Hope For Today

Dear Friends,  This Is Me A few weeks ago Jason took me to the cinema to see "The Greatest Showman". We don't often get to the cinema, but I was so glad we got to see this film which in my opinion is so good. The film is inspired by the story of PT Barnum and how he rose to fame, as he built his circus which featured various star attractions.  Many of the performers had known rejection and prejudice in the past because they were 'different' to those around them.  One member of the group is the bearded lady (played by Keala Settle) who learns through Barnum what it means to be loved and accepted for who she is. She sings my favourite song from the film, "This Is Me". The lyrics are powerful and so moving. In the past , she had hidden  away because of the hurtful words spoken by others which had left her feeling cut and bruised. But now that she has become part of the circus family, and learned what it means to be loved and accepted, she is a...

Dear Friends, I've been thinking recently about the power of our words. How many of you remember when you were at school saying this playground chant: "Sticks and stones may break my bones but names will never hurt me"? The truth is that whilst being physically hurt causes physical pain, it's not true that words don't hurt us. Words can and do cause us much pain, they bruise our hearts, they can leave deep scars and cause all kinds of damage. Words such as, "You're ugly...stupid...fat...no good...a failure...hopeless...etc"  cause so much harm, not only at the time, but also on in to the future if we don't do something about them.  So what can we do? Step 1. Let go of the words that have damaged us - reject them and leave them with God. Step 2. Ask God to heal us from the pain - he is our healer.  " He heals the brokenhearted and bandages their wounds."  Psalm 147:3 (NLT) Step 3. Fill our minds with the truth from God...