Category: Faith

From the Blog

anxiety

The Big A: Meeting Anxiety

The first time I experienced acute anxiety I was twenty years old and sitting on the couch watching television. The storm of anxiety snuck up on me, and I was suddenly in its eyeball, my body lifted up from the cushions and whirled frantically around like a rag doll in a cyclone. There were people just next door in the kitchen, but I was all alone. I was helpless (or so I was convinced) before a force of such intense physical power I felt like the only way to escape would be to run with all my might.

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Faith

Notes from a January Summer Down-Under

This post is a little different to normal as today I’m joining in with Emily Freeman and her Let’s share what we learned in January spot. Read below for some things I have learnt this Summer Down-Under…

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Faith

When surprises aren’t good

I used to think I liked surprises until one day I was out at night and there was a phone call. And in an instant everything changed. What I knew to be true before was true no more. It took maybe ten years for my mind and heart to catch up. For a while, phonecalls at unexpected times –like late at night –sent me spinning. If we’re honest, sometimes they still do.

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Faith

The Glory in Inefficiency: A New Year post for Parents and Perfectionists

Like any good (recovering) perfectionist I began 2016 all thirty-six hours ago with plans and intentions. The official, grown-up name: resolutions. Precariously perched on the freshly painted, unsullied doorstep of a new year, I looked back over my shoulder nostalgically at all that had now passed, the beautiful and the baffling, the tried and the trying, the welcome and the woeful of 2015, and I thought to myself — how can I make 2016  better?

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Faith

Part of the Picture

‘I want to be that girl’, she said, ‘that girl in the picture.’ It was a rare moment of peace in a busy month. Isn’t that the irony? December, the advent season, the traditional holiday period, a temporary cessation of work, celebration of the incarnation, is filled to the brim with obligation. Not that it’s all bad. Most of what goes on is very very good. Perhaps it’s the internal pressure that really bites, the pressure we put upon ourselves. The endless to-do lists we compose in the middle of sleepless nights.

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campus living

Time to ‘Fly’: A November message to those about to move on….

This morning the kids found a baby bird hiding under one of the outdoor chairs in the garden. Though wild, it acted tame, even allowing the kids to pat and stroke its little back, all the time keeping its soft wings held close to its side. ‘Lets call it princess,’ suggested W (princesses being the in thing in the garden lately). Thankfully, they decided on Benny. It soon became apparent why little Benny bird was so quietly and complacently settled under the seat.

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Faith

These are days you’ll remember…

Memories are never just free-floating. They have backdrops. They happen in place and time. Memories of people take place in the context of other people. Some memories stand out more than others, are more defining than others. Because they helped define you. And there are some memories you don’t ever want to stop remembering. It’s these memories you want to take with you into the future. To pass on to future generations. Because there’s just so much goodness there to be had.

Read More
anxiety

The Big A: Meeting Anxiety

The first time I experienced acute anxiety I was twenty years old and sitting on the couch watching television. The storm of anxiety snuck up on me, and I was suddenly in its eyeball, my body lifted up from the cushions and whirled frantically around like a rag doll in a cyclone. There were people just next door in the kitchen, but I was all alone. I was helpless (or so I was convinced) before a force of such intense physical power I felt like the only way to escape would be to run with all my might.

Read More
Faith

Notes from a January Summer Down-Under

This post is a little different to normal as today I’m joining in with Emily Freeman and her Let’s share what we learned in January spot. Read below for some things I have learnt this Summer Down-Under…

Read More
Faith

When surprises aren’t good

I used to think I liked surprises until one day I was out at night and there was a phone call. And in an instant everything changed. What I knew to be true before was true no more. It took maybe ten years for my mind and heart to catch up. For a while, phonecalls at unexpected times –like late at night –sent me spinning. If we’re honest, sometimes they still do.

Read More
Faith

The Glory in Inefficiency: A New Year post for Parents and Perfectionists

Like any good (recovering) perfectionist I began 2016 all thirty-six hours ago with plans and intentions. The official, grown-up name: resolutions. Precariously perched on the freshly painted, unsullied doorstep of a new year, I looked back over my shoulder nostalgically at all that had now passed, the beautiful and the baffling, the tried and the trying, the welcome and the woeful of 2015, and I thought to myself — how can I make 2016  better?

Read More
Faith

Part of the Picture

‘I want to be that girl’, she said, ‘that girl in the picture.’ It was a rare moment of peace in a busy month. Isn’t that the irony? December, the advent season, the traditional holiday period, a temporary cessation of work, celebration of the incarnation, is filled to the brim with obligation. Not that it’s all bad. Most of what goes on is very very good. Perhaps it’s the internal pressure that really bites, the pressure we put upon ourselves. The endless to-do lists we compose in the middle of sleepless nights.

Read More
campus living

Time to ‘Fly’: A November message to those about to move on….

This morning the kids found a baby bird hiding under one of the outdoor chairs in the garden. Though wild, it acted tame, even allowing the kids to pat and stroke its little back, all the time keeping its soft wings held close to its side. ‘Lets call it princess,’ suggested W (princesses being the in thing in the garden lately). Thankfully, they decided on Benny. It soon became apparent why little Benny bird was so quietly and complacently settled under the seat.

Read More
Faith

These are days you’ll remember…

Memories are never just free-floating. They have backdrops. They happen in place and time. Memories of people take place in the context of other people. Some memories stand out more than others, are more defining than others. Because they helped define you. And there are some memories you don’t ever want to stop remembering. It’s these memories you want to take with you into the future. To pass on to future generations. Because there’s just so much goodness there to be had.

Read More