Walking Along Life’S Pathways
()
About this ebook
Kathleen Johnston
Kathleen Johnston lived for many years on the borders of the Welsh Marches. She now lives with her husband in Pembrokeshire, in the beautiful seaside town of Tenby. She is a Reader in the Church in Wales within the Diocese of St. Davids and is a member of Tenby Arts Club. Kathy is a countrywoman, and for many years, she rode her Arab mare around the hills in the Welsh Marches and along Offa’s Dyke.
Related to Walking Along Life’S Pathways
Related ebooks
The Double Life of a Queen Predestined and Called: Rising from the Ashes Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLetters to My Son: Meditations on the Gospel of Jesus Christ for a New Christian Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsGod Saves: A Testimony of the Reality of God and Divinity of Jesus Christ Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLiving Your Joy out Loud: Claiming and Exclaiming Who You Are in Christ Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHoney from the Rock: A Study of the Gospel of Grace Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Shadow of the Substance Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsTurn the Page: Turning from Darkness to Light through Christ Jesus Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Book of Revelation Volume 1 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMy Amazing Journey: Christ's Super on my Natural Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Cross He Carried Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Light Entrusted to You: Keeping the Flame of Faith Alive Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWonderful Light Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBeyond Belief Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe BE Attitudes Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLiberating the Bride: The Story of Setting the American Church Free Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHoly Shift! Recovering from Christianity with the Help of Jesus Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsServant Sons and Daughters: Serving Father God from a Place of Sonship Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBook of Daily Communion: Spring Forth with Scriptures Journey with the Father, Son & Holy Spirit Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLove Letters: God Hears the Cries of Our Hearts Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe First Lady: The Process to My Purpose Believe, Don't Give Up! Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsStraw For Stray Sheep: A Preacher's Perspective Of The People's Psalm Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsNew Order of Worship Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMy Journey as a Pioneer Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBible Pearls, Sacred Cows, and the Kingdom of God Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsForty Years to Faith: Dreams, Deception, and Deliverance Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWorth the Journey: The Train Ride to Glory Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWe Are Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSacred Thirst: Meeting God in the Desert of Our Longings Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Miracles Along the Path: My Personal Accounts Spanning 50 Years Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe God Who Hears: How the Story of the Bible Shapes Our Prayers Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Relationships For You
Indistractable: How to Control Your Attention and Choose Your Life Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Year of Magical Thinking Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Notes on Grief Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Platonic: How Understanding Your Attachment Style Can Help You Make and Keep Friends Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsStolen Focus: Why You Can't Pay Attention Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Vacuum in the Dark: FROM THE AUTHOR OF BIG SWISS Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Staring at the Sun: Overcoming the Terror of Death Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Mating in Captivity: Unlocking Erotic Intelligence Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Crying in H Mart: The Number One New York Times Bestseller Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Polysecure Workbook: Healing Your Attachment and Creating Security in Loving Relationships Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5A Matter of Death and Life Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5You're Cute When You're Mad: Simple Steps for Confronting Sexism Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Tiny Beautiful Things: A Reese Witherspoon Book Club Pick soon to be a major series on Disney+ Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5ADHD: A Hunter in a Farmer's World Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Princess Bride: S. Morgenstern's Classic Tale of True Love and High Adventure Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5It Starts with Us: the highly anticipated sequel to IT ENDS WITH US Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5All About Love: New Visions Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Primates of Park Avenue: A Memoir Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5How to Not Die Alone: The Surprising Science That Will Help You Find Love Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Big Book of 30-Day Challenges: 60 Habit-Forming Programs to Live an Infinitely Better Life Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5How to Make Anyone Fall in Love With You: 85 Proven Techniques for Success Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Raising Multilingual Children Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFive Arguments All Couples (Need To) Have: And Why the Washing-Up Matters Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHigh Conflict: Why We Get Trapped and How We Get Out Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Consent: A Memoir of Stolen Adolescence Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Everything I Know About Love: A Memoir Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for Walking Along Life’S Pathways
0 ratings0 reviews
Book preview
Walking Along Life’S Pathways - Kathleen Johnston
Paradox
It has been said many times that Christianity is full of paradox – life through death, glory through shame. In apparent weakness Jesus conquers sin and death. It is the opposite of all our wordly values where success is strength and power, where being first, and at the top is what matters. But I wonder how many of us can look back and see that the turning point in our lives was when we were at our most helpless – maybe thro’ illness, bereavement, accident, when our hopes or dreams were shattered.
I had a friend, outwardly she had everything, nice home, husband, children, successful career, talented musician. She became ill with cancer, and yet she could say: I don’t want this illness. I don’t want to die, but I would not have missed this experience for anything. It has taught me so much. It has enabled me to get my priorities right.
Facing death, incredibly she found life, because she found the only thing that really matters – God.
Brother Taizé writes: Do not be afraid of suffering, for it is often in the depths of the abyss that we discover the perfection of joy in communion with Jesus.
This is movingly expressed in the Book of Common Prayer’s translation of Psalm 84: Blessed is the man whose strength is in Thee; in whose heart are Thy ways, who going through the vale of misery uses it for a well; and the pools are filled with water, they will go from strength to strength.
Sometimes, when we look back on our life and see all the worldly pursuits it has involved and then we come to know our Lord, we recognise that all along we are meant to be a participant in our Creator’s purposes for His creation, and that those purposes are loving, creative, healing and reconciling. Suddenly we are full of joy and hope because we have a confident knowledge that nothing can befall us because we cannot be separated from God and the radiance of His universal love.
As St Paul said in his letter to the Romans (8:38-end), For I am sure that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creations will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
A prayer:
Dear Father, only in You is our quality of life. In trouble we may learn new strengths. Sustain us when we are weak, and bring us to new victories through the promises of Christ our Saviour, who overcame all things for our sake.
Out of the mouths………
With a colleague I shared teaching a three year course on basic theology. One evening the dining room table became littered with books and paper, as I struggled to get together a concise explanation of the teachings of the first church scholars – Origen and Tertullian. They wrestled with the various heresies of their day, and how they could answer people genuinely seeking the Christian way – but who were confounded by Christians firmly asserting monotheism (that only the one true God was to be worshipped). How could they then proclaim one God, and one Lord Jesus Christ, without ending up with two Gods, or even three Gods with the inclusion of the Holy Spirit.
It was to try to answer these questions about the being and status of Jesus Christ in relation to God that over a period of hundreds of years the early Church Fathers were forced into an ever increasing precision of doctrinal teaching – so that in the words of Bishop Hilary they could say: The errors of heretics and blasphemers force us to deal with unlawful matters, to scale perilous heights, to speak unutterable words, to trespass on forbidden ground. Faith ought, in silence to fulfil the commandments worshipping the Father, reverencing with him the Son, abounding in the Holy Spirit, but we must strain the poor resources of our language to express thoughts too great for words. The errors of others compels us to err in daring to embody in human terms truths which ought to be hidden in the silent veneration of the heart.
How true, I thought as I shut the books and cleared a space for supper. As G.K. Chesterton said: It is only the fool who tries to get the heavens inside his head, and not unnaturally his head bursts. The wise person is content to get their head inside the heavens
or as Tertullian said, I believe because it is impossible!
As I was eating and cogitating on the ‘Trinity’ the phone rang. It was my daughter who lives some 200 miles away wanting a chat. She wanted to tell me about our four year old grandson’s first morning at nursery school. Benjamin told me that he had a dream last night, Mum
she said. "He