Hope For Today

Dear Friends, I don't know about you, but I often find that the wounds that hurt the most, last the longest and go the deepest are made by the words spoken to me. I may not have any physical scars but I do bear some invisible scars. Some of these scars have actually been caused unintentionally because of a person's misunderstanding or their insensitivity. They have not been intentional. They have not set out to deliberately upset me. I know that. Yet the pain from these wounds is still real. It still hurts. Sometimes they are caused by those closest to us. Sometimes they are a repeated wound - when the person continues to cause pain with their words. It makes it very hard for these wounds to heal when a person continues to hurt us in a similar way. It's important for me to forgive the person who has hurt me. Perhaps more for my sake than for theirs. Recently, email devotionals and sermons at church have all been about forgiveness. Forgiveness is a great concept and

http://freechristianimages.blogspot.co.uk/ Dear Friends, What do you do when God calls you to something? Do you trust him? Are you obedient? Often when he calls us he does so to take us out of our comfort zone. Often it's beyond our own abilities. He does this to strengthen our faith and dependence on him. But what is our response? This week I was sent an email which was giving me the opportunity to be involved in something short term. To follow through on this I needed to fill out a form online and press 'Send'. Initially I felt a wave of excitement. I'd been praying for God's direction and what he wanted me to do. Was this it? But then the fear set in. I can't put myself forward for this. I'm not equipped for this. I don't have the skills. I can't do it. It's too much for me. Others are better than me. Ever had those thoughts and feelings? Yet, I sensed God wanted me to do this.   I receive a daily email from Bible Study Tools gi

Dear Friends, Many young children enjoy drawing and colouring. As a child I used to enjoy colouring books, but as I grew older these books were laid aside. As I grew up life got busier with schooling, and other things became more important.  As adults, we have many responsibilities which claim our time and attention - taking care of the home, marriage, children, work, church life etc. We are busy all the time. Rushing from one thing to the next, almost without taking a breath. We even try to multi- task in an attempt to fit it all in. Life can get quite stressful as we try to juggle what needs to be done. Not only are we busy in our bodies, our minds are also often just as busy, filled with worries, concerns, anxieties, fears, lists of things we need to do etc. In recent years adult colouring books have become more and more popular. Some claim there are health benefits to them, that colouring helps us to de-stress, relax, unwind, calm our minds and reduce our anxiety. The Bi

Dear Friends, As is my usual practice for a new year, I am investing in January as the month to seek God's direction for my life in 2017. If you have read my previous blogs written at the start of a new year, you will know that I have chosen a verse which is important for me for that particular year. And last year I focused on a word which was relevant for the year ahead.  I've noticed, from reading various American devotionals and blogs, that the idea of choosing one particular word has become more and more popular. (You can find more information from Mike Ashcraft: myoneword.org and Rachel Wojo: scripturedoodle.com). This year, as I've spent time alone with God, I've sensed him leading me towards the word "TRUST" I was reading Genesis 15 one morning and the verse that stood out to me was 15:6 " And Abram believed the  Lord , and the  Lord  counted him as righteous because of his faith." (NLT)  The original Hebrew word for ' believ