Search Results for: blog waiting prayerfully

Waiting for Writers and Readers.

Sometimes we chaff at how long it takes for things to happen, for God to answer our prayers. In the life of a writer a lot of time is spent waiting. Waiting for characters to be fleshed out. Of course we may still be writing at the same time and getting to know our characters. Waiting for a cooling off period after a draft of a manuscript is written, before going back to edit and revise. Then, when it is finally off to a publisher waiting for their response. Waiting for the postman to come with the good news of … Continue reading →

Waiting Productively

Yes, I’m back to the subject of waiting because it’s one I struggle with. If I do, it stands to reason some of you probably struggle with waiting too. As many of you know from previous blogs my husband and I are waiting on the sale of our house to go through, so we can purchase another home in a different area closer to family and to the church where we believe God is calling us. This week we recovered a phone call to say our buyer has applied for a first home buyer’s grant which has held the sale … Continue reading →

Waiting Prayerfully

To wait prayerfully means allowing God to speak to you through His Word and through a time of prayer. For my devotional time I have a journal which I keep for my reflections on the bible passages I read. My bible is littered with dates written next to verses where God has spoken to me. These journals go back years and take up a lot of room in our house. But I would never part with them. Memory is at times a fickle thing. Since my journals are all dated and indexed, I can go back and see exactly what … Continue reading →

How to Conquer Fear

Fear can stop us achieving our potential. It can stop us trying new things. Now I admit even as I write this, I’m writing it to myself as much as anyone. I’m not the most fearless person out. There are some things I wouldn’t do because fear stops me. That’s okay, if they’re unimportant things. But what if it is something God is calling you do to and you let fear stop you? That’s an entirely different matter. The other day my husband and I were talking about before we moved. We’d put our house in Orange on the market … Continue reading →

Moving House

Moving house, I heard recently on the radio, can be as stressful as divorce or the death of a spouse. It can be a time of emotional upheavals, depending on how long you have been in the one place and how attached to it you are. But it doesn’t have to be a stressful experience. It can be a good opportunity to take stock in your life and in your marriage. We have moved a lot of in our marriage, the last being just over two years ago. It didn’t quite go according to our plan and there were times … Continue reading →

Expectations

One of the biggest problems in society at present is that people want everything now. It’s this kind of thinking that gets people to run up massive credit debts and start a spiral of debt they cannot repay. It’s this type of thinking that sees a couple take out a mortgage for a house that is over and above what they can afford or need. Sometimes it’s no different in the Christian life. We pray and expect God to answer when we want it. In other words, NOW. But God doesn’t always work that way. The truth is that we … Continue reading →

Prayer and Riches.

In Luke 6:12,after the confrontations with the Pharisees, Jesus went off alone and spent the whole night in prayer. Have you ever spent as long in concentrated prayer? I haven’t though I do find if I am awake at night, which happens fairly regularly to me, it is a good time to pray, right there where I am. We might wonder what Jesus was praying about. Was he praying about the opposition he was experiencing and the hardness of people’s hearts? Was he seeking the Father for strength for what he knew lay ahead of him? Maybe it was both. … Continue reading →

How Soon We Forget!

How soon we can forget the way God acts in our lives! This is one of the advantages of keeping a journal. For years I’ve been a huge fan of journals for quiet times, probably way back since I read ‘A Man Called Peter,’ by Catherine Marshall. I call mine a communuon journal because it records my communion with God, Bible readings, prayers, thoughts and how God speaks to me. This morning I plucked put one of those old journals and looked at the first page. Like Courtney I’ve been feeling a bit disenchanted with novel writing recently. I was … Continue reading →

Is It The Right Time?

Have you ever picked up a book and not been able to get into it? Then, another time you’ve come back to the same book and enjoyed reading it. This is hardly surprising. According to author Doris Lessing “You have to read a book at the right time for you, and I am sure this cannot be insisted on too often, for it is the key to the enjoyment of literature.” The above quote came from Mid august issue of Buzz Words – a newsletter in Australia for writers of children’s and young adult books. This was a reprint from … Continue reading →

Praying Over Tasks For The Day

In a study my darling husband and I are working through together, called Proverbs and Parables – 16 studies on God’s wisdom for living by Dee Brestin, it suggested a special daily assignment. This was to ‘each morning prayerfully commit to the Lord your work for the day and let Him direct your thoughts. As he brings various activities to mind, list them on paper. Then let Him show you what you should do first, second etc.’ This is an application of Proverbs 16:3 which says ‘Commit your works to the Lord and your plans will be established.’ This suggestion … Continue reading →