There was nothing wrong with his hearing; that was for sure! He heard the farrier's hammer hit the anvil as he shaped the horseshoe. He heard the market sellers call out their deals of the day. He heard exhausted mothers reprimand their boisterous children, He heard the unpleasant sound of desperate rats scratching the dry, dusty ground, hoping for crumbs or scraps of food that people may drop. He was glad of his other senses t The smell of the fresh bread on the barrow that

I found myself in the back of an ambulance for the second time in the month. The pain was excruciating. As soon as they pushed liquid pain relief through my cannula, it started to ease. The paramedic knew what I needed to make me comfortable. He administered the drugs and sat with me till it started to take effect, then sat quietly. Presence matters. I was wheeled into a part of the A&E that I hadn’t been to before. I lay there so drugged but so aware of so many people millin

The farmer gets up out of bed. He's weary. As he splashes cold water over his face, he thinks to himself, " Who would want to be a farmer nowadays"? He struggles into his overalls; they are stiff with hardened mud. He leaves his wife sleeping, as it's 5.00 am. The weary farmer walks down the stairs and starts the fire to heat the pan of water for a cup of tea. He knows that later, when his morning chores are done, he will come home to a steaming bowl of porridge with fresh ho

On an exceedingly hot summer's day, the United Kingdom was experiencing its third heatwave of the year. We had witnessed record-breaking temperatures of 37°. It also happened to be Wimbledon tennis fortnight and the World Cup. The England men’s football team had only days earlier managed to secure a place in the quarter-finals. I wasn’t interested in either. The country was basking in its glory and in high temperatures. I was currently in the process of receiving chemoth

Dear child, When people speak against you. When they slander your character. Do not retaliate. Love them anyway. This is what it means to love your enemies. The person who is unkind to you, is letting the enemy infiltrate their life. They are not living in step with me. So don’t react to the person. Instead, pray for them. Ask me to work on their heart and character. When you pray for someone who is unkind to you. Your heart softens towards them. You will start to see the per

I sat, waiting with an expectant heart, wondering what kind of tray Jesus would present to me. He came quietly into my space and stretched out his arms. In his hands was a marble tray. He set it on a little table in front of me. I tried hard to hide my disappointment. I thought my tray would be a handcrafted wooden one. Why marble, I thought? As I looked down at the white marble, I noticed streaks of gold running through it. The marble was cold to the touch. I chuckled, think

Benjamin bounced up and down in the back of the car. He and his granny were waiting outside his big brother’s school for him to come out. He talked nonstop. Granny this, granny that. On and on he went. Then he stood very still. “Granny?” he said. Granny knew it was important because he stopped jumping. “Why is the sky blue? He queried. “Because it is,” Granny replied, not really sure what this was leading to. She knew him well enough to know this was leading somewhere. “But g

Your voice was created to carry the language of heaven; the resonance of heaven is love. When we speak from the Spirit of Christ, we release shalom—the authority that breaks chaos and restores divine order. This is a call to come out of religion, striving and performance, and return to the rest, freedom and love of Eden so that together we can truly say: "The Spirit and the Bride say, Come."

Sarah is a dedicated woman of faith who frequently wrestles with material possessions. She believed that such belongings were essential for her acceptance in various social circles. Constantly fluctuating between secular beliefs and Christian values, she sought to blend the benefits of both worlds. Yet, she began to sense a profound internal shift brewing beneath the surface. With time, her indecisiveness became more unsettling. One day, while Sarah was in her room contemplat

Before I had even entered the house, I felt something was not right. A feeling of dread filled my whole being. The hair stood up on the back of my neck. Yet, I still turned the key and walked through my front door. I saw him, before he saw me; he was wearing a black hoodie. His hood covered all of his face. He was sitting cross-legged on my lounge floor. I froze, dropped everything I was carrying. They say your fight-or-flight response will kick in. Mine did not. I stood as i

I’m not sure how she got in. I think it was through an open window, but she sneaked in and made herself at home. Self-loathing was her name. She was a large presence; she filled up most of any space. She would show me all my flaws. Telling me I needed to be thinner, younger, fitter. I could never please her. Soon, her close relative, ‘comparison’, barged her way in. At least she sat quietly in a corner most days, but when I let her speak, she had an incredibly loud voice. Com

Our house feels like living inside a musical. Not necessarily in the song quality, but definitely in quantity. It’s hard to say "Hello," "You're welcome," or "We're halfway there" without someone breaking into song. And it’s not just music. Our days are packed with lines from films, adverts, and TV shows. “Coffee, coffee, boy, do I need coffee!” “Bacon is good for me!” I’m not sure it’s entirely normal (which is why I try to restrain myself in public), but it’s definitely n

And so it's done. My beautiful, funny, loving, caring, thoughtful and wonderful Mum has gone to be with her Jesus. The funeral services were held five days after she died - a minor miracle in itself - and what a wonderful send-off it was. A private family service in the morning, the most precious time imaginable – no formality at all, just a time of sharing precious thoughts, poems, prayers and songs, with pastor Steve from Mum's church, CCK, who has pastored us through th

There are so many beautiful miracles recorded in the Bible. Jesus turned water into wine. Jesus healed the blind, the deaf and the lame. A woman who had been to so many Doctors because of her bleeding just touched the hem of Jesus’s cloak and was healed. Jesus healed a boy when he was in another town. He didn't even need to be in proximity to him. Jesus told the woman at the well about her past, not to shame or condemn her, but to show her the way to live a full, free life, w

We all live our lives by a certain set of values, things that are central to our lives, to what we believe and what we shape our lives around. Sometimes we don't even consciously realise that certain things are "core values", but we live by them nevertheless. Goals are about what you do, whereas core values are about who you are. When our son returned from his first year at Bethel in America, he shared with us about how he ha d formed his own personal "core values", and I ca

One of the first things that Father told me after we found out about my loved one’s terminal cancer diagnosis was this: it’s not about the destination; it’s about the journey. He told me that the journey we would go on as a family would be something that would draw us even closer together, and that it would be a precious thing, something that we would remember and cherish with a heart full of thankfulness and wonder, not a bitter memory that we would try to forget. Society

I love walking in the dales and looking across the amazing patchwork quilt-like fields. Each field has a beautifully crafted dry stone wall as its border. Dry stone walls intrigue me. They have no cement to hold it together. Yet, a well-made wall can last up to 100 to 150 years. The builder starts with a good foundation, then chooses flat, wide stones and small stones to fill up the gaps. I found out that this technique is called hearting. I started thinking about walls in ge

Over the years, I have heard many stories about people who weren't able to be at their loved one's bedside when they died, and who battled with grief and sometimes even guilt, because they didn't get to say goodbye to them. I thought about this a lot, and it really bothered me. The bottom line is that I can't guarantee I will be there when my loved one dies, because in the majority of cases, we can't pinpoint the time when they go to join their Father in heaven. Not being t

I arrived at the station in plenty of time for a hot drink and to use the facilities. As I exited the car, I got an alert on my phone. Your train has been cancelled. I needed to be at my destination at a certain time as I was supporting my friend at an appointment. I looked at the screen with the vast arrays of times and destinations and was baffled. Anyone who truly knows me knows that my sense of direction is appalling, so I didn’t want to choose a train that was going in t

II - Roses and Wrinkles I am realising that death, or at least anticipated death, is changing my perspective on almost everything. For example, I was given some beautiful roses for my birthday. They are so lovely that I automatically leant forward to smell them, but found they had no fragrance at all. They looked like they should have had the most beautiful sweet aroma, but there was nothing …they smelt of nothing. Not bad, not sweet, just nothing. I'm told they are grown