I’m a great believer in the power of encouragement. Ever since I was young, I’ve cultivated a habit of encouraging others in their gifts.Complimenting people on great work and speaking truth into their lives.

When I was younger, especially during my teenage years, I wasn’t encouraged so much. The difficulties going on in my family at the time tended to mean I didn’t get much encouragement, and this was compounded by the bullying I received at school. There were a few people who encouraged me, and when they did, I felt invincible. I felt I could do anything.

But those moments were all too few.

So I resolved back then I would encourage people. I decided I would be a force for encouragement in the world. No one I knew would ever have to deal with what I had dealt with.

The funny thing about my teenage years is there was one gift, one talent, which I was encouraged in by everyone. Teachers, parents and even friends.

Can you guess what it was?

Writing.

Now, writing is one of my biggest joys, my greatest gifts and has become a vocation, a calling.

Is it any coincidence the gift most encouraged in me, was the gift which has (more…)

Have you ever thought “If I Tweet/say/share what I really think, I’ll be exposed & everyone will lose respect for me”?

I have.

There can be so much pain buried deep within our souls.

One night recently I was interacting with some friends. And I began to get the impression they all knew something I didn’t. All had access to a resource I didn’t. I’d requested it too, but didn’t have it.

It wasn’t a big deal. Normally, it wouldn’t be a problem. But it snared one of my deepest insecurities.

The fear of being excluded. Left behind.

I’ve never been part of the ‘in’ crowd anywhere. At school this meant being left out, always last to be picked.

And in this moment, it felt like God was leaving me last (more…)

I wrote in my last post about my lessons from 2012 I’ll be taking into 2013, and in the next few weeks I’ll be blogging about some of them in more detail. Beginning today  - with the importance of values over goals.

How often have you read about goal-setting?

It’s a phrase you hear more and more in today’s culture – especially during the New Year period. I’ve recently heard it several times from friends.

I’m sure ‘goal-setting’ works for some people. But for me, all it represents is another opportunity for disappointment. In the past I set goals with the best of intentions, and (more…)

I’ve been writing as long as I remember. It’s a gift handed down from my late Mum, who wrote a lot of poetry in her time – some of which has appeared here. I thought I had a great blog, and was really growing as a writer. I didn’t think I needed too much help.

But then I encountered Jeff Goins. A wonderful man, with great integrity, and someone who works very very hard on his writing. A man of courage and wisdom. Reading his blog on writing opened my eyes to the fact I wasn’t taking my writing seriously enough at all.

I was treating it like a hobby.

I was an amateur.

So I signed up for Jeff’s ‘Tribe Writers’ course. And immediately was whisked out of my comfort zone. Into a land of ‘platforms’ and ‘tribes’. Being challenged to (more…)

Today, I have a gift I want to share with you all.

It’s a resource I think will really challenge, inspire and encourage you whoever you are and whatever you do.

I recently had the privilege of interviewing author Jeff Goins. He’s a blogger, writer and speaker, who just published his first book, “Wrecked: When a Broken World slams into Your Comfortable Life”. It talks about how often it’s when circumstances and decisions wreck us, tear our world apart, when paradoxically, we undergo the biggest transformation.

Jeff is a wise, friendly and generous man and it’s a privilege to know and interview him.

In the interview we discussed the whole concept of being Wrecked and he shared some incredible stories from his own life.

He talked with great wisdom and insight on calling, identity, creativity, life balance and finding your voice. Issues which impact many of us.

The interview is an amazing resource for anyone looking to understand their identity and calling. Or if you’re trying to find balance in life, or a creative seeking to grow in their craft and build a blog platform. Whoever you are, I know it’s something that will both challenge and inspire you. I’m just really excited to be able to share it with you all.

The interview is in the form of two relatively small MP3 downloads for you to listen to.

And I want to give them to you as a gift, for free.Yes. I said free. (more…)

Today I have the privilege of posting a guest post from the wonderful Wendy van Eyck. She is a TV producer and writer from Johannesburg, South Africa. She blogs regularly at ilovedevotionals.com.We began communicating via social media earlier this year, and I now count her as a good friend.

I guest posted on her blog recently, and immediately invited her to return the favour. Here Wendy shares with us about how she discovered God’s road map for her life. 

I was asked recently to write a road map of the moments in my life where anxiety or fear or pain has defined my story.

In place of words I was told to use symbols and pictures.

It was weird to sit down and map my life according to milestones I’d rather forget.

• There were the nights when the pain in my ears had me writhing in pain as a toddler.

• Days when I came out of school unsure of whether my mother would make it through this bout in ICU with a heart disorder.

• Minutes marked only by the ticking of the grandfather clock as I’d creep through the house and stand next to my parents bed to check they were breathing.

• Seconds in crumpling cars as tar and asphalt and metal collided to change the course of my life.

• The moment my parents told me they didn’t approve of me marrying the man I now call my husband because (more…)

Have you ever wanted to be part of a blog? Have you ever read interviews with authors or speakers and wished you could have asked one yourself but never had the chance? Well this could all change right now.

I’m passionate about community and about building this into a great blog community – and as part of that I want you all to be involved, interacting, participating and engaging. You can do this through subscribing and commenting – but here’s another exciting way for you to be involved!

As many of you will know, I guest post for other blogs from time to time. Twice this year I have guest posted for the author Jeff Goins (@JeffGoins). He’s a writer  from the US, who runs a hugely successful blog on writing and the creative process which for I wrote this on engaging our creative side, earlier in the year.

He’s recently published his first book, ‘Wrecked – When a Broken World Slams into your Comfortable Life’ – about how our pain and brokeness can be the catalyst for huge change both in our lives and in the world at large. I wrote an post on my experiences of being Wrecked which was published on the site and you can read here.

I’ve been reading this recently and it is phenomenal. Jeff is an incredible writer and his story is compelling and (more…)

A lot has happened to me in my 35 years. If I were to go into too much depth it would be pages and pages of writing.

A mother who lost her short-term memory when I was 8, bullied at school, my Mum becoming depressed and alcoholic and constantly fighting with my Dad before they eventually they broke up. Losing Mum at the age of 23 and then seeing my Dad suffer with Parkinson’s and a second broken marriage.

It’s been painful. Ironically though it was all of this that pushed me closer to the God I was brought up to know, and who I have given my life to.

My pain has made me who I am. (Tweet that here)

Have you ever found that?

What experiences have shaped you (more…)

I’ve heard many people talk about ‘calling’, ‘mission’ and ‘purpose’. It’s becoming almost part of our DNA as Christians now to have a ‘calling’.

One of the standard questions Christians eventually ask when they get to know one another is what that person feels ‘called’ to do. Come on, we’ve all heard it haven’t we – we’ve probably asked it ourselves, perfectly legitimately.

But calling has been undersold. It’s much more – and different – than we have been led to believe.

Calling is not just supernatural. It’s an evolutionary process, which goes on through our entire lives.(Tweet this here)

Last year (more…)