by Australian Christian women. Since September 2015

I wrote this almost ten years ago, and just found it again. Perhaps God knew that even though I'm in a different season, fighting different battles, I still need to hear the eternal truths of who He says I am. Those truths helped me today, and I hope that whatever season or battle you find yourself facing, they will help you too. Rise up, sister. It wasn’t that I was sad. I wasn’t sad, I just needed a pick me up. There was an emptiness inside of me, I was yearning for something that I almost didn’t recognize. My heart was restless. Which is when it fell into my head, as if out of nowhere. The text message conversation I’d meant to delete years ago… was still there. Messages from a boy. To me

Jonah doesn’t come across that well in the Bible. He is the prophet who is disobedient, running in the opposite direction when God calls him. He doesn’t want people to hear the warning and he sulks when they repent. God asks him, “And should I not have concern for the great city of Nineveh, in which there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand people who cannot tell their right hand from their left—and also many animals?” It’s a rhetorical question - the answer is meant to be yes, and the implication is that Jonah isn’t concerned for them. But consider who these people are to Jonah. Nineveh was the capital of Assyria, a nation known for its ruthless warfare and gruesome treatment of ene

image courtesy of Hulu A recap: The Handmaid’s Tale is set in a dystopian America, in which a fundamentalist patriarchal cult has taken control. Dwindling fertility means that some fertile women are forced into the role of handmaids to commanders – the high status men of power – and their wives. These handmaids are used to bear children for the commanders and their wives in a twisting of the Old Testament use of concubines. Several big events last week that dominated Australian social media. Semi-finals of the FIFA world cup. State of Origin. NAIDOC week. And the finale of the second season of The Handmaids Tale. The two first events are men’s football games. And both came under fire this

So many women* have suffered hurt and harm at the hands of an abusive husband only to be further shamed and damaged when they present to their church for help. Talking with a victim about the trauma of their domestic abuse is the equivalent of undertaking interpersonal / emotional / psychological surgery. It places the survivor in an extremely vulnerable position. The interpersonal surgeon must be skilled to understand the abusive dynamics, survey the brokenness, help clear out the damage, and in time, apply balm for healing. The unskilled surgeon, attempting the same task, causes further trauma by opening up wounds, failing to set right what was broken, and damaging what was well. When the

Zac is a great preacher. He is young and a little goofy. He is nerdy in a fun way, for example he used a mathematical formula on why ants cooperate to talk about unity in the church last Sunday. As part of that sermon he also courageously took on the topic of submission while preaching on James 4:7, 10: “Submit yourselves, then, to God. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.” It has been really hard to talk about submission lately. It has become the Christian ‘S’ word. In all of the discussion of submission between the genders, I feel we have lost sight of the primary call of submission: to God. It reminds me of a quote from CS Lewis in Mere Christianity: “Submit to deat

I realise we are blessed living in an exceptionally technologically based moment in history. This has provided us infinite access to answers, questions, truth and facts. However it has also birthed the reality that communication is global and instant, expectations are high and demanding while friendship is becoming a virtual experience and social experiment to many. Mental health is a real issue in friendships and we need to stay vigilant to strategies and tools to come along side each other in this battlefield. I was asked recently to address how Christian women can bridge this gap and I offer you these few thoughts to put towards your own solutions and considered contextual opinions. Per