grace Archives

No More Lies. Stay Grounded in Reality

‘If you really knew me, would you still love me?’ A grounded reality of knowing God speaks ‘You are loved no matter what’.

For some reason we prefer fabricated realities to the
strong and sensitizing face of what is.
The spiritual life begins with accepting and
living our reality. Richard Rohr

I know someone who lies and embellishes the truth. They want to be known and loved but the facade of lies they have built up around themselves has become their truth.

Sometimes, when they feel safe, they let their guard down and the honesty flows. It’s beautiful to watch.

Faith & Mental Health

“What are you doing here?” The Heart Revealing Question

‘What are you doing here?’ is God’s invitation for us to explore our lives. To discover the reasons for what we do. It’s an empowering question to ask yourself and others. I knew where he would be. In that dark, dingy cave of a place, hunched over a machine and […]

Helping & Supporting Others Mental health

It’s Love That Wins The Blind Prodigal Back

They were so caught up in themselves and their selfish desires that they got lost to the concerns of others. Without recognising the wealth of love around them, they were the prodigal, a child of abundance squandering it away. What drew them back was a memory of love, faint and small, […]

Spiritual Formation

When God has left the building

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When God has left the building, turning up the volume won’t help. At the school where I grow vegetables, it can be very noisy. I have a group of children that love to help and to get my attention they will often speak louder, and wave hands like windmills. It can […]

Faith & Mental Health

The 100% Perfect Gift for an Approval Junkie

She was so hungry for approval that some people called her a Klingon. She would cling on to your every word and do just about anything for you. She wanted to know that she had worth, value and that she was good. Then there was this guy who read the […]

Mental Illnesses

When Anxiety is a Speedy Stream – Lisa DeLay

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If I were to describe my anxiety, as a doctor might, it might go something like this: “An overactive nervous condition when the brain predicts and over predicts and attempts to problem- solve with or without the victim’s consent and many times without concern of her best interests.” Lisa Delay Anxiety–it can race […]

Cleanliness-Godliness-body-hygiene-mental-health-body

Faith & Mental Health

True or False? Cleanliness is next to Godliness

While many believe ‘cleanliness is next to godliness’ is in the Bible, true biblical self-care is actually about treating your body as an act of worship. In Jesus’ words, they were like ‘manicured grave plots, grass clipped and the flowers bright, but six feet down it’s all rotting bones and […]

Helping & Supporting Others

‘I’m Such A Failure’ and Here is What I Want You to Know

‘I’m such a failure’ If you’ve never quietly said it about yourself, then you will most likely have heard it from someone else. This post is to help you help others you have problems with a failure mindset. For myself, I can so easily personalise my failures into ‘I’m a failure’.

Mental health

MEDICATION, GOD AND CHRISTIANS. WHAT IS HELPFUL? PART 2

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It is one of those memories that is special to me. I was very unwell as a child with eczema and asthma. My parents asked if our pastor and a few others could come and pray for me. They were following the advice we find in James 5:14. We had communion […]

Mental health Poetry

Rebuilding – Poem by Joy Lenton

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Rebuilding Walls have weakened, crumbling, sinking low to ground, sagged like our spirits as they view the sorry edifice before us Bare bones of former beauty now stained with such decay And there is no Nehemiah, or any other builder to be found who can shore up this shell restore […]