blog ~ faith ~ family ~ heartlife
Conviction and condemnation can feel the same if conviction never gets acted on.
Conviction always has a way forwards. Condemnation keeps us weighted and chained.
Conviction is a touch from God, condemnation a hand around the ankle from hell.
Continue reading “Of whispers and ways”
Once upon a time a grown and living-away-from-home son wanted his cat to come for a holiday and on the evening of the cats return, the cat chauffer bundled the Houdini cat in her carrier, in a cordon of towels, in a box so it wouldn’t tip, in the rear of the van with a weight on top (all perfectly breathable of course) – and then couldn’t find her keys. Yes… you know it. The cocoon had to be undone and remade once the keys were extricated.
Continue reading “Cocooned”
Stick with this one… I do have a point… probably several… if you look out for the patterns and pictures that God imprints on everything He does, you’ll make it to my point well before you read your way there.
The church of 2000 years ago was previously not a thing. It had never existed before. Yes Christianity birthed from Judaism but the church wasn’t a reformation of the temple or a revamp of the synagogue system – she was a brand spankin’ new baby, born on an earth shaking weekend about 30AD.
Continue reading “When the old was new”
We have 7 amazing kids. Except I falter at calling them kids anymore since 6 of them are adults between the ages of 19-29 (well almost 29. Make that 28 and 11/12ths).
I LOVE this phase of ‘parenting’ so much. (I used to think the newborn stage was my favourite – but maybe this is. Which’d be awesome since this phase lasts now till I croak it.) Part of why I love this phase so much is because the work is ‘done’ and I get to enjoy them all in a different way to before… alongside them as much as they welcome me – with different senses of freedom for each than when they were smaller.
Continue reading “Teens and transitions #1”
The most terrifying teacher in my school life was a relief teacher in Grade Three. She was the antithesis of the most beloved, gentle, beautiful teacher of my entire school life – the main teacher also of Grade Three, who The Terrifying relieved for when The Beloved went on maternity leave.
Continue reading “Written tone of voice”I have been waiting to post this a long long time. Longer than a year. Longer than a decade. I wrote it nearly a year ago in readiness so there’s a little P.S. at the end. Much has unfolded and the time is right at last. It is for anyone who wasn’t already aware, has felt surprised, or is simply interested in reading some of my own backstory regarding our Cal being at Shalom House. I know that I know that I KNOW other’s hearts are breaking as mine was for so long – I pray with all my heart that you’ll find encouragement and hope in this rather long post – long even by my standards 🙂
Continue reading “My naked heart”
Thirty years (almost) of mothering has produced a set of rhythms… they took a long time to emerge, a bit longer to be noticed and a bit longer still to be anticipated and ‘readied’ for.
The early years of having children is a massive shift on its own – but in the next few years where they head into school life, patterns emerge, are acclimatised to, other new elements are incorporated and so it goes on. If there were no rhythms, we couldn’t add keep adapting.
Continue reading “Rhythms and ripples”
For to which of His children did God ever say:
1 “You’re driving me nuts”
2 “I’m going to leave you behind”
3 “What do you WANT?!?!”
4 “Shut up”
5 “I cannot believe you just did that”
6 “Stop asking so many questions”
7 “What’s wrong with you”
8 “Leave me alone”
9 “I can’t believe I have to _____”
10 “Not again”
Frustrations 1:1-10
I often speak with the kids in our art group about what I call ‘accidental art’ and ‘experimental art’. Both of which can be extremely satisfying, and with a working appreciation for both, resilience can be seen and applied in a myriad of ways.
Continue reading “Random Art Group Post”
It’s only been in the last few weeks that I realised I’ve unconsciously held an negative impression about the yoke that Jesus speaks of in Matthew 11:29. Even though the language around it is beautiful, my working belief has been more in line with the idea of yoking being something more like shackles… representative of slavery… and as such – I have missed something, that now I see it – feels like a very big deal.
Continue reading “Switch of perception”