NaPoWriMo prompt: The idea is to write a poem in which two things have a fight. Two very unlikely things, if you can manage it. Or perhaps your two things could be linked somehow – like a rock and a hard place – and be utterly sick of being so joined.
This is a word that I and others in my church have received for 2024.
The Lord has said He will ‘restore and more for ‘24’ and I am agreeing with that in faith – for myself, the church and for all of my loved ones.
For you too!
As I thought about this, looking forward, I was minded to also look back – because largely our actions and choices yesterday pave the way for our future.
One universal law is that of sowing and reaping – the seeds I sow today will bear fruit in the future, for good or for bad – each according to their kind, and with increase, of course.
Those who know me, know that I always write a public, monthly gratitude list for all of the acknowledged answered prayer during the previous month. Throughout the year, I have written out each of the specific answered prayers for each month.
But, as I wrote out my final lists of thanksgiving for November and December, I felt compelled to stand back in gratitude and survey the whole of 2023.
When we stand back, we sometimes see a more complete, bigger picture that looked incomplete from close up.
As I look at the year as a whole, I see the hand of God guiding the choices and paths I took during 2023, but also in the lives of those for whom I have been praying.
I really am blown away in gratitude to see how long-standing prayers for issues and situations are finally beginning to show good fruit. I see areas of real transformation becoming apparent over the course of the year.
This gives me great hope and excitement for this coming year too.
I will include here a few of the things that stood out as areas to rejoice over, to give all the glory to God, Who has proven that to honour and to trust Him is true wisdom.
I am so grateful for a year of emotional and spiritual healing, leading to real transformation in my heart, showing itself in good fruit in my life.
I am grateful and amazed at the successful merger of two churches who became one, and from which the Lord has birthed a new church.
I am grateful and fascinated how the Lord has brought me back home to the family home, has removed obstacles and has restored and healed many wounded areas.
I am grateful and excited about the growth in most other relationships and the opening up of opportunities for more transformation, the blessing of others, and for the Lord to be glorified.
I am so grateful to also see real answered prayer and blessings for other loved ones – physical and emotional healing and transformation, new homes, new jobs, breakthroughs, growth, restored hope, and so much more.
I am grateful because I can see the transformation that has happened in so many areas over the course of the year. It increases my faith and strengthens my courage to go forward as a blessing, not an apology.
I am excited!
I receive with faith that this year will see a continuation and escalation of good fruit and transformation in and amongst us, for the glory of God.
If He can do it in my life, don’t give up hope for yourself and those for whom you are praying.
The Lord can breathe life and resurrection into dry bones, if we invite Him.
May your 2024 ‘restore and more’ and may you receive all that your Heavenly Father longs to bless you with.
Baby moorhen totally reliant on its parent for food and everything in this algae covered pond.
Proverbs 3: 5&6
Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; 6 in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.
The proverb – to trust in the Lord and not lean on one’s own understanding – was the verse that came to mind when considering reliance.
Do I rely on God? Can I rely on God?
Yes and yes.
So why do I still worry? I asked myself sadly this morning.
I know that I still struggle to trust people, but there was something else I felt I needed to see.
If I trust God and I pray and put all of my loved ones, all of my concerns, my time, my day, my activities – I give them all to the Lord, but I am still anxious. Why?
I think one of the reasons is that although I have entrusted everything to God, I am still personally expected to turn up, to speak, to plan and to take action. God is not going to wash the dishes for me, or make the phone call, or steam the clothes. I am responsible still for all of my actions.
And therein lies the problem – I realised that I also do not trust myself! So maybe I do lean on my own understanding more than I thought?
I began to pray about this because I could sense a deep presence of foundational lies and judgments and I realised that I judged myself as ‘stupid, clumsy, thick, unreliable…’
and I believed lies like, ‘I always get everything wrong’, ‘It’s my fault when it goes wrong’, ‘What I do is never good enough’.
I was very grateful to see the presence of these deep and powerful lies and to have the opportunity to repent for making these judgments and agreeing with the lies. Then I was able to forgive those who had tempted me to believe these lies.
My understanding was faulty. I was not seeing myself and others as God sees us.
So what is the truth?
And who can I rely on?
It is not true that I am unreliable, clumsy, stupid or that I get everything wrong.
The truth is that:
I can be relied upon to do my best.
The LORD thinks I am good enough to love unconditionally.
I am a beloved daughter of the LORD of all Creation.
I can do all things in Christ.
I can cast all my cares on Him, for He cares for me.
And I can always
‘Trust in the LORD with all MY heart and lean not on MY own understanding; 6 in all MY ways [I will] acknowledge him, and he will make MY paths straight.’
Every Friday, I join an online Christian writing community, Five Minute Friday. We are given a one-word prompt and write – unscripted, unedited, pure free-write – for 5 minutes. The prompt this week is RELY.
I do read through my script afterwards to correct my mistakes; to check scripture references and to find an appropriate image to illustrate the topic.
To read other blogs on this subject and to join this lovely writing community, go to
Before I set the timer on today’s prompt word, I am going to tell you a little something about myself – a sort of confession perhaps, but one which has amused me about my processing.
I am often amused and bemused about the differing and convoluted ways that my mind organises itself!
Today, I did something rather unusual. I decided last night that it would make sense to use the scaffolding to paint the stonework around the upstairs windows, which looked like they had not been painted since the original Victorian windows were installed!
It is a job I had never done before, but I used my brain and some advice from a B&Q shop-assistant and bought some suitable masonry paint, a good brush and some sand-paper…
This morning, in a dull, cold January, I climbed the scaffolding in my extra-layered overalls, and began to scrape away the moss and lichen, sand, wash, and then paint the arches and sills of the three big windows.
Four hours later, frozen to the bone, I cleaned the brush and work-station and came home to warm up.
I decided I then needed to do another rare thing – to immerse my cold aching body in a hot bath. I could probably count only a dozen baths I have taken in ten years, but in case you think my confession is that I don’t wash, let me reassure you that I usually take showers.
(This is due to speed, as I think I my three speed-settings are ‘day-dream’, ‘Dawn-speed’, and ‘hurried’).
As it is Friday, I thought I would first open the laptop to see what today’s FMF prompt word is and then go and cogitate in the bath. I took a candle and a book and began to think…
I didn’t read the book, but I think I could have written several chapters of a book about ‘FAKE’. I began with ‘fake it till you make it’, explored the trust aspect of the shepherd boy David when he faced Goliath and compared him with Gideon. I decided that the key was WHO we trust, but the thoughts span around my mind, coming and going like a rainbow, and, because writing and water do not go well together, I came out again two hours later with even less of an idea than before.
What I did come away with, was the title!
And I think I want to talk about the fake-self and trust.
Every Friday, I join an online Christian writing community, Five Minute Friday. We are given a one-word prompt and write – unscripted, unedited, pure free-write – for 5 minutes. The prompt this week is FAKE.
Go:
What my mind believes and what my heart believes, are not the same thing.
My mind believes the word of God. And I believe in the almighty power of God. As a Christian, I also believe that I am a ‘new creation’; that the ‘old is gone and the new has come’. I believe I am forgiven, healed, cherished and set-apart. I believe I have ‘a purpose and a hope and a future’.
But hidden in my heart is a different identity made of a great many lies. The little me that was wounded believes she is slow, stupid, rubbish. She believes that there is something wrong with her and it is her fault. It must be her fault, because God does not make mistakes. Little me believed the lies that she was told by those on whom she had to depend. She also made up some lies to make sense of the pain she was experiencing.
When I go to church and to work, people want to see me being strong in faith and successful and believing the word of God, which I do; but if inside I am falling apart and feeling devastated, does the Lord want me to present a fake image of myself with a totally-sorted identity?
I don’t think so.
Jesus says that he is the way, the truth and the life. He says that the truth shall set us free. Jesus wants me to be free of the lies that my little heart believed all those years ago.
He wants me to confess and bring those pains and lies to the cross, where His healing is.
He wants to break and reverse those lies, those fake identities one-by-one-by-one until I am free.
He wants me to partner with Him in being honest about my heart and allowing Him to transform the lies into the truth of who He made me to be.
He wants me to be rid of the fake identity in my heart and rid of my fake identity in the market place.
Jesus is on this journey with me – with Him and with some loving Christian friends and sound teaching, Jesus is setting me free to be the person He created me to be. It is not about who I am and what I can do, it is about Him. My belief and faith and trust are in Him, not me.
He has the power to demolish the fake and transform with his glorious truth.
End (Sorry, but even that took 10 minutes and I see lots of red wiggly lines!)
image of heart torn and damaged, but sewn and sticky-plastered in own strength
PLEASE:
If there is a lie that your heart believes about yourself, ask Jesus when and where the first wound was that tempted little you to believe that about yourself. Confess it and share it with a trusted Christian friend or Christian counselor. Come out of agreement with that lie and ask Jesus what the truth is. Repeat his truth over and over. Take captive that old lie every time it speaks out and remind your heart of the truth.
PS: I’m very happy that I painted the stonework. I have learned some new skills. I’m quite sure I would have forever regretted missing the opportunity had I ignored the thought!
‘If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you. But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. Such a person is double-minded and unstable in all they do.’
James 1:2-8
Hands up any of you that have sometimes doubted that you will receive what you are also believing for in faith.
Yes, me too!
Double-minded? Maybe.
Jesus replied, “Truly I tell you, if you have faith and do not doubt, not only can you do what was done to the fig tree, but also you can say to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and it will be done. If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer.”
Matthew 21:18-22
If Jesus is suggesting that we can never doubt, then we are all in trouble!
If faith pleases God, then what do we do with our doubt?
Let’s have a little look at Peter in the boat – or rather out of the boat!
“Lord, if it’s you,” Peter replied, “tell me to come to you on the water.” “Come,” he said. Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, “Lord, save me!” Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. “You of little faith,” he said, “why did you doubt?”
Matthew 14:28-31
Peter spoke out in faith when he saw Jesus on the water;
he got out of the boat onto the water in faith in Jesus’ command to come;
and he actually walked on water!
The other disciples did none of that! Their brains thought ‘He’s a ghost!’ If Jesus or Peter had asked the others to walk on the water, they’d have laughed at the preposterous idea.
And so would I, probably, if I had been using my brain.
Did Jesus tell the others off for doing nothing? Or give up on Peter for doubting? Of course not. Look how powerfully Jesus continued to use all of His disciples during the rest of their lives.
Look how many times Peter messed up and was repeatedly forgiven and reinstated.
And He can continue to use every step of faith that we take.
Every Friday, I join an online Christian writing community, Five Minute Friday. We are given a one-word prompt and write – unscripted, unedited, pure free-write – for 5 minutes. The prompt this week is Doubt.
My five minutes are up, but I want to add a few more thoughts to this.
Like with Thomas and Peter, Jesus does not rebuke our doubts and questions, but patiently teaches us and rewards the faith that we do exercise.
We are asked to believe with our hearts, not our brains. Faith is not a logical, scientific step. It is a heart thing. If God asks you to do it, then He has equipped you and you can command the universe to comply with His request.
Faith is trust in Who God is, not in who I am or what our clever little brains can figure out. He does not even want us to be wise in our own proud eyes.
‘Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight. Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord and shun evil. This will bring health to your body and nourishment to your bones.’
(Proverbs 3:5-8)
Faith is trusting in Him who can.
And God can. I trust this with my heart, not my brain or logic.
But just like the father of the epileptic boy, who in desperation and faith brought his child to be healed by Jesus, to us and to him Jesus replies:
“Everything is possible for one who believes.”
And let us, like the boy’s father, reply to Jesus:
“I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!” Mark 9:21-24
All of us have moments when we feel a surge of great faith and other moments, as we step out in that faith, that we question those actions which may suddenly look rash.
Remember that our faith is in God, not in our own ability. It is often very appropriate to doubt our own capacity!
Confess your heart to God however it is, as David does in the Psalms.
Growth in faith is a process, like with all areas of maturity. God never gives us more than we can handle or expects more than our experience has allowed us to build in trust.
Jesus saved Peter from drowning, He healed the epileptic boy, He returned personally to show Thomas his wounds.
He understands and has mercy on us.
He knows where and how are trust has been wounded in the past and He cares.
Jesus meets our doubt with mercy and understanding and we are reminded in Jude’s letter to do the same to ourselves and to others.
‘Be merciful to those who doubt.’
Jude 22
Peter focuses on the storm and begins to sink (doubts)Doubting Thomas: “Unless I see…”
Don’t allow your questions and doubts to be misconstrued as ‘disbelief’.
To grow in faith we need to take one step at a time, knowing that Jesus loves our steps of faith and meets our questions with tender wisdom and mercy.
Thanksgiving for answered prayer in Dec 22 and for the whole year!
A beloved friend sent this quote in her Christmas greetings to me:
Nicht die Glücklichen sind dankbar. Es sind die Dankbaren die glücklich sind.
Sir Francis Bacon
It is not the happy/blessed who are grateful. It is the grateful who are blessed/happy.
Sir Francis Bacon
This is so very true. May we live our lives in gratitude every day, because His mercies are new every morning, and He loves us with an everlasting love!
Our God desires that we share our lives, our love, our hearts, minds and bodies with Him and that we go to Him in trust with ALL our concerns and desires.
When we do this, He rewards us with great joy.
But you, when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly.
Matthew 6:6
And I shall praise Him openly again today, and give all the glory to Him, who hears our prayers.
Though I am already singing praise and thanks for a blissful day and for prayers answered this week, now it is time for me to also look back on God’s faithful answers to prayer over December.
For December 2022, I thank my Father God for:
The privilege of giving financial Christmas gifts to the charities most on my heart.
For orchestrating my appointment to sort out the few medical issues I needed to understand, and for healing me Yourself, with no disruptions.
That J. was strong enough to make the best of circumstances and to head for new pastures where he was well received and blessed. For the lovely family who welcomed him.
For the blessing of one day-a-week working in a pre-school this half-term – for the lovely team and children.
For the birth of a new healthy grandson.
For the birth of M. & P.’s new baby and the family reconciled.
That the staff meal at Punch-Bowl was a success.
That 4 friends accepted the invite to come to our carol service.
That I was blessed to meet the B. family and S. at the reunion.
That on separate occasions, H. and J. both agreed to engage in prayer ministry with me for the work of healing you were doing in me.
For the miraculous transformation in sowing and reaping immediately visible afterwards!
That S. made good progress to get the room empty and order the insulation boards, which all arrived in good time.
For a great Christmas send-off at Chatterbox.
For the privilege of helping M. and the ability to get it all done in good time.
For the inspiration and strength to persevere, decorate, give, and to go the extra mile.
For Your gift of great JOY!
For a glorious family Christmas – of gatherings of family and friends, sleepovers and fun with the grandchildren and loved ones.
That You provided for me to give appropriate gifts and to provide good food and supplies for all the guests.
For new volunteers at the shop.
That I was able to attend M. and M.’s funerals.
Lord, throughout 2022, every month You amaze me with Your faithful provision and Your faithful answers to prayers.
When I look back over 2022, I see only blessings and favour.
Truly, goodness and mercy will follow Your children all the days of our lives.
No matter what circumstances the world may confront us with, Your children rest in perfect peace!
To all my beloved readers – to you – I pray the blessing of Almighty God over you and your loved ones, over your hopes and your dreams for 2023.
Know that He is Emmanuel for you this year and He is the lover of your soul.
I already feel my spirit rise joyfully as I begin to look back on the prayers answered and blessings received during June.
June has ushered in a series of events that have challenged me greatly.
I thought of the word ‘challenge’ and smiled to see the word ‘change’, with just 3 extra letters in the middle.
The letters l-l-e.
Little Life Events.
(I resist change, though I know it is a gradual constant in all of life and is necessary – and to be welcomed and embraced – for growth.)
But from time to time there are these ‘little life events’ that interrupt our equilibrium and cause us cha-lle-nges.
I have been experiencing a few of these throughout June and they will continue to take some outworking over the Summer at least.
Truly a grateful heart counting blessings is medicine to an anxious mind.
So I think of all that Father God has done in my life already and how much he has blessed me with answered prayer and extra blessings throughout June.
I publicly want to give Him thanks and glory for:
A great ACW weekend of inspiration, support and fellowship.
Full recovery from my accident and picnic on the park to celebrate with the grand-kids.
For the ‘Bow Down’ event in the Nottingham Market Square and glory to You in this city.
For bringing S safely back to Switzerland and for organising the next season of her journey.
For the Queen and her 70 years service to this country and to You.
For Holy Spirit to guide, protect, empower, remind, renew, comfort, convict, refresh, warn, enliven, embolden, encourage… (fill in the rest yourself)
For a new phone on the day it was needed.
For friendships, re-connections, spontaneous fellowship and seeds sown.
For C’s new official role at church and for her energy, vision and heart.
For Your gift of kindness in others and in me, and the power of it.
For a superb, transformational second weekend at the EH course; for breaking the old lies over me, and for enabling me to minister to others.
For blessing me with S and for giving me patience with him.
For sustaining me through the weeks of trial and teaching me to trust only You and not to lean on my own understanding.
For teaching me, loving me, forgiving and healing me, patiently, one day at a time.
For teaching C the importance of budgeting.
For support and advice from generous Christian professionals and for A’s kindness, active listening, practical and holistic wisdom.
For a card from a friend which says that ‘mightier than the waves is His love.’ Amen.
Whenever I have felt overwhelmed and tempted to panic, I have remembered Peter’s words: Lord, to whom shall we go, You have the words of eternal life.’
I have searched my heart and counseled myself, saying, ‘Dawn, if you trust God with your health, your life, your eternal life, your children, your family and your loved ones, can you not trust God with this?’
Today I read a story (in the UCB Word for Today) of a man who sees a boy being beat up by thugs. The man goes in and rescues the boy, takes him to hospital, pays the money and cares for him and, learning that he is an orphan, he adopts him, gives him his own name and welcomes him into his home and family. One night he hears the boy sobbing and goes in to comfort him and ask the matter. The boy tells his new ‘Daddy’ that he is worried about where he will find food, drink and clothes tomorrow and where he will sleep. Understandably his Daddy rightfully troubled that, after all he has done for him, that the boy he loves as his own son still doubts him.
My Father God knows that I am anxious about many things at the moment and he told me this story to let me see how sill my worry is!
I can trust him 200%!!
Thank you that Your faithfulness is my shield, hope and dwelling place.
Trust is almost a dirty word and terrifying, to me, yet simultaneously one of the sweetest and most precious of dreams.
It is currently being held right up there in my face, questioning, showing me how little of it I have, testing me now it is actually needed.
Now I need to walk the talk!
I see that it is the only thing left, if I am to obey the voice of God.
But all of me rebels, kicks and screams and asks for an easier way, a way I can control myself, a path I can see the outcome of and one which looks safe and ordinary…
(Of course my own way, the broad road, is never at all better, or smooth, or safer, or anything else I deceive myself with in my denial and resistance.)
How does one surrender, submit, let-go and let God?
How does one learn to trust? Except by doing it?
My only response, to self, is that if I am to trust that God loves me, as He says; to trust that God has forgiven me my sins, that He hears my prayers, that Jesus has purchased for me eternal life with Him, then I am going to have to prove to myself that I will trust and obey Him with this seemingly crazy, but relatively trivial, step right now.
Stop
I was looking for an image of that trust game we used to do at school where one fell back, hopefully to be caught be the ‘friend’ behind you… So grateful to have a real trustworthy friend in Jesus. Can He trust me?
I often write to process ideas and floating thoughts. This morning I am processing some thoughts on FEAR. I capitalise it, because it manifests itself as a very BIG thing.
I’m not an expert in any of this, though I have known the presence of fear for as long as I’ve known life.
I thought it was an emotion, but I think it is deeper and more fundamental than that.
In my humble view, fear is as solid and universal as an instinct – a defence/ protective warning signal for survival. It triggers the fight, freeze or flee response to danger. It has a very important role and if we consider what it is saying, it can protect us from rash, impulsive and dangerous choices.
But it can also be crippling, like a shackle around one’s ankles. It can render a person mute, ineffective and pathologically disabled or ill in many ways.
FEAR made its presence felt in me again last night. I feared my loved ones becoming very ill. I feared becoming ill myself. My chest went tight and my breathing laboured; I felt light-headed and faint. I was aware of the potential for fear to cause me to feel physiologically ill.
Of course for two years now, we have heard the sirens racing alarmingly through the streets, listened to news reports (which I rarely do), had to wear masks, follow precautions, sanitise, socially distance… Whatever we believe about the pandemic, we have been subjected to death statistics, to prolonged lock-downs and closures and to constant news of hospitalisations, illness and threats. Regular life has been suspended and we have all been distanced and put on high-alert. It is the topic of all news and conversations. The UK no longer discuss the weather, but open conversations with “Have you had your booster yet?” and “Where’s your mask?” whilst applying yet more sanitiser from bottles perched on every surface.
The symptoms for many with covid 19 have been coughing, a tight chest and difficulty breathing, so in a state of fear or panic, one feels these sensations, which can spiral into negative thinking, worst-case scenarios and further panic and psychological and physiological anxiety, stress and panic. When panic begins, it can be very difficult to control, but self-control is possible.
My defence strategy, last night, was to breath deeply, to pause and pray and to encourage myself in the truth of the promises of God:
We are constantly told by God to be strong and courageous; to not be afraid, not be terrified and not to faint…
(It is said that the Bible tells us 366 times to ‘not be afraid’ – one for every day, including the leap-year!)
Why not be afraid?
Because God did not give us a Spirit of fear, but of power, of love and of a sound mind. Because He promises to go with us wherever we are and to never leave us or forsake us…
So how do we do this?
Cast all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you. (1 Peter 5:7)
The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:6-7)
Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid. (John 14:27)
Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. (Matthew 11:28)
Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine.
When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze. (Isaiah 43:1 – 2)
You will not fear the terror of night, nor the arrow that flies by day, nor the pestilence that stalks in the darkness, nor the plague that destroys at midday. A thousand may fall at your side, ten thousand at your right hand, but it will not come near you…
If you say, “The Lord is my refuge,” and you make the Most High your dwelling, no harm will overtake you, no disaster will come near your tent. For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways; they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone. (Psalm 91:5-12)
This morning, I could still feel the memory of the panic, but I was no longer carrying the burden. I had listened to God’s word and presented my concerns to God. I expressed my troubles and gave them all to Him who is able to carry them, and now my heart and mind are both at peace. I can now deal rationally with those things that are my responsibility to attend to.
I shall possibly need to remind myself over and over again. I need a treasury of promises on every surface of my mind, with which to sanitise my mind from the virus of fears all around.
If you become afraid, acknowledge it, see what it is trying to tell you. Listen to the warning, but refuse access to the spirit of fear, for that is not from God.
Lean on the Holy Spirit, breath in deeply and cast all of your concerns, worries, fears, requests on the God who cares for you.
Encourage yourself in the promises God makes to those who put their trust in Him.
May you enter 2022 in the Spirit of Power, of Love and of a sound mind, knowing that God is FOR you, He is with you and He loves you with an everlasting love.
And encourage those around you, helping them to carry their burdens and comforting them with the comfort you have received.
Isn’t gratitude one of the greatest pick-me-ups? How many times has a dose of the doldrums been transformed into bubbling joy and calm, simply by thinking through and naming all the things for which you are grateful? Have you ever done it long enough to come to the end of your list?
But, slow learner that I am, I again made the mistake of thinking I didn’t have anything interesting to blog about last week and was too busy to listen… yet I had a post to be written all along. I had made a commitment (ooh, serious word!) to giving public thanks to God every month, for His faithfulness in hearing and responding to my prayers, with His Father heart of love. I am so excited, on a daily basis, as I acknowledge petitions that are answered, issues resolved, miracles happening… as I witness God happening in my life and in the lives of those around me… but, come the end of the month, I think – “I’ve nothing to write about!”
So here we are on 21st September and I’ve still not given public thanks and praise for all God’s visible goodness and intervention throughout August. But I will do so now, with repentance again for my warped priorities! Meanwhile God is so faithful, that my notebook for September continues to show countless blessings!
august definition: 1. having great importance and especially of the highest social class.
So, August praises to God is a fitting title, in all respects!
I give thanks:
That the chairs went back into rows in church, after 18 months of restrictions,
That C got more than enough distinctions and merits from his access course and a good grade for his GCSE maths, and was offered a place in university.
That my videos, recordings and writings continued successfully and the fourth edit of the book finally complete and is off for feedback.
That August holiday lunch-club was successful and many local families blessed with food.
That S and I had a very productive week of DIY in the house, related well, and managed to visit old friends.
That J and V got the council house they were looking for.
That I was able to receive the medical advice needed and tests all clear.
That You healed my right foot.
That I was able to help S to edit her paper enough to finally submit it.
That I was able to have a weekend away with old friends and all went smoothly and well.
That D and R back together, so child-care issues resolved.
That B’s tests and urgent flight tickets all resolved smoothly.
That I’ve been honoured to host a home-group for the new prayer course.
That S’s travel plans worked well and was released from the quarantine and able to visit all the people planned for.
That D’s cancer has gone and she is well.
That the tribunal hearing has been postponed until a more suitable time and venue.
That I was able to spend more time than usual with my beloved grandchildren this month.
Lord, there were 3 disappointments this month – 2 people for whom I had prayed, but who died. I don’t understand why, but I trust You. I trust You to know the bigger picture and continue to entrust all the bereaved into Your loving arms.
Not all of my prayer is petition and intercession (asking for intervention and favour for self and others) but many areas of growth and life are just too difficult to define in words and to quantify or qualify. Praise and gratitude are a large part of my relationship with my Lord and Creator.
I am most grateful that I can come with confidence into the presence of God and that He not only knows me better than I know myself, but that God loves me despite knowing the areas I hide even from myself. In other words, I am most grateful for the relationship with God and the fact that I really can bring all burdens, concerns, questions, celebrations and everything – even disappointments and laments – to a loving God, who listens, comforts and lights those burdens and pains with a peace beyond expectation and a joy that seems extravagant!
You are so loved! Always pause to give thanks for that!
dawnfanshawe 