

Mary Elizabeth Fisher
Advent is Coming
Advent is coming.
I love that thought.
Advent is coming.
And yet it has been. It has been last year and the year before and the year before that and the year before...
We have celebrated Advent for century upon century.
So the weeks of Advent remind me, no - remind US, that we dwell in an amazing true story, an astonishing history. It is an historical narrative in which the Creator of everything intervened in history for the sake of all creation.
And the celebrat


Margaret Mowczko
Lydia of Thyatira: The foreign woman who became the foundation member of the Philippian Church
Paul was on his second missionary journey when he had a vision of a man who pleaded with him, “Come over to Macedonia and help us!” The apostle responded to the vision by gathering his team and quickly setting off across the Aegean Sea for Macedonia, the northern region of modern-day Greece. When they arrived, Paul and his fellow missionaries passed through the port of Neapolis and headed straight for Philippi, “a city of Macedonia’s first district and a Roman colony” (Acts 1


FHE Editor
5 minutes with Leah ...
Tell us a little about you
I am 22 years old and am still learning who I am and what my place is in this big world. However I love coffee, going on long walks, spending time with my family/friends/pets, love a good laugh and love working through my faith in God. I am registered nurse at the Children's Hospital and look after children with cancer.
What's your favourite bible passage & why?
My favourite bible passage is from 2 Corinthians 12.9.
But he said to me, “My gr


Kylie Maddox Pidgeon
Gender Inequality, Domestic Violence, and the Church
On International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, this article is dedicated to: - All women and girls who experience violence and oppression - All the women and men working to end discrimination and violence against women - All the women and men who relate to each other in safe, respectful and loving ways - All women and girls of future generations who we pray can be set free Women and girls experience prejudice, discrimination, bias, injustice, harassment,

FHE Editor
5 minutes with Elise ...
What is your favourite Bible passage and why? Psalm 91 (in particular verses 3-6) “Surely he will save you from the fowler’s snare and from the deadly pestilence. He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart. You will not fear the terror of night, not the arrow that flies by day, nor the pestilence that stalks in the darkness, nor the plague that destroys at midday.” When I was in the depths of


FHE Editor
5 minutes with Jasmine ...
Tell us a little about yourself:
I am a mother of 3 children- a 12 year old, an 8 year old and a 2 year old. I also have my cousin’s son living with us at the moment- so four children at home! My husband is the Creative Arts Pastor at our church. We have been living in Sydney for a year, prior to that we were in Melbourne for 3 years, and Hong Kong for almost ten years. In Hong Kong, I was teaching English; now, I am studying a Bachelor of Education (Primary) via distance ed


Jillian Reay-Smith
A Prayer for Women
(image from Wonder Woman 2017, Warner Bros) You probably saw the Wonder Woman posters earlier this year. I loved one in particular. In it, she is standing slightly side-on; still, but poised to move. She is in part-silhouette but you can make out the industrial angles of her boots and armour. One hand makes a fist, the other holds a sword. Behind her the colours suggest fire, with blue sky beyond the flames. Below her the words: Power, Grace, Wisdom, Wonder. Those words, that


Kylie Maddox Pidgeon
The Fruit of the Spirit Filled Parent
When you’re done by 8am, and you never signed up for days like this. When they push you and shirk you and you have to clean tomato seeds and avocado mush off them again: Love When they cry for reasons known and unknown, and we cry for the fourth time that night. With no strength left to get up and go to them again, know what He promises in the morning: Joy When the noise of life and schedules and anxieties seem too loud, too long and too uncertain. Then they start hurting eac


Fiona Harris
Jesus, Light of the World
We’ve all experienced that feeling of relief that comes at the first light of dawn after a seemingly endless night. Whether it be due to keeping watch over a sick child, insomnia, or an anxious wait for news, fears magnified in the deep of night somehow give way to the hope that often accompanies early morning light.
God is the author of light, and the very beginning of Hebrew Scripture is suffused with references to it. At the dawn of creation, from the deep darkness and


Tamie Davis
Proverbs 31 ...
The Proverbs 31 woman hovers in the back of my head as I get up each morning, because it’s normally before daylight (v.15). That’s at least one characteristic of the woman of valour ticked off! Just as well, because my capability with sewing and textiles is next to nothing, and that comes up at least 4 times in the description of this woman! (v.19, 21, 22, 24) I jest, but she seems like super-woman compared to me. I feel inadequate next to her varied capabilities and energy.