coffee shop. As a collector of quotes I noticed what was written behind the coffee machine. As the barista crafted my cappuccino, I read:
‘Be awesome you’re a hand of the king’

I’m not sure where the quote came from (even Google couldn’t help!) but I liked the sentiment. Striving to be awesome, being a hand of the king.The King. Doing things wholeheartedly. For the King.

As I walked along the Port Path I thought of William Makepeace Thackeray’s words: ‘Whatever you are, be a good one!’ As we walked passed the convent, I thought about Mother Teresa’s words: “Yours are the hands through which he blesses all the world.”

In subsequent weeks things went from bad to worse. I thought about what can be done when you’re feeling too awful to try to be awesome. When you’ve been under stress, overstretched & are feeling spent.

This month, I sat in another coffee shop with Cecilia mulling over this question. We talked about the need for rest.True rest. We need to find rest in the struggle, peace in the middle of the storm.

We find rest in Someone. We need to draw near, move close to God to find the rest we need.

Jesus said, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.”
(Matthew 11:28 NIV)

‘Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, “He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.”’
(Psalm 91:1-2 NIV)

Even when we are feeling awful,
‘We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair’
(2 Corinthians 4:8 NIV)

‘We’ve been surrounded and battered by troubles, but we’re not demoralized; we’re not sure what to do, but we know that God knows what to do; we’ve been spiritually terrorized, but God hasn’t left our side; we’ve been thrown down, but we haven’t broken.’
(2Cor 4:8-MSG)

Last week, as I left Ards newest coffee shop I caught a glimpse of a familiar face that is dealing with life threatening Illness & little children simultaneously. That’s taking tough to a whole new level. I realise I don’t really have the right to describe this year as hard compared to others.

I thought of the untold stories & invisible burdens carried in the lives of the people who surrounded me sipping coffee. In that coffee shop there were likely to be people dealing with unwanted diagnoses, bereavement, divorce & a multitude of other stresses as we progress along this journey called life.

This journey can take us through painful places. Yesterday I read of the Israelites pilgrimage through Valley of Baca, the vale of tears. There are beautiful words in Psalm 84:

‘Blessed are those whose strength is in you, whose hearts are set on pilgrimage. As they pass through the Valley of Baka, they make it a place of springs; the autumn rains also cover it with pools. They go from strength to strength, till each appears before God in Zion.’
(Psalm 84:5-7 NIV)

I love that image of soft autumn rains- a season of refreshment.

The coffee shop I visited with Cecilia is aptly named Season, because of the well known Bible verse:
‘There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens’
(Ecclesiastes 3:1 NIV)

There is a season for everything.

‘It came to pass’ & my husband’s grandmother added, ‘It didn’t come to stay!’

A Facebook added another dimension- ‘It might pass like a kidney stone but it will pass!’

Whatever tough times, difficult days or dark chapter we’re going through- it will pass

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

Beautiful in time,not necessarily our time-scale.

‘He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end.’
(Ecclesiastes 3:11 NIV)

But if you’re still wading through the messy middle, longing for this season to pass, remember:
‘You know that under pressure, your faith-life is forced into the open and shows its true colors. So don’t try to get out of anything prematurely. Let it do its work so you become mature and well-developed, not deficient in any way.’ (James 1:2 -MSG)

Blessings,

Ruthx

Previously posted @ blessedme.co.uk

In this place

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Some days the first words we read resonate & reverberate within us- marinating throughout the day in our minds like dinner in a slow cooker! The words cause reflection & one thought ignites another.

I read a devotional based on Genesis 39 on the first 5 app. It was entitled ‘God is with you in this place.’

The story told how God was with Joseph in prison (v21)

Of course God is omnipresent-everywhere & all around:
‘We may ignore, but we can nowhere evade, the presence of God. The world is crowded with Him. He walks everywhere incognito.’
(CS Lewis)

And there are times when we are deeply aware of God’s presence. We may have an extra-special sense of God being with us in church or elsewhere during a time of worship.

I remember one Friday afternoon when the band were practicing before Focusfest, beautiful words & music filled the Waterfront auditorium:
‘We bow down & confess
You are Lord in this place’
(Viola Grafstrom)

The awesome sense of God’s presence was palpable. I acknowledged ‘You are Lord in this place’

But sometimes,like Joseph we find ourselves in unexpected & difficult places. Even in those dark,unwanted places, God is there.

Since being reminded of Joseph’s story, I’ve recalled some of the places this journey has taken me to so far:

I’ve felt under stress at work. I felt utterly spent & at the end of myself. I declared to my empty room & computer screen that I just couldn’t do this any more. Not. Even. One. More. Day.

God was with me in this place.

I’ve obeyed & gone where I believed God wanted me to go. But it was more difficult than I imagined & I felt more useless than ever before.

God was with me in this place.

I’ve had sleepless nights caused by uncertain diagnoses & worrying about precious family facing major surgery.

God was with me in this place.

I’ve been confined to the ward with devastating postnatal illness. I’ve faced the aftermath & painstakingly slow road to recovery.

God was with me in this place.

Throughout the pages of the Bible, there are many true stories of God being with His children in unexpected places:

In the flames of a furnace,
God was with Shadrach, Meshach & Abed-nego in this place.

In front of a giant,
God was with David in this place.

In the stomach of a whale,
God was with Jonah in this place.

If you are following Jesus as a child of God, He is with you in this place.

Wherever you are, He’s there too.

In this place of broken dreams & shattered hope.
In this place of grief, hardship, pressure & pain.
In this place of suffering

Wherever you are:
God is there with you & even more astoundingly within you!

This place, this unexpected, dark, difficult ,unwelcome place that you find yourself in, may be a place of blessing in disguise:

‘Cause what if your blessings come through rain drops
What if Your healing comes through tears
What if a thousand sleepless nights are what it takes to know You’re near
What if trials of this life are Your mercies in disguise
(Blessings– Laura Story)

At times we may feel we are free-falling to this place, but we are being held by the everlasting arms of our Heavenly Father. He holds the planets in orbit in this universe & so, we can hold on to Him with trust & hope in this place.

If you find yourself in one of those places today, remember:
‘Circumstances may appear to wreck our lives and God’s plans,
but God is not helpless among the ruins.’
(Eric Liddell)

‘All our difficulties are only platforms for the manifestations of His grace, power & love’
(Hudson Taylor)

Blessings,

Ruthx

Life is beautiful 

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The photo above captures what my husband Rob has {unaffectionately} christened our house tattoo.

He has minimalist ideas & was aghast at this wall art. He doesn’t realize (yet) that it’s removable, so for now, ‘Life is beautiful’ is our home’s tattoo.

‘Life is beautiful’ -not in a Pinterest perfect,whimsical,shabby-chic sort of a way.
But, ‘Life is beautiful’ in a messy,lovely sort of way-a deep beneath the surface beauty, surviving the battering storms, rising from the ashes.

My favourite film ever is Life is Beautiful -or should I say La vita e bella- for the original is in Italian with English subtitles. Roberto Benigni became an Academy Award winner in 1999 for his role as Guido.

Hearing the sunny Italian greetings in the piazza, in the film, instantly transports me to Orta. And reminiscing about idyllic holidays, counting blessings beside the blue blooming hydrangea.

In the film, Guido’s wonderful life takes a grim turn when he & his wife & young son are taken to a concentration camp. Yet, even here, he manages to make life fun for his son.

As time marches on, we have marked over seventy anniversaries of the liberation of Auschwitz. If we held a minute silence for every victim of the Holocaust then we would be silent for eleven and a half years.

While this tragi-comedy makes us laugh-out-loud in places, it in no way diminishes the horror of the Holocaust. By focusing on the devastating effects on one family it makes poignant powerful impact.

The film portrays how Guido chooses to make life beautiful in the darkest of places for his wife Dora & son Giosue

Our life is beautiful-because God is making it so:
‘He has made everything beautiful in its time.’
(Ecclesiastes 3:11 NIV)

Everything- the good, the bad & the ugly can be made beautiful by our Creative, Redeeming God
The verse continues:
‘He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end.’ (Ecclesiastes 3:11 NIV)

In ways we cannot fathom, beyond our understanding God creates beauty for time & eternity-that we might know Him:
‘Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.’ (John 17:3 NIV)

In the pressure & grind of mundane, daily life, I often loose my bearings. I can’t see the beauty. I get easily annoyed by trivial problems, nuisances, & IT hiccoughs.

I can’t see the wood for the trees. I can’t see the blessings though they are all around.

‘Sometimes all we need is a little perspective’ -as Jones in the Noticer says
Somedays, I’d be transformed with even an ounze of perspective!

And God can give us a glimpse of His perspective. He can lead us to higher ground:
The Sovereign LORD is my strength! He makes me as surefooted as a deer, able to tread upon the heights. (Habakkuk 3:19 NLT)

He can help us soar:
But those who trust in the LORD will find new strength. They will soar high on wings like eagles. They will run and not grow weary. They will walk and not faint.
(Isaiah 40:31 NLT)

From these heights:

We can see His purposes, rather than our problems
We can see rainbows rather than thunderstorms
We can see the exquisite tapestry above rather than the tangle of dark threads underneath.
We can trust His promises & trace His grace.

And truly see:
Life is beautiful

Blessings,
Ruth x


Updated from http://www.blessedme.co.uk