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From bricks to forgiveness…

This past week, I spent hours upcycling old bricks, chipping off old cement. But I also spent those hours thinking about Nelson Mandela. As a prisoner, he too chipped away at stones in a quarry, and after 27 years, he still could forgive.

If he had the courage to do that, so could I. So, I chipped and prayed about a painful situation… Then it dawned on me – God is above every manipulation, and no one can ruin his plans.

I finished that pile of bricks and late that night, I stopped fretting about my apparent ruin. I was still on track in God’s eyes. I could forgive. I could leave bitterness behind, because God is above all.

(photo by Magda Ehlers: https://www.pexels.com)

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The opposite of fear…

Some things frighten me – especially another’s anger. I can wake up in the night, my heart aching over how a person’s anger manipulates me and those I really care for. For anger actually blocks me from freedom of choice.

The other day I read how Jesus reacted. “Every day he was teaching at the temple. But the chief priests, the teachers of the law and the leaders among the people were trying to kill him” (Luke 20:47). Angry people opposed Jesus, but he didn’t crumble with fear. He lived with an audacity that surprised me.

He did what God wanted him to do. He sat where those leaders said he shouldn’t. He didn’t flinch.

It released me to live with the same audacity – to take bold risks despite the blocks.

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Can we ever get unbroken?

I once believed that brokenness was for life. I would never become unbroken. I might never be able to move on.

How wrong I was. Just as God took chaos and spoke this beautiful earth into place, he can do the same for us. He speaks over each one of us: “But you who revere my name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings and you will go out and frolic…” (Malachi 4:2)

Healing comes through relationship. As we honour our God, put him first, love him with all our broken hearts, he does his part. He rises like the sun over our dark and hurting lives. He brings us healing and joy.

Photo by Javier Allegue Barros on Unsplash

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On Unclipped Wings – a friend’s reaction

He said, “Sometimes truth is stranger than fiction. I found myself immersed and, as I read, I kept wondering how a story like this could take place. I wondered how much more psychological battering the key player, a daughter, could take, and what motivated her religious parents to act and speak as they did. 

This account relates how a daughter’s freedom was seriously restricted, even into adulthood, and how she was repeatedly devalued and considered to have no potential. I expected her to become embittered and broken, to rebel against religion. But, for the grace of God… 

Her story is well told, engaging, and not quickly forgotten. I was challenged by her resilience and positive attitude, that she survived and then triumphed, that beauty grew in adversity.”

Thank you, friend.

(front cover updated February 2022)

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Inside the box… or out

I am surrounded by boxes. My rectangle house. My defined job.businesswoman introvert sitting in box working on laptop computer My acceptance of limitations in life. Yet I still dream of walking on water, of flying like a bird. What about you?

I also dream of writing extraordinary books. But, I have been told there is only one CS Lewis, only one JRR Tolkien, and sometimes I wonder if I should even dare try. That is, until I remember…

Jesus said something so freeing, it tears apart our cardboard walls. “I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things…” (John 14:12) Faith in Jesus isn’t a limiting box. Faith in Jesus means we can embrace big dreams. It means we can go and do.