Refiners Fire (copyright of respective copyright holder - not me)

Purify my heart
Let me be as gold and precious silver
Purify my heart
Let me be as gold, pure gold
Refiner's fire
My heart's one desire
Is to be holy
Set apart for You, Lord
I choose to be holy
Set apart for You, my Master
Ready to do Your will
Purify my heart
Cleanse me from within
And make me holy
Purify my heart
Cleanse me from my sin
Deep within

Aspects of Life to be Grateful About

7 Years of Marriage
2 Wonderful Kids
3 Years of Employment
A Supportive Family
3 Wonderful Sisters
1 University Degree
1 Cool and Clean House
Food on the Table
Places to Exercise
Books To Read

Well, just by recalling a memory, it becomes stronger in comparison to other memories. Let’s run this through an example. Say you think back to one particular birthday from childhood and you recall getting a Lego spaceship. Each time you recall that fact, the other things you got for your birthday that day become weaker in comparison.

This raises the fascinating idea that effectively we create ourselves by choosing which memories to recall.

Value of Daily Bible Study

Daily Bible study is vital if we are not to have our daily thoughts reverting to what Karen Armstrong in her book "12 Steps to a Compassionate Life" calls the 4 F's - Feeding, Fucking, Fighting, Fleeing.

Trusting in God's Wisdom and Not Ours

Us humans can easily think we are capable of working out how best to live our lives. The truth is though that we can never live life confidently by relying on our own wisdom. Life is too confusing, heartbreaking, stressful, and unrelenting to not reply on God. Put your trust in Him for a day or two and see the difference His wisdom makes to your life. Cast your worries into His Grace and give up trying to work out your life.

The Necessity of Forgiving All People Who Have Wronged Us

We must forgiving ALL people who have wronged us.

Contrary to popular opinion this DOES mean forgetting about past wrongs.

The Value of Not Dwelling On The Past

How many of us have thought "if only I had of done this instead of that, life would be all roses"?


Because of this many of us fall into the trap of dwelling on the past in order to learn from our mistakes.



When we dwell on the past our minds are still operating in the way which led us to make poor decisions in the first place.

Because of this we will never hit on the best way we could have acted in a situation.

What is the answer then?

We must change the way our minds are responding to life events by studying God's Word.

The Bible provides us with the general life-rules on how to live - with the added bonus that we have the Holy Spirit and the Trinity to lend a hand when we pray!

Tips for the Christian Life - Perspective

I remember studying Maslow's Hierarchy of Human Needs many years ago at university.

Maslow (a psychologist) put forward that all humans strive to achieve a number of human needs.

In general we strive to fulfill some of these needs before others.

We first aim to have enough food and shelter. Once we have these things we strive for material possessions to add to our comfort.

Once we have these things we look to achieve goals which give us a sense of accomplishment.

The problem is that even after we achieved all of these things our happiness tends to decrease after a short time and we are again unhappy.

For whatever reason we are programmed never to be satisfied.

However, on the positive side, we do have rational thought we can use to overcome the feelings of unhappiness we have.

If we make an effort to realise how much we have (food, shelter, friends, family) then we can overcome our unhappiness.

As the Bible says "give thanks to the Lord for what you have been given" - and get some perspective.