Does it seem like you are always and forever waiting for that moment when you will feel ready? Ready to find your unique beauty and be true to who you are? Ready to free your voice and sing your life song? Ready to communicate your needs and express yourself? Ready to embrace a life filled with the people and places and things that bring you joy? Ready to start that project you’ve been putting off? Ready to create new healthy habits? Ready to overcome those limiting beliefs that have held you hostage? Ready to dare to hope and dream again? What if I told you feeling perfectly ready is a myth? What if I told you the moment is now? This is your time to flourish and shine!

I have been thinking about social media. The good. The bad. The ugly. I am thankful for the opportunities social media brings into my world. To be encouraged. To encourage others. To share our stories and how God shows up for us in His goodness and His faithfulness. To connect with amazing people from all over the world. Amazing people like Tam who sent me this amazing package from across the globe! A package that arrived the night before we went into lockdown and launched into remote learning. A package that reminds me of significant encounters I have had with God over the years! I have much to be grateful for on social media. But there is a flip side. A dark side that if left unchecked can have devastating consequences. We need to be wise and diligent. Where is your scrolling leading you?

This is my story of hope. Through the disappointment and pain and the joys of life God is with me.. holding my hand and cheering me on. God has a great hope and future for my life and yours. He hears us when we cry out to Him. He is concerned about what concerns us. Talk to Him today. He loves you and He cares about what is happening to you. He is listening and ready to answer your prayer.

As God highlighted how He had been there for me and comforted me as I walked through pain and loss, I thought about how God is the God of the beautiful exchange! He can take what was meant for my harm and turn it to my good! He can restore us to a place that is better than it ever was before! What does God have for you today? What path of pain does God want you to walk out of in this moment in time? Remember, God can take your path of pain and turn it into purpose and passion and joy!

In my not knowing, I have decided to be brave.

At the risk of being wrong, I have decided to use my voice… and say… something.

At the risk of being criticised, I have decided to show up… and say, “I see you”.

Black Lives Matter.

God has great desires for you and He will give you the wings you need to fly into all that He has for you. He will provide the experience and development you need to mature into all that He is asking of you. Partner with Him and take the leap of faith to step into this new day dawning. Be the person who speaks God’s words over your life and over the lives of the people that He brings to you.

God has good things for us. His boundary lines fall in pleasant places.

Lately I’ve been thinking about the parable of The Lost Sheep. Lately I’ve been praying a lot for the lost. In my city. My nation. And beyond. For those who are God’s beloved children, but have not yet found their way back home to a relationship with their Father. The Father, who is like the shepherd looking for His lost lambs. The loving Father who celebrates their return home, into His arms, with exuberant joy and cheerful delight. Today I decree THE. LOST. ARE. FOUND.

What story is your laughter telling you today? My laughter tells me winter is past and the time of singing has come. I can see the trees in blossom, and the fruit is budding. I can hear the birds singing. I can feel the ground sprouting with new life. I can see that I am not the only one walking out of winter into spring and onto summer. I can hear the season of harvest that is now upon us… I hear our Bridegroom calling. How will we respond?

You might know that my laptop went missing recently. I recalled times I have lost items before. I came to God and thanked Him for the outcome… whatever that might be. I felt completely peaceful. I actually felt excited to have this opportunity to trust God. Immediately following this exchange, I checked my phone and I had a message. My laptop was found and I overflowed with thankfulness!

Let’s give thanks to God for His faithfulness and His peace and His joy. Declare His promises into your world!

Why are you cast down, O my soul?
And why are you disquieted within me?
Hope in God;
For I shall yet praise Him,
The help of my countenance and my God.

This is the story of the encounter my son and I had with “I am the Lord who heals you”

We thank God for His love and His healing and His victory.

We open our hearts to you. We share our story with you.

The door of encounter is open. Will you come with us?

The Lion of Judah is roaring. The song of love and healing and victory that He sang over my son is now here in this space ready to be sung over you… raw and unadulterated… God is excitedly waiting for us to step into His songs of promise…

As I walk past shop after shop, I ask God, “What are You doing here in this space?” Unexpectedly, I feel an excitement rising up within me. I hear God whispering quietly into my heart, “Into what looks like death, I will breathe my life”. I realise as I walk through this space that there is music playing and the lyric I hear in that moment is “dry bones coming to life”. I invite you to join with me in praying into the empty spaces in your world. Listen to the sweet breath of life that God is breathing into your circumstances. Taste and see that He is good and watch as these dry bones yet live!

I saw before me footprint after footprint, until there was a series of footprints extending out in front of me. I could not see where they were going, and the pathway was not complete, I just knew that I was to follow one step at a time and that as I took each step another would be revealed before me. I knew God was presenting me with an invitation to live out Psalm 37:23-24:

“The steps of a [good and righteous] man are directed and established by the Lord,
And He delights in his way [and blesses his path].”

You know that saying, “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times?” That’s what comes to mind when I think about the path I have been walking in this past season of life. I think these words of Charles Dickens sum it up well.

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times,

it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness,

it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity,

it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness,

it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair…”