blog ~ faith ~ family ~ heartlife
I asked one of the Shalom fellas to pray for me after church one Saturday night and he asked what it was that I wanted prayer for. I told him, and he nodded once, long and slow and quietly said “ok but I should tell you, I’m going to pray as the Holy Spirit shows me because what we think we need is often not what He wants to give.” – and then he began to pray.
Continue reading “Shifting the furniture”
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”
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
And Jesus said* unto me
“Heather-Love, it’s time to get out of the boat”
But Heather said unto Thee
Continue reading “A Boat by Other Name”
The roots of a tree by a stream have a constant life source. The roots of a well-established tree will go deeper in search of the source in times of drought. And deep roots will hold a tree when storms rage.
Continue reading “Firmly planted”
Have you ever tried to bring a toddler out of a tantrum or heavy duty sulk? A tantrum is usually pretty noisy and the sulk follows on – but some personalities head straight for the sulk. The further ‘in’ they are, the more futile an exercise it is to talk them out. They’re too invested and the coaxing ends pretty badly. Either in a frustrated parent or a win for the sulk – both of which can compound over time if it’s a pattern.
Continue reading “The Long Sulk”
One facet of Communion is the forgivEE remembering with gratitude what it cost The ForgivER to make communion possible. The Communion table – the bread and the wine – give structure and form – a way of keeping that gratitude and remembrance before our faces.
Continue reading “In Communion?”
I thank you God for morning
For the freshness that comes
With the dew and the dawn
A new day
With a little distance from yesterday’s hurts
Received and inflicted
Known and unknown
It is a strange, stark, scary, wonderful, desperately sad, terrifyingly eye opening, amazing thing when finally seeing you’ve held inconsistent or opposing ideas that simply cannot coexist and therefore undermine and undercut each other.
Strange because it has not been seen before. The thoughts in opposition have lain deep below conscious thought.
Everything we believe can have all these questions as layered factors within our systems.
The first thing we hear cuts the deepest track. Like a dribble of hot water on the surface of a jelly. All other returns to the channel that is pre-cut. Which is fine if the pre-cut channel is right, and not so fine if it is faulty.
Continue reading “That thing you believe”