Hope For Today

Dear Friends, Many years ago I knew that God was directing me to train as a junior school teacher, and I was confident of his guiding hand in choosing the right college for me. I knew with certainty that this was what God wanted for me and I had no doubt that at the end of my training God would also lead me to the school he wanted me to teach in. However, at the end of the training there was no job for me, I worked voluntarily in a school and as a supply teacher but no full-time job as a teacher opened up.  I found this so strange as I had been convinced that this was God's call on my life.  What was the point of all that training if there was no work at the end of it?  Wasn't it just a waste of four years of my life?  Then when I became ill I never imagined that the illness would continue through most of my 20s and all of my 30s.  They were years when really I should have been in my prime, with plenty of health, strength and energy.  S...

Dear Friends, With the help of a friend and also YouTube I have been learning how to crochet.  I have learnt how to crochet a dishcloth, and I'm planning that my next project will be to crochet a scarf.  I have discovered that I find it easier to learn if someone will teach me by showing me what to do and then give me the opportunity to try do it with them.  I am then ready to try it on my own.  Although there are a variety of ways to learn I believe we learn best in the context of relationships.  We are learning all the time, from the moment we are born we learn by observing our parents and other family members and we also learn by participation, by trying an activity together.   Once we have learnt something we can then pass it on to others.  I still iron shirts in the way my Mum taught me, and have passed that skill on to my son, Joshua, (having said that it's been some time since he ironed one of his own shirts!)  I can ...

Dear Friends, I learned this morning that I have a new baby niece, Abigail, born to my sister-in-law and her husband late last night.  My sister-in-law and her husband have waited, and longed for, and prayed for a baby of their own for a long time and now they have this wonderful miracle from God.  You can imagine how the whole family are celebrating with them at this time. We are all looking forward to seeing her for the first time, and Josh, who has a busy day at college and then is working in the evening, has only a short window of time to see her today, but we are under strict instructions not to see her without him! Whenever I think about the birth of a child my thoughts always go to the amazing words written by David in Psalm 139:13-16 (NLT) 13  You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body   and knit me together in my mother’s womb. 14  Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex!  Your workmanship is marvellous—how well I know it....