I feel that it is my responsibility to learn to act rationally in spite of how I feel in any given situation. Feelings can be destructive if allowed free reign, yet feelings are the very essence of life. Feelings are a way of communicating what we feel is right or wrong in the world around us, they give us insight, and can be a way to communicate with the Lord.

I am working with my children and myself through a time of great change. We are moving from one city to another in South Africa (Durban to Cape Town 1600kms apart). We are leaving the home, friends and family, church community, and school we have known for the past 9 years. For me, it is another move, not as great as the last one from the UK to South Africa, but significant enough to unsettle us all.

My greatest challenge has been to ‘control’ how I feel about it in order to better support our children. First was denial (I didn’t want to go), then acknowledgement (this is going to happen no matter what), to acceptance (I’m okay with this let’s see where it goes), finally to trust. Trusting that it was okay to feel the way I did. They were healthy feelings and healthy for my children to see that I also felt uncertain at times. As long as I didn’t take out those emotions on other people, which happened in times of stress, that was not okay. Ultimately, I needed to trust my feelings and trust in the Lord to support us during this time of change. Continue reading Trusting My Feelings →

Throughout my childhood I was taught that The Lord has many names and that each of these is holy and represents something special about Him. But I’ve recently discovered that there is one of His names I have an aversion to hearing and, I suspect, there are others in the church with a similar handicap. Can you guess which name I mean?

Now my husband is a priest. Which means that a lot more thought and doctrinal research goes into the formation of his opinions than usually goes into mine. He is also a very intentional person. So when he starts to do something unusual, I know he is doing it on purpose. A few months ago, I started noticing him using the term “Jesus” a lot in his sermons and conversations. It felt odd to me—I would have said “The Lord” in those instances—but I assumed it had something to do with the doctorate program he is in at a Presbyterian school. Maybe he was trying to remind himself to use words that they would understand (to the old Christians, “Lord” refers to Jehovah). But recently he gave a (really fantastic) sermon where he used “Jesus” left and right and the General Church woman in me had to call him on it: What was he doing? Why wasn’t he using the acceptable term “The Lord”? “Jesus” sounded so trinitarian and old Christian! Continue reading And His Name Was Called Jesus →

I love the part in The Fox and the Hound movie when the fox says that he is independent, and the young dog says that he is too. And then they decide that they will be independent together. This is the basis for a really healthy friendship, and I believe it is what we long for in our relationships with others.

We have a strong and healthy desire to be completely ourselves, to decide and discover who we are, and what we will choose to do. Independence is defined as “freedom from outside control or support.” We want to live in freedom, while at the same time being able to feel closely connected to someone else; to love, understand and unite with them, and not lose our sense of self.
Continue reading Dependence and Independence →

“Lord, I believe: help my unbelief.” Mark 9:24

Can faith really heal? Can wholly trusting the Lord, having absolute faith that He will heal, or produce a miracle, really yield that positive result?

My minister husband and I were just discussing this, and by the end of the conversation, it sure did seem like 100% faith is the source of miracles.

We all have issues – some are major, some minor, but we’ve all got ’em – and, being religious folk (by definition, since we’re reading this blog), we probably all pray about them at some time or other. If our prayers don’t yield the result we want, is it because we didn’t pray hard enough? Is it because not enough people prayed for this particular cause? Is it a critical mass thing, where if you have 9 people praying for you, ah, shucks, sorry, no luck, but if you’ve got that 10th, well, there you go, that’s your ticket! I highly doubt it; I can’t believe that could possibly be so,… but I am pausing to wonder. Maybe I’m wrong? (No, surely not! The Lord is more merciful than that! ….Right??) Continue reading Faith Healing →