Listen, Learn, And Then?

What a weekend! I came back home at 8pm Sunday from a weekend in Sydney. No, I wasn’t up there to see the two large ships in Sydney harbor or the soccer final or any of the other myriad things happening in Sydney that weekend but I was at a conference. At the Hughenden Hotel around 120 other writers and illustrators from all over Australia and from New Zealand gathered to talk, share and learn more of the writing, illustrating and publishing industry. A number of these people I had met online. It was good to be able to put … Continue reading →

A Matter Of Death And Life

Organ transplants are very much in the news at the moment. Earlier this week a TV show ran a program about nine year Jack Woods and how his organs brought life to seven other people on the waiting list for various other organ transplants. His story convinced ex AFL footballer Nathan Buckley to sign up to become and organ donor. Then on Wednesday, our local paper reported two stories of two men who had received double lung transplants. Rod Dean received his transplant almost nine years ago. The other, Wayne Green, only had his transplant last year and his body … Continue reading →

Showing Love

Some people are affectionate by nature. They readily kiss and hug. Others, more reserved, don’t appreciate open displays of affection, but will show their love in other practical ways. Love can be expressed and shown in different ways. Last Sunday my husband volunteered to come with me to a concert at which our choir was singing. He has been to several others where the choir sung and not had a problem. But this day when we walked he found at least a couple of hundred women milling around. My husband is not normally uncomfortable around women. But this time he … Continue reading →

Where is your security?

When things go wrong in your life, where do you turn? To a friend, husband, wife, parent? Or do you turn to some activity to try and help you forget for a while what is happening? Many women have experienced the fear of finding a lump in their breast. I’ve known it myself. It my case it was a cyst and easily dealt with. For others the prognosis is not so good. Breast cancer – even the words can strike fear into a woman’s heart. Yesterday a dear friend and I went along to ‘Wade in the Water’ a function … Continue reading →

From Idea to Reality

Australia has been for some time and is still in the grip of a severe drought that has made life difficult for farmers and those on the land. But fellow Aussies on the South Coast have been doing there bit to help out those suffering the effects of drought. In early December, when my husband and I stopped off at Kiama on the way to Sydney, a benefit concert was setting up for later that day to raise money for those struggling at present. This week our local paper ran the story of a woman from the Bega area who … Continue reading →

Expect the Unexpected

Expected the unexpected seems to be the motto of this Christmas. My husband’s Christmas gift had been planned. I knew exactly what I wanted to buy and where to find it in Nowra. But on Friday when I reached the shop where I’d seen it earlier in the week, they didn’t have what I wanted. That required a whole re-think and casting about for ideas, which I didn’t have time for on Friday as my husband and I had another appointment to meet up with friends in Huskisson. So yesterday, armed with a new set of ideas for gifts, I … Continue reading →

Are You Letting God Speak to You?

Did you read God’s Word this morning? Or was it a week ago, a month maybe longer since you opened the bible and allowed God to speak to you? Are you thankful each day for the great blessing of being able to read God’s Word? Do you realize what a privilege and joy it is to be able to do this? For many people in our world this is not the reality because they do not have a bible in their own language. In 2006, for the first time in South Eastern Mexico, 200,000 Huasteca Nahuatl (pronounced Was-te-ca Nah What-l) … Continue reading →

Making a Difference at Christmas

A small group of volunteers have found a way they can help others, who are less fortunate this Christmas. They have opened up a shop in Nowra, as they have done other years. The shop only opens for the two or three weeks leading up to Christmas. The premises are donated for this short period of time rent free and the shop is staffed by volunteers. In this short term shop which operates each year, the volunteers sell Fair Trade products from Asia, Africa and South America. They also sell books, cards, hot chocolate and coffee. 25 volunteer staff will … Continue reading →

Putting It Into Practice – part 3

Yesterday, during my quiet time, I was encouraged after praying for healing and strength for a dear friend and his wife, to come across this line in ‘Streams in the Desert.’ It said ‘Perseverance in prayer is necessary to prevalence in prayer.’ In the passage for the day the point was made, that it is by praying we learn how to pray more effectively. In other words it comes back again to putting it into practice. When I conduct writing workshops I often tell my students it’s no good saying they want to write, or reading about writing, or even … Continue reading →

Concerned and Consistent Christianity

‘To Love anyone is nothing less than to wish that person good,’ Thomas Aquinas said. Sometimes showing our love, requires us to correct or discipline as we may have to do with our children. Or we may have to admonish or to warn those we love, as I did in the letter I wrote to a friend. See my blog, what to do when a friend is in danger. In 1 Corinthians 4:14-21 Paul is faced with this problem of having to exercise tough love. Paul recognized that the Corinthian church had problems. The church was divided and worldly, I … Continue reading →