Speaking and Listening

Romans 5:3-4

Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope.

Challenging times can cause us to run to Jesus. We can wrestle with God in our prayers, claiming His promises for our lives. When we spend time in His presence it changes us. It changes the way we think, the way we see things, speak and behave. Our minds are transformed and our character is developed. We hear truth from God and we learn to spot thoughts that are lies and choose not to believe them.

We can take life one day at a time, relying on God to give us what we need for today; and we can have hope about what He will do in the future, instead of fearing what is to come and allowing our minds to spiral out of control, imagining the worst case scenarios.

We can ‘glory (or rejoice) in our suffering’, not because we enjoy it, but because we can see God at work changing us (‘being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus’. Philippians 1:6)

What did God say to you at REAL? Spend time with God today, not with a to-do list for Him, but listening to hear from Him. Maybe He will speak truth into a lie that you’ve been believing or give you encouragement to keep going.

Comparing

"... Nobody has a perfect life - everyone else's life looks great ..but everybody has challenges. We're constantly judging our insides against everyone else's outsides " Ruthie Henshall on Woman's Hour last week So true!

Guest Blog: Esther in Indonesia

I'm delighted to welcome Esther Ross-Watson to my Blog today! She is a dearly loved member of our Kerith family. She and her late husband Michael served as missionaries for many years. Esther bravely made the decision to travel again, and she has recently returned from Indonesia. Here's her story: Whilst Michael was on his last days on earth in August 2017 he received a request from the Island of Madura, Indonesia asking us to return to the town of Pamekasen, Madura, Indonesia where we had begun our Missions work in July 1973 exactly one year after we were married. They were keen to have us see what God had been doing in the years since we’d moved on and we excitedly said ‘Yes’ we will come! Obviously that had to go on hold for a while because I didn’t feel I could, or even wanted to go alone! Anyway around March/April time 2018, I begun to feel a gentle nudging of the Holy Spirit urging me to think some more about it! It was like a feeling of wanting to know

Our Living Hope

Not sure what happens with my blog...or me writing my blog! Can't believe I've been away from it for almost two months. Oh well, no condemnation! Let's pick it up and start again :) Yesterday was a great day in Church! I was so challenged and encouraged - I love Sundays and all the different ways God shows His love and who he is to us. Natalie Jones preached at both our morning meetings in Bracknell , she gave such a good message on generosity, be sure to catch it when the podcast comes on our website, but for now, watch a summary of Natalie's preach At the 6pm meeting, we had Paul Manwaring sharing about culture : the 4 Gamechangers - again, a really challenging message to check out if you didn't get to hear it live. I wore my HOPE earrings yesterday - sometimes I deliberately choose to wear them as a practical symbol that I am choosing HOPE - that I choose Jesus, I choose trust, I choose hope. I'm so glad I did, as throughout the day I felt God speak

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