Blog
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Life in the UK – Learning to Translate
On my last night in Spain a week or so ago, we went out to dinner at the local restaurant and enjoyed a feast of tapas. The plates kept coming, one after another, and the one that stunned me the most was the piping hot goat’s cheese, battered and deep fried. Oh. My. Word. Was…
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Weekly devotional – The miracles of Jesus (1 in Jesus’ miracles series)
Today we’re starting a new devotional series, looking at the miracles of Jesus, via Matthew’s gospel. He’s on a mission to reveal the authority of Jesus. First he demonstrates that Jesus is the Son of God through his Sermon of the Mount, which left the crowds amazed. Then he moves from Jesus’ words to his…
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Review – two novels of two clergy spouses
As we head into summer, are you thinking about reading more novels? Here are two that I found satisfying. Both have protagonists who find their identity through staying within what they discerned were God’s boundary lines for their lives (see Psalm 16). Interestingly, both include women married to clergymen, though I hadn’t anticipated that… I was…
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How do we create?
We, the creatures of a creative God, are poised for creation and collaboration (and sorry about all those c’s). I was so struck by this last week I was in sunny Spain with an animated, gifted group of women as I led the retreat portion of the retreat/holiday at El Palmeral. We were looking at…
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Devotional of the week – The Indwelling Christ (7 in John 15-16 series)
I did not tell you this at first because I was with you. John 16:4 The first day I left PyelotBoy at nursery (UK; US: pre-school), I wondered how he would fare and if he would be lonely or afraid. My husband and I had tried to prepare him for the good things to come,…
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Devotional of the week – Our Commission (6 in John 15-16 series)
And you also must testify, for you have been with me from the beginning. John 15:27 When I was an editor at HarperCollins I commissioned the memoirs of Canon Michael Green. Sharing the good news of the gospel seems to pour out of him naturally, with his winsome words accompanied by a bright smile. I,…
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Review – memoir of life in Afghanistan
I came across this gripping memoir through a review in the Woman Alive Book Club, and was grateful for the recommendation. In the Land of the Blue Burqas tells the stories of an American woman who spent five years in Afghanistan, working for an NGO with the goal of helping Afghan women. She recounts her experiences in a…
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Devotional of the week – A Privileged Relationship (5 in John 15-16 series)
When the Counselor comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father, he will testify about me. John 15:26 Inspired by dramatized courtroom dramas, I decided when at university that I wanted to be a lawyer. (I’m embarrassed to admit that one of them…
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Review of a quirky memoir
A year or so ago I read nearly twenty books for a feature article in the Christian publishing trade magazine. That’s a lot of reading, even for a self-confessed bibliophile such as me. In the midst of all those words, the ones that stood out to me were those in Dallas and the Spitfire, the…
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Life in the UK – Cause for celebration?
Why does a nation so filled with great achievements and peoples not celebrate? Why is a national day off simply called a Bank Holiday? Though I’ve lived on this small island for many a year now, I’ve taken a long time to understand what is behind this reticence. But my opening sentence gives a hint,…
