Significance, purpose, knowing the reality of rest – these words, these concepts were far from my thoughts that awful, fateful evening at our quadrennial mission’s conference in Florida.  I was hurting. It would be years before I would really experience the significance and purpose that God had for me and learn to rest in it.  That night I only knew my right now – and that hurt, a lot.

Comparison and jealousy reared their angry heads. I let them have their way. And I sank deeper and deeper into the pit of despair. I just wasn’t good enough!

Not being good enough had deep roots. Stories from my childhood, the turbulent teens, into college, our marriage and ministry. The illustrations were numerous and found their life in comparison.

Looking back, I called that evening the low point of my spiritual journey.

Returning to the same venue with many of the same people four years later, it wasn’t comparison and jealousy that ruled, it was insecurity. Questions proliferated. Were my steps of the past four years real? Did healing happen? Was it strong enough to let me rest in my new found truths? Am I maturing?

Perhaps that first time wasn’t the low point, but rather a turning point, the beginning of a new foundation; a place I would find myself returning to over and over.

I was aware and unaware that night. Aware of the symptoms; unaware of the disease.

At first I treated what I knew – the outward manifestations, the symptoms. I turned to my Bible to study comparison. I memorized, “Those who compare themselves among themselves are not wise.” II Corinthians 10:12. I spoke transparently on the topic watching heads bob up and down. Others, many others understood. It was comforting at first. I was not the only one.

But nothing changed. I needed the disease diagnosed, the why of the symptoms. When talking with a practitioner was suggested, I balked.

Was I really that bad?

I was!

There was a parallel story, my husband’s story. Although he too experienced bumps along his journey, he had climbed the occupational ladder consecutively leading larger and larger teams with greater and greater responsibility. He was currently serving as one of the vice-presidents of the mission we are associated with. It was his role that offered me identity. Not good.

Then he crashed. Physical symptoms led to emotional realities and depression soon followed. A hard reality, a rocky path. A path we both needed.

A wise friend, a friend we had known for several years, noticed and risked reaching out. He directed us to a practitioner, a counselor who accurately diagnosed.

Nothing had changed inside me. I was still leery of counselors and had no desire to meet one up close and personal. But this was my husband’s issue. I’d go along for the ride.

Hesitantly at first I accompanied Bill still holding the practitioner at arm’s length. But that didn’t take long to change.

The next two weeks were life-transforming as an accurate diagnosis became obvious, both for Bill and me. We heard truth. We began to learn how to embrace truth. We experienced hope. The disease was exposed and attacked. It was the beginning of my rest journey and it was good.

There were still rocky patches. But comparison was dissipating.

It would be many years before I would understand and embrace more fully the concept of rest and its connection with all I had been experiencing. There have been many steps along the way. And they will continue.

“Let the beloved of the Lord
rest secure in him…”
Deuteronomy 33:12

I’m learning what it means to rest secure.

 

Copyright, Sue Tell, March 2021

 

“There’s an incredible phrase in Hebrews: “Without faith it is impossible to please God.” (italics mine) This statement shows us the path we must take. Only by trusting can we truly please God! If our primary motive is pleasing God, we’ll never please Him enough and we’ll never learn trust. Pleasing God is a good desire. It just can’t be our primary motivation or it will imprison our hearts … When our primary motive becomes trusting God, however, we suddenly discover there is nothing in the world that pleases Him more! Until you trust God, nothing you do will please God.” The Cure, Lynch, McNicol, Thrall. Trust is the verb form of the noun faith.

I bet if you’re a parent or grandparent you’ve experienced something like this picture. I know I have. And sometimes I’ve been surprised that my grandchild has trusted me so explicitly.

But I am a child too, a child of God. And I think this pictures what God desires from me, complete trust. A willingness to bring all of me and cast myself into his arms.

Cast myself into his arms or Relying on God to do something I cannot do.

But so often, I want to DO. So often I want to FIX; I want to have THE ANSWER; sometimes I even want to be the AUTHORITY, especially a MOM authority. And in each case my focus is inward, on me.

Jesus says to the believing Jews, “you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” John 8:32. But … the caveat! The context is in the previous verse. The word abide in John 8:31 can be defined as walking in obedience and continue believing or walking in obedience by trusting.

Only KNOWING the truth does not set us free.
TRUSTING THE TRUTH WE KNOW is what sets us FREE!

I’m learning, there is nothing more potent than trust.
Truth cannot transform without trust.
Love cannot be experienced without trust.
Love cannot be offered without trust.
Community cannot be leveraged without trust.
Pleasing God does not happen without trust.
Character is not developed without trust.

I was stomping around our kitchen one afternoon. I.WAS.MAD! I don’t remember about what. My husband was there too. I barked, Do you even believe I love Jesus? Bill smiled, came to me, and embraced me in a big hug. Of course I do, he responded gently. I melted. Because I trust my husband, I trusted the love he offered. And whatever I was mad about dissipated.

Almost every day I pray, God, what would it look like to trust You today? When I know what I’m expecting the day to hold, I pray more specifically, God what would it look like to trust You today at the neighborhood coffee, for example. Sometimes I hear God’s immediate whisper. Sometimes I say amen and I don’t know how God is going to answer.

How can you please God today with your trust?

“And without faith (trust) it is impossible to please him (God) …”
Hebrews 11:6

 

Copyright: Sue Tell, March 2022

 

 

Exodus 17:8-16 records Israel’s conflict with Amalek. Moses is leading; Joshua, Aaron, and Hur have key roles.

Moses is the one chosen to lead Israel.
Joshua is leading the charge and overwhelmed the enemy.
Aaron and Hur are on the hill with Moses.

When Moses held up his hands, Israel prevailed. When Moses lowered his hand, Amalek prevailed.

Like me, Moses is human and he got weary of holding up his hands. So Aaron and Hur were essential players in the victory. Whenever they noticed Moses’ hands drooping, they held his hands up for him. Their victory over Amalek was a team effort.

 

On the Emmaus Road the afternoon of the resurrection, Luke records how Jesus initiated a relationship with two downcast and very discouraged walkers. He came to them, walked with them, and initiated conversation. He asked questions, and listened to their sad story. Luke 24:13-32.

Jesus listened.
Jesus met them where they were on their journey.
Jesus stayed with them until they recognized (not until they understood) him.
And so much more.

I finished reflecting on Luke 24 and my teaching on listening to God with the ladies and returned to the round table I was sitting at with my two friends who came with me and our five new friends.

I taught on listening. My friends, Janine and Denise, embodied it at our table.

Around the table we were getting to know each other and very vulnerable stories poured out.

As Nancy* trusted us with her hard reality, her eyes brimmed and threatened to overflow. Janine leaned forward, connected with her eyes, and asked, May I share with you what I’m hearing? An affirmative nod. Janine listened to Nancy’s circumstances, more importantly she listened to her heart. Janine heard her fear, her shattered dreams, her confusion, and that’s what she echoed to Nancy. There were no solutions, no suggestions. Now Nancy’s tears did overflow. Janine and Nancy connected deeply.

On the other side of the table, Connie* shared her hard reality. Her infant was supposed to be cradled in her arms at the retreat. But in her 38^th week of pregnancy, his heart stopped beating.

I’m so thankful Denise sat next to her. Denise’s words offered her own story. She too has little ones waiting for her in heaven. There were no platitudes. Just the reality that she understood. Her similar experience communicated to Connie that she was not alone. The link to Denise’s story is in the comments.

Janine heard Nancy’s heart. Denise offered story. As I listened in on both exchanges, God taught me and deepened my understanding about listening. Their gifting complimented my teaching.

Janine and Nancy held up my arms that morning and fleshed out my teaching. They were my Aaron and Hur. Their responses supported what God called me to do. I am so thankful.

“Listening to God calling us his beloved
is like discovering a well in the desert.
Once you have touched the wet ground,
you want to dig deeper.”
Henri JJ Nouwen

 

“… ‘This is my beloved Son,
with whom I am well pleased;
listen to him.’”
Matthew 17:5

 

Copyright: Sue Tell, March 2022

As I write today, in early March, the wind is ruffling the surface of the lake and bending the budding tree branches; in spite of the air’s chill there is no doubt Spring is unveiling herself. It’s also the beginning of Lent, the time each year when many Christians work their way through a period of denial and sacrifice, as Christ sacrificed himself for us. This year, I find myself experiencing Lent in a new way, thanks to God drawing my attention to an article in a popular Christian magazine. A reader related how, rather than giving up chocolate or television for Lent, she instead reflected on people who blessed her life and sent a note each day during Lent to thank them for the gift of their friendship. I was so taken with the idea, I adopted it myself, and truly, it’s proving to be a soul-baring, grace-filled experience.

What is grace? “Grace” is a word that can take on a number of meanings. It can be a noun or a verb. Grace, in the sense I use it here, is both. Grace as in “the free and unmerited favor of God as manifested in the salvation of sinners and the bestowing of blessings.” God has graced me abundantly, and I am so incredibly grateful.

Grace as in “to confer honor or dignity on.” In the joy of my gratitude, I am moved to tell others of the grace they add to my life. In the blizzard of everyday chores, the minutiae of details we feel compelled to address 24/7, we so often overlook the simple graces conferred on us every day. We so often forget to thank those whom God’s grace has given us. We so often fail to recognize grace when we experience it.

The understanding and acknowledgment of God’s grace is transformative. Yet in order to be transformed, we must participate, take an active role. It’s not enough to passively accept God’s gift of grace, which He promises to all of us who believe in Christ. We must also be willing to “excel in this grace of giving” by seeking and seeing God alive in every day, giving Him thanks in the moment for His grace, and like Christ, giving ourselves to others as grace.

I paused a minute during my walk today, taking time to appreciate the beauty of a redbud tree, almost ready to burst into flower. God’s grace was there, too. Redbuds are different than other trees, which first send out leaves, then buds and flowers. A redbud in early Spring looks as if it still is slumbering: it has no veil of pale green. Rather, its branches are stark until, heralded by an unseen signal, they send out clusters of deep-purple buds, resembling dots of blood … Christ’s blood, shed for us. Then, with a bit of sunshine and God’s perpetual grace, those dark buds burst into the glorious bloom of Spring’s renewal.

If God can put his grace into something so simple as a tree in bloom, how much more has He put in us? And how are we acting in response to that grace so freely given? Maybe during Lent, rather than giving something up, we should instead “excel in the grace of giving” ourselves …  to God and to each other.

“… see that you also excel in this grace of giving.”
2 Corinthians 8:7

Thank you to my friend Janet Kowalski who shared today’s words. Janet and I met in Alaska last September. What a gift her friendship is. And bonus, she lives in the same town as our younger son and his family. I’m looking forward to meeting up with her for lunch later this spring.

I didn’t recognize the name of the lady who sent the email. The subject line Well-Versed Kids, I recognized. It is not uncommon for me to receive requests for the Bible memory program I created with three others in 1987.

“Do you have any more Well-Versed Kids sets?  I used your Bible memory program with my daughters years ago and now I have three grand-daughters.”

Yes and no. I have a limited number of the parent-teacher manuals available; but no verse cards, verse holders, or verse boxes. (For more information on W-VK, click on the tab at the top of the page.)

Always curious when I don’t recognize a name, I asked how she knew about Well-Versed Kids. “I was at the Sunday School convention in Peoria and attended your presentation.” That convention was almost 40 years ago!

Memories flooded back. Hard memories.

Horrible – is how I felt after that presentation. I felt I came across proud and arrogant.
I probably did.
Avoiding eye contact, I left the presentation with my head down, very unhappy with myself.

I don’t remember if I asked God for forgiveness then. I hope I did. But for sure I asked for his forgiveness after reading that email.

“I acknowledged my sin to you,
and I did not cover up my iniquity;
I said, ‘I will confess my transgressions to the LORD,’
and you forgave the iniquity of my sin.”
Psalm 32:4

David’s words instructed me and encouraged me.

“You are a hiding place for me;
you preserve me from trouble;
you surround me with shouts of deliverance.”
Psalm 32:7

“Many are the sorrows of the wicked,
but steadfast love surrounds the one who trusts in the LORD.”
Psalm 32:10

Forgiveness – another gift of God’s steadfast love.

The email led me to ask forgiveness – in case I hadn’t years ago.
The email was a gift of God to me.
The email showered me in God’s grace.
The email offered new freedom. I exhaled; I rested.

Hebrews 13:8, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.” As I review the teachings in the scriptures on forgiveness, I don’t see a time limitation. For me the gift, the grace, the freedom, the rest was an almost 40 year journey.

I’m so thankful for that email!

 

Copyright: Sue Tell, February 2022

 

 

These words below are penned by my friend Janet Newberry.

I originally wrote this to say goodbye to 2020. Little did we know that a new year would bring as many new trials and sorrows as it did mercy to live gracefully with them.

I’m not so sure I lived as gracefully as I could have this year and I am sure I am loved … and healing…and growing in a healthy direction. There is great hope.

“In a few days, we will say goodbye to 2021. Maybe today is a good day to deal with forgiveness.

I’m not even sure how to type a sentence that speaks of “forgiving a year,” but I do have experience dragging around bitterness … and it’s not the way I want to walk into a relationship with a new year.

Forgiveness doesn’t mean bad things didn’t happen.
Forgiveness doesn’t mean the pain wasn’t real.
Forgiveness doesn’t mean the changes that happened in our lives were all good.

Forgiveness means that we take our hands off the faucet of blame and bitterness and give God permission to deal with both.

I remember one night when I was arguing with God about forgiveness. When I finally decided to step across the line, it wasn’t without emotion and ache.

I felt the real risk of living life unsupported by the energy hate offers when I said, “Ok, fine! I don’t feel like forgiving. He doesn’t deserve my forgiveness! I don’t even know how to forgive him, God … so I’m just going to say — You do it in me, Father. I choose to forgive because I trust You…not him.”

I promise it was like that scene in the movie “Hook” when the lost boys were trying to convince Robin Williams that he wasn’t Peter Pan … but one little boy pushed up the side of Robin Williams’ face so that it began to take the shape of a supported grin.

And the boy said, “Oh, there you are!”

Without a scowl, the little boy recognized his old friend.

And God said the same thing to me when uttered my trust. “Oh, there you are!”

Without all that baggage, my countenance must’ve changed. My scowl probably took a little while to relax, but the rock in my hand was gone.

Deep sigh.

If we’re going to take any souvenirs into the new year, let’s gather our trust instead of our stones.

Let’s believe that God can take what has not been good and redeem it in a way that requires His supernatural touch.

Together, there is great hope.

You’ve met Janet Newberry before on Echoes. I always appreciate how she articulates grace through her story in a way that makes so much sense.

 

 

Next Thursday, February 24, 2022 – Forgiving Myself – Years Later

Full disclosure: I have not read these books on forgiveness but my friends highly recommend them. And I will for sure read them.

Forgiving Our Fathers and Mothers, by Leslie Leyland Fields:  “This book addresses forgiving the shortcomings and sins of a mentally ill parent. It is helpful not only for those of us who have experienced childhood trauma from one or both parents, but also the rest of us who struggle to empathize with the damage this kind of experience has wrecked upon our loved ones. The author shares wonderful examples of what biblical forgiveness looked like in her family and how it healed relationships with her siblings as well.” Thank you to Nancy Holesapple.

“If you have ever suffered a major, life-changing hurt by someone you trusted, forgiveness and normalcy can feel like they will never be possible again. However, forgiveness is not optional but mandatory for true healing. In her book, Forgiving What You Can’t Forget, Lysa Terkeurst addresses this difficult issue with deep compassion from personal experience. It has been a valuable tool in restoring normalcy to my life. I highly recommend it if deep wounds have stolen your ability to trust.” Thank you to Carolyn Eden.

 

It was a perfect January afternoon in St. John, Virgin Islands. The sky a brilliant blue, the temperatures in the low 80’s, and we’re sitting on the pool deck – our private pool deck, that is, overlooking the Caribbean filled with white sailboats; the British Virgin Islands on the other side of Dreetket Bay. Our novels and tall glasses of lemonade our only companions – we thought.

The chapter ended. I looked up and stretched. And there it was! A huge Iguana sunning itself on the corner of our pool. He (I’m sure it was a he) staring at us with equal curiosity, and perhaps as much fear as I was experiencing staring at him. I knew there were Iguanas on the island; I never saw one before on the property we were renting for our escape winter vacation.

No need for binoculars, I grabbed my camera just in time before he turned and crawled into the foliage surrounding the pool. I was glad he was gone.

We didn’t see him again for the next eight days – thankfully. I faithfully checked that corner of the pool. Even though I didn’t see him, in my mind, he kept getting bigger and bigger. Then he returned.

I wasn’t surprised. Perhaps he wasn’t quite as surprised to see me, a visitor to his pool.  I was surprised to see that he was not as big as I remembered. Again we stared at each other; and again he slithered off the side of the pool into the foliage. Will these people ever leave?

We hadn’t seen him for over a week. But in that week, in my mind, he grew.

And God reminded me …

When I stop reviewing truth, Satan whispers lies. And those lies grow. He knows which I’m susceptible to.

The word remember and its synonyms is mentioned 115 times in the Bible. God knows I have a good forgetter!

“Remember the wondrous works that he has done …”
Psalm 115:5
“Therefore I intend always to remind you …
to stir you up by way of reminder …
you may be able to recall …”
II Peter 1:12-15
“To write the same things to you is no trouble to me
and is safe for you.”
Philippians 3:1

So I review the importants almost every day. Jerry Bridge’s words instruct me, preach the gospel to yourself every day! Allow the truth of the Word of God grow, not the lies of the evil one.

The biggest truth I review is that my identity is based on God’s steadfast love for me.

“As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you.
Abide in my love.”
John 15:9

Two years ago my sister died. God had given us a special relationship her last six months reminding each other of God’s everlasting love for us. Jeremiah 31:3 was our favorite. I miss her lots.

Erika and I also remind each other regularly of God’s steadfast love. Because of our friendship, my heart is attuned to that phrase. Yesterday God pointed me to … and I texted Erika … Psalm 52:8, “I trust in the steadfast love of God forever and ever.”

Lies are snuffed out in an environment of focusing on truth. Iguanas really don’t grow in a week.

In his sermon, Rich pointed to Psalm 34:3, “Oh, magnify the LORD with me, let us exalt his name together!”

With me … together! Friends keep me focused on truth. We desperately need each other, both to help us identify lies and to remind us of truth.

 

Not only did Iguanas have free reign on the island, donkeys, goats, sheep, chickens, and pigs did as well. This donkey at the side of the road is peering into the open window of our Jeep. No, we did not feed him. Momma goat and her babies are walking down our driveway.

Copyright, Sue Tell, February 2022

I penned these words seven years ago, and they are so appropriate this week.

The same Aspen this week. Our view quite different from last! Both Colorado and St. John invite me to embrace God’s ways. Both showcase God’s amazing creativity. Both, a wonderful gift.

“O LORD, our LORD,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!”
Psalm 8:1 & 9

Copyright, Sue Tell, February 2022

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It’s one of those beautiful Colorado winter mornings. The bright blue sky and no wind invites me outside to our deck to enjoy God’s creation, to enjoy God.

I’m wearing my hooded Alaska sweatshirt. My weighted blanket, our deck heater, and the brilliant Colorado sun make up for the cool-ish temperature. Snow blankets the ground and the branches of the trees. I slowly sip my coffee, kept warm in my Yeti mug, as I revel in this hour.

I just refilled our bird feeders and turned on our triple fountain. I love the sound of the water cascading from the small top dish, to the middle-sized one, and onto the largest bottom dish.

The birds haven’t converged on the feeders to eat their breakfast yet. But I hear them in the nearby Ponderosa Pines. I bet they’re passing the news – breakfast is served. Even the sounds of the morning invite. It’s a new day and a new year.

I’m reminded of Jesus’ invitation in John 21 for his disciples, “Come and have breakfast.” (verse 12) In the beauty of my environment, I too hear his invitation. My Bible and my journal offer their invitations as well. Expectancy.

I’m sensing a new day for Bill and me too; a new level of trust.

Much hasn’t changed. We still love investing through writing, teaching, and mentoring the next generation. Our calendar rings true with our hearts.

And much is changing. We’re thinking about the finish line. Although still a ways off, the fuzzy picture is clarifying. Acts 20:24 communicates our hearts.

“But I do not account my life of  any value nor as precious to myself,
if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus,
to testify to the gospel of the grace of God.”

For years I’ve prayed over Psalm 78:72. Describing David, Asaph says, “With upright heart he shepherded them and guided them with his skillful hand.” My prayer has been that God would bring together our heart and our skill, the heart and the skill he created us with. Recently I’ve added a third quality, our capacity.

Sometimes I don’t like how I’m experiencing that playing out. Change is hard. I both like where I am and I want to be where I was. What a conundrum!

And then I remember the surpassing worth of knowing Jesus my Lord.

“Indeed, I count everything as loss
because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.”
Philippians 3:8

The surpassing worth of knowing Jesus – his heart has not changed. He knows my heart; he knows my skill; he knows my current capacity. His love for me is everlasting!

So I look forward with hope, with contentment, with joy, with expectancy as this new chapter, this new year unfolds. I will remind myself of the surpassing worth of knowing Jesus.

The birds have found their breakfast. And the squirrels too who are waiting under the feeder for a stray sunflower seed to fall to the ground. Expectancy.

“May the Lord direct your hearts to the love of God
and to the steadfastness of Christ.”
II Thessalonians 3:5

Copyright, Sue Tell, January 2022

 

Blessings to YOU in this New Year!

My good friend Rosalyn penned these words a few months ago. Her title was One Point At A Time.

As I read it, I thought this is a perfect post for the new year. I know I want to become better at staying in the moment and receiving the grace Jesus has to offer. I hope you to are blessed, encouraged, and motivated by Rosalyn’s story and how she heard from God in the midst.

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I’m not sure if any of you are tennis fans, but even if you’re not, you may well have heard of the British teenager who recently made sporting history by winning the US Open.

I’ve loved following Emma Raducanu’s story, and enjoyed watching some of the post-match interviews. In one of them she shared a trade secret: as far as she is able, Emma tries to take each point at a time. She doesn’t allow herself to become overawed by the potential consequences of winning or losing that particular point. It’s just one point at a time: she stays in the moment.

This Sunday past, as I started to put the house to bed and prepare for the new week, I thought over her comments. Stay in the moment. A point at a time. I was finding that tricky, you see. My physical body was in a Sunday evening, but my mind, and consequently my emotions, were in Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday… I felt the hackles of anxiety rise up as I imagined the early starts, the logistics, the emails that are long-overdue a reply to. Urgghh..

What is it, about us as humans, that struggles to stay in the moment?

‘Do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow has enough worries of its own’ Jesus says in Matthew 6:34, suggesting that this is not just a tendency of the modern day. We find it so hard just to be present in the now..

A number of years ago I heard someone discussing the verse 1 Peter 1:13b, which says this:

‘…set your hope on the grace to be brought to you when Jesus Christ is revealed at his coming.‘

The person remarked that usually this verse is interpreted in the context of the hope of Jesus returning sometime in the future. But, this person went on to comment, there is no reason not to also relate this verse to the grace brought to us in the immediate moment, in the very present revelation of Jesus’s continuing and unending presence, right there in the midst of the place we find ourselves in.

Over the years, I’ve found myself using this verse as somewhat of a challenge:

Go on then, show me. Show me how you’re going to reveal yourself to me in the midst of this messy, frustrating, situation.

Show me.

Show me the grace that is to be brought to me.

Right here, right now, when all of life is going belly-up, when I’m stuck in the middle of tensions that seem to overwhelm. I’m tired, all I want to do is lose my rag. Right here, show me. Show me.

And over the years, whenever this particular gauntlet is laid down, I have found that grace is indeed given. The flickering of my eyes heavenward, the desire to see Jesus with me in the mire, has an immediate affect.

I won’t lie and say that this affect is always what I want. I don’t always receive supernatural wisdom, supernatural diplomacy. Sticky situations don’t immediately resolve themselves. But something of the framing of all this inelegance is altered.

It’s hope, of course. Hope.

Hope then allows for us to be pliable with our goals. I take my goals for whatever situation I find myself, and in that eyes-flickering-to-heaven moment, I submit them, in hope, to Jesus. Released from my own determined drive towards compliance/harmony/respect (or all those things and more), my only goal becomes squinting my eyes to see Jesus revealing himself. My only goal is to become a recipient of his grace.

But how, you may ask, does this all tie in with Emma Raducanu?

It all ties in, because we only receive grace in that moment, for that moment.

I don’t need to worry about tomorrow, not because tomorrow won’t have anything to worry about, but because I will only receive the grace for tomorrow’s worries, tomorrow. Today I receive the grace for today. Jesus is relentlessly present in our lives with an grace-filled immediacy that transforms everything of our experience of that moment. It’s not that we need to go anywhere to find him, we just need to get more practiced at recognising the fact he’s already here.

Of course, all of this is easier said than done. But, as you might imagine Emma Raducanu has had to mentally train herself to stay in the moment, so too we need to train the muscles of our soul, not to look towards tonight, or tomorrow, or next week, and the troubles they may very well bring, but, in the only moment that we are actually able to inhabit – the present moment – to turn and look to Jesus.

To look with expectancy – Jesus is going to reveal himself! Grace is going to be given!.

To look with curiosity – Jesus is going to reveal himself! Grace is going to be given!

And to look with hope– Jesus is going to reveal himself! Grace is going to be given!

After all, as Matthew 6:25-27 says –

 ‘Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes?  Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?  Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?’

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Thank you again, Ros, for letting me share your words on Echoes. We are blessed!