Never.

"Stick to that word "never." It is worth its weight in gold. Cling to it as a drowning man clings to a rope. Grasp it firmly, as a soldier attacked on all sides grasps his sword. God has said, and will stand to it, "I will never leave you!"

"Never!" Though your heart often faints, and you are sick of self, and your many failures and infirmities; even then the promise will not fail.

"Never!" Though the devil whispers, 'I shall have you at last! In little while, your faith will fail, and you will be mine!' Even then, God will keep his Word.

"Never!" Though waves of trouble go over your head, and all hope seems taken away. Even then the Word of God will stand."

- J. C. Ryle (via Desiring God)

Waiting

Paintings by Brett Amory. I like his style.

For one wild moment

"...when we are very young children we do not need fairy tales: we only need tales. Mere life is interesting enough.... [nursery] tales say that apples were golden only to refresh the forgotten moment when we found that they were green. They make rivers run with wine only to make us remember, for one wild moment, that they run with water." - Chesterton

A broken and contrite heart

“The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.” - Psalm 51.17

"Being a Christian means being broken and contrite. Don’t make the mistake of thinking you get beyond this in this life. It marks the life of God’s happy children till they die. We are broken and contrite all the way home—unless sin gets the proud upper hand. Being broken and contrite is not against joy and praise and witness. It’s the flavor of Christian joy and praise and witness. I close with the words of Jonathan Edwards who said it better than I can.

All gracious affections [feelings, emotions] that are a sweet [aroma] to Christ . . . are brokenhearted affections. A truly Christian love, either to God or men, is a humble brokenhearted love. The desires of the saints, however earnest, are humble desires: their hope is a humble hope; and their joy, even when it is unspeakable, and full of glory, is a humble brokenhearted joy. . . . (Religious Affections [New Haven: Yale University Press, 1959], pp. 339f.) "

- John Piper

The valleys

There are some encouraging verses in the Bible about valleys. Verses that testify to the truth that God is a God of the valleys, as well as the hills (1 Kings 20.23).

In Hosea 2.15 God promises to make the valley of Achor (trouble) a door of hope. In Psalm 84 He promises that for those who trust Him, He will make the valley of Bacca (tears) a place of springs. And in Psalm 23 He promises that even when we walk through the valley of the shadow of death, there is no reason to fear, for He is with us.

I'm grateful for verses like these. They give valley-dwellers and valley-walkers hope. They remind us that God is with us, that He is in control, that He sees, that He turns situations around, and that He can bring good from even the most difficult times. And it's a beautiful thing to have such hope. Hope in itself seems to impart life and joy and peace. You see it in the face of a child as they eagerly wait for Christmas, you hear it in the song of the bird that begins singing before the first rays of morning, and even the lambs seem to skip with joy as Spring awakens a new lease of life on earth. Hope in itself is powerful. But my gratefulness extends beyond mere hope that there are such promises. I really have seen something of the truth of these in my own life, and for that, i am even more grateful. To experience something of what you hope for.... to catch a glimpse of it with your very own eyes, is truly incredible. I can testify to that.

But right now, I'm still walking through valleys. So, i'll joyfully remember what I've tasted of God's faithfulness in the past, I'll put my hope in what He promises for the future, and i'll stand firm on the certainty that He who promises will be faithful once more.

Biro Envelope Drawings

I love these envelope drawings by Mark Powell. They are done completely with bic biros on the backs of old envelopes. Amazing.

World Map Papercut

I've been doing a World map papercut over the last few months. I finally finished it, just before the new year. It's my biggest papercut yet and took a pretty long time - almost 30 hours of cutting and an awful lot longer to draw the design before i cut. I'll post some proper photos at some point, these two are just a tiny snippet.