This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.

I John Chapter5 verse 14.

I watched the Rathlin Ferry come into Ballycastle this morning as I often do when I walk our dog Freya on the beach. For those of you unfamiliar with the geography of the North Antrim Coast, Rathlin Island lies just six miles from Ballycastle and is home to a community of around 140 people. As with most island communities, the ferry is a lifeline especially in bringing supplies from the mainland. If the ferry is cancelled due to bad weather, there can be disruption to island life. It struck me how prayer is like the ferry, because it is our communication with God, and our supply line for the sustenance we need from Him.
Prayer is often thought of as talking to God, but it is so much more. It is also about listening to God and so it is a two way communication, much as the ferry goes to and fro between the island and the mainland. If we stop praying, God still knows what is going on in our lives, but we don’t get His advice and the blessings of His guidance.
Prayer isn’t all about us and our needs and wants. As John tells us in the verse above, effective prayer is always in line with God’s will, so we need to be in touch with Him through reading His word and listening to Him in the two-way
communication of prayer, if we are to understand what His will entails.
Just as the Rathlin Ferry brings life’s necessities to the island, prayer brings us the spiritual sustenance we need for a right relationship with God.

New beginnings

“ Thus far has the Lord helped us.” 1 Samuel Chapter 7 verse 12.

It would seem that today is a very good time for a fresh start with the blog. When I first set up this website, it was just a few weeks into the first lockdown and the site was my lockdown project! I wrote a daily blog with the intention of connecting with people and trying to make positive suggestions for getting through the strange times of March and April 2020. As the year progressed, I found it hard to write a post every day and my musings became intermittent until by the autumn, they petered out altogether!
I’ve set myself a new goal for 2021. (I won’t call it a New Year’s resolution for that’s an invitation to failure!) . I will blog only when I’m guided to, because I offer it to the Lord as the means by which He might encourage or support someone who reads it.
That means that I must wait for the Holy Spirit to lay a subject on my heart and not write just because I feel like it. It may even be that the Holy Spirit prompts me to write when I DON’T feel like doing so!
I do hope some of you who visit my website to browse or shop, will also take a moment or two to read the blog posts and that you’ll let me know what you think by dropping me an email or a text. (Contact details are on the site).
So “Happy New Year” to all of you who ready this. May it be a year when the tears you shed in 2020 water the seeds you plant in 2021. I found that thought on Facebook and it seemed particularly apt for the transition from 2020 into 2021.
And why shouldn’t the Holy Spirit speak to us through Facebook!

Let’s do this well together

“ We can rejoice too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance.” Romans Ch.5 v. 3
This week, our family lost a young wife and mother to cancer. She had fought the battle with this awful disease, for four years, always with courage and hope, because she had so much to live for. She also shared with her husband a deep faith in God and complete trust in Him. Both she and her husband inspired so many people with the strength of their faith which in turn gave them endurance for the years of chemotherapy and the associated tiredness, endless hospital appointments and painful and intrusive procedures. What people will remember about her is her hopefulness and bravery throughout all these trials.
I admit that it annoys me when I hear of people disregarding the guidelines of the current situation. We are not being asked to do anything difficult. We are not required to lie in a hospital bed for weeks on end, separated from our loved ones. So when I read about those who moan about staying at home, I think of this brave young woman who would have loved nothing better than to have been able to stay at home, instead of spending the last ten weeks of her life far away from family and friends.
She leaves a legacy of love and inspiration and will be sorely missed by many, but she is now with Jesus, her Saviour and knowing that comforts and sustains those who loved her most.

Let’s do this well together

“For I know the plans that I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans for welfare and not for calamity, to give you a future and a hope”.

Jeremiah 29:11

Later this week my husband Clive and I should have been heading off to Valencia in Spain to see our son Joel and to watch him perform in the Opera House there.
As the next few months go by, a great many people will be saying, “I should be heading off to ….. today”, yet like us, they will have to console themselves with planning for a different holiday at some point in the future, and even then not knowing if that too will unravel.
I’m learning to appreciate the present time and to hold future plans very lightly. There is a strange kind of freedom in doing this. I have no expectations which can be thwarted or end in disappointment, but that is not to say I don’t have hope. Hope is precious, and indeed so precious that in times like the present, it should be invested in the most important things in life and not the trivia. I hope that I’ll still see the lovely city of Valencia, and hear Joel sing in its Opera House, but I hope even more that I will see all my family again in the flesh, even sooner. I hope that an effective vaccine will be found to protect us all against this virus. As a Christian, my hope is centred on God and His plans for me, plans which will not be thwarted by a pandemic, an economic crisis, an earthquake or any other event.

Let’s do this well together

“ Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable, if anything is excellent or praiseworthy, think about such things. “ Philippians Ch.4 v. 8

Are you more aware of birdsong these days? Not surprising since there is little traffic noise to drown it out. Also, as the air becomes purer because of the lack of petrol fumes and other pollutants, I’ve noticed that on my early morning walks with the dog, there are beautiful scents I’ve never noticed before, although the routes for the walk are no different than those I took before the lockdown. I have a greater appreciation of nature as a result, but it’s all very well for me to enjoy the benefits of this unusual time in human history. I am fit and well enough to get outside for exercise, I have private outdoor space in my garden, I don’t have to worry about income as I’ve been retired for nearly nine years and I’ve adapted to the different pace of life which comes when we give up the routines of working. We ‘baby boomers’ are possibly the group most able to adjust to the present circumstances, providing we have good health. It is the younger age groups who have more difficult adjustments to make, many experiencing enormous upheaval to their everyday lives with all the emotional strain that brings. Spanish children under 14 have just been given permission to have one hour a day for outside exercise after six weeks of very strict lockdown rules. I cannot begin to imagine how to keep lively children occupied every day without access to outdoor space, for such a long time.

I hope that when this time of crisis ends, I won’t take outdoor space for granted, nor birdsong, or fresh clean flower-scented air.

Let’s do this well together

“Therefore encourage one another and build each other up” 1 Thessalonians Ch. 5 v.11

Success! The main task I set for myself during these weeks of lockdown has been accomplished and my website with its on-line shop is up and running. I have learned so much in the process of creating the site and there was a point where I almost threw in the towel! But then came encouragement from a friend and I gave it one more go. That was the point where things started to fall into place. Persistence paid off! Of course, someone with more technical understanding would have done the task in a fraction of the time I took and the whole thing would look more streamlined and I intend to have an expert with web design skills to tidy up my handiwork at some point. But without the encouragement of a friend, I would have given up and if I had given up, I would not have the sense of achievement I am enjoying at this moment.
One thing we can all do for each other in these strange times, is to give words of encouragement.
When we sense that a friend is struggling with a task, with an issue, with the way this lockdown is dragging on, we can offer encouragement and help that person persist a little longer.
Rathlin Island lies just a few miles off Ballycastle and claims to have the famous cave where Robert the Bruce encountered a persistent spider building a web, and although he was on the point of giving up his struggle to lead his people to nationhood, he felt inspired to say “ If at first you don’t succeed, try, try, try again.”
Is there someone you could encourage today? Maybe just hearing your voice on the phone saying “ How are you?” will be all that person needs.

Happy Easter! He is risen

Surely this Easter must be the most like the very first one! Just like the disciples, hiding away frightened and confused behind locked doors, following the crucifixion of Jesus, across the world, people are once again in ‘lockdown’ waiting anxiously for the COVID-19 pandemic to come to an end.
But the story of the Resurrection is one of glory and hope, where death and fear are overcome, and I would like to tell you why I believe that Jesus did indeed rise from the dead.
Consider the disciples. They were ordinary men, frightened for their lives. Peter had even denied in public, three times, that he ever knew Jesus. Would these weak and cowardly men be the same ones who went out in to the world, travelling far and wide to bring the Gospel, and enduring awful deaths, if they had not truly seen the risen Saviour? Unless they had seen Jesus with their own eyes, what had they to gain? They almost all died in horrible ways because of their declaration that Jesus had conquered death. Wouldn’t they just have kept their heads down and their mouths shut? Only if they had truly seen the risen Lord would they have been transformed from cowering fear, to fearless ministry, taking the message of Jesus to the world.
They had nothing to gain and their very lives to lose. Only the risen Jesus could have wrought the transformation in them and he longs to do that for each one of us.
May you know the hope and peace that Jesus brings this Easter.

Let’s do this well together!

"Do not be afraid, stand firm and you will see the deliverance the Lord will bring you today.” Exodus Ch 14 V 13

It’s been a week since I last posted on the blog, and I have to admit, I can give no good reason for my lethargy!

I was heartened today to see that two of my fellow crafters had fallen into the same slump, so I think it must be the next phase of the cocooning process. We started off full of plans and projects but gradually, as we saw that this was going to be marathon and not a sprint, we relaxed into a less energetic pace.

I am learning not to make so many plans or set so many targets for myself, or at least if I still see the goal I want to achieve, to learn that I can be flexible with deadlines for things which are under my control.

The frenetic pace of normal life was hard to leave behind at the beginning of this cocooning and many of us found that setting ourselves tasks and targets was a way of retaining control over the unknown. For myself, I know I am now settling into a new stage of the journey, where there still are plans and projects, but they seem less significant than they did a few weeks ago.

As I realise what a fragile thing a human life is, and that even young and healthy people can be swept away by this virus without the comfort of a last goodbye to family and friends, it seems more important to look at the sky and listen to the birds.

I’ve decided that this new relaxed attitude means I don’t have to feel driven to write a blog post every single day , so I will write one blog post a week, and maybe occasionally two, if inspiration comes and I feel I have something genuinely interesting to impart.

I hope you are all well, physically, mentally and spiritually. We each need to nurture all aspects of ourselves and of those we love and as far as is possible, to find peace, where and when we can.

Let’s do this well together!

“People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” 1 Samuel chapter 16 verse 7

So many journalists and the people they interview on television are now working from home, that we are getting a little glimpse into their private spaces. I wonder if, like me, you find your eye drawn to their surroundings, the pictures on the wall and the books on the shelves. It’s as if we are getting to see a little of their real lives, their taste in decor, their reading choices, their taste in art………or lack of it!

Some are interviewed with a background of impressive bookcases stuffed with erudite titles. That’s a popular choice for politicians, no doubt very aware of the image they want to present to potential voters. The bookcases say ‘serious minded’, ‘well informed’, ‘diligent’. Some people have walls lined with photographs obviously of family, or art work, which gives a warmer and more intimate feeling as if we are really looking into their private lives.

Grant Shapps, Secretary of State for Transport, was interviewed this morning and was sitting at a fairly functional looking desk like the kind you would find in any home study, with a background of moderately untidy shelves with books, papers and general office paraphernalia, which made me think that this was a real working environment and not a set piece to impress the audience. He was neat in a formal suit jacket, shirt and tie, but when pressed by the interviewer about what wasn’t visible below the desk, he confessed he was wearing jeans!

That had me wondering where I would position myself if ever I was interviewed for television at home. What image would I hope to project? If it was to be beside a bookcase, would I rearrange the books to make sure the titles showing gave out a certain image…. weighty tomes with serious titles and classic literature with the odd Mann Booker prizewinner thrown in for good measure? ( I am actually reading the latest Hilary Mantel novel in her trilogy about the life of Thomas Cromwell, ‘The Mirror and the Light “ which has to be a hot tip for this year’s Booker prize, since she has won it twice before with the two earlier volumes.) We too easily make judgements about someone by the objects they have around them, and every one of us can be tempted to present our best selves for public scrutiny, when the reality which is hidden from view can be very different.

Let’s do this well together!

“ I lie down and sleep; I wake again because the Lord sustains me.” Psalm 3 verse 5

This will be a very short post today because due to a technical difficulty, I lost the total content of the original post which I wrote earlier this morning!

I am taking that as a sign that the content wasn’t up to scratch! I suppose I should just acknowledge that we all have days when we are ‘off form’ and rather than press ahead and do a second rate job, we should acknowledge that sometimes a task has to be put aside until it can be done well.

So for today, thanks for looking in on the blog and apologies that there are no profound thoughts or wry observations. Hopefully, normal service will return tomorrow!