Things have been a bit quiet here for a little while.

The reason is mostly to do with something really exciting that’s happened, and something that’s also involving lots of hard work, and keeping me busy! 

It’s a whole new road I’m on in my work.

It came down to this one day in September. It’s strange to think you can wake up one day, and have no idea quite how different things are going to be by the end of it.

For a while I have been thinking about returning to university to do more postgraduate study. It’s such a passion for me, but each time I looked into it, there was always something that made it somehow out of reach.

But this one day, on the eve of Michaelmas term beginning, I made a phone call, and as if everything were just waiting there, ready to fall perfectly in its place, by the end of that day, I had been accepted into a Master’s programme full-time, in Theology.

For me, it’s providence.

The opening hand of the Unseen.

The good gift of a Father truly perfect in goodness.

That’s how I feel. As if He has gone before, made the way ready, and when the time has been right, given something so unexpected and for me, special, it takes my breath away.

And though I’m learning so much about God in so many ways through all of this, the thing that stands out for me is this – that the goodness He has for us, so far exceeds anything that I could ever plan for myself.

He creates experiences that bring such joy, that I never could have even thought up on my own.

And that in His will, there is no obstacle. Nothing withstands His hand. His grace.

While I don’t want to give the impression that experiencing God’s goodness in quite the way it is now, is an everyday thing for me, or ignore the heartache and unanswered questions there can be; in this new opportunity, for me, God’s goodness and beauty in a hundred different ways, has been beyond words.

I really hope to be able to share stories along the way, even from these first few weeks, my love for the chapel being one (it is so beautiful there!) Just to say for today though, that the photo here, is from a visit there yesterday.

“For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future” – Jeremiah 29:11.

[Just to mention too for any friends from Revelation TV, that everything stays the same with the programmes I’m involved with, alongside my study].

Though it may not make sense now, He is there.

From what may seem messy and confusing, He brings purpose and great beauty.

Join us tomorrow for Flourish Women’s Conference!

The vision of the Conference is to equip and encourage women spiritually to be all that God has called us to be, and the theme for this year is ‘Total Dependence on God.’ See the flyers for all the details, and we would love to see you there! 

Wait calmly for God alone, my soul,
because my hope comes from Him.
He alone is my Rock and my Saviour—my stronghold.
I cannot be shaken.

My salvation and my glory depend on God.
God is the rock of my strength, my refuge.

Trust Him at all times, you people.
Pour out your hearts in His presence.
God is our refuge.
Selah

Psalm 62:5-8

"Come to Me, all of you who are tired and have heavy loads, and I will give you rest. Accept My teachings and learn from Me, because I am gentle and humble in spirit, and you will find rest for your lives.”

~ Jesus, Matthew 11: 28-29

"I am the Vine, you are the branches. When you’re joined with me and I with you, the relation intimate and organic, the harvest is sure to be abundant. Separated, you can’t produce a thing. Anyone who separates from me is deadwood …” Jesus, John 15:5-8.

Deadwood.

How I know the feeling of it, this brittleness of spirit. Where fullness in You has seeped away, Your nearness, Your voice, the joy of You, something of yesterday.

And I could speak to You of a hundred reasons why, but You know already, before a word is even on my lips.

The pace of my days. The weariness of my body. A heart captured by something else.

You are the Vine, and You speak of this union with You as our life-blood.

And so it is I discover, as the heart becomes arid, and the spirit faints.

Without You, there is poverty, and only the meagre crumbs of an evening spent, to offer up for today’s fill. And it is not enough. Apart from You, we can do nothing.

But Your covenant with us is an everlasting covenant.

Your love reaches to the heavens, and Your faithfulness to the skies.

Your Spirit, a gentle breeze in my world once more.

And then it falls. 

Grace, like the rain.

Grace, like the rain.

The soil of heart, softens.

What was parched and arid, turns a leaf that is green.

Life, once more.

You speak of this union with You Lord, as intimate, organic. The place from which our lives spring, and flourish in a thousand colours for You. The place we find our pulse, our strength and our vitality. The place of harvest.

Jesus, may Your Spirit of grace rain on our hearts. May we hold fast to You, our Vine. And In You, may our lives flourish, the harvest, rich.

Photos and Prose by Birgit Whelan © Copyright 2011

With Love, B ox

I really love these acoustic ‘chapel’ versions of songs from church.

This is the very beautiful, Hosanna.

Heal my heart and make it clean
Open up my eyes to the things unseen
Show me how to love, like You have loved me.
Break my heart for what breaks Yours
Everything I am for Your kingdom’s cause
As I walk from earth, into eternity.

I wanted to post a song, one of my favourite songs, about God’s love for us. For me, the words convey so much of this love – ‘like a hurricane.’ A love that is jealous for us. A love that ecilpses our afflictions and our regrets. A love that is full of grace. ‘If grace is an ocean, then we’re all sinking!’ So beautiful, and so true.

We are His portion, and He is our prize.

May this song minister to each one of us, and may we encounter Him, and this love like a hurricane more and more in the year ahead.

He is jealous for me
Love’s like a hurricane, I am a tree
Bending beneath the weight of His wind and mercy
When all of a sudden, I am unaware of these afflictions eclipsed by glory
and I realize just how beautiful You are and how great your affections are for me.
Oh, how He loves us so
Oh, how He loves us
How He loves us so.

Yeah, He loves us
Oh, how He loves us
Oh, how He loves us
Oh, how He loves.

So we are His portion and He is our prize,
Drawn to redemption by the grace in His eyes
If grace is an ocean we’re all sinking
So heaven meets earth like a sloppy wet kiss and my heart turns violently inside of my chest
I don’t have time to maintain these regrets when I think about the way

That He loves us,
Oh, how He loves us
Oh, how He loves us
Oh, how He loves …

May we each encounter God in the year ahead, and experience more fully Who He is, His presence and His love that is beyond measure (Eph. 3:16-19).

If you would like to know about the images that are reflected in this video, about Who Jesus is, and why He died in the way He did, please follow this link.

With love and blessings to you for the New Year, B ox

In Christ alone my hope is found
He is my light, my strength, my song
This Cornerstone, this solid ground
Firm through the fiercest drought and storm

What heights of love, what depths of peace
When fears are stilled, when strivings cease
My Comforter, my All in All
Here in the love of Christ I stand

In Christ alone, who took on flesh
Fullness of God in helpless Babe
This gift of love and righteousness
Scorned by the ones He came to save

‘Til on that cross as Jesus died
The wrath of God was satisfied
For every sin on Him was laid
Here in the death of Christ I live

There in the ground His body lay
Light of the world by darkness slain
Then bursting forth in glorious Day
Up from the grave He rose again

And as He stands in victory
Sin’s curse has lost its grip on me
For I am His and He is mine
Bought with the precious blood of Christ

No guilt in life, no fear in death
This is the power of Christ in me
From a life’s first cry to final breath
Jesus commands my destiny

No power of hell, no scheme of man
Could ever pluck me from His hand
‘Til He returns or calls me home
Here in the power of Christ I’ll stand