Devotionals for the Heart: The Creator of the Universe (God) loves you!

For The Love of Mankind
A devotional by Julia Wilson

“They nailed his hands and feet to the cross.”

— Mark 15:24 (TPT)

It may seem strange to focus on Jesus Christ being crucified when we have just celebrated Jesus coming as a baby at Christmas. Christmas and Easter are forever united. We celebrate Christ’s coming at Christmas and we mourn His passing on Good Friday before celebrating the risen Jesus on Easter Sunday.

I want to focus on Jesus the man, the man who loved the whole world so much that He died for us all. (John 3:16) He died for me. My name was on His lips as He hung on that cross. He died for you. Your name was on His lips as He hung on that cross. Don’t you just find that mind-blowing? Two thousand years ago, way before we were born, Jesus died for every sin you and I will ever commit. Wow. That is love in action!

“For when the time was right, the Anointed One came and died to demonstrate His love for sinners who were entirely helpless, weak and powerless to save themselves” (Romans 5:6 TPT). Christ’s love for us is huge! I love the words from Sheila Walsh’s worship song, “Here is Love Vast As the Ocean.” No one will ever love us as much as Jesus loves us. I have an overwhelming love for my children but His love for me is far greater.

A few years ago my husband and I visited Coughton Court in Worcestershire. There is a family church on the grounds and we went in. I am not normally one for statues but there is a statue of Jesus holding out His nail-pierced hands and it had a profound effect on me. I took several photos but even so the image of His hands in tattooed in my mind. I cannot begin to imagine how much those poor hands must have hurt (and his feet too).

I have always noticed hands, they are fascinating. As I stood looking at the statue of Jesus I thought of Mary, His mother. As a baby Jesus had tiny perfect hands. Mary watched those hands grow into a man. And then she had to see those beautiful hands pierced with nails. As a mother, I just feel for her pain. Can you imagine the hurt as a soldier mutilates your son’s body?

When I looked at Christ’s nail-pierced hands, something just pierced my heart to the core. I felt desperately sad. I realized just some of the pain that Jesus endured for me. He died a sinless man for the sins of all mankind. His love for me and for you is vast, far greater than we will ever comprehend.

As you consider and sing songs about Jesus the baby during this Christmas season, please do not forget Jesus the man who died for me, for you and for all mankind.

May I lead you in a prayer?

Let’s Pray: Dear Jesus, thank you for coming in the form of a tiny baby who would grow into a man who would sacrifice Your life to save my soul. Your love for us all is so vast! We all owe a debt we cannot repay. I love You Lord. In Your Holy Name I pray. Amen.

~*~
Author Bio:

My name is Julia Wilson but I also go by Christian Bookaholic.

I live with my husband and five cats in a small town in Worcestershire on the banks of the River Severn (England). We have four grown up children and three granddaughters.

I have always loved reading and have always been surrounded by books. I used to work as a teaching assistant for special needs in the local high school. Ill health forced me to stop working in December 2015. I have Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (known as M.E.) and fibromyalgia. I now have plenty of time to read and review books!

Our eldest son set up my Christian Bookaholic blog. I review every book I read. I read over 300 books a year. I read Christian and mass market. I prefer stories set from 1850 onwards. My favorite type of books to read is stories set in WWI and WWII, and Russia under Czar Nicholas II.

I am a historian, having a Combined Humanities degree where I majored in History and minored in English. I also love swimming. I only learned how to swim in 2017 and go swimming four mornings a week for 90 minutes before breakfast, it keeps my joints going.

I am also a crazy cat lady. I absolutely love my cats. I have grown up with cats and cannot imagine life without them. My dream is to own an old fashioned seal point Siamese … but not while we have our young rescue cat as she hates other cats!

I love God and love going to a large lively church called Lifecentral. I cannot imagine life without God. He gives a peace even when life does not. He guides my life. He is my Rock.

Devotionals for the Heart: Injecting HOPE into our hurting world

God Is Moving
A devotional by Julia Wilson

“God’s spirit is on me;

He’s chosen me to preach the Message of good news to the poor,

Sent me to announce pardon to the prisoners and

Recovery of sight to the blind,

To set the burdened and battered free,

To announce, ‘This is God’s year to act!’” 

–Luke 4:18-21 (The Message)

I have read this passage from Luke, which echoes Isaiah 61:1-2, many times over the years, and from different translations. It is a familiar passage and one of my favourites. God’s Word is alive and last week as I read the above, I saw it with fresh eyes. “This is God’s year to act!” really leapt out at me. How we need a movement of God right here and now.

Like the rest of the world, 2020 in the UK has been a year like no other. As I write, we are at the start of another national lockdown. No one knows what lies ahead but we do not need to worry because God is already there. God sees all our tomorrows. Nothing surprises God.

Our nation and our world needs a movement of God now. We are His mighty warriors! We need to inject hope into our hurting world.

Our pastor, Leon Evans, gave us some wise advice. He recommended starting and ending each day with the Word of God and not the news.

When we look to the world we can easily become down and depressed. No one knows when COVID-19 will end. But when we look to God, He gives us hope. He is alive and active. If we do not tune into Him, we might miss Him. We need lives that recognize His voice and His movements.

“This is God’s year to act!” God is acting. Within our church, people have come to faith during this lockdown season caused by the pandemic. They have done Alpha (a course that explores the Christian faith), joined connect groups and experienced God … yet, some have never stepped foot inside the church.

God is not confined to a building. God is alive and active everywhere!

Have you ever stood and witnessed a sunrise or sunset and just been overwhelmed by the beauty of it all? I certainly have.

I have also been struck by the love of God while doing ordinary household chores. My response was to be to get down on my knees on the kitchen floor and to worship and thank God right there and then. If I had waited, I would have missed the moment.

We have the whole world that needs a reason to hope now. We have a world that needs to know God. Jesus Christ tells us to “go and make disciples of all nations” (Matthew 28:19 NIVUK). This is our mission. Our neighborhood is our mission field. During times of lockdown we cannot travel far. However, we do not need to go overseas to find people who need a touch of God. We need to seek and save the lost in our neighborhoods and towns!

This is God’s year to act! Will you partner with Him and inject hope into our world today?

Please may I lead you in a prayer?

Let’s pray: Dear Lord, Thank you for dying for me. Help me to live for You. Open my eyes to the world around me. Show me who needs to hear from You. Give me eyes to see our hurting world as You see it. Give me hands to do Your work. Thank You for Your presence and Your promise to never leave us nor forsake us. In Jesus’s precious name I pray. Amen.

~*~
Author Bio:

My name is Julia Wilson but I also go by Christian Bookaholic. 

I live with my husband and five cats in a small town in Worcestershire on the banks of the River Severn (England). We have four grown up children and three granddaughters.

I have always loved reading and have always been surrounded by books. I used to work as a teaching assistant for special needs in the local high school. Ill health forced me to stop working in December 2015. I have Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (known as M.E.) and fibromyalgia. I now have plenty of time to read and review books!

Our eldest son set up my Christian Bookaholic blog. I review every book I read. I read over 300 books a year. I read Christian and mass market. I prefer stories set from 1850 onwards. My favourite type of books to read is stories set in WWI and WWII, and Russia under Czar Nicholas II.

I am a historian, having a Combined Humanities degree where I majored in History and minored in English. I also love swimming. I only learned how to swim in 2017 and go swimming four mornings a week for 90 minutes before breakfast, it keeps my joints going.

I am also a crazy cat lady. I absolutely love my cats. I have grown up with cats and cannot imagine life without them. My dream is to own an old fashioned seal point Siamese … but not while we have our young rescue cat as she hates other cats!

I love God and love going to a large lively church called Lifecentral. I cannot imagine life without God. He gives a peace even when life does not. He guides my life. He is my Rock.

Devotionals for the Heart: Reasons why forgiveness is good for you

Forgiveness
A devotional by Julia Wilson

“For if you forgive people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.” 

–Matthew 6:14-15 (NIV)

Forgiveness – we all need to forgive and we have all been forgiven. It sounds so simple but it is often hard to do.

I watched the movie Unbroken a few months ago. It is the true story of Olympic runner American Louis Zamperini. He ran in the 1936 Olympics in Berlin. During World War II his plane was shot down and he spent 47 days in an inflatable boat before being rescued by the Japanese and interned in a prisoner of war camp where he was treated cruelly. It was an excellent movie but harrowing. We saw Louis Zamperini promise God that if he was rescued, he would serve God all of his days. It was a powerful movie.

Then I watched Unbroken: The Path To Redemption – oh wow, that was an amazing true movie covering the years 1945-1950. Louis Zamperini returns to the States, trying to cope on his own as he suffers from PTSD. He has flashbacks to his POW days and can never escape the face of his biggest tormentor, the Fish. As he immerses himself in alcohol, his marriage is on the rocks.

Louis Zamparini’s wife attends a Billy Graham revival meeting in Los Angeles in 1949. It is here that she accepts Jesus and begins to love Louis unconditionally as God loves her. She asks him to go to a revival meeting with her. He goes but reluctantly. He walks out. He goes the next night and is walking out again when he has an encounter with the risen Lord. It is powerful to see it played out but the best is yet to come.

Louis Zamparini returns to Tokyo in 1950, to visit a prison where the cruel Japanese guards are held. He stands before the inmates except the Fish who is yet to be found, and he forgives them all. He asks if the Fish is found, would they give him his (Louis’) Bible. Louis forgave much because he knew he was loved and forgiven by God.

Both movies are very powerful and well worth watching as you witness the love of the risen Jesus Christ and the power of His love to help us to forgive.

Another powerful tale that comes to mind is that of my hero, Corrie ten Boom. She and her sister Betsie, as Dutch Christians, helped to hide Jewish people during World War II. They were both caught and imprisoned in Ravensbrück where Betsie died.

Years after the war, Corrie ten Boom was speaking in Germany. At the end of the meeting she saw the former concentration camp guard (responsible for Betsie’s death) coming towards her with his hand held out. Corrie knew she could not, nor did she want to, forgive him. She prayed “Lord, not in my strength but Yours” and a power went down her arm as she reached her hand out to shake the former guard’s hand. She forgave in the strength of the Lord.

Forgiveness is something that many of us struggle with but we must forgive because Jesus has forgiven us. I have heard it said that to withhold forgiveness is like drinking poison and expecting the other person to die. Or like sitting on the branch you are sawing off.

If we withhold forgiveness, we risk becoming bitter. We carry a burden that was never meant for us. When we forgive, our burden is lifted, our spirit is lighter and we can move with freedom into the future. Often the hardest person to forgive is the face in the mirror.

We need to remember that we are loved by God, confess our sins to Him and receive His forgiveness, and then live loved and forgiven.

If you feel burdened today, please join me in this prayer: Dear God, I come to you with a heavy burden. I ask that You take this burden from me. I do not want to carry it any more. I freely confess my sins to You. Help me to forgive myself. Help me to forgive those who have wronged me. Thank you for Your forgiveness and love. In Jesus’s Name I pray, Amen.

~*~
Author Bio:

My name is Julia Wilson but I also go by Christian Bookaholic. 

I live with my husband and five cats in a small town in Worcestershire on the banks of the River Severn (England). We have four grown up children and three granddaughters.

I have always loved reading and have always been surrounded by books. I used to work as a teaching assistant for special needs in the local high school. Ill health forced me to stop working in December 2015. I have Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (known as M.E.) and fibromyalgia. I now have plenty of time to read and review books!

Our eldest son set up my Christian Bookaholic blog. I review every book I read. I read over 300 books a year. I read Christian and mass market. I prefer stories set from 1850 onwards. My favourite type of books to read is stories set in WWI and WWII, and Russia under Czar Nicholas II.

I am a historian, having a Combined Humanities degree where I majored in History and minored in English. I also love swimming. I only learned how to swim in 2017 and go swimming four mornings a week for 90 minutes before breakfast, it keeps my joints going.

I am also a crazy cat lady. I absolutely love my cats. I have grown up with cats and cannot imagine life without them. My dream is to own an old fashioned seal point Siamese … but not while we have our young rescue cat as she hates other cats!

I love God and love going to a large lively church called Lifecentral. I cannot imagine life without God. He gives a peace even when life does not. He guides my life. He is my Rock.

Devotionals for the Heart: When Jesus Christ is in the fire with you

There is Another in the Fire
A devotional by Julia Wilson

“Look! I see four men walking around in the fire, unbound and unharmed, and the fourth looks like a son of the gods.” –Daniel 3:25 (NIV)

I absolutely love this Bible story in the book of Daniel as it shows the faithfulness of God to His people at all times.

My devotional today is focusing on the experience of three Hebrew men named Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. I want to zero in on the time when they refused to bow down and worship the gold image that King Nebuchadnezzar had set up on the plain of Dura in the province of Babylon. Because of their disobedience, the king ordered them to be thrown into a fiery furnace.

Despite this impending doom, these three friends were confident that God would rescue them. According to Daniel 3:17-18 (NIV), these are the words that they declared to the king, “If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to deliver us from it, and he will deliver us from Your Majesty’s hand. But even if he does not, we want you to know, Your Majesty, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up.”

This made the king so furious that he demanded that the furnace be heated seven times hotter than usual and commanded some of his strongest soldiers to tie Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego together and throw them into the blazing furnace. The Bible goes on to say that the flames from the furnace killed the soldiers as they threw the three Hebrew men into the furnace

Reading on to Daniel 3:24-25, the Bible says that King Nebuchadnezzar “leaped to his feet in amazement his advisers, “Weren’t there three men that we tied up and threw into the fire?” The kings advisers said, “Certainly, Your Majesty.” Then the king said, “Look! I see four men walking around in the fire, unbound and unharmed, and the fourth looks like a son of the gods.”

The fourth person walking around in the fire is believed to be Jesus Christ. This just blows me away. Not only does God rescue the three but He sends His Son to walk alongside them. Wow.

When we face difficult times, God walks right alongside us. We are never alone. God has already made provision for us as He rescues us from our situations.

August 30, 2020 marked the five-year anniversary of a devastating fire at my church Lifecentral in Halesowen (used to be called Zion Christian Centre). God has been so faithful that I wanted to share my perspective with you.

I awoke on that fateful Sunday to my husband saying, “There’s no church today. There’s been a fire. Leon Evans (our pastor) put it on Facebook. We are to stay away.” As the day progressed, photos appeared on Facebook and the church was on the local news too. The auditorium was gone and the building was severely damaged. The photos were awful and I cried. I cried because my church, the place where I had met God, been baptised and had many encounters with Him was gone. It felt like a very black day.

Our pastor Leon Evans put out on Facebook that there was to be a prayer meeting outside the building on the Monday night. He expected half a dozen people … 200 people turned up. We met in the old job centre next door, that the church had bought several years earlier, after God prompted them but they did not know what they were going to do with it at the time. But God did. God knew there would be a fire and we would need a building. Wow. What a faithful God.

For the next four days, volunteers from church, other churches and the local community, cleaned, painted and transformed a dinghy space into a new worship space. Other churches lent us chairs, sound systems and equipment. We were humbled and blessed.

Friday night saw another prayer meeting in a newly transformed space. Again, several hundred people turned up. There were a lot of grateful tears. We all took our shoes off for we felt the place we were standing on was holy ground. This reminds me of Exodus 3:5 (NIV) where God tells Moses to, “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.”

Those few days felt like we moved from Black Sunday to Grateful Friday. Everyone’s faith moved up a level. As my pastor said, “the building burned and people caught fire.”

I felt on that black Sunday that I had lost God that He had somehow burned in the fire. But the truth was that God had walked through the fire and provided and comforted His people. God was not dead. God was alive. My memories of God’s faithfulness are not dead either, they are alive. To quote my pastor again, “buildings don’t change people but what happens inside them does.”

Five years later on from the fire … we have had a name change as a church, the building has been completely renovated, Lifecentral is now one church in four locations: Halesowen, Hagley, Rowley, and Durrës in Albania.

As a church, we have walked through the fire and we came out transformed. God walked with us. He went before us and beside us. He walks with us still.

Due to COVID-19, church meets online on Sunday mornings and the Spirit of God still moves among us. He is changing lives one at a time.

Let’s pray: God, You are amazing. Your love knows no bounds. Your faithfulness just blows me away. You never leave us. You walk through the fires of life with us. Your presence is tangible. I thank you for Your love and your care. In Jesus's Name I pray, Amen.

~*~

Author Bio:

My name is Julia Wilson but I also go by Christian Bookaholic. 

I live with my husband and five cats in a small town in Worcestershire on the banks of the River Severn (England). We have four grown up children and three granddaughters.

I have always loved reading and have always been surrounded by books. I used to work as a teaching assistant for special needs in the local high school. Ill health forced me to stop working in December 2015. I have Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (known as M.E.) and fibromyalgia. I now have plenty of time to read and review books!

Our eldest son set up my Christian Bookaholic blog. I review every book I read. I read over 300 books a year. I read Christian and mass market. I prefer stories set from 1850 onwards. My favourite type of books to read is stories set in WWI and WWII, and Russia under Czar Nicholas II.

I am a historian, having a Combined Humanities degree where I majored in History and minored in English. I also love swimming. I only learned how to swim in 2017 and go swimming four mornings a week for 90 minutes before breakfast, it keeps my joints going.

I am also a crazy cat lady. I absolutely love my cats. I have grown up with cats and cannot imagine life without them. My dream is to own an old fashioned seal point Siamese … but not while we have our young rescue cat as she hates other cats!

I love God and love going to a large lively church called Lifecentral. I cannot imagine life without God. He gives a peace even when life does not. He guides my life. He is my Rock.

Devotionals for the Heart: Jesus Christ is waiting for you to invite Him in

Waiting Here for You
A devotional by Julia Wilson

“Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If you hear my voice and open the door, I will come in and eat with you. And you will eat with me.” –Revelation 3:20 (ERV)

Waiting. We are all waiting for something. In these uncertain days of COVID-19 and lockdowns, we have all been waiting for the opening of shops, restaurants, pubs, gyms and swimming pools. We are also waiting for that precious day when we will be able to hug our loved ones. In Britain, we are used to waiting patiently in queues.

When a person becomes a new Christian, we often hear people say, “All my life I was waiting for something and now I know I was waiting for God.”

Have you ever realized that God is waiting for you? God is a gentleman. He will not force His way into your life. God stands patiently, knocking on the door of your heart. Will you answer His call today?

I love the famous painting by Holman Hunt that illustrates Revelation 3:20. He depicts Jesus Christ standing outside the door of your heart, holding a lamp. He has knocked but cannot go through the door because there is no handle on His side where He stands outside of the door. You must open the door from the inside and invite Him into your life.

Wow! What are we waiting for? Why are we keeping Jesus waiting? If we knew that the Queen of England was coming to our house for tea, we would be constantly at the window looking for her and as soon as she knocked, we would open the door.

Jesus has issued us an invite… He wants to come for tea. Will you open the door and let Him in?

We see another instance of Jesus waiting in Luke 15:11-32 in the story of the prodigal son. In this story, the father waits for his son to return home. And when he finally does, this is what happens: “So the young son set off for home. From a long distance away, his father saw him coming, dressed as a beggar, and great compassion swelled up in his heart for his son who was returning home. So the father raced out to meet him. He swept him up in his arms, hugged him dearly, and kissed him over and over with tender love” (Luke 15:20 TPT).

What we need to know here, is in biblical times, it would have been shocking to see a father figure pick up his robes, run towards his son and hug him. Fathers were more dignified than that but the father does not care what others think, he is focused on his son returning home.

This is a picture of God waiting for us. He is constantly looking out for us to come home to Him. Imagine the scene … we were lost, wandering in the wilderness of life, when suddenly we see the Father running towards us and enveloping us in His love. We have come home. We are loved.

Do you know the Father (God)? Would you like to know the Father? He is knocking on the door of your heart. But the question is, “Will you let Him in?”

If you want to open the door to Jesus for the first time, or maybe you are returning to Him, please may I lead you in a prayer?

Let’s Pray: Dear Father God, thank you for loving me. Thank you for knocking on the door of my heart. I want to open the door to you today. Come into my life and lead me always in your love. In Jesus’s Name I pray, Amen.

~*~
Author Bio:

My name is Julia Wilson but I also go by Christian Bookaholic.

I live with my husband and five cats in a small town in Worcestershire on the banks of the River Severn (England). We have four grown up children and three granddaughters.

I have always loved reading and have always been surrounded by books. I used to work as a teaching assistant for special needs in the local high school. Ill health forced me to stop working in December 2015. I have Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (known as M.E.) and fibromyalgia. I now have plenty of time to read and review books!

Our eldest son set up my Christian Bookaholic blog. I review every book I read. I read over 300 books a year. I read Christian and mass market. I prefer stories set from 1850 onwards. My favourite type of books to read is stories set in WWI and WWII, and Russia under Czar Nicholas II.

I am a historian, having a Combined Humanities degree where I majored in History and minored in English. I also love swimming. I only learned how to swim in 2017 and go swimming four mornings a week for 90 minutes before breakfast, it keeps my joints going.

I am also a crazy cat lady. I absolutely love my cats. I have grown up with cats and cannot imagine life without them. My dream is to own an old fashioned seal point Siamese … but not while we have our young rescue cat as she hates other cats!

I love God and love going to a large lively church called Lifecentral. I cannot imagine life without God. He gives a peace even when life does not. He guides my life. He is my Rock.

Devotionals for the Heart: God's Plan

Trust God’s Timing And Plans
A devotional by Julia Wilson

“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 a hope and a future.” –Jeremiah 29:11 (NIV)

God has a plan for your life and He has a plan for mine. Sometimes He reveals His plans many years in advance. Other times, we do not even realize that we have glimpsed the plan for our future.

Let me share with you the plan that God showed me though I did not realize it at the time and I was too young to even know about God. My twin brothers are three years younger than me. This event happened before they were born. I do not know how old I was.

I remember my Mom dressing me in an all-in-one winter suit and my parents popping me in the car. We drove somewhere. We got out of our car and walked. I remember seeing a bridge across a river with rows of houses either side. I felt drawn to that place.

Bewdley in England (Photo Credit: Julia Wilson)

The longing for that place with the river, the bridge and the houses never left me. As I grew up I would constantly question my parents, asking, “Where did we go?” The answer never changed: They had no idea where it was nor did they know what I was talking about.

I got married, had a family and we lived in four different houses in three different towns. The sense that I desired to go back to that place never left me. I walked my children to school every day. It was about a mile and a quarter up to school and back. I did it twice a day.

One day as I was walking to collect my children, I rounded Beales Corner (as I always did). Suddenly, it was as if the scales fell from my eyes as I looked ahead.

There was the river with the bridge and the houses either side! The place I had been longing for all my life was the place I now lived, and had lived in for several years. Wow! I had done that walk so many times yet never seen it like I saw it that day. Years and years of yearning to return … and yet, I was already home.

Bewdley in England (Photo Credit: Julia Wilson)

I do not know why God put that desire on my heart as a very small child. I do not know why I did not recognize the place of longing the first time I walked to school. But what I do know is God was with me, even when I was too young to know Him. He planned my life out. He put a desire in my heart. And He fulfilled that yearning all in His timing.

I never need to worry about my life because God holds me in His hands. God holds us all in His hands and in His heart. Even when we do not know God, God knows us. He loves us and He cares for us.

If you do not know my caring and loving God, you can know Him today. You can trust His timing and you can trust His heart.

May I lead you in a prayer to help you get to know God?

Let’s Pray: Dear Jesus Christ, I know I am a sinner, and I ask for Your forgiveness. I believe You died for my sins and rose from the dead. I turn from my sins and invite You to come into my heart and life. I want to trust You and follow You as my Lord and Saviour all the days of my life. In Jesus’s Name I pray, Amen.

~*~
Author Bio:

My name is Julia Wilson but I also go by Christian Bookaholic. 

I live with my husband and five cats in a small town in Worcestershire on the banks of the River Severn (England). We have four grown up children and three granddaughters.

I have always loved reading and have always been surrounded by books. I used to work as a teaching assistant for special needs in the local high school. Ill health forced me to stop working in December 2015. I have Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (known as M.E.) and fibromyalgia. I now have plenty of time to read and review books!

Our eldest son set up my Christian Bookaholic blog. I review every book I read. I read over 300 books a year. I read Christian and mass market. I prefer stories set from 1850 onwards. My favourite type of books to read is stories set in WWI and WWII, and Russia under Czar Nicholas II.

I am a historian, having a Combined Humanities degree where I majored in History and minored in English. I also love swimming. I only learned how to swim in 2017 and go swimming four mornings a week for 90 minutes before breakfast, it keeps my joints going.

I am also a crazy cat lady. I absolutely love my cats. I have grown up with cats and cannot imagine life without them. My dream is to own an old fashioned seal point Siamese … but not while we have our young rescue cat as she hates other cats!

I love God and love going to a large lively church called Lifecentral. I cannot imagine life without God. He gives a peace even when life does not. He guides my life. He is my Rock.

Devotionals for the Heart: The Light

Hold On To The Light
A devotional by Julia Wilson

“The Life-Light blazed out of the darkness; the darkness couldn’t put it out.” 

–John 1:5 (MSG)

There are times in life when everything seems dark and uncertain. As we live through this pandemic called COVID-19, life has seemed like that at times. Everything we thought we knew, everything we used to do has gone. We have been in lockdown for months and now we are beginning to emerge into a strange new world.

In these uncertain times, there is one sure thing … God. God has not changed. He is the same yesterday, today and forever. He is the Life-Light and He shines as brightly now as always. We do not need to fear because God is with us today and He sees our tomorrow. He is the Light of the world (John 8:12 NIV).

Have you ever noticed how when you are trying to sleep in a dark room, that just a small ray of light can illuminate and seems to light up your room? Jesus Christ is like that … when we cannot see our way through dark times we need just to look to Him and He will give us just enough light to see the next step. We do not need to see the whole way ahead, just the next place to plant our feet. Jesus asks us to trust Him to guide us through life with all its highs and lows.

I love looking at different Bible translations of the same passage. This is how the Passion Translation says John 1:5, “And this Living Expression is the Light that bursts through gloom – the Light that darkness could not diminish!” Wow! I just love the thought of light bursting through the gloom. Imagine the sun’s rays bursting through the clouds. Jesus is like that when He bursts into our life, He illuminates us and asks us to “let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven” (Matthew 5:16 NIV).

When Jesus is living in us, we are called to be bearers of His light. We are to show Jesus to a hurting world by all that we say and do. The Passion Translation tells us “So don’t hide your light! Let it shine brightly before others, so… they will give their praise to your Father in heaven” (Matthew 5:16 TPT).

St. Francis of Assisi said, “preach the Gospel at all times and if necessary, use words.” Our life is meant to point others to Jesus Christ. Our world can be very dark at times and people need hope. The good news is that we do have hope! Above all, hope has a name … that name is Jesus.

Light will always overcome darkness. Jesus is our Life-Light. We need Him in our life every single day, every step of the way. He is my hope and He can be your hope too! If you have never said yes to Jesus, I would like to give you an opportunity today and have this Life-Light in your life. May I lead you in a prayer?

Let’s Pray: Dear Lord Jesus, I know I am a sinner, and I ask for Your forgiveness. I believe You died for my sins and rose from the dead. I choose to turn from my sins and invite You to come into my heart and life. I want to trust and follow You as my Lord and Savior. In Jesus’s Name I pray, Amen.

~*~
Author Bio:

My name is Julia Wilson but I also go by Christian Bookaholic.

I live with my husband and five cats in a small town in Worcestershire on the banks of the River Severn (England). We have four grown up children and three granddaughters.

I have always loved reading and have always been surrounded by books. I used to work as a teaching assistant for special needs in the local high school. Ill health forced me to stop working in December 2015. I have Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (known as M.E.) and fibromyalgia. I now have plenty of time to read and review books!

Our eldest son set up my Christian Bookaholic blog. I review every book I read. I read over 300 books a year. I read Christian and mass market. I prefer stories set from 1850 onwards. My favourite type of books to read is stories set in WWI and WWII, and Russia under Czar Nicholas II.

I am a historian, having a Combined Humanities degree where I majored in History and minored in English. I also love swimming. I only learned how to swim in 2017 and go swimming four mornings a week for 90 minutes before breakfast, it keeps my joints going.

I am also a crazy cat lady. I absolutely love my cats. I have grown up with cats and cannot imagine life without them. My dream is to own an old fashioned seal point Siamese … but not while we have our young rescue cat as she hates other cats!

I love God and love going to a large lively church called Lifecentral. I cannot imagine life without God. He gives a peace even when life does not. He guides my life. He is my Rock.

Devotionals for the Heart: Jesus Christ can calm any storm in your life

When Jesus Is In Your Boat
A devotional by Julia Wilson

“They all got into a boat and began to cross over to the other side of the lake. And Jesus, exhausted, fell asleep” –Matthew 8:23 (TPT)

Since transport in Biblical times was on foot or by boat, I imagine the disciples because they were fishermen, were used to being in a boat. They would also have been used to being in rough seas. So I can only wonder what was different about this storm described in Matthew 8:24 as “a violent storm.”

There are times in life when we drift along being perfectly content. We are used to little blips and then it is calm again. But now COVID-19 has hit the whole world. It is a situation none of us have experienced before and it is frightening. Like the disciples we feel blown off course. Daily lives have changed. We cannot see our friends and family as we are in lockdown. Symptoms range from none to death. It is a scary time, but when Jesus is in your boat, you do not need to fear. In Matthew 8:26, Jesus said, “Why are you gripped with fear? Where is your faith?”

Nothing surprises Jesus. Nothing scares Him and that is why He sleeps as the storm rages. COVID-19 does not scare Jesus, and if we know Jesus, it should not scare us. Yes, we must obey the government’s rules to “Stay home. Protect the NHS. Save lives.” But we who believe in God and know Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, have unwavering hope. We know that when fear comes knocking, we can run to Jesus because by faith, we know that He will calm us, just as He calmed the storm.

There is an old saying, “Do not tell God how big your fear is. Tell your fear how big God is.” When we have wobbles, and we all do, we must “fix our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith” (Hebrews 12:2 NIV). When we look to Jesus, He will calm the storm inside us, whether it is COVID-19 or anything else. We need to activate our faith muscle.

When Jesus is in your boat, you can rest assured He will never leave you (Deuteronomy 31:6). Whatever you face in life, Jesus will be with you.

What happens when a storm hits and Jesus is not in your boat? Cry out to Him and He will be with you. He never ever left you but sometimes in life, our fear blinds us to His presence. We fail to see, hear or feel Jesus but that does not mean He has left us, it merely means we took our focus off Him.

When I was little, the biggest, boldest, bravest person in my life was my Dad (I realize this may not be the case for everyone). My Dad protected me because he loved me. When I was afraid I could run to him. When I was hurting I could run to him. When I wanted to feel loved I could run to him. My Dad was always in my boat.

Jesus asks us to see Him in the same way. He wants to be in our boat of life. He wants to help us to feel safe, to heal us when we hurt and He wants to love us. 

Jesus is asking you today: Will you let me into your boat? Will you put your faith in Me so I can be with you through all the storms of life? Will you let Me love you?

COVID-19 is unknown and feels very scary. Jesus can help us overcome our fears when we rest in Him. In these uncertain times, why not put your faith in Jesus. If you don’t know Him, then you can, today, right where you are, just reach out to Him.

Let Jesus be in your boat today and let Him calm any storms that rage inside you.

If you have never said yes to Jesus, may I lead you in a prayer today?

Let’s Pray: Dear Lord Jesus, I know that I am a sinner, and I ask for Your forgiveness. I believe You died for my sins and rose from the dead. I turn from my sins and I invite You to come into my heart and life. I want to trust and follow You as my Lord and Saviour. In Your Name I pray, Amen.

~*~
Author Bio:

My name is Julia Wilson but I also go by Christian Bookaholic.

I live with my husband and five cats in a small town in Worcestershire on the banks of the River Severn (England). We have four grown up children and three granddaughters.

I have always loved reading and have always been surrounded by books. I used to work as a teaching assistant for special needs in the local high school. Ill health forced me to stop working in December 2015. I have Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (known as M.E.) and fibromyalgia. I now have plenty of time to read and review books!

Our eldest son set up my Christian Bookaholic blog. I review every book I read. I read over 300 books a year. I read Christian and mass market. I prefer stories set from 1850 onwards. My favourite type of books to read is stories set in WWI and WWII, and Russia under Czar Nicholas II.

I am a historian, having a Combined Humanities degree where I majored in History and minored in English. I also love swimming. I only learned how to swim in 2017 and go swimming four mornings a week for 90 minutes before breakfast, it keeps my joints going.

I am also a crazy cat lady. I absolutely love my cats. I have grown up with cats and cannot imagine life without them. My dream is to own an old fashioned seal point Siamese … but not while we have our young rescue cat as she hates other cats!

I love God and love going to a large lively church called Lifecentral. I cannot imagine life without God. He gives a peace even when life does not. He guides my life. He is my Rock.

Devotionals for the Heart: Trust

Trust Without Borders
A devotional by Julia Wilson

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding.” 

–Proverbs 3:5 (NIV)

As I write this devotional on March 25, the world is held in the grip of the Coronavirus pandemic. People are naturally fearful because we have never been here before. But there is One who knows the end from the beginning. We can trust Him with all our heart. In fact we must trust Him with all our heart.

As The Passion Translation of The Holy Bible says in Proverbs 3:5, “Trust in God completely … with all your heart rely on Him to guide you and He will lead you wherever you go.” Whatever we face in life, whatever surprises us, we can trust God because nothing surprises Him and He always has our back.

For us as a family, we have had a situation that has required us to lean fully on God and to trust Him completely. The situation was completely out of our hands. We had nowhere else to go but to trust and to turn to God in prayer. James 5:16 (TPT) says, “For tremendous power is released through the passionate, heartfelt prayer of a godly believer.”

And believe me, we have pressed into God, believing that He would hear us and that He would answer. I have trusted with all my heart and as I write this, God has answered and performed many miraculous signs. But there is still a way to go, and so I hold on to Him, trusting for that light at the end of the dark tunnel.

We all trust in something … We trust that a chair will hold us up, we trust that gravity will keep our feet firmly planted, we trust that Australia exists. Why? Simply because we have been told or we have experience of these things. So why do we find it so hard to trust God for our family, our finances, our jobs etc.?

We have been told of our faithful God over and over again in the Bible. I think we like to be in control but there are times when we simply have no control. It is in these times that we turn to God and we trust Him completely because there really is nowhere else to go.

What would our lives look like if we trusted God always? God urges us to “pray continually” (1 Thessalonians 5:17 NIV). As we pray, we join with God. When we pray, we must not worry, for if we worry it would be like saying to God that we did not trust Him to move. Prayer goes hand in hand with trust, not worry.

When I was a child I trusted (and I still do) my Dad completely. He said he was always there for me and he was. (I do realize that some will not be as lucky as I was). God says “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you” (Hebrews 13:5 NIV) and yet we do not always believe Him. The promises God makes, God keeps, so why do we not trust Him always?

I absolutely love the worship song “Oceans” by Hillsong. It is a song that I have been singing a lot in recent weeks.

Allow me to paraphrase some of my favourite lyrics from the song that I love: The singer asks God’s Holy Spirit to lead her to a place where her trust in God is without borders. She asks God to help her walk upon the water (like Peter did in a Bible story). She asks God to help her trust Him to lead her and that she will answer His call and follow Him. She asks God to take her deep into her faith journey with Him. She trusts God to take her places that are greater than her wildest imagination. She asks God to strengthen her faith as she walks with Him. She feels blessed by the presence of her Savior (Jesus Christ).

Let’s Pray: Dear God, in these turbulent times, help us to learn to trust You completely. Please bless us with a trust that is without borders. In Jesus’s Name I pray, Amen.

~*~
Author Bio:

My name is Julia Wilson but I also go by Christian Bookaholic.

I live with my husband and five cats in a small town in Worcestershire on the banks of the River Severn (England). We have four grown up children and three granddaughters.

I have always loved reading and have always been surrounded by books. I used to work as a teaching assistant for special needs in the local high school. Ill health forced me to stop working in December 2015. I have Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (known as M.E.) and fibromyalgia. I now have plenty of time to read and review books!

Our eldest son set up my Christian Bookaholic blog. I review every book I read. I read over 300 books a year. I read Christian and mass market. I prefer stories set from 1850 onwards. My favourite type of books to read is stories set in WWI and WWII, and Russia under Czar Nicholas II.

I am a historian, having a Combined Humanities degree where I majored in History and minored in English. I also love swimming. I only learned how to swim in 2017 and go swimming four mornings a week for 90 minutes before breakfast, it keeps my joints going.

I am also a crazy cat lady. I absolutely love my cats. I have grown up with cats and cannot imagine life without them. My dream is to own an old fashioned seal point Siamese … but not while we have our young rescue cat as she hates other cats!

I love God and love going to a large lively church called Lifecentral. I cannot imagine life without God. He gives a peace even when life does not. He guides my life. He is my Rock.

Devotionals for the Heart: Lessons learned from The Lion King (movie)

Lessons From The Lion King
A devotional by Julia Wilson

“I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go.” 

–Psalm 32:8a (NIV)

God is not limited. He can use all sorts of things to talk to us and to get our attention. All around us there are life lessons to be learned.

I have always enjoyed the cartoon of The Lion King so I was very eager to see the new movie. It was, in my opinion, one of the best movies I have ever watched. I found God ‘speaking’ to me throughout this film, so would like to share some of my observations, in no particular order.

Scar, the evil brother in The Lion King, reminded me of the accuser. He takes Simba aside and whispers to him, “You’re no good. Nobody wants you.” He piles the guilt on Simba, encouraging him to run away. I wondered how often do we do this to ourselves? We listen to those voices that tell us we are no good. Nobody likes us. Why would anyone want us? These are not the voices we should be listening to. We need to stop listening to these voices and tune in to the life affirming voice of God. God says we are loved. We are wanted. We are to come to Him just as we are, no running away.

There is a beautiful scene where Simba sits beside his Dad, Mufasa, as they watch the sunset. Mufasa tells Simba that he will always be with him, and to just look up to the sky and he will be there. He will never leave Simba. Isn’t this just like God? God tells us that He will never leave us nor forsake us (Deuteronomy 31:8 NIV). “Surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age” (Matthew 28:20 NIV). When we look for God, we will find Him. “You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart” (Jeremiah 29:13 NIV). Whatever we are facing, look up and see God. We are never alone.

Later Rafiki, the monkey, leads Simba to water, pointing out to him that his father lives in him. We see Mufasa in the reflection. Likewise, we can have our Heavenly Father living in us. We are called to be the eyes and ears, the hands and feet of Jesus to a hurting world.

During their previous father-son talk, Mufasa tells Simba “everything the light touches is yours.” It’s a vast, green area so why is Simba not satisfied? Why does he insist on going to the darkness that is the elephant’s graveyard? We can be a bit like Simba, God tells us that everything we have is ours, so why are we not satisfied? There are echoes here of the grumblings of the elder brother in the prodigal son as his father tells him that “all I have is yours” (John 17:10 NIV).

God is a generous God. He withholds nothing from us. He lavishes good gifts on us so why do we listen to that voice that urges us to give in to temptation? “Go on, you deserve it.” It only takes a small spark to start a huge fire and sin is like that, it just snowballs and before we know it we are deep into addiction (shopping, alcohol, drugs etc.). Even Jesus was tempted in the desert. He defeated temptation by standing on the Word of God. “Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only” (Matthew 4:10 NIV). When we face temptation, we too must stand firm on His Word.

Simba spends a while in the wasteland and while it is a lush, green wasteland, it is not what Simba was created for. He needed to fulfill his purpose to be king. God has a purpose for each and every one of us. We were not created to wander in the wasteland, no matter how nice it looks. We were created for a purpose… we were created to have the promise of God living in us. “Christ in you, the hope of glory” (Colossians 1:27 NIV).

In summary, God wants to teach us life lessons and He will get our attention using whatever He can. For me today, it was The Lion King but tomorrow it will be something different.

~*~
Author Bio:

My name is Julia Wilson but I also go by Christian Bookaholic.

I live with my husband and five cats in a small town in Worcestershire on the banks of the River Severn (England). We have four grown up children and three granddaughters.

I have always loved reading and have always been surrounded by books. I used to work as a teaching assistant for special needs in the local high school. Ill health forced me to stop working in December 2015. I have Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (known as M.E.) and fibromyalgia. I now have plenty of time to read and review books!

Our eldest son set up my Christian Bookaholic blog. I review every book I read. I read over 300 books a year. I read Christian and mass market. I prefer stories set from 1850 onwards. My favourite type of books to read is stories set in WWI and WWII, and Russia under Czar Nicholas II.

I am a historian, having a Combined Humanities degree where I majored in History and minored in English. I also love swimming. I only learned how to swim in 2017 and go swimming four mornings a week for 90 minutes before breakfast, it keeps my joints going.

I am also a crazy cat lady. I absolutely love my cats. I have grown up with cats and cannot imagine life without them. My dream is to own an old fashioned seal point Siamese … but not while we have our young rescue cat as she hates other cats!

I love God and love going to a large lively church called Lifecentral. I cannot imagine life without God. He gives a peace even when life does not. He guides my life. He is my Rock.

Devotionals for the Heart: Fear Not

Letting Go Of Fear
A devotional by Julia Wilson

“There is no fear in love; perfect love drives out all fear.” 

–1 John 4:18a (GNB)

Fear immobilizes us and keeps us from living the life that God intended for us.

Many times within the Bible we hear the phrase “fear not.” God knows that we are prone to be afraid but He asks us to fear not and to trust Him.

An acronym for fear is False Expectations Appearing Real. We concoct scenarios in our head that hardly ever happen yet we are still paralyzed by fear.

For much of my life I have been paralyzed by my fear of water. This stems from childhood – on going to my first swimming lesson when I was eight years old, the first thing the swimming instructor did was to get us all to jump into the deep end to show that we would float. You do not float when you panic, and I had to be rescued. My fear of water began. It was a fear that I passed down to our eldest son.

Fast forward nearly fifty years – I was in my church life group and one of the ladies prophesised in September 2016 that this was the year that God was going to cure me of my fear of water and I would learn to swim. I laughed at her, like Sarah in the Bible, and thought, “No chance. Does she not realize how deep my fear is?”

But God had other plans. Whenever we hear the phrase “But God … ,” we know that God is going to move mightily. According to Jeremiah 29:11 (NIV), God says, “For I know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper you and not to harm you.” God’s plans are so much greater than ours. We need to ‘fear not’ and trust Him.

In January 2017, I signed up for a 10-week course for people older than 50 who want to learn how to swim. I was very frightened. I nearly did not go. But with the love and care of my swimming instructor Vanessa, I did learn to swim. I faced my fear and trusted Vanessa would not let me down. God asks us to face our fears and to trust Him to hold us up “Through All the Changing Scenes of Life,” as the old hymn says. 

When fear threatens to overwhelm, lift your eyes up to God. As the psalmist says in Psalm 121:1-2 (NIV), "I lift up my eyes to the mountains— where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth." If we keep our eyes focused on Jesus, we are not looking at our fears and we will receive peace that passes all understanding.

When the road of life is dark and fear comes knocking, do not open the door. Run to God! He sees our end from our beginning. He will sustain you and He will not let you go.

When fear rules our lives, we miss out on all that God intends for us.

As a footnote, I had intermediate swimming lessons for six months and now swim four times a week for about ninety minutes and I love it. My only regret is that I did not learn to swim as a child. I missed out for nearly fifty years. Do not miss out on the life that God intends for you through fear. Give fear the elbow. Look to God. He’s got you and will never let you down. As the saying goes “Do not tell God how big your fear is, tell your fear how big your God is!”

Let go of your fear and watch where God will take you. He loves you and He will never let you down!

~*~
Author Bio:

My name is Julia Wilson but I also go by Christian Bookaholic.

I live with my husband and five cats in a small town in Worcestershire on the banks of the River Severn (England). We have four grown up children and three granddaughters.

I have always loved reading and have always been surrounded by books. I used to work as a teaching assistant for special needs in the local high school. Ill health forced me to stop working in December 2015. I have Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (known as M.E.) and fibromyalgia. I now have plenty of time to read and review books!

Our eldest son set up my Christian Bookaholic blog. I review every book I read. I read over 300 books a year. I read Christian and mass market. I prefer stories set from 1850 onwards. My favourite type of books to read is stories set in WWI and WWII, and Russia under Czar Nicholas II.

I am a historian, having a Combined Humanities degree where I majored in History and minored in English. I also love swimming. I only learned how to swim in 2017 and go swimming four mornings a week for 90 minutes before breakfast, it keeps my joints going.

I am also a crazy cat lady. I absolutely love my cats. I have grown up with cats and cannot imagine life without them. My dream is to own an old fashioned seal point Siamese … but not while we have our young rescue cat as she hates other cats!

I love God and love going to a large lively church called Lifecentral. I cannot imagine life without God. He gives a peace even when life does not. He guides my life. He is my Rock.

Devotionals for the Heart: Singing

A Song
A devotional by Julia Wilson

“The Lord your God is with you, the Mighty Warrior who saves. He will take great delight in you; in His love He will no longer rebuke you, but will rejoice over you with singing.” 

– Zephaniah 3:17 (NIV)

Wow … this is one of my favourite Bible verses. I love the image of God as a Mighty Warrior and also one who will draw near and sing over me … and you.

When I was very small, my Dad used to put me to bed and every night he sang "Edelweiss" over me. My Dad sat on the bed and drew close to me and sang just for me. To this day, I cannot hear "Edelweiss" without remembering my Dad singing to me. It is "our song."

Can you imagine God singing over you? What song would He sing? Can you picture the scene … lying in bed and the Almighty appears. He sits on the edge of your bed, looks you in the eye, smiles and begins to sing your special song. How do you feel? Do you feel warm? Loved? A sense of belonging?

Songs are powerful. We hear a song and it transports us back to a moment in time. What songs do that for you? I cannot hear “Candle In The Wind” without remembering the very lovely Princess Diana’s funeral. When I hear “You’re More Than A Number In My Little Red Book,” I am transported back to the 1970’s and I am watching speedway with my Dad and brothers.

Imagine what God thinks every time He hears your special song. He thinks of you. He pictures you. And what about you? Every time you hear yours and God’s special song, do you think of Him and smile? Do you feel that overwhelming sense of love and belonging?

Zephaniah says "God delights in us." Stop and pause for a minute … The Almighty God delights in you! Wow! He sees you. He hears you. He loves you. He delights in you.

When I delight in my children, my heart swells and I just love them for who they are. Imagine how much greater God’s love is for you.

Songs are used in worship.

When we sing, we are tapping into something that is higher than us. I have been known to be singing worship songs in my kitchen when suddenly I ‘feel’ an overwhelming sense of love for God. I know I have to get down on my knees and worship Him right where I am. I can worship with a smile on my face and joy in my heart.

Sometimes worship is so overpowering that I sing with tears streaming down my face, though I am not crying. In worship we draw closer to God. When we are upset, it is important to worship too. As Casting Crowns say, "I will praise you in the storm."

Whatever season of life we are in, songs will draw us closer to God. I have lost count of the number of times I have sung “Blessed Be Your Name” when my heart was breaking.

In summary, songs are powerful. They transport us to a moment in time. We all have special songs that mean something to us. Imagine God having a special song for you that transports Him to thinking of you every time He hears it.

As we close this devotional, I'd like for y0u to remember these words in James 4:8a (NIV): 

"Draw near to God and He will draw near to you." 

God bless you!

~*~
Author Bio:

My name is Julia Wilson but I also go by Christian Bookaholic.

I live with my husband and five cats in a small town in Worcestershire on the banks of the River Severn (England). We have four grown up children and three granddaughters.

I have always loved reading and have always been surrounded by books. I used to work as a teaching assistant for special needs in the local high school. Ill health forced me to stop working in December 2015. I have Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (known as M.E.) and fibromyalgia. I now have plenty of time to read and review books!

Our eldest son set up my Christian Bookaholic blog. I review every book I read. I read over 300 books a year. I read Christian and mass market. I prefer stories set from 1850 onwards. My favourite type of books to read is stories set in WWI and WWII, and Russia under Czar Nicholas II.

I am a historian, having a Combined Humanities degree where I majored in History and minored in English. I also love swimming. I only learned how to swim in 2017 and go swimming four mornings a week for 90 minutes before breakfast, it keeps my joints going.

I am also a crazy cat lady. I absolutely love my cats. I have grown up with cats and cannot imagine life without them. My dream is to own an old fashioned seal point Siamese … but not while we have our young rescue cat as she hates other cats!

I love God and love going to a large lively church called Lifecentral. I cannot imagine life without God. He gives a peace even when life does not. He guides my life. He is my Rock.