If you are in danger right now, call 111. In New Zealand you can free call or text 1737 any time to talk with a trained counsellor, call Lifeline on 0800 543 354, or the Suicide Crisis Helpline on 0508 828 865 (0508 TAUTOKO). Outside New Zealand, visit Find a […]
hope
78 posts
You just keep going back to something that actually repulses you. It maybe sniffing the vomit or wallowing in the mud, but you keep returning to foolishness. Perhaps it’s a change of heart that’s needed. They kept on repeatedly going back to experience the same abuse. They could see that […]
Quick answer: When David’s town was burned and his family taken in 1 Samuel 30, he “strengthened himself in the Lord his God” rather than collapsing under his men’s anger. He did this by drawing on a daily prayer life built long before the crisis, and by recalling specific times […]
When you don’t want to wake up the next morning, pray that God may gently wake you up to the goodness happening all around you. Then soak yourself in it. Take it in and let it mindfully grow throughout your soul. Last week, I was out doing some garden work […]
When we pray for the healing of mental illness for ourselves or someone else, there is a divine invitation to join with God in an unfolding story. We pray for something wonderfully life-transforming. That is, of course, if you dare to pray that little bit deeper. You listen to someone […]
There is a party going on, all around us, where God is inviting us to stumble on in and enjoy. When we are attentive to the music, it grows depth in our mental health. So I am just back from a holiday in Italy and Spain for a holiday. My […]
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, […]
‘Am I doing ok?’ was the question I was most frequently asked when I was a pastor/chaplain. ‘Is this Church safe?’ was another. Keeping pace were other limping souls … ‘Am I welcome here?’ ‘Does God really love me?’ ‘I can’t seem to get it right.’ ‘… keeps telling me […]
Just outside my window, I can see a beautiful yellow rose. It wasn’t there last week, well actually it was, but it was just tightly bound up under its green calyx. A lot can happen in a week, in a day, in a moment. I can see the beauty but to deeply […]
Around the hillside of the sheep farm where I was raised were grooves worn into the soil by hundreds of sheep following each other. It was the easiest route. I also have routes in my thinking patterns that have become ruts. Familiar paths that have been worn deep into my […]