Radiant Women

One thing that Jesus constantly emphasizes in the Bible is prayer. He tells us to, ‘‘Watch and pray,’’ and to ‘’Pray without ceasing.’’   But why is it so important? Prayer is a privilege Prayer is the means by which we can talk to God and receive His supernatural help in our situations. When we pray, our heavenly Father hears us, and He has promised us in the Bible (1 John 5:14) that if what we ask is according to His will, He will answer us. We have the privilege of being able to talk to the Creator of the universe and the King of Kings and intercede on behalf of our friends, family and the whole world, and if it is according to God’s will, He will answer us! Wow!     Prayer is intimate Prayer is how we speak to our heavenly Father. It is a way of growing our relationship with God. Just like with friends and family, when we talk to God, we understand Him better, we get to know Him more and we become closer to Him and more aware of His will for our life. ...

When I was about 8 or 9 I got lost in Thorpe Park. My family and I had gone for a lovely day out and I had gone on the Flying Fish ride. My parents had said that they would wait around the side for me for when I got off. So I went on the ride and then when I got off, I went round the side to where my parents had said that they would be waiting for me, but they weren’t there. Or at least, I couldn’t see them. Immediately - like any little girl who is in a big theme park and can’t see their parents would - I panicked. I began frantically running around looking for them, but I was too frightened to look for them for very long. My legs were like jelly, I just felt like crying and I felt so alone. Then I spotted a member of staff litter-picking and ran over and told her that I’d lost my mum and dad. She immediately contacted reception and took me there to wait for my parents whilst they put out a message over the theme park speakers. To be honest, at this point I was more embarrassed than...

When thinking and praying about what to write about for my next blog post, I felt God give me the song Take Courage by Kristene DiMarco and Philippians 1:6.     Philippians 1:6 says, “being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Christ.” I wondered how this would fit with the song God had given me, but the more I thought about the lyrics, the more I realised exactly what message God wanted me to put across! The end of one of the verses, and into the chorus of the song, goes: Do not forget His great faithfulness, He’ll finish all He’s begun So take courage my heart, Stay steadfast my soul, He’s in the waiting, He’s in the waiting, Hold onto your hope, as your triumph unfolds, He’s never failing, He’s never failing.              Sometimes it can be difficult to see God at work in our lives, or it may seem like He has left w...

I had a suggestion from a friend that I do some posts just discussing passages of Scripture, rather than picking a topic, so that’s what I thought I’d do today. It will be a slightly shorter post as I want to just look at the verse Matthew 18:2-4, but I hope you get something out of it. Matthew 18:2-4, says – ‘Then Jesus called a little child to Him, set him in the midst of them, and said, “Assuredly, I say to you, unless you are converted and become as little children , you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore whoever humbles himself as this little child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.’ (Emphasis mine) But what does Jesus mean when He says, ‘and become as little children.’? I was thinking about this the other day, after my little sister came into my room. She had had a rash on her cheeks for most of the week, and she came in and told me, ‘Chloe, my rash has gone because I prayed to God!’ with a big grin on her face! There was not a doubt in h...

I’ve really felt God wanting me to write on this topic for a while now, and since then, I have spoken to quite a few friends who are really struggling with reading their Bible at the moment, so I’ve taken that as a sign from God that this is what He wants me to write on this week! I know for most people – in fact probably for every Christian at some point in their life – reading the Bible can seem like a big and daunting task. It is such a big book – well, a book of many books, really - covering so many topics, and it can seem impossible sometimes to know where to even start or to persevere with reading the Bible when you get to some of the trickier and not-so-easy-to-read books. I know this was the case for me. Last year, I really struggled with reading the Bible. I was trying to read the whole Bible in a year (which I didn’t quite finish and still haven’t quite!), and I had read all the New Testament books and just had some of the harder Old Testament books left, which I ha...

Some people think that they have to be perfect for God to use them. They come up with a long list of reasons why God wouldn’t want to use them – they’re ‘’too young’’, ‘’not qualified or educated enough’’, ‘’not holy enough’’, ‘’too weak’’, ‘’too insecure’’, and the list goes on. But the truth is, God wants to use us all. He doesn’t wait until we are perfect. If that were the case, He couldn’t use us, as we aren’t perfect, and never will be. Instead, He uses us in our weaknesses. We read in 2 Corinthians 12:9-10, where Paul is writing to a church in Corinth and telling them what the LORD said to him, ‘’ 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 about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.’’   Paul is saying here, ...

One of my passions that God has really been using and speaking to me about recently is serving. I have always loved serving, caring for and helping others, but recently God has shown me that it is a gift He has given me and has been showing me why serving is so important and also how rewarding it is. So in this post I want to share with you what I have been learning. Serving shows Jesus to others - Last week I was at an amazing youth week-away. As well as worship, teaching, prayer and fun and games, in the mornings we were running a holiday club for the children in the local community and then a lunch club, serving the kids and their parents a free hot meal each day. It was amazing to be a part of serving the community and seeing the reactions from the kids and parents. One couple’s reaction sticks clearly in my mind: It was the last day, and we had so much food left over, so one of the leaders gave them a big Black Forest gateau to take home with them. They couldn’t believe th...