Stories of Hope
Dean Clifford was born with a rare skin disease and was often referred to as a cotton wool baby or a butterfly wing baby as his skin was extremely delicate. His life expectancy was maybe 5 years, but against the odds, he is now in his 40s and going strong. He is a motivational speaker and lives a high quality life.
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Many people experience a time in their life when they find their calling and experience a heightened zest for life. For many Christians being filled with the Holy Spirit is one of the ways we understand this: God purposes and power entering into our lives. Not all enthusiasm is of God though! The lovely Sue's obsession with Masterchef: for example. 🙄
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Rodney Walters grew up in the small town of Mt Barker in South Australia to officer parents and moved around a lot as a child. He went to 9 schools! He resisted becoming a Salvo officer as he wanted to have the opportunity to travel. Turns out Rodney is the epitome of the saying "Join the Army - see the world"
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The apostle Peter had a vision about a sheet filled with ceremonially unclean animals floating down from heaven. A voice told him to kill and eat what for centuries prior in his tradition had been unclean. It seems some things we think are true about God's ways can change.
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Andy King is the pastoral supervisor for the Salvos telephone assessment team across Australia - 72 employees. To help others unpack how this work impacts them, he has had to do a lot of work on himself and as he shares his life story here, we see how his experiences and inner work has shaped his care for these workers.
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I recently saw the movie Inside Out 2. It captures well the challenge for us all to be true to ourselves with all of our paradoxes. When Saul became Paul, he needed time and support to integrate his new understanding of his God given identity.
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Mike is a prolific author, an internationally sought after speaker and one of the leading voices on the authentic mission of the church. Mike is not afraid to debate the tough issues and as he shares his story we see some of the experiences that have shaped his views and given him the courage to speak out.
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When you think about encouragement in the bible you think Barnabus. He was instrumental in helping the Apostle Paul in the early days of his ministry. To give and receive encouragement is life giving. Who can you encourage today?
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Leisa grew up in Broken Hill and luckily needed to go to the bathroom when she was a child at church which cleared a pathway in the pew for her father to go forward and embrace Christian faith. Her beautiful heart and love for God and people has been key through the challenges of family life and Salvo ministry. Today she serves young people in the Salvos in Brisbane.
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In Acts ch 9 we see Ananias going to Saul after his Damascus Road experience and helping him, even though he thought he was dangerous. We are all prompted at times to help people who we have doubts about, but who knows what a difference this might make, both to them and to you!
info_outlineTwo of the early followers of Jesus lied about how generous they were and were struck down dead for their trouble. Deceit and disingenuousness is a dreadful thing and destroys authentic community.
Jamie Lee Curtis once posed without flash clothes or make up to confront the unreal body image culture of our time.
By the way, disingenuousness is a big word I like to use so people might think I am more clever than I really am!