Lessons from a Rose

I have been reading slowly through 'The Complete Stories of Sherlock Holmes' by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, which I enjoyed as a teenager and was very happy to receive as a gift this Christmas!

Sherlock Holmes is amazing because of his powers of deduction, figuring out all kinds of things about people from small details in their clothing and what they are carrying.

The other day I was delighted as I came across a part where he uses those same abilities to deduce the character of God from a simple rose:

'There is nothing in which deduction is so necessary as in religion,' said he, leaning with his back against the shutters. 'It can be built up  as an exact science by the reasoner. 

Our highest assurance of the goodness of Providence seems to me to rest in the flowers. All other things, our powers, our desires, our food, are all really necessary for our existence in the first instance. 

But this rose is an extra. It's smell and its colour are an embellishment of life, not a condition of it. It is only goodness which gives extras, and so I say again that we have much to hope from the flowers.'

Isn't that a wonderful thought? If you think about it, most things on the earth are for our use - trees we use for paper, and for firewood, animals are for food, our own organs are there for useful reasons. 

But flowers are a lovely decoration - an extra that God put there to bless us with beauty, which shows the kindness and goodness of God :)

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As a sidenote, I am turning comments off for a while, but you are welcome to contact me via e-mail, facebook or twitter and I will try to add a contact page soon for that purpose.

My Antidote to Discouragement & UK Fellowship Friday

A couple of weeks ago I realised that I was getting discouraged almost every day, which in turn made me feel even more down! The reason being that I kept failing to get done even half of what I wanted to do. I think the biggest discouraging thing to me is that the house seems to be in a permanent state of messiness and it's so hard to find the time to declutter!

During our time away in Holland I took the K.I.S.S. Guide to Organizing Your Life with me to read. There was a wonderful statement in there that has really helped me.

Working Smart: 'Say to yourself, "I cannot get it all done, but I can get the most important things done."'

That is so freeing to me, to realise I CAN'T get it all done, but I can get some of it done - the most important things. And really that is what matters.

Since my son turned 6 and I have started homeschooling in earnest I have been struggling with managing my time and fitting everything into my day, keeping the house more or less tidy, the laundry done, the meals cooked on time etc.

But what I've realised is that while it is good to have those goals, it's not that big a deal if the breakfast dishes don't get done till lunchtime, the laundry stays in the washing machine over night, and there is an obstacle course of toys on the floor when a visitor arrives. Because there may be more important things that need to be done at that time!

Elisabeth Elliot said that we might not be able to get everything done, but we can get God's will done each day. Sometimes when I'm feeling temperamental I think, "But how do you know what is God's will?"!

I think the first step to knowing that is to be grounded in the word of God and prayer, so that we know what God desires, and what is important to Him.

Then practically the thing that helps me the most (also from the K.I.S.S. book) is to write down a list of all the things I have to or want to do the next day and assign them priorities - A for very important, B for important, and C for not so important. Then go through the As and number them in order of priority, then the Bs and then the Cs, and try and work through them in more or less that order.

I never get them all done, but I get less sidetracked, and I can go to sleep confident that I got the most important things done :)

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UK Fellowship Friday Blog Hop

This blog hop is for Christians who live in the UK to link to a post you have recently written that might encourage other Christians. 

If you join below, it would be great if you could link to this post on your blog so your readers can find the other posts in the blog hop.

Also there is an option to 'Get code' which means that if you paste the code into your own blog you can display the blog hop there. If you do this I would appreciate it if you could copy and paste the first sentence above that explains the blog hop, or just explain it yourself, so that your readers can know what it is about and whether to join in or not.

Blog Awards & UK Fellowship Friday

Holiday Coming Up!

We are all going to the Netherlands to visit my grandma on Sunday, for a little over a week. So I will take a break from blogging. I might put the occasional one in there, but probably not!

Blog Awards

I was very blessed recently to get blog awards from two sweet bloggers. If you haven't come across these before, I think they are a bit like the e-mail chains, but a lot nicer :) I wasn't too sure what to do with it, but when I saw the encouragement it could be to others I thought I would pass it on!

Thank you Florence, from I am a Vessel of God for these lovely awards!

The original rules for accepting this award (though Florence has changed the rules to make it optional :)) are:

1. Add a picture of the award to this post.

2. Thank who nominated you.

3. Share 7 random facts about yourself.

4. Nominate 15 other Bloggers and inform those 15 they have been nominated.

And then I got this beautiful one:

Thank you Tracy, from My daily walk in His grace! 

The rules for accepting this award are

1. Share 7 things about yourself

2. Pass the award to 10 other bloggers

So I'm going to combine them, and bend the rules a bit too so that you can accept the award and just do the other parts if you want to, no pressure!

7 random facts about me:

1. My favourite places in the world so far are the Welsh mountains, and the Lake District - they are so beautiful, quiet and wild!

2. I love playing the piano and singing, especially worship songs.

3. I have struggled with shyness for a long time, so although I enjoy blogging, and do it because I feel God wants me to share what He's teaching me, it is also a constant battle in my head to get past the feelings of nobody wanting or needing to hear what I have to say, and fear that I might say something foolish!

4. I was called 'Smiler' at school because I smiled so much :) I won't tell you the other names I was called!

5. I am a real bookworm. In fact I'd rather buy books than clothes, food or just about anything. I tend not to read many fiction books any more because they are too addictive and I get lost in them and shirk my responsibilities.

6. My favourite books to read are missionary biographies, devotional books (the good old meaty and very challenging kind) and books about practical Christian living.

7. I can't make myself go to a gym because I hate the thought of rowing in a fake boat when I could be out on a lake, cycling on an exercise bike when I could be feeling the wind in my hair, and running on a treadmill staring at a wall when I could be looking at beautiful scenery! Unfortunately I don't get to do many of those right now because of having to be at home for the kids, but maybe one day...

I'm passing the awards on to these great blogs

Please don't feel any pressure to go with the rules above if you don't want to, and since I have combined the two awards, you can pick whichever one you like best!

Along with recommending the two great blogs who gave me these awards, I want to pass them on to these ones. Many of them are from the UK because I think UK Christian bloggers need encouragement, and I also feel close to them since we are in the same muddy trenches! Please do pop over and encourage them with a comment if you can :)

1. Sally at I Take Joy - she will probably be far too busy to read this since she is a mother, wife, author and conference speaker, but I want to take this chance to recommend her blog. Sally writes some of the most spirit-filled close to God kind of writing that I have come across, and she is also very down to earth, gracious, wise and happy to give out practical advice. 

2. Jessica at Our Family for His Glory - If you want to see some sweet children's faces to cheer your heart then her blog is the one you need :) Jessica's blog is the one I go to for ideas for bringing up my children for God, which is really my biggest goal for them.

3. Katie at Do Not Depart - Katie shares my heart for the Bible - memorising it, studying it, meditating on it and more! So I do love her blog which is so Bible centred! She is also the one that got me memorising Philippians again after many years, thanks to her tweeting about it :)

UK Bloggers

4. Anita at Dreaming Beneath the Spires - for being so thoughtful, real, helpful, inspiring and giving! She is also one of the few that I read every week because I enjoy her posts so much.

5. My mum at Jane's Threads and Treasures - OK so it's not a blog with a Christian theme which is what I usually recommend, but she is a lovely committed Christian, and I think she glorifies God with her beautiful quilting! Besides she is the sweetest person I know, so I have to give her the Irresistibly Sweet Blog Award :)

6. Shirley at Under an English Sky - Shirley is a great encourager and I also love to see what she does for homeschooling!

7. Jo at All in a Day - for her very down to earth posts about life as a Christian and the Bible!

8. Naomi at Talking Christian - for being very real and transparent online, and sharing about God in a culture that has forgotten Him.

9. Chris at All about Jesus - for encouraging me, and having a wonderful blog title!

10. Caroline at The Joyful Keeper - for being a ray of sunshine in the UK, with so many great Biblical thoughts :)

11. Alison at Home Education?! You have GOT to be kidding... - for making me laugh and feel less woebegone about my homeschooling and kids-round-the-house-all-day troubles, since there is someone else who has exactly the same kind of things going on!

There are many more who I like and follow too, but it would take me too long to list all of them!

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UK Fellowship Friday Blog Hop

I would love you to link up if you live in the UK and have recently written a post about your faith that might encourage other Christians. Please link to the specific post you've written, then it will help people to find it.

If you join below, it would be good (though not required) if you could link to this post on your blog so your readers can find the other posts in the blog hop.


I would be interested in your thoughts on a couple of things. I had removed the option to get the code for the blog hop to appear on your own blog, because the requirements for entries to be from the UK and Christian would get missed out. But then I realised that I could just ask that people copy and paste them.

Also I removed the 'like' option on entries because I didn't want people who got fewer likes to feel left out! However I am open to putting both of these things back, and am interested to know what you think, so please let me know!

Have You Surrendered?

My husband has been preaching on Romans and finally on Sunday got to the 'THEREFORE' - what our response should be to the first 11 chapters.

I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. Rom 12:1

I loved it! I even took my son into créche earlier than I usually do and prayed that he would stay there and not cry so that I could hear the sermon!

Surrendering my life to God is the most exciting thing that has ever happened to me - and it still is. As my husband said, 'It is the blessed life'. It still has trials and suffering, and we have to die to ourselves.

But it has amazing joy and peace, and more real fulfillment than can be found in anything else, probably because we are growing in our love of God.

George Muller said this:

'There was a day when I died, utterly died, to George Muller and his opinions, preferences, tastes and will; died to the world, its approval or censure; died to the approval or blame of even my brethren and friends; and since then I have studied only to show myself approved unto God.'

And at the end of the day, or of life really, what could be more important than that?

I just want to encourage you, if you are holding back some of your life from God, to think of what He has done for you in sending His only Son to die for you. If we had a friend here on earth who gave that kind of sacrifice, we would forever be indebted to them. How much more then, should we want to live for God?!

Here is one of my favourite hymns, which always inspires me!

O Thou who camest from above,

the pure celestial fire to impart

kindle a flame of sacred love

upon the mean altar of my heart.

There let it for Thy glory burn

with inextinguishable blaze,

and trembling to its source return,

in humble prayer and fervent praise.

Jesus, confirm my heart's desire

to work and speak and think for Thee;

still let me guard the holy fire,

and still stir up Thy gift in me.

Ready for all Thy perfect will,

my acts of faith and love repeat,

till death Thy endless mercies seal,

and make my sacrifice complete. 

Charles Wesley

Linking up with Soli Deo Gloria, Sharing His Beauty and On Your Heart Tuesdays

The Dangers of Questioning the Bible & UK Fellowship Friday

I was referred to a post by a well-known Christian blogger this week, which was about how she felt that the slippery slope of questioning the Bible, though it led to more questions, was OK because her faith is more alive now.

While I'm not attacking her personally, I really have to challenge her conclusions.  For a start she says she has a better faith now, but it doesn't follow that others will too. My mum went to a liberal Bible college and it shipwrecked her faith for many years. She ended up for a long time not even believing that Jesus was the son of God.

I am a thinking and analytical person and still accept the Bible as the word of God and inerrant, which means it does not affirm anything that is contrary to fact. I have had doubts about Christianity in general but came through them. I respect the countless Christians who have researched it, and I know that God is faithful so we can trust and hang on to his Word even though we don't necessarily understand everything.

I have also read about the evidence and reasons for the Bible and if you want to know more about it I recommend Brian Edwards’ book ‘Nothing but the Truth’, which explains the inspiration, authority and history of the Bible.

Here are some reasons why it’s dangerous to start questioning the Bible:

• Where do you draw the line once you have started? How will you know what is really true and what isn't?
• If we question parts of it we can start to wonder if we can really trust God in anything He says.
• If we are deciding for ourselves what is right and what is wrong in the Bible we are making our own minds a higher standard of truth than God's word.
• Life is not just a pick and mix - there is truth out there, and it is important that we find it because it matters for eternity.
• We might start off doubting some of the details, but that can lead to doubting doctrines. Our whole foundation is then rocking.
• If you depart from the word of God you replace it with something else - the wisdom of men. I know which I’d rather go with since God created us, has been there since everlasting and knows everything!
• Feelings are not a reason to abandon truth – if we followed our feelings all the time we would be all over the place. A lot of the modern thought is 'do what feels right for you', but that doesn’t make it right.
• If we pick and choose what we believe in then we are making a God in our own image. "You shall not make for yourself a carved image—any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down to them nor serve them."  Ex 20:4-5 My mum said that when she was experimenting with her faith she thought she had a relationship with the living God, but it was a God she had created herself.

Some of these points are taken from Wayne Grudem's Systematic Theology, which is an excellent and easy to read resource, and has several chapters about the Bible if you want to read more on this topic.


Linking up to Bragging on God Friday, Spiritual Sundays

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UK Fellowship Friday Blog Hop

I would love you to link up if you live in the UK and have recently written a post about your faith that might encourage other Christians. Please link to the specific post you've written, then it will help people to find it.

If you join below, it would be good (though not required) if you could link to this post on your blog so your readers can find the other posts in the blog hop.

Why be Holy?

I loved reading this the other day in Your God is Too Safe by Mark Buchanan:

'The goal of the disciplined life is love: to more and more live in and live out the two greatest commandments. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, strength, mind and soul, and love your neighbour as yourself.

The touchstone of whether you're rightly engaged with any discipline is to ask, "Is my love getting stronger, deeper, richer?" Something is wrong if you find that any discipline or habit you practise is making you arrogant, self-righteous, contemptuous, judgemental.'

It is easy to lose sight of the real goals of growing as a Christian: of becoming more like Christ, of living for God, of obeying the two greatest commandments to love God and others.

I think this is a great reminder to check our heart and motives, to aim for greater love, and to avoid pride.