Lynda's Blog

  Each year in December we give the Sunday School children a small gift as an acknowledgement of our love for them as a church family. This year, we have only had around four to six children attending Sunday School as we currently have very few families participating in our morning church services. Today, I met with our Corps Officers (the Salvation Army name for ministers or pastors), to discuss what the children’s slot in the church service might look like. Each child will be invited up for their gift, plus I have a special extra gift which is a name plaque with the spiritual meaning of their names. I will give a brief talk on the importance of names, present the plaques then pray for the children. We will also recognize a group of neurodiverse children who are brought to church with the couple who care for them. They do not attend Sunday School but are an important part of our church family. Then the Corps Officers mentioned they would be inviting families from Recovery Ch...

  Have you ever questioned God? I had many questions for him over this last fortnight. I was looking forward to attending my nephew’s wedding, although I was a little nervous too. I was flying down to his hometown, and I haven’t flown for around fifteen years. It was, comparatively speaking, not a long trip at all—around one hour forty. Not a biggie! But for someone who is older, hasn’t flown in a long time and tends toward being anxious, I was nervous about the flight. However, I was also extremely excited. I was travelling with my brother, sister, and daughter and because of the cost we were only going for two nights. On the day we arrived we were visiting my niece and great-niece who is only four years old. I haven’t seen her for a couple of years. Following that there was a family dinner out with my nephew. The following morning was an early breakfast with my nephew, then in the afternoon, the wedding. I was so looking forward to that. The last day would be a leisurely morning,...

  My devotions this morning were based on the joy of the Holy Spirit. It talked about having joy throughout our day, every day. I sat and reflected on this and realized that it is not true of me. There are days I let worry take control of my mind. There are days I am tired and just want to get through my day. There are days I am so busy and rush from one thing to another, feeling pressured and stressed. How do I have joy in these situations? It is of course, a work of the Holy Spirit and one of the fruits of the Spirit. I need to connect with the Holy Spirit more and be more in tune with him. I need to consciously search for joy. It is a bit like ‘practicing the presence’ of God. After reading Brother Laurence’s book ‘The Practice of the Presence of God’ I found my self pursuing God’s presence in the same simple but effective way. That is, I started intentionally thinking of Him throughout the day. I admit that there are times I don’t do this, yet increasingly I am thinking of Go...