The Voice Within

Father, you are so good to me You are my rest The home I can come and make myself at home at Where you have prepared a meal  And are waiting to hear about my day I look to you With feet up on my sofa and realise that you were there all along Lord, please open my eyes and show me How you were working in my life today Sorry Lord for making unwise choices Delaying rest Help me rest in you My true refuge and dwelling place My peace,El-Roi- the God who sees me The God who has clothed me with his righteousness

My heart is filth Yours is gold Refiner's fire Come refine me whole Be gentle though Sweet surgeon of my soul Lest bitter I turn Turn away from your fold

A swarming buzz A whispering hiss A whirring, murmuring and then some spitting Today's thoughts-thoughts for the day Crashed in Noisily trying to wrench out faith And steal the song. I was left gasping for the truth Dizzy with lies, Cold, cold, cold- I cried Cried to my ever-present help My ever faithful friend Who knows the depths of me He hastened- set your mind on things above Not on things below Where I am seated in the heavenly realms While the battle rages on, He gently helps me and I know we will win And while the battle rages on, I cry: I am grateful  I am grateful I am loved with an everlasting love I am grateful that Christ is the author and perfecter of my faith I am grateful that he will never leave me nor forsake me I am grateful that no weapon formed against me shall prosper I am grateful that no one can bring a charge against God's elect I am grateful that God disciplines those he loves I am grateful that nothing can thwart his plans...

Sketching whilst meditating on Psalm 46.10

Rhythmic glide Of train on tracks Silent sheep grazing Infinite sky bursting blue Truth on pages of a book well worn- Kind words of a faithful friend All invite me to A pace shift A gear shift And an upwards turn As the summer stretches on 

I am beginning to see a pattern in the journey God is taking me on. When trials arise, he beckons me to the glorious pasture of surrender. "It's a beautiful place", the Holy Spirit reminds me-a place where praise songs bubble out of your heart, where you dance on the head of the enemy and where peace pipes burst open into a monsoon shower. When we surrender to God's will, it's an act of worship. It brings God glory and us peace. When we surrender, we choose to recognise (with God's help) that we don't have to fret about what unfolds in the future. When we surrender, the enemy can't taunt us anymore as we have completely laid it all down and said to God- "Daddy, appacha (Malayalam word for dad/grandad), your will and your plans and your wisdom are the best and I am safe in you. I trust you Abba." Isaiah 40.28 says "God's understanding is unsearchable". Not even the best or biggest search engines man may develop can searc...

God's eye view Is a clear sight of the thumping heart It is far from your social media page Or your words sashayed It is of the leaps and lows Of the undisguised human heart Of the core None of these external shiftings But of the internal murmurings Like that of the gurgle Of a stream in a cave Deep in a mountain Father, thank you that you see within and this is what counts. (inspired by 1 Samuel 16:7) "But the LORD said to Samuel, "Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The LORD does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart."

When we read the Old testament, we often see the Israelites forgetting God’s goodness and spiralling into a pattern of grumbling. This happens to all of us too- it hardly takes us a few days or sometimes a few hours, to forget God’s goodness and to embrace anxiety.  The good news is that God has given us a wonderful weapon to fight this called gratitude.  One of the best balms to soothe our fears, our grumblings, our despair is thanksgiving . Because gratitude and grumbling cannot co exist. The Psalmist declares in Psalm 69:" I will praise God’s name in song     and glorify him with thanksgiving. This will please the Lord more than an ox,     more than a bull with its horns and hooves."  Here the psalmist is saying that the sacrifice of thanksgiving is more pleasing to God than the sacrifices of animals that they had to make in old testament times. I think its quite helpful for us to realise that thanksgiving is a sacrifice- like ...

This morning I was waiting for my regular reverse commute from Waterloo. The grey June morning could not dampen my spirits as I was surrounded by elegantly dressed passengers who were waiting to catch their train to Ascot to go to the Royal Ascot races. Men with top hats and women donning fascinators in various colours and sizes made the heads of the rest of us turn and some of us whip out our phones to capture the beauty on digital film. I was trying to photograph a couple discreetly from behind them when they suddenly turned- I politely asked if I could take a photograph of them and they kindly obliged. What I did not expect was that they would go on to gift me a beautiful bouquet of roses and irises. They had purchased it earlier as they needed a rose for the gentleman's buttonhole-and they generously gave away the rest of the bouquet to me! I am reminded of the verse -'Every good and perfect gift comes from our Father above who does not change like shifting shado...

Its been a joy to memorize scripture (psalm 16, psalm 130) lately. Thank you God for Grace who has been an invaluable prayer partner who has spurred me to memorize scripture. Grace and I have been learning a psalm by heart each time I go away on a work trip...this has been so fab because when I am on a work trip, I am usually always in work mode mentally and I find it difficult to quieten my spirit and rest in Jesus during my quiet times with him. When I read the word during these fast paced days, I find it hard to concentrate...but voila! memorising scripture is just the thing to do/ It forces you to concentrate...I usually write the psalm down several times and say it aloud several times. Sometimes I do fun things like make an audio rec of me saying it and listen to it. And the scripture takes on new depth as you invest more time in it...and the best thing of course is, when you don't have a Bible with you, but want to preach to yourself, speak the truth and shus...

Two links Sandhya shared with me today: 1) It is well with my soul feat John Piper- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=80x6wDi9umY 2) Though you slay me feat John Piper- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qyUPz6_TciY Our suffering is momentary. It is also totally meaningful. The only thing we can rely on is God's goodness. He is not going to let go. God is too faithful. It doesn't depend on me.

that the two best inventions ever are : the pocket and the hot water bottle...thought of the first as I was ironing a shirt...am grateful it has pockets. Thought of the second as its winter :)

"Then shall we know, if we follow on to know the LORD: his going forth is prepared as the morning." Hosea 6:3 View of the work of my infinitely creative God from my room in Higashi Osaka Shi (2009)

The sun is shining I can hear the gurgle of water fountains That adorn this motley landscape Where wilderness and trimmed hedges are neighbours I am here to drink From a deeper fountain The leaves are lush in the trees Sweet September With not a hint of autumn Regent's park. Meeting with regency, royalty ie the King of Kings and Lord of LORDS

Hungry I come to You for I know You satisfy I am empty but l know Your love does not run dry So I wait for You So I wait for You I'm falling on my knees Offering all of me Jesus You're all this heart is living for Broken I run to You for Your arms are open wide I am weary but I know Your touch restores my life So I wait for You So I wait for You (the poster on the left was made by Natalie during the Megacities London outreach) 

"We dream of Christ's love for His bride reading like Romeo and Juliet ; two equals enflamed in liberal love. I think its more like Lucentio's pursuit of Bianca in Taming of the Shrew . That is, the groom endearing the belligerent bride with kindness, patience, and love. " pg 86 "I was in a lot of pain from the hike, so I was in no mood to mess around. There was no trying to impress Him, no speaking the right words. I simply began to pray and talk to God the way a child might talk to his father....Beneath the billion starts and beside the river, I called out to God, softly. 'Hello?' " pg 99 "I will love God because he first loved me. I will obey God because I love God. But if  I cannot accept God's love, I cannot love Him in return, and I cannot obey Him. Self discipline will never make us feel righteous or clean; accepting God's love will. ...accepting God's kindness and free love is something the devil does not want us to do....

I am reflecting on this verse : John 15:2  photo courtesy-oak wise design He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful.

Jesus, You’ve replaced my sky Yesterday, my roots strained to go deep First they stirred vaguely as though in paradoxical sleep Then they spread wide and spread thin But today, I am strengthened from within, And will stand not on sand But in the LORD’s land Limbs stretched in a cry to my creator:   LORD let your blood drip over these pests that infest The core of my soul Establish me by streams of living water Transplant me into thy dwelling quarter Yesterday, I was bent beneath the rage of seasons changing, the moon waning But today I am waiting For eternal spring to sing Praises to the King who is coming And even as I wait, I am Nourished, fed, satisfied by He who in me abides Entrenched in the soil of his love, Wooed to fix my thoughts on things above The old is gone the new has come You’ve replaced my sky =)

Fan vaulting like fingers spread out Holding up this space of worship Stained glass Trap stories in solid liquid A place of bells and beauty chiming Betwixt tourists and royal priesthood Did they pause to admire The building or The Builder of all? 

The godly are like Meadows of flowers yellow Sunkissed and aglow