Devotional | Encountering God and Elephants

A devotion throwback by Karen Rees. “Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.” Ephesians 5:1-2 When I was a child, my parents saw a poster announcing that a …

DEVOTIONAL: Detours on our journey with Jesus

‘But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, “Lord, save me!” Matthew 14:28 A little while ago I was on my way to an appointment, and I had my GPS going for guidance as I wasn’t familiar with where I was going. Whilst driving, I got a little …

Devotional | The Two Faces of Freedom

Freedom: the condition or right of being able or allowed to do, say, think, etc. whatever you want to, without being controlled or limited. Contemplating my topic for this month’s blog, I remembered a conversation with someone a while ago who told me that Christianity wasn’t for him because it took away his freedom to …

God’s Perfect Timing

I am grateful for perfect timing. An unexpected situation recently brought my husband and me to New York City. Due to the serious nature of the trip, I did not follow my usual practice of planning sightseeing excursions, activities, and shopping. While researching the area of our hotel, I discovered that we would be within …

Are you ready? a devotional

“…anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!” ‭‭2 Corinthians‬ ‭5‬:‭17‬ ‭(NLT) In late 2022 I offered to review a new release “The Challenge to Trust on the Path to Peace” by Cindy Janecka and Cindy kindly sent me a physical copy of …

Devotional | A Little Something

‘It’s okay to be small,’ He whispered to my soul. And He wasn’t talking about my 5’1½”. We were in ‘therapy,’ which is the completely accurate name I give to receiving trained prayer ministry as a mutual adjunct to psychology. These wonderful folk use a specific framework to isolate the origins of spiritual problems, as …

DEVOTIONAL: Selfless love.

“We just want what’s best for you.” Those were the words spoken to me some years ago. On the surface, they sound caring and loving. But as I dwelt on them days later, I realised that under the surface of these words was not a desire for me to experience what is best. Under the …

An Open Heart Opens Your Passion

As the saying goes, ‘Practice makes perfect’ but practice can never make anything perfect. We live in a flawed, imperfect world and practice and perfection cannot coexist because one will inevitably cancel out the other. Perfect is about avoiding mistakes in the process of practice and the sense that everything needs to be perfect before …

Devotional | From Depleted to Dependent

From Depleted to Dependent: Mark 5 verses 25 -34 ( NIV ) Mark 5 v. 27- When she heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, because she thought,  “If I just touch his clothes, I will be healed.” The whole idea of the Holy Spirit drawing us …