As I write, I feel a tad swamped from many commitments, and that’s without any extra bits and bobs which Christmastime will soon add to the schedule! 

Maybe some of you can relate. The arrival of December 1st has hit the panic button. Or perhaps for some readers it accentuates sorrow for loved ones no longer with us; or rising trepidation about potential costs of celebrations. Even if you’re able to make extra space to reflect on God’s gift of Jesus, I trust that dwelling with and therefore, responding to this verse, will enrich your season. 

The passage narrates part of the Advent story concerning wise, knowledgeable, wealthy men from the east. Their status suggests they had full schedules to attend to, but recognising the awesome significance of the star they chose to make time for a lengthy journey so they might find and worship the newborn king of the Jews (verse 2). 

And when they found him, they ‘pressed pause’ – 
they bowed in worship, and presented significant gifts. 

Adopting a daily rhythm of ‘pressing pause’ to focus on Jesus, resets a godly perspective on whatever we’re dealing with. 
Whether we close our eyes for a few moments, lock ourselves in the loo for five minutes, light a candle and sink into a familiar chair or take a walk outside for half an hour, the men from the east inspire their wise response into our own schedules. 

May I suggest you write the verse out somewhere you will keep seeing it through the day? This prompts a regular ‘pause’ to be mindful of God’s presence with you in daily routines and responsibilities. 
– Perhaps it will prompt a song of praise and adoration.
– Perhaps it will prompt some kind of surrender.
– Perhaps it will prompt silent adoration.
– Perhaps it will prompt conviction to yield to God’s ways of  love, forgiveness, humility…etc
– Perhaps it will prompt a need to trust God.
– Perhaps it will prompt the stilling of racing thoughts to focus only on Jesus.

The one thing it will do, is enrich your soul with His presence – with His love, peace, comfort, guidance and whatever else you need in that moment. 

Even now, as you feel excitement or concern for the coming weeks, might you pause what you’re doing for a few moments, gaze on Jesus, and worship?

God promised Joshua success in taking the Promised Land for His people but the task ahead was daunting; assuming the leadership role of his awesome predecessor (Moses), training nomadic desert-dwellers to use weapons, planning battle-strategy … etc.
But God repeatedly reassured Joshua that he could be strong and courageous:
1) because he was acting on something God had promised him
2) as he was careful to meditate on and align his life to God’s Word
3) because God would always be with him.

I wonder how you are feeling called to equip yourself to serve God?
How is He asking you to step out or move on in faith?
If a sense of inability, lack, fear etc is holding you back, reflect on the three points mentioned:
1) Have you clearly discerned God’s promise and calling?
2) Are you taking time for His living Word to shape, inform and infuse your attitudes, choices, perspective and responses?
3) God is with you. Always. Not just as a companion but as an everpresent help (see also Psalm 46:1)

Perhaps you “need to study for exams, learn and practise skills, or give effort and attention to some other pursuit in becoming who God has called you to be. But when you immerse yourself in God’s word, memorising and living by it, this will keep God’s kingdom purpose in focus, inspiring you to give your best effort, time, resources and talents to achieve His goals” (quoted from my book, The Mirror that Speaks Back, page 95).

Don’t you just love God’s repeated message here? Be strong and courageous
For where God calls He will equip and provide all you need to fulfil His promise as you walk in step with His presence, His will and His ways.

I’ve been offered a handful of new opportunities in the past month or so. For a freelance author/speaker that’s great news, but I’ve also learned not to simply say “yes” to everything just because it seems good. The question is whether it’s of God. And for one of those invitations I really wasn’t sure, questioning, for example, whether it dovetailed with the gifts God has graced me with. So I sat with the invitation for almost a week. Praying. Listening. Waiting…

It was only when explaining my quandary to my husband that I found myself quoting Isaiah 54:2, a verse that hadn’t crossed my mind until that moment. Hearing myself say it stopped me in my tracks as “do not hold back” boomed through my soul. I had my answer without my husband having to say a word – he’s a good listener 🙂 

I wasn’t planning on telling you all that, but when I later drafted a completely different verse and reflection for our October place of dwelling, it niggled me – it just didn’t sit right. So I began again, prompted to share “do not hold back” instead. And so, I leave it in God’s hands should He wish to speak it into your own situations too… 

– Perhaps God has been gently nudging you to draw close to Him again – do not hold back but run to Him, embrace Him, sit with Him for as long and as often as you are able.

– Perhaps you feel convicted of an unhelpful habit: do not hold back from throwing off whatever holds you back from experiencing the fuller life Jesus promises as you pursue His life-giving ways.

– Perhaps, like me, this verse resonates with an opportunity you’ve been deliberating – is this a coincidence or God’s timely do not hold back?

– Or perhaps you sense a need to let go, to release, to step down or say “no”, but feel torn for some reason: hear God’s loving assurance to not hold back from taking that step so He may lead you unhindered into His ongoing purposes.

– How else might God be speaking as your dwell with His Word this month?

“Transitioning” is an apt description of my journey through 2025 to date.
I began the year with many questions in prayer as to how life might have to change with my husband’s June retirement. More importantly, seeking to discern what God was saying to us individually and as a couple in this new season.
I am so grateful for His responses that have gently but clearly steered us – sometimes unexpectedly, and in one case, “give it another year”.

This isn’t the place to unpack the detail but I do feel prompted to share a familiar idom that sums up the answers in a few words, and which I trust may help, guide and encourage some of you too:

“Bloom where you’re planted” St Francis de Sales

Esther was in her teens or early twenties when she was taken from her home to be groomed for the king’s bedchamber. It’s a gritty reality and yet a hard place in which she flourished as she focused on God’s nature, presence and purposes.
And so, our place of dwelling this month invites us to look at our circumstances. Whether they are confusing, painful, tough, mundane, insecure, routine, or indeed, days of peaceful contentment, let’s ask God to show us, remind us or guide us into:
– How can I live well for You in this situation? What opportunities does it offer?
– Is there anything I am to take up or put down in this season?
– What have You promised me in Your Word and through Your character to comfort, sustain and help me through these difficulties?
– What is the right thing to say and do, even when it’s hard?
– What gifts and resources have You given me, spiritually and practically, to enable me to flourish where You have planted me at this time? And am I using them?

Although it’s been twenty years since this verse became more than words on a page, I can recall the moment clearly.

I was sitting on our blue, sagging sofa, gazing out of the window; my bible open on my lap at 1 Peter. Anxiety unsettled my sense of God’s promised peace as I worried over my brother’s health and wellbeing, a day of talks on prayer that I was due to give that Saturday and a difficult situation in church.
“How can I cast my anxiety on You?” I whispered because of the early hour, though my nerves were nigh on screaming. “I can’t just throw it off as it has a mind of its own. Nor can I physically hand it to You.”

I glanced back at the page, and that’s when the second part of the verse leapt in my heart: “because He cares for you.”

“Because You care for me…..”

I gently repeated this precious truth, drinking it deep down into my soul. A truth that I’ve returned to many times since.
I believe God loves me. But to read and receive that He cares for me, never fails to inspire my trusting response, unlocking the flow of His peace within.

God cares for you too.
If you’re struggling with anxiety over a problem or situation, dwell with this truth this month. In fact, pause now and reread each line slowly as spaced in the image above.
If it helps, open your hands to symbolise your open mind and heart to believe in and so receive the comforting reassurance of God’s loving care.

The month of June in our household is a time for giving and receiving gifts. My husband and I both celebrate our birthdays as does a grandson, an in-law, some nieces and nephews…

A familar quote, sometimes attributed to St Ignatius of Loyola says:
“Pray as if everything depends on God, and work (or act) as if everything depends on you.”

Hold this in mind as we dwell with Paul’s words this month.

Paul had described his labour for the church, including his sufferings, his proclamation of Christ, his teaching of God’s word, and the awesome implications of “Christ in you”. And so it was “to this end” he worked with all the energy and resources he had to give, hand-in-hand with the power of Christ’s Spirit within.

On the one, Paul acknowledged his responsibility to work hard and conscientiously to fulfil the work God had called him to.
On the other, he acknowledged his utter reliance on Christ’s power to be at work in and through him to fulfil God’s divine purposes, which he sought through prayerful dependency.

This grace-filled balance protects us from stress or burnout and from endless anxious self-effort, but inpires us to work wholeheartedly at whatever we are called to be and do.

Take time to dwell with this encouragement this month with an open heart.
How might God speak this truth into the ways that you partner with Him in serving His church and in making His truth known?