Finding Strength in God (Building to Last #4)
I’ve always loved King David. The early and quite difficult years were vital to allowing him to ‘Build to Last’ over a lifetime….
Building to Last (#1)
Many buildings are being buit everyday: some last longer than others! In this blog I begin to wrestle with what will help produce strong foundations and the longevity of the building…
Walking by Faith not by Sight
For 22 years we have served in Student ministry in Southampton. The ministry has looked quite different at different times but through it all we have had to walk by faith and not by sight.
God of the Valleys: Hope for Life’s toughest moments
Valleys in the Bible are a great example of times of both difficulty and opportunity. In this blog we see that even in the valley God is still God, God is still at work and God is still with us…
The Valley of Dry Bones – Hope out of Hopelessness
The Valley of Dry Bones encourages us that even amidst such dry and lifeless scenes there is always hope. The Spirit of God is able to bring hope in our hopelessness…
Watching in Hope
In the midst of difficult times Micah is a great example of someone who find encouragement in looking to His God. He encourages us to watch in hope and wait expectantly on God. Micah still speaks powerfully to us today.
The valley of Elah – Finding courage for the battle
In the valley of Elah David fights the giant Goliath. Its a story of courage as we see how David’s relationship with God empowers and inspires him to triumph against all the odds.
Hope: An anchor for the soul
While hope is rooted in our expectation of the future there is also an everyday reality that impacts upon us in the here and now. Otherwise whilst we might cling with everything we have to our hope for eternity, we might at the same time feel somewhat hopeless here in the present. If Hope is primarily based upon the promises of God we must recognise that God’s promises are grounded both in the present and the future. God wants us to…
Sharing Hope
During the past few years when I have reflected on hope it has often been through the lens of suffering. When times have been tough my hope in Jesus Christ has inspired me to persevere (1 Thess 1:3). From that hope has sprung the faith and love (Col 1:3-6a) to deal with all that life brings. We trust that we are now moving into a different season of life, not devoid of struggle but somewhat freer of the kind of…
Remembering God’s faithfulness
Its been a while since my last post when we announced the safe arrival of baby Aaron. To say that these past six weeks have been difficult for us is probably putting it mildly! A few days after Aaron was born Debbie began suffering again with another bout of Post natal depression. On the advice of the doctors she went back into the Mother & Baby Unit (where she had spent 3 months in 2014 along with Jacob). The rational was partly…