My phone buzzed.

I opened the message: it was from a friend who had been at Big Church Festival.

She was letting me know that everyone in her group was alright, but she said she had heard someone else had died.

My heart dropped.

Praise God my friends were safe.

But what about the friends and family of the pastor who tragically passed away, and the others who were critically injured?

Out there, a family was shifting from an encouraging weekend of fellowship and worship to planning a funeral.

Somewhere, families were hovering around their injured loved ones in hospital, praying for recovery.

Somewhere, someone was waiting to know if their friends and family were safe.

I’m sure no one turned up at that festival expecting to take their final breath there.

No one expects they will die.

But the fact is, we will.

And for many of us, it will be sooner than we expect.

Death comes swiftly and unexpectedly. But death is not a free agent.

God numbers our days, and He calls us home when those days are up.

The question is, “Are we ready to die?”

I’m not ready to die yet

I’ll be honest, I’m not ready to die yet.

I do not fear death, and I long to see my Saviour face to face.

But I do fear regrets. I fear a wasted life.

If I knew I were to die tomorrow, I would have so many regrets about how I wasted my time: of the moments spent doomscrolling or comparing my life with others on social media; the unnecessary arguments prolonged and hurtful comments made; the triviality of pursuing my success or pleasure over serving others; the missed opportunities to share the hope of salvation with those plunging towards an eternity in Hell.

Yes, I have done many good worthwhile things.

But there is so much more I could have done for Christ.

And no, my salvation doesn’t rest upon my works, but what kind of gratitude is it to live a life of self-service and inconsequentiality after being saved at the cost of another’s life?

What kind of gratitude does my life demonstrate?

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Live life to the hilt

We all want to have useful, God-glorifying lives.

Live fully. Serve God unreservedly. Love others intentionally.

It sounds good doesn’t it? But I wonder if our lives really live up to these standards.

Do we really live in light of the fact that we are going to die?

If I live to the grand old age of 100, I’ve already lived almost a quarter of my life.

And the reality is, I probably won’t live to 100, which means I’ve most likely already exhausted far more than a quarter of my time here on earth.

What have I done with the time entrusted to me? If I died tonight, would I have spent a life lived well?

Recently, I keep on being reminded that He has work for us to do here.

We are not on a playground; we are not joy-seekers traipsing through the gaudy streets of Vanity Fair without a care in the world.

We are on a battleground, and here in the midst of the carnage and despair of a sin-wrecked world, God has work for us to do. So do it.

As missionary and martyr Jim Elliot wrote, “Wherever you are, be all there! Live to the hilt every situation you believe to be the will of God.”

But to live wholeheartedly, you need to know what you are living for.

What is my life mission?

I could say my life mission, what I’m living for, is to, “Serve God in ministry, become a pastors wife, and raise a family”.

I could say, “Become a successful neoclassical composer, proclaim truth through freelance journalism, or become an influential political commentator.”

Or I could say, “Become a missionary and give my life in service to others.”

None of these ‘life missions’ are bad - in fact they are all good in essence.

But the focus is off, because the focus is on me and my plan, not on God’s plan.

For many of us, I believe we need to recalibrate our perspective on what constitutes a successful life or a good use of our time here on earth.

Our greatest mission as Christians is to follow Jesus and to make disciples.

Everything else must come secondary to this calling: “And calling the crowd to him with his disciples, he said to them, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it. For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul?” (Mark 8:34-36)

Sometimes this ‘gaining the whole world’ really looks like an apathetic life, of chasing comfort and success here in this world rather than pursuing what God says is important.

But James has some challenging words on this, in light of the brevity of life: “yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes… So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.” (James 4:14-17)

And yet how many of us know the right thing to do, how many of us have all the knowledge of what is important in light of eternity, and yet fail to prioritise and invest in this work of knowing God more deeply and bringing lost souls to Christ?

I am deeply convicted that my priorities in life are all too often misplaced.

Scripture is full of clear commands and direction for our lives.

Go and make disciples (Matthew 28:19–20). Love the Lord your God and love your neighbour also (Mark 12:30-31). Visit orphans and widows in their affliction and keep oneself unstained from the world (James 1:27). If you love Him, keep His commands (John 14-15). Love mercy, act justly, and walk humbly with your God (Micah 6:8).

The list goes on.

But how many of my weekly, monthly, and yearly goals are Christ-focused or character focused rather than being ambition or self-improvement focused?

Time is for investing, not spending

“The years of our life are seventy, or even by reason of strength eighty; yet their span is but toil and trouble; they are soon gone, and we fly away. Who considers the power of your anger, and your wrath according to the fear of you? So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom.” (Psalm 90:10-12)

We all know that we must redeem the time.

However, I am very guilty of seeing my time as mine to spend as I will, rather than God’s investment entrusted to my care for me to use wisely for Him.

Even worse than the servant who hid his master’s talent, I go and fritter it away on my own pursuits, plans, and pleasures.

My time, my life, is not my own.

And when I treat it as mine to spend and fritter away, I am essentially robbing God of what He owns and deserves.

Our time is to be invested, not simply spent.

Service of God and others is the highest calling we have here on earth.

That may be playing piano during worship at church.

It may be sending a note of encouragement to a struggling friend.

It may be taking the time to really listen to another’s story before offering half-baked solutions.

It may be showing hospitality by befriending the quiet newcomer.

It may simply be praying.

Whatever the means, and no matter how menial the tasks, our lives should be characterised by service.

And as I write this, I am being deeply convicted.

Yes I do serve. But where can I serve more?

And how can I better look after my body and my health and more carefully steward my time and energy to enable me to serve more?

As Ephesians 2:10 says, “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”

He has created us for good works. He has predestined us to fulfill the mission He has set out for our lives. And this should both excite and challenge us.

Preparing for an eternity with Christ

I want to deeply and intentionally get to know Christ here on earth in anticipation of an eternity with Him.

This means prioritising prayer, meditation, and the study of Scripture.

I want to so clearly know His character that I trust Him no matter what.

I want to long for heaven.

And I want to be so moved by love for God and compassion for others that I cannot help sharing the gospel wherever I go.

I have a lot to learn and a long way to go.

But in light of this weekend’s reminder of the brevity of life, may I live today more in light of eternity and under the smile of my Saviour and my Lord.

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A ‘Dear Diary’, a few boring facts about the day combined with some sentimental drivel about feelings and such, mushed into an endlessly repeated cycle of cringe-worthy entries.

That sort of nonsense is certainly not what I’m advocating for.

I tried it, and I failed miserably time and again.

And yes, I did destroy those diaries, firstly because they weren’t very full, and secondly because I wanted to crawl into a hole and die when I re-read them a year or two later.

But journaling, that is different.

This life we live

I like to think of journaling as being a exploration into my mind, a record of my humanity, and most usefully, a personal ‘Ebenezer’ to the goodness and sovereignty of God.

I have been journaling for a good five or so years now.

Sometimes, I’ll do a couple of entries in a week; other times the annals of my life will receive nothing but silence, sometimes for months on end.

It’s not consistent, and that’s precisely why I love it.

Rather than being a record of what I have done, it’s a testament to what I have gone through - a monument to the joys, the sorrows, and the complexities of this life.

The way pain has given me a greater compassion for others.

The way the unknowns have thrown me on the sure Rock of my Saviour.

The way things that were big fears or dreams or ambitions have changed, faded, and even sometimes materialised as I’ve grown up.

Romanticise your life

Now, I don’t mean to sound glib and overly sentimental.

But if you’re going to journal, do it well.

Make writing an event.

Recognise the beauty and the uniqueness of your life and your experiences.

Romanticise your life.

For me, this means investing in a genuine leatherbound, antique-looking journal with unlined pages that will automatically give me the urge to write when I open it.

It also means using a fountain pen (or better yet, a nib pen and ink), lighting a few candles, and playing some appropriate music.

It means staring out of the window at the leaves dancing on the lawn.

It means stepping outside and reveling in the rain while no-one is watching.

It means realising that this life I am living, no matter how messy and confusing, is God’s gift and one that no-one else will ever get to experience.

Only you can truly live your life.

So remember this, and go put on that music and light a few candles while you document the chaos of your soul.

Fissures in the goodness of life

Though there have of course been many, many happy times in my life and I have been richly blessed by God, my journal tends to verge on melancholy.

Perhaps that’s because I need to process grief more than I need to understand joy.

Sorrow and confusion run contrary to our normal state of being - they are fissures in the goodness and simplicity of life - and as such, they require far more time and investment than the good times do.

We struggle to understand pain and suffering because we were made to long for perfection, goodness, and wholeness, attributes that can only be found in God.

What we see here on earth is a mere shadow of what life and this world was created to be.

And over the last several years, I have certainly found that journaling - the act of allowing my thoughts and prayers to ramble onto the pages - helps me to process and regain a more accurate view of myself and my situation.

The art of not performing

One lesson I have learned in my years as a dedicated but inconsistent journaler is to write as if no-one will read it - and then make sure they don’t.

Write the messy stuff.

Scribble down the unfinished thoughts.

Don’t be afraid of emotions, fears, and genuine vulnerability.

I like to write my entries almost as if they were prayers.

I find I articulate myself best when I write things down, and so my journal is filled with raw, heartfelt cries to God that more often than not start with a ‘why’ and end with an 'I don’t know but I know God is still good’.

Looking back at my entries over the years, I clearly have needed to learn trust.

And something tells me God isn’t done teaching me that.

Has it been painful? Absolutely.

Would I want to go through any of it again? Certainly not.

But would I want to undo the lessons learned and the character developed through the suffering? Not at all.

Sometimes suffering is God’s greatest gift to us.

As Elisabeth Elliot, one of my greatest ‘heroines of the faith’, wrote, “There is, in fact, no redemptive work done anywhere without suffering.” (‘Suffering Is Never For Nothing’)

And this is a lesson I have been reminded of, time and again, through the pages of my worn, sometimes tear-stained journal.

Raising my ‘Ebenezers’

This work of redemption that Christ enacts through our suffering is exactly why I’ve found it so important to look back on my journal entries.

It is an underestimated blessing and immensely encouraging to look back and see how far I have come.

When I started my first proper journal, I remember decorating the inside cover page with drawings of flowers and leaves, and in the corner I wrote ‘Look at how far we’ve come…’ (a quote from a song I loved by I Am They).

I knew back then that one day I would look back on this book and be reminded of God’s faithfulness in every season of life.

It certainly hasn’t felt like it every step of the way, but He has been so good to me throughout it all, and looking back at these testaments of His goodness gives me courage to face the unknowns of today.

Whether it has been sin overcome, uncertainty reconciled, trust grown, unknowns clarified, or character developed, He has been so clearly at work in every situation.

Through every page of my journal is the story of a girl who is very intrinsically human but held in the hands of a very intrinsically sovereign and trustworthy God.

Reclaiming the lost arts

Good for the mind, good for the senses, and good for the soul.

That’s how I would defend journaling to someone staunchly skeptical of its benefits.

When talking about effective study habits for students, Cal Newport wrote, “In an age of distraction, the notebook method produces a rare commodity: high-quality thinking”.

He explained that one aspect of the benefits of writing with a physical pen and paper is that it inherently forces you to think and to work out problems for yourself, rather then being distracted by or reliant on technology.

He wrote, “Something about a good ballpoint scraping across a thick-grained paper stock unlocks areas of your mind that tend to hibernate when you’re slumped over your laptop in a crowded study lounge.”

I’ve found this to be categorically true, hence why I often take just a large art notebook and a pen out with me for a writing spree.

No technology. No laptop. No source material.

Just me, my thoughts, and a simple pen and paper.

It forces me to deeply think through the problems I’m writing about, and to search my the recesses of my mind for snippets of information, quotes, or second-hand ideas that would inevitably slip my mind if I was reliant on the ease of a quick google search during my writing.

Slow writing produces deeper thinking, and that is priceless for those trying to cultivate a more connected intellect.

And the same applies to journaling.

It will grow your emotional, social, and intellectual intelligence.

And it also strengthens your ability to convert thoughts into a coherent flow of words, unassisted by the gimmicks of our modern, tech-saturated world.

Don’t overfocus on yourself

When you understand more of how your own brain and emotions work, you are far more able to understand others.

Of course there is a caveat that must be said here: don’t become introspective or self-absorbed.

Don’t overfocus on yourself.

But, also recognise that self examination is a useful tool for understanding how you tick and what you struggle with.

It is just important that it never stays there.

This self-examination and processing of our thoughts and emotions must always go further and lead us to the Throne of Grace and the character of the one Who knows us and yet loves us regardless.

Use journaling as a means to cast your cares on the Lord, to analyse the unbiblical thinking you may be struggling with, and to preach to yourself the goodness and faithfulness of God.

This is more than psychological self-help: it’s an avenue to commune with God, to unburden yourself, and to train your heart and mind to intentionally regain a right perspective on life.

So pick up that pen. Go grab the leather-bound journal. And write.

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Going for a solitary wander in the wilds of nature probably tops this experience, but the act of being alone in a crowd has taught me much - and it retains a special place in my heart.

As I write these thoughts, on the first page of a new, small notebook, fountain pen in hand (yes, I have my quirks… judge me if you will), I’m sitting beside a peaceful wharf - or possibly a man-made watery attraction - in Canary Wharf.

The sun is slowly roasting my skin, but the welcome heat is only a pleasure at this point of the day.

Birds join in the chorus of life in this open-air aviary, while a cohort of tall, neatly dressed men sit and stand around the water’s edge, absorbed in business and finance.

The ‘finance bros’ predictability of shirt colours, crisp white or baby blue, and general put-together-ness is a stark contrast to the inhabitants of my usual haunts along the artsy canal-side of Kings Cross Canal.

There, the smell of marijuana drifting from the moored barges is a little more noticeable than in the business district.

In places like these, there is a certain thrill in being completely independent and by yourself, especially when surrounded by such an unpredictable conglomeration of people.

To be alone in a crowd is a beautiful thing.

But it is a skill hard learned, and one that doesn’t come easily for most of us in this interaction-crazed, information-saturated world.

Mastering the art of being alone takes intentionality, raw vulnerability, and a willingness to explore the depths of the human soul.

But it is worth every ounce of effort, every missed notification, and every inescapably uncomfortable moment as you reclaim the ability to wander with only your thoughts for company.

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Revel in the silence

I am addicted to music - and it’s a problem.

Whether it’s smooth jazz while I’m working, country and indie music while I let my creativity flow into words on a page, or funk and the occasional pop song while I’m going for a speed walk, my automatic state-of-being is to have headphones in and the tunes playing.

But over the last two years, I’ve noticed the detrimental effect this has had on my ability to concentrate and be comfortable with silence.

As my favourite productivity author, Cal Newport, wrote in his intellectually stimulating and perspective shifting book, “Digital Minimalism”, our distraction-crazed age is preventing us from experiencing the benefits of solitude and silence.

He writes, “If you’re wearing headphones, or monitoring a text message chain, or, God forbid, narrating the stroll on Instagram—you’re not really walking, and therefore you’re not going to experience this practice’s greatest benefits.”

And this doesn’t only apply to walking.

Cultivate comfortability in the silence.

Revel in multi-dimensional uncontrolled noise.

Take your headphones out, turn off the music, and experience the beauty of nature and the world around us.

Allow your thoughts to unravel

Allow your train of thought to wander where it will.

Go with the flow.

Oftentimes, we control and compartmentalise our thought processes to the point where we never really conclude any trains of thought.

This cannot be good for our intellects.

We were made to seek conclusions, to decipher answers.

And when we force our intellect to exist in a perpetual state of mediocrity and incompletion, we are depriving it of the opportunity to truly flourish and grow.

Intentionally drive your consciousness to the brink of each idea, exhaust your thinking abilities, and then push beyond that and see what happens.

And in my experience, many of the questions that come when my mind has the time to unravel, push me into communion with the only One who knows all the answers.

Just talk to God

Often prayer comes easiest when it is unforced and unplanned.

In the solitude, talk to God.

Deuteronomy 6:5-9 says, “You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.”

Meditating on God’s character and on His Words often unconsciously drifts to prayer and communion with Him.

As Psalm 46:10 says, “‘Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!’ The LORD of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress. Selah.”

If truths like these don’t draw our eyes and our hearts to God, then few things will.

Take the time to be in God’s presence.

Like Adam and Eve, wander with Him in the ‘gardens’ of our daily life - whether they are the bustling streets of our city homes or the abandoned beauty of a ramble through the wilds.

And keep in mind Psalm 19:14: “Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O LORD, my rock and my redeemer.”

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Take time for reflection

Reflecting back helps you better plan for the future.

John Dewey’s quote succinctly conveys this idea: “We do not learn from experience. We learn from reflecting on experience.”

And what you learn in this reflection enables you to make better choices, to create more effective strategies, and to more wisely pursue what God would have you do with your time.

We must plan in order to make the best use of our time.

Those who have known me for any significant period of time know that I am an obsessed planner.

Whether it’s my annual list of goals for the year, a 5-year strategy for my future work, or simply a daily to-do-list, I love planning.

And I have found that the clearest concepts of the trajectory of my life, and what I should be pursuing and investing my time in, always comes when I have taken time to just sit and let my thoughts and ideas ramble where they will.

Reflection is a vital foundation for effective preparation.

But without silence, reflection is impossible.

Reclaim the art of being alone

I believe we have a duty to reclaim the ability to think, to sit in silence, and to be alone.

Whatever it looks like, and however often it is, take time to learn the art of being alone.

Regularly turn off the distractions, walk out of your house, and learn to love the solitude.

In doing this, I have gained a deeper, more complex understanding of myself and others, and drawn closer in communion with my Savior.

So, carve out time in your schedule to think, to plan, and to muse, and I guarantee you will be inspired and motivated by the results of an awakening intellect and an increasing desire to think simply for the sake of thinking.

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I step over a miniature creek dribbling mud – or blood – tinged murky water into the street and stride into the alley, feigning the confidence I certainly don’t feel.

It’s a short walk. It’s early evening. It should be safe.

But my heart still starts pounding as I see a tall man walking directly towards me.

I feel his ogling eyes and unwanted interest, confirmed when he calls something out as he walks past.

I ignore him, gaze focused straight ahead as I force myself to continue walking at a normal pace until I reach the relative light of the early evening outside.

Every woman I know has experienced this feeling: the fear, the rationalising of ‘he’s probably just being nice’, and the constant alertness for exit strategies.

Sexual harassment and assault have steadily risen over the last few decades.

A quick scan of the news shows a barrage of reports about illegal migrants raping and murdering women on our streets.

And it only takes two disheartening videos on social media to raise the concerning question of “would anyone even stop and step in to help if I needed it?”

One thing is clear: our society is broken, people are scared, and our politicians seem to be doing nothing about it.

Ignoring the problem won’t erase it

The UK is facing down a crisis.

We’ve ignored it for so long, but the social rifts are beyond dismissing now.

Every party, every politician, and every public figure have their solution to this fragmentation.

The problem is social inequality that must be solved by more extensive welfare, a decentralisation of power, and a redistribution of wealth.

Or it’s the loss of our national identity, to be solved by the restoration of a sense of unity, the reestablishment of ‘Britishness’, and the preservation of tradition and our free market economy.

Or it’s the plight of our planet and the disillusionment of the younger masses, which must be solved by extreme climate action and the empowerment of those who claim the ‘higher’ moral ground.

Or it’s migration, the invasion of Islam, and a two-tier system of governance, solved by mass deportations, stricter immigration, and a heightened antagonism towards Islamic influence.

The list goes on.

We all know something is desperately wrong.

But these solutions only provide a partial picture at best.

Illegal migration is a deep, real and complex problem

Watching the ripples splash against the barges in Kings Cross canal, I enjoy seeing a myriad of ethnicities wandering past me on the pavement.

The Aussie twang contrasting with the staccato of a Japanese foreign exchange student.

The smell of Moroccan spices converging with salty waft of battered fish and hot chips.

I am a staunch supporter of legal immigration in the pursuit of a better, freer life, and I in no ways believe that British culture is categorically the best and most ‘Christian’.

But I also love my nation, I’m proud of my heritage, and it scares me to feel like an unwelcome trespasser in areas of my own country.

It is too normal to feel unsafe in public.

And the fact remains that much of this correlates with a massive influx of illegal migration and the lack of cultural integration.

Islamic motivated grooming gangs are one of the greatest blights that our shores have ever witnessed, and already they are yesterday’s story and absent from the news cycle.

But the same thing also happened with our church abuse scandals, as perpetrators were left unchallenged for decades, abuse was covered up, and our public conscience moved on and left the victims with a conciliatory note and a life of trauma.

Migrants are not the only ones raping women, abusing children, and desecrating our nation.

If we mass deport – which I support wholeheartedly – we will solve some of the current problems.

But not all of them.

Solving the migration crisis will not stop immorality

Yes, I can see an immense problem with the invasion of Islamic extremists on our shores.

But we cannot tackle the depravities of migrants and yet whitewash our own.

We are the nation aborting millions of babies.

We are the nation fighting tooth and nail to legalise killing our elderly.

We are the nation promoting sexual promiscuity, the irrelevance of the family, and the dismemberment of our gender dysphoric, sexualised children.

While we decry the atrocities of grooming gangs, our schools are systematically abusing pre-teen children by exposing them to pornography, shattering their understanding of sexuality and biology, and conditioning them to be the victims of abusive ideologies that will destroy their lives, their bodies, and their futures.

From the centuries-worn, stained-wood chambers of Parliament to the neon bubbles of social media, we claim the label of ‘civilised’ whilst abandoning the compassion, human rights, and freedom that created that foundation in the first place.

Limiting illegal immigration is a good start, but only if it is used to free up our resources to then rectify our own failings and loss of morality.

Migration is not the only problem we face.

Sometimes you need to rock the boat

Having a stiff upper lip, forbearing to ‘rock the boat’, and tolerating differences with a ‘to each their own’ attitude are in many ways the essence of a British persona.

But sometimes you need to rock the boat.

I am pleased that people are waking up to the desperate situation in our country.

But if they are given a tokenistic solution that relieves the pressure temporarily and gives an illusion of change, I am afraid they will all too quickly go back to life as normal and continue tolerating and ignoring the utter destruction of our culture and our values.

Deport a few boatloads of migrants, punish a few violent offenders, and hold a few shady politicians to account, and the public will praise this minimalistic action with an ‘at least they tried’ attitude and a remarkably ostrich-like willingness to ignore the reality and believe the best.

After all, they ‘did their bit’ to speak up, and now apparently we can move on as if injustice weren’t still rife among our society.

Avoid the bandwagon at all costs

Life is complex.

Every political scheme has its compromises.

Every story is written through a distorted lens.

And every bandwagon leaves some unfortunates discarded in its wake.

Life is not a game of simple villains and victims: the good, the bad, and the ugly.

It’s multifaceted, chaotic, and far too complex to condense into the soundbites and slogans our culture so eagerly demands.

If we are to survive with our rationality, our compassion, and our openness to reason intact, even when the resulting conclusions conflict with our assumptions, we must avoid the bandwagons and the simplistic solutions to a deeply broken world.

Above all, do not trust politicians

I have great admiration for dedicated politicians who spend their lives in service of their nation.

But every politician has an angle.

Increased welfare will relieve the strain of a crumbling economy.

But in its wake, will it not leave a mass of desperate people dependent on the government for support in the midst of an increasingly taxed and fragile economy?

Preserving our heritage will cause more unity and preserve our multifaceted history for future generations.

But if we focus too much on the ‘good old days’, will we not stagnate in our refusal to recognise the faults of our tradition and the need for constant growth and recalibration?

And if we reject mass migration, deport illegal immigrants and re-establish our common culture and values, we will likely create a safer and more uniform society with a cohesive sense of identity.

But we also run the risk of alienating ourselves from the suffering and inequality of those less fortunate, isolating ourselves in a bubble of comfort and security, and fostering a sense of hostility towards those who do not fit our concept of ‘British’, based largely on the colour of someone’s skin rather than the convictions of their worldview.

Preparing for the coming reckoning

Except for a mass revival of biblically sound Christians and faithful, outspoken, evangelistic churches, I do not know what the solution is.

I’m not even sure that Britain can be saved from the reckoning that is coming.

But I do know that in the midst of the complexities, adhering to a shallow understanding of the chaos in our culture will only cause more destructive ignorance and foster misinformed division and fearful apathy.

If we are to survive, we must walk in with our eyes wide open, our faith rooted in Christ, our rationality intact, our compassion staunch, and our hearts open to facts and and truth.

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What they went through is unacceptable - but it is sadly all too common

for those with rare medical conditions.

This is Freya’s story.

But it is also the story of countless people who have struggled for answers, fighting for medical recognition and belief in the face of an undiagnosed chronic illness.

And it is a story that must change.

Originally published on metabolicsupport.org

An apple a day keeps the doctor away… or at least, that’s what we’re told.

But for little Freya, an apple a day would kill her.

4-year-old Freya has Hereditary Fructose Intolerance: an extremely rare genetic metabolic disorder that affects her body’s ability to process fructose.

Thanks to her mum’s dogged determination to fight for her little girl, Freya has survived and is now thriving.

But she almost didn’t make it. This is her story.

What is Hereditary Fructose Intolerance?

Hereditary Fructose Intolerance (HFI) is a rare genetic condition where people are missing the genetic information for creating the enzyme needed to process fructose.

This affects a person’s ability to digest and use fructose, which is a sugar found in all fruits and vegetables.

In addition, other sugars like Sucrose and Sorbitol also turn into fructose as the body digests them, meaning that these also are toxic to people with HFI.

If someone with HFI consumes fructose or sugar, their symptoms will include severe stomach cramps, nausea, fatigue, headaches, brain fog, muscle aches, a low-grade fever and chills, a complete loss of energy, and ironically plummeting blood sugar.

If this low blood sugar is not rectified, it can lead to seizures, a coma and eventually death.

Long-term side-effects include severe liver damage.

The only treatment for HFI is to have as little fructose as possible, meaning Freya lives on meat, carbs, dairy products and very small amounts of a few ‘safe’ vegetables – such as potato.

While it is hard managing this diet, almost all symptoms completely improve with a strict diet, making this condition one of the easier metabolic disorders to live with.

For those who are diagnosed shortly after birth, HFI does not require any costly treatments or interventions as the only solution is a ‘safe’ diet.

But the cost on the NHS (and emotional toll to individuals with HFI) compounds hugely when it is left undiagnosed for years.

This leads to years of resources being wasted on numerous appointments and referrals, treatment for severe organ damage, tests for other diseases, and nutritional and dietary assistance for those struggling with severe aversions to food after the trauma of being poisoned for years.

By facilitating an early diagnosis, this huge monetary cost can be avoided along with the physical and psychological damage that comes with a delayed diagnosis.

“She acted like she was being poisoned”

Freya was born at 37 weeks, and it was clear from the start that she was not growing and feeding how she should.

As her older brother Isaac has a severe dairy allergy, Freya was put on a dairy-free baby formula – which was later revealed to contain fructose, as do most of the mainstream branded formulas sold in supermarkets.

However, her discomfort and failure to grow only increased, leading to multiple trips to the doctors and A&E.

But each time Dannie was told she was overreacting.

Dannie says, “She was hungry, she was really hungry… [but when] you’d give her milk…it was like she was being poisoned. She couldn’t swallow properly, she was trying to spit it out, and when she finished, she would vomit it up.”

Doctors persistently ignored the signs, saying that her vomiting and diarrhea were due to allergies and a weaker stomach.

And this meant that Freya was in the hospital every month, with symptoms that medics refused to take seriously.

After extensive research, when Freya was 9 months old, Dannie asked medics if there was a possibility she had HFI.

But she was told this was ‘too rare’ and Freya didn’t fit the criteria.

A few weeks later, Freya was referred to oncology due to her badly enlarged liver.

Her liver tests had always been abnormal, but doctors always put this down to a virus.

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Poisoned by her own mother?

Each of her symptoms and tests were pointing towards something more serious.

But rather than believing that Freya was unwell, the professionals instead started questioning Dannie’s mental health and accused her of FII (Fabricated or Induced Illness).

Eventually, things got so bad that Dannie had two child welfare officials sleeping in her house to ensure she wasn’t poisoning her daughter.

Just before Christmas, when Freya was one, Dannie called 111 because Freya had begun to act abnormally and lose energy.

She was told to wait for a clinician to call back, but she knew deep down that something was seriously wrong, so she rushed Freya to the hospital.

There, medics discovered her blood sugars were so dangerously low she had to be rushed into resuscitation for an IV dextrose drip.

The clinician’s call only came after Freya had already been stabilised in hospital.

If Dannie had waited for the call back and listened to the advice of those telling her ‘nothing is wrong’, Freya would have died that day.

But things only got worse.

Freya’s blood sugar continued to drop due to her being fed juices and sweetened yoghurt in an attempt to maintain her blood sugars without the need for an IV.

And instead of looking at the reason this sugar was affecting her, the accusations of FII against Dannie were instead finalised in court.

Dannie, Freya and Isaac were watched with constant CCTV and put through a rigorous and intense regime of monitoring to try to prevent Dannie from ‘poisoning’ her child.

However, as part of the FII claims, Freya was given a routine Metabolic Diseases Genetic Panel, which flagged HFI.

With this diagnosis, everything changed.

When fructose was removed from Freya’s diet, she slept through the night for the first time. Dannie says that “overnight, she was a different child.”

“Shout for your little girl”

Few people took Dannie seriously when she raised her concerns.

But one of those who did, a Health Visitor, asked Dannie “What is your gut saying?”

Dannie said, “My gut is telling me she is in pain and she is poorly,” and the Health Visitor replied, “If that’s what your gut is [telling you], then shout for your little girl.”

This encouragement to keep advocating for Freya, despite the opposition and disbelief from the healthcare system, was what helped Dannie save her baby’s life.

Without support from healthcare professionals, those with undiagnosed rare diseases are often gaslit into thinking their condition is imaginary.

They are alone for most of the journey, fighting for answers and the recognition they need.

This means ‘trusting their gut feelings’ is a common-denominator in those with HFI who have survived and been able to push for a life-changing diagnosis.

Let down by the system that should have protected her

If Dannie hadn’t rushed Freya to the hospital that day, her little girl would have died.

Freya’s symptoms were persistently ignored and downplayed by a system that still ostracises those suffering with rare, complex and undiagnosed diseases.

The system that should have protected her instead risked her life because the answer was not an obvious one.

For people like Freya there is no quick fix.

But the charity HFI Support is advocating for healthcare and cultural changes that reflect the existence of rare metabolic disorders like HFI.

They hope that, by sharing their stories, they can create change and encourage healthcare professionals to tackle complex diseases head-on, take patients at their word, and work with rare disease advocates to cultivate a safer healthcare system.

Moving forward in a sugar-saturated world

Freya is now thriving on a mainly fructose-free diet.

But the struggle isn’t over.

She will need to continue navigating a sugar-saturated world, learning how to face social situations and daily nutrition in a culture that still ostracises those with a rare condition.

She will need to deal with fear of food, fear of people and fear of the system that denied her condition existed.

But Freya is strong, and with the support of her family and the HFI community, she is fast learning how to not only survive but thrive with a rare metabolic condition.

To learn more about Hereditary Fructose Intolerance – and the people like Freya who are living with this condition – visit hfisupport.org.uk

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After taking a break from my Substack to establish some new much-needed routines and life priorities, I am happy to be re-launching by sharing some of the thought-provoking notes I recieved from Landon.

The relationship between social media and creativity is a complex and multi-faceted one.

Each creative will have a different experience, different expectations, and different approaches to their use (or intentional neglect) of social media.

But we all can learn much from the insights of people, like Landon, who have intentionally thought through the implications of social media and how to best implement these tools in their professional lives.

I hope you find this interview as interesting and thought-provoking as I did. You can check out ’s Substack to read more of his resources, and remember to subscribe to stay up-to-date with the latest articles and notes.

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How do you think Social Media has been beneficial or detrimental to you as a writer?

Writing has completely transformed my life and business. But the question as to the benefit of Social Media is much more nuanced. When I first began writing on Substack two years ago, I wouldn’t have classified it as “Social Media.” In the early days, I attempted to repurpose everything. I’d take a long-form newsletter, read and record it, upload it to YouTube, pull the audio for podcast, and post short form posts for all . Most of us know how that story ends—burnout.

The most beneficial thing I did early on was leaving all that behind and going all-in on Substack. Capacity is a concept I refer to a lot with my private coaching clients, and I came face to face with the fact I was beyond my capacity. Stripping away the excess of repurposing and applying my focus to Substack—my priority, along with consistent execution is what I attribute most of my growth too. Substack has since evolved into Social Media with the addition of Notes.

Today, nearly all of my growth has come from Substacks own network through Notes, Posts, Recommendations, etc. and not from being omnipresent across Social Media.

I think that Social Media has the power to be both beneficial and detrimental based on our individual capacity and resources.

I hear all the time “You’ll never survive as a creative unless you’re very active on social media”. Do you agree with this or not? Why?

Most people hate my answers to these types of questions, including my wife ;-) It’s not one I can answer until we define the context in which we’re operating. What do we mean by ‘survive’? I take a firm stance against dichotomous claims because in the absence of individual circumstance and context we leave a lot of people feeling lost. These claims leave me swearing at my laptop.

From where I stand, we must assess our definition of the outcome, in this case ‘survive,’ then we must assess our individual capacity, and then determine what is realistic and what compromises may be required. If the plan is the maximize follower and monetary growth, but you work a full-time job, married, with a newborn child. Something has to give.

The reality I see is that everything can work, so the work becomes finding what works for us.

How do you think the information overload of social media contributes to brain fog, lack of originality, and writers’ block?

I believe information and experiences have the power to mold us and the power to consume us. My lived experiences, traveling, business failures, shape most of what people connect to within my work. The information I’ve consumed keeps me apprised of what’s happening, what I stand for, and against. And again has helped me define the movement I lead. BUT this can turn a corner very fast.

Whether it’s constant consuming and not creating, comparison that eats away at our self worth, or information overload causing analysis paralysis we must be vigilant. Self-awareness is an incredibly important skill for this discernment.

And also removing the shame associated between them because it’s not all good and it’s not all bad. But if we collectively feel it is detrimental, the only way for us to change it is to put more content out there that changes the cultural norm.

I believe we go through phases, a beginner might need to consume to get started, learn, spark ideas, and find motivation. Someone else might need to settle in to silence, go on walks without music or podcasts, and delete the apps from there phone. The platforms are designed to pull us into a death scroll we can’t escape.

However, as creators, it is part of the game that we can’t completely remove ourselves from, so it’s always a catch-22. If it inspires us to act—let it. If it triggers us and ruins our mood—let’s address it. This is the self-awareness piece. I work hard to reduce inputs. I curate who I follow, what I listen to, and (try to) constantly refine.

This to me, is always a work in progress. While it is easy to say, delete the apps, and go live on a beach, as a creator, social media is part of our business. We must strive to find balance for the stage we’re at.

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As a writer, I find the introduction of social media means my resources are even more stretched than before. I am forced to become a jack-of-all-trades rather than become a master of writing. How do you think this focus on creating multi-layered skillsets in multiple arenas is damaging our ability to do deep work and intentionally master our craft?

This is the duality of art and business. It’s beautiful when they overlap perfectly. That’s rare.

Very often ‘mastering our craft’ and ‘building our business’ require different skill sets.

One of the biggest hindrances to this is societies perception on what success is. Let’s take an artist, one spends his days painting, mastering his craft, and sell his pieces locally, and after years of blood, sweat, and tears, earns barely enough money to live. While another artist, has also developed the skill of being exceptional on Instagram, built an audience of 500,000 followers, and after years of building his skills has a 7-figure business. Society would lead us to believe the former should learn more skills, build an audience, so he can make more money like the latter. But, why? Is this true? What we’re missing here is that success is defined by us, not the world around us. Neither is right or wrong.

While the grass may always appears green it rarely tells the whole story. The former might be terrible on Instagram and grow to resent their work by forcing it. The latter might be so stretched thin and burnt out they don’t even enjoy the art any more. Their expenses might be so high they barely make any money even though it would appear they do. This is the facade. Broadly speaking, if all things are similar, I would submit that a more diverse set of skills would provide more optionality and choice.

As Rick Rubin writes, “When making art, the audience comes last.” Art is subjective. And Art alone might not make [INSERT GOAL HERE] income.

I believe that ‘our craft’ is a skill. I also believe that ‘business’ is a skill, and if our intention is to maximize both sides of that coin, we are likely going to have to widen the skills we want to obtain.

This is what I refer to as the rise of the Creator-Operator for those who have a desire to blend both worlds.

Which social media outlets, if any, have you retained and why?

While I went all-in on Substack, I never deleted my accounts. I knew one day, I may return. For me, I told myself I would only return if it did not take away from the writing and work I was doing. I read this reminder to start a YouTube channel every three months for nearly two years.

For the last two years, I only took Substack seriously. I had completely stopped Twitter, LinkedIn, TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, and my two podcasts. Yes—I used to do all of that. Save for the odd random post here and there and I did maintain sharing most of my weekly newsletters to Facebook because it had accumulated two decades of networking connections.

This is something I will be sharing soon but I am presently in the process of making changes. I’ve reached a point in my journey where two things have happened. First, my vision has expanded. Second, my resources have changed. I have a deep desire to lead a bigger movement. I have a message that I want to share, and being ‘only on Substack’ would limit my reach to a single platform, medium, and segment of people. Soon I will be expanding my distribution channels once again because I feel called to spread this message. As this calling has risen I found myself in a place where I could bring on support so that it does not take away from my core work—writing. I feel extremely blessed to be in this position and I am excited for what the future holds but do not get me wrong, I am still shouting “Everyone needs a Substack” from the rooftops.

If you found this interesting and useful, please check out ’s Substack.

And if you want to see more interviews on a range of topics, drop a comment with your suggestion for who should be next!

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It is impossible not to.

For some of us, the echo-chamber is minute and exclusive.

For others, it’s a little larger, infused with a more liberal dose of genuine curiosity.

However, the fact remains: we cannot escape our echo-chambers.

But we can make them more open.

We can create an intellectual lifestyle that is more akin to a filter than a steel-reinforced bomb shelter.

So how can we do this?

The key step in creating an open and balanced perspective is to cultivate a broad spectrum of news sources.

And this involves four essential “don’ts” and one unusual “do”.

1. Don’t only listen to the news outlets you like

I believe it is far more dangerous to listen to only one news outlet than it is to not listen at all.

Every news outlet has its biases and its angles.

Yes, it’s fine to gravitate towards your favourite outlet.

But it is essential to break out of that periodically and read views from other angles, especially on controversial or major subjects.

We need to listen to the opposing side so that we better understand the flaws in our own views.

After all, we are very aware of our opinions but having the insight to understand where these opinions are incorrect or incomplete is another skill altogether.

2. Don’t dismiss the legacy media

Much of the legacy media has become increasingly political and out-of-touch with the public.

The latest BBC scandal is only the tip of the iceberg, and unfortunately the public are justified in their distrust of mainstream media outlets.

However, there is still a longevity and wealth of experience backing them.

It is important that we do not dismiss those who have spent their entire careers studying and implementing investigative reporting skills, simply because their politics do not align with ours.

So, find the good reporters.

Learn which outlets tend to give balanced angles on which current issues.

And avoid clickbait at all costs.

3. Don’t just rely on social media or independent journalists

As much as I appreciate independent journalism, I also know how easy it is to get a skewed perspective from relying only on news from social media.

Social media content is exaggerated for views and algorithmic success far more than most would like to admit.

Clickbait fills social media, and views trump accuracy in many well-intentioned cases.

And independent journalists are only one perspective.

No matter how balanced and well-informed they are, it is still essential to hear multiple alternative views.

4. Don’t just listen to the news - live the news

Most of the time it is impossible to be on the ground during the moments that make it into a news cycle.

But wherever it is possible, don’t just listen to the news reports; live it by attending in person.

If you can attend a protest, go to get a firsthand account.

If you cannot attend in person, talk to people who were there.

Build connections outside of your screen, and do not simply rely on the hearsay or targeted reports of people you don’t know and trust.

It is an undisputable fact that when you first attend a protest, only to see it misrepresented and exaggerated in the media, you will realise how easy it is to get a skewed perspective of events.

It is too easy to read about current issues without ever taking the time to be involved.

This is something we must intentionally change.

5. Turn off the news

The most important step in engaging critically with the news is to disengage.

We live in an information-saturated online world, where opinion is touted as fact and division is the norm.

If we are to survive this with our critical thinking intact, we must learn when to switch off the TV, put our phones away, and ignore the ever-present urge for ‘news’.

We don’t need to know everything that is happening.

The world will not end while we miss a news cycle – and if it does, what good will the latest article do you anyway?

Modern news consumers live in a post-social world, where too often our screens dominate our attention more than our personal relationships.

For us, the difficulty is not finding the latest information but purging the irrelevant from the essential.

So read the news.

Cultivate a broader perspective.

But after that, turn it off.

Leave the news for the next day.

Meander into the great outdoors.

Feel the acute edge of a November breeze on your cheeks.

Exercise your long-distance vision by looking beyond the attention blackhole we call a ‘smartphone’.

And before too long, you will see the walls of your echo-chamber expand as you live in the present and tangible realm of an open and critical mind.

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Courageous and biblical voices are lost to unwarranted violence.

Hopes for justice are shattered as speech, construed as violence, is censored and criminalised.

We are broken beings living in a broken culture, a broken nation, and a broken world.

This world is broken

We only have to glance at the top news headlines to see that our world is desperately broken.

Rape, abuse and child abuse are increasing.

Grooming gangs are, in many places, permitted to fester unchallenged, unfettered, and unexposed.

We have murdered over 10 million babies in the UK through abortion, and now Parliament is seeking to facilitate the suicides of the terminally ill.

Speech is silenced. Children are mutilated. And the concept of family is being steadily eroded and erased.

We are broken

This world is a hornets nest of unbiblical compromise, of people who claim the name of Christ and yet erode his teaching and character with every breath.

We live surrounded by sin, by stifling pride, and by selfish ambition.

And yet even worse, our own hearts are all-too-often riddled by these same un-Christ-like sinful tendencies.

We put ourselves first, put holiness on the back-burner, and allow our time to be used for our own enjoyment and ambition rather than the glory of Christ and the good of our fellow man.

The older we get, the most blindingly obvious our own sinful nature becomes.

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And yet, Christ

And yet, Christ still came to redeem us.

That phrase, “And yet, Christ”, is perhaps the most beautiful, the most unexpected change in the history of mankind.

The Creator sacrificing Himself for his rebellious, tainted creations.

The Holy one redeeming those least deserving of His forgiveness.

Jesus Christ, the ruler of the universe, becoming the outcast to draw guilty sinners back into a relationship with Him.

The Righteous One crafting the unrighteous into holy instruments of His good will.

God, becoming man, to be bruised, beaten and broken for our sin.

Where God made the broken beautiful

In human terms, Calvary is the most broken event in human history.

The Creator of the world, mocked, cursed, and crucified by those He breathed into existence.

The Saviour humiliated and rejected by those He came to save.

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Jesus, the holy, perfect, righteous one sacrificed by bloodthirsty mob to pay for the crimes they themselves - and sinners throughout the pages of history - committed against Him.

He was broken - for us.

He makes the broken beautiful, and heals the brokenhearted.

His death gave us life. His lifeblood paid the penalty for our sin. And his holiness makes us righteous in God’s sight.

We have the answer to the brokenness in this world, and He is Christ.

All for Christ

So share the gospel and boldly, courageously and graciously live out Christ’s will for your life.

Show compassion to the broken sinners you come in contact with every day, and show them genuine love by sharing the hope that is only found in the gospel.

Only with true repentance can we receive redemption and restoration in Christ.

Only He deserves our worship, our wholehearted service, and our dedication.

Our lives are His, to use and guide as He sees fit.

So live to the utmost for Him.

Only He is worthy.

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I paused, shook my head and replied that I wasn’t, although promptly reiterating that I did wholeheartedly believe in the equality of the sexes. She seemed confused and perhaps a little dismissive of my explanation, and then eventually said “I’m not meaning to be rude, but you just sound a bit like a pick-me girl”.

At the time I didn’t know what a ‘pick-me girl’ was - I hadn’t even heard the phrase before - but I intuitively guessed the meaning.

Fast forward a few years, and I’ve heard the term bandied around a few more times in conversations and social media threads.

It got me thinking, ‘Are conservative/traditional women really just trying to cater to men’s egos and conception of a perfect wife?’ and ‘If not, why do people make that assumption?’

A biblical perspective on womanhood

Just to be clear, a biblical view of womanhood, manhood, and equality must be rooted not in men’s - or women’s - desires or conceptions of perfection but in Scripture’s clear principles.

This foundation in many ways gets around the concept of ‘pick-me’ because, as a Christian woman, my perception of equality, womanhood, human rights, and the unique roles of men and women originates not in a desire to cater to the ‘male gaze’ - or should I say ‘male worldview’ - but in a desire to align my beliefs and actions with Scripture.

Whether or not the average man agrees with my perspective on womanhood and whether or not it makes me more attractive to him is quite frankly of little consequence to me.

The key issue is, does my worldview align with what my God says about my role as a woman?

Scripture may correlate with feminism on certain points, such as the equal value of men and women, but if feminism abrogates essential aspects of biblical femininity, then God’s definition must take priority.

Yes, feminism did a lot of good…once upon a time

I wholeheartedly believe in equality and that women can do many things just as well, if not better, than men.

However, I also acknowledge the reverse, and I know that we women have very real limitations, both physical and emotional, that men don’t have to the same degree.

Despite not being a feminist, I wholeheartedly appreciate some of the original feminist ideologies and campaigns. Who knows, if I had been born in a different era, I may have even aligned myself with the occasional ‘feminist’ cause.

I am grateful to have the right to cast my vote; I believe women should have the right to own property; I agree that women should have equal parental rights; I wholeheartedly support women having fair pay; I believe sexual harassment and the constant sexualization of women is a problem we must tackle as society; and one of the issues most dear to my heart is equal human rights - and yes that includes equality for men and women.

Modern feminism and the destruction of womanhood

However, the brand of feminism that has cascaded through Hollywood, the elites, social media trends, and the majority of the Western world is something that I cannot align myself with in good conscience.

I believe the original feminists would in many ways be ostracised by the feminism of today - a movement that fights not for equality but for uniformity, and that esteems not innate individual worth but wholesale rebellion against any sense of unique womanliness or any hint of limitation to a distinct gender role.

When feminists embrace ‘trans-women’ as women, thus allowing men to appropriate one of the few distinctly female aspects of womanhood left in our society, I cannot support their ideology.

When motherhood is shunned until ‘after I’ve had my fun’ or ‘after I’ve enjoyed my career’ and pregnancy is deemed better left to the surrogates, I cannot place my stamp of approval on a worldview that so demeans one of the most precious and unique aspects of being a woman.

When sex is seen as simply an enjoyable but essentially meaningless activity and promiscuity - which is in many ways catering to the male sex drive and desires - is promoted as liberation and female empowerment, I cannot condone such a blatant abuse of our womanhood and erosion of our femininity and innately female desires.

I don’t believe many women have a strong innate desire to be passed around from one sexual partner to another, with little or no long-term commitment, emotional stability, or genuine appreciation for them as a person instead of simply a body.

And when this is modern feminism - an ideology that degrades women, dismantles the concept of womanhood, and demeans any form of traditional femininity - I will not cast my name in with such a destructive, anti-woman brand of philosophy.

Am I a pick-me girl?

So, am I – and if you also find you don’t identify with the modern label of feminist, are you – a pick-me girl?

Is our rejection of modern feminism really an ill-concealed capitulation to a misogynistic conception of ‘what men want’?

After all, if feminists scare men – I’ll admit, often with good reason – then isn’t a non-feminist woman who embraces femininity what men really want?

Personally, I would argue that a far more bullet-proof case could be made for the hypothesis that a woman who sees ‘sex-on-demand’, sensual clothing that caters entirely to the male gaze, and freedom from any commitment or sense of exclusivity as a liberation of her as a woman would cater more to the immediate desires of the average modern man.

Am I wrong?

So no, I don’t believe you or I are pick-me girls simply because we don’t align ourselves with the feminist movement.

Yes, I believe in equality, yes I believe that women are exceptional and gifted, yes I believe men and women are uniquely able and uniquely limited, and yes I believe that feminism did much good and has also done – and is doing – much harm in our society.

And what the modern world would call a chaotic and senseless blend of ideas is exactly what fuels my passion for equality and rejection of feminism.

Created in His image

I am a Christian, not a feminist.

I know that all of us, men and women, are intentionally crafted in God’s image. We are equally sinful before a holy God, equally deserving of punishment for our rebellion against Him, and equally incapable of saving ourselves. But we are also equally loved, equally offered forgiveness and reconciliation through Christ’s death on the cross, and equally precious children of God.

Our duty as Christians is to serve Christ and live wholeheartedly in accordance with His revealed purpose for our lives and character as men and women created by Him for good works.

Sometimes secular movements will catch a glimpse of biblical values and promote a Christian concept – many times they will not.

But as Christians we are not beholden to any one movement; we are beholden to God and Scripture.

And that is a very freeing reality because our fight for justice, for life and for equality is not rooted in ambiguous ideas but in the solid foundation of God’s word and his beautiful design for humanity.

For reasons I cannot comprehend, Christ chose me, and if living how He commands and aligning my concept of womanhood and equality with His makes me a pick-me girl…I’ll take it, let it wash over me, and keep right at it.

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This was published in 2022, after the challenges we faced to freedom, public security, and accurate journalism during Covid.

Then, the culture wars and the risks posed to accurate journalism and information sharing were real.

But today, the threat is no less. Although the statistics may be a couple years out of date, I believe the message is as crucial as ever.

We need good, honest reporting, unfettered by political correctness and ideological indoctrination. We need our politicians to be held to account.

We need the truth.

We’ve all heard of them…those figureheads of the news who relentlessly pursued the scandalous truth, risking career and popularity to expose political corruption.

The nameless hero in the realm of journalism; the one who spends countless nights hunched over a small worn desk, encamped amidst the precarious strata of a miniature grand canyon of notes, books, and sources.

The hero who uncovered the truth that everyone else was willing to turn a blind eye to; the one whose tenacious chase of fact overcame the politics and coercion of news corporations.

This hero has one thing in mind: the pursuit of truth…not the pursuit of news.

And there is a subtle difference.

News sells…Fear sells…but journalists are not sales-reps.

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Journalism is the pursuit of truth, and when this noble and foundational mission is abandoned in favour of the pursuit of success or financial gain or reader approval ratings, the journalistic cause is left a mere remnant of yesteryear.

The job description of journalists is not to create ear-tickling shallow content for the public: the journalists reveal truth and scandal, and how the public decides to react to that is up to them.

The sad truth is that true journalism has been swamped in a mire of clickbait, blog-style content that is easy to produce and easy to consume; that has lost its ability to persuade, challenge and wholesomely disrupt the course of public opinion.

The depth that once defined prominent news publications has slowly been eroded by the gentle waves of shallow online news.

This is an erosion that this generation cannot allow to continue.

But in order to stop erosion, one must first understand the factors that have caused that erosion to occur.

Over the past few years, the Western public’s trust in the news media has been steadily and dramatically declining.

Echoing this trend, a 2021 report by Dr Merja Myllylahti and Dr Greg Treadwell revealed that fewer than half of the New Zealand public actually trusts the news.

This distrust had increased by 5% since 2020 and is certainly showing no signs of slowing down.

This declining trust is undoubtedly due largely to the increasing bias of the media.

Although no publication can lay claim to ‘total unbiased truth’, there are clearly tainted publications and then there are those that actively leave personal opinions at home, and are willing to pursue the hard truth regardless of the possible consequences for their presuppositions.

This is the essence of news reporting: digging to the harsh depths of human nature and the events evolving around us, and then submitting those findings for the public to analyse, discuss, and further understand.

A failure to acknowledge mistakes, and a starkly proven inability to hold the government to account by challenging their decisions and information, have played a crucial role in accelerating this distrust of the media.

Journalists, the kind that challenges everything (including their own presuppositions) are what may save the day for the news agencies.

What we need is hard news, tenacious journalists, and a distrust of the government (regardless of who is in power).

Distrust prompts research, and we as news reporters are responsible for serving the public by discovering the truth and presenting it fairly and thoroughly.

The only way to rebuild the trust that the news media has lost is by returning to the original purpose of journalism, and this needs to start with holding the government to account.

The news media are there to answer and pursue the public’s questions and concerns, not to silence them by a meaningless repetition of politically correct sentiments.

Just as the governing authorities are public servants elected to serve the public good, so the news media are public guardians responsible for protecting the public’s access to the whole truth.

Bring back accurate journalism, bring back a love for the truth, and bring back a wholesome curiosity and a distrust of those in power: because if we accomplish this, we will eventually rebuild the public’s trust in news.

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To feel the wind caressing your cold, seaspray-stained cheeks as the sea hurls merry insults at all who dare venture out in the dead of winter.

To see the soft, golden tinge of the late summer sun as it paints the leaves, the drying flowers, and each moment in a soft, dreamy haze.

To know love and to know loss. War and peace. Solitude, chaos, and being exquisitely alone in a crowd.

To feel pain and joy, grief, anger, fear, empathy, and anticipation. To feel and experience so much and yet intensely know that there is still so much more than one’s own small experiences can capture.

Life Is For The Living

Life is to be experienced: to be lived.

God did not create us with a myriad of emotions and the ability to wonder and place us on this earth filled with awe-inspiring marvels, and then expect us to lie dormant and unmoved by the majesty of His creation and the creativity of those He created.

He created us for heaven and eternity, yes. But He also created us to live fully while He has us here on earth.

Do you not think that every heartbeat is a gift?

Do you not know that every fleeting moment is both a reminder of the brevity of life and a promise of the unconquerable goodness of God?

And yet, how often do we treat time as infinite and worthless? Too many of us, I fear, talk of the brevity of life and the value of time and yet do little to reflect these realities in our own lives.

Confessions Of A Time-Waster

And I am no less guilty of this duplicitous indifference than others.

I am frequently sobered greatly by the shortness of others’ lives, and I often think of how mine could come to a close in a moment. And yet, for all this talk of making my life count, I still seem to fall into the trap of wasting my time with pointless amusements and self-service.

I deeply identify with Paul when he wrote: “For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. ... Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin.” (Romans 7:18-19, 24-25)

This is the greatest comfort in my feebleness, that when I am weak, He is strong: “But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.” (2 Corinthians 12:9-10)

He is the one working redemption in my feeble attempts to serve Him.

He has ordained the purpose for my life—and I am only called to do this current duty with all my heart and intention.

Paralyzed By Good Intentions

One of my greatest fears is to have a wasted life. But my dreams and the issues I feel invested in are so varied and numerous that I am more frequently than not paralyzed by the enormity of what could be done and my desperate uncertainty over what I should be doing about it.

And then, the greater tragedy is that rather than doing a few things not very well, I too often resort to doing nothing at all.

But small deeds done with vigor, intentionality, and to the glory of God are better than enamoring deeds thought of often but never enacted.

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God is glorified in our daily faithfulness, not our aspirations of grand holiness and kingdom usefulness.

So dream big, hope fervently, but more than this, pursue simple faithfulness and holy obedience in your shortcomings, your weaknesses, and your current circumstances.

And live, truly live.

Gifts In Exile

Take each day as it truly is: a chance to be useful and intentional in glorifying God, serving your fellow man, and enjoying the beautiful gifts God has given us to sweeten our exile on earth.

We may be exiles, we may be heading to our eternal and true home, we may be separated from face-to-face communion with our Dearest Friend.

But cannot exiles and wanderers still love and enjoy the beauty of the land they are sojourning in?

Does not God call us to build, dwell, and plant in this land?

As He told the exiles in Babylon: "Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat their produce. Take wives and have sons and daughters; take wives for your sons, and give your daughters in marriage, that they may bear sons and daughters; multiply there, and do not decrease. But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the LORD on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare.” (Jeremiah 29:4-7)

Did not the God who rules in heaven also create this world we inhabit?

I believe that the more we anticipate heaven, the more we should appreciate this life and the glimpses it affords us of eternity, the revealed character of God, and the joys that await us with Him.

Only One Life

Eternity should not pull us from the present but rather make us invest in it all the more. We have only one life in which to learn obedience and serve God in our flaws.

Yes, our sinfulness and moral frailty are painful to those striving for holiness.

But now we have the chance to fight ourselves and subdue our sinfulness for the glory of Christ.

In heaven, there will be no more warring within ourselves - this life is our only opportunity to learn and display obedience despite the cost and dedication despite our sinful nature.

This life is our battleground, our painful but necessary mission, and our golden opportunity to follow and know Christ in part, as we anticipate knowing Him in full once He calls us home.

C. T. Studd summarized so powerfully in his poem ‘Only One Life’ the purpose of our life and the reason for our intentional warring against our sinful flesh during our time here on earth. In these few verses chosen from the longer poem, I find a powerful and beautiful reminder of how we should live our lives:

Use Your Time Well

So, use your time well.

We should long for heaven, because then we shall be sinless and in perfect union with God.

But do not wish away the time God has seen fit to bless you with during your exile here on earth.

Life is a gift.

This world, science, nature, creativity, our emotions, relationships, and time are all good gifts.

They are here for the living, for the investing in, and for the enjoying.

Never grow accustomed to the fact that each heartbeat, each instinctive breath, and each millisecond are beautiful and undeserved gifts from God.

So, look around. Close your eyes and listen to His creation. Relish the act of being alive. Do not take your time or your abilities for granted.

And remind yourself daily of the beauty and the sacredness of life.

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In pursuing profits, we have discarded compassion.

In the pursuit of individual happiness, we have been willing to deny the suffering of others.

Our blind worship of autonomy has led us to dehumanise and silence whole segments of our society, all in the name of equality, of freedom, and of individual choice.

But what choice is there in a society that denies the very humanity of its weakest?

This is no choice at all, but merely another attempt to silence and erase the ‘unwanted’—those without place or position in our society.

History is one long, bloodied tale of war, slavery, and dehumanisation, penned by the victors and written in the blood of the defeated.

And all too often, the victims—the weaker, silent sufferers—are left unnoticed and forgotten in their misery until the narrative is challenged and history is rewritten, often for the better but sometimes simply to assuage guilt.

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Life: a Privilege or a Right?

Have we not learnt enough from our history of tragic mistakes and the needlessly and inhumane suffering of millions?

Our elderly and the terminally ill are being pushed towards assisted suicide, while disability rights activists look on at the erosion of the rights they fought so hard to establish.

The unborn are dehumanised yet again under a new law that would remove all legal guilt from a mother who ends her child’s life, up until the moment of birth.

With the erosion of our national morality comes the deconstruction of human dignity and the innate value of life.

After all, if the value of life is not innate but dependent on some outside factor, is the right to life really a right at all and not simply a privilege granted to the louder majority?

The Crises Of Our Time

In the UK, MPs just recently voted to decriminalise abortion up to birth.

While the law has yet to be fully approved and enacted, the heart of the majority of our Parliamentarians is clear: unborn life does not deserve protection.

This is the culture we live in, one where life is only valuable depending on the perception of others.

And yet, this crisis of our time—this abandonment of the dignity of human life—is perhaps the greatest chance we have yet experienced to create a bold, brilliant and long-term movement to abolish abortion.

It is a crucial opportunity to pursue not just fewer abortions but a complete abolition of the torture and murder of millions of human lives.

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And not just this, but to seek a widespread eradication of the social factors that cause women to feel they have no other choice.

The Legacy Of Never Giving Up

They say history repeats itself: this is true.

But let it be the history of the abolitionists, the defenders of life, and the advocates of human dignity that we mimic.

Let us not be remembered as those who stayed silent in the crisis of our time.

Yes, this world is a brutal, broken place.

So was Britain during the Trans-Atlantic slave trade.

So was an antisemitic Europe under the invading forces of Hitler.

So was a segregated America.

So was the Middle East during ISIS’s reign of terror.

So were—and are—areas in the UK dominated by Islamic Pakistani grooming gangs.

And yet, the abolitionists brilliantly and with brutal honesty campaigned for change.

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The underground resistance saved lives targeted by the Gestapo.

The civil rights movement marched for equality.

Journalists exposed the atrocities committed, particularly against vulnerable women and children, by ISIS.

And survivors courageously are sharing their stories and calling for transparency, safety, and justice.

Just because our world is broken and life will undoubtedly be hard for many does not mean that the unborn deserve to be violently prohibited from living.

This is not compassion, nor justice, but a tragic human rights abuse.

Silence in the face of such grave injustices is only an option for the morally bankrupt and the ignorant.

Enough Is Enough

We have lost over 10 million lives to abortion in the UK.

How many more must suffer and die before we are willing to stand up, to risk our reputations that they might have the chance to live, and to say “enough is enough”?

We too easily grow complacent because the horror is not right before our eyes.

Well, maybe it should be.

Maybe now is the time to make ourselves brutally and fully aware of the devastating reality of abortion.

If our MPs cannot face this reality—if they cannot proudly stand their name side by side with the results of their laws—maybe they should reconsider proposing this legislation in the first place.

If the reality is too brutal to publicise, why are we permitting our Parliament to allow this inhumanity behind closed doors?

Changing Society

However, if we are to challenge abortion, we must also challenge the social and cultural factors that make abortion seem a necessity for so many women.

If we are to challenge abortion in cases of rape, we must also ensure there are far harsher penalties and sentences in place for rapists.

If a rapist can irreversibly wound and ruin one life by one act of violence - an in so doing, create another life - he must not be allowed to walk free after sometimes only a few years imprisonment.

If we are to challenge abortion in cases of financial burden, we must ensure we are offering support and care to young mums who choose to save their babies’ lives.

If we are to advocate for fathers’ rights in choosing the life of their babies, we must also ensure fathers are bound, by law and culture, to take responsibility for the lives they create.

It is not enough to simply speak up.

Culture must change.

We must actively create a culture that supports unborn lives, celebrates young families, and promotes a narrative of hope and equal humanity rather than autonomy at all costs.

After all, this advocacy for the dignity of life at all stages is what it means to be truly pro-life.

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We are bombarded with adverts promoting some new way to look younger, stay more in shape, and generally pretend that we are invincible in the face of old age and the inevitability of death.

Independence and autonomy are craved to the extent that the subtle insinuation is that if you don’t have autonomy, you have nothing.

We are afraid of growing up, afraid of allowing the passage of time to scribble memories as lines in our skin, and most of all we are afraid of being dependent on someone else for our basic needs.

We are afraid of age. And so, we avoid it, fight it, or just simply ignore its existence.

We bury our heads in the sand – or rather in some new speciality mud-infused cream – and pretend that age is more of a social construct than a reality.

And yet, in so excessively fighting the effects of ageing and promoting autonomy, we have created a society that places a taboo on old age and dependence on others.

And now that taboo is having deadly consequences.

Research has proven that “one in three people in the UK report experiencing age prejudice or age discrimination”.

The British public has an increasingly negative outlook on aging: “Only three in ten (30%) agree that they are looking forward to old age, while more than double (68%) disagree with this statement

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As a nation, we fear aging: “Half (50%) agree that they are worried about getting old. Only one in five (18%) say that they are not worried.”

In shunning the concept of ageing, we are inadvertently shunning our elderly or dependent population.

We are so obsessed with our independence, our ability to think and choose and live for and by ourselves that we have subconsciously relegated a dependent life to a worthless life.

And this warped perception is now piercing its deadly claws into our culture, our health system, and our laws.

Discarding the heroes of yesterday

Here we are, perched on the brink of legalising assisted suicide. By a narrow margin of 23 votes, MPs voted to legalise assisted suicide at the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill’s Third Reading.

Yes, the legislation specifies it is intended only for the terminally ill.

But the reality is that once any segment of society is entitled to a medically facilitated suicide, we will soon see any restrictions as discriminatory and start to dismantle them. Already, before the bill has even been voted into law, there have been calls to widen the eligibility criteria.

If we follow the pattern seen overseas, we will soon be allowing assisted suicide for the elderly, the chronically ill, the mentally ill, those with eating disorders, the disabled, the underprivileged, the abused, and those simply tired of living.

If we legalise assisted suicide, we will open the floodgates to increased elder abuse, socially acceptable suicidal ideation, and a general consensus that some lives – the old, the ill, and the less able – are really not worth living.

Public figures, such as Matthew Parris, have already controversially promoted the conception of a socially imposed ‘duty to die’ as a beneficial side-effect of legalising assisted suicide.

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He said: “our growing interest in assisted dying may reflect a largely unconscious realisation that we simply cannot afford extreme senescence or desperate infirmity for as many such individuals as our society is producing. “Your time is up” will never be an order, but — yes, the objectors are right — may one day be the kind of unspoken hint that everybody understands. And that’s a good thing.”

Society already devalues those is perceives as ‘less than ideal’ or ‘less able’.

It’s true, we have come a long way in terms of equality and a recognition of the dignity of the disabled or severely ill.

But we are slipping backwards with every speech and article that presents assisted suicide as a ‘compassionate’ band-aid to be slapped across the open, festering wound of healthcare access inequality and a culture that shuns ‘less than ideal’ lives.

We need to peel back the plaster, rinse out the wound, and heal the healthcare crisis, rather than simply killing off those seen as draining the taxpayer’s money.

Yes, campaigners didn’t want to see this discussion become centred around finances and cost-benefit analyses.

But here we are, and we cannot simply ignore the fact that financial considerations will inevitably have huge ramifications on the legalisation and implementation of assisted suicide.

If people can find a way to cut costs, even at the expense of others lives, some will always find a way to do it.

The ends don’t always justify the means, and cutting costs by killing lives is never an acceptable solution.

We cannot afford to introduce assisted suicide

Assisted suicide may well be a more cost-effective option.

And this is precisely why our nation simply cannot afford to welcome in a culture of assisted suicide.

One where we will permit our doctors to suggest to their patients that suicide is really the best treatment for them.

Where we will fund medically assisted death, while leaving our healthcare system in shambles – underfunded and ill-equipped to provide excellent and equitable healthcare to help people live and die well.

Where we will start channelling the old and the disabled down a one-way drain, as if society would be better off without them.

The unspoken, although now hinted at, implication is that taxpayer money would be far more effectively spent on a quick death rather than ongoing expensive care.

It’s no wonder that disabled groups are terrified of this new bill.

It’s no wonder that palliative care medics – the ones on the ground day in and day out – hotly oppose assisted suicide.

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And it’s sadly no wonder that many of our politicians seem more concerned about saving the bottom dollar than saving lives.

We cannot afford to sacrifice our humanity and our elderly on the altar of economics.

When a civilised nation resorts to killing those who are no longer contributing to society but costing society, that nation has dismantled the very foundation of its civilisation.

Losing the foundation of our civilisation

And so, I ask us to consider not just the perceived immediate alleviation that legalising assisted suicide might bring, but also the immense ramifications.

We must understand the incredible and irreversible harm that it will also do not only to the terminally ill and the disabled, but to our cultural perception of the dignity of life, our endeavour to decrease suicide rates, and our healthcare professionals’ ability to preserve life and offer the best medical care possible.

Every life is worth protecting and sustaining as a nation.

Once our culture forgets the dignity and value of life, we will lose our grasp on the foundation of our great nation.

Once our laws legalise intentionally assisting – and maybe even suggesting – suicide, we will have lost sight of what it means to support each other through thick and thin, through sickness and health, and through fears and sorrows.

Our compassion is intrinsic to our humanity, and assisted suicide is often presented as the compassionate option.

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But how is it compassionate to welcome in a law that allows us to help the most vulnerable to kill themselves?

How is it compassionate to channel much-needed funding into the cheaper option of facilitating death rather than supporting life?

How is it compassionate to relegate terminally ill patients into an inconvenient drain on the tax-payer’s money?

And how is it compassionate to redefine suicide as a valid exit-strategy rather than a tragedy?

A civilisation that kills its parents is no civilisation at all.

Life is beautiful and brief – it’s time we accept that

As this bill proceeds to the House of Lords, we must continue raising the issues with promoting suicide.

We must continue fighting for the value of life and better support for those who are struggling.

And we must create a culture that values life regardless of ability.

We must be dedicated not to ending lives, but to restoring the dignity of life and ensuring that everyone has access to excellent end-of-life care and the support they need.

We must not dehumanise others simply because we are afraid of losing our own autonomy.

And we must stop presenting ageing – and the loss of autonomy or health that inevitably follows – as a horrific disease to be avoided at all costs.

Our culture has inadvertently relegated a dependent life to a worthless life. And it is our duty to reverse that perception.

As our laws are changing, we must now change the culture that made those laws possible.

It is up to us to create a culture that intentionally values and supports all lives, and in so doing we will be one step closer to stopping assisted suicide and saving the countless lives that are risked by this bill.

We must stop assisted suicide in principle, in practice and then in Parliament.

We cannot afford to sacrifice our elderly on the altar of economics, or our humanity on the altar of autonomy.

Now is the time to stand for the beauty of life in all its flaws, its difficulties, and its brevity.

We cannot underestimate the value of life and a good death.

Nor dare we underestimate the immeasurable harm that this law will do to our most vulnerable, to the foundations of our life-protecting laws, and to the very fabric of our society.

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“Oh! How should all hearts be taken with this Christ? Christians! Turn your eyes upon the Lord. “Look, and look again unto Jesus.” Why stand ye gazing on the toys of this world, when such a Christ is offered to you in the gospel? Can the world die for you? Can the world reconcile you to the Father? Can the world advance you to the kingdom of heaven? As Christ is all in all, so let Him be the full and complete subject of our desire, and hope, and faith, and love, and joy; let Him be in your thoughts the first in the morning, and the last at night.”

So said Puritan Isaac Ambrose, and I am sure most of us would agree, in sentiment at least.

But do we truly live our lives reflecting and revolving around this truth, that Christ is all we need and should be the ultimate object of our desires?

Do we live lives that declare Christ to be worthy of preeminence?

I imagine I am by no means the exception in finding myself too often caught up in the pleasures and pressures of this life to dwell on the preeminence of Christ.

If I desire to hold Christ closest to my heart and to seek Him above all else, and yet my actions so often relegate Him to a devotional time and a scattering of prayers throughout the day, I have to ask myself if this - the preeminence of Christ is my life - is really my greatest desire?

What am I really living for?

Living For Others

While living for others may sound like a noble life mission, when it takes priority over living for Christ, it becomes simply a snare of people-pleasing and performance that inevitably leaves you bitter, empty, and lost in the end.

You cannot escape this reality.

When you live primarily to please or impress others, allowing their expectations to dictate the course of your life and holding their approval supreme, you have essentially removed God from the throne of your life and handed sovereignty to another fallen, sinful, and finite human being.

It is not wrong to care what people think - in fact, it’s necessary to some extent to show love and respect to others.

However, it must always come second to pleasing God. With Peter, we must understand and embrace the fact that our highest duty is to “obey God rather than men.” (Acts 5:29)

Pleasing God must be a higher priority than pleasing others.

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His opinion of our lives is more important than anyone else’s. Although this is not an excuse for ignoring wise counsel or dismissing others’ opinions, it should be our primary concern.

If pleasing God and obeying him results in disappointing others or not meeting their expectations, we must still please God.

As Paul exhorted the Colossians, “Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ.” (Colossians 3:23-24)

If you are misjudged for serving Christ, ostracised and neglected, or simply misunderstood, so be it.

Is He not more than able to repay?

Let Him be the ruling power in your life, your supreme desire, and the one whose approval matters most to you.

Living For Ourselves

But if we are not living for approval and applause from our fellow man, all too often our thoughts and focus turn inwards, and we live for ourselves and our sense of achievement and fulfilment.

Oftentimes, our sense of where we want our lives to go is more of a deciding factor in our choices and the way we spend our time, rather than surrendering our future to God.

We live for ourselves, and when the chaos of our life breaks our plans and dreams, we ask why God would allow this pain instead of realising our life was never really ours to dictate and control in the first place.

We usurp the control of our lives and then crumble when He takes back control, as if our efforts to direct our lives were anything more than futile delusions.

We are not our own, yet how often do we forget?

How often do we attempt to snatch our lives and our plans from the hands of the One who created us?

Do we really live in light of the knowledge that our lives - our everything - is rightly owned by our Saviour?

Yet Scripture is clear: “Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.” (1 Corinthians 6:19-20)

When how we feel is of more value to us than how we live and who we are serving, we are treading on very dangerous ground.

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Yes, we can desire a sense of fulfilment, purpose, and achievement, but that must be found first and foremost in Christ, or we will end up as disillusioned and dissatisfied as the world.

As hard as it is in the moment, we must remind ourselves daily that our lives are not our own - that our actions, our choices, and our purpose are intrinsically destined to glorify the Christ who gave His very life to redeem us.

As Christians, our identity is found in Christ, not our successes, failures, or aspirations.

He is who we live for.

Living For This World

This world has so much to offer.

And by this world, I don’t mean the world of sin, rebellion, and destruction, but simply this tangible world we live in.

There are so many experiences we can have, and they are blessings from our Father, yet here again, our focus so easily shifts from the Creator to His creation.

Too often, we are so caught up in living for this life and experiencing this world that we neglect to prepare for the next.

How often we need the reminder to pull our eyes from the attractions of this world and to look to Christ: “Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world - the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life - is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.” (1 John 2:15-17)

We are created to live lives of purpose, striving for holiness and running towards Christ with everything we have.

Yes, this life is to be enjoyed, and this world is to be explored and experienced, but that must come secondary to pursuing Christ.

He must be our greatest desire, strongest source of hope, and highest priority.

As Paul exhorts the Colossians, “If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.” (Colossians 3:1-3)

So yes, live and truly enjoy life, but do so in close communion with Him, eager to know and please Him above all else.

What Are We Living For?

It is so easy to become distracted by life, to be swept aside in the chaos of this world, and to live not for Christ but for things that can never truly satisfy.

But when we live like this - as I have experienced time and again, and will doubtless struggle with until the day I see Him face to face - nothing this world offers can truly satisfy.

Everything this world offers inevitably leaves us empty because we were created to worship God, and until He is Lord of our lives, we can never be truly complete.

As Augustine poignantly wrote, “Thou hast formed us for Thyself, and our hearts are restless till they find rest in Thee.”

We will always wrestle with the temptations of life and the desire to make ourselves or other things the guiding force of our lives.

But, as redeemed children of God, we must pull our hearts and our minds back to the truth that only Christ can satisfy and only He has the authority to determine the course of our lives and rightfully demand our full worship.

We must live for Him.

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Dreams die.

And what we once thought was a certainty in our future sometimes becomes a certain ‘no’ as we are left reeling from the change and struggling to come to grips with a life so far-removed from what we imagined.

It is hard to let our dreams die.

Hard Doesn’t Mean Unnecessary

It is painful to watch our hopes slip away, leaving only the void of the unknown.

But sometimes, God must pry our fingers open and take what we refuse to lay at His feet, for He knows that unless we surrender the little things, we will never be ready for His greater plan.

In everything - the loss, the unknowns, and the broken dreams - we must trust that He is working.

Scripture reminds us to “Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths” (Proverbs 3:5-6).

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He knows what we need, and He knows how to wisely and lovingly remove the things we think we need but that are, in reality, hindering our growth and trapping us in an illusion of control, success, and autonomy.

Most of us agree that “He must increase, but I must decrease,” (John 3:30), but how many of us are willing to let Him do what must be done to chip away at our pride, our ego, and our desire to control every aspect of our lives?

In the words of the great writer John Newton, “Everything is needful that He sends. Nothing can be needful that He withholds.”

Our response to the losses of life should not be one of doubt, anger, or coldness towards God, but one that rests in Him and His goodness - despite the inner turmoil, the anguish, and the questions we cannot see the answers to.

He knows what He is working and His goal He has in sight is far beyond - far more glorious - than what our finite minds could create.

The Psalmist reminds us to “Sing praises to the LORD, O you his saints, and give thanks to his holy name. For his anger is but for a moment, and his favor is for a lifetime. Weeping may tarry for the night, but joy comes with the morning” (Psalm 30:4-5).

For the children of God, sorrow is never permanent - joy always triumphs in the end.

Loss and the Love of God

Loss reassures us of the love of God.

It may seem ironic, but time and again, I have seen how countless testimonies from Christians over the centuries - as well as my struggles with loss - stand witness to this reality.

In the losses, Christ draws near.

When Christ is all we have, we see that He is truly all we need.

What we so often experience in the hours of grief and loss is that He is our refuge, our Rock, and the only One we can truly rely on.

His tenderness, presence, and unwavering grace are often revealed most clearly in the hardships of this life.

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As John Macarthur says, “When God uses hardship, difficulty, and struggle to steer us back to His righteousness, it ought to give us assurance that we truly belong to Him.”

If we are His, nothing can change his love for us.

Nothing - no pain, loss, or uncertainty - can alter His loving oversight of our lives, His plan of redemption, or His omnipotence in everything we face.

The Secret of Joy

Missionary, writer, and wife of martyr Jim Elliot, Elisabeth Elliot knew the pain of lost dreams.

After Jim was killed by the tribes he was trying to reach with the gospel, Elisabeth was abruptly left coming to grips with a loss most of us can only imagine.

She was burdened with the weight of an unknown future, left picking up the broken pieces of plans and dreams that would never become reality.

Elisabeth Elliot truly knew loss.

Yet this same woman, who faced so much loss and heartache in her life, was able to say, “The secret of joy is Christ in me - not me in a different set of circumstances.”

As Christians, we are to “Rejoice in the Lord always” (Philippians 4:4), not because our situation warrants it but because our Saviour does. “The Lord is at hand” (Philippians 4:5), and because of this, we can “not be anxious about anything” (Philippians 4:6).

With Paul, we can be assured that “the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard [our] hearts and [our] minds in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:7).

“The joy of the LORD is [our] strength” (Nehemiah 8:10), and “the God of hope [fills us] with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit [we] may abound in hope” (Romans 15:13).

Whatever we face, we can rejoice and find quietude in the assurance that our salvation is unassailable, our future is secure, and our God is with us.

As Paul exhorts the believers in Thessalonica, “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you” (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18).

Because He Cares for You

Perhaps the most comforting truth in all of Scripture is that God - the God of the universe, the Creator of life itself, the Holy One - cares for us.

As one of my favourite passages says, “Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time He may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on Him, because He cares for you.” (1 Peter 5:6-7)

He is not a distant deity, abstract and far-removed from the reality and sorrows of life.

He is ever-present, He is with us, He loves us, and He gave His very life to redeem and save us.

As is often the case, the Psalms perhaps most beautifully express this certainty that is the inheritance of God’s children:

So trust him with your anxieties and your cares - He knows what is best, and He is more than able to carry you through the storms of life and bring you to a different yet brighter future.

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We speedwalk from work to meetings to outings with an alacrity that fits our culture of ceaseless speed.

Too often, I find myself trapped in a constant rush of activity, only to crash and burn on those days when I don’t have much planned and the adrenaline has a chance to wear off.

I act as if I’m invincible - as if the passage of time and motion takes no toll on me. Yet it does.

Just Be

This world has so much to offer - so much beauty to enjoy, experiences to relish, and simple moments to make the most of - and yet we all too often miss these opportunities in the present because we are so consumed with what might be in the future.

How often do we persist in chasing efficiency and ‘the next step’ rather than simply pausing to enjoy this one?

In our culture, we run the very real risk of spending our whole lives preparing for what’s next rather than enjoying what we have right now.

Yes, the world may be your oyster, but what about this patch of turf, this situation, and this irreplaceable moment that you’ve been gifted today?

Too often, we focus so steadily on the line on the horizon that we forget to paddle in the waves dancing around our feet, to dig our toes into the sand today, and just be.

These moments never come again, and they are priceless.

Created To Rest

God has created us for good works, and sometimes that good work is simply to marvel at the beauty of moments and this incredible world that He has created.

We glorify Him by marvelling at His works of art.

But He has also created us with an inbuilt need to rest - our minds, our bodies, and our souls.

We are not invincible.

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Life and the ceaseless activity we find ourselves swept up in take their toll eventually.

We are often told that we were created to work.

But the truth is that we were also created to rest.

We were designed to need space, quiet, and a frequent ‘reset’.

Too often, however, we continue our mad dash of productivity - or more frequently simply activity - and survive from one week to the next on minimal sleep, even less true rest, and a buzz of ‘doing’ that drowns out the act of ‘being’.

He has not placed us in this moment simply to chase the next.

Be Intentional About Rest

As God’s creations, we must recognise and accept the way He has created us, and this means accepting that He has created us with a need to rest.

And like every area of life, if God has designed us for something and commanded us to do it, we must be intentional about it.

We obey God, celebrate the goodness of His creation, and fulfill His design for us by being intentional about rest.

Rest - like work - is good and is a gift from God.

So how do we do this? How can we be intentional about the way we rest?

1. Rest In Christ

Psalm 46 tells us, “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble… The LORD of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress.”

He is with us, which is why He commands us to “Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!"

We are to ‘be still’ and rest in His sovereignty because He is in control, and nothing can ever change that.

In Psalm 91, we are reminded that “He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High Shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty… He shall cover you with His feathers, And under His wings you shall take refuge.”

We rest our souls when we reflect on the glories of the gospel, preach to ourselves the goodness and trustworthiness of God, and relinquish ourselves into His capable care.

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He is in control, He is good, and we need to remind ourselves daily of these truths.

Our God is completely trustworthyand sovereign over every event we face: “I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done, saying, 'My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose,'… I have spoken, and I will bring it to pass; I have purposed, and I will do it.” (Isaiah 46:9-11)

Rest in Him - His goodness, His faithfulness, and His ever-present sovereign hand in our lives.

2. Rest In Nature

Nature is not restful simply for ‘nature lovers’.

We are part of God’s good creation, and being out in His creation reminds us how intrinsically involved He is in every aspect of the universe - from atoms to asteroids.

“In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth,” (Genesis 1:1), and this world is His work of art: “The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.” (Psalm 19:1)

Nature points us to the Creator and reveals His sustaining grace in the minutiae, the mountains, and the moments.

In Matthew 6, Jesus tells us to “Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?”

Later on in the chapter, He says again, “And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?” (Matthew 6:28-30)

Reminding us yet again of the depths of His compassion and sustaining care of us, every creature, and the entire universe, He says, “Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? And not one of them is forgotten before God. 7 Why, even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not; you are of more value than many sparrows.” (Luke 12:6-7)

He who created all this loves you.

He reminds us that “All these things my hand has made, and so all these things came to be, declares the LORD. But this is the one to whom I will look: he who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at my word.” (Isaiah 66:2)

The incredible nature of our relationship with God - the Creator of galaxies in covenant relationship with sinful humans - is revealed perhaps nowhere more poignantly than in the marvels of His creation.

This is our God.

3. Rest Slowly

One of the things I’ve noticed most since moving to London is that nothing moves slowly.

Everyone is in a rush, huddled in their own isolating world with earbuds in, smiles hidden, and eyes averted.

All too often, I find myself just another one of the million nameless faces darting from station to station and careening down the highway of life at breakneck speed.

But I don’t want to live life this way.

And so I have determined to be intentional about embracing the slow life where I can.

I walk as much as I can rather than taking the faster route of the overcrowded stress-pit of the London Underground.

I take time to simply be: to write an article in a park using just pen and paper so I’m reducing my screen time; to journal surrounded by a myraid of candles and a Yorkshire tea; or to read a chapter (or several, depending how gripping the book is) before I go to sleep each night.

Embracing slowness doesn’t mean doing nothing - it means chasing value over efficiency and focusing on the activity itself rather than simply ticking another task off a never-ending ‘to-do list’.

Take time to read a few chapters, to wander with no specific destination, and to just think without all the distractions of this high-speed life.

Not everything has to be done fast - it is good to slow down, to enjoy being alive, and to rest in the knowledge that God is in control and we are not.

Live The Slow Life

In this life of ceaseless activity, noise, and the constant pursuit of “the next thing”, take time to enjoy where you are right now.

Almost certainly, despite how hard life often is, you are living in the midst of answered prayers.

These moments don’t come again, and although heaven will be incomparably greater, this world is still full of beauty, of experiences, and of priceless opportunities to live to the fullest.

Jim Elliot wrote, “Wherever you are, be all there! Live to the hilt every situation you believe to be the will of God.”

This is how I desire to live my life - with an eternal mindset and a focus on living today with everything I have.

To give all that I am to glorify and enjoy God in the time I have right now.

I know I will fail many times - I am weak, easily distracted, and naturally inclined to pursue temporal dreams rather than eternal purposes.

However, I desire never to look back and feel I have wasted my life, but to make the most of every moment God has granted me here on this earth.

As Christians, we should want to live intentionally - in the working and the resting.

So work hard, rest slow, and live to the hilt the ‘today’ that God has given you.

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I like control.

The trouble is, control and certainty about the future are nothing more than illusions - figments of our imagination.

With every passing week, every new date jotted down in my journal, I realise just a little more how utterly dependent I am.

Does He not know best?

No matter how many 10-year plans we write out, how many goals we achieve, or how much we strive for a certain life story, the reality is that almost everything is out of our control.

Really the only things we have true control over is our response to the life story God has written for us.

We are responsible for our character and willingness to be moulded and shaped by the tools He chooses to use - whether or not they are pain-free, understandable, or what we perceive to be best.

As is written in Lamentations: ^“Who has spoken and it came to pass, unless the Lord has commanded it? Is it not from the mouth of the Most High that good and bad come? Why should a living man complain, a man, about the punishment of his sins?” (Lamentations 3:37-39)

He knows what we need.

He has written our life story and woven in character arcs and plot twists that we would never have chosen had He allowed us to take control.

And yet, His way is so much higher, more perfect and infinitely more glorious than what we would have imagined.

In our fear of the unknown, we attempt to drag the pen from His hands and rewrite our story under the ludicrous illusion that our way is really best.

All too often, we would settle for a pain-free fairy-tale rather than permitting Him to weave the epic saga of sin and redemption, pain and beauty, failure, forgiveness, and freedom that He writes through each moment of our lives.

Doesn’t He know best?

Driven from uncertainty to a certain God

One of the most powerful tools He uses to craft us into the people He created us to be is uncertainty - the unknown.

Charles Spurgeon wrote, "I have learned to kiss the wave that throws me against the Rock of Ages."

And most frequently, I have found this wave to be the uncertainty of the future.

Whether there will be restoration in a broken relationship.

Whether a lost loved one will realise their need for Christ and accept His offer of salvation before it’s too late.

Whether that special someone will come tomorrow, or in 10 years - or never.

Whether we will ever really understand or see the necessity of a crushing trial this side of heaven.

Although it may never feel like it, this unknown and uncertainty is a gift from our kind Father.

As is so beautifully written in Jeremiah 29:11, “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.”

If we truly understood the path of our lives, if we never had to wrestle with the pain of uncertainty, we would never be driven into the deeper dependency and surrendered trust in God that is almost always only brought about through the pain.

An uncertain future casts us upon the Rock of a certain Saviour.

He is certain - His character, His love, His patience, and His salvation is certain.

And the unknowns drive us to a certain God.

Sovereign over all

“He who choreographs the stars in their courses is also in charge of the tiniest details of our lives,” wrote Elisabeth Elliot.

Nothing can change His sovereignty.

Perhaps nothing is as comforting as the fact that He - our Creator, Saviour and Friend - is intimately working His purposes in the minutiae of our life, bringing about our sanctification and eventual glorification with Him in Heaven.

Isaiah 45 is an eye-opening representation of who the Lord is - His sovereignty and omnipotence - and our smallness.

God owns and oversees His creation to such a degree that nothing happens apart from His knowledge, apart from His will, apart from His wisdom.

There is nothing we are given that does not in some way pass through His hands.

Trust His Leading

Facing the unknowns is difficult and often painful.

But how immense is the comfort that comes from knowing our God holds us in His hands, ordains our future, and is working His purpose in every step of our lives.

The future is unknown to us, but not to Him and we should find much peace and rest in that knowledge.

He knows the plans He has for us - we are simply watching them unfold and are invited to join in the process as He grows our character, our trust, and our faithfulness.

Trust His leading, for He never leads astray.

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Another millisecond passes.

Another moment slips by.

This is a war humanity is doomed to fight.

A war where no ground lost can ever be reclaimed. A war where every moment is irreplaceable and yet all too often deemed inconsequential. A war where every second matters because any second might well be your last.

A war against time itself.

This war—this never-ending battle against the rampaging forces of time—has a simple name that encapsulates a limitless depth of meaning.

Welcome to life.

Life is brief

In the moment, it feels as if life will last forever; as if the steady trickle of sand seeping through the hourglass of history grinds to a halt in the presence of the here and now.

But it doesn’t last forever, and time halts for no one.

One second we are children, dancing in the sunshine, chasing ladybugs and dreaming of growing up.

And the next moment, just as we start to grasp the meaning of childhood, we find we have entered the next season—adulthood—without even bidding farewell to the last.

All too often, we presumptuously assume we have forever, only to realise too late that life changes and with it comes the necessary death of dreams, hopes, friendships and ambitions.

True, new replacements will spring in their place, but the reality remains the same—once a moment is lost, it can never be reclaimed.

As one of my favourite passages says, “The years of our life are seventy, or even by reason of strength eighty; yet their span is but toil and trouble; they are soon gone, and we fly away. Who considers the power of your anger, and your wrath according to the fear of you?” (Psalm 90:10-11)

Time will take its toll, gaining ground second by fleeting second, and there is nothing we can do to prevent it.

How then shall we live in this battle we seem doomed to lose?

The answer is found in the next verse: “So teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.” (Psalm 90:12)

This a beautiful and sober reminder to recognise the brevity of life and yet see each day - each moment - as a priceless gift to be used wisely and unreservedly for the glory of God.

“Look carefully then how you walk,” says Paul to the Ephesians, “not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.” (Ephesians 5:15-17)

The brief splash upon the vast canopy of time that we call life - this short, sweet, and sometimes sorrowful diary entry penned in the pages of eternity - is not only a gift but a responsibility entrusted to each of us.

God has made us stewards of His time.

He has breathed life into us and entrusted into our care a limited number of moments and a purpose for each one.

Do we live like that is true?

How often do we neglect the eternal and ignore the ticking time of our lives as we pursue what will never satisfy and what will never last?

Do we really make the best use of the time allotted to us?

Life is beautiful

The God who wove the stars into galaxies created you, with all your uniqueness and imperfections and oddities.

With the Psalmist we can say, “For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother's womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. 16 Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them.” (Psalm 139:13-16)

He gave you the gift of life, both temporal and everlasting.

He created you to live.

So live, truly live!

God created beauty and the marvels of science, rock formations and waterfalls, genetics and a myriad of eye-colours and patterns - He created this world to showcase His character and power, but He didn’t create it to just sit there untouched and unenjoyed.

When we revel in the beauties of nature and the joy of simply being alive, we are enjoying His work of art - this life and His world.

James reminds us that “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.” (James 1:17)

Nature and life are good gifts from our Father. He created us to explore and to enjoy every aspect of His creation.

Our time here on earth is a beautiful and undeserved gift from Him, and no hardship or suffering can change that reality.

Life is precious.

It is limited.

And it is designed to be used to the fullest.

Life is for living today

When time is limited, we must live for today. In saying ‘live for today’, I am not calling you to live as if the present is all there is.

This is no mediocre, hopeless echo of the call to ‘eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we die’.

Nor is it a semblance of the sophisticated and yet delusional philosophy that today is all that exists, all that is important.

Far from it.

The call to live for today, is to live each day making the utmost use of every moment for the good of mankind and the glory of God.

To live to please Him this second of this minute of this day, as if nothing else matters.

To live wholeheartedly and devotedly in His service, so that if this moment is your last, you will pass with a smile and the knowledge that with even your final breath, you loved Him.

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To live for today is to exist with an unquenchable passion for life—but more importantly, for the Giver of Life Himself.

As Proverbs tells us, “Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring.” (Proverbs 27:1)

We don’t know what tomorrow will hold, or even if we will be given the gift of another day, but we do know that we can live for Christ in the here-and-now.

It is all very well to say, ‘I will serve God wholeheartedly after I’ve done this, or when I’ve reached this goal, or when I’m older’.

But all too often, once we attain that stage or milestone, we simply postpone our pursuit of Christ and move onto the next new goal.

We are called to be “living sacrifices” (Romans 12:1), not ‘in-the-far-distant-future sacrifices’.

This entails that our whole lives, every moment of every season - whether or not we feel ready and equipped - should be used to the utmost to glorify God, live out the purposed He has for us in the day-to-day, and enjoy Him and the life He has given us.

You are alive! The world is before you! But more miraculously, the Creator is with you!

Life is the gateway to eternity

Yes our time here on earth will run out…but as the last second of our allotted time fades away and we take our final breath, this is not the end but simply a step into eternity.

I hope these simple actions help you remind yourself of the preciousness of our time here on earth:

1. Plan for the future

2. Don’t take tomorrow for granted

3. Regularly recalibrate your focus

4. Dwell on the gospel

5. Every moment is a gift…live like it!

Our lives are short.

Our time is limited.

We are never guaranteed tomorrow, but what we are guaranteed is an opportunity in the here-and-now to glorify Christ and showcase His character and goodness through our lives.

So live for Him today, in light of eternity.

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How do you carry on when you’ve lost all your energy and will to do so?

How do you plan for the future when the present seems only to be getting bleaker and more hopeless?

How do you persevere steadfastly when you can’t see the light at the end of the tunnel?

When the ‘how’ seems impossible, as if the present trial is insurmountable, as children of God we have one never-failing recourse: we must lift our eyes and bring our burdens to Christ.

God Is Our Trustworthy Counsellor

He is our counsellor - He promises to lead us in the way everlasting, to give us wisdom, to make our paths straight, and to reveal his will for our lives.

In Scripture alone, we find the truths we so desperately need to rely on for strength in our weakest moments.

He is the “Wonderful Counsellor” (Isaiah 9:6) and His word is “a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.” (Psalm 119:105)

Our souls are safe in His steadfast and omniscient keeping, as the Psalmist writes: “Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!” (Psalm 139:23-24)

His Word answers every question by guiding our thoughts, responses, and convictions about how we should biblically tackle each challenge or decision we face.

Yes, Scripture may not say ‘You should take this job’ or ‘You should live here’ or ‘You should say this response’.

God’s word doesn’t spell out each of our decisions for us, but He does give us clear guidance on what our hearts’ position should be and how we should react and respond to the trials and challenges that face us in life.

As the Scriptures so comfortingly reiterates, when we make “[His] testimonies [our] delight” and “[our] counsellors” (Psalm 119:24), Christ is the one who promises to “instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with my eye upon you.” (Psalm 32:8)

God Is Our Compassionate Comforter

Jesus knew what it was to suffer, to grieve, and to feel the weight of a broken world.

No one understands the pain of grief, separation, and rejection more than Christ. And it is this God, this “Man of sorrows” (Isaiah 53:3) and “God of all comfort” (2 Cor 1:3) who promises to comfort us in our sorrows.

Paul reassuringly reminds his readers of God’s enduring comfort in our afflictions and the greater purpose that He is always working in each season of our lives: “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. For as we share abundantly in Christ's sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too.” (2 Corinthians 1:3-5)

God is the Father of all mercies, the God of all comfort, and He will never leave us alone and abandoned in our struggles.

He is our greatest comforter and our solace in the storms of life.

Each heartbreak, difficult season, and bitter disappointment tenderises our hearts and enables us to feel more keenly the pain of others. This shared pain allows us to connect with our fellow sufferers in a more meaningful way than we ever could have without the trials.

We appreciate their struggles because we too have been bruised and battered by the fierce giants they now face.

Our hearts have been overwhelmed by the same waves of grief, our shoulders have weakened under the same burdens of sin and disappointment, and our fears - the same ones they face - have all too often left us as incapacitated and broken-spirited as they now feel.

When we have experienced Christ’s comforting presence in “the valley of the shadow of death” (Psalm 23:4), we can hold the hands of those overwhelmed by grief and the darkness of this world, and lift their eyes to the Christ who saved us also.

We can sympathise more fully with those whose hearts have been broken in the same ways as ours, whose bruised faith stood against the same onslaughts, and whose wounded souls testify to the same pain and heartbreak we inevitably experience as fallen humans in a sin-stricken world.

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Suffering equips us to have compassion on others, just as Christ has had immeasurable compassion on us.

And yet, this increasing capacity for empathy is not the only blessing God works in the midst of suffering.

God Is Our Sovereign Keeper

In our brokenness, we are enabled to give a surer testimony to the grace and power of Christ that has brought us safely to the other side.

He has kept us this far, and each day His faithfulness proves that He will continue to keep us until He has brought us to the shores of an eternity secure with Him.

Our brokenness stands testimony to His power to heal, to restore, and “to save to the uttermost” (Hebrews 7:25).

God will keep us till the end. He numbers every hair on our heads, He plans every day, He knows everything that will happen, and He will never allow us to be lost.

He will bring our salvation and glorification to fruition and finish the good work He has started in us. As our eternal keeper, we can rest assured that “He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ” (Philippians 1:6).

If you are His, you shall never be lost: “I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand. I and the Father are one." (John 10:28-30)

He helps us to persevere amidst the heartbreak and gives us the strength and power to continue by faith.

In Christ, we are beautifully broken. He takes our weaknesses, failings, and scars, and in each season He crafts a glorious story of redemption.

He makes the broken beautiful, and although we can only see this in part here on earth, we will one day see the full panorama of restoration when we are with Him face to face in heaven.

On that day He will “wipe every tear from [our] eyes” (Revelation 21:4), and then “we shall be like Him, because we shall see Him as He is” (1 John 3:2).

Look to Christ

In Christ, we have an indestructible haven of refuge and a Saviour who will never turn away from our desperate pleas for help.

Look to Him in everything; in the rain, in the turmoil, in the conflict, in the nights of sorrow, and the days of anxiety.

Look to Christ, because only He can carry us through the trials of life and use even the worst situations to sanctify us and make us fit for a glorious eternity with Him.

Look to Christ.

He is our Counsellor, our Comforter, and our Keeper.

Our present, our past, and our future - our fears, our failings, and our future - are all safe in His sovereign keeping.

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It’s the age old tactic of negative framing: emphasising truths or words that have negative connotations so as to frame the opposition in a bad light.

It’s an attempt to position one side on the path to social failure, all before the discussion has even begun.

Pro-abortion campaigners, by taking the name ‘pro-choice’ - and calling their opponents anti-abortion - have categorised their opponents as being anti-choice.

The pro-life campaign has, justifiably, protested this negative framing for years.

But have we protested too long?

Are we fighting a losing battle?

And, is this even a distinction we should be making?

Are we just as guilty of ‘framing the argument’?

After all, our dedicated protestation of the term ‘anti-abortion’ is somewhat ironic considering our use of the term pro-life.

Although I doubt many of us would call pro-choicers ‘anti-life’, by calling ourselves ‘pro-life’ we are to some extent taking part in this framing tactic: if we’re pro-life, then the other side must necessarily be anti-life.

So, is it wrong to use framing tactics to present our cause in a more favourable light?

I believe that as long as the framing is based in reality and doesn’t negate key facts of the matter, then framing is merely a form of persuasion and can be a useful and justifiable tool.

The key is to ensure we are telling the truth to the best of our ability.

The conflict between life and choice

The pro-choice campaign is anti-life in that it elevates a woman’s right to choose over another human’s right to live.

It places greater import on freedom and autonomy that on the right to exist - the right to live.

It could be said that the right to life is meaningless without the right to freedom and the right to choose.

I agree, in part.

However, the right to freedom or choice is entirely inconsequential if one does not possess the right to live. Without life, choice means nothing.

Just as we are not categorically ‘anti-choice’, so pro-choicers are not categorically anti-life.

In fact, many of them are motivated by a deep compassion for suffering single women, victims of rape or abuse, or those facing poverty and struggling to come to terms with another unplanned pregnancy.

However, their pursuit of abortion in reality devalues an entire subsection of humanity, relegating them to terminable inconveniences that merely hinder autonomy.

In the pro-choice mindset, an unborn baby is only valuable if it is wanted.

Thus it is not their humanity or their individual worth that gives them value but simply an ambiguous and unpredictable perception of ‘wantedness’.

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Human rights are transformed into ‘social rights’, and rather than being intrinsic are gifted to certain individuals almost on a whim.

Since when did fundamental human rights find their basis in whether society ‘wants’ that human being or not?

Pro-choicer’s are not really pro-choice categorically: they’re pro the choice to access abortion.

The choice of the father, wider family members, or the child in question are irrelevant to the discussion: the woman’s right to choose must trump all others.

Whereas, being pro-life means to be pro all life: from conception to death; born and unborn; planned or unplanned; able-bodied or disabled; male or female; young or old.

So this is why we call ourselves pro-life, and reject the restrictive label ‘anti-abortion’.

Is being anti-abortion really a bad thing?

However, I think we’ve gone too far in our rejection of the term ‘anti-abortion’. For once, I actually side with the pro-abortion group on this subject.

Hear me out.

Yes the term anti-abortion focuses hearers immediately on what we’re against, not what we’re for.

I do agree that this is a potential problem.

But the reality is that, because we are pro-life, we are also anti-abortion.

To be anti injustice is not an inherently negative thing.

I am proud to be anti-torture, anti-human-trafficking, anti-abuse, anti-racism…the list goes on.

Yes I am pro-life.

But I am also staunchly anti-abortion.

I will not be ashamed of being opposed to the torturous and inhumane dismembering of unborn children, or opposed the misinformation and indoctrination that persuades young women that taking the life of their child is just another healthcare procedure.

To be anti-abortion is to be anti-injustice, and if that is what the media and pro-abortion critics want to label me, I will happily wear that as a badge of honour.

Accuracy, Advocacy, and Anti-Abortion Activism

As pro-lifers, our duty is to protect life first and foremost.

This means that we must be passionately anti-abortion.

Yes, we have tried to fight back against this negative framing that highlights what we oppose instead of accepting our foundational motivation for that opposition - our love for life and our desire to see it protected in our country.

However, now I believe we should somewhat accept this terminology and proudly wear the label ‘anti-abortion’.

It is accurate, it clearly shows where we stand on this issue, and it distinguishes what - not who - we are opposing.

Our fight is not against desperate women seeking abortions, but against the doctors carrying out these fatal procedures and the politicians and influencers who are promoting indoctrination that negates the brutal reality of abortion and it's mental, emotional, and life-terminating ramifications.

We are anti-abortion because we love life, and that life includes the women, the unborn, and all those affected by the tragic injustice of abortion.

And although we oppose those promoting abortion ideology and the abortionists themselves, we must remember that no-one is so far gone that the saving gospel of God cannot redeem them.

Saving lives - here and in eternity

No sin - not even murder - is so heinous that Christ’s blood cannot pay the cost it rightly incurs.

We are no better than the worst sinner.

We are all fallen and deserving of God’s judgement, and yet He showed us mercy, gave his life for ours, and redeemed us despite our deepest sins.

The One who showed us undeserved grace us is also the One who offers salvation to all, including abortionists, those who have pressured women into seeking abortions, and the women themselves.

In trying to save the lives of the unborn, our highest aim must be to also share the hope of the gospel that saved our own lives - for it is only the gospel that can truly redeem society and eternally save lives.

Without the foundation of the gospel, we risk creating a moralistic but spiritually dead culture that adheres to biblical values and yet rejects the Creator of those values.

And so, as fierce as our opposition of abortion is, our kindness and compassion (caring holistically for their lives, from conception into eternity, physical and spiritual) for our fellow humans must be stronger still.

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