Posts Tagged ‘Prayer’
Fear Can’t Dictate – Love Always Wins
I didn’t blog last week. In light of recent events in the world, I felt it was right to be silent, out of respect of the days of mourning set aside for the victims of the violence – in France, and in Lebanon too.
I felt a particularly strong sense of despair at these attacks. For a number of reasons – the more vulnerable place I’m at in my journey, having a good friend who lives in Paris. Like many of us, I needed time to process it all.
As I reflected, two words keep coming up for me in light of those attacks.
Fear. Love.
And right now, fear seems to be winning.
But I choose to say something different today. I say that love wins. And ultimately, it always will.
Read MoreA Day Which Proved Love Wins
Friday 26th June 2015. A day which will go down in history. A day which will become many LGBT couple’s wedding anniversary.
This was the day the US Supreme Court ruled that same sex marriage was a legal right across the US.
I can’t tell you the joy I felt, as a straight ally, as this news sunk in. The freedom this gave to so many. A right which had been denied for so long, finally made legal.
In some ways it’s tragic that we should celebrate this day with such enthusiasm – because this should never have been an issue up for discussion. Each of us should always have been free to make that covenant relationship of marriage with another. To commit to be faithful to someone before God for the rest of their lives.
But the reason this gave me so much hope, was simply because it proved again to me one simple thing.
Love wins.
Love always wins.
It sometimes takes patience. It sometimes takes sacrifice. It might meet resistance. It may have to battle it’s way through lots of boundaries.
But, in the end, love wins.
Read MoreWhy Authenticity Can Require Sacrifice
One thing which keeps me blogging is the opportunity to interact and build relationship with you, my readers. As regular readers will know, one thing I am passionate about is authenticity. For us all to be true to who we really are, to discover our true identity & calling.
Maybe it’s because of my own past – a victim of bullying, feeling an outsider, growing up in a broken home & losing my Mum relatively young, and being shy & introverted – but I’ve always felt a passion, a desire to speak out for minority groups. For those oppressed, rejected, outside, misunderstood, either by church or culture, or both.
For me to be true to who I am, to practice what I preach and be authentic in my writing, at least some of my writing is going to involve speak out for some of these groups. This is what’s led me to speak up & blog about gender equality in church. And it’s what’s now leading me to speak up on one of the most contentious issues in the Christian church today.
A topic which is divisive, and which makes this one of the bravest blog posts/series I’ve ever written.
Because the group I’m speaking out for is the LGBT community.
Read MoreWhy To Begin 2015 With Grace – Not Plans or Goals
I’ve lost count of the posts I’ve seen in the last week about ‘making the most of 2015’, or ‘reviews of the year’ or ‘setting goals for the next year’ or a topic related to it.
There’s nothing wrong at all with these.They can be useful – and many of them have challenged and inspired me. It’s good to make plans and set goals with a new year coming.
But to me there’s something else we need to do first.
My biggest challenge to you all for this coming year, is before you execute any plans, goals or anything else,
to begin with grace.
To realise your true identity, your true self, as you are right now, with all it’s complications, mess, and difficulties
is enough. Already.
It’s healthy and important to make plans and set goals for our year – I’ve been doing some of my own – but remember whatever the outcome of your plans, whether you achieve your goals or not
you’re already enough.
Read MoreThe Oxygen Of Solidarity
I hadn’t planned on posting something by myself today. I did have another guest post lined up – which you’ll now see next Monday. You see, this morning something happened which changed my plans. An experience, a story, I knew I had to share with you today.
As I write, it’s 7.26am on a cold Monday morning, three days before Christmas. I can hear the rustling of the wind outside, the quiet hollows of a force so much more powerful. But this force of nature feels as nothing right now, against the power of the many noiseless but resounding voices of support I’m feeling through social media.
The oxygen of solidarity. Shining a glimmer of hope.
And I understand in an instant the power of two of the most powerful words in the universe:
“Me Too.”
Read MoreBorn To Live (Guest Post by Brooke Lynn)
For the rest of this month I’m going to be running a few guest posts, whilst I work some other projects (more on those soon). This will include a new blog series, which begins Wednesday.
Today however I’m honoured to host the awesome Brooke Lynn, with a powerful guest post I know you’re going to love. So, it’s over to Brooke…
Have you ever wondered who you really are, or what your purpose is in life?
I asked myself these questions for many years, comparing myself to people and measuring my worth against them. I chased after identity, success, love, value and good looks. I assumed beauty was in the outward appearance and I became obsessed with my body trying to achieve the air-brushed model look in magazines.
This only led me onto a road of self-destruction with eating disorders and disappointment while striving to meet unreachable expectations.
As a child, we have a tendency to believe what we are told. This is when I began to believe the words spoken deep into my soul; I was worthless, ugly, fat, unwanted, and never good enough.
Read MoreYou Already Change The World – So Change It Well (Five Minute Friday)
(Picture: Richard Freeman via Creative Commons) Today I’m participating in Lisa-Jo Baker’s “Five-Minute Friday”. If you’re unfamiliar with the concept, it’s simple: Write for 5 minutes, straight from the heart, on a given subject – and then share it. No edits, no marinading or reflecting – just write and share. Today’s word is ‘encouragement’. And as…
Read MoreWhy we should look Outward to the Centre of the Universe
(Picture: Emily Moe @ Creative Commons) Recently I was doing photocopying at work, and it was taking an absolute age. There were staples to take out, and I couldn’t simply feed it all through. And I was grumpy. Very grumpy. I felt such frustration welling up, because deep down I felt I was capable of…
Read MoreWhy Real Hope is Dangerous
(Picture: Rupert Ganzer for Creative Commons) Hope is a word which gets lot of leverage. I even wrote about it myself last week. It’s more than a word. It’s more than a feeling. It’s deep in our soul. Under the surface, most of us yearn for something better. We all long for a better tomorrow. Why?…
Read MoreWhy Hope Never Dies
(Picture: Paulo Gamba through Creative Commons) Ever watched a sports game and your team seems to have everything go against it? Like there are some outside forces, beyond our control, deciding the destiny of our team? Or you see a film, or read a book, and you just ‘know’ what is going to happen? Like…
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