After last year's Fall into Reading challenge from Callapidder Days, Katrina is encouraging us to return to our bookshelves with the Spring Reading Thing 2007. She writes:

Have you fallen behind on your To-Be-Read list? Do you have five books that you've started but haven't finished? Have you been meaning to get around to that great book your friend recommended but just haven't done it yet? Do you love to read and to find out what everyone else is reading? Then this challenge is for you!

I've spent some time looking through my bookshelves and the piles of books that sit waiting for more bookshelves to be built to pick some that I hope to read before the end of the challenge. Feel free to steal any of my ideas or to suggest any that you think I should read in the future!

Practical Prayer
by Derek Prime
After hearing him speak on prayer a few years ago, this has been one of the most useful books I own. Things have been a bit more difficult recently, so I think I need to read this - then, more importantly, put it in to practice!





The Inheritance of Loss
by Kiran Desai
I was given this as a present for my birthday, so you can tell how long it has been sitting on my bookshelf. She loved it but I've tried to read it a few times but not got past the first chapter yet...





A Third Testament
by Malcolm Muggeridge
This looks at the spiritual lives of some very influential men of God throughout the ages, such as Augustine of Hippo, Blaise Pascal, Fyodor Dostoevsky and Deitrich Bonhoeffer. I've read a lot of their writings so I am looking forward to learning more about them.




Perfecting Ourselves to Death
by Richard Winter
This is described on the back as "the 'perfect' book for those who struggle with perfectionism". I know that I tend towards this so it will be helpful to look at the positive and negative sides of perfectionism and what to do about it.




How to Read a Paper: The basics of evidence based medicine
by Trisha Greenhalgh
My final entry is really for work. I've got a few interviews coming up so this will be good to read - it currently just sits on my bookshelf looking impressive!






Be as careful of the books you read, as of the company you keep; for your habits and character will be as much influenced by the former as by the latter.
Edwin Paxton Hood, American minister (1820-1885)

A few weeks ago, I was considering the question: What's one new way you could be a blessing to your pastor (or to another who ministers to you) this year?

A friend later (without knowing about this) sent me this website, Revive Our Hearts, which has lots of different documents like prayer guides, sermon outlines and thematic lists. I was particularly interested to see 31 Days of Praying for your Pastor. It is certainly something I can use to more purposefully and comprehensively pray for him.

I was pleased to see another list beside it though: 31 Days of Praying for Your Pastor's Wife. It is so easy to forget the phenomenal job that these women do; supporting their husband at home and in his work, raising their children - often more on their own due to all the evening and weekend meetings, opening their homes to the whole church, being constantly available to the congregation, sharing their husband with a whole church who constantly make demands on his time and energy along with all the expectations that the congregation will have on the wife's role in the church. It must be a lonely job some of the time, especially when fitting into a new congregation and not wishing to favour people. Ministers' wives (along with their children) are not supposed to have any spiritual crises, and when they do, their husband or father is their pastor.

As I shared on Tuesday, there are ministers' wives in the church whom I greatly admire and who have loved me as a daughter. I know that I would not be where I am now spiritually were it not for her example, love and encouragement. This was a very pertinent reminder to pray for these women in this difficult and wonderful situation.

Cast your burden on the LORD, and he will sustain you;
he will never permit the righteous to be moved.
Psalm 55:22

Heavenly Father,

we thank you today that

through your Son, our Saviour,

we receive new life and hope.

Lead us by your Spirit in our work today.

Enable us to fulfill our medical calling

in love, wisdom and integrity.

Give us knowledge and diligence

in the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of disease.

Help us to bring comfort to the anxious and sorrowing.

Free us from selfish ambition.

Grant us sincerity in all that we say and do.

Strengthen us to persevere in the face of fatigue.

Keep us always mindful of your redeeming purpose

and maintain our confidence that death will finally be overcome

through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Amen.

Whatever your views on the different conflicts going on in the world right now and in the past, please take some moments today to pray for all those affected by them. Let us pray for the people living in warzones and for their safety and protection, for soldiers in danger and far from their families, for the heads of the armies and governments that they would seek God's guidance as they negotiate and plan so that they might work together to bring about peace, and for the people waiting for loved ones to come home and for those whose loved ones will never come home.

Socks - Jessie Pope (1915)

Shining pins that dart and click
In the fireside's sheltered peace
Check the thoughts that cluster thick
20 plain and then decrease.

He was brave - well, so was I
Keen and merry, but his lip
Quivered when he said good-bye
Purl the seam-stitch, purl and slip.

Never used to living rough,
Lots of things he'd got to learn;
Wonder if he's warm enough
Knit 2, catch 2, knit 1, turn.

Hark! The paper-boys again!
Wish that shout could be suppressed;
Keeps one always on the strain
Knit off 9, and slip the rest.

Wonder if he's fighting now,
What he's done an' where he's been;
He'll come out on top, somehow
Slip 1, knit 2, purl 14.

But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere. Peacemakers who sow in peace raise a harvest of righteousness.
James 3:17-18

What's one thing you could do this year to enrich the spiritual legacy you will leave to your children and grandchildren?

I don't have any children or grandchildren yet, but I very much hope that I will have some in the future! I thought for a little while that I could get away with not answering this question, but I do think that it is something that I should be thinking about, even if there is nothing explicitly to do with children right now.

I am going to find a beautiful notebook then start making a concerted effort to write down some of my prayers. In months and years to come, I will be able to look back and see how God has answered these prayers. While I know that every prayer is answered in some way, even if it is not the way I would have liked, I would like to look back and remember what I prayed for and how God worked. Hopefully, I will then be able to share the story of God's mercy, grace and guidance in my life to my children and grandchildren.

Only take care, and keep your soul diligently, lest you forget the things that your eyes have seen, and lest they depart from your heart all the days of your life. Make them known to your children and your children's children - how on the day that you stood before the LORD your God at Horeb, the LORD said to me, 'Gather the people to me, that I may let them hear my words, so that they may learn to fear me all the days that they live on the earth, and that they may teach their children so.'

Deuteronomy 4:9-10

What's one new way you could be a blessing to your pastor (or to another who ministers to you) this year?

I am going to have to think about this more purposefully because I am sitting here trying to think what to do. I should pray for him and his family. I should pray for his own spiritual growth, his preaching and his ministry. I am doing that already, although I should be doing it a lot more.

So what is that "one new way" that I could be a blessing? I'd appreciate any thoughts if you had any from how you or others bless your pastor.

Let the elders who rule well be considered worthy of double honour, especially those who labour in preaching and teaching.

1 Timothy 5:17

We must, during all our labour and in all else we do...pause for some short moment, as often indeed as we can, to worship God in the depth of our heart, to savour him, though it be in passing, and as it were by stealth.

Brother Lawrence, lay brother in Carmelite monastery and author of "The Practice of the Presence of God" (c.1605-1691)

What's the single most important thing you could do to improve the quality of your work life this year?

Work is so busy, but I hate when I get to the end of the day and realise that I was too busy to think of God. Again and again, I am reminded of the Lord's gentle yet firm words to Martha in Luke 10.

I need to try to come back to the Lord's feet throughout the day, almost to realign myself with God, to remind myself where my motivation comes from and to whose glory I do this. In one article from the London Institute of Contemporary Christianity I've read about living out a Christian faith in the workplace, this is described as "'on-the-run-spirituality', a rhythm of work that keeps us alert to God in our work."

Connecting with God in the Fast Lane by John Parminter reminds us that we cannot survive in our strength, but that we know a God who came as a man and understands our experiences and in whom is found immeasurable power and blessings.

Parminter offers some simple approaches that could easily be incorporated into dashing around work to 'practise the presence of God.'

I need to be more purposeful about resting and trusting in God throughout my day and in dedicating all my conversations and interactions with patients and colleagues to him, for I do it all to "glorify God and enjoy him forever."

But the Lord answered her, "Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her."
Luke 10:41-42

The blog has been very quiet lately as I have lived the life of a hermit, only emerging from my study to work, practise on patients and eat! The big exam is tomorrow, and the panic is beginning to set in!

There is just SO much to learn, so many diseases to know about, yet I will only get tested on 10 of these! It's a clinical exam, so I'll be going round different patients with examiners watching me as I examine and diagnose the patients, before grilling me...

If you are passing by here, please take just a moment to pray that I will do my best tomorrow, not letting the panic get the better of me, that I will answer the questions correctly (self-doubt and lack of confidence that I am answering correctly (even when I am right) seems to be a big problem for me) and that, whether I pass or fail, I will do it all to the glory of God.

Thanks so much for that! I'll be back to resume normal service on Thursday.

Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go.

Prayer should be the key of the day and the lock of the night.

George Herbert, English minister and poet (1593-1633)

What one thing could you do to improve your prayer life this year?

Actually pray! I could begin and end my post there! How many of us struggle with our prayer lives and how much comes down to how much time we spend in prayer? I know that I don't pray enough and, when I do, so often I am not praying honestly and with an open heart. I have to remind myself that it is the Devil who tries to convince me that my prayers don't matter, that my prayers are not needed, and that I am not good enough to pray.

How wonderful that it is on Christ's merits that our prayers are accepted and not our own! How wonderful that, even as we struggle with prayer, the Spirit is working in us, helping us to present our prayers to God in heaven, where Christ is sitting at his right hand intercessing for us! How wonderful that we can bring our prayers of joy, frustration, sadness, anger, hopefulness to a God who knows us so intimately and who knows us so dearly.

After hearing Derek Prime, an Edinburgh pastor, speak on the subject of prayer a few years ago, I bought his little book, Practical Prayer. I loved reading it at the time with its encouragement and very practical guidance in how to improve your prayer life, so I think it is time to get it down from the bookshelf to read again. I am yet to meet a Christian who does not struggle at times with prayer so I would really recommend this book.

One of his big ideas, which he found very helpful in his own life, was to make daily, weekly and monthly lists of the people and situations needing prayer. It allowed him to ensure that he was remaining faithful in prayer and to be purposeful in his prayer life. Over the next few months, I am going to try to slowly and carefully (trying to avoid my tendency to rush into things!) start creating a prayer list to help me both to be more focused in who and what I pray for and to be freed from panicking over who and what I have forgotten to pray for.

Rejoice always,
pray without ceasing,
give thanks in all circumstances;
for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.

For whose salvation will you pray most fervently this year?

I have been having some really exciting conversations with one of my friends. We originally know each other from work but got to know each other better as we studied for postgraduate exams in a little group.

She is in a difficult situation. She lives with her boyfriend and has done for a few years. They love each other...but he won't marry her. Apparently, he will only marry a Christian. Now, if he is a Christian (I don't know what his own understanding of this is), he has got himself into a terrible situation - he should never have started going out with her, never mind living with her. But she loves him and wants to marry him. So she has tried to read the Bible but got stuck at Leviticus and gave up. At the same time, she is quite scared about reading the Bible - what if all this Christian stuff is really true? What if she has to become a Christian!?!

Now she has been asking me questions as she knows that I am a Christian. She is going to read through the Gospels and then we are going to meet to chat about them. As you read this, please just take a moment to pray for her and her boyfriend that they will both be drawn towards God, that he will rededicate his life to Christ and that she will come to know God for herself. Please also pray that I will be kept faithful in prayer for their salvation and be a faithful witness to her as we discuss the Bible and the Christian faith.

My word...shall not return to me empty,
but it shall accomplish that which I purpose,
and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.

Isaiah 55:11

Then the word of the LORD came by the hand of Haggai the prophet, "Is it a time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses, while this house lies in ruins? Now, therefore, thus says the LORD of hosts: Consider your ways."
Haggai 1:3-5