Category Archives: Reflections

Musings and reflections on the nature of life and walking with God.

Prayer for Fasting During Lent

Jesus teaches us to begin with ourselves, not to become weary by judging others but to create rivers of truth, hope, peace, joy and love that flow through our own beings (John 7:38). During Lent we seek to pull aside from the tides of work, family, community and the world that push and pull us and kick away the props that merely get us through each day. We come just as we are – fully human – and encounter the divinity of the living God. This is where transformation begins, where we receive from and follow the example of Jesus. From his very holistic teaching, and outworking of grace, we learn to spend time alone with the Father, engage in Spirit led giving, sleep, rest and social time with friends. It is from this place that we use our gifts to bring God’s kingdom to earth. All these things flow from the centre…our centre filled with the Holy Spirit, alive in us and through us.

As you draw aside during this time of Lent, may renewal, healing, growth and peace be yours. Here is a new prayer I have recently written that hopefully will inspire and lead you as you seek God and turn from the props that this world offers us:-

Prayer for Fasting During Lent

I shall lay aside the pressure I feel, and retreat into your space,
Away from distractions, I’ll seek you face to face.
I shall lean into you Lord, where the weight of the world
Falls away from my shoulders, let your freedom unfold.

I shall burrow so deeply, in you I’m covered and safe,
Lift my eyes up to linger on the love in you gaze.
I shall shelter, encircled by the depth of your care,
Where your majesty leads me, I await you in prayer.

I shall whisper my worries, here I’ll open my fears
And lay here unfolded, in a river of tears.
I shall rest my soul gently and nestle into your hope,
Seeking only to dwell here, in your peace I will soak.

Prayer for Couples

The closeness found in marriage can provide a really beautiful space in which you learn together, grow in maturity and enjoy a deep friendship and intimacy. It was for me an extraordinary trigger to becoming more of who God created me to be and is such a blessing. However, that same close perimeter can be hard to live in if you are both encountering darkness, rejection, despair or confusion. Loving each other through the challenging times can be difficult as the closeness and intimacy of a marriage means that it is here that we are real, here where we let off steam, here where we will need to offload!

The following prayer is a helpful reminder that marriage is a three-cord relationship, that the cord of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit weave into our lives and within our love. The prayer asks for God’s light to shine in the dark days, for protection to cover our weaknesses, hope to return by the wind of God’s Spirit and sight to have new vision. So even if the road is so arduous that your marriage has taken the toll, take your partners hand and pray. Pray together if that is possible, pray silently if easier and on your own if your loved one has lost faith. Light will come, a shield will surround you, hope will arise, and vision will be found again. Your marriage is a beautiful thing, a rich treasure, and a great gift – to each of you and those who surround you. Here is the prayer:-

Lord be our Light

Lord be our light.
When the darkness seeps in,
brighten our days with the power of praise.
Lord be our light.

Lord be our shield.
When the arrows of hurt tear us down,
help us to hold a covering of gold.
Lord be our shield.

Lord be our hope.
When despair starts to rise
keep us afloat, blow the sails of our heart.
Lord be our hope.

Lord be our sight.
When confusion ensnares,
free us to see, to hold onto our dreams.
Lord be our sight.

Lord, come be our light,
our shield, our hope and our sight.
For in you we trust,
in you we arise.

This film is available to download for a small sum by visiting this page.

When Everything Lines Up…

As a “prayer woman””, I am instinctively led to study, practice and mentor in prayer. In my experience, there seems to be a combination of things that can connect together and can lead to my prayers being answered in miraculous and transformational ways. The first factor is “who” is praying.

Who

Intimacy with the Holy Spirit comes from the foundation of grace and acceptance of Christ’s death and resurrection lived out in the believer. The “who” can be undermined by so many things…anger, fear, bitterness, failure, regret, disappointment, sin, sorrow, hopelessness….I could go on! Yet we are all endlessly cleaned and made worthy. May we grasp the depth of forgiveness and love that Christ brings us! In this place we can stand and ask with complete confidence.

Asking

Here we lay our hopes and dreams at the foot of the cross. Our prayers will be bold and filled with the faith. Remember that our prayers only need faith the size of a mustard seed for the mountains to move!

Atmosphere

Timing can be essential in prayer. This comes from being Spirit led. What is the condition of the spiritual atmosphere? Worship can be key in leading us metaphorically from the noise, speed and commotion of a “motorway” to become a people, united in journey with Heaven, experiencing the “country lane” of God’s presence – bathing in the safety, the quiet and the space we need.

I truly believe in prayer as a way of life, as prayer in action, in thought, in place and promise. Yet I also believe that sometimes it all lines up! The “who”, the “ask” and the “atmosphere”. This is why my prayer life is such a mix! Prayer in petition, prayer in gifts, prayer in action, and prayer in worship – seizing the moment in that sacred place.

I Missed the Moment

One of the things through prayerscapes we are continually seeking to give out in is words. So often we are lost for words when it comes to the really deep things in life. Hopefully the resources we create will fill in those spaces, and help you communion with your heavenly Father, communicate to your church family or minister to a loved one in need.

So often, I miss the moment. I come away from an encounter or conversation with someone only to feel that I didn’t say what I felt in my heart needed to be said. I guess it is easier to talk about the weather, the children, the local news stories as these things are light weight! Yet when I am aware and brave and engaged, and I do say something significant then I find amazing things can happen. Even with simple words of encouragement like “I think you are a really patient mum” or “I really appreciate your smile each morning, thank you!” or “Do you realise how much I adore you, you light up my life with your funny ways!”. Anything but “Tea’s on the table”, “Is the baby waking at night?” or “Put your shoes on!”

It is so hard to weave these significant things into each day. However, I’m hoping not to waste my words too many times. Why not join me in resolving to be more led by the Spirit, to make words count, and to say something meaningful to somebody today?

How can I be fully alive this afternoon?

In Paul’s letter to the Ephesians, he exhorts them to be “fully alive like Christ” (Eph:4:13, The Message). But what does it mean to be fully alive? I believe that being “fully alive” is not some special state we only touch in moments of connection, achievement, joy or participation. To be “fully alive” is to be fully real. When we seek to be fully alive in the presence of our loving Father, we can relax, let it all hang out! We can fully accept ourselves, we can communicate honestly with each other and we are released to engage with the wonder of the world around us in the present moment. We become aware again that we are in the presence of the majesty of heaven.

However, praying in the afternoon presents certain challenges. I find morning prayers easier to say – there is something inspirational about the blank canvas of the day and the promise that it holds that causes my faith to come alive. But as the day passes, my expectations can fade. Afternoon for me can be like the tipping point between the hopes of youth and the acceptance of age, or the refreshing experience of new relationships and the stamina required to maintain an ongoing commitment to someone. So I really need to invite God into my afternoon, the afternoon of my marriage, the afternoon of my career, the afternoon of my parenting and the afternoon of my health.

We are always in the presence of God (Matthew 28:20), so let’s take hold of these afternoon times in our lives and days. Let’s press on to be all we could be and use scripture, music, visuals or our senses to engage with the spiritual hunger that is within us. Let’s allow hope to arise in our hearts and faith to arise from our lethargy. Now is the time to be alive and allow God to engage with us in every moment:-

Afternoon Prayer

O Lord, help me to be fully alive in this moment.
Right now I choose to become
Everything that you have created me to be.
Face to face, I long for you.
Deep to deep, I draw close to you.
Heart to heart, I touch you.
May I feel your perfect love
Know Your heavenly hope
And receive your gift of faith.
May this moment stay with me
For the rest of this day.

Amen.

It’s possible to download and keep this film in HD for a small fee by following this link.

Living Stones

I love the metaphor that the Apostle Peter uses in his first letter, that each of us are “like living stones”. I have been thinking about this passage a lot recently. For the believer, we can place our lives on the foundation of Christ, and we are blessed by the intimate and secure relationship we have with him “the living Stone”. God the master builder places his living stones just where he wants us. Each of us are important, unique parts of the whole church, the bride, the beloved! Each of us is in contact with one another, taking the strain together, building something of kingdom beauty:-

^“As you come to him, the living Stone—rejected by humans but chosen by God and precious to him— you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.” (1 Peter 2:4-5, NIV)

Our job description is to “declare the praises” – we are speakers of praise (v9), declarers of truth, and of love and light. We are alive because Christ is within us, in truth, grace, love, hope and peace. Just like plants we flourish, we grow, we adapt, we bloom, we bear fruit as out roots go deep into the “living Stone”.

I am often humbled by wonderful neighbours, work colleagues, family and friends I have around me. I see them faithfully loving, giving and caring. I notice their integrity, passion and commitment and I am often blessed by their kindness and compassion. They sense Christ and bless others yet do not know him as Saviour. How do I a “living stone” help them to join the community of followers of Jesus? I think the key is this….to notice when I have ceased to be “alive”. So many things can steal life from me – failure and guilt, confusion, the suffering of others, etc. Sometimes I just harden up, or I cut my myself off or I allow a cloud of despair to cover and quell the life in me. I see this in others too! Yet I know the way out, the way back to life. It can take a little while, but I fully understand the grace and love of Christ’s legacy. So, I would like to spur you on to be real, especially with those who are still searching in life. I want those around me to feel safe to reveal their hardships, struggles and anxieties. Only then will they relate to my journey and ultimately to the one I walk with. I need to be a “living stone” so that I drip with grace, pour out the hope of eternity and ooze love and encouragement. Being alive to the Holy Spirit is a daily need and it is what those around me need me to be!

I’d like to invite you to pray with me this simple prayer:-

Lord,

Help me to be a living stone as I faithfully take my place in the building of your Kingdom here on earth.

May I come alive with love and grace, be ever singing your praises

And supporting others in their own walk of faith.

May I drip with grace, pour out the hope of eternity,

And ooze divine love and encouragement. Amen.

Leaning into God this Lent

Lent is an opportunity to lean in, to abandon yourself to intimacy with a living God, and to taste the refreshing water of God’s love and grace. When Jesus went into the desert for forty days he learnt what it meant to lean into his Father and remind himself of God’s promises. It was in that dry, hot, barren place that the enemy attacked him when he was physically most vulnerable.

in a slightly different way we as humans all have “desert” areas, places that are dry and harsh, places where we choose to shut God out of. Sometimes we can do many things to cover our own arid lands. We distract ourselves with purchasing things, chase achievements, hide in a fictional tale, mask our feelings with comfort eating, find a media fast fix or drink away our sorrow with a latte or beer! All these things are not wrong in themselves, but they can become like a plaster on a wound, preventing the air of God’s Spirit from circulating, they can stop the rain of God’s love touching us, or just cover the hurt so well that others do not realize our pain.

Sometimes it is important to strip these things back a little and see what lies underneath. Leaning into God is an active thing. It requires trust that a strong arm will hold you, courage that you won’t be rejected, it requires forgiveness when you have been hurt and hope to push through disappointments and engage with life again. God really cares about the desert areas of our lives! His heart breaks for the lost possibility of softness and healing, the intense pain of midday sun moments, and the sadness of the barren land holding no new nurture or growth. The good news is this – leaning into God is not as complex as it may seem. In the rivers of grace opened by Jesus’s death, small things can create huge restoration! It’s true – so just choosing once to leave the chocolate bar in the cupboard and remain before God can bring light into a dark place of disillusionment. This light is not only an opening for confession, it can become a peephole for deep renewal.

Leaning into God this Lent can also be an active choice for something. Deciding on a Saturday afternoon to go for a walk out onto the hills instead of the browsing the usual shops could be the beginning of a new wave of hope that breaks across the desolation of grief, or the rejection of a broken relationship, or a complex health issue. Seize the moments you have in Lent to lean in. Give everything to God, hold nothing back. And in those times, read the word of God, engage with the beauty of the earth, listen to inspiring music, phone a trusted friend, stop to pray, or just curl up and rest! Push away the props. Allow the light of Christ to illuminate your path, the rain of God’s spirit to soften your way, and you will discover new seeds of hope have taken root in your life.

I wrote a short prayer this month which carries these thoughts to God. You may like to pray it now as you lean into Him during this time:

I Will Turn

Lord, I will turn,
Turn my face towards you.
I will lay before you the desert areas I hide
And turn to soak in your refreshing words of life.
I will cast aside the barren, selfish pursuits
And turn to rest in the tranquil warmth of your love.
I will draw back from the harsh pull of media
And turn to bathe in the gentle power of your Spirit.
Lord, today I turn my face towards you.

I will turn
To soak in your words of life,
To rest in the warmth of your love,
And to bathe in the power of your Spirit.

Here is a short film meditation we have created featuring the words of this prayer: –

It’s possible to download this film in HD for a small sum by visiting this page.

Dwell at Christmas

In this season of giving, it is hard sometimes to cut through the commercial trappings, rise above the “perfect Christmas” expectations and truly connect with loved ones to give a gift that is really yearned for. We (like most creatives) sometimes find it hard to “push” our own work, to believe that our music can really bless others the way it is intended to. Yet strangely, as I find myself in a broken place surrounded by much sorrow and pain with friends and family, I have needed to “Dwell” myself! Searching through my CD’s I have come back to this album as the space it offers me helps me to pray and intercede for those suffering, even in the darkest times. We thought we would share with you a quote from a recent review of the album by writer and blogger Freya Pickard. It encourages us that “Dwell” can connect with and carry others:-

“This cd was the perfect gift at a very difficult time…Not since I discovered the music of Iona in the 1990s, has a cd had such a profound effect on me. Hearing it gives me goosebumps. I find it both relaxing and challenging. When I first listened to it, I felt like a dry sponge soaking up cold, refreshing water.”

(Read this review in full at Dragonscale Clippings Blog)

So, we hope that others will choose Dwell as a gift for loved ones and that the Holy Spirit would find space in the lives of the listeners to heal, restore, envision and keep them.

“The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”

Here are some excerpts from Dwell:-

It’s possible to buy “Dwell” by following this link.

A Beautiful Prayer

I think one of our deepest longings as humans is to know that there is a purpose for our lives, that we have a role to play in this world. Thankfully as Christians we can be certain that life isn’t just a random series of events. God the creator of the earth and the heavens is still at work now, intricately weaving beauty and purpose into our lives, building His Kingdom here on earth.

The prayer of St Richard is very special to me. I performed in the musical “Godspell” in my teens, and sang “Day by Day” as a solo. Although I didn’t feel at that time I knew God, I truly meant the words “to see thee more clearly, love thee more dearly” and “follow thee more nearly.” It was many years later that I realised that I had travelled to study in Chichester where St Richard lived when he wrote this prayer! And in my journey to knowing Christ as a young person these words have remained with me, like a mantra! God brought me to Chichester. He can and does weave all things together. I now realise that the living Lord responded to my earnest desire to know something of Him in my life, and he has directed my path. For it was in Chichester that I did find faith, began writing with Neil, and Prayerscapes was born. Look for the Kingdom story in your life – journeying with Christ is such an amazing adventure!

Here is this beautiful prayer. St Richard is said to have utter these words in his final hours:-

It’s possible to download this film in HD for a small sum by visiting this page.

The Prayer of St Richard (Bishop of Chichester between 1244 to 1253)

Thanks be to you, our Lord Jesus Christ,

for all the benefits which you have given us,

for all the pains and insults which you have borne for us.

Most merciful Redeemer, Friend and Brother,

may we know you more clearly,

love you more dearly,

and follow you more nearly,

day by day.

Amen.

Dwell – a new worship film meditation

Sometimes God can surprise us with His presence. We read in the bible that He is always present with us – it’s just that we often forget this (or prefer to ignore this truth!) On the road to Emmaus (Luke 24:13-31) the disciples didn’t even realize it was the risen Jesus who they conversed with, until he broke bread with them.

On one particularly stressful day, I had a moment waiting in the car for my son to come out of school. I just found myself saying “God, thank you for your goodness to me”, over and over again, so much so that I was overwhelmed by the presence of God. Gradually the cloud of anxiety and fear lifted, and I knew in my inner being that I could relax and know that “all shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of things shall be well”
(Julian of Norwich ca.1342- 1416. Christ is said to have uttered these words to Julian in a near death apparition)

It was in this moment that I sang the first line of “Dwell”. I knew that what I needed to do with the rest of the song was to somehow recreate this peace that I had experienced. I hope that as you listen to the track you will encounter this rest for your soul. But before you do so, I want invite you to get somewhere were you won’t be disturbed for five minutes, switch your mobile off, invite God to speak to you, and then press play:-

This track is the title song from our new prayerscapes album “Dwell”, out now on iTunes, and downloadable from our site here.

The chords, lyrics and full piano score (in E minor) are also available on this page.